Truth Be Told #5

Truth Be Told #5

It's Okay to Surrender Sometimes

Something has been bugging me this weekend.  It's left me scratching my head.  It's not just the lousy weather leaving me perplexed.  It all began with a project for school last week.  Here's the story.

We are learning about the Civil War in Social Studies.  I got assigned Fort Sumter for a project.

It was the first battle of the Civil War.  Unfortunately the Union lost that battle.  And what I learned in the process actually confused me.  

Everyone is always telling me never to give up.  You should always fight your hardest til the bitter end.  Those are good lessons for a kid to know.  

Then when I was reading about this battle, I found out that the General for the North, Robert Anderson, actually surrendered the fort.  He was surrounded by the southern General P.T.G. Beauregard.  Fort Sumter is on an island and the southern ships were bombarding it.  General Anderson knew there was no chance of winning, so he surrendered quickly.  He quit.  What's that all about?

But later, after reading some more, the history books say that his surrender was key.  No one died in the battle at all.  No one was even injured, and some of the important people from the north were spared.  In this case, surrender was ok in the long run.  

I hate to be nit picky, but there is still something bugging me about that.  Surrender just doesn't seem right.  

The south was happy.  They won the first battle.  This is the confederate flag I used as the background for my poster.  In case anyone from Slovenia is reading my blog, I have to let you know that the Confederates didn't win.  It took four years, but the north won and the slaves were free!

Mother Eloise says that we should send this flag to her friend Tracy Southern to remind her that South Carolina is a dumb state.

Another thing that has to do with surrender is a book series I am reading, the Twilight series.  

Mother Eloise, who is one of the people always telling me never to give up, finally gave in on this.  She finally let me read the first one and watch the movies.  She surrendered.  

We've been catching up on the movies before Breaking Dawn Part 2 comes out in November.

We watched Eclipse on Saturday while Sam was at a birthday party.  Mother Eloise says she doesn't need him catching glimpses of that movie and getting any more fighting ideas.  It was a really good movie.  We only have one more to go.  

So in this case, surrender was good again, because I would have never got to read some good books or see these movies.  It is fun to read a book first and then go see the movie.  That is the best.  I almost always like the book better, except for these.  I really think I like the movies more because they are kind of artsy, like me.  

My weekend is almost over.  I'm ready to publish my fifth post, but truth be told, something is still leaving me scratching my head this weekend.  Hmmmmm, what could it be?

Until next time, My Friends,

Ellen Louise Cullen

Truth Be Told #4

Truth Be Told #4

There's Cussin' In The Lamp Post

This is my brother Sam.

He can make a person crazy.  Crazy enough to say a bad word or two from time to time.

This is my sister Natalie.

She has autism.  Let me give you some advice, don't use bad words around autistic people.  She said a bad word this weekend when we were making cupcakes with our babysitter Amy.

We spent the rest of the weekend blaming each other for who taught Natalie that word.  It's not real bad, just kind of bad.

When we were decorating pumpkins this weekend, I had an idea.

I suggested that if we want to say a bad word, we just should say a replacement word.  I suggested Sammit. It think it is perfect.

This is how my pumpkins turned out.

We used silver glitter paint,

gold spray paint,

That one looked like a Notre Dame football helmet so we gave it to my Aunt Terri, Uncle Mike, and Jon.

I had some left over paint so I sprayed leaves (and my thumb).

The googly eyes are my favorite.

I saw some ideas like this on pinterest, but I made some of them up myself.  I want purple metallic spray paint.  If you know where I can gets some, tell Mother Eloise.

Have a nice day!

Love, 

Ellen Louise

Truth Be Told #3

Truth Be Told #3:

It Was An Apology Letter

This was on my mom's blog video last week.  Mother Eloise often puts our artwork on her blog.  This was a note Sam wrote to her but she failed to explain it.  It was an apology letter.  He wrote it because he punched the yellow Candy Land piece because he lost the game.  Even though fabulous is spelled with three S's, Sam's a pretty good speller for a kindergartner.  God help us all if he gets a blog someday.  

He writes me notes like this when he is in a good mood:

Sam writes me notes like this most of the time:

My biggest worry when Sam went to school was that he wouldn't have any friends.  Clearly I was wrong.  Kids like him.  

Here's Sam and his friend Gino:

They are a lot alike:

Things were going well until Gino tried to kiss Sam:

So then Sam decided to put Gino in a choke hold:

Here's the summer of Sam and Jacob:

 But fall football games have been all Delaney:

She's a lot like him, too.

I make no apologies about my brother.  He is who he is.  There is no further explanation other than that we love him and he makes life entertaining.  

Have a nice weekend,

Ellen Louise