I had a great Thanksgiving!

Hello future readers!

Happy Thanksgiving! OK, so Thanksgiving was yesterday, but I hope it was happy all the same. I have a lot to be thankful for. But let me tell you what's been happening...

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, it was the 4th grade's turn to lead the weekly assembly. I was really excited, and a little nervous, too. Getting up onstage always gives me the butterflies. All the other 4th grade classes were going to do the First Thanksgiving. I was glad Miss LaSalle was going to let us do something different. During the week in class, she told us to draw really big pictures of what we were thankful for. Then on the back of each picture was one letter in the word THANKS. We could draw whatever we wanted as long as it was big enough to be seen by the audience.  My mom told me she was gonna come watch and take pictures! Here are some of the pictures she took:

 

 

 

 

 

 I was thankful for my teacher, Miss LaSalle. She's really super. Stephanie drew her favorite foods, Raychel drew her brother Randy, Danny drew his new house, Sunny drew pictures of all of us, (I thought that was pretty cool), and Susan drew a picture of our town, Springfield. Nobody tripped walking onstage, and no one goofed up their lines. We were all pretty proud of ourselves!

 

The next day was Thanksgiving! No school, and lotsa food! I know that there's more to the holiday than that, but those are my favorite parts! My mom and I got up early, made egg nog french toast, and watched the Macy's Parade on television. Then it was time to start cooking! I was gonna help, because my friends were coming to dinner, and I wanted everything to be extra special. I was in charge of the drinks, mashed potatoes and setting the table. My mom did everything else. She's really outta site! I went and changed into my new outfit. I almost flew to the door when the bell rang.  My friends were here!

 

We all sat down at the special table my mom set up for us kids. My mom, uncle, aunt, and older cousins sat at the big table. Everything looked so good! I couldn't wait to start eating!

 

 

 

The food was really good! Danny had 3 helpings of mashed potatoes! We talked, and laughed, (and almost had a food fight until Mom caught us!)

 

 

 

Later on we cleared away the leftover food and dishes and set up the dessert table.

 

 

 

We had all sorts of yummy things. Everyone took what they liked best, and gathered in the living room to watch "Miracle on 34th Street", one of our favorite holiday movies.

 

It was a really groovy day. I wonder, do they still have Thanksgiving in the future? With all the flying cars, and robots and machines, has giving thanks gone out of style? I hope not. So future readers, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

Until next time,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

The new boy on my block

Hi future readers!

Today an interesting thing happened. My friend Raychel and I were playing in front of my house, when we saw a moving van going down the street. It stopped about 3 houses up the street from mine.

Raychel and I decided to walk up the street and see who was moving in. We saw a station wagon park behind the moving van. A man, a woman and a boy got out. The boy looked like he was about our age. Wow..a boy? Our neighborhood has a lot of girls in it. Raychel's brother Randy is a boy, but he's 13, and doesn't hang around with us. Most of the time he's at the ball field with all the other boys his age. This was the first boy around here who was a kid our age. We watched as the movers unloaded the truck. Then we saw the boy sit on the front steps with his baseball and glove.

Personally, I think boys are kinda yucky. Raychel doesn't mind them so much, because of her brother. She wanted to go and say hello to him, but I wasn't so sure. What if he was a creep? But Raychel reminded me that if I was the new kid, I would want someone to make friends with me. She's right, I guess...but I still think boys are yucky. So we walked up and introduced ourselves.

He said his name was Danny Campbell, and he was 9 years old. I was right, he was our age. And he seemed nice enough. He didn't tell us to get lost because we were girls, and he didn't want to talk to us. Ok...so maybe all boys aren't yucky. There are exceptions to every rule, aren't there?

So we sat down and talked awhile. Danny told us he moved to Springfield from San Diego. He thought it was strange moving to a small town from a big city, and wasn't sure he was gonna like it. We told him that Springfield was a pretty fun place to live, and since it is a small town, it's pretty safe and everybody knows everybody. He said that was kinda weird, but cool. I was getting kinda hungry, and invited Raychel and Danny to my house for a snack. Danny asked his mother if it was OK. She thought it was nice he was making friends so quickly.

So we sat around eating chocolate chip cookies, drinking soda, and telling dopey jokes all afternoon. It was fun, I guess. And I learned not to "judge a book by its cover" as my mom likes to say. I guess I wouldn't want people not to like me, 'cos I'm a girl, or what I look like. So today, I made a friend who's a boy. But that doesn't make him my boyfriend!

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

More Groovy things about me!

Now that you know what my diary is about, I'll tell you a little more about myself. My family is made up of 3 people: me, my mom and my puppy, Boomer. Boomer isn't really a person, but sometimes, he thinks he is! I love him a lot, but I sure don't like the way he jumps on me to wake me up every morning. My mom bought me an alarm clock but I sure don't need it! Not with Boomer around!

I'm probably a lot like most kids. I love to read, watch TV, play with my friends, and listen to music. My favorite show is the Partridge Family! It stars the grooviest singer on Earth, David Cassidy! His posters are right above my bed. Sometimes I just like to stare at them and daydream! I know it may be impossible, but I'd love to meet him one day, or at least go to one of his concerts.

I have 4 best friends: Stephanie, Sunny, Susan and Raychel. I can't bring myself to narrow it down to one best friend, because I don't wanna hurt anyone's feelings.  We all live within 2 blocks of each other, so there's always someone around to play with. We have lotsa fun together. We have slumber parties, celebrate holidays together...we're even in the same class at school! Sometimes it seems we're more like sisters than best friends. Here's a picture of all of us together at the welcome party I gave when Sunny moved into the neighborhood.

                                     That's Raychel, Stephanie, me, Sunny and Susan.

I go to Springfield Elementary School and I'm in the 4th grade. My teacher is Miss LaSalle. I think she's the prettiest teacher in the whole school. She came to America from France when she was 12 years old. She speaks English, but with a little bit of an accent. I think it makes her sound like a movie star! When I get to high school, I want to study French, so I can sound like Miss LaSalle. My mom thinks Spanish would be easier. I guess I have lotsa time to think about it.

I wonder what school will be like in the future. I bet the kids can stay home and get their lessons on a TV screen. I don't know if I would like that. I'd miss recess with my friends, school plays and field trips.

Well, I gotta go now, because I have to go to the grocery store with my mom. Are there grocery stores in the future? Or maybe you push a button on the wall and get whatever food you want! That's what they do on the TV show "Star Trek".

Until next time, future readers!
Your friend,
Julie Newman

What's a Time Capsule Anyway?

Hi! My name is Julie Ann Newman. I'm 9 years old and in the 4th grade. I wanna tell you how all this got started...

One night my mom and I were watching television, and some kids were burying something callled a "time capsule". I asked my mom what that was. She explained that a time capsule is a container filled with things from your time period you think are important. It gets buried in the ground and one day people from the future can dig it up and learn things about the past. I thought that was a pretty cool idea. I decided I wanted to make a time capsule, too! I ran to my room and looked around. What would I want to put in a time capsule?

 As I looked at all my stuff, I started to get a little uneasy. Could I really part with one of my David Cassidy albums? Or my Holly Hobbie doll? Or any of my books? I wasn't sure I wanted to bury any of my stuff in the ground, and not be able to use them again. Then I got the grooviest idea! I could bury a diary! That way, people from the future could know what life was like for a kid growing up in the 1970s, and I wouldn't have to bury any of my favorite things. So, future readers, that is what you're reading now. Some of my entries will be about really far out things that happen to me, but some entries will be a drag. And some entries will be about nothing really special, just everyday stuff. But that's what life is like sometimes; even in the future, I'll bet. Hmmm...sometimes I wonder about the future. Will it be like on the cartoon "The Jetsons", with flying cars, and phones with TV monitors? Or maybe like the show "Lost In Space" where you put your clothes in the washing machine, and they come out pressed, folded and packaged? I guess I'll never know. But you can see what life is like for me, Julie Newman, regular school kid. Who knows? Maybe if someone really important digs this up, I'll be famous when I'm grown up!

I guess that's it for now, future readers. I hope you enjoy reading my diary. I know i'm gonna enjoy writing it.

Your friend,
Julie Newman