Charlotte's First Mystery, by Zoe Brozyna

Chapter 3: Party fun, but the excitement has just begun.

The next morning was Charlotte's Birthday. Mama and Daddy gave her a Toy Detective Kit.(Little did Charlotte know that this fun present would come in handy a little later on.) Paige had made her a card and a bracelet. Aunt Olivia had already given her her gift the day she came. Breakfast was Porridge, Bacon, and orange juice, Charlotte's favorite. Soon, it was time for her birthday party. The party was Mermaid themed of course, because her party was at the pool. Charlotte put on her favorite sparkly turquoise bathing suit on, and put her doll in a little pink flower print bikini. Finally everyone was ready to go. Mama and Daddy had gotten tickets for Florida last night. They would leave the next day.

Charlotte had a great time at her party. She and her friends had swimming races, did underwater handstands, went down water slides, and went off the high-dive about a million times. For lunch they had pizza. Then everyone sang happy birthday, Charlotte made a secret wish, and they all ate the super yummy cupcakes on a paper mermaid plate. Charlotte took a sip of fruit punch and asked, "Can we go back into the pool now Mama?" "Yes, for a little bit longer. But why don't you open your presents first?" Mama replied. "Ooo, yes-yes!! Open them! Open them!!" The girls cried. Charlotte grinned happily and she did. She loved all her gifts, especially the silver heart shaped locket necklace that her best friend Lizzie gave her. Then they all dived back into the water again.

"Paige, where is my hot pink vest??!" Charlotte asked. It was after dinner, and everyone was packing for the trip. "Vest?" Paige laughed. " We are going to florida remember? I hardly think you will need it." "But it might get cold at night and I want it please. So do you know where it is?" Charlotte answered. "It's hanging on your purse rack." Paige zipped up her suitcase and set it on the floor. "Girls! Do you need some help? It's almost time for bed." Mama walked into the bedroom the sisters shared. "Bed!? What do you mean? it's only 7:30." Charlotte exclaimed. "I know, but we have to get up early tomorrow and you need to get some sleep." "Can we read for a little while first?" Paige wanted to know. "Yes you can read a chapter each. Goodnight!" "Night!" The girls replied.

"Wake up!!" Paige insisted. "It's time to go." Charlotte sighed and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Then she climbed down the ladder of her bunk bed, clutching her Bear under her arm. When she reached the floor, she stuffed Cuddles in the front pocket of her suitcase and put on the outfit that she had picked out last night. There were scones and eggs to-go downstairs. As they all started to walk out the door, Paige suddenly laughed and told Charlotte to look at her feet. She did, and as soon as she saw what she had done she burst out laughing too. She still had her slippers on. She took them off, put on flip-flops, and walked towards the car carrying her slippers and suitcase.

"Oh look, look! It's Florida!" Charlotte and Paige said at the same time. The Buttercup Family was in the airplane and very close to Florida. "Ahem, attention please. Please note that we will be landing shortly, so put those seat belts on, and please put away any electronics, or other devices you have brought on the plane." The man on the microphone said. Charlotte quickly put her book, Bumble Bar wrapper, and sticker book in her lime green backpack. Soon the plane landed, and they were all on their way to the house in aunt Olivia's car. "I can't wait for you to meet Elizabeth and Flora. Flora is just my age, and Elizabeth is only one year younger." Aunt Olivia was saying. Finally they reached the house, and the Buttercup family Oooed and Awwed. It was a little stone cottage with a pool and flower garden in the back yard. They all got out their suitcases and bags, and walked up to the bright red door.

Soon, a lady with brown hair, a long green skirt, and pretty white blouse opened the door. Her face was tearstained. "Flora! What is the matter?" Aunt Olivia asked the girl. "Elizabeth's missing!" Flora sobbed. "What!? What do you mean??!!" Everyone said at the same time. "Come inside and I'll explain." Flora responded. So they all walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "I was making dinner for me and Elizabeth last night, and when the dessert was in the oven, I went to my room and started writing  a letter to my niece, who just won an award in horse back riding class." Flora said. "Then I went back to the kitchen to see how the pie was doing, when I noticed the time. It was about 5:30 and I realized that Elizabeth should have been back by that time. But I thought that she would be back soon. But she wasn't. I must have fallen asleep, and when I woke up, Elizabeth was still missing." She finished. "Well….." Aunt Olivia began.

Just then there was a loud slamming sound, and a girl rushed into the room. "Elizabeth!!!" Aunt Olivia and Flora exclaimed. "What happened??!!" "Oh I'm so sorry!!!" Elizabeth cried. "I'll tell you everything!!!!" And then she told what had happened. "I was teaching surfing class just as I told you I would Flora, and I was just getting ready to go when a yellow lab dog came up to me, with a little blue capsule on its collar. I couldn't possibly help being curious about it, so I looked at it. And do you know what I saw??!! Written on the capsule was my whole name!!!" Mama gasped. "So of course I opened it up, and just guess what I saw?! A hand-written message in secret code!" "What?" Now it was Charlotte's turn to gasp."But you still haven't told us why you didn't come back last night." "Right. I'll tell you. Now I know I should have called you Flora, but I had forgotten everything else. All I could think about was finding out what the note meant. So I went to the library and looked up books on secret codes. Soon the library was closing up and I still hadn't found out what it meant. But then I fell asleep, and spent the whole night at the library. And then in the morning I hurried back as soon as I could. And nobody knew what I had done." "Whooa. That's a LOT of stuff." Charlotte breathed. "I totally agree." Flora answered.

Just then Charlotte realized something. "Elizabeth," She said slowly. "Did you ever find out what the message meant?" "No." Elizabeth replied. "Then there is a …………MYSTERY!" Charlotte cried.

Charlotte's First Mystery, by Zoe Brozyna

Chapter 2: a trip to Florida, and a potential mystery

"What?!" everyone asked. "well.....," said aunt Olivia, "just very wierd things have been happening." "Like what?" Mama asked. "Oh, just things like .......... wellllll....well alright, dogs have been going missing in the town that I live in and I think that there might be a dognaper and....." "Oh Olivia, it sounds like you are just imagining it." Mama replied. Charlotte was uneasy. "But...." aunt Olivia began. "Olivia." Mama began. "Oh, alright, I guess I am really imagining it. Maybe I am just home sick." Then aunt Olivia's face lit up. "Hey", she said. "I've got an idea. How about you guys come visit me for a while? You could stay at the house me and two other girls I know are sharing. Oh, I am sorry, I forgot to tell you. Well I couldn't possibly afford a house in florida on my own, so I am sharing it with two other girls, named Elizabeth and Flora Pearl." "Oh can we Mama? Can we Daddy?" Paige asked. Charlotte was wondering the same thing. "Well...." Daddy began, but Charlotte inturupted him. "After my birthday, and my birthday party which is tomorrow of course." She said. "Well..." Daddy said again. "What do you think about this Belle?" He asked Mama. "I think that if you want to go, and if we can get a ticket some time tonight, after the girls go to bed, it would be nice." She smiled. "Well then, lets go!" "Yay! Yay, Yay yay!!!!!!" Charlotte screamed, and Paige echoed her. Mama, Daddy, and aunt Olivia laughed. "Alright now, calm down, calm down. How about you put on the Judy movie movie,...." The girls giggled. "I am sorry the Judy Moody Movie." Mama laughed.

When it was time for Charlotte and Paige to go to sleep at 9:00, Charlotte grabbed her stuffed Bear Cuddles, and climbed up the ladder to her top bunk. Mama and Daddy came in to say good night, and aunt Olivia came in too. Then Daddy turned off the lights and left the room. Soon she could hear the grown-ups laughing and talking down stairs. Charlotte lay in bed for a long time thinking. Finally, she kicked of her blanket, and climbed down the ladder. First, she checked her clock. It was 9:12. She crept over to Paige's bed. She was relived when she saw that Paige was awake too. "Paige", she said. "Paige I have been thinking. I don't think aunt Olivia was imagining those things that she told us about." "What? but..." Paige started the say. "Paige!" Charlotte said. "Are you kidding?! you really think that a grown up would imagine somthing like that?" Paige looked worried. "Hmmm...... I guess you have a point. But how could all those dogs be going missing?" "That," Charlotte said, "is why, I, think that there is a mystery. Somthing scary is going on at the town aunt Olivia is living in."

Charlotte's First Mystery, by Zoe Brozyna

Chapter one: Aunt Olivia's arrival 

 Nine year old Charlotte Buttercup sat on her top bunk playing with her dolls.Today she was especially happy, because aunt Olivia was was coming.Her tenth birthday was tomorrow, on monday. Aunt Olivia was was going to be there for her birthday party. My was Charlotte excited! Aunt Olivia always brought such wonderful presents, and she was the most fun grown-up Charlotte knew. Charlotte's older sister Paige, who had just turned twelve four days ago, always agreed. Aunt Olivia was going to come to Paige's party too, but she had had a cold at the time, so she could not come until she was better. Paige said she did not mind this, that she was just glad that aunt Olivia could come now. After a while, Charlotte decided to write in her Journal. This is what she wrote:

 Dear Diary, Today aunt Olivia is coming! I... 

Just then, Mrs. Buttercup called up the stairs,'' girls! time to go! We gotta pick up aunt Olivia from the airport.'' '' Coming Mama!'', both girls called back. Charlotte quickly thrust her Journal in her backpack and ran down the stairs. ''So which airport are we going to again?'' Charlotte asked for the 2nd time. The Buttercup family was in the car, on there way. ''the one in boulder."Paige said.

Charlotte and Paige's parents were in the front seats, Mama driving, Daddy reading the newspaper that he got from Red Frog Coffee. Daddy turned around in his seat to smile at his Daughters."Hmmmm..... I don't think these girls are excited....." "oh daddy we are!"Charlotte exclaimed, not getting her father's joke. And she said it the same time as mama laughed, and Paige shouted,"we're here!!!" Charlotte jumped in surprise. She hadn't noticed.

When they got inside, Charlotte looked around. She didn't see anybody but strangers. After a few minutes, Mama suddenly called out, "Olivia! over here!" Charlotte and paige spun around. There, walking towards them and laughing, was aunt Olivia! Once she was where the Buttercup family was standing, she huged and kissed everyone. There was lots of "oh!"s and "I'am so happy your here!"s.

When they got home, aunt Olivia got out two sparkly gift bags from her red duffel bag. She handed charlotte a yellow one, and paige a violet one. "oh, oh, oh!" Charlotte cried out in delight. In her bag was a Care girls doll, a box of twistables crayans, and a Nancy drew mystery book. Paige had a book too, and a mood necklace, and a pencil set with butterflies and shiny swirls on them. Aunt Olivia smiled."I am very glad you like them. But that is not all. The other present is for you to to share. Its a Judy Moody movie!" The two sisters howled with delight at that.

At supper Aunt Olivia put her pizza down after taking a bite. Charlotte was confused."don't you like it aunt Olivia? I thought you said pizza was your favorite food." "oh yes, yes my dear, I do love pizza. But........alright I have some good news for you! I moved to florida! but........ oh well I suposse I should just get it over with................I have some very bad news...................."

Zoe's first email

Below is Zoe's first email to Andy and I. Is this hilarious or what?!

Princesses ! love to play in the park eating chocolate ! chip cookies and playing with each other and you know prinesses love nail polish pink! =) and princesses love kits so a dress-up kit =) !i love princesses!!=)!! That’s right =)! Go cinderella go sleeping beauty go arial go bell go snow white go!!=) and go princess ashley that’s my sister her name is ashley do you like princesses to dady ? you momy? You ashley ? =)!!!!! =) and dady I like sleeping beauty=)! Love zoe =)=)=)123=)abc =)=)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’fun’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’
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Fancy Zoe and Ashley

Zoe and Ashley are really into Fancy Nancy books right now. Andy's aunt gave one to Zoe last summer I think, and they've been hooked ever since :-) Both girls spend hours studying the pictures and reading the books. They also pretend to be Fancy Nancy:

And Zoe decided to do copywork of one Fancy Nancy book:

Yesterday Zoe got her costume on, made a kind of a nest with smocks on the floor in the pantry, turned on the pantry light, shut the door, and asked me to "Please set the timer for 20 minutes." She set to work copying her Fancy Nancy book, as seen above. When the timer went off she came out dramatically with a, "Phew! Now I can take a break! Mommy, can I please have mint tea with honey and almond milk?" Cracks me up.

Zoe's Letter to Santa:

To Santa Claus,

This is a Christmas List of things I want for my stuffed dog please

It's a girl dog

A colar and a leash

A dog bowl

Dog shoes

A dog sweater medium size

A small dog bed

A small dog house

that's it

Mommy would like a new spatula

Love, Zoe

playing school

I've mentioned that Zoe loves writing, and that sometimes, when she's being a very serious (almost 7 year old) girl ;-) , she asks me for help spelling. Other times she writes on her own, and it's really funny and cute. Below is her "schedule" for the day. I will translate below for you.

coloring  break  dress-ups  break

makeover  break  play  break  makeover

break  hide and go seek  break

twister  break  mommy's here

Several aspects of this are funny, like the spelling, of course. Also this schedule presumes that Zoe is in charge (which may actually be kind of true ;-)), and that I am at work away from home, until the end, where I return (obviously not true). I also think it's funny that "makeovers" are a recurring theme - how or where she heard of makeovers is beyond me - I don't even wear makeup. :-)

Also, it's funny that this is sort of Zoe's way of "playing school," which she prefers as a make-believe concept. -I even gave her the option of Options (once weekly public school just for homeschool kids) in a moment of weakness once (i.e. desperate for a break), and she said, "no thanks." She does, however, occasionally ask for some structured "homeschool," meaning she wants us to play school. We sit formally in our places, and I pretend not to be her mommy, calling on her for answers, as if I hardly know her name (of course she raises her hand, very school-like). Or she will tell me we need to work on our journal -That documentation which proves actual learning is taking place is very important to her. ;-) Besides, hello, it's fun!

Likewise, last week she pulled out a fresh, unopened math workbook, which Grama Patti sent her, and without much help at all, she sat down to work on it for at least an hour. It had been months since she did any "structured" math, though she's counting and using money and her calendar all the time ("but that's not 'homeschool' mommy!" -how do you unschool a child who never even made it into kindergarten? -where does she get this stuff from? lol) But there she was. She just took it upon herself that she wanted to learn some math - so she did - nearly the whole workbook, practically by herself. Cracks me up. 

Why did she do a years worth of math in an hour? Because she felt like it. Why did she feel like it? Because she hasn't learned to hate math. Because it's not painful to her. I think she actually enjoyed it... imagine that! ;-)

... And now I have to go see a presentation she's holding in her room. I think there are costumes and music involved... :-)

our homeschool couch ;-)

I've been noticing that while most of our friends homeschool in the morning, we've been on an afternoon kick for quite some time now. Zoe and Ashley find so much creative and imaginative play to do in the morning, not to mention arts and crafts, that we've been saving our "work" for after lunch, when they start loosing steam. Zoe likes reading and writing in our journal, so this is a fun and relaxing time. In fact, sometimes she does it by herself. (Sometimes she asks me how to spell words, and sometimes she writes it herself and it's too funny; I'll have to post one of those.)

We all sit on the couch, even Cherry, the dog, and Anna, the babydoll. Ashley has been really starting to pay attention too. She looks at a book of her own, or listens to us, copying what we do. Above she is pretending to read while we read, and below she is pretending to write while we write. (These are my new reading glasses by the way, though I'm wishing I could have bought the cheap-os at the grocery store, rather than these, from the optometrist. I can't stand spending money.)

Here we are again, not actually reading, just using the book as a reference for our narration. Zoe cracks me up with the details she remembers, like exact lines from the book, and names of places, such as Pepin, which I had forgotten. She could also tell me that the candy from Pepin was "heart-shaped" and that the impressions in the snow were called, "pictures." What can I say? I'm Zoe and Ashley's biggest fan :-) 

Zoe adores showing her journal to visitors. Like a photographer documenting through pictures, this book is Zoe's proof of experiences, and things she's learned. And yes, your eyes don't deceive you, Zoe had to wear this clothing ensemble two days in a row, because it was just that fabulous, hahaha!

Does this one really need any words? No.