The Adventures of Art Lad

I have been SUPER busy since my birthday!

We are doing a lot at my school. Right now we are learning about Africa and math and I am reading a LOT. I read enough to win a prize: 20 books since the beginning of school so I got a gift card to buy books at the store. I am reading lots of lizard and butterfly books.

I think I will do that when I am grown up. I will have a lizard and butterfly zoo.

I got a special cage and a jar of caterpillars for my birthday that I helped grow into butterflies. They all hatched but one. I am like their dad. I named them Austin and Devin and Simba and Caitlin and Fred.

I took this one for a walk.







I think that's Austin. Soon they will die so I wanted him to see outside, even though it was cold. It will be sad to have so many butterfly funerals.

Dad gave me the butterfly set and it was my first favorite present. My second favorite came from my uncle BB. He sent me a flying Pteranodon that you charge up and has propellers on the wings. You throw it up and you can fly it. I painted some lucky colors on it first so it would go fast and not break or crash.

We went to our soccer field, which is about 5 miles long. Dad tried to do it but it crashed a lot.

Then I did it.





I'm telling Dad to run with it like a kite. When he did, I turned the propellers on.

(Next time I will tell Dad BEFORE I put on the propellers so he can get his fingers out of the way. But it was okay because Mom had Band-Aids in the car.)

Dad threw it and WOOOOOSSSSSHH! I flew it and it went around in a big circle. Dad had to jump onto the ground so he wouldn't get hit!

Then a big wind came and the Pteranodon went up UP UP into the sky. It was really hundreds of feet up. Even the kids over at the playground near the field yelled and clapped.

But the Pteranodon kept going.

"Oh no!" said Dad and then he RAN. He is fast when he has to chase something and ZOW! he ran across the field. But it was too late. The Pteranodon went flying out of the park and off away over the tops of the houses.

I wasn't even sad because it was the best flying time EVER.

Mom wasn't sad. But she was mad because Dad was gone. He ran through people's yards and got in trouble. And he still couldn't find it.

I caught up to Dad and we looked together. Everyone was outside putting up their lights and a lot of them saw the Pteranodon but no one saw where it went.

We walked around a long time till Mom made us get in the car. She was following us.

And then guess what? When we were driving back, WE SAW IT! It was just sitting in somebody's yard, right out front on the grass.

Dad said it was a half-a-mile away from the park.

Good thing I painted the lucky colors on.

I will have more pictures soon, but we are really busy because it is Christmas time almost. Maybe I will do a special picture here soon.

Bye!

Thomas

Guess what? I was Star of the Week last week and got to pick my favorite books and be line leader and bring someone for lunch. So I brought Dad!

He ate lunch with me and my friends Nathan and Derrick and also some girls who come and sit too.

(Dad wants me to say who, but I don't want to. JUST SOME GIRLS!)

Then we played out on the climbing wall. Alyssa stepped on my hand and I fell about 50 feet and landed on the ground but I was okay.

Inside we had sharing time and story time mooshed together. I told everyone about my Dad and then he told my favorite stories. One was Mr. Gaiman's Goldfish book.

The other was The Hairball Express.

It is OUR story. We made it up together when we were waiting for my baby sister to come out. Back then we had a kitty Moxie--this was way before we got Blaze--and she was a funny kitty. She would bite you if you grabbed her. But if you sat quiet or just played trains, she would come and sit with you or even jump on the train table and move the trains around.

Moxie was an old biting cat and she bit me really bad so Mom and Dad said she had to go live with Grandma so she wouldn't bite me or my baby sister. I was sad about that so I told Dad to make up a story so that Moxie could come visit. And so that's how it started.

Anyway, Dad told the story from his memory. Sometimes he does the sound of the train and old man who snores and the mean dogs and sometimes I do them. I did them in my class while Dad told the story. Everyone yelled at the part where the Train Police tried to stop the train! It is the best part, except the end. And where Moxie saves Tuffy from the dogs.

Dad says his friends on his Web place want to hear the story too. Dad wrote it down and I want to draw pictures for it, but it is hard! It will take a LONG time to do all the pictures.

Here is just one I did. That's the train, the Hairball Express.



I licked my finger and rubbed it to make it swishy like it's fast, though.

But look--I forgot to draw Moxie in the cab.

Dad gave me a bunch of pictures of Moxie and the old station near our house and some other train pictures. They help me draw good pictures, but I think I might cut them out and glue them on paper. I forget the name of that.

(Dad says it's a collage.)

I think the best thing would be Dad telling the story. He says he can put his voice on his Web place but it would be long.

Maybe he could do both.

I am really tired from being sick and having my party. Papa says you get tired more when you get old, so I guess he's right. I have lots to tell you, but maybe later.

My sister got me lots of candy, though. And Grandma hid some candy around the house so I got to find it. It was like my own trick-or-treat. Grandma is the best!

And LOOK WHAT FLIP DREW! I love the SNAKE! It looks like ME!

I want to draw like her.

Oh! And L. did one too. Silly Dad was supposed to put that in last time, but forgot. I like that big lizard!! Thank you!!

Last week we had a scary thing happen but I told it all over at Dad's Web place. Here is a bit of it:

I was just then drawing a picture of a mouse digging in his hole. And guess what? At the same time I heard scratching and digging noises! Like a mouse!

I looked all around.

Then I heard it: There was scratching noises coming from the garage door!

I told Dad. He was putting dishes in the dishwasher. I waved my mouse picture and yelled, I said, "Dad, I think there's a mouse like this one scratching on the garage." But all Dad said was, "Oh, I forgot to feed the dog!" The garage is where the dog food is.

And my sister says, "I'll do it." She'll do ANYTHING not to have to eat her beans. Also she loves Blaze and she always gives him more food than anyone. So Dad gave her the scoop and she walked to the garage door.

I couldn't hear the scratching then, but that's because Blaze started growling. He was under the table eating crumbs and all of a sudden he was going GGGURRRURRR.

I got scared and jumped up on my chair. I yelled my head off! "Don't open the door! There's a monster in the garage!" But my sister never listens to anything. She just made a nyah-nyah face and opened the door.

Then she screamed her face off!

(I tried to tell her.)

I looked and there were lotsa blurs. But I saw it: A GIANT MONSTER RAT FACE was in the garage with teeth right by my sister!

If you want to read the rest--and see my picture of the MONSTER RAT FACE, go read it over there. I'm the #2 story.

And Dad promises there are no dots at the end to make you wait.

Bye!
Thomas