Our Little Family Book 1

Our little family

Book 1:

Start of it All

         By Ella and Abe Rynbrandt

         Illustrated by Ella and Abe Rynbrandt

 Our little family started with a governor’s daughter and the first most notorious pirate that ever sailed the ocean and somehow they united. One year later the governor’s daughter (her name was Elisabeth) gave birth to a daughter and her name was Sarah.  She had blue eyes, her hair was dark brown and everybody agreed that indeed she was beautiful. Five years later they decided that they should become pirates. So they bought a houseboat/pirate ship that was very small, so they got five people to live on the houseboat and they were very lucky that they left early that day because if they did not then they would be washed away by the flood. Because they had just cast off 15 minutes before the flood came. It was a sorry sight to see the city, but they were very glad that they had cast off early or they would be goners. Just then Elizabeth saw a pink speck and then she realized it was her sister and they tried to save her and they were just in time. She was covered in seaweed; Elizabeth lent her some of her clothes while hers were drying.

 Because of her arrival Elizabeth was able to have more time to take care of Sarah and Sarah loved her Aunt so she didn’t care if it was her Mom was holding her or her Aunt was. Sarah’s Birthday was coming.

 Elizabeth made her a new toy and knit a new dress. It was very pretty; it was purple and had a beautiful light purple ribbon. Sarah had a wonderful birthday.

 So this short story is the first Our Little Family story. We hope you will read the next our little family. 

Abe's Story (part 2)

C4      So they went on making the game. In the end it was a very fun game. So they talked some more they went to bed

C5      The next day they talked some more. When they had eaten

They worked and worked on making the village into stats and from stats to a country. 

 C6     When it was time to go to bed they talked some more and they went hunting.The next day they had so much to be thankful for the great land that they lived on and the good friends.

C6     A civil war started. It was cruel war. The people who were good guys were called "Giths" and the people that were bad guys were called "Ecids."

C7     Boom boom boom boom boom.Cannonballs were flung in the air,

the air cool and fresh. The men were one chance to win.

 C8    The night the giths marched toward the Ecids' battlefield.  They had won the war!

C9     Now the war was over the Giths had won!

Abe's Story (Written all by himself with no help at all)

            C1     This story was meant to give hope. It starts with a man on an island, and all he had was a sword and lots and lots of food.

And a house that he built and a gun. He was a patriot. The other patriots were on the island with him they made a village of patriots.  

C2     The patriots went fishing when they went back to the camp men had   a fire 

The men talked they talked about making a game.

C3     It would be called Palm Springs Football, just didn’t know how they

Would make it.

C4     So they went on making the game. In the end it was a very fun game.

An Account of Days

Account of Days

By Kitty Meowie

Dedicated to Hope, which without we would be hopelessly muddled.

Any similarity to anybody living or dead is merely coincidental.

                  

                                            CHAPTER ONE

                                           Morning Meetings

I am indeed a morning person. In the middle of the day you can’t see the sun rise or hear complete silence as you can in the morning. I slip my paws into my incredibly soft slippers and pad downstairs two levels. I have a tower to myself, but most of the tower is made of stairs that lead up to three consecutive floors at the top of the tower. The top floor, at the very top of the tower is my bedroom, the next floor down is the Not Yet Caught computer room, and the final floor,(which is still very high up indeed) is the Not Yet Caught lounge, which I am now heading to.

The reason I am getting out of my soft bed at all is because my seven best friends and I are having a sunrise meeting and there happens to be a stovetop in the lounge. The eight of us drink tea by the gallon-full. I walk silently across the room and refill the kettle.

Most of my friends are usually late for our morning meetings, as they don’t especially enjoy the morning, so I lapse into a squishy armchair. This rest doesn’t last for long, because two night-gowned figures race past me to get to the fireplace. “Good Morning, Hanna and Lucky,” I say stifling a yawn. “G-g-good M-m-m-morning, K-k-kitty,” Lucky replies, her teeth chattering.

The fireplace is lacking a fire, so I help Hanna and Lucky start it. Lucky and I arrange the wood properly while Hanna starts the fire. Just as we have a merry blaze going, Amy stumbles in. Her nightgown is made of white silk with flower embroidered all down her sleeves. For my family, this nightgown would be the price of a wedding dress, but Amy is Amy Whuffer, so she has about eight nightgowns like this. She collapses on a white silk coach, which she claimed as soon as we redesigned the room.

While everybody is yawning and resting, I get their warm drinks ready. Lucky usually likes “Sweet Cattish Nectar” tea; Hanna likes hot cocoa, but enjoys Cattish Nectar tea too; Amy likes jasmine tea; and I adore mint tea. I go over all these in my head as I bustle around gathering tea bags, everybody’s favorite mug, and pouring hot water. I’ve just gotten everyone tea when Scurvie and Pup come in, looking very grumpy. I’ve made their tea ahead of time and the sip it in angry silence, brooding about being awake. All that is left to be here is Raven and Sealie, and they should have been here five minutes ago. Most likely Sealie is dragging Raven across the rope bridge so Raven can come to the meeting. Raven probably is still fast asleep no matter where he is right now. I set down my mug to walk to the window and look out of it.

Raven and Sealie stayed in each of the other towers. Their towers had only a few rooms at the top, so they had the towers all to themselves, like me. Rope bridges connected all the towers and this especially large window with no glass was the door to the rope bridges. I see a seal dragging a sleeping black cat.

As I run out to help Sealie, the wind slashes across me like knives. It’s alright for Sealie to be out in this weather because his layers of blubber can protect him from almost anything. Even so, it really isn’t fair that Raven gets the credit of being at the meeting when Sealie has to drag him there. I slap Raven sharply across the face and his eyes flutter open, glaring at me.

“That was utterly and completely needless.”  He says, irked. I nod at Sealie and he lets Raven drop to the bottom of the rope bridge. “You’re not at the meeting and you’re late for it, anyhow.” I say, frowning at him. “Come on, Sealie. I give you permission to not have to drag Raven.”  Sealie and I walk on, with Raven spitting, sputtering and cursing everything that has wronged him in the past ten seconds, mainly me.”

There is no warm welcome for mw when we reach the tower. Although every person agreed to the sunrise meeting in daylight, they were grumbling now. I decided to let all their insults go, because after all, I did have children of ages ranging from age 3-12 before me, and I was the only morning person among them.

I take a seat and my cup of tea up again. “You know why we are here.”  There is a bit of yawning and nodding is recognition.”We are, indeed, here to discuss some rather secret topics that we wouldn’t like to casually talk about.”  “I don’t see why we couldn’t talk about it at night.” Amy grumbles. Nearly everybody agrees on this. “We,” I patiently explain,” are going to have the meeting in the morning, because the Abeish know for certain that we are planning something, and that we are indeed having these meetings. Our parents don’t even know about the meetings, but the Abeish do.

“Due to recent studies, they have determined several facts. That children don’t enjoy an early start, but enjoy a late evening; that two families out of our three families are indeed rich; that these particular rich children have no interest in getting up early for everything, “I pause at this remarkable statement. “Finally, they discovered that we trust people exceedingly, and that we trust almost anybody.” I look at them. “There is one thing I don’t understand.” Hanna says. “We would have believed you had you told us before, and we would have not complained. So why are you telling us this now.”

I smile at her. “Excellent question, Hanna. I did it because now, and the next thirty minutes, is the only guaranteed time that we can discuss anything without it being broadcasted directly to the Abeish.”

Abe's Autobiography: Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

The issues basically started as soon we got to the airport. It was hard to say goodbye. With our dear friends surrounding us, including our Grandpa and Grandma, we set off to security and to our gate. But there was a problem: our flight got delayed for a long time, and I needed to save all the interesting stuff to do for the flight. What was a guy to do? We waited in the waiting room until we couldn’t wait any longer.

Finally, my mom took us to get a snack and by the time we returned we were beckoned into yet another waiting room and from there we landed onto a depressingly large plane. I ate candy that my faithful grandma had packed me and was (so my sisters tell me) more involved with it than the dramatic exit a chapter of my life was taking. It was fun at the beginning (by that I mean the first ten minutes), and the candy helped but after that, we were all so tired that we fell asleep.

As soon as I woke up, I got my first view of the Netherlands, and I thought it looked wonderful. An hour later we landed at Schipol, the main airport in Noord-Holland, and we were greeted by not much security, Daddy (who had left three weeks ago), and a Real American Starbucks. We picked up our luggage and went outside to wait for a cab. Due to circumstances beyond our control we had to wait a little bit for the cab and finally we reached Melkpad: the home of our dreams.

I thought it was perfect for us. All the doors were shut, and it was very dark inside, but Daddy explained that he wanted all the rooms to be a surprise. As we walked in through the door, Daddy showed us the small room on the left: a tiny toilet room with a minute sink. Ahead of us were two doors, and the right was the kitchen. We went into the kitchen and they were dazzled, I was anxious to see my bedroom.

Finally, after we toured the main floor, we got up to the second floor and we explored the toilet room, the bathroom, Ella’s room, and FINALLY mine. My first thoughts were “It’s so small!” and “Why do I have girl bedding?” and I had good reason to think these! My bed-adorned with a flower printed duvet- was rented but still, I wanted my masculine essence at least acknowledged! And as for my bedroom size, if I tidied it everyday it would suit my purposes, but it was small!

The exploration of all the trivial or “other” parts of the house was rather dull and so was the unpacking of all of our baggage, the air shipment arriving not ten minutes after our arrival. The really interesting part was when we went into town, which was a three minute walk. We snacked on “gevulde koeken” (round cakes with almond paste in the middle) and admired everything. The first thing that we admired was ABN Amro (the bank) which we found out to be pronounced as Ah-Bee-En Ahm-roe. In one word? BORING. And it took FOREVER. 

By the time we had walked around the whole of the town central, we were all exhausted (from the plane and from the walk,) and we were thoroughly tired of discovering new things. Every inch of the country seemed to scream at us "Welcome to the Netherlands!"

Abe's AutoBiography (Chapter One

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

By Abe A.

(With Mia Susan)

Dedicated to my favorite (stuffed) friends: Scurvie and Pup

CHAPTER ONE

Hello. I was born into a family of girls. Was I happy about this? NO. But I’ve grown used the realty of my sisters. I know that some of my story will seem crazy, but I’ve grown used to it.

My story starts on a certain day. It was just a normal Friday pizza night. That night we were having my favorite pizza: New York Pizza. We were going to watch The Sound of Music and we jokingly called it “The Sound of Moo-sic” after a book involving cows. We were very happy that night, because my parents had just come home from the Netherlands and we had missed them.

The movie ended soon and my mom told me to go to bed. They took Ella, Sadie, and Mia into the office for unknown reason. Suspicious? I think so! Well I was somewhat thirsty, so I went downstairs to eavesdrop, or “get a drink.” I snuck to the office and started to listen.

They seemed to be talking about something important: I could tell it by their tones, and then I started to make sense of it: We were moving to the Netherlands for three years! I crept back to my bedroom and tried to make sense of it.

How did I feel? I didn’t want to go AT ALL, but then I always wanted adventure, and wasn’t this the perfect chance? I went to bed full of questions, but technically I wasn’t supposed to know so who could I ask?

The weekend started out to be pretty boring except for that evening when we went to Chick-Fil-A. I ordered chicken nuggets and as usual I ate whatever anyone couldn’t finish. I loved Chick-Fil-A: it spoke to me. We were just leaving when my family started talking about our move. They were trying to talk about it without having me know that we were talking about it. For instance;

“What will we pack for our short little vacation to the Netherlands?” Sadie asked.

“Well, because Holland is far away and because we are staying there three yea-… I mean weeks, of course we will pack a lot.” Mommy replied

“ I can’t wait to see how our little poochy-kins will react to our move, I mean trip of course…” Ella gushed.

See what I mean? Partly because of sin nature and partly because I wanted to show them how smart I was, I put in:

“Can I bring my toys to the Netherlands? Or will I outgrow them in three years.”

The shock was more that evitable. They stared at me as if I had just turned green. “You know?” They said in unison. He-he. I love a good joke. Soon we were all laughing and discussing room decorations. An hour later we were all gathered around the computer looking at bedroom textiles and one month later we had found the perfect house: Melkpad (which literally meant “Milk Path”)

There was only one slight issue: I had a bedroom the size of my mom’s old closet. I love toys. I have a lot of toys. What can I say? They are a lot of fun, and I spend all day playing with them. My current room was by no means big but wasn’t small. Plus we had a basement, and the basement at Melkpad was unfinished. Where would I keep all my toys? And plus, what would I do? In America I played spies with my sisters. And the backyard was big and spacious at home. I could spend hours getting the basement messy and we could not clean it up for days! But here every section of the house is occupied by someone at all times and thus we are inclined to do a daily scouring.

I had my doubts about this move. I was a little but afraid that I wouldn’t make any friends. What could I do, though? A thousand sleepless nights wouldn’t change the fact that we were indeed moving.

Our Catland Adventure

Told by: (Characters)

“Kitty” (Katherine) Elizabeth Meowie (Mia)           

Hanna Faith Meowie (Sadie)

Sealie Shelton Meowie (Mia)

“Lucky” (Lucille) May Meowie (Sadie)

“Amy” (Anastasia) Sarah Whuffer (Ella)

“Scurvie” (Scurvy) Bones Pirate-dog (Abe)

“Pup” (Pupfield) Crossbone Pirate-dog (Abe)

Note:

As we have settled into Melkpad, we have been playing “Catland” –the game which we often play with all of our stuffed animals. Ella, Abe and Sadie told this story from the view of their stuffed animals. Enjoy!

Part 1: By Amy Whuffer (or Ella, age 8)

We were all knitting and almost bored out of our minds until Pup came in, and then I had it. I ran to my cave, gathered some of my possessions, and ran out to some caves that Pup had found. The reason we lived in the caves was because of the Abe-land soldiers, who had driven us out of our homes. Kitty and the Meowies were already at the caves. At the caves I was next door to the Meowies. However, our hiding spot didn’t stay secret for long. Soon, Scurvie went out and the Abe-land soldiers saw him and so thy shot bullets into the caves. So, that is how we came here. Currently, we are getting bored again.

Part 2: By Scurvie Pirate-dog (or Abe, age 6)

This crazy adventure started when Kitty told us about the mountain. Then we were like “Hey!!!” and then Kitty told us that we could only climb it once in our lives. Then, we started climbing and soon, although everybody else were some slowpokes, we made it to the top. We met the mountain and he gave us whatever we wanted. I wished for a dagger that could change into any thing, Pup, my little brother, wished for a pond of Sprite and candy in our backyard, and Lucky, my best friend, wished to share a room with her older sister, Hanna. Hanna wished for a house for her family. Sealie wished for a Mac laptop so that he could become a blogger like Kitty, who wanted just to have her family (financially) safe. Lastly, we get to Amy. She wanted… I don’t know what! She got a piece of paper that said “yes.” Then we went down to the house that Hanna wished for to celebrate with a cup of milk, but then a terrible surprise happened.

Part 3: By Hanna Meowie (or Sadie, age 11)

Then, a white pillar started coming at me. “Perhaps it is just an airplane’s remnants.” I said to Lucky, trying to assure her and myself at the same time. However, the “airplane’s remnants” was starting to swirl, and it was starting to come closer to us.

Finally, it was Kitty who said, “It’s a tornado.” After that, we ran as fast as possible, trying to go inside. But Lucky fell, and the tornado, which was already gaining on us, gained even more when I stopped to help her.

All of a sudden, something hit me, and the last thing I knew was I was falling down.

All of us woke up around the same time, which was helpful because the pit which we had fallen in was rather small. Eventually, we got out of the pit, and to our surprise, we found that the tornado had apparently done more than make us fall: it had blown us furniture!

           

Conclusion: By Amy Whuffer (or Ella)

And that is how we became neighbors again with the Pirate-dogs and the Meowies. After an adventure like this, you can’t help but be proud of your friends, and I sure am!