When I was born it was in Newport News Virginia not Spotsylvania. We lived in an apartment too. My parents were working down there and I was to little to remember though I would go to my aunt's while my parents worked. When my dad finished school he got a job up here around Spotsylvaina and we moved into a townhouse. We spent some time in the townhouse and I made friends that I don't really remember but the townhouse was near a pool and playground where I remember going and having fun. I learned how to first swim there too. Then my brother Andrew was born which I ended up sharing my room with because their wasn't enough rooms for everyone to have their own. Later after my brother was born my parents had a house made in neighborhood that was being built (Hamilton's Crossing). We went a couple times when they were building it. Then when it was finished we moved in and we lived there ever since.

My full name is Katherine but I don't go by it unless I'm in trouble. I usually go by my nickname Katie. When I was little I kind of hated my name because it was long and other things that I really don't remember. Though I remember wishing sometimes it was different and when
I would play games I would change it. As I got older I stopped hating it and thinking it was pretty. I've asked my mom why I was named Katherine she said it was a name her and my dad agreed on because she was going to name me after one of her friends but my dad didn't like that name.

Back in 6th grade I learned I needed surgery on my knee's. I ended up getting the surgery before 6th grade had even ended and during the summer between 6th and 7th I got Midnight. It started when my best friend Hannah came to my house to be watched by my mom. Hannah told us about a pair of kittens that her parents and her found in their backyard. She asked if we could go check on them during the day and my mom said yes. Later we went to her backyard. I had braces on my legs and stilt like things to help me walk down and my mother yelled at my brother and I not to get attached to the kittens. When we got to her backyard Hannah told us she had named them. She named the grey one smokey and the black one midnight. I wasn't able to do much that summer and fell for Midnight as my brother and friend fell for smokey. One day smokey got adopted and Hannah's parents said Midnight may have to go to the shelter unless someone took him. They asked if my parents and I wanted him, of course I already wanted him. The days after smokey was adopted we would go see midnight but as we would leave we would have to run or sneak out because midnight would follow me out. On July 12th Hannah spent the night at my house and we brought up midnight and a way to get my parents to say yes to letting me keep him. Hannah and I went to my parents and begged them to let me have him and I them I would take care of the litter box and every thing if I could have him. Hannah told them it could be her birthday present because my birthday was the 18th. I also told them if we didn't take him he would go to the shelter and wouldn't be adopted because black cats aren't really adopted much. My father asked how my older cat would get along and I told him they had already met earlier that day because midnight had followed us down and slept on the porch and we introduce Tommy to midnight. My father finally said yes and Hannah and I raced to her house to get midnight and take him home. The next day we got him checked at the vet and he was finally mine. That summer midnight was the best thing that happened because I wasn't able to do much because of my surgery.

When I was in elementary school and into middle school some my friend Hannah and I always did a lot together. We would do lots together because she came to my house all the time while her parents went to work. While at my house we would play and while playing one of us would say we had an idea and most of the time we would be thinking the same thing. Those ideas would end us upstairs or downstairs playing whatever we had came up with. We would laugh and be amazed when we told the ideas and they'd be the same. When I went to middle we started kind of slowly having different ideas but when she got to middle school we totally had stopped having similar or same thoughts. Then I went to high school and she started to watch her self at home the having the same ideas completely stopped. Though once in a while when I see her we sometime have a same idea but very rarely do we ever now.

Car rides with my aunt is different from riding with my parents. My aunt came up the weekend spring break started and my neighbor asked us if we wanted to go to the zoo. My aunt ended up coming with us because she had never been to the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC. That morning I rode with my aunt while my brother rode with my neighbor. While in the car we had the windows down and music blaring. We also had her sunroof window open and was just having a good time. Then when a song we knew came on we would sing it but when one came on that we didn't know we'd change the station. I would even rock back and forth to the songs. Riding with my aunt compared to riding with my parents was better because my parents don't blare the music. It was a blast to spend time with my aunt because she doesn't live near us.

In my neighborhood there are spots where other people can come in though even though they shouldn't. Though you can tell they don't live in the neighborhood because they act different from people who do. They look at everything and walk different like they don't know whether to go ahead. Sometimes they walk like they nothing is wrong though living there for a while you start to know who lives there and who doesn't.

I know what it's like to have many children in my house. My mother has babysat several children. One year my mother babysat these two boys. The older one was in 7 to 8 range while the youngest one was in the 5 to 6 range. At that same time she was also babysitting my friend Hannah, her sister Hope and a little boy name Alex who was a toddler like Hope. Now these boys they would get themselves in to everything. One time they were outside while Andrew (my brother) and I were doing homework. They had went in the back and was near our neighbors fence. My mother asked me what they were doing and I said they're in the back. Then I said they look like they're doing something they shouldn't and she came out. My mother started to go outside and when she got out their she looked like she was telling them something. Then when she came back in they came too and she told them to sit. She told them we don't break other people's fences and that they would apologize to the owners. Those boys started saying sorry instantly after she told them she would tell their mother. So they did go talk to the owners and afterwards they couldn't go outside unless my mother or I went out. Another story is we were playing basketball in the road with our neighbors and if a car was coming I would yell car which meant get out of the road. Sometime every one would listen and move but many times the younger boy would stay in the road till the car got 3 feet away or until Hannah and I pushed/pulled him out of the way. Of course all of us kids would yell at him get out of the road but he would laugh and say no. Then if I pulled him out of the road I would yell at him and tell him if he did it again he would be in so much trouble. Sometimes I would tell my mom about and would get talked to or have to go in since he wouldn't listen and she was in charge. These boys would get under my skin really bad by doing what they did. Every day it seem that they would do something that would get them in to trouble.

Alicia who inherited the role of caretaker is like Ana because her mother was teaching her how to be the housekeeper. Even though Alicia lost her mother she learned the responsibility just like Ana was being taught how. Alicia also didn't want to be stuck in a factory which Ana didn't either even though she had to for a little. Another way they're similar is Alicia was going to college and in the end of the movie Ana went to college and it was both their dreams to make something of their selves then stay and work in a factory.

For me I really only have one nickname which is Katie though people have tried to rhyme my name with things to make it match me or because they want to nickname me. My dad once said when I was little katydid but never really called me that cause I laughed when he did or said no. Then in high school one of my friends called me katiecat because of my nickname I already had and because I love cats. Now when I see her she calls me that and I don't have a problem because it fits me. I go by Katie because my parents call me that and I've asked my mother why and it is because of my first name and how they named me. Their are other nicknames that come from my real name but they didn't sound as good as Katie so my parents call me that. I have heard the other nicknames and agree that Katie sounds better and because I'm use to it and wouldn't want to change it.

When I was little I really didn't care for shoes though they had to feel right to me.

My family doesn't really have big family celebrations, we usually have small ones. My family doesn't really celebrate very often either. Sometimes my neighbors have a bond fire and all the neighbors get together and my brother Andrew and I go too. On our street their is 6 to 7 families that have children and us children have all grown up together. In a way we are a family and even some of the adults have call it a neighborhood family. When we get together for these celebrations the adults talk while the children go and talk or play. The little kids run around while us teenagers talk in a group. Getting together is always fun because it everyone gets to talk and have fun. Sometimes we listen to the adults talk and their stories are interesting. When we get together for a fire it is the same except us teens listen more to what the adults talk about. Then Hannah's mom asks her to play her guitar or sing and sometimes she with the help of us girlfriends. My parents sometimes come but don't always stay so when they leave with my littlest brother Derick, Andrew and I stay till the party ends.

I have always loved animals a lot. When I was little I would pretend to be a vet and do things to my animals and stuff animals pretending to be a vet. When I was in 5th grade I knew I wanted to be a vet and my mind has never changed since. Being a vet would allow me to spend my time with animals which I would enjoy. When I was in elementary we took my cat Tommy to the vet. It looked interesting and I was amazed that they fixed him. I guess that's why I want to be a veterinarian but I don't know. Then when we took my younger cat Midnight to the vet I was interested in what the vet did. Being a vet has been my dream job because I've always loved animals and wanted to help them.

The first funeral that I went to was in New York for my great grandmother on my mother's side. I had just returned from Australia and was really happy to see my family. When the group I was with got to the group of parents my brother and mother wasn't there only my dad was. I asked my dad where they were and he said in New York and that we weren't going straight home either. When we got to New York we went to a church where everyone was. Before the ceremony started some were crying and some weren't but when it did start my mother started crying. During the ceremony I felt awkward for not crying and didn't know what to do at a funeral. After family members were done saying things they loaded the casket into a vehicle and we got into my fathers car with one of my uncles. My father drove to the burial place to help place the casket on the ground. After that we left and went to reception I guess you could call it. Everyone seemed fine after that like nothing had happened.

In my neighborhood their are people who will socialize and then their are people who don't. The people who don't socialize go by their own business and don't really talk to people in the neighborhood. Sometimes they have people over that don't live in the neighborhood. They keep their house in order and do work but don't really talk. Then when they come home they park and go in and that's it like their really not their kind of.

When I was younger some of us children would go over to one house with a tree in it. At first their parents told us not to climb it but when they weren't around we would. Then one day the parents didn't care and we would climb. It was hard to climb it but fun. The littler kids could climb higher but then they would get stuck. In that tree we would play games and even swing on the branches and jump from the low branch that we would swing from. Some of the branches would break but if you found the right ones you could go really high. I never really went high maybe to the middle but not really high. Our parents would tell us be careful and some of us would get hurt but not all. Now we don't go over to the tree and climb it but it's still standing since climbing it. It is a skinny tree compared to others but it was a good tree to climb but now it's just a tree again.

If you saw me at school and home you could see that act very different at these places somewhat. At school I'm quiet and don't talk but when I'm home I talk and act different. I don't know why I do this but it works out for me. There are things that stay the same for me. I have no clue how I've became this way acting different at home and school. For me it has always been like this and will keep going on I guess.

My father went to college and has a job outside the house as an electrical engineer while my mother stays home. I've asked my mother why she never went to college and she has said she got out of high school and never knew what she wanted to do so she didn't go to college. Instead of going to college she left New York and went to Virginia and lived with her sister till she married my father. My father worked while going to college and when he got his job that he has now we moved up here and he goes back to school sometimes to get a higher degree to now. My mother started watching kids as soon as I went to first grade and has always watched children till my friend grew up and started watching herself then my mother hasn't watched children since then. I've learned lots of things from both of them so to me they are both smart cookies.

When us kids were younger we would play games and things outside. I don't know when it transitioned in to just talking outside instead of playing games. Now when everyone outside we girls sit or stand in a group and talk about things like school, life, etc. while our siblings play basketball or do other sport games. Once in a while we'll play the sport game. Once my brother has tried to get me to play a video game inside and I've told him no and that I'm talking with my friends. Then whenever I'm with my friends I'll tell him I talking if he wants me to do something with him because I don't get to see my friend often anymore because were all in different grades. Sometimes he'll say ok and go or just stay and listen or go play with the other guys.

Sometimes when my friends are mad at their parents for things they say they can't wait to turn 18 and leave and escape their parents. Sometimes I listen to them and nod my head but really I think why it's not so bad if you just listen to them. I wouldn't say that to them though. I have even thought what they have thought about leaving at 18 but only when my parents make me really mad. Then when they get what they want to do they don't complained about leaving or anything and that's how it is sometimes.

My dream house is a house that's similar to the one I'm living in but with lots of land and somewhere near the city but is in the country too. I've had this idea since I've wanted to be a vet. The house would be connected to my veterinarian building and so I would be close to take care of the animals and other things. To me it sound peaceful and that's why it would be a place like this.