Wednesday, April 29th, 2009. I've have nothing but positive things
to say about the Spring soccer season. Jackson seems to be enjoying both
the practices and the games. I've been proud of his work ethic and
have enjoyed watching him and his team play. His team mates all appear to be great kids
and it is nice to see a sense of camaraderie develop among them as the season
progresses. They have the highest level of sportsmanship I've seen on any
team Jackson has been a part of. I
think the coach is doing a fantastic job of both teaching and motivating. And as
a bonus, they are currently 4-0. The only other undefeated team is coached
by Eric and has Caleb and Isabelle on it. We have been rooting for
them as well and hope that both teams are still undefeated when they meet near
the end of the season. Last night, Jackson played his friend
Matthew.
Matthew played great in the goalie box all four quarters. At
one point, he made three saves within just a matter of seconds. Our
goalie played equally as tough with some amazing saves of her own. It was
a close game that ended with a score of 4-3. Some of today's photos are ones that
Deana took last week and a few are ones I snapped this week
(more photos here).
Monday, April 27th, 2009. On Friday, while Amy and Jackson were
enjoying perfect weather at our local Special Olympics, Deana helped us out by
picking Ben up from pre-school. Without going into details, let's just say that
we owe Deana big time after the stormy conditions she had to go through while on
Main Street with Ben. Seriously, I mean we owe her BIG time. So that was the bad part, but
apparently Amy and Jackson both enjoyed their time at Special Olympics.
And that evening, Amy got to celebrate our good friend Megan
turning thirteen with a Girls Only party thrown by Timmesa.
THIRTEEN, can you believe that?
Sunday, April 26, 2009. Amy and I had a fantastic weekend in
Charlotte with friends Christie and Will. As a bonus, we were able to also
hang out with Deana and Martin, who were, like us, downtown for the
Fleetwood Mac concert. The show was superb, one of the best that either
Amy or myself had seen. Lindsey Buckingham blew me away with his guitar
playing and Amy was so happy to get to see Stevie Nicks. On Saturday,
before leaving town, we had a blast at baby Brett's one year old
birthday party. After the party, I took the boys to Claudville where
they spent the day playing with their Papa and cousins. They came back
with lots and lots of fun stories to tell. It was just a really nice weekend, but one
that left all four of us pretty worn out.
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009. More photos of the kids at Kimberly's
wedding. I'm back in town tonight after a night in Cary. It gave me
just enough time to play with the kids a little before helping Amy tuck them in, because
I'll head back out early in the morning before they wake up. I missed
Jackson's soccer game last night, but got to see some great photos that
Deana
took. She has a few posted over on her site. They won again and have
another game tomorrow night, as does Ben. That's it, another quick post.
Monday, April 20th, 2009. Today's photos are of Ben with his
2nd cousin, once removed, Zane building a dam and his 2nd cousin Autumn and 1st cousin, once
removed, Maddie racing to the creek. We went to my cousin Kimberly's
beautiful wedding on Saturday. The kids played for hours after the
ceremony.
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009. Jackson received his third report card of
the year and for the third time in a row, he received straight As.
He scored 100 in language, 95 in mathematics, 95 in social studies and 98 in
science.
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009. Like his first game, Jackson's second soccer game was rained out tonight. Since it's so chilly and gray outside, we'll look back at our sunny Easter Sunday with a few more pics.
Monday, April 13th, 2009. On Saturday we attended a
Lillie's Friends birthday bash in
memory of Lillie, who died at the age of three after a ten month battle with Neuroblastoma.
Our friend Brooke helped organize the event and we spent most of our time
playing with our good buddy, her son Landon. We were also fortunate enough
to run into our old friend Mike McColl whospends most of his time living in LA.
We joined Mike M after the celebration, along his wife Gwynn, their two
daughters, plus our friends Frank and Ro, at Mike and Brooke's house for a couple more hours of play and visiting before
heading home. Jackson was hit twice with baseballs that I threw to him, once
in the face. He shook it off each time, wiped away the blood and kept throwing.
Ben loved playing Mario Party 8 with Landon. On our way home he said that
he wished he had that game. He then got this "Ah Ha!" look on his face, closed his
eyes, clinched his fists and wrinkled up his nose. A few seconds
later he opened his eyes and said "There, I wished for it because the Easter
Bunny is coming tonight." He must be a good wisher, because, sure
enough, the Easter Bunny left it for him in his basket that night.
Sunday, April 12th, 2009. Happy Easter!!! Here are just a few
photos from a fantastic Easter that started early when the eggs hidden in the
front yard were still covered with frost and ended late after a full day of
Easter Egg hunting and playing. My sister
Deana
threw the best Easter Party ever on a day with perfect weather. We are all
exhausted, so I'll post more photos later in the week.
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009.
I was super impressed with Jackson's hustle during this week's practice.
He was placed in the defensive mid-fielder position that he likes so well and
aggressively worked to keep the spot. I know I'm biased, but I really do
think he has a good work ethic and a knack for attacking the ball. His team is structured nicely and everyone plays their
positions well. They've got great footwork in the forward positions,
strong legs in the back line of defense and two tough goalies. I don't
know how it will relate to wins and losses once the games start, but
they practice great and I'm looking forward to seeing them in action.
Poor Ben took another spill last night that resulted in more scrapes on his
back. This time we were playing hide-and-seek, except that the boys text
each other clues about their hiding spots using their their Nintendo DS. I helped Ben
hide in a large wardrobe in the playroom that we use to store our board games.
When Ben leaned back against the door, it fell open and he tumbled out onto toys
that were laying on the floor. He cried and cried, exclaiming "Why do I
have to keep getting hurt? Why? I'll have to sleep on my stomach for
another five weeks!!!"
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009.
I'm posting photos today of Ben playing Tee Ball. Tomorrow I'll post pics
of Jackson playing soccer. Practices are going well, although the weather
has turned really cold again. Last week's games were rained
out, so the first games will now be next week after Spring Break. The boys
have enjoyed their time at home this week, but Jackson is looking forward to his
afternoon at the movies with his Aunt Deana.
Monday, April 6th, 2009. Today I am posting a few photos from last weekend. Jimmy is growing so fast that he looks like a different kid every time we see him.
Sunday, April 5th, 2009. A few photos from the
weekend, which included the celebration of my beautiful young wife's birthday,
our gymnast niece Isabelle's birthday, a MAJWC Easter egg hunt, lots of outside
play (soccer, baseball, dog walks, etc...), a trip to the candy store on Main
Street, Pink Panther 2 at the Downtown Cinema, park-and-play paddling on the
Mayo and much more.
