Sunday, January 25th, 2009. Jackson said
that I needed to update the website, he was tired of seeing the same photo on it
all the time. My sister
Deana
gave the boys Mario Cart as a present this weekend and they've been playing it
almost non-stop since, except for the breaks we took for Saturday's basketball
game and skate party and today's Dinner Club
meeting at Mike and
Brooke's house. Dinner Club was great, we hadn't seen everyone
in months. I ate entirely too much Mexican food and haven't been
this stuffed since Christmas (more photos here.)
On Friday, Deana took photos of Jackson at her studio in Stuart and the photos
that we've seen so far are excellent. She later took Jackson,
Ben and Izzy to the movies to see Hotel For Dogs. Jackson and Ben again
got in a fight, so it may not work out for them to go places together for awhile
if Amy and I are not there. They are brothers and have started acting like
it, in a bad way. Jackson picks on Ben, sometimes very subtly, but it is
still picking none-the-less, and
corrects him ALL THE TIME. Ben has zero tolerance for being picked on or
for being corrected by his brother and reacts swiftly and inappropriately.
So currently, mixing the two of them together is a recipe for disaster. Ben went
to bed as soon as they got home from the movies and ran a fever during the night. He
didn't eat very much on Saturday, then said that he was sick this morning.
He felt better as the day went on and it appears that if he was sick, it was a
mild case.
On the positive side, both boys are doing excellent in school.
Ben's pre-school teacher had very nice things to say about him last week and
commented on how prepared he is for kindergarten. He has recently
accomplished tasks in class that have made his teacher and his parents very
proud.
As motivation for memorizing the multiplication table through 12X12, Jackson's
class is competing in a regatta. Each week they take a test and if they
reach certain benchmarks, they get to advance their boat to the corresponding
level. The test is in random order and must be completed within twenty
minutes. Missing only 30 answers is the first level they try to reach.
Jackson only missed 19 the first week, 4 the second and 3 this week.
According to his teacher, that is very, very good and puts him quite far ahead in the
competition. He also scored 92% on his mid-term benchmark reading test,
which is also really good considering that they have only covered half the
material so far.
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009. Documenting a historic day. A day that we are sooooo happy is here.
Monday, January 19th, 2009. Over the past week we've had bitterly
cold temps, dropping low enough over the weekend to make even the laundry room
too cold for Zorro. Both he and Jackson were thrilled to bunk together
Saturday night. If it were up to either of them, it would be a permanent
arrangement. Our basketball team lost again on Saturday, but I was very
happy with everyone's effort and how the game went. Jackson was in a good
mood as well, even with the loss. Facing a pressing, tight defense, he handled the ball
with confidence, passed the ball when it became evident he was going to be kept
away from the basket and didn't have any turnovers. I think that as many as
five of our seven players scored. With a record of 2-3, we only have two
games left in the regular season. Saturday night we were once again guests
at Deana and Martin's house, this time for family game night. They had
great food, games and prizes and the boys had a wonderful time. Last night
Amy watched the Inaugural Concert while I watched the AFC Championship Game.
Go Steelers! Go Obama! Tonight we capped our evening off with the
Kid's Inaugural Bash on Disney Channel.
Sunday,
January 11th, 2009. Saturday started with a tough basketball game.
Jackson played hard and played well, as did the rest of his team, but it was a
difficult match-up and, for the
first time, the score wasn't very close, although it might have been our highest
scoring game. Papa and Caleb came to watch and, afterwards, Caleb agreed
to stay and play at our house all day. That was a nice distraction,
because Jackson is a very competitive kid and can get pretty emotionally invested
in his games, which means that the losses hit him hard. We played Nerf War, flag football,
and basketball with Caleb. That night, the boys stayed at my parents' house while Amy
and I went to
Deana and Martin's game night. Lots of fun was had, with very
nice company, playing Catchprase, Wii and Texas Hold Em'. Click
here to see a clip from the game of
Catchphrase: Musical Edition that includes Deana's clues for Michael Jackson's
Thriller. CatchPhrase generated a lot of good laughter. Saturday was Amy's
first time playing poker and, not only did she enjoy it, she played very well,
joining me in the final three of the winner's round. We had good
cards and I was lucky enough to be the last player standing. We were going
to blow the winnings on a trip to the movies today, but nothing is out that the
kids haven't already seen. So we watched Prince Caspian at home instead
and spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing. Amy and I had a bit of
a lucky streak at game night. We played on a winning team during
Catchphrase and won the Smarty Pants Wii trivia game. It would have been a
sweep for us if Mark and Sue, who had never touched a Wii remote before,
hadn't crushed us in bowling.
When we got back to my parent's house it was late, raining and cold. Since
the kids were already asleep, we decided to join them for a sleep over at Mo and
Papa's.
Thursday, January 8th, 2009. I forgot to post this year's addition to the last photo of the year collection. Ben fell asleep in the playroom waiting for midnight and Jackson actually stayed awake. So neither boy was actually in their room.
Monday, January 5th, 2009. Yesterday, on a sunny
blue-sky afternoon, I met friends at the Boiling Hole on the Mayo River in Rockingham
County, for some park and play paddling. It was nice to be on the water
after a month and a half paddling drought. In the photo above, I'm trying
out my new creeker with a little seal launch into the river. Amy and the boys,
meanwhile, took Zorro and
Emma to the playground, where Jackson shot basketball and Ben rode his scooter.
After supper, we played Jackson's new Cadoo game that his Aunt Dianna gave him
for Christmas. It was a nice way to spend the last day of their holiday break.
Sunday, January 4th, 2009. Click
here to watch
Ben Wii Boxing (4MBs) So far he's
undefeated. My arms still
hurt from trying the time I tried to beat him. We had a nice
weekend that included a long overdue trip to ChuckECheese, a basketball game and
some outside play in the nice weather. Deana and Martin came to Jackson's
basketball game and posted photos
here. One of today's photos is Ben riding the Razor scooter Santa
gave him. The other photo is our friend Christie and Will's new baby girl
(photographed with her Daddy). We also managed to take down our Christmas
tree and pack all the holiday items back into the attic. Amy was helping
Jackson organize the shelf at the top of his bed. She was setting up a
little desk organizer that holds change, etc... I said "Jackson, I used
that same organizer the entire time I was growing up. And now you're
getting to use it." Amy said "No you didn't. The cleaning lady at
your work gave that to you." I said "Oh yeah." Jackson and I laughed
a long time over that.
Friday, January 2nd, 2009. Way to go Hokies! Jackson and I
just finished watching Virginia Tech win the Orange Bowl. That means that
Jackson has stayed up till midnight two nights in a row. Something tells
me he might sleep a little later than normal tomorrow morning. Today's
photos are from our weekend with the Cowboy crazy Mills family. Jackson
loved it.
