Eight

I probably say something similar every year... but I can't believe that I have an eight year-old!  Eight just seems soo old!  And I definitely see him growing!  Physically he is tall, more coordinated and he wanted to let his hair grow long this year.  He weighs about 60 pounds and is about 4 ft 4 inches tall, which is 2 1/2 inches taller than last year. Once summer hit he wanted to cut his hair short so it didn't get in his eyes when swimming. This year he has mastered riding his big bike and rides up and down the sidewalk outside our house.   He likes to ride his bike or scooter to school and got a bike lock so he could leave it on the bike rack during school. 
His interests are changing as well.  He is less into toys and more into electronics...  He likes to play Skylanders on the Wii, Minecraft on the Kindle Fire and watch Minecraft videos on YouTube.  Even Legos are not as interesting as before, although he does still play with them.  He still gets his brother and sister involved in imaginary play, although it is less and less often. 
 He is reading very well, about a 4th grade level according to his testing at school.  He loves it too, which I love.  We are on the 5th Harry Potter book and he recently told me he didn't like it as much s the first ones because it seems "meaner."  And it is much darker, so I get it.  We have slowed way down on reading it because he is not as invested.  He has started the Guardians od GaHoole series and he got the Percy Jackson series for his birthday.   He got all 4s (As) on his final report card.  He doesn't have to work too hard at math but definitely needs to practice his spelling words.
He has been spending lots more time with friends this year.  He has been invited over to play at friends houses a lot and they do fun things like swimming, archery, bike riding and, of course, playing Skylanders.  He had his first real argument with a friend that lasted for several days.
If he had his way he would probably spend his summer days either swimming or playing Minecraft.  His swimming is coming along brilliantly.  He has the basics of a forward crawl, beginning to get the breast stroke and back stroke.  He can do a great back float, handstands under water and a somersault.  He likes to go in the deep, deep end at the pool to challenge himself. 

swimming at The J

He was not very excited to do his interview this year.  He could barely pry himself away from the Kindle long enough to speak to me...

Spring Break in Austin

Bubba, at what age do you think a person is a grown-up? 
28

If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do? 
Invincible?  Oh, invisible.  Sneak up on Dutch and scare her

What is something that makes our family special? 
 I don't know, do I have to do this? 

Are you a good friend? and why?
 Yes, because I am nice and funny

How would the world be different if animals could talk?
I would get a per hamster and talk to him every day

What is the best thing about being a kid?
I don't have to work all day and I don't have to go to school in the summer

What is the worst thing? 
I have to get everything foe everyone, like Dr. Pepper for Dad every night

What is your favorite place in the world? 
Gulf Shores

If you could give one gift to every kid in the world, what would it be? 
Skylanders

Tell me 5 words that you would use to describe yourself. 
funny, awesome, cool, nice and awesome

If you could invent something, what would it be?
I would invent the Mansion Machine, once you start it, it turns your house into a mansion as big as 5 backyards.

What is your favorite:
color: green
food: pizza
song: Digging Minecraft Style
book: Harry Potter
activity: riding my bike
toy: Skylanders
subject at school: recess
friend: Dylan
animal: cheetah
TV show: Phineas and Ferb
movie: Harry Potter

What does Dad like to do? 
sleep

What does Mom like to do?  
 play Candy Crush

What makes you special? 
That I am awesome. (Be more specific, please) I am the only boy in my ballet class.  That I am an awesome reader.

What is one thing you would most like to do? 
Hike Mt Everest

What would you like to write a book about? 
 Minecraft

Describe what you look like. 
brown eyes, brown hair, tall, awesome reader

What are you looking forward to this summer? 
 going to Alabama Beach

What did you accomplished as a 7 year-old? 
riding my big bike, reading 4 1/2 Harry Potter books, getting straight A's on my report card, being in my first ballet recital,


And a random sampling of pictures I like...

Ballet

Harry Potter for Halloween

Gulf Shores 2012



Thanksgiving 2012 in Evansville

 



Achievements

The past month has been so full of achievements for this family!  To begin we had ballet recitals.

 Both of our dancers did a wonderful job.  I was so proud of them both.  Duchess did great- she had a beautiful smile on her face and followed along with her teacher and barely missed a move.

 Bubba did wonderful as well.  He had a short solo in the beginning and had partnering moves with each girl in the class.  Miss Amanda even recognized him to whole audience after the recital was complete.  He was very proud of himself for overcoming his fear!  He told me he said a prayer before dancing to help him be brave- love him!

I got to take a trip without kids!  I went to New York state for my brother's Change of Command ceremony as he took command of a Marine Reserve unit.  It was very impressive.  I have never seen a military ceremony with all the Marine on line and such. 

I got to sit in the cockpit- wow there are a lot of buttons, switches and dials up there!  Be impressed by anyone you know who can fly a plane.

 He has his name on a plane and everything :-)

Mike's family was there and my mother and other two brothers.  Mom and I got to spend some girl time together..  There was an outlet mall near by that was very nice and mother kindly bought me some new summer clothes.  We also got to eat Friendly's ice cream!  LOVE that Reece's Peanut Butter Sundae, takes me back to my childhood... 

 We watched William and Dillon one night while Mike and Sara were at a reception and Scott and I took them swimming. 

 

I almost didn't get home in time for Bubba's birthday...  My flight out of New York was cancelled because of weather.  Mom was driving to see my Aunt Pat outside of Hartford the same night I was leaving, so I was able to get my flight changed to leave from Hartford.  We jumped in the car, drove the 1 1/2 hours to Hartford, I jumped on a plane and got back to Dallas at about 1 AM.  Sooooo worth it in the morning when Bubba came in and woke me up and said "I knew you would make it home in time for my birthday, Mom!"  in the sweetest voice ever. 

This was the first time Bubba's real birthday fell during the school year so we had to make it special.  We all went up to school and ate lunch on the stage.  A teacher had the whole cafeteria sing Happy Birthday to him!

Later  I took cupcakes to his class and they sang again!

And of course we celebrated at home.  His choice for dinner?  Shrimp tacos.  A birthday post will come.

Since Duch's birthday is in the summer we did cupcakes for her the last week as well. 

A big achievement is finishing school!  Duchess loved Kindergarten and is looking forward to 1st grade.  How is it possible that Bubba is going into 3rd grade???  I have the summer to get used to it, I guess. 

Bubba started out the summer with Cub Scout Twilight Camp.  I went one evening and it was very pleasant weather.  It was fun to see how far he has come since last year as far as his skills.  He is quite the archer, if I must say so myself!



We have spent much of the first weeks of summer in the water.  We have played at home in a kiddie pool, a slip and slide, and water fights.  We have been to the Splash Park a few times as well.  Bubba has been swimming at a friends house 3 or 4 times.  We have been swimming at Miss Linda's pool and with friends at the KC pool.  The big kids started swimming lessons last week and are doing great.  Bubba is doing a petty good forward crawl and learning the breast stroke.  He can do handstands and is working on somersaults.  Duch is getting closer to a forward crawl and is jumping off the side, putting her face in the water and learning the breaststroke and to tread water.  Huck is the big surprise.  In his life jacket he is swimming on his own, with me right there of course.  He floats by himself and makes doggy paddle-type motions saying "kick, kick, kick, scoop, scoop, scoop."  He tries to swim for toys and jumps off the side from a sitting position. 
We are still on the waiting list for the KC pool.  After 4 years we were #401 this Spring...  Maybe nest year.  In the mean time we joined the J (Jewish Community Center.)  They have a nice outdoor pool and an indoor warm water pool as well.  The outdoor kiddie pool is pretty small, but the indoor pool has a nice beach entry kiddie area that Huck loves.   So far it sees like a pretty diverse crowd there.  Tons of summer campers during the week days which makes the water crowded.  On the way home the other day Bubba said, "Mom, the J is just fine.  Let's not worry about joining the KC at all."  Until I reminded him that many of his friends go the KC, then he backpedaled a little bit.  But I am glad they are enjoying it so much. 

Wiped out after an afternoon of swimming



Homemade water slide

 

 

So there you have it.  Pretty much sums up the last month of so!  Fun start to the summer.



Glorious Days

I love Spring!  Even with the pollen and allergies making me sneeze, my eyes water and my head-stuff up, I love it.  I love the kids being able to play outside all day, I love opening the house windows, I love having picnic lunches and dinners out back, I love NO mosquitos yet...  And this year I am loving all of our new neighbors running and screaming together!  I'm loving that since our remodel the kids can run in and out the back door without any help and that I can answer the question "Can I play in the backyard?" with a YES almost every time. 

A few weeks ago we finished the planting in the front yard.  Before we did anything it looked like this:

We had to take the tree closest to the house down a few years ago because it was dying. 

Easter weekend we took out all the bushes as many were dead and the rest were just not looking healthy any more so we had this:

A blank canvas...  I think the house looks smaller without any landscaping.  We got some great advice from a friend of The Hubby's whose family own several plant nurseries.  We ended up with boxwood in front of the porch (which makes me feel very colonial), Indian Hawthorn under Duchess's window on the right, pitsporum (sp?) under the dining room window on the left and privets on the edges to frame it all in and offer some height. 

After several days of work...

Now we have this!

Beautiful!  I have actually planted some flowers as well to add some more color.  The only thing left is to add a path from the porch steps to the driveway.  The Hubby is still deciding what exactly he wants that to look like.  I think I want to paint the rocking chairs a fun color, like turquoise maybe.

We also did some cleaning up in the backyard.  I scrubbed all the patio furniture down and in the process turned the backyard into boy heaven!

 

 

 

They had a blast playing in the mud.  Then we released some ladybugs we got at the plant nursery.  Huck wanted to hold one but got a little freaked out when they crawled and tickled. 

 

The next weekend we had one of my friends and her 7 year-old niece over to play all afternoon.  The grown-ups sat on the porch drinking ice tea and the kids ran around outside and played and played and played.  The neighborhood joined in and it was one happy group.  And I was loving every minute!  We also got to play at the playground up at the school.

 

This weekend The Hubby and Bubba are going camping with the Cub Scouts in Mineral Wells.  They are rock climbing!  Hopefully it will be warmed than the last campout...