It's Wild Here

July

Fourth of July at Uncle Doug and Aunt Barb's house has been a tradition for several years. Before that, we had decades of Fourths at my grandma's.  Marshmallow topped brownies, balloon toss, cooking out. 

 

All summer, we've been attending the summer reading programs at the library. This one was really wonderful, engaging all the children completely.

Hanging out downtown at the first (annual?) Cirque Carnival

Ryan is finishing up a clay class - they are creating an under-the-sea scene.

 Ryan attended Bulldog Basketball Camp and had the best time.  They were long, hot days and he wanted to be there every minute. He says it's more fun than swimming or soccer.  I'm thinking, wait until he can get the ball into the net - how fun will it be then?

 

 

4-H Camp Clifton - Jeremiah's first week away from home. He did the high ropes course, a zip line at night, and a few activities that he described as "do it yourself..."  They weren't terribly prepared. Think ice cream eating contest with no bowls, spoons or cones.  Just kids and a tub of ice cream. 

jamie's 8th grade promotion

Jamie with his best friend, Soccer Ball, and sporting his new Class of 2013 button.

accomplishment

Nearly a year and a half ago, I posted about Jamie's entry into the Virginia Hamilton Youth Art Show.

It took quite a while, but his art is now in circulation in the Greene County Public Library.

We have still not been able to photograph the art, but I hope to get that taken care of soon.

Jeremiah this summer

Unlike in the picture, Jeremiah was serious on the field. His team won first place in their division for the league this spring.

Now, his focus is on swimming, pick-up soccer in the evenings, an upcoming 11th birthday, and some organized activities - soccer camp, Summer Strings (band camp), and possibly a regular sports and crafts day camp in August.

He had the opportunity to go to KI with K, T and the cousins, and will probably do that again a few more times this summer.

In preparation for school in the fall, he's spending time every day on multiplication/division memorization, hand writing, and as always he's in the middle of a novel (The People of Sparks).

tournament success, growth spurts and new hats

Congratulations on 2nd place! Jeremiah played well and his team had a great start to their season.

What has Kelly been up to this month? (In case you can't see clearly, that's 2.5 inches in less than a month)

This one really needs no caption.

Update on the NTP

My friend Suzee has a teen daughter dubbed TP, for Teen Princess.  What we have, here, is a NearTeenPrince, or NTP.   I hope he'll settle for his new ID, because it would be a pain to have to type BSAWPSDHDAJWDAKUWHR every time I refer to him.  (That would be busy social artist who plays soccer daily, holds down a job with dedication, and keeps up with household responsibilities.)

NTP:

- made the Club X select soccer team!
- continues to play a leadership role at TAG, the local teen art group
- works twice/week at the local garden, gardening and interacting with the elders at the Care Center (his mentor/supervisor says he's fabulous with the elders, and I know he's satisfied with his giant radishes - the size of small apples!)
- is on the lookout for an affordable verizon phone after his second cell phone found its way into the laundry
- currently attending British Challenger Soccer Camp again

I can't get much of a shot of him lately - they look like this ftmp.

missing camera

My camera keeps disappearing and reappearing randomly, which really slows my blogging, as I tend to rely on my pictures to jog my memory about blog-worthy happenings. I guess I will have to use my powers of concentration:

The Yellow Springs Art Council youth liason has invited Ja to be a member of a Teen Art Group - this seems like it will be a wonderful way for him to meet other artists, older teens, make good connections, etc.  It sounds like they'll be planning all sorts of interesting events, and the liason, D, is an adult he already knows and likes.

Meanwhile, he continues in admirable commitment to his job at the Intergenerational Garden.  He goes for one work session weekly, and at least one other time to weed and water. I can't wait until we start getting bags of veggies from the garden's CSA.

Ja has also started playing tennis with Grandpa. Grandpa says he's quite good and a quick learner. They'll be going out again Monday, and Ja says probably 2-3 times a week. His soccer season just ended with a tie - the game was 0-0 until nearly the end, and his team scored! We thought they had it in the bag, but the other team scored a goal in the final minutes. It was great playing.

Ja: nearing the end of the His Dark Materials trilogy, planning to read one or both of the upcoming Teen book group selections - Dragon's Keep and Rat Life.  Also, coming up in the next month, Farenheit 451 and Lord of the Nutcracker Men (audiobook).

More updating to come...

Library Art Show results

Congratulations to Jamie! The library has chosen his piece to be purchased and included in their circulating art collection. Here's the post about the art show, in case you missed that.

The actual artwork is still not in a digital form that I can post here, but I will have it soon.

Mom was here yesterday. We just hung out, tidying the house and keeping the dogs and babies safe from each other. R was in rare form, quite hyped up and a bit on the aggressive side. Mom took him in for a bath and they talked and played in there for a long time. K had his first sink bath as well - pictures to come, as soon as Mom emails them to me.

J and J had busy days with their friends D and D - they played paintball AND laser tag, ate pizza and just generally had a dream day. When they returned, J took Mom over to see his art on display at the library.

R was up, wide awake, at about 2-3am. I'm not sure what to do with him - he doesn't seem to need a nap most days, unless I'd be willing to give it to him at around 3-4pm, which would result in a bedtime of nearly 11, probably. But when he doesn't nap, and goes to bed by 7:30-8, he wakes up in the night more, with night terrors or hunger or general wakefulness. I know it's killing E, and since R sometimes insists on seeing me too, I get the double-baby wakeup routine, which wears me out. Being 35 and sleep-deprived is not the same as 25 was.

In other depressing news, it's still cold as hell, and it doesn't look like it's going to get better soon. Snow flurries forecast for the weekend. Mark my word, when this finally ends, we're going to go directly to 80-degree weather, and I will move to North Carolina whine.

Sunlight

Jeremiah won first prize for this poem, in his age group, in the Dayton Daily News poetry contest.

The sun is big

The sun is round

It lives in outer space, I've found.

I don't know how it makes this light,

But it shares it with the moon at night.

I know it doesn't seem like one

But it's just like any other star.

It must have been a bit more glare

and much more light that fills the air

At night the moon takes its place

In our universe that we call space.