It's Wild Here

December update

Earlier in the month, we attended the annual Santa/Pancake/Craft breakfast at the Methodist Church.  It's a sweet tradition.

I've spared you the alternative photo, in which Kellen makes his favorite new face (nostrils sucked in with power vacuum force --  he looks very odd).  

It was one of those years when Santa could make a long-time wish happen. Ryan has been asking to play violin for several years. I really love his expression in the very first seconds of the video.

The boys' school went roller skating during the week before break.  Kellen was quite daring on wheels, and had a great time with his pals (below the video).

 

Jeremiah's Christmas looked like this: 

Before the break, Jeremiah also joined the Mock Trial/Debate club at school, and has been enjoying that a lot. Some cruel fellow assigned homework over their vacation, so he'll be working on that soon, and these games will get a break.

Next quarter at Sinclair, I'll be teaching three sections of SOC 112, and Kellen will be switching to full day kindergarten twice/week.  I think he'll enjoy the extra time at school, as he'd been complaining of a lot of boredom in the mornings.

Christmas miracle: all 5 of them looking at the camera with smile-like expressions, probably earlier than 8am.

HEX BUGS with Uncle Troy!

Uncle Bill is a cruel, cruel ear-lifter.

Jamie has enjoyed a very long break from classes at Sinclair.  He's taken the time to write songs, bond with the cat, look for jobs, do a little work for a local builder, and play some shows.

W heels and S port F ishing USA (not really wanting fans of the bands to find this blog on google)

As it turns out, Ryan can play basketball very well. He's having a blast with it. Here is a very short clip of his awesome.

Ryan soccer

Ryan enjoys every sport he's tried. He had a great fall soccer season, and has recently begun the first session of indoor.

 

updates

K: nursing less (plugged duct/infection to show for that), talking more, daddy-love all the time, can spend long periods at the kitchen sink playing, never forgets his vitamin.

R: scared of the dark and shadows, enjoying the Baha'i children's class - he does so well in situations like this - so compliant and joiner-y, but in a cooperative, contributing way, very different from at home, where we still experience daily surprises. Learning letters, is remarkably quick to understand simple arithmetic, has had a cold for weeeeeks.  Will not blow his nose ever. Planning to be Jedi for Halloween.

JJ: writing a 4-page story for school, starting a tumbling class at X YMCA with his friend E, spending a lot of other time with same seemingly-best friend, although he assures me his "group" at school consists of about 14 friends :-) 

J: still struggling with sleep, working with AR weekly on amazing sculptures, worked last weekend at her studio for the studio tour, maintaining As and Bs.

J and JJ's team finished in 2nd place in rec league soccer this fall - it was SO close! They tied and went into penalty kicks. Great to see the brothers on the same team again - it's been years since they happened to be in the same age groupings for soccer.

E: traveling more than we'd all like, seems to be weathering the financial situation at work, enjoying participating at the Baha'i Center, listening to Marshall Rosenberg, watching the bizarre foods and fighting shows, cleared out our shed (yay!).  

A: injured back, trying out a new meal routine - repetitive but much easier to maintain, enjoying the NVC group and Threshold Choir, absolutely cannot keep up with laundry, setting goals to hang curtains and art by J's birthday, planning to offer some community service in the form of computer help for seniors, considering whether to homeschool with R next year - kindergarten age.

Spinning/knitting: still working on red sweater, spinning about every other day for 20-30 min. Finished these bullseye mittens a couple weeks ago - yes, the color combo is just as horrid in person.

busy older guys

Late last month, J began 8th grade. He's also busy with soccer, the end of the season at the intergenerational garden, catching up on past seasons of Lost, and the beginning of the soccer season. He's also doing quite a lot of painting (post to come), and continues to beg for a fabulous camera like Aunt Katie's.

JJ began 6th grade in public school and has adjusted marvelously. As expected, he enjoys an easy and fun social life. He finds the academic work very doable, although at times not very stimulating. Both boys enjoyed the local blues festival last weekend, where JJ purchased these distinctive shades. He's playing travel and recreational soccer, and continues to be dedicated to our trusty trampoline out back.

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).