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Two boys, two stories.
Jan. 21st, 2010 01:10 amWell, I've got a yummy plateful of fresh Snickerdoodles in front of me, so I figure I can make a post now. *wink*
Jack began his indoor soccer league last Tuesday night. It runs for 13 weeks, and he has practice and/or games on Tuesday and Thursday nights at the Youth Center. The center here is amazing, by the way - voted 'Best in the Air Force,' and it is the largest in the Air Force, too. It is just insane how many activities are going on each and every time we walk in the doors. I swear, the very first time, the boys' heads were absolutely spinning, trying to take it all in.
But back to soccer! His team is made up of 7 & 8-year-olds, and though it is mostly boys, there are at least three girls on the team, too. On the first night of practice, the coach scrimmaged the team for the entire hour, getting a feel for what the kids could do. Jack played goalie for over half of that time, and he rocked it. Philip and I just were amazed at how much his skills have improved in the last year, and it is evident that Jack has really worked hard. I also think it was extremely helpful that his last league team had six players and two coaches. With a ratio of players to coaches of 3:1, the kids got oodles of personalized coaching instruction, and that had been wonderful.
He was catching high balls in picture-worthy "leaps" at the goal, and he was rolling like a pin to block the fast-moving floor shots. He was on fire! In the second half, he was dribbling through the players in a way we've never seen - we couldn't say enough good things! He had so much fun, and each day he tells me how he can't wait for the next Tuesday or Thursday (whichever is closest) for practice again. I am SO happy that he is loving this sport more and more each year!
*runs to pull the next batch of cookies from the oven*
The Friday before last, A.J. had mentioned to us over dinner something about his school having a Geography Bee. I'd never heard of such a thing, so I questioned him and learned it to be very similar to the Spelling Bees I was familiar with from my own school days. He said that he'd need to stay after school for the Bee, and that he, "won't ride the bus home that day, Mom. You'll have to come and pick me up later." I asked if we could attend the event, and he said he thought so.
We planned to do just that. I was expecting it to be the entire sixth grade competing, and I imagined it would take a while, too.
Last Tuesday morning, I received a call from A.J.'s teacher, Mrs. Kreutzbender, and she wanted to give me the details on the Bee. She explained that the Bee would begin at 3pm, so we would need to be there before school let out (the normal school day ends at 3:15). She also told me how very proud she was that A.J. had managed to take the top spot in his class after only eleven days in the new school, and that he would be one of ten students competing from the entire school.
Wow! I didn't realize he had earned SUCH an honor! When he had mentioned it to us, he hadn't made it sound like he had already competed to get to a certain level, and he certainly didn't mention that he was one of ten. Amazing!
We arrived at the school on Wednesday afternoon about ten minutes before the Bee was to start. I asked in the office for Jack to be released from class a bit early so he could watch A.J. as well. The kids were seated at the far end of the library, two to a table, and the parents were to sit/stand at the other end. As such, we could barely see A.J. in the farthest table.
The kids were so nervous. After asking the first two questions without a single response from any child, the librarian stopped the competition and made everyone take a few deep breaths. It was still very intense, and you could see it on the kids' faces. In the first round, each child was asked an individual question. They could answer the question from another kid if that person had already guessed incorrectly, but they still didn't receive any credit for it. A.J. missed his own question, but he correctly answered the questions of two other children. In the second round, the kids had to write down the answer on their paper with a giant marker. A.J. wrote down the wrong state in that round.
The Bee went very quickly. Once a child had two misses, they were excused from the remainder of the Bee. At the end of the second round, seven kids were dismissed, including A.J. At the end of the verbal third round, two more children were dismissed, and the winner declared. I don't remember her name, but she was a girl from the other sixth grade classroom.
We were still so very proud. A.J.'s teacher arrived in time for the third round (school had just let out), and she gave him a big pat on the back and congratulations for making it this far. The librarian said that there were small tokens for each child competing, but that there was a shipping snafu - they hadn't arrived at the school in time. A.J. will be bringing that home later.
*more cookie-ing*
I think all the recipients of last week's mega-mailing have received their goodies/gifts. I've not yet heard from my Grandpa, but he's not really a phone guy, and he doesn't have a computer, either. I still have two boxes left to mail, but I've been sitting on them for a while. One is ready, one is not - but going to the post office on base is just a drain. The one in town, however, is huge and efficient. Also, they have an adorable old-tyme post office right in the lobby - literally taken directly from the railroad tracks years and years ago. So quaint! I could have dreamt the day away just looking at it!
Jack began his indoor soccer league last Tuesday night. It runs for 13 weeks, and he has practice and/or games on Tuesday and Thursday nights at the Youth Center. The center here is amazing, by the way - voted 'Best in the Air Force,' and it is the largest in the Air Force, too. It is just insane how many activities are going on each and every time we walk in the doors. I swear, the very first time, the boys' heads were absolutely spinning, trying to take it all in.
But back to soccer! His team is made up of 7 & 8-year-olds, and though it is mostly boys, there are at least three girls on the team, too. On the first night of practice, the coach scrimmaged the team for the entire hour, getting a feel for what the kids could do. Jack played goalie for over half of that time, and he rocked it. Philip and I just were amazed at how much his skills have improved in the last year, and it is evident that Jack has really worked hard. I also think it was extremely helpful that his last league team had six players and two coaches. With a ratio of players to coaches of 3:1, the kids got oodles of personalized coaching instruction, and that had been wonderful.
He was catching high balls in picture-worthy "leaps" at the goal, and he was rolling like a pin to block the fast-moving floor shots. He was on fire! In the second half, he was dribbling through the players in a way we've never seen - we couldn't say enough good things! He had so much fun, and each day he tells me how he can't wait for the next Tuesday or Thursday (whichever is closest) for practice again. I am SO happy that he is loving this sport more and more each year!
*runs to pull the next batch of cookies from the oven*
The Friday before last, A.J. had mentioned to us over dinner something about his school having a Geography Bee. I'd never heard of such a thing, so I questioned him and learned it to be very similar to the Spelling Bees I was familiar with from my own school days. He said that he'd need to stay after school for the Bee, and that he, "won't ride the bus home that day, Mom. You'll have to come and pick me up later." I asked if we could attend the event, and he said he thought so.
We planned to do just that. I was expecting it to be the entire sixth grade competing, and I imagined it would take a while, too.
Last Tuesday morning, I received a call from A.J.'s teacher, Mrs. Kreutzbender, and she wanted to give me the details on the Bee. She explained that the Bee would begin at 3pm, so we would need to be there before school let out (the normal school day ends at 3:15). She also told me how very proud she was that A.J. had managed to take the top spot in his class after only eleven days in the new school, and that he would be one of ten students competing from the entire school.
Wow! I didn't realize he had earned SUCH an honor! When he had mentioned it to us, he hadn't made it sound like he had already competed to get to a certain level, and he certainly didn't mention that he was one of ten. Amazing!
We arrived at the school on Wednesday afternoon about ten minutes before the Bee was to start. I asked in the office for Jack to be released from class a bit early so he could watch A.J. as well. The kids were seated at the far end of the library, two to a table, and the parents were to sit/stand at the other end. As such, we could barely see A.J. in the farthest table.
The kids were so nervous. After asking the first two questions without a single response from any child, the librarian stopped the competition and made everyone take a few deep breaths. It was still very intense, and you could see it on the kids' faces. In the first round, each child was asked an individual question. They could answer the question from another kid if that person had already guessed incorrectly, but they still didn't receive any credit for it. A.J. missed his own question, but he correctly answered the questions of two other children. In the second round, the kids had to write down the answer on their paper with a giant marker. A.J. wrote down the wrong state in that round.
The Bee went very quickly. Once a child had two misses, they were excused from the remainder of the Bee. At the end of the second round, seven kids were dismissed, including A.J. At the end of the verbal third round, two more children were dismissed, and the winner declared. I don't remember her name, but she was a girl from the other sixth grade classroom.
We were still so very proud. A.J.'s teacher arrived in time for the third round (school had just let out), and she gave him a big pat on the back and congratulations for making it this far. The librarian said that there were small tokens for each child competing, but that there was a shipping snafu - they hadn't arrived at the school in time. A.J. will be bringing that home later.
*more cookie-ing*
I think all the recipients of last week's mega-mailing have received their goodies/gifts. I've not yet heard from my Grandpa, but he's not really a phone guy, and he doesn't have a computer, either. I still have two boxes left to mail, but I've been sitting on them for a while. One is ready, one is not - but going to the post office on base is just a drain. The one in town, however, is huge and efficient. Also, they have an adorable old-tyme post office right in the lobby - literally taken directly from the railroad tracks years and years ago. So quaint! I could have dreamt the day away just looking at it!
