Jack's soccer game was fun on Thursday night. It's still just amazing to see his greatly-improved skills this season, especially on a team with many more players. He was goalie for the first half, and he seemed to really have fun. In the second half, though, he scored the team's only goal! It was an awesome kick, too - he was really moving and busting it down the field. I was mid-sentence with a parent from the opposing team at the time, and I whooped right in their ears, I'm afraid!
Go Jack! Immediately after making the goal, he signaled his coach for his first time off the court. He took a short water break, and then went right back out for the final minutes. If nothing else, it's insane how much
longer he plays before tiring this season, too.
I recently posted an updated picture of A.J. (in the Geography Bee), but I've not posted one of Jack-a-roo in a good while. I look at him sometimes, and I just can't believe that my last chubby-faced little baby is all grown up. *sniffle*
Back in the fall, I brought the boys along with me to entertain two-year-old Lily for some pictures. Lily is currently just IN LOVE with Jack, so it was easy to get her to smile. :-)
Here's Jack giving me a "weirdo" smile at the park that afternoon:
*shakes head* Such a crazy, funny guy. After I snapped that one, he
did take a normal picture, too:
I grew up in Nacogdoches, Texas. Back when I was in the sixth grade, I had to do a semester-long project on trees. I had to make impressions of different leaves, bark rubbings, classifications, and experiments. It was very involved, and my dad would help me by taking me to the Stephen F. Austin campus parks and forestry department. I remember that while we were once on a walk in
Pecan Acres Park, we stumbled across several squirrels acting just downright silly. My dad explained to me that the squirrels were drunk on osage oranges, and he explained how it had happened. It was hilarious as, while we watched, the poor squirrels would try to climb the trunks of the trees, only to become so dizzy and fall right back down again. There were huge, strange-looking fruits littering the ground, and Dad showed me that they were the "oranges" from the osage trees. I thought it was just the coolest thing ever, and the leaf from that tree was my favorite in my collection all year.
And while I was taking pictures, Jack came up to me, holding a neon-yellow, stubbly-looking ball. "Mom, what is this thing?" he asked. I examined it for just a moment, and then I remembered. "An osage orange! It's an osage orange, bud. The squirrels eat these and then get drunk, and it's so funny! Hey, let's look for some squirrels!"
Lily was picking up as many as she could carry, bringing them to me, saying, "Gand-ma... ball?" (She calls me 'Gand-ma,' yes. We don't know why, but she's too adorable to correct, so I don't mind being a 'gand-mother' at this early age. *wink*) By the time we caught up with A.J. and Marissa, I had an armful of osage orange "balls" balanced with my camera.
When we got home, I looked up videos to show the boys just what I had meant, and they laughed until they cried. We must've watched
this video five times, I swear (though in this one, the squirrel was drunk off of fermented pumpkins).
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grrliz about 2.5 years ago. Back then, it was just about a love of all things Helvetica. (You've seen the film, right?)
