Catching Up

November was filled with with so many fun things, here are just a few of the going on's around here....

Jake made a floating replicia Mayflower ship for school, complete with popsicle stick pilgrims.

We had fun filling up our Gratitude Tree.

Speaking of the being grateful for things, Michael was able to add a big on November 18th - his Driving Learners Permit! 

When Michael isn't busy driving, playing ball, or doing homework, he can occasionally be found playing the piano.  This is a little jazz tune he played at his recital at school in November.  He did a great job!

1st Tournament

Hayley, Miriam and Sharika before the trophy ceremony

Last Saturday was the Hayley's first UIL tournament.  Trevor had competed in these for the last 2 years and I have had a lot of fun coaching the 4th and 5th grade Oral Reading group over the last few years.  This year Hayley is involved in 3 different areas - Oral Reading, Music Memory & Impromptu Speaking.  Saturday Hayley competed in all 3 areas and did a great job!  Part of the fun is hanging out with your friends in between events.

4 of my Oral Reading Girls

They have also opened some events up to 1st graders, so Jake is joining in the fun with Impromptu Speaking and Solo Acting.  The principal is actually the coach this year for Impromptu Speaking and she stopped me in the hall the other day to talk about how much she is enjoying Jake and his "enthusiasm".  I think he has found a good niche for his creativity!  Only a couple kids from each school can enter each event and Solo Acting didn't get up and running in time for this first tournment, so Jake just came to the awards ceremony to cheer on  his school.  We came in a close 2nd place for the tournment, not bad for just a week or 2 of practices.  Looking forward to another great year of UIL!

JAKE IS 7!!!

Jake turned 7 years old on Friday, a day he has been planning down to the last detail for months. He was so excited, he woke up at 5:23 am and was ready to go for the day, bringing his sister out with him!

Happy Birthday Jake - up before the sun!

So we started off with a small present to play with until breakfast was ready.

Puzzle Time

For breakfast Jake wanted french toast (for the 3rd day in a row), so we made Grammy's fancy Decandant French Toast as a special treat.

Birthday Breakfast

Don was going to be gone during most of the week-end, so Jake got to open a couple more presents early in the morning so his dad could see... Jake was more than happy to oblige :)  It was a Star Wars type of morning.



Opening Padawan Menace DVD with Dad



Clone Trooper Jake

Jake got visits from both sets of his grandparents that afternoon.  My parents made it into town just in time to meet us at the school for pick-up, which made Jake smile from ear to ear.  A little while later, Don's parents came by for more fun and presents. 

Hugs for Grammy

Jake wanted pictures with everyone, including one of "just the guys" since we had already snapped a photo of him and his grandmothers.

An excited Jake with his grandparents



 

Pokemon was the theme of the afternoon, and before Grammy and Grandaddy left, Jake had acquired several new Pokemon action figures and got to blow out his candles on his PokeBall Cake.

Our Pirate/Star Wars/Pokemon Master making a wish to save the world

The cake was a big decision for Jake.  For the last 4 years, it has been all Star Wars lightsabors, in a variety of colors - green, blue,and double Darth Maul red, and Jake had a hard time deciding what he wanted this year.  But Thursday he finally declared he wanted a Pokeball cake and he was pretty excited to see it when he came home from school on Friday.  He did think the only thing that would have made it cooler is if there were real Pokemon figures in the middle of the cake.  Crazy kid.

The  Cake

After cake it was time to switch gears again for his last present.  For a long time Jake has been eyeing the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean Wii video game.  He loves jumping around to the "He's a Pirate" song and playing pirates.  So for his big gift, he got the game.  I also found several fun pirate things at the dollar store and I stained a wooden treasure chest I found at Hobby Lobby.  It was a huge hit and our house has been filled with pirates all week-end long.  Even Luke is walking around with a telescope and compass saying "Arrgh". 



Jake and his Treasure Chest

 


It's a Pirates Life for us




Trevor



Grandmommie getting into the action

Michael



After all the excitement of the day wound down, Jake found time to snuggle for a story with Grandpa before bedtime. 

Jake is a fun loving-kid who squeezes absolute most out of each day.  He has an unique enthusiasm for life and is a very passionate person.  Jake adds such a element of fun and excitement to our house.   It was so great to celebrate Jake this week-end.

Happy Birthday Jake!  We love you!!

Clone Wars Season Premiere

The countdown is over.  Since May, Jake has been counting the weeks until Star Wars, The Clone Wars returned to Cartoon Network.  So in preparation for the big night, Luke helped me make Star Wars cookies while the others were at school. 

We celebrated the big night with a small Star Wars dinner, Tie-Fighter Hot Dogs, Darth's Doritos, Greedo's Grapes, Star Wars Fruit Snacks and Yoda Soda to go with the fun cookies.

The only thing better than tonight's festivities is that next week, for show #2, which "looks totally AWESOME!", according to Jake after watching the sneak peek, will be on Jake's birthday.  Bonus.  The force is definitely with us!

Catching up with Jake

Time for a quick catch up in the blog...

May was a busy month with school winding down.  This last sememster Jake was in Japanese at school and was in a fun spring performance.

Jake after his performance

Japanese Performance

Jake had one last field trip to the Butterfly Exhibit at the Natural Science Museum.

Field Trip with the Butterflies

Jake also won Character Star of the Week for all the Kindergarten classes, being recognized for being curious and helpful. 




Jake - A Curious Character!

 
End of School awards and class parties are always fun.  Jake won a super kid medal and other fun certificates. 


SUPERKID!




Jake and his teacher Ms. Yeager



Jake's Kindergarten Class 2010-2011

The last few days of school were filled with fun activities with friends.

The 3 Amigos - Jake, Dylan & Daniel

Magdalena signing Jake's yearbook

Jake's class was "The Fishy Classroom".  They made mud club t-shirts with a painted fish the week before to wear at the class party.  The day of the party they wore their swimming suits and had a mud/water party.  After playing in the mud, they got hosed off and put on their fun shirts before starting the second party of the party with treats and dancing on the patio to "Joy to the Fishes in the Deep Blue Sea" and other fun songs.  It was quite the party.

It was a great school year and Jake really learned and grew a lot.  Some of his favorite things from kindergarten were his teacher Ms. Yeager, his new friends, all the fun field trips they went on,work and math stations, and  recess and playing tag on the playground afterschool. 

First Day of School

Last Day of School

A Sign of the Times

I was looking at Jake's papers from school last week, and noticed this paper in his folder.  It said "I Love Chiks Yes I Dow" (kindergarten translation  = "I Love Chicks Yes I Do")

Later at dinner I asked him about it, he immediately started telling us about the life cycle of a chicken.... aha, now it makes sense. Then I asked him if he knew what a chick was, and he told me, "Of course, it's a baby chicken.  I love chicks, they are so cute!"  Needless to say, there was a lot of smirking, eye rolling and laughter from the older boys during this conversation.  I think Jake isn't the only one who "loves chiks"  around here :)

...I just wonder, when will the unit on the birds and bees be coming home?!!

Jake Shows His Stuff

Kindergarten is where the action is.  In the last couple of weeks, Jake's class has been keeping busy.


First they adapted an African Folktale into a play, made some seriously sweet costumes, and put on a spectacular performance.  Jake and his friend Daniel were the Cheetahs.  I have never seen a cheetah run so fast in place.  It was amazing :)

Cheetah's in action

Ms. Yeager playing the drums



Jake the Cheetah


Afterwards we were able to get the actors autographs on the back of our programs.  It was awesome.

Autograph time!

The cast party after the play was pretty cool too, with festive cupcakes and cookies for everyone to enjoy.

Luke was loving the cookies 

This week, in honor of Earth Day, Jake made a pretty cool recyclable robot.  He even added a Agent P backpack onto his robot (a strawberry plastic container with a cardboard picture of Perry the Platypus recycled from Luke's bday present).  It was fun to see all the creative robots that the kids came up with.

Jake and his Robot



Springtime means Parks!

Springtime is the perfect perfect park weather here.  Last week we took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent several afternoons at the park.  One day I had the camera and got a couple of fun pictures.  The older kids are so great with Luke, playing with him, picking flowers for him & pushing him on the swings.  I did have to draw the line with Jake - no underdogs on the swings with Luke...even if "Luke loves it!"  My heart can't handle it!

Trevor had friends at the basketball courts next to the park so Jake got a couple of shots of Trevor hoopin' it up, as well as a few other interesting shots...my favorite being this one of his shadow!

Catching his shadow!