Jada’s basketball season is officially over. Tonight was her last game and they went out with a bang. As you can tell from the pictures below, she was playing hard at both ends of the court. I had a great time cheering her on with the other parents. Hopefully she’ll get to play on another team and continue the successes and improvements!
Jada Shooting
Jada Boxing Out
Final Score
We had a few friends over last night to celebrate New Years Eve 2011. Jonah didn’t quite make it to midnight but the other three did. Maybe he’ll hang on next year.
The girls had a buddy over and the trio were wild enough they could have gone on for a few more hours. Levi however was just about toast. To top things off, I don’t think the ball drop was any more exciting for him than it historically has been for me based on the photo below.
Jada Lana Gillian
Levi
Evidently, Dale is visiting Grandma Nita and has commandeered her new iPhone to send video messages to Jada. Jada is using her new iPod Touch to return the favor. I was lucky enough to get ahold of the first videos each way. Check them out for a smile.
Like that headline? It’s December 26, 2011, so the Christmas festivities (chaotic activities) are on a downward slope. One of the stocking stuffers the kids received was a bottle of Ski. It’s a citrus style drink similar to Sprite or Mellow Yellow that I’ve never understood the big deal about, but Jackie’s family goes nuts over it. In any case, our kids got them from Santa and given the bottle is shaped about like a beer bottle, I guess that was enough to convince Levi. Jackie was in the kitchen when Levi walked in carrying his bottle of Ski and asked “Mom, will you open my beer?”. We both cracked up. I don’t drink (never have) and Jackie drinks very rarely, so we’re not even entirely sure how he made the connection. The request was funny nonetheless.
As is typical, amongst the splattering of smaller gifts, the kids each got big gifts from Santa this year as well. The boys got Nintendo DSi’s and the girls scored iPod Touches. They had been asking for cell phones for months, but given their ages; 8 & 9, a monthly bill for calling and texting the one or two people they’d talk to didn’t seem like a good idea (to Santa as well it would seem).
The boys also got a race track that Jonah punished within a couple of hours, a few DSi games, a couple of XBox games, and several trucks, both remote control and not. They’ve bounced around from toy to toy, not spending a lot of time with any given one, but Levi has played the DSi quite a bit.
The girls however, seem to love their touches. Even though they’ve had access to Jackie’s old iPhone 3G which worked like a touch for over a year now. I set them up with their own Apple accounts so they could learn to manage money a little bit and so far…we all love it. They each got $15 iTunes gift cards, and quickly learned that even .99 apps have tax applied, which makes them cost a tad over a dollar. I pointed Jada toward a better photo app than the one that comes with the Touch and her first question was “Is it free?”. I said “No.”, and she said “Then I don’t want it!”. It’s funny to hear her change her tune when she has a finite amount of money to spend and knows the supply is no longer unlimited (Daddy’s money).
Madelyn (next door) also got a Touch for Christmas, so they’ve been texting and calling each other quite a bit. The girls spent the night at Madelyn’s house last night and Jill (Madelyn’s Mom) took them out to buy cases for the Touches this morning. They seem to really enjoy the Touch and everything they can do with it. I think given their own accounts to buy things with, they feel a little freedom..and they needed that.
Jackie got several vegan cookbooks and I got some photography stuff (Photoshop CS5, a photography book, lens cleaning pen, etc.) which seems to be my new love since needing the latest and greatest gaming gear is no longer a requirement given the slow-down in gaming (Unreal Tournament) time. Levi has been playing UT2004 on the computer though, which he seems to really like (and I of course love watching him play a game I enjoyed so much).
I got some really good pictures, both at Mom’s and at our house. So far…still lovin’ the new camera hobby. I’m not as good as I want to be yet, but I’m definitely getting better.
It’s that time again, well, ok, it’s a little after that time. School pictures have been available for awhile now, but basketball pictures haven’t been! Jonah and Levi just got their basketball pictures this morning, so those aren’t late at all! In any case, here are their ugly mugs, and if you want to see some half way decent pictures, don’t hesitate to look here.
Jada Fourth Grade 2011
Lana Third Grade 2011
Levi Kindergarten 2011
Jonah Preschool 2011
Jada Basketball 2011
Levi and Jonah Basketball 2011
Levi and Jonah Basketball Team 2011
Levi and Jonah Basketball Team Silly 2011
Jada Basketball Team 2011
Jada Basketball Team Silly 2011
Levi T-Ball 2011
Levi T-Ball Team 2011
Jada started playing ball last year at the Y in a mixed league with both boys and girls. Being totally new to ball, and playing with boys; who tend to be more aggressive, she did pretty good, but just lacked the mindset that it’s ok to get a little aggressive while playing. This year however, she is playing at The Gym in an all girls league and faring much better.
Most of the teams have been playing together for a few years already. Jada’s team is made up of girls that mostly just started playing and it shows. They had to learn everything from passing to shooting. Some not knowing what offense and defense were puts it into perspective. Jada had a leg up on them in these regards. She and one other girl have shown to be the most skilled players on the team. With that many weak links though, wins are tough to come by.
On Friday night though, they got their taste of victory. The final score was 16 to 8 with Jada having made one of the baskets. She’s the shortest girl on the team, but she’s also the fastest. Once she understands her role as a point guard, I think she’ll do very well. She’s very intelligent and listens extremely well. She just has to learn the game, how to see the floor, and how to command her team. If she sticks with the game, she’ll have a lot of fun to look forward to.
Jackie was getting her hair done this evening and I had the kids. The boys had been to bed for awhile and it was time for the girls to hit the hay. After our nightly “flush and brush” routine, they laid in bed for a couple of minutes, then Jada got up (as she always does) to get some tissues. She got them and was piddling around when I told her she needed to get to bed. About that time, she burst into tears.
It took a few minutes to get the problem out of her because of the sobbing. When I finally got the full story, I thought it was funny. She however, wasn’t so amused. She was so upset because she was evidently mean on 11/11/11 11:11 when the other three had been playing and she had been mean (all day according to her story). She said her Mom told her she’d always remember this because she was being mean on a special day.
I tried getting her to laugh it off, and to understand that 11/11/11 was really 11/11/2011, meaning, it really wasn’t all 1′s, so it really wasn’t that special. I also explained to her that the real 11/11/11 was long…LONG ago since both the creation of the earth, and the big bang happened much sooner than 1/1/0001. She didn’t buy it. To her, 11/11/11 was a special day, and she had blown it. She said there wouldn’t be another one for 100 years. I said what about 12/12/12? She said that wasn’t the same, they weren’t all 1′s or 2′s.
Finally, I explained that this just wasn’t that important, and before long, she’d forget all about it. I said “You’ll remember days when you lose loved ones, or close friends. But being mean on 11/11/11? You’ll forget about that before too long.”. Both girls seemed interested in hearing more, so I told them more.
I spent the next 15 minutes or so talking about two close friends that had passed away, the last things that had happened, or they had said, and how I remember them. I also talked a little about my Dad and how his last night was. By the time I was done, poor Lana had tears running down her face. It was still a good talk, and I think they got something out of it. It was nice to see that they do have some compassion given how much they fight with one another.
I’ll check on her in a few minutes…we always do. Hopefully, she’ll be sound asleep thinking about what Santa will be bringing in a few weeks. I love those little babies (she’s 9), and I want to keep them under my watchful eyes for as long as I can…even if they’re mean on a special day.
We have GOT to start posting stories more often! So much goes on, so many cute things get said..if you don’t post quickly, you forget things!
So, what has happened lately? Well, Levi beat Lana in arm wrestling awhile back. That wasn’t expected for a couple more years, especially by Lana! 
We walked into K-Mart the other day and the first words out of Jonah’s mouth were “I smell toys Dad.”. That kid is good.
Levi told me last night when I got ready to shave his head that he wanted hair like Ethan’s. Evidently, Ethan’s hair angles up at the front by using mousse. So, we ended up not shaving his head and put a little mousse in it instead. Jackie ended up calling someone to give him a haircut, because it still needs trimmed!
We’re going to go to Mimi (Pam) and Uncle Mike’s house to get family pictures done during the Thanksgiving holiday. Mike is doing some photography work on the side and the results are good!
I just got back from a work trip to Boston. I don’t travel for work much, but it’s looking like I may be starting. Not sure yet if that’s good or bad!
The house still isn’t on the market. We had it inspected, and that came out good. Now we just need to bite the bullet and get it listed I suppose.
I got a new DSLR camera recently; a Canon EOS 60D. Below are some of my favorite images so far.
Jada, Lana & Levi started school yesterday! I know I was more excited than they were.
I went in to wake them up and they…got up! The girls made their beds, got dressed and brushed their hair without me telling them to!!! They were all perfect angels.
At 8 we walked over to the school for the Open House, donuts, and a little play time before school started. I had the chance to talk to the teachers, which was really nice.
Levi didn’t get upset when I told him I was leaving and he had a smile on his face when I picked him up after school. Jada was the only one with homework and she wasn’t really happy about it!
Levi is in Kindergarten and his teacher is Mrs. Hardy. This is her last year of teaching as she will retire at the end of the year.
Lana is in 3rd grade and she has two teachers. Mrs. Freer (Ms. Deidre) is her homeroom teacher, but she also spends half of her day with Mrs. Herring.
Jada is in 4th grade and her teacher is Mrs. Shuster.
After Jonah starts school in a few weeks, I will probably be volunteering at Jane Addams…unless I get a job!
Jada turned 9 last week on Thursday and she has been enjoying a long celebration. On Thursday, she look cookies to school to share with her friends. When she got home, Grandma Nita took her to buy flowers to plant in the yard. They also bought a tomato plant and a strawberry plant. After that Daddy to her out to eat at El Xochimilco, which is one of her favorite restaurants. When they got home we opened gifts and had homemade cupcakes. On Friday, Jada used her new garden tools from Grandma Nita to plant her flowers and plants.
Her birthday party was on Saturday. She had several friends show up for her party at the YMCA. They all enjoyed gymnastics, swimming and lots of junk food! It was a great day!!!