Christmas 2018

So we had another amazing Christmas season!

As soon as we got to Umma and Uppa's house the kids were off and running. Maysen stayed the first night we were there. The next night the kids, plus Maysen, spent the night at Josh and Beth's house. The day after that was Christmas Eve. The kids had a ton of fun playing with each other, opening presents and eating all the goodies they wanted. Christmas Day was a nonstop day of stopping by Karen's, Andy and Dennis' and Mikes.

I asked Jacob what his top Christmas moments were. He said getting his xbox and roller skating since everyone in the family was there.

Amelia also got her ears pierced on Christmas Eve. Her awesome Aunt Tanya bought her a kit, new ear rings and a jewelry box. She did great the first ear but got a little nervous for the second one. But once the sting of it went away she was so excited to have them pierced. She showed everyone and talks nonstop about getting giant dangly earrings. 

Jack can't decide what his favorite part was, he says he loved it all. From my perspective his favorite gift was the xbox and the blanket he got from Umma, he just loves to be warm. 

Jacob

Jacob's last year of Cub Scouts! Their pack tradition is the decorate the Webolos. Jacob ran away from it a bit in the beginning, only out of fun, so he could be dragged over. He is excited to complete his Arrow of Light requirements.

Ghormely Christmas

This last weekend we went up to camp Ghormely for their annual Christmas weekend. This year there was just enough snow to sled so the kids loved doing that. Jacob would use the boogie board instead of a real sled but geez it went so fast! It scared me a bit to see him go so fast. Amelia used it a couple of times but didn't go up the hill as far. Jack used the sleds and pretended to be a medic at the bottom, rescuing anyone that "crashed." We also played broom ball for about 3 hours. Jack loved playing that, I don't think he took a break once. Jacob was the goalie and did an amazing job. Amelia played for about 20 minutes then went off with Quinn Schonewill to play.
The weather was cold but not too bad. It even snowed on us for a bit. It was a great day of playing.

Jacob turns 11

Jacob turned 11 this year. He says he feels older now. For his birthday he had two friends over plus Xavier, Isaiah, and Julio. They had an epic Nerf gun war, played tag, ate an  outrageous amount of food and played video games. After that we all went to the movies to watch the new Grinch movie. Jacob said it was his best birthday party yet. He loved the nerf war and having his friends over.

Jacob is a great kid. He is consider, smart, hardworking, and kind. I love him so much.

Amelia

Amelia's Thanksgiving project from school.

Jacob

October 20, 2018

To Whom It May Concern,

I would like to recommend, my son, Jacob for ASB Vice President. I believe he would do an excellent job. Jacob can self-motivate to get projects done, as he has always had a strong work ethic. He is comfortable with responsibility. Jacob will be able to type the activities calendars for the ASB with no problems. He is access to a computer at home and, more importantly, he is good at typing.

Jacob has leadership skills that would benefit the ASB. He regularly uses those skills while volunteering at our church and at his Cub Scout meetings. Jacob, also, is my assistant coach for the YMCA teams I coach. He shows patience, kindness and directional communication skills with children younger than himself.

It is without hesitation that I recommend Jacob for ASB Vice President. If you need any further information from me, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you,

Heidi Fisk

509-521-5401

Hfisk12@gmail.com

Jack

When Jack mows the lawn he sings, dance, does fight moves and otherwise plays pretend behind the mower. We can't hear what he is saying but he has some dialogue going that lasts the entirety of the yard. 

Halloween

Halloween 2018 came and went. I had pneumonia so the kids went trick or treating with another family. 

Jacob

This year at school there is an ASB. Jacob came home with the information a couple weeks ago wanting to run for Vice President. I was like ok. He had a list of things he needed to have turned in by the next Monday; signs, speech, parent recommendations, things like that. I told him that he may not win so he should enjoy the process and do his best. He said he would but a couple days before election day he was getting nervous someone else would win. I told him that could happen, the election was out of his control so the most important thing is to act with integrity and kindness no matter who won. The night before the election I gave him a speech about congratulating the winner, if it wasn't him, and not whining about how they won for unfair reasons with kids at school. I told him he could come home and whine like that to me and his dad. He was like, "Really? You won't listen to that." I said I would.
Well of that was in vain because he won. lol I swear instead of worrying about him not winning, now I have to worry about him always winning and getting what he wants. I am very happy for him. He is such a super kid and I am glad he gets to be Vice President.

Family

These pics were taken at Umma's retirement party. It is such a blessing to have a wonderful family. The kids love their cousins, aunts, uncles and Umma and Uppa so much. I was worried they wouldn't get a sense of family leaving over here but they do; if anything the value their family time more since they don't get it as often.

Kite Challenge

This year Jack really got into the Engineering Kite Challenge at school. He was determined to win "smallest kite." He was very confident and proud of his mini kite. He said in any wind it would fly. He did end up winning smallest kite so he was very happy.

Because Jack was super into the Kite Challenge Amelia decided to come along and watch. Well it ended up that at the event there were supplies to make a kite. Amelia and I did some teamwork to create her a kite. She ended up doing a great job launching hers. She would run and run with her kite in the air. There wasn't much wind but she got hers as high as the string would allow. In the end she won "highest flier" for it.

We all had a great time at the event and the kids got a special assembly to celebrate their participation and the prizes they won. Jacob said next year he would do it too now that he knows about the prizes.

Spelling

Now that Amelia is in first grade she has spelling words. Her favorite way to practice the words is by doing a "spelling dance," in which she spells out the words while dancing around. The other night the boys decided to join. They came up with routines for each word.

Here's the routines for rip and for:

Nana Kim

We has some very sudden tragic news last week: Nana Kim died. Mike found her on a Tuesday, Sept. 11 in the afternoon. Mike was able to get a hold of Dan, who came home right away. After giving Dan some love we told the kids. I think the suddenness of it caught everyone off guard. I didn't want to confuse the kids by saying "Nana Kim is gone" so I said "Nana Kim is dead." It sounded so harsh but I wanted to make sure the kids new exactly what had happened.
I watched a curtain of sadness come down in Jacob's eyes and his body tense up. Jack started to cry and I was able to comfort him in a hug. Amelia just sat there in shock not quite sure what to do or what it all meant. We prayed as a family thanking God for giving us Nana Kim, that she will be restored and for comfort for all of us.
As we were leaving, I was running around packing, Dan suggest stopping at Taco Time on the way over for some food. Jack immediately started crying because that was the last place we saw Nana Kim. He said it made him too sad to go there. Dan was able to comfort him with a big hug.
Once we were settled at Umma and Uppa's the next day I sat down with the kids to talk more about what was going to happen next. I reassured the kids it was ok to be happy and sad, and that it was ok to be "normal." I could see that gave Jacob a lot of relief because he wasn't sure how he was suppose to act. Jack said he was happy most of the time but sad sometimes.
As the next days went on, the kids brought it up briefly with Umma, since she was taking care of them while we dealt with other things. I feel so grateful and blessed to have Umma help; I trust that she can care for their feelings and give them space to talk about whatever they need.
Next Saturday will be the funeral service. We gave the kids the choice of going; all of them said they wanted to. It will be their first funeral service. I am hoping we can get there early enough to give them space to look around, ask questions and be together as a family before everyone gets there. Funerals are hard so I am relying on God's love and wisdom to guide me to help the kids process this.

For all the "mother-in-law" aspects to Kim and I's relationship I really did try to get out of the way so the kids and her could build their own relationship. Grandparents are really just pure love and joy to a grandchild; I wanted to make sure the kids felt that from Kim. Her love for them, and Dan, will be missed.

Sushi

We had a sushi night! After playing the game Sushi Go at the lookout tower this summer I bought the game. To make it fun we thought we would try sushi as a family. I was going to just go buy some sushi to try but a new sushi place opened up so we went. Jack loved the salmon, Amelia liked the sesame balls (but nothing else), and  Jacob didn’t really like any of it; he was a good sport and tried a little of everything though. What everyone loved was the conveyor of sushi that went around the restaurant. They thought it was so fun that they could just pick a plate up off the conveyor.

As we were leaving the restaurant I told the kids we were going to go home to make our own. Jack was excited about that, Amelia not so much, and Jacob not at all. Well the surprise about the homemade sushi was that it was going to be made out of candy. We had marshmallows for the rice, Swedish fish for fish, fruit by the foot for the seaweed wrap, green frosting for the wasabi and high-chews for veggies. The kids loved that! As you can see from the pictures they all did a great job making their "sushi."

As the munched their sushi we played the Sushi Go card game. Of course Dad won again but no one cared since we had sushi to eat!

Jack

Jacob is now playing the trumpet for the school band. Of course Jack wanted to try out the trumpet so he did. He asked who played the trumpet. First guy I thought of was Louis Armstrong so I showed Jack a video of him playing the trumpet and what the trumpet was actually suppose to sound like (not farting noises). After watching the video Jack asked if he was related to that astronaut guy. I was like no. Now I am not sure if Jack has ever seen a picture of Neil Armstrong but he definitely just saw Louis Armstrong so he could see Louis was a black man. I love Jack's pure color blindness to the boundaries race puts on a person. I think it must be that he sees families we know of mixed race so it just makes sense to him that the color of someone skin doesn't hinder your family connection.

The Dishwasher

For over a year now the kids have been in charge of emptying the dishwasher. Each boy took a rack, top or bottom and Amelia was assigned the silverware since she was too short to reach any of the cupboards. Well for a while now Jack has been complaining that it wasn't fair Amelia was still only doing the silverware since she is almost as tall as him. I agree but didn't really care to change it so I told him he needs to bring me a written proposal with at least 3 reasons why it should be changed. Jacob and him teamed up: Jack wrote the rough draft and Jacob created a power point presentation.
I have to say I was super impressed with the power point. It doesn't really show in the video because of the glare of the tv but the chart Jacob created and his graphics for each slide were pretty awesome. Jack did a great job presenting it.
I will say this is their second presentation. I had them revise the wording of one of their reasons into "I statements" instead of a blaming statement and they had to come up with another reason. Of course we changed the way we empty this dishwasher to "first come first empty" with the stipulation that if there is any arguing we go back to assigned racks.

Field Springs

The kids and I camped at Field Springs State Park. We camped in a tepee for the week. It was a good time of swinging, cards, horseshoes and hanging out. During the week we went to three states: Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. In Idaho we went to the Nez Perce National Museum. In Oregon we went to Troy; a town where 6 people live and 2 kids go to the school. The kids were amazed at Troy and thought it would be a cool place to live. On the school playground there was a neat merry-go-round that the kids played on for a long time. It was a great last week of summer.

Quartz Mt. Fire Lookout

 We tried our first backpack trip, kinda. We hiked 2.5 miles into the Fire Lookout on top of Quartz Mt. by Mt. Spokane. It was kinda a backpacking adventure because we had to pack in food, sleeping bag and clothes but not water or a tent. Jack and Jacob did a great job packing everything in. Amelia did not, she cried almost the whole way in.
Once we got the Lookout it was good. We played cards, kids played on the rocks surrounding the lookout and we went for another hike (without packs).
I would say the boys are ready for backpacking. Maybe in a year or so Amelia will be ready too.

2018 - 2019 School Year

Amelia

This is a little late but wanted to make sure I blogged about Amelia's kindergarten year. She had a blast! This girl was made for school! A huge difference for the year was her teacher Mrs. Edwards. Amelia loved her and so did I. Mrs. Edwards is a fantastic teacher that made Amelia feel special while challenging her academically. I am so glad Amelia had an amazing start to her school career!

Amelia

Amelia loves cheer! Yes despite a little cringe from me. :) The only extra thing she wanted to do this summer was cheer camp. So here are a few videos from that.

Summer fun

Jack and Jacob

Its the Ghormely time of the year! Both Jack and Jacob went back to camp Ghormely again. I was a little nervous for Jack to go because he was going by himself and he gets nervous about going places by himself. But he did great! As Jacob and I were dropping him off we kept saying how much we wanted to stay. Of course a little reverse psychology goes along way with him, helped him feel special about being able to stay. ;)  But really it was no problems, he just waved goodbye and took off. When we picked him up he looked exhausted and happy. Said he had a great time and really liked his counselor.



























Jacob's turn came next. Dad took him up to drop him off this time. On the way Dad said Jacob was complaining about his knee hurting. I believe that is his phantom ache he gets when he gets nervous about things. I think he moving from "kid," who just does what he wants to have fun to "teen" where he super conscious of what he looks like to other people. Sigh.

Anyway, I am going to pick him up on Thursday. I am sure he is having an awesome time and can't wait to come back next year.

Jacob

Jack turns 9

Jack turned 9 this year so we went on a progressive dinner. First up, AppleBee's for appetizers, second McDonalds for french fries and finally Fiesta for a burger. We were going to get 5 Guys shakes for dessert but we had a super good cake at home so we just went home to eat that.

Jack is a kid that knows what he wants to do. He likes video games, riding his bike and playing with friends. He isn't too sure about new situations but once he tries something he usually succeeds at it. He is a happy kid who is ready to laugh and make others laugh. He still  likes to snuggles at bedtime.

Amelia turns 7

This spunky gal turned 7 this year! She is feisty, smart, funny, and loving. She loves books, school, Barbies, and playing pretend. She is always up for a snuggle and a hug. She still likes me to sing her song to her at bedtime. She loves to have friends over to play with. I love the way she will stop before she leaves a room to give you a wink and a smile.

Jacob

Update: So Jacob made the All-Star team! He is proud of himself and happy. I am super proud of him. It was a little drawn out the process of finding out, since we kinda new but then didn't get the "official" announcement until just the other day.

The day the All Star application was due we forgot it on the counter so we were just going to turn in the next game day but one of the other boy's dad, one that is apart of the little league association, asked Dan if Jacob was going to do All-Stars. Dan said ya so the other dad handed him the application and told him to turn it in now so Jacob would be at the top of the list. We were like ok so we did.

Then after the game that day Jacob's coach, Kyler, approached us to ask if Jacob was interested in All-Stars. I told him Jacob was. He then said Jacob was a good kid that has kept improving and that he thinks Jacob should. That was nice to hear.

Then at a batting practice Kyler was talking about Jacob's pitching and how he was going to have Travis keep working with him. I asked who Travis was. He told me the All Star coach.

So for awhile we have known Jacob was going to make the team but again it is now official. Of course we have no information about how to do All-Stars so we just have to take it as it comes. I told Jacob he doesn't need to worry about anything but baseball and I will take care of the rest.

I pray that All Stars is a good experience for him. I pray that his coaches and teammates have fun and are safe and enjoy their time together.

Jack

Jack has become a big fan of the Bad Kitty books so he decided to write Nick Bruel, the author. Low and behold you got a letter back the other day. Needless to say he was super excited

Amelia

Amelia is becoming an amazing writer. She "publishes" almost every day. I love her fun ideas that she writes about. The best part is that her stories transition well and make sense! I can't wait to see what she write about in the future.

Muffins with Mom

The annual Muffins with Mom was on Friday. Lucky for us, they have doughnuts too, not just muffins. We each had a yummy doughnut to start the day. I told Amelia, this is her first official Muffins with Mom but her fourth because this is the first year she is in school. Jack had already gone to the playground but as I was walking Amelia down to her playground we saw the giant doughnut.

Jacob

So Jacob has made it a goal to be named an All Star for his little league league. I think that is a great goal to have, and a very attainable one. He asked me what he needed to do in order for that to happen. I asked if he wanted to the mom answer or the coach answer? I said, keep up the fielding and you need to work on your batting.
I told him we could do some extra hitting drills at home if he wanted. He said yes to that, so the next free day we had we googled some videos on hitting drills.

Our first attempt at these drills ended with him being deeply frustrated with the process and of course, with me. He didn't understand that just swinging the bat didn't get him better. That he had to do small drills perfectly to get better at overall batting. Luckily Umma and Uppa showed up at just the right time to give him a the mental break he needed.

On Sunday, after Umma and Uppa left, he came to me and said, “I’ve changed my attitude about hitting and would like to practice.”  Well of course I said yes so we did the 20 minutes of extra drills.

On Monday's game he walked his first up to bat, hit a triple into deep center field his second, and hit a line drive in between third and short for his third (And RBI-ed 2 runs to take the lead.) Now I’m not saying a couple extra hitting drills did that. What I am saying is so far in his life whenever he has applied himself with extra effort it has payed off for him. I am always surprised and impressed by his success and attitude. 

Of course he was super proud of himself during and after the game, which he should be. On the field Jacob sneaked over little glances at me to share a smile of pride. It was a great moment to share.

Jack

Jack did the talent show again this year. His friend Javis, Jack and Javis' little brother sang "Everything is Awesome" from the Lego Movie. They all dressed up as Lego characters from the movie. Jack was Emmett.
Jack did great again! It amazes me that he can get up in front of hundreds of people and sing a song. He sang loud enough into the microphone to be heard. He even readjusted how far his face needed to be in order to be heard after doing his dance moves.
I didn't get a video this year but got to see him perform at the day performance while I was being a stagehand. So proud of him being able to get over his nervousness and do such a great job!

Amelia

Amelia recently added a sign to her “office” at church. Her sign reads: Open on Sundays AM to PM

Debbie, the secretary, just loved the sign.

Jacob

Another sweet surprise from my Jacob. He made me coffee, put some chocolate on  the plate as a treat, picked me some flowers and added a decoration. He is so thoughtful and sweet. I really treasure the kind things not just he does but all the kids do for me.

Jack

Jack has become a super whistler. He doesn’t really have a tune or anything, he just whistles. He whistles while he plays, gets dressed, walks around, pretty much all the time. He just a super whistler.

Jacob

In Cub Scouts Jacob was working on an art requirement. Here is his self-portrait.

Mark it as age 10

Amelia

Amelia has been doing cheer the last couple of months. She finally got her bow and her t-shirt!

Jack

Jack did a great job painting his elephant with Mrs. Stephanie

Jacob

Jacob has really enjoyed baasketball again this year. The other day he told me he either wanted to be a doctor or an NBA star. lol 

Jacob

The other day Jacob was caught stealing another kid’s snack at school. He then preceded to lie about it to his teacher. Of course his teacher contacted me about it as soon as she confirmed that Jacob had been untruthful with her. We called Jacob down and asked him about it. He proceeded to talk circles around what happened but denied taking the snack. I said ok we believe you I’ll let your teacher know. He went back upstairs but came back down a couple minutes later to edit his story; not telling the truth excatly but admitting half. Dad and I talked to him about being honest and owing up to mistakes. He shook his head yes and went to bed.
The next morning I told him I expected him to apologize to his teacher for being untruthful. That gave him pause, he thought the topic was finished. As he was leaving for the bus, and after he was told he couldn’t have his iPod until he apologized, he started to really whine and drag his feet. I could see how uncomfortable he was as about this. He tried to talk his way out of apologizing every which way but nothing could be said to not do it. As he dragged his feet out of the garage with his head down I yelled after him, “I’d do it first thing to get it over with!”
Well after school Jacob came home. He hadn’t been home too long when he went to pick up his iPhod. I asked if he had apologized. He said yes at the end of the day. I ask what she said. He said “well I don’t know if she heard me.” Oh well in that case no iPod. Boy did he throw a fit then! Crying, flopping on the group, moaning, that went on for sometime.
The next day at school he apologized to his teacher. I asked Jacob, "Did you like the way you felt yesterday?" He, of course, said no. I told him he never had to feel that way again if he was always truthful and did the right thing. A little light bulb of understanding crossed his face as he smiled and shook his head. Here's hoping that lesson stay with him.

Jack

Jack has come to the point in his life where he is curious about human sexuality and sex. Now I am not sure how he came to think of these things but it has happened so I figure its best to hear actual facts about how it works and our families beliefs about the subject.
Here is one of his questions:

"I understand where your DNA comes from mom but how does Dad's DNA get there?"

I then explained the whole process of ovulation, sperm and how it happens. Not surprisingly he was appalled at the idea. He then thought it about and said, "Well I know you have had sex 3 times." I could only laugh.

Another question:

"I get that when two guys are gay what they touch but what do girls touch?"

I quite quickly came up with this answer: "When people express their sexual desires they touch each other's reproductive organs." He said ok and that was it. Which I am glad of because I really didn't want to answer in detail about that. Lol Not that I wouldn't have had,  he had more questions but he is just 8 and doesn't really need to know.

After our talk about sexuality he was worried that he would want to start expressing his sexuality soon. He got confused about the onset of puberty, which I said was around 10, with the desires and actions of the physical stuff. As he was brushing his teeth, he said to Dan, "Mom says I'll want to start touching girl's boobs soon and that I should talk to you about it." Dan about passed out! He told Jack not to touch anyone's boobs or anyone for that matter.  Lol I later corrected him by reiterating that puberty starts around 10 and that he will probably want to act out his sexuality when he was older, like 17 or 18. Jack was relieved to hear that.

All I can say is geez...

Jacob

Jacob is a builder. He likes projects. He likes creating. He likes completing. I am not sure who that will translate as he gets older. What he will use those skills for.
This last weekend he make me a sign that says LOVE in gold letters, while the wood is painted silver. At Cub Scouts on Monday he made me a candle holder that he hot glued tiny sea shells too.
It is so sweet that he makes me these things. I told Dan that he needs to park outside to make room for some wood working tools and project area. He said he thinks he can fangle it without parking outside but the thought of a wood working area but we'll see.

Amelia

Amelia was so excited to lose both of her front teeth! This morning she informed me that she is going to put half of her tooth fairy money into the collection jar at school for St. Jude.

Jack

My Jack gets up every morning at 5:00 am to see his dad. If he does happen to sleep in he is awoken by the garage door and sprints down to say good-bye to dad before he leaves. Getting up at 5:00 am is early so by 8:00 pm Jack is tired. Now he won't actually go up to bed to sleep without being told, he'll rock and roll till whenever but the minute he lays down he is sleeping. Usually by the time I get up to say good night to him he is sleeping away. He is so sweet asleep on his pillow. I wonder when the day will come when he stops getting up that early...

Amelia

Amelia is doing great is in school. Last week she brought home one of her writing journals. As the year has progressed her pictures are more complete and her writing has become more elaborate. I love to see the progress she is making.

Amelia

What is something I say a lot?
"Actually I don't know"

*What makes me happy?
“Not shutting the doors”

*What makes me sad?
“Shutting the doors”

*How tall am I?
“How should I know”

*What's my favorite thing to do?
“read”

*What is my favorite food?
“Actually I don't know”

*What is my favorite drink?
“I'm pretty sure fizzy water”

*If I could go anywhere, where would I go?
“To the gym”

*How do I annoy you?
“By not talking to me.”

*What is my favorite TV show?
“Actually I don't really know”

*What is my job?
“I know it but don't know the name of it... worker”

*How old am I?
“64"

*What's my favorite color?
“Gray”

How much do you love me?
“Google plus”

Jack

Oh my poor little Jack-man had his first bout with the flu. He came down with it suddenly the day before school was suppose to start after Christmas break. His body and head hurt, he had the fever and chills, sore throat, the whole nine yards. He pretty much slept for 2 days straight only waking up to eat goldfish crackers and drink water. I got worried about him as it settled into his chest; the way he coughed sounded like it hurt so bad. He was sick with symptoms for I would say for 4 days but it took another 2 or 3 for him to really shake it. I am not sure if his endurance is even all the way back but I am glad he is feeling better.