Amelia

 I had Amelia's school conference this week. She, of course, is doing great with her academic learning. What makes me proud is that her teacher says she has incredible communication and leadership skills. Her teacher hopes she can continue to advanced math and leadership classes. We are so proud that Amelia is so diligent at school. 

Jack

 Jack started tennis this week at school. In the past he has enjoyed it and I think, he anticipated being good at it. Well it seems like he is because he made varsity tennis. He was proud of myself, I could tell. He will try to diminish the accomplishment by saying there are only 10 boys and 8 varsity spots but I think he would have made it anyways. I hope he has a good experience and gains confidence from his participation. I will give updates as the season and matches continue. 

Presidents Day Weekend

 For Presidents Day weekend we rented Airbnb house in the middle of nowhere an hour from our house. Really it was just along this farm road that absolutely no one drove by in the three days we were there. My point of going was to unplug and relax, kinda camping but a step up with a house since it was wintertime. 

The weekend turned out just like I wanted, and the kids were able to have a great time. The house was on a working farm with a family that had kids about the same age as ours; they all buddied up right away playing together. Amelia jumped on the trampoline, played with the chickens and puppies. Jacob played with the puppies and hunted sparrows with bb guns. Jack played with the turkey and the puppies. 

I also took Jack out and taught him how to drive a manual transmission. It was a great place to learn since there was no one on the road and we were able to stop and start a lot. We were even able to start on a couple hills for practice. I have to say Jack did a pretty good at it. Of course, he killed it a couple times but that is only part of learning. By the end he said he could be a race car driver. 

On the Monday of Presidents Weekend, Jack and Dad went to Bluewood. Through the Boy Scouts there was deal for a snowboard rental, lesson and ski ticket that Jack took advantage of. He and the other Scouts had a great time learning how to snowboard. Jack said he really enjoyed it and wants to do it again. Dad on the other hand had a great time in the beginning but then cracked a rib on a ski bike he was trying out. Dad will be ok but needs to take it easy for a month. Next winter they plan on going to Bluewood more. 

Hockey Game

 Last night we went to the Americans hockey game. It was Boy Scout night at the game, so we went with a couple other Scouts. Jack and Jacob both brought friends to the game also. 

The fun part of the night was that the boys got to play tug of war during the period break. Now it was supposed to be a Boy Scout troop verses another Boy Scout troop but since we didn't' have enough Scouts Jacob and Jack's friends joined, plus another Scout that was sitting behind us that I recruited. (Jacob was not allowed to participate obviously because of his knee.) Our troop won! It was fun to watch the boys on the ice. Each kid won 2 tickets to another hockey game later in the month. 

Later in the game Jack caught a rubber chicken that was thrown into the crowd that he traded in for a free Dairy Queen gift card. And all the boys got put on the jumbotron later in the game when they were dancing to the Cotton Eyed Joe song. Jack said it was the best hockey game he had been to because of all it. 

Amelia

 

Amelia wrapped up another great basketball season! The best part of the last game was that Umma and Uppa surprised us with coming to watch. Amelia was very happy to see them.

This season Amelia improved on her defensive positioning, that helped her get many steals. She hustled after rebounds and was actually really good at scoring. I hope she will play more basketball since she seemed to like it and it helps with building teamwork and confidence. 

Jacob

 Jacob has started a zero hour shop class at school. He has shop class in the regular school day, which he just finished a neat little table, but was also invited to participate in the zero hour class before school. During that class he will be building a shed with the class that will be sold. It is a great learning opportunity that is fun too. He has had to take all the safety tests for the equipment he has to use. He also has  to draw up all the blueprints to scale for the shed. I hope I get to see pictures of what the shed looks like when it is done. 

Jack

Back in February Jack and his friends went ax throwing. All of the boys had a lot of fun. They got to throw axes, hatches and ninja stars. Jack said he was really good at it. He even was able to stick the double ax throw. Afterwards we all met up at Shakey's Pizza for pizza and video games. It was nice to meet the friends Jack has at school.