Amelia

Amelia's softball is about wrapped up for the year. She did very well at both hitting and fielding. I would say her strength is fielding. She is very good at running up to the ball to make the play needed to get the runner out. At her last baseball game, she even got a double play! There was a pop fly that she caught while she was playing first base. Well, the runner on first didn't tag up so Amelia ran over to the base to touch it after she caught the pop fly. She then threw the ball over to third base because she realized the runner on third didn't tag up either! She almost got herself a triple play but her teammate on third didn't realize what was happening so the ball just ended up laying in the dirt. But it was an exciting play, and everyone cheered. Best part was Umma and Uppa were at the game to watch her and got to see it. I wasn't sure if she even knew she had got a double play but she assured me her coach had told her about tagging up and she knew what to do. Amelia is just so smart that she remembers stuff like that. She says her favorite sport is softball but she said that about basketball when she was playing it so we'll have to see. 

Jacob

Jacob has officially finished middle school! I can't believe he is on his way to high school already. This last Saturday me and a couple of his friends' moms hosted a party for the kids. A kind of end of middle school celebration. The kids swam, ate, and hung out. It looked like everyone had a good time.

Jacob is a very capable young man. He is very smart, so schoolwork comes easy to him. He also knows how to work hard at something but to balance his time and energy into things that aren't' as important. Going into high school he has finished his algebra requirement so that is one less thing for him to do. He also is participating in the Tri Tech summer school this year. He is trying out the welding program. Basically for 9 days' worth of class he gets a .5 credit for high school, so that is nice. The biggest bonus is that Jacob is really enjoying the class! After 2 days of welding, he is set on continuing to weld and wanting to be a part of the yearlong welding program at Tri Tech as soon as he can, which is his junior year. Jacob is a person that once he finds something he is all in, so I am not surprised he has it in his mind how committed he wants to be to welding.

Amelia

Amelia turned 11 this year! Wow she had a great birthday! We rented her a bounce house waterslide. It was delivered when she was at softball so when she first saw it her mouth dropped. I have to admit it was pretty big, so hence impressive to an 11-year-old who doesn't get things like that. Her and Jack immediately got on it, playing on it for about an hour the first night. 

On her birthday Amelia started playing in the bounce house as soon as she got up! Around noon she had about 7 friends come over to play. It wasn't the warmest day, but the sun was out, so the girls had so much fun on the bounce house. The girls had lunch, cake, snacks, and hung out. Amelia said it was the best birthday she has had so far. 

Amelia is a such a sweet girl. She is very thoughtful to others. She likes to buy other people gifts. She does a good job at picking out gifts because she is thoughtful about what they would like or want. Amelia is also very smart. She is a quick learner. I am excited to see what she does with all of her potential as she grows up.