Jonny is our busy body these days. He is so enthusiastic to try new things, bless his heart. It is funny to think that this is my boy that I would have to INSIST he try an activity, otherwise he would have never tried a one. I was finally privy to watch a few of his soccer games. He seems to really enjoy it. They work hard on the field, running back and forth so many times, and at 4th grade, it appears they are using a full sized field.
Baseball practice has also started up for him. There is a current overlap with sports thanks to all of our April snow storms. I am happy he is trying baseball again....I really think it is something he may be good at. I first had to assure him that he would not have to play catcher. He had a VERY tough time with that last year, so much that it made him never want to play baseball again. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some depth perception issues. BUT....this year he is on a team with some of his best friends, and I have high hopes he will enjoy this summer.I believe Jonny's real talents lie in the fine arts. He is signed up for a super cool theater production this summer of Tom Sawyer. The Prairie Fireside Theater Company is coming to Waconia, and only a limited number of kids could enroll. The kids will be involved in all aspects of stage production, and end with a few performances. It's going to be awesome. Jonny is also getting geared up for band next year at the middle school. He is really wanting to play the trumpet. His class has been learning how to play the recorder this year, and delighted us all with a very nice recital last week.
.jpg)
Jonny has been practicing faithfully at home (something I can not get the other boys to do), and it showed. He even played a solo of "The Lion King" he figured out by ear on his own, and he also played tribal drums during one of the songs. Talented boy.
OH! The coolest thing happened last week at church. A woman came up to me and asked if I was Jonny's mom. She then went on and on about how special he was. She had worked with him in the musical and was so impressed with how responsible, kind-hearted, reliable, and over all how incredible he was. Yep, that's Jonny. He really can't be beat.
Michael is now officially done with hockey (for now). His Showcase team won first place in the end of season tournament. And Michael scored a goal! The games were tough, and tensions were high. Kids begin to get more serious at this age already, and the ability to check people HARD seems to give them license to get mean. This is the part I don't like so well about hockey....and it only gets worse as they age. There were fist fights, kids who got ejected from the game, and parents in the stands who were a little too revved up. I totally do not fit in with my baby on my lap, all smiles, talking baby talk and clapping our little hands positively going "YAY!" Anyhow.....this has been a fantastic experience for Michael, and he has really improved his playing. I am proud of him for stepping up to the challenge. Now we need to find him some hockey over the summer.
Homeschooling has been kind of a challenge as the weather has gotten warmer. Can't part of school just be being outside and playing around? Appreciating our days....isn't that a good lesson?
As the year winds down, I feel guilty about our scantiness of history lessons and creative writing. Just never quite got into those grooves as well. We are currently in an intensive history study with character building excercises studying values that founded our nation. It has been very interesting and is challenging Michael greatly by helping him build on his weaker areas of study. But math and grammar are well learned! He just took standardized testing at the public school over the past 2 days. Being a computerized test, he immediately found out his score, and he did very well, in fact better than his Grade A friends!....he qualifies again for advanced placement math (which would be high school math next year). He is also still going to band 2-3 times per week, and has just recently written some music for an end of year project. We need to ante up on our in home lessons and practice time sheets, otherwise Michael will be getting his first "F". Man, are we procrastinators! Outside of our usual homeschool activities, Michael has been very busy biking into town with friends in the afternoons almost daily, and shooting pucks in the driveway. Alex, my Alex.....is almost done with his first year of High School! How crazy is that?!? He just had a WONDERFUL band concert last week. It was a great improvement from the so-so fall
concert. The kids were all decked out in formal wear as the theme was a night at the Oscars. Really cute. As we walked through the doors, onto the red carpet, fancily dressed kids would cheer for us and snap photos. Nice to see a whole bunch of teenagers having a good time! I do not have a picture of this...:o( My camera was in the car, and I was too tired with a headache to go back and get it. Alex is also all set for his permit test. He will be driving soon! We drove out to Plymouth the other day after an orthodontist appointment, but unfortunately Alex did not pass. He said that it was not that the questions were too hard, but that he second guessed himself too much. The test psyches you out to fail from the beginning with 'FAIL' appearing several times on the pages before the first question even popped up. At least he learned a lesson in test taking skills. He'll get it next time, I am sure.
Alex and his girlfriend just "celebrated their 19 month anniversary. He was so cute as we walked through the flower section of the grocery store looking for the perfect flowers for her~he settled on some pretty red tulips, her favorite color. Isn't that sweet?
.jpg)
I think he has some of his dad's old romanticism. It is odd and also exciting jumping ahead and thinking that someday the two of them may get married. Am I that close to being a grandma already??? Yikes! I wonder if life will slow down at all by then????
No comments:
Post a Comment