Double Digits

Logan is officially 10 years old. It has been a great decade. Here are some pretty fantastic things Logan did in his 10th year:

- won a baseball championship
- went to his first concert: Star Wars
- shook Pat Hill's hand!
- won most of his Cross Country races & was awarded MVP for his team
- placed 9th in Cross Country District Finals
- earned his Bear rank in Cub Scouts (and several arrow points, belt loops, and beads)
- learned how to knee board
- won all but one of his wrestling matches
- went snow skiing several times
- took first place in Regional DI competition

Just for funsies, here are all the different "cakes" Logan got at his multiple birthday parties (remember Logan does not eat sweet or anything with too much sugar):
1. family party: Toaster Scramblers (top L picture)
2. Duran family party: french fries (bottom L Picture)
3. Ward family party: tator tots

Logan learned a little trick last year...he asked only for ca$h on his birthday wish list and ended up with enough money to purchase his own 32 gig iPod Touch. That was last year. This year he had a different expensive item in mind - a PS3. He put out his wish list again and he was gifted enough money to purchase a new game system. Here he is with all of his loot. WOW. That is a lot of cash for one kid. My favorite is the dollar bill boa necklace. Nice. :) (Special thanks to all the grandmas, grandpas, cousins, aunts, and uncles that obliged Logan's request for birthday $$ - you made his day!)

Here are the things we will always remember about you at 10 years old. You are a most obedient boy, always trying to do the right thing. You are a master at finishing your chores in record time. You are already an excellent co-babysitter - paying attention to the kids and cleaning up before mom and dad get home. You give the best goodbye/goodnight kisses. We love that you say, "I love you" as many times as possible at bedtime. WE LOVE YOU TOO. Happy Birthday, Logie Man.

Book Page Wreath

The last several weeks have been busy as usual, but I caught a small decorating bug. If you've ever done some decorating in your home you know what happens when you start one project... it snowballs. The above cabinet space in the kitchen needed to be revamped after Easter, as did the shelves in the dining area, the art above my couch has been screaming at me for months, and so has the family picture above my piano. Rearranging and repurposing items from around the house creates even more projects.

Soooo, instead of doing all those other things, I began with a craft project that I knew could be finished started and finished within a couple of hours. Those other projects would take much preparation and planning.

Here is the idea I found online. Read her blog for directions and tutorial on putting this wreath together. Here is the list of supplies needed for this project:

1 9 inch foam wreath (I used a wicker 12 inch wreath)
1 pack of mini glue sticks (and glue gun)
1 paperback book (I got a big hardcover book) 300 + pages
black, gray, gold paint (I used whatever spray paint I already had in my garage)

TOTAL COST: $2 + glue sticks

I purchased the wreath and book at the Dollar Tree. The small difference in the inches of the wreath made a HUGE difference in the end. And the size of my book was pretty big too. A paperback would have been easier for ripping out pages too.

Total time to complete this project. 2 hours (including a break for visiting with neighbors). Perfect for a Sunday afternoon.

The wreath I made turned out really really big. Much bigger than I imagined. It is nearly 2 feet across! I should have known this would happen - start with a 12 inch wreath and all that paper will double its width. Lesson learned. You want a small wreath...use a small wreath to begin with. I am happy with the results. And the enormous size has grown on me. I like it. It makes a statement.

As much as I like my new handmade decoration, I still prefer the look of the inspiration wreath. Mine is very fluffy while hers is more compact and scrunched looking.

Here's what I'd do different next time:
1. use a smaller wreath
2. use a smaller PAPERBACK book with words that stretch to the edge of the page
3. paint the edges of my paper even more
4. make my paper more scrunchy

For now, my paper pleasure will delight visitors as it greets them on my front door. (I have nowhere else to hang something this large.) And if you make one, please post pictures somewhere and leave a link so we can compare notes.

kids say the darndest things

Jackson and I are pumping gas at Costco when the freak hail storm hit us last Monday. The hail is hitting the ground and bouncing all over the place. I think to myself, Jackson's got to see this up close! I call him to get out of the car and check out all the crazy hail. As he's hopping out of the car some stray pieces of hail make their way into the car. Jackson sees them and yells (loud enough for all the other gas pumping people to hear), "WE GOT TO GET THE HAIL OUTTA HERE!"

Yes, that is my child. He is hilarious!

Take you to Rio, Rio

It's STAR testing at our school this week. That means that our kids do NOT have any homework for a solid week! Yippeee! What do we do to celebrate these extra few hours of freedom? We go to the movies of course!

The only family friendly movie that fit into our Tuesday schedule was the vibrantly colorful Rio.

This movie was made by the creators of the Ice Age movies. There is an Ice Age short just before the feature film begins. It was quite funny. That Scat (squirrely prehistoric creature) is a comedic character that we all muchly enjoyed.

Here's what we liked about Rio:
1. It had GREAT music! We'll be downloading several songs from the soundtrack for sure.
2. The colors were so vibrant
3. The setting was gorgeous - never been to Rio, but would like to see for myself if it is as fantastic as it was portrayed to be.
4. It was fun to hear a star studded cast of animated characters: will.i.am, Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network guy), George Lopez, Tracy Morgan, Jaime Foxx, Jayne Lynch.

Here's what we disliked about Rio:
1. The story was only ok. Not super engaging.
2. There were some skanky costumes towards the end (they go to Carnival in Rio) It seemed sort of inappropriate to watch a character in a children's movie walking around in a bikini.

We give this movie 2 1/2 drooling bulldogs out of 5.

Go see this movie if you're up for a family friendly experience. But take care to go to the $3 theater.

Don't go see this movie if you dislike talking animals, great music, or if you plan to just rent it at Red Box for free.

Or, just watch the Ice Age short and download the soundtrack from iTunes.

Jackson get's stitches AGAIN!

Just in time to kick off Spring Break this year, Jackson took a header off the trampoline and smacked his forehead into the trampoline frame. It split his skin perfectly down the center of his forehead. We butterfly bandaged it up pretty good until we got to see our favorite expert stitches doctor at urgent care. Remember, Jackson had his first set of stitches only 6 months ago. We got to see the same doctor again.


Here we are in the exam room. That gash was really good.
BEFORE: (Here is the BEFORE picture from 6 months ago. Look how close his new gash is to the old gash.)
.....



We passed the time waiting for the doctor with some good ol' thumb wrestling...




DURING the procedure:
Here's Jackson under the paper shield and the doctor's expert hands working their magic. Can you see only his boo boo peeking out from the cutout in the shield?




AFTER
Jackson was not a fan of getting stitches. He told us as much afterward. He did not like being strapped down to the papoose board totally restrained from using his arms. Can you see the white ring of skin all around the stitches? That is the numbing medicine the doctor shot right into the gash. The stitches didn't hurt going in, but that shot was sooo painful!




A WEEK LATER

Here is our boy at his Easter portrait photo shoot. Stitches removed. Happy as can be. It looks ok in this picture, but if you see him anytime within the next 30 days he will have a big purple splotch of "anti-scar" ointment over his scar. We will do our best to make sure that scar is as small as possible in that prominent spot on his forehead. We can only hope that there will be a single scar right there on his head. With Jackson's track record we're probably in for many more trips to the urgent care.

Easter Portraits

Happy Easter 2011

kids say the darndest things

We had just hopped in the car to run a few errands. We're almost to our destination when Jackson looks up from the iPod and realizes...

Jackson: Aw, dane-it! I got for my shoes!

Mom: You what?

Jackson: I got for my shoes!

Mom: You got for your shoes?

Jackson: See, I got for my shoes. Dey are at home.

Mom: Oooohhh. You mean you FOR-GOT your shoes.

* * * * * * * *

Jackson is helping me load the groceries from the conveyor belt and into the car. He spies a treat he likes and says, "I nike those rocket chips!"

Mom: You like rocket ships?

Jackson: No, I say rocket CHIPS.

Mom: Rocket chips?

Jackson: See, dose rocket chips. [Pointing to the flamin' hot cheetos] Dey so spicy.

Jackson turns 5!

Jackson is officially 5 years old! He survived his whirlwind birthday day (that was the same day as the great DI competition) and ended up more spoiled than usual. He had so many birthday celebrations!!

- with the Duran family
- with the Ward family
- a small family party on his birthday morning
- a large chorus of DI competitors singing at lunch
- a McDonald's full of cousins singing at dinner
- a birthday date with mom to Build-a-Bear workshop and pizza lunch
- and a special birthday playdate with his birthday friend, Liam

We went to the doctor for his 5 year old physical (and shots - ow!). We had already measured him on our "birthday growth chart measuring board thingy" and the dr. visit confirmed our measurements. Here are his official stats: 44 inches tall and 44 pounds! He is perfectly proportioned.

Jackson is one inch taller than Lizzie was at 5 years. He also grew 3 INCHES in one year! My goodness they grow so fast!

Jackson, here are 10 things we will remember about you at 5 years:
1. you love to play on the iPod
2. your favorite foods are chicken nuggets, Me N Ed's pizza, Dole peach parfait cups, and top ramen noodles
3. you like to wear your church clothes all day long on Sundays
4. you love going for bike rides to get a shoot gun from the gas station
5. you like helping mommy make banana chocolate chip muffins
6. your favorite color is RED
7. you are addicted to playing with LEGOS and love to organize them on your lego shelf
8. your googah is still around and brings you much happiness
9. you are excited to go to kindergarten
10. you know all the letters in your name and enjoy writing them... in no particular order

DI CA State Finals 2011

Trevor's group got to compete at the State Finals this year. They originally did not make the cut after Regionals (watch their Regionals performance HERE), but circumstances were altered in our favor and they got to go after all! The kids were stoked at the chance to compete again and show off their stuff.

Trevor and his team knew they'd have to amp up their game at State because they'd be competing against the BEST 17 Junior High teams from the entire state. (Our kids are all 6th graders attending elementary school, but because of their age, they had to compete against teams that are all older than them!) They worked their booties off to prepare for their main challenge. They researched and memorized information about 6 different cultures and prepared 6 differents skits to go with each one. Each skit was only 5 minutes long, but you'd be surprised at just how much preparation goes into those quick 5 minutes.



Here's their mission:

• Create a five-minute Improvisational Skit about a Mission involving a Mythical Creature. This must be done in a five-minute Preparation Time prior to your Presentation at the Tournament.

This skit was THE BEST performance we'd ever seen from these guys. Their level of energy and stage presence was so much more than their first attempt at Regionals. They were really good at Regionals, but at State - they were AMAZING. Enjoy a video of their fabulous performance.

Be on the lookout for these items:
- mythical creature
- facts about mythical creature
- culture
- facts about culture
- 3 "souvenirs"
- 1 "mega prop" made out of 3 souvenirs
- unexpected element (Elder breaks his tooth) and how the team resolves the issue





Logan's team did a compeletly different challenge than Trevor's. They got to build a structure, test it's weight, and prepare an 8 minute skit. No improv elements here. They did a FANTASTIC job at Regionals. They took FIRST PLACE in their event! (Watch their Regionals performance HERE.)

These kids built countless structures and used many gallons of glue to perfect their structure. It all paid off in the end. The structure they took to State held the most weight of any other they built. They also decided to amp up their game because they'd be competing against the top 18 teams from the state of California. They constructed some very cool dual sided backgrounds in addition to their wood/foil props. Their skit contained much humor - it always helps to get those judges laughing. :)



Here was their challenge:

• Design and build a Structure made only of Aluminum Foil, Wood and Glue
• Test how much weight the Structure will hold
• Present a Story about a character that is Foiled
• Integrate team-written Verse and published Verse into your Story

Be on the lookout for these skit elements:
- 2 side trips (ninja powers, dancing)
- 2 verses (one original and one copyrighted)
- the main character getting "foiled"
- props made of wood and/or foil




The main challenge are the ones you see recorded here. There is one more element to Destination Imagination - the Instant Challenge (dun dun dun!). The Instant Challenge is a secret event. (No details can be spoken or shared until after the Global Finals in June. Truly! The team swears an oath and signs their lives away!) The Instant Challenge will either make or break your rank. Let's just say, this year, the State IC's were very difficult for both teams.

Overall:

Trevor's team placed 12th in their event.

and Logan's team placed 6th in their event.

Their main challenges were very good, even better, than much of their competitors. It was quite impressive to see them pull out their best game when it really counted. Everything worked out to everyone's satisfaction in the end. Neither of the teams made it to Globals this year, but we were all ok with that. Both teams gave their absolute BEST performance yet! Coaches, parents, and kids are all happy with the end result.