Everything Is Awesome!

Top 10 Things I Love About Jack At 10

10. He is creative and determined!

9. He is a wonderful sous chef
and a great helper all around the house

8. He loves to study history and the stories of the Bible 

(especially the Lego version)

and has a very strong sense of right and wrong

7. He is silly and loves to joke around

6.  He strives to meet personal goals
and knows how to make fun of himself
to help him get past tough moments.

5. He loves to play games,
especially in Ocracoke!

4.  He never met a mirror that he didn't like 

3.  He is enthusiastic about everything

2.  He loves to read and help at the library

1.  He is loving and thoughtful
and doesn't mind showing people, 
which makes me a very lucky mommy!

Everything is Awesome!

Bubbles, Bubbles HE'S lots of fun!

Jack is guest-posting the blog today. Please welcome our elder son, Jack!

I am Star Student for next week, so I get to take our class pet, Bubbles, home for the weekend and write about our adventures. Bubbles came home with me on Friday. We watched tv and played a few computer games.
We also did a few science experiments with magnets. My brother Harry was my assistant! Bubbles discovered that a magnet can stick to his fin pin that Devyn gave him when she was Star Student.
Bubbles figured out that magnets can attract through skin and bone and muscle!
We went to a party and picked up my Dad from the airport, then I slept with Bubbles on Friday night. Bubbles stole one of my favorite rock star hats on Saturday morning.

Playing a computer game with Bubbles and Harry on Saturday morning, I finally got my Mohawk hat back from Bubbles! Bubbles meets my neighbor, Joe, at the second Halloween party, and we sat in a chair together to watch someone play Guitar Hero Wii.

I took care of Bubbles after the Halloween party he went to because he was tired, and so was I! Before I lost a tooth with Bubbles.

After I lost a tooth with Bubbles.

Bubbles got into the washing machine before we could put the dirty clothes in on Sunday morning.
I had fun with Bubbles!

Dave Moran's Bubbles - Look here and you will be able to listen to a fun song called Bubbles online - just press the "play" arrow.

I'm on a roll

Jack was sure the minute the assignment was made that he wanted to do penguins for his habitat project...the first big project/presentation of second grade. He read a gazillion books, researched on the internet and learned a lot....then he got to work....


Proudly displaying his finished project and report - now, if he can just stop laughing while he tries to read it....sometimes the boy can be super shy!

Highlighting the coolest thing he learned - there is actually a group of penguins that live in the coastal forest near New Zealand, the yellow-eyed penguin (can you see his art work??) is the rarest penguin of all, and typically lays two eggs at a time - twins!

Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby

Just a spot on the map of the world

Plain White T's Map of the World

Love, love, love is sunshine

The story goes: I was about 3 and misquoted my mom's frequent phrase "the joys of motherhood" as "the mothers of joyhood" - this picture made me feel that way. It's funny how special a little welcome can make you feel - thanx, sweet baby Jack!

JT's Shower The People

If that ain't what it's all about

The boys have been tagging along with me on several projects this summer. Jack has been especially helpful, and it makes me so proud to watch him loving the work!

He's lifting his own body weight there - he helps me bag the food, put about 20 bags in the car, and unload it at the local free clinic. He loves to organize the shelves, pack the bags as efficiently as possible, and do more than his fair share....Harry, otoh, just likes to look pretty and take credit for all Jack's hard work when the ladies praise them ;-)

Amy Grant's Helping Hand

But when I’m big I’ll still know what to do

Looking through all the wedding pix, I noticed Jack was everywhere, learning how to do everything, including flirt with the ladies like his mom and Aunt Iris. He was often in the middle of the men, figuring out how to be a guy after a few obligatory poses.

He also got some much-needed Daddy Time, asking Dean to make sure he looked nice a few times, wrestling, and deciding he was too cool to watch Dean grooving it (I guess that's not the first time we'll embarrass him and have him covering his eyes). Let's hope the perp walk is a passing phase! There were fireflies galore, and he and Aunt Iris got to experience a little summer magic.

Rodney Atkins' Watching You

There's a lady that stands in a harbor

First grade has its first social studies project due at the end of this week. Guess what Jack chose as a great American symbol to study? Surprise! I'm working on the SoL montage from our recent trip to NYC, but suffice it to say today was his second-favorite SoL moment - he is so excited about this project!

She's still in need of robes and a little painting, but she's shaping up nicely. Tops in Jack's book, right in front of this moment.....

Aaron Tippin's Where The Stars And Stripes And The Eagle Fly

And old home scenes of my childhood

Jack had chosen a whole lotta his favorite pix for his week as Star Student. He only took a few in, but I was playing around with them and made this collage....

Randy Travis's Precious Memories

I Just Want To Bang On The Drum All Day

Jack very proudly performing his first song

Todd Rundgren's Bang On The Drum

My DADDY, HE wrote me a letter

The Star Student week continued today, with a letter from a family member to the class explaining what is special about the star student. Dean has been traveling but wrote a letter as a surpise for Jack. It was a huge hit, especially since it gave Jack a chance to do his Silly Dance ;-)
Thanx, Dean, for being such an amazing Dad - he was so proud to have your letter today!

Dear Mrs. C and Room 118,

I wanted to write to tell you how proud I am of Jack and the fact that he is the Star Student of the Week in your class! I hope this is a chance for the class to get to know Jack even better and find out what a truly special boy he is. From the first time that I saw his picture with his brother Harry before he was even born I knew that having Jack in my life would bring so much joy and happiness. Seeing him grow up and learn so much has been even better than I could have ever imagined. It seems like only yesterday that I could hold Jack in one hand and now he is a Star Student in 1st Grade!

I am not the most sensitive person, but somehow Jack has become a caring person with a huge heart (he must get that from his mother, huh?). He tries to act tough sometimes, but he always tries to make his friends and family feel better. Whether its with a joke or his silly dancing, he makes me laugh all the time. I love being able to spend time with him playing sports and have been really lucky to be his coach for soccer and T-ball. Some of my favorite memories with Jack are when we are doing things as a family. Jack is really a great son and a great brother and the times we spend together mean the most to me. And when I am feeling down, Jack can really cheer me up with his awesome hugs.

Jack loves to read, play games, try different sports and is a great fisherman. From catching his first bass at his Uncle Les's house to catching our dinner at Ocracoke Island, Jack loves to bring in the big ones! Of course this makes him a great story teller and he often cheers me up with his tales and his quick wit. When the day is winding down, I love to have Jack read to me or for me to read to him as we finish the day off with a good book.

It's hard to sum up how I feel about Jack in a short letter, but I hope that everyone in his class gets to know him as I do. He is truly a special person, a great friend, and a wonderful kid and I am truly blessed to have him in my life. Congratulations, Jack!

Sincerely,
Dean
aka Jack's Dad

Joe Cocker's The Letter

Just like a star across my sky

Jack had his second day of Star Student, so I tried to start it off with a little special lunch surprise - he loves, and I mean loves, PB and anything....today it was PBJ, tomorrow he wants PBB(anana), tho we haven't been able to convince him to fry one ala his favorite Elvis ;-)
Timing is everything, Harry brought this home today:
I am thankful for my brother Jack. We do things together! I love art. He loves PuzzleMania! Happy Thanksgiving

Jack's class wrote special cards to him today, and he got to bring them home to share with us. Many of them had pix and/or writing on both sides, but these are the best views - thanx to everyone who said such nice things. Jack is one lucky boy!

Corrine Bailey Rae

Hey now you're an All Star get your game on

Jack's class has a Star Student Of The Week every week, and it's his turn this week - he's, um, a LITTLE bit excited!

He jumped off the bus full of all the exciting things he gets to do this week, the first of which is taking in pictures for a bulletin board that's all about him. He picked these pictures, from in utero (about 20 weeks) to last spring's fishing expedition with Daddy and Uncle Les. It was fun looking thru all the old pix and watching him choose his favorites - he ended up with lots of 'firsts' and action shots that showed a bit of his personality.

When we went to town to print the pix, he got to choose a special little treat (the marbles) and took Harry and I to dinner at Burger King - I know, it screams Superstar!
How excited is he?!? He looks like a giant in this picture, it's amazing how quickly they are growing. I'm so lucky to be able to share all these moments, and we're trying to share as much as we can with Dean as he's traveling for work - we miss you, babe!

SmashMouth's AllStar

Think (think) think (think) think (think)

Jack has been loving all the social studies and science in school lately. He's really enjoying learning about historical figures like Christopher Columbus and Benjamin Franklin.
I loved his story about loving people He's been working on reports in science and reading, and told me the other day that he needed to do more research ...um, this is NOT your mama's first grade ;-)

He's all about the 'for example' lately, and I caught him mid-lesson yesterday before school.

It's awesome listening to him talking about school. Tonite, the boys were talking about the different grades, thru high school. Harry shouts excitedly "Then we'll.be.in.college...YAY!" Jack says "Sadly, we'll have to live at college and miss mommy and daddy. We'll have to take a picture and put their phone numbers in front of the picture so we can call them when we miss them." Wouldn't it be nice if they feel like that when the big day comes??
Aretha Franklin

We love you homework, oh yes we do

At the end of the first nine weeks, the homework machine is primed and working pretty well. Jack is much more excited about it than Harry, but Harry's teacher bumped him up to a harder group of word study words and he was thrilled today (we'll see how long it works, but I'm liking it so far!).

Harry's new word study

Jack has been in a loving-homework mood of late and actually let me take a couple of pix today. He has taken to giving me his opinion about which pix are best, but I still get to overrule him, since it's my blog ;-) I loved this one of him working on a sun-kissed fall afternoon.
His good friend Kai is transferring to a new school and gave his friends a cool collection of things at his goodbye party today, including Jack's favorite new 'stick pencil'

This was Jack's favorite picture of the afternoon "I'm saying YEAH, I love homework!"

And this was my favorite. Later in the day, he was talking about how much he dreams of going to NYC - what does he want to do most? Touch Lady Liberty's toes. How can you not want to make that dream come true??

The afternoon was a good one: Jack and Harry talking about how smart Harry is and actually getting along fairly well, all homework done, a little Curious George, sharing a sub and dreams at Subway, and soccer practice where Jack scored a couple of goals in their practice game before taking a pretty hard tumble. He's ok after a good talk with Daddy about how to work thru the pain. These are some good times!

Bye Bye Birdie

And the zookeeper is very fond of THEM

Jack's always had a thing for arranging his stuffed animals, and with the recent additions from fairs, he has spent the last two nites grouping and classifying and finding just the right spot for everyone. He assured me tonite that there was still room for him to sleep ;-)
Simon and Garfunkel's At The Zoo