ten year-old boys ask for “tie-on” ties and a sport coat for Christmas? Just wondering.
Archive for the 'Kids' Category
Last night, Andrew was given his yellow belt certification in taekwondo! He has now officially moved from white belt to yellow belt and will be training in a more advanced class. Due to a shipping delay, none of the students were able to actually receive their new belts at the awards ceremony, but they will all get them at class tomorrow.
The judges used E (excellent), S (satisfactory), and N (needs improvement) to rate each student testing for yellow belt on 21 specific moves and 4 general areas. Andrew received mostly S’s, only two N’s (on his “inner forearm block, back stance” and his “answer ups” – loudly saying, “Yes Sir!” when addressed), and E’s on each of the following:
forearm strike, front stance
turning round kick, middle stance
crescent kick, front stance
hook kick, middle stance
uniform neatness
push-ups
We are really proud of Andrew’s accomplishment. He has learned a lot so far and will be making even more progress in the coming weeks and months.
Great job, Andrew!
Katie’s home (YAY!!!) and we played Take Two this afternoon. The first round, I beat her by some 60 points, but that was due not to my great skill, but to an error on her part. She had crafted a nifty puzzle that included a word starting with H. The problem was that the H she used had a T in front of it and nothing behind it. I think she had originally had some word there like THAT or THEN, but had later disassembled it to form something else somewhere else. Then, when she went to count her points, she realized that that whole section of her puzzle had to be discarded (boo hoo). To add insult to injury, it had included two Xs that were both used twice. Major bummer.
Well, Katie was NOT willing to stop after that, so we played another round. A round in which she staged a grand comeback. But get this, the final score after both rounds was: Mom 580, Katie 590. I came very close.
Today I am the proud and happy mom of an eighteen-year-old daughter. Well do I remember her arrival in this world, and many are the memories of innumerable special and funny times with her in the intervening years. I am again so grateful to God that we have been able to have her at home with us all this time. What a blessing and delight Jessica is!
This afternoon, when Jessica arrived home from her birthday camping trip, (the reported details of which may someday be shared in another post – or possibly on her blog: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mime4jesus/), she received an email announcing her ACT score.
Scores on this set of exams range from 1 up to 36, with 36 being a perfect score and the national average being about 20. Only true geniuses and/or people who take the test over and over to improve their scores get a 36. Jessica took it once and scored a 32!!! That means that she tested higher than 99% of the the students who took it. Wow! It also puts her well above the thresholds most colleges use in determining eligibility for academic scholarships.
I am so VERY proud and happy!
Way to go, Jessica!
Patty’s Wed Nov 11, 2009 email to Scott:
“This afternoon, Andrew knocked over the big filing cabinet in our office. Thankfully, no one was hurt and amazingly, the big printer still works. However, the top file drawer cannot be closed, which means that the middle file drawer cannot be opened.
I will let you deal with Andrew on it. I don’t care what (if any) consequence you give him. If there is one, I would like to know (in writing) what it is, so I can carry it out. The one thing I would ask is that you try to figure out a way to get the middle drawer open. . .”
Scott’s reply to Patty:
“How did Andrew manage to do this? That is not an easy feat. . . Have you tried to scan or copy anything since it fell?”
Patty’s explanatory email back to Scott:
“He is a man of many skills, some less obvious than others.
“The story goes that he went up to sharpen his pencil. Note that he had three sharp pencils in his school box on the dining room table, but… While up there, he decided to play with the file cabinet drawers, pulling them out and pushing them in. As you know, if you happen to get two drawers out at once, there’s enough weight to topple the cabinet, so I guess that’s what happened. We heard a scream and then an enormous crash.
“Once Jessica ascertained that he was all right, I decided to stay downstairs for a while and not look, while the three of them worked to set things right. Trying to reduce my stress, you know.
“There was much grunting, groaning, and breathless giving of directions.
“There’s a lot of slippery graphite under my desk (I guess where the pencil sharpener contents fell) and Andrew claims that the printer is scuffed. The top drawer of the file cabinet is a bit lopsided and won’t close. I am astounded that the printer still works. No, I have not tried to copy or scan.”
NOTE: The filing cabinet in question is a three-drawer jobbie, about three feet long (left-to-right), three-and-a half feet high, and nineteen inches deep. When you open a drawer, the endless reams of junk files are filed sideways, perpendicular to the front of the cabinet. Atop the file cabinet are positioned:
- the outgoing mail bin
- a four-tier set of plastic stackable in-boxes that hold paper, cardstock, and Scott’s incoming stuff
- two cell phone chargers
- an electric pencil sharpener
- an HP color laserjet multi-function printer
Furthermore, note that the printer, stationed atop the three-and-a-half feet off-the-floor file cabinet, measures (according to its online HP owner’s manual) 20.8 inches high, 22 inches deep, and 17.25 inches wide, giving it a volume of some four-and-a-half cubic feet. Loaded as it is with four toner cartridges, it weighs in at a whopping 48.5 pounds, and all that volume and weight came crashing down when Andrew tipped the file cabinet over.
It’s truly amazing that the printer still prints, and it’s more amazing that Andrew wasn’t hurt.
This morning, Scott managed to bang, beat, coerce, or forcibly twist (I did not personally witness the procedure) the top file drawer back into a shape that once again allows it to slide in and out as designed. Perhaps this is a sign that I need to sort and trash most of what’s been buried and unused in those three file drawers for the past ten or so years. Hmmm…
Hear ye! Hear ye! Jessica has completed both the SAT and the ACT and she will never take either ever again in her natural life. Scores on the SAT are expected circa October 31, and ACT scores will arrive by postal mail in “five to eight weeks.”
All three of you blog readers might like to know that yesterday, Josiah beat Scott at ping pong SEVEN TIMES IN A ROW! I think there were some handicaps involved, but let me assure you that there was much rejoicing on the part of my son.
Shortly before she headed back to Patrick Henry for her sophomore year, Katie asked me to cut her hair. This did not initially seem to be an unusual request. I have cut our kids’ hair since Katie was about six years old, and every few months, she asks me to whack off a couple inches of split ends. Being a wise and thrifty woman, she has never seen the need to pay a “beautician” for what Mom can do in 30 seconds at no charge.
This time, I was little surprised at her choice of the verb “cut,” rather than “trim.” It turns out that after growing her hair long for a number of years – and it was approaching her waist – she wanted it cut much shorter. She was hesitant to make a major hair change while Jessica was away on a mission trip, because she and her sister are like Twinkies with their long hair. Jessica’s is longer, but they enjoy wearing it the same way and causing people who don’t know them well to mix them up.
However, after much analysis and contemplation, Katie decided that, as the Walrus said, “the time had come.” So, in two stages, I cut away eight inches of hair. That’s a lotta hair! And she looks WONDERFUL! It’s about down to her shoulder blades and I’d say “cute and sassy” would describe her new look.
Even if Katie were to mourn her missing tresses, not to worry; her hair truly grows like a weed. I bet she’ll regain three inches (in hair length, that is) by Christmas.
I had a bunch of clothes to get folded, and to help motivate me, Katie offered to play Take Two if I got them done by 9:00 PM. I haven’t folded clothes so fast in a long time, and we began our five-round match at 8:55 PM.
I’m pretty sure that if I had beaten her, the Earth would have wobbled off its axis or something, so I am pleased to report that she beat me by a score of 827 to my 672. Or did she have 872 to my 627. . . ? In any case, we had fun. I ended up the final draw with NINE vowels I couldn’t play!
Yesterday being July 5th, the boys were itching to buy their annual stash. Jessica was kind enough to take them to town right before supper. They passed two closed establishments, but eventually found a fireworks stand that was still open. They seemed pleased with their purchases, and there’s been a lot of noise and smoke around here ever since.
This morning, when the young child was sent out to bounce on the trampoline for 15 minutes to get some exercise, he instead spent that time shooting fireworks. He then came in crying and complaining that he had gotten hurt, and I – Miss Sensitivity that I am – admonished him that I held something close to no compassion for a boy who gets hurt when he disobeys. He also wanted to go back to town to buy more fireworks, but I told him he could not even mention that request again till all his chores and academics were done.
At 2:00 PM, his work completed, Andrew made a proper request for transportation so that he could purchase another $5.00 worth of fireworks. Money does seem to burn extremely large holes in his pockets. Realizing that today was his last possible opportunity to buy explosives for a whole year, I relented and took him to town again. The last stand (pun intended) was indeed still open, but the picking were very slim. However, he did scarf up a few items, and it’s been another afternoon/evening of noise and smoke.
July is a month in which our boys are never bored, and it provides the added benefit that the anticipation of being able to make something go “BOOM” later strongly incents them to complete their less-than-exciting tasks earlier.
“A wise mom maximizes any and all available motivators – including TNT.”
~ walnutshademom 9:12
