All Of May.

OK, all of May except the kids birthday parties.  I'll get to those in a bit.

Lego Robotics

One of the teachers at the kids' school started a Lego Robotics Club and we were all over getting both kids signed up for that!

A parent is asking questions.

Once a week for 5 months, I think, the kids stayed after school learning to build and program these robots.  This being the first year at this school they didn't compete but did have a good time and learned a ton.

The girls programmed their robot to follow the black line.

Photos were from the Show n Tell time they had for us at the end of Club.

Lots of math involved which inspired the kids.  For a day or two...for math.

Is it Ying or Yang?

Just a shot of Xena sleeping in her big bed.

Jo finally outgrew her flip flops from last year and decided this cloth pair would be great to BLING out!

Must have BLING when you can!

5th Grade Track Meet

The kids competed in running, jumping and throwing.

Oma took the day off to join in the fun on this field trip.

All three came back energized and smiling.

(If I had been keeping up with our blog regularly I would have better stories.)

Happy 11th Birthday!

Birthday gifts from Gma Marie and Gpa Norman on the weekend before. 

Yard games for the family!  Looking forward to these for sure.  Don't know about the kids.  Is it really about them?

And on the 15th, they woke with smiles on their faces. (not)

And Cinnabons on their plates.

It was a busy day for us with work, school, Lego Robotics and Cole had his second day of 10U Baseball All Star Try Outs.

Sushi dinner the kids way.

Always delish!

Happy Birthday You Two!!

We ended this evening having to tell Cole that he didn't make the All Star team.  Hated to break his heart on his birthday but his team had a game the following day and his other two team mates did make the team.  We wanted him to be happy for his friends and be able to play without being to upset.  Major heart break followed by the typical process of tears, anger, sadness, happiness for his team mate, confusion, more tears and even determination for next year.

He knows what he was lacking for this year and stated he will be working on those areas to make the cut next year.  We hope so.  He sure loves baseball and works hard at it.  And as his personal hitting coach told Cole.  "More kids didn't even get asked to try out and you did".  That made him feel better too.

Garden - watching it grow!

Everything is planted including the strawberry boxes.

Now to water and wait.

Ruiz & Soccer

The cousins, Maggie and Lanna play a lot of soccer and because of soccer they travel to many places including England and Hawaii.

This trip brought them to Eugene where we got to enjoy seeing them play.

They sure have gotten good over the years!

Always great to have them visit.

Almost done with May!

April Last & May Beginnings

Last part of April brought Babe Ruth Opening Ceremonies for the 2013 season.

Oma and Cole in the mix of their AAA team.

(Cole is walking next to Oma, both wearing shades)

Garden Update!

By the 28th I had the garden completely built and full of dirt!

Total cost $72.

$60 of that was the cost of the dirt.

And on the 29th of April we had plants!

Rhubarb, two kind of blueberries, three cherry tomatoes (thought we got one large and two cherries, oh well), potatoes (red & yellow), lettuce, cucumber, a watermelon and, finally, a cantaloupe.

May!

School awards for both kids!

I went to one of the kids last assemblies to watch Jo receive an award.

Low and behold Cole also received an award.  He didn't even know?!

(And I have no words for Cole's expression here?)

Jo: "Unfailing Kindness, Creativity & Consideration!"

Cole: "On Being a Problem Solver"

And THIS is what Summer is about for me!

 Yup, this is the good life.

Cheadle Lake 5k

Yup!  The next 5k for the family.

Corri & Derian were planning on this one but didn't make it for this fun run.

Gma Marie, Tricia, Gpa Norman, Jo and Hannah

The green t-shirts helped yet again find them while on their walk / run.

And off they go!

Jo and Hannah took off at a nice jog while the three had a nice walking pace!

I sat in the shade waiting for them to round the bend and who came out of the woods first?

Gpa Norman!  And he was moving quite fast.

I then thought...oh, the girls will be next as Jo had on actual jogging shoes and they really started out well.

Time passed as more and more came through the finish line.

I waited...

   waited ... .. .

WAIT! More green shirts!

Ummm...wait...what?

Tricia and Gma Marie?

"Excuses me? Where are the girls?"

Gma & Tricia: "Oh, they have had a water fight, watched ducks, ducklings...geese and goslings, turtles and baby turtles."

"The girls would walk forward and then back, jog forward and then run back doing all these activities."

So we waited... ...

             waited ... .. . .  .

                    and waited ... .. .. .  .  .

Yup...and here they are...

Chatting away as they strolled (I thought this was a fun run?) along as they had no care in the world or that they were in any sort of race!

The truth is you can't expect these two girls to do anything together fast.  They get so distracted visiting, playing and sight seeing they forgot what they were doing originally.  And they probably really didn't care what the original goal was in the first place!

And here they are with their participation ribbons!

Good time was had by all.

Age Group ?? Finish!

Gpa and Gma both took Third!

Congratulations You Two!

Jo's 9th Kup Yellow Belt

April 26 Jo tested for her 9th Kup Yellow Belt in Tae kwon Do.

Howdy can this girl stretch!

She spotted the sign in class that said "Belt Testing, end of month" and asked if she could test for her Yellow Belt.  This being new to us we had no idea how this process worked.  So Jo (Yes, Jo did this on her own) spoke to her instructor and asked if she could test and she was told "It is by invitation only".  He informed her that she would be invited when he felt she was ready to test.

Jo has been working very hard at learning her Chung Ji and after hearing it was by invitation only she worked even harder.

A week or two went by and she was then invited to test!

The glow on Jo's face was priceless!

She first had to perform her Chung Ji followed by Combination Sparring.

(1:45 minute video if you would like to watch her)

Presenting: Jo
9th Kup Yellow Belt!

And then off to ice-cream to celebrate!

It was a GRAND evening shared with Connie & Rachelle too!

We are so very proud of Jo.  She actually asks questions on her own in class.  Advocates for herself in class with out even asking us to do so for her.  And she is excited to go to class each and every night.

CONGRATULATIONS JO!!!

COLOR ME RAD!

April 14 the "Ticksters" walked/ran the Color Me Rad 5k.

Corri, Gma Marie, Derian and Jo!

A little morning Zumba warm up with a splashing of color.

They danced and played for about an hour until the race started.

Color Me Orange!

We watched them round the corner after the first color station and Cole needed a little Gma love with a dash of her color!

As the Ticksters kept on their 5k the rest of us walked back to the last color station and waited for them to pass.

Gpa helped out a bit as the spray hose kept falling off at this station.

Always the Handyman!

Cole and Oma tossed a little color on Jo and Derian.

Don't know why they tried to run away as they were already covered!

And the final HURAH of color!

All had a good time and boy howdy were they ever dirty!

But happy!

Full of smiles, color and more color!

Cole got in on the group hug to color him up a bit too.

Jo's lesson: Don't wear "cool colored" shoes for a run.  Running shoes are the best choice.  Function over Fashion!  She was in quite a bit of pain towards the end of this run due to her shoe choice but she didn't stop smiling and having a good time!

Why didn't Cole participate in the Rad Run?

He had a game shortly after the run and it was his first time pitching in a game.

FIRST PITCH EVER!

What a GREAT day full of family and fun!

More 5k's are in the future.

Beginning of April

AAA 2013

Baseball season has rolled around again and Cole looks quite handsome in his new uniform.  I could be biased but I don't think so.

He was a little disappointed in having the long pants this year as he really likes knickers. 
Cole really does have looks in mind when he dresses for activities and has a hard time adjusting his mind set when it does not go the way he wants.  Oh, let me adjust this by saying Cole really has a look in his mind when he dresses every day, activity or not.  Is the terminology "metro-sexual"?

GARDEN

I had a vision of my garden in the corner of our yard and have slowly moved plants from this area for a couple years now.  The building has started!

Reusing parts of our old fencing, Cole and I set posts as we needed a fence to keep the dogs out.

Building the boxes was quite fun and great to have the kids help on this too.

Jo and Cole both used the circular saw and drill on this project as "right" angles were not the goal.

Looking good!

Tiles from School

The 5th grade class made two "face" tiles each at school.  One stayed at school for a display and the others came home.

LOVE THESE!

Game 1 of his AAA season!

Oma has joined the team this year as an official coach as well.

This will be Cole's first year with a goal of making the All Stars for 10 year olds.  He is quite excited that he could have a chance to play more summer baseball and travel with tournaments and more.

YEAH, to another couple months at the baseball field!