Knowledge Bowl 2009

After taking a one-year hiatus, Jonathan participated in Knowledge Bowl this year. The theme this year was "Arts". They had an insane amount of materials to learn that covered musicals, poetry, literature (is poetry considered part of literature?), architecture, visual arts, theater, and classical music. After months of practice 4 times a the week (twice a week during school hours, and twice a week afterschool), the district competition was held last Saturday. The questions were, in general, very hard! They made me feel pretty dumb. Jonathan's team decided to dress as nerds! They looked, well..., nerdy! His team won 2 of the 3 games they played and made it to the semi-finals. They were up against the top seeded team and nearly beat them! The game came down to the final question and the other team won because of a lucky guess. So the Oak Canyon Junior High Team #1 took third place at the district competition. :)

Surprise in the Mail

Yesterday I went out to get the mail. All the usual stuff was in the box... gas bill, Dan's paycheck stub, junk mail, and then there was a large manila envelope addressed to Jonathan. I checked the return address... US House of Representatives, Official Business. Interesting, I thought. I had to wait for Jonathan to get home to find out what was inside. I took his envelope with me when I went to pick him up. He opened it. Inside was a certificate from our Congressman indicating that Jonathan received a "Special Congress Recognition" for earning his Eagle rank. Evidently the National BSA office notifys your congressperson when you earn your Eagle. Nice surprise! Jonathan even thought it was pretty cool.

Oh Happy Day!

After 22 long months, Jonathan is free! He got his braces off this morning! He celebrated by eating Salt Water Taffy that he had stashed in the car. His original treatment plan was only supposed to last 14 months, but alas, it took 22. He got impressions taken today and goes back to get his retainers on Monday. He chose a half red/half blue sparkle retainer... this way the BYU-Utah rivalry can be continuous in his mouth!

Tubby Time

So you tell me... Did Miles enjoy his bath tonight?

More About Miles

Two Miles things today. First, Miles is mobile. No, he can't crawl... he's a roly-poly. He gets where he thinks cool things are. I've fished him out from under my bed, from under the bassinet, and from against walls where he's gotten stuck. I guess we can't leave him on the kitchen counter anymore! Second thing... today Miles is a nap rebel! He will not sleep. Okay, seriously, he's had two naps today totaling less than an hour. But he's happy! Happy to play and be played with. I even took him for a backpack ride to see if that would do the trick... a half hour later, he was still bright eyed! Maybe this means that he'll sleep awesome tonight!

No Bib Needed Tonight

We've been waiting to find the "magic" food for Miles... the one that you can't shovel it into his mouth fast enough... the one that stays in his mouth instead of dribbling out of his mouth and down his neck. He's had sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, pears, bananas, applesauce, and peaches. Peaches and green beans have been his favorites with bananas coming in last place. Well, tonight we found the food we've been looking for... Miles' "magic" food is mashed potatoes. I shared my dinner with him tonight. Not once did he spit his food out at me. It all stayed in! He even opened his mouth to let me know he was ready for more potatoes! He was actually clean at the end of his dinner. I guess that means that we'll be having mashed potatoes more often. That will make Nolan happy too!

Got Doughnuts?

Yesterday I took the boys to Kripsy Kreme as promised. They wanted the free doughnuts they "earned" for their awesome grades. Since they both had straight A's last term, they maxed out the number of free doughnuts Krispy Kreme would give them (6). We also had coupons for a free doughnut, so they left Krispy Kreme with 7 beloved and, more importantly, free doughnuts each. By bedtime last night, they each had eaten 6 of their doughnuts.

Second Term Grades

I don't know what we are going to do about Nolan and his grades... he's actually been so excited to bring home his report card and was disappointed on Monday when he didn't get to bring it home. Today was the big day... Nolan's highest grade was 115% in Social Science. His lowest was 96% in math. He can't wait for Monday... I promised to take him to Krispy Kreme. They give free doughnuts for each A grade (up to 6 doughnuts). He wanted to go today, but I told him he needed to wait. To appease him, I told him I'd make him any type of cookie he wanted. Hard to believe, but he chose Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookies. What 9 year old would choose those?... only one with good taste! Good work, Nolan!

Blue and Gold Banquet

I'm playing catch up! On FEBRUARY 24 (see how behind I am) we had the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. There theme was "American ABC's" and we wanted to do something creative and fun for the boys. Well, the first thing we decided to do was to dump the "ABC's" part of the theme and go with an All-American idea. We had 2 ideas... a carnival and a mini-talk on uniforms... why we wear them, what they stand for, etc. We decided to combine the two ideas into one. The families arrived to an indoor picnic of carnival foods... corndogs and Sloppy Joes. As dinner was wrapping up, the boys were called to the "front and center" and Jim Brown came in, wearing his military uniform, and taught the boys how to stand at attention and then gave them a uniform inspection. Then he did the "uniforms" talk. After his presentation, the boys got their awards by "fishing" at a carnival fishing booth. After awards wrapped up, it was time for fun! We had a mini-carnival for the boys with the fishing booth, a doughnut walk, a soda can knock-over game, a TP toss, a sucker-pull, and obstacle course, and even a kissing booth. The boys had a blast. Yes, it was a pain to pull off, but the boys loved it, and to me, that made it all worthwhile.

Backpack Ride

All of our boys have preferred backpack rides over the stroller. Last Saturday, Dan took Miles out for his first backpack ride. He was bundled up- warm jammies, hat & mittens! On their second lap around the park Miles passed out. He looked so cute in his backpack- red cheeks and all!

New Milestone for Miles

It sounds funny to say "Miles' Milestones"... anyway, on Monday, Miles figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy while conscious. He's been rolling in his sleep since he was about a week old! The first back-to-tummy rollover took a lot of time and effort. Now, 2 days later, he's the king and has that move mastered!

New Food Night!

Tonight Miles ate carrots! He thought they were okay... not as great as peaches or applesauce, but still pretty tasty!

He's Only Nine...

... but he eats like a teenager. Nolan has serious mutual envy. He want to go so bad and is jealous of 96% of the things Jonathan does at mutual. Tonight, the mutual kids have gone tubing at Soldier Hollow. To try to compensate for Nolan being left behind, I took him to Wendys for dinner. The little lunch mouth ate 10 chicken nuggets, a small fry, a small frosty, and a 20 oz. soda. I do not know where he put it all!