1st Grade

Watch out blog...I learned how to use my scanner! (finally, lol) I may stay up for days posting pictures on here!

My Kid the Rock Star

Today was parent lunch day at school. I was pleased to learn that one of the menu selections was school pizza. Haven't had a school pizza...well, since I was in school! We won't count how many years ago that was. I had really built my hopes up for this little rectangular piece of pie. I remember how pizza days were always my favorite. I liked the school pizza so well that my dad, who was a teacher, even used to buy slabs of them for us to eat on the weekends. I couldn't wait to enjoy my lunch with The Boy.

I got to the shool plenty early...Jayke tends to start to worry if I'm not there waiting for him when I'm supposed to be. The class comes by and each child picks up their parent as they pass through the lobby. This was our first awkward moment as I immediately, and obviously thoughtlessly, reached for and took his hand in line. He looked at me like I was an alien. I let go right away and then there was a moment where we both just looked at each other, not really knowing what to do next. He relunctantly took my hand with this look on his face that told me he was going to do this but ONLY for my benefit.

Our second awkward moment was when I accidentally stepped too far forward in the line and he felt I was cutting the boys in front of us. My bad. I figured I better just let him lead the way the rest of the time so I didn't get in any more trouble. He instructed me the rest of the way on how to take my tray, where the utensils were, and where we were going to sit.

When we entered the cafeteria I thought for a moment I was with a rock star! Little girls screaming his name. Boys waving him to the spot next to them at their table. Jayke just walking as if it were a normal everyday happening. I listened after that to see if any other kids got that kind of reception and no one did. He must be quiet popular. LOL

We found a seat and finally, my little square pizza was in front of me and I was about to take a trip down memory lane. Ha! Man was I disappointed! School pizzas have either gotten way worse than when I was a kid or I have developed much better taste as an adult. I'm going with the latter. The flavor was pretty much the same it's just that I've had so many other kinds to compare it to that now it just wasn't as wonderful. They also apparently care more now about your health and/or weight because the french fries that we used to get with our pizza were now replaced with about two tablespoons of salad. Still had the same ol chocolate milk though and it was just as I remembered. The school chocolate milk is just a little different than what you get at the store...at least I always felt (and still feel) that way.

After lunch Jayke promptly directed me to the trash cans and showed me where to put my tray. I think he enjoyed taking on the roll of teacher. I left him in his classroom diligently working on his vocab worksheets. Tonight he had a friend ride the bus home with him for the first time. Gotta go take them to eat INSIDE McDonalds right now. Maybe I will have a post about his play date tomorrow.

Cub Scout Cake Update

He didn't come home with his own cake but he did come home with a cake. Jayke's cake sold for $7.00...five of which Oma paid (Oma took him because Opa had a meeting) and then she bought him a different cake for $6.00. Soooo...all together she has about $41.00 invested and we ended up with a cake we could have baked for probably $5.00. I know, I know it's not about that. He had fun and the pack made some money. And now we have a big cake just sitting there calling to me...Weennnnnnnnnddddddyyyyyy...come get me! Bad cake.

Do I Hear Ten Dollars?

Here is the cake that Jayke and my mom made for his Cub Scout cake auction tomorrow night. The Boy doesn't want to part with it, of course. We have to make the starting bid of $5 so we may end up with it anyway. I'm not saying it's not worth $5 but everyone will have to bid on their own so I doubt there will be any other bids. Kinda a weird system if you ask me. My mom has spent at least $25 dollars already making the crazy thing! She has declared that she will now make a cake of some sort with the mold for every holiday. All of this was said after a near nervous breakdown and while still wearing green icing on her face.

I'm just glad that Opa takes him to scouts and not me. He will get to deal with the fit that will ensue if that cake doesn't come home with them tomorrow! Sitting quietly, chuckling to myself.

It's like a Catalog!

Thanks to my Aunt Karen, I got my blog printed and made into a book. It's more like a catalog! At least that is how big it is. This is only the first year of entries. I still have three more years to print. The next three won't be nearly this big, as I got a little lax in my blogging since moving back to Indiana. Anyway, my aunt told my mom about the website Blog2print.com where they will transfer everything for you, print it, and ship it to you. I couldn't wait to get mine done. So there it is...on the ottomon with The Boy staring at it. He was in a bad mood and I was forcing him to take pictures with a BOOK!

After he got over his crankiness and I made sure his hands were spotlessly clean I let him browse the book that is ALL about him. Now it is his favorite book, of course. He sits and reads it and cracks up. Sometimes he looks at me and says, I CAN'T beeeeeelieve you wrote that about me!" with disgust in his eyes. Believe it boy! I write it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly stories about potty training! He will appreciate it more when he is like 35. I will point out to him that not too many moms spent that much time, energy, and money on their kids baby books.

I have sat and read much of it myself and I must say it may be the best book I've every read! I laughed, I cried...and then I began to blog...again. So thank you Aunt Karen for motivating me! I will try to keep up with it.




Note to self for future blog book orders...Find a better picture for the cover and leave off the 22 (out of 356) pages of table of contents.

Why? What's Up??

This was posted on my Facebook wall by my niece, AJ, today. LOVE it!!! Love her!!


Wendy Who? Wendy "Wendoline" Willmann...I guess I have to still say Howell Wendy? Cutie Patootie, kids say the darndest things Jaykeb's mommie Wendy? Always wearing sunglasses on her head Wendy? Has the longest Christmas Lists in history Wendy? I left my baby neice on the windowsill Wendy? Use to play Target in the family room Wendy? Crushed hard on Joey Bowman Wendy? If it involves sweating, I think I'll pass Wendy? Snips Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Wendy? Floral designing diva Wendy? Elegant Accents Wendy? Whole family was drunk at my wedding (except AJ) Wendy? Always wanted a zoo in the backyard Wendy? Yeah, why?!? She's my aunt...more like my cousin and I love her mucho and that's what's up!!!

We Went to The Beach

We went to the beach today to remember Nate. It seemed weird to go to the beach and carry on as if life were normal. It was a good thing though. We all were thinking about him, but today they were happy memories not tears and overwhelming heartache like yesterday. Today we laughed again. We wrote his name in the sand and watched the sun light break through the clouds and shine down on us. We knew he was there with us.

Heaven Gained an Angel

Death leaves a heart ache no one can heal. Love leaves a memory no one can steal.

The Little Mummy

Jaykeb was a MUMMY this year for Halloween. I went as the Mummy's Mommie. This was a compromise...he wanted to be a werewolf with a big hot rubber mask that I knew he wouldn't wear. I wanted him to be a skeleton. We couldn't agree so the next choice was this mummy costume. I had planned to paint his face to make him scarier but with all the craziness of the evening I didn't manage to get that done.

We went over to my friend, Angi's house to trick or treat with her kids and a huge group of their friends. Also with another friend, Bob and his kids. Here is Bob's son, Mason, and Jaykeb. The Ninja and and Mummy...



Jayke and Mason get along really well. Mason is in Kindergarten at the same school as Jayke and they play soccer together.



This is Freddy Kruegar, aka Matthew Pickering and The Mummy. There were a lot of other kids there but they wouldn't hold still long enough to get good pictures. We had a good time. We trick or treated, Angi made a huge pot of chili and hot dogs for after trick or treating. We ended up hanging out at the house until late just watching the kids play...other wise known as terrorizing the neighborhood...and talking. Jayke and Mason played the whole time. Going to Ang's house is his new favorite thing. I'm glad we had lots of kids for him to have a good time with this year.

Straight As AND a Couple of Goals...No Problem!

I had my parent/teacher conference the other day with Jaykeb's teacher. Yawn. As expected my child is getting straight As and is exceptionally well behaved. Now I'm not complaining or anything but she really seemed like she didn't have much to say about him. He is really good at everything and never gets in trouble. She did finally say that he can get a little wound up...I started to get excited...but then she threw in that it is only when the other kids are and he settles down immediately when told. Sigh. I told her I was actually happy to hear this, that last year I was told he was very quiet and kinda just sat back and watched everything going on. She then said, "Well THAT is NOT the Jaykeb I see!" Yes! Here it comes something that will tell me how he interacts in the classroom. Silence. I guess that is all she had to say on that.

We went through the rest of the information she had for me pretty quickly. He did the first grade testing they give them and scored at the highest level on everything. She gave me his measurements from the nurse and a permission slip for their upcoming field trip and then just looked at me. I guess we were done. I didn't have anything to ask her either. Apparently this is the kind of parent/teacher conference all parents want to have. Excellent report and in and out in 15 minutes. The drive out to the school took longer. Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic about the level of his genius...I just thought there would be more to it. She could have shot me an email with the same info. I guess I just have to get used to everyone telling me how perfect my child is...even though I already know!

On to the soccer tournament update...which had WAY more excitement than the conference! Jaykeb played 3 tournament games this year at the end of our season. This was something new for us. Normally it is strictly a rec league and we never keep score or have referees. They decided to try something different this year with our age group. 3 games played against the west side DCFC teams. I was looking forward to it since it would be his first competitive games. I understood why they were doing it, to give the kids experience with timed halves and a referee and going by the rules more strictly than we normally do. I was not, however, thrilled with the organization of the whole mess.

I was thrilled with Jaykeb's play in two out of the 3 games though! He played defense in the first game and was great! The other team had this little girl who was something else. She had scored all of their points up to the point where they put Jaykeb in. He stopped her. Not only did he stop her but I think he may have hurt her. She ran into him on one of her drives to the goal and bounced off like she had hit a wall. LOL! Never would have thought I would say that about my kid. He is not big by any means, but he can hold his ground! She did not score the second half. He was so proud of himself too. He would stop her and then turn and wave at us...grinning like a fool. I would have to yell to remind him he was still playing. This went on the entire half. Stop the ball...turn and wave. Stop the ball...turn and wave. By the end all our team's parents were cracking up, as were Oma, Opa and I.

P'pa came to the second game but I'm afraid he didn't get to see much action. It was a pretty dull game. We tied...0 to 0. Jayke didn't play that same position as last time but there was still a lot of waving going on. I'm glad my dad came even though it wasn't the best game.

Game 3 was by far the best. Not only did the little waver score a goal but he scored TWO goals, one of which was on a penalty kick! It was a great kick too. After he scored he came tearing out of there and down the sideline to high five me. I thought for a second he was going to tear his shirt off and yell GOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!! We won that game 4 to 0 but it didn't matter overall. We knew going into this game there was no way we could win the tournament. No one cared though after that last game where everyone on our team played so well and had fun doing it. Opa was there to see him score his goals which he was excited about too. Hopefully next year they will be a little more organized.

I think we may do some indoor clinics this winter but for now The Boy will only have Cub Scouts on Mondays with Opa. I'm sure there will be a Cub Scout post coming eventually. I'm trying to ease back into this blogging thing but most people who know me know I don't EASE into anything...I tend to get obsessed with whatever I'm into at the moment. I'm trying to contain the urge to post obsessively. Facebook helps me with that. :)

Just Almost

Jayke walked in on my mom in the shower the other day...something that I will address with The Boy later...but when she turned to grab a towel he said, "Oma, you shouldn't turn around like that 'cause I'm almost public." Really? Well maybe he should take his "almost public" butt out of her bathroom!

Still Have All Ten!

Here is this year's offering. The one on the right is the one we carved. I've decided that whoever came up with carving a pumpkin must have been crazy. It is DANGEROUS! I started carving and had to stop for a minute to refresh Jayke on how to unlock my phone and dial 911. Just in case I managed to remove a digit from one of my paws while slicing up this oversized vegetable. I'm pretty sure if that happened I would be unconscious on the floor in a pool of blood and it would be up to The Boy to save his uncoordinated mother.

Needless to say...since I'm still able to type this post....that did not happen. The dangerous task was completed without incident. The cat came close to having her whiskers shaved off once but other than that we were all good!



Jake cleaned the pumpkin out this year all by himself. He didn't even flip out about his hands being messy and sticky like last year. Luna got right in there as always. It never fails that my cat likes pumpkin. I had a kitten once that sat and ate the pumpkin guts like it was cat chow. I tend to have weird animals.



Even though I managed to not REMOVE a finger...or hand while carving the pumpkin, I did burn the crap out of myself trying to light the candle. I need to get back to being organized and over-prepared Mommy like I used to be. Maybe if I had planned ahead I would have gotten a pumpkin light and not had to go old school with the candle causing me to roast my hand like a marshmallow! Next up...trick-or-treating. There was a whole costume fiasco that I now think I have solved but I will save that for another post. Facebook is calling!

Meet Jackson. My...uh...Brother?

My mom has been threatening...er, uh...saying she is going to get a dog for several years now and she finally did! His name is Jackson. He is a Havanese, which is Cuban. Here he is patiently waiting to be taken out to do his business. This is a rare photo because normally this dog is running around stealing any shoe that is left laying around, stealing any paper he can shred and make a mess with, running after my child trying to ruin his shirts by grabbing ahold and swinging from Jayke's waste, table surfing, and barking non-stop to have you throw his ball for him!

He is the cutest dog ever and probably could have been a really good dog but SOMEONE is ruining him. When you have to buy a DVD to tell you how to train your dog I think something is wrong! I offered to do it for free, would have only taken a couple of days. I trained The Pack...all 7 of them basically by myself. I don't have behavioral issues with my two I have now, but she didn't trust me not to "spank" her dog. Uh huh...now...they have a dog who bites. I'm not talking about play biting either. I'm talking about I'm gonna rip your hand off biting. Stellar training! That DVD was money well spent! Her excuse is that he is still a puppy and still learning. What is he learning how to control his owner and turn her hand into a chew toy?

I think I have come to realize that I do NOT like dogs. Not really. Puppies are okay, I love cute lil puppies but I'm not a fan of the licking and barking, the bouncing around and having to take them outside all the time. I like a low maintenance animal. A quiet animal. One who may stop by for a quick rub then go on its way and leave you alone. One you can put food down for and leave over night. One who doesn't go outside...EVER. Kinda like me! LOL. Yep, I like cats. I'm a cat person. Dogs are not my thing.

Jim says that they train all their kids the same. Ha ha! So basically the spoiling and lack of discipline started with me and is still trickling down. I guess I can't argue with THAT!

Hanging out...

Jaykeb's Halloween Post

Jaykeb's blog entry about his costume. (Typed as written by The Boy)

My costume is scary. My cat is not afrad of any thing. But she frecs out win she sees it. It is a werd looking mummy.

Appropriately Named

Turns out that I could not have picked a more appropriate name for my cat. Luna...short for Lunatic...is all grown up now and crazier than ever!

Someone Put Bubbles in my Fountain!

Couple of Soccer Pictures

Jaykeb has his first soccer tournament coming up next week. I don't know how this is going to go. They get so little practice and I'm not really sure they even really understand what will be different when they go to this tournament. I guess we will find out on Monday. He went to a soccer clinic this summer with the British soccer guys that really seemed to help. I'm ready for him to get some good coaching though instead of parent volunteers who are just there to supervise them for an hour.

Mosaic Pumpkin...By Jayke

Indy Zoo

Meemaw took Jaykeb, AJ, and me to the zoo. Jaykeb got to feed the giraffes. Of course he ran up there and gave them the food before I could get there so the picture I got was good of the giraffes...not so good of The Boy...

He finally went in and pet the goats. He was really afraid of them but luckily these goats didn't move much...more like at all.




The bear who was confused...he just kept going in and out of his cave. In and out, in and out...

The zoo has cheetahs right now for some Tony Stewart promotion thing. I took this picture for my Dads who are Tony Stewart fans. Surprised my camera didn't break. :)

Jayke and I both pet the sharks. It was really hard for Jayke to reach them and if you look in the corner of the picture Meemaw had a hold of him so he didn't go for a swim. They felt like rubber.

These seals were having a disagreement. They were the first thing we came to and I didn't think we were going to get Jayke to move on. He liked the seals. They were probably the most active of all the animals we saw all day.

My favorite part, and I think everyone else's too, was the dolphin show. I don't have any pictures of it because we were too far up and the lighting was bad but it was really good. I can't remember ever going to a dolphin show, although I'm sure I have since I have been to Sea World. It is something I would like to go back to. Next time I will make sure we get there early though so Jayke can sit down in the front and get splashed!