Ben's Almost To 13

Ben is almost 13!

We have a TEENAGER in our home!

Eeek?

Augh?

Oh My?

I don't think so! I think we will have a pretty good TEENAGER.

Benjamin has been working with a handful of 7th and 8th graders over at Griffin Middle School. They meet once a week for an hour and are studying the Medieval Times Period. Ben was asked to be part of an Academic Pentathlon Team to represent our Middle School. The Academic Pentathlon is a five-event competition. Students compete as individuals and as a team in a series of five academic tests including math, literature, social science, science and essay. I'm not sure of all the logistics on when and where they will compete... we'll keep y'all posted! :)

A few months back Ben competed in the All Region Band Competition (on trombone). He was among over 2,000 students (7th and 8th) to enter the first round. He passed the 1st round into the 2nd round. (He was one of only two 7th graders from our Middle School to make it into the 2nd round.) He went back for the 2nd round where he was asked to sight-read various trombone music. And... he Made The All Region Symphonic Band (2nd highest of 3 band levels). He was the only 7th grader to make it this round.

The All Region Band will practice on January 8th in the morning/afternoon. In the evening all parents and friends will be able to hear the performance. We are definitely looking forward to this!

Gymnastic Season Begins

Nastia Liukin (the 2008 Olympic All-Around Champion) lives in Plano (a suburb near us). Her Dad, Valeri, hosts a yearly invitational in his Frisco gym. In years past, Nick has never participated in this invite because his Level and Age Group seemed to have fallen on a Sunday.


This year Nick's age group (8 & 9) and Level (6) competed on Friday night. It was FUN to be competing in our hometown of Frisco at a world-premier gymnasium (WOGA). There was excitement in the air! Teams from all over the world were competing! And how did Nick do...


Here are the stats from what I can remember:


8th in the All-Around (85.6). 1st through 7th were from out-of-state/country.


4th in the pommel horse (14.2).


2nd in the rings with a 15.2 - a 15.3 took 1st.


All of his other scores were very presentable (13.6 on p-bars, 14.2 on vault, 14.0 on floor, 14.4 on high bar), for those are all figured into his All-Around score. The Team, Eagle Gymnastics, received 7th overall.


As we can see, the gymnasts are "thinning" and it's much much harder to bring home those 1st, 2nd and 3rd place medals as in years past. But Nick is one dedicated gymnast and this is only the BEGINNING of his season for 2010-2011. Go Nick!

(The "bobble" you will see during the handstand cost him 3/10 of a point.)

The Bad Words

Zachary had a Band Recital this evening at the Middle School. Glenn and Ben took him early; they also went to "save seats" so the rest of us could come a bit later.

On the drive over we went past the Elementary School and the lights were on. I questioned, "I wonder why the lights are on at your school?"

Chris: They are probably cleaning the floors.

Emma: Paul David got an "oops" note today. So he has to meet with his Mom and Dad and Teacher. They are probably meeting right now.

Cindy: What did he do? What happened?

Emma: He said the "d" word.

Cindy: Hmm... what is the "d" word?

Emma: Mom, I can't say it.

Cindy: Oh go ahead... just this once.

Emma: Ok. Darn.

Cindy: Oh my.

Emma: He also got another "oops" note. He said the "s" word.

Cindy: Well, tell me, what is the "s" word?

Chris: Mom, we can't tell you.

Emma: You don't want to know.

Cindy: Oh, come on. Tell me just this once.

Chris: s-t-u-p-i-d

Emma: Yeah, stupid Mom.

I hope that's as far as it ever goes! :)

Happy Belated Halloween

Christopher's work of art!

Toothless

Emma lost her first tooth! It has been wiggly and wiggly for nearly the entire month of October. It came out on the 23rd of October. She phoned Glenn and I with such GREAT excitement!

We were running our first Marathon TOGETHER in Austin! Well, we weren't really running TOGETHER... Glenn finished about 20 minutes ahead of me! But we were at least running the same race. (I got 2nd in my age group!)

Christopher's Special Day(s)

Christopher turned 8 years young in September, on the 26th! I know it's already November, but there has been a lot going on in our home... Gymnastics, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Baptism, Business Trips, Visitors from AZ, Marathons, Soccer for Ben, Soccer for Chris, Soccer for Emma, Basketball for Zach, Church, Young Men, Band, Trombone for Ben, Euphonium for Zach, Try-outs for this & that, Schoolwork, Campouts, Homework... and I am just starting to name a few! (I know others feel the pain of BUSYNESS!)

But I needed to post a little bit about Christopher! He wanted to celebrate this year with a soccer ball cake. It came out nice! It was really tasty!

Turning 8 years old is a very important step in our home... white shirt and tie!

The first Saturday of October is the day when our ward (church congregation) usually holds Baptisms for those children who have just turned 8. Since the first Saturday of October is also General Conference for our church (worldwide church meeting with the Prophet), the Baptisms were held on the 2nd Saturday of October. Two friends of Chris were also baptized, Peyton and Harrison. Grandma and Grandpa Thomas came down for the festivities. All went well and Christopher was baptized by his Father. Congratulations Christopher!

Rubik's Cube MASTERED

Zach has mastered The Rubik's Cube! Many years ago (as Zach tells the story) Zach received a Rubik's Cube for a present. Apparently Grandpa Thomas came over one afternoon and messed it up... and ever since that day it has been "bugging" Zach that he could not get it "back in order."

Of course the Rubik's Cube would get lost in the toy box, get moved to another room, get lost under the bed or behind the couch. Years went by but whenever it would come back out to "haunt" Zach he would once again try to solve it! This has been happening over the course of many years!

So, for the last few months he has been sitting at the computer (some website) figuring it out. He's Got It and He's Good and He's Getting Faster and Faster!