100th Day of School - 2013

I'm not sure if all schools do this, but the 100th day of school is a big deal around here.  Not a national holiday or anything, but all the kids look forward to it and the classes do special activities on this day. 

 

Trevor's class got to make a crown for the 100th day, and they made a picture with 100 items on it.  Items of choice for Trevor were stickers and elbow noodles.  One of the noodles was even glued on like a bridge, according to what Trevor told me.  They had cupcakes and juice and just had a fun little party at the end of the day. 

 

Ethan's class also had a fun little party with ice cream and treats.  In addition, Ethan's class had a project to do. They had to make a poster of 100 things.  They could put anything they wanted.  One student put paperclips in the shape of the number 100, another one did 100 mini marshmallows in the form of a snowman.  Another one had 100 flags, yet another drew and alien and put 100 googly eyes on its face.   They were very creative and fun to do.  What did Ethan do, you ask? What do you think Ethan would do?  100 books maybe?  100 Lego's?  Maybe even 100 footballs?   

Well, if you answered the footballs, you are partially correct.  He decided that he wanted to do 100 sports balls and group them into 10s.  So, we made a list of balls that included the following:

 

Basketballs

Footballs

Pool Balls

Soccer Balls

Baseballs

Tennis balls

Volleyballs

Bowling Balls

Golf Balls

Bouncy Balls

We went to the Hallmark store and Walmart to find as many stickers as we could and surprisingly, we found all but the pool balls, bouncy balls and tennis balls.  Those we printed out from the computer (Clip Art and Google Images are a beautiful thing!!)   He arranged them all in fun shapes (with only a little help from me) and then we labeled them all and put his title on the poster.  The title I did help him with.  He didn't want it to just go straight across so I drew in some "guide lines" for him so he could make it curved.   He worked very hard on it and did a great job with it!  It was fun to see him think about how he wanted to arrange the different sports! 

And the gluing/attaching starts....

Working hard, but getting a little silly after working for so long ;o)

 

 The finished product!  The smile of accomplishment is the best!!

 



A little closer view.  Our favorite was the basketball scene.  That was all his idea!

 



Recent Randoms

Just some random pictures from the camera taken during the last couple of weeks. 

our little fighter-man, I mean FIRE man  :o)

 Trevor was telling Cooper, "It's ok to get your coat on, buddy.  You have to come with Mama to take us to school."

 



 A beautiful sunset from last week!   Pictures never do them justice.

 

 Ethan's been taking pictures lately.  This one, I was doing the exciting task of going through the paper.  Definitely picture worthy!

 

Adrian Wrestling Tourney

Trevor got over his tough match at the first tournament and was ready for the next one in Adrian, MO.  Well... not really.  He was sick.  But the day before he was playing and carrying on as normal after he was up and moving for the day, so we figured that the same thing would happen on the tournament day.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  He was tired.  His throat was sore.  His energy was depleted.  The tears came after 4 of the 5 matches...not because he got pinned or lost, but because he was just so tired and not feeling well!  I felt terrible for having him there, but he honestly was doing fine the day before.  He pushed through and finished his last 2 matches strong and won one of them!  For the determination to finish all 5 matches and being a tough cookie, we were SO proud of him! 

We, as the parents, were a bit more prepared for this tournament having a WHOLE tournament behind us!  We were veterans now.  We were ready!  Ready and smiling....

 

 

Cooper was a a trooper at this one as well.  But he could Just. Not. Make. It.   He had to take a nap and for 45 minutes he snoozed in my arms.  Not sure now.  If you've ever been to a wrestling tournament, you know that it is NOT a quiet place.  There are people all over the place.  There are whistles being blown and MANY mats, and people are yelling and talking and yelling some more.  But he did it.  He napped in the middle of it all! 

 

 

A New Sport for Trevor

In December, Trevor started a new sport...wrestling.  A new sport for him.  A new sport for our entire family.  No one in our immediate family has ever taken up wrestling, but Trevor wanted to try it out.  And he has had fun with it!  The practices are tough, and we recently found out that the tournaments are even tougher, but he continues to like it and put moves on his big brother that are getting harder to get out of. 

On January 13th, we attended our first tournament.  We had NO idea what to expect, but muddled through it.  Rick and I both looked at one another and said, "This is absolute chaos compared to any other sport we have been involved in!"   But we figured it out with the help of the other Clinton Wrestling Club parents and survived the day.   It's a strange feeling when you are trying to cheer someone on and you don't even know what to yell.  In basketball we know we can yell, "hands up" or "use the board".   Baseball we can be heard yelling, "keep your eye on the ball" or "level the swing" (as Ethan liked to use a golfer's swing some days).  Soccer - we could yell, "get in front of it" or "look ahead - pass it".  But wrestling.  What in the world do you yell at wrestling?  We are so out of our element that we don't even know the right terms to yell (yet).  We heard, "get the half"...half-nelson that is, and swing it around (as they are supposed to try to get behind their opponent and some other things.  But we were so not aware of when we were supposed to yell certain things so you could hear us say, "Keep fightin' Trevor!  Way to go Trev!"  That was the extent of our yelling.  And one match, I didn't say a word.  I was videoing if that is any excuse, but I really just didn't have a clue how to even cheer him on.  That is SO NOT NORMAL for this athletic family of ours!   But we WILL learn.  We will conquer this sport as well!  It just may take a little more time to catch on. 

Trevor was nervous and excited and scared to death, all balled into one!  He did well his first two matches. Getting pinned in the first one and winning the second, but his 3rd match was not as much fun.  There were lots of tears afterwards and we weren't sure he would ever want to get back into a tournament again. 

Thanks for exposing us to this new sport, Trevor.  It has been a blast watching you improve each week and take on something that is "all your own"!  Go get 'em, Buddy!!

The 3rd match was a rough one.  And Rick knew it would be before Trevor even stepped foot on the mat.  As they were sitting in the bull-pen getting paired up for the next round, the little boy Trevor was going to wrestle started staring him down.  Not only was he staring him down, but he started jumping up and down and side to side.  Rick compared it to a "Rocky" movie where the boxers are getting ready for their fight to begin.  Really.  6 and under and you are doing that to your opponent.  We are in trouble!!!!  And we were.  Trevor, bless his huge heart, got man-handled by another 6 and under wrestler.  He never had a chance and the tears were in his eyes as the match was still going on and his cheek was plastered into the mat.  He didn't score a single point.  But he NEVER got pinned either!  He stuck it out for three 1-minute rounds.  He never gave up!!  But, honestly, he never had a chance either.  We had lots of tears afterwards, but I will always remember what Coach Brandon was telling him, "I will always take wrestler like you...you never gave up!  You could have rolled over, got pinned and been done, but you fought the entire match!  I will take that any day!!" 

Now, I think Mom (ahhm... that would be ME) could have used a pep talk too!  I. Was. A. Mess.  Do you know how hard it is to watch your child feel helpless during a sport where you are supposed to be the one that is doing the pounding and not getting pounded??  I wanted to go push the kid off of him, and just hold my baby!  I wanted to yell, "Let him up... you're winning 14-0...give it a rest you big meanie!!"  Ha ha.   But I refrained.  I was a good sport, and looking tough (even though I was dying inside) I cheered Trevor on and just hoped that he would not be scared for life after this beating! 

 

 



Start of a New Year

2013.... it's a new year!  Here at What the Heck, we have started the year off on the right foot with family time, healthy kids, and lots of laughs during some very lazy days of Christmas break!  Today we go back to "real life" of school, wrestling practice and scouts.  Welcome back craziness.  And even though it is a new year, I am going to back up a bit and get caught up on at least my Christmas post, if not more.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family/friends and are off to a good start in 2013.