Hair Cut

I love the curls, but, they will grow back. Jay Michael loves it when James cuts his hair. Luckily he sits still, on our bathroom floor, while James trims his curly locks. I think he looks older, too.

Dork Diaries

The big ladies had a forensics tournament this weekend. Well, Rachel did. Since Samantha is in the seventh grade intro class, she can't compete, but, since a few kids on the JV (eighth grade; Rachel's) team moved over the Christmas break, the coach asked Samantha to step up to the JV team for this tournament. Samantha has only one line as a solo, but, Rachel was a main character - the middle one of the three narrators....Enjoy!

(pause the tunes at the bottom of the page)

from the book, Dork Diaries, by Rachel Renee Russell

Do you Amazon?

If you Amazon, or if you have a Kindle, or if you even read (which is evident by your visit here today...) please check out my little brother! He published a book! Here's the amazon link.

Congratulations David!

Sunbeams?

First day of Sunbeams for Jay Michael! January 8, 2012

Jay Michael is almost 4, Josephine is 7, Charlotte is 9,

Samantha is 12 and Rachel is 13.
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It is amazing to me that Jay Michael will turn four next month. I started this blog just after he was born. It seems like yesterday. He is such the little man of the house.

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This year is a landmark for him, even though he doesn't quite grasp it yet. He moved up, in January, to the Primary at church. This means he is now too old for nursery, where he played with his friends for two hours, while the adults and "big kids" went to classes. He is now one of the "big kids", too. He loved nursery. He had snacks, singing time and coloring pages. He played with his friends, and the adult leaders who were in there with all the nursery kids, and Jay Michael considers these adults his friends, too. This week he asked me why he couldn't throw the fish anymore. Throwing the fish is a game he loved to play in nursery with Brother Smith, who literally tossed a small plastic fish back and forth with Jay Michael - no doubt for the whole two hours. Such sweet service and a valuable time for our little man. I told him that Brother Smith is still there, playing with the younger kids, because now you, Jay Michael, are a big kid and you go to Primary. He misses throwing the fish, but it's time to move on.

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Now he is a Sunbeam, the youngest class of the Primary, which is the church organization for the children, ages 3 to 12. He sits in his chair, with his class, listens and sings. There is a lot of structure, as opposed to Nursery, which was less structure and more play. So far, I hear good reports of his behavior and he always says his teacher is goofy. (That's a compliment, Cherstin. Goofy, to him, means you play at his level and he likes you.)

Ready for nursery - July 2010 - and crashing cause it was so fun!

Charlotte ...

Charlotte turned nine just after Christmas. It's hard to separate the holidays, so we, at the BallTeam, say that we have Christmas Eve, Christmas, Charlotte's Eve and the 27th - Charlotte's birthday. I asked her the usual birthday questions and here's what she has to say: Her favorite color is blue (the color of water); her favorite subject at school, where she is in the third grade, is PE. Her favorite foods are kiwis and sticky macaroni (our homemade version of mac and cheese); and when she grows up, she wants to be a scuba diver or a swim coach or a teacher. She says she'll decide after the Olympics...

Charlotte likes to cook and she is a talented swimmer. She loves to be busy, be outside and be with people. She is the least likely in our house to play alone - she's a great playmate for Jay Michael. She likes to keep up with the big ladies and she's the leader of our youngest three. She's the perfect middle child. Charlotte is doing fantastic in school - her grades are all A's and B's. Her reading is just above grade level, but, she leans to math and science - just recently she tackled division with ease.

In this picture she is wearing her swim team shirt - the script at the bottom says, "My weapon is my body; My element is water; My world is swimming." That sums up her love of swimming - she is always ready for practice, and she's proud of how sore she feels later. (Mom note - don't you LOVE it when your kids discover their "thing"?) Charlotte is the youngest member of the year-round team and she practices with the high schoolers. Yes, some of the kids on the team are twice her age!

Charlotte is also our singer - her New Year's resolution is to join the adult choir at church. Excellent. Happy Birthday, Charlie!

How the BallTeam does winterized flip flops - :)

Happy New Year!