A new generation of hockey players is born
We had a lot of fun picking out skates, sticks and pads. I think I accidentally got two-left shooting sticks, but that may be a good thing as Ben does shoot left. I am not sure which way Sam will want to shoot, so we may be back at Big 5 tomorrow! I have a right-shooting stick for me, thank goodness! We called Uncle Doug on our way back home to get some pointers. He and Uncle Tim both played ice and roller hockey, so this seems like a family tradition!
The boys picked it up really quick. I thought I’d be a human crane, holding them up, but I wasn’t at all. Ben insisted on getting these Heely shoes with wheels in the heels. Turns out they were much harder than I think blades would be for him, so we may be back to Big 5 for those, too, tomorrow. Ha!
Valentine’s Day wood shop
Working with friend Kai to create some interesting Valentines. We went to the hardware store for inspiration. It came down to soldering metal or carving wood. Both seemed interesting to me but the boys chose wood carving. We made one set of carved initials for everyone in the class and one for the teacher. The table was a mess when were done, and you can imagine the dust on the floor! Good thing Daddy was in JAPAN…
Happy Valentine’s Day to all!! We love you!
Quote from Ben
Ben said tonight, over nachos for dinner: “Mom, before two thousand and fourteen, I didn’t know how to make John (child in class) laugh. Now I do.”
Mom: “Oh, that’s interesting. And what does he laugh at?”
Ben: “Funny things.”
Mom: “Like what?”
Ben: (hands up to sides of face and moving slowly around like peering through a window) “Like M-O-T-I-O-N and funny voices.”
Watching the dough rise
My dressage instructor has a colleague who created a video for husbands regarding dressage. It describes several analogies for watching someone practice the discipline of dressage – one of them resonated with me because it pertained to dough. Well – here’s the latest installment from Emmy’s owner, Steve, who graciously comes to lessons with me and manages to film the good, the bad and the ugly. This is a shorter one so I’ll post it. You can find other ones at Steve’s channel if you REALLY like watching the dough rise 🙂 Seriously – there is a lot of good learning going on and I can’t wait to work on it some more. It’s fun being “off leash” as my dear husband calls it (not on the longe line) but it is also much more challenging. I’m working on rein aids but I can feel my seat falling apart under me. More saddle time… Thanks to Steve for filming (and the great horse!) and Janet for her excellent instruction.
Dear Sam
This has been a big week. In fact, two weeks. Your birthday this year, Sam, has been two weeks of festivities, starting with a flag football game which grew to double the size we thought it would be, to the Seahawks winning their big Super Bowl game while you watched with your backyard football buddy, Kai. We’ll be wrapping up with a tour of the stadium on Saturday with a bunch of your buddies, too. That will be really fun, especially after the big parade ended up there today.
Which brings me to what I really want to share with you on your 9th birthday. This week has confirmed for me something we have long known about you, but it becomes more apparent as you mature. You think about things carefully, and consider ideas from many angles. You solve problems in ways most of us can’t untangle without your help. You solve cubes that are bigger than your head, and dive into new interests with relish, like cup stacking, basketball, chess, Scratch computer programming, and games of strategy. Two nights ago at dinner you asked me – “Mom, how can you get a sum of 20 using only 9s?” I puzzled on that for a while and then asked for help. You replied – “Use a base 9 system.” He had been thinking about that for about a month he said. I looked it up and sure enough, it would work – using a nonary system. It is so interesting what goes on in the mind of a child. He had puzzled out how a base 9 system would work on his own – didn’t get that from enrichment or other teaching. He may have heard in passing about other base systems but no real direct teaching on it. I was always curious, too, really wanting to understand things deeply…but I wasn’t working on base 9, I was mucking stalls at his age.
This contemplative nature extends to decisions you need to make, too. That is something I noticed this week. You were a true partner in making the decision to go or not to go to the big Seahawks parade in Seattle. We all wanted to go for a variety of reasons, but ultimately you weighed both sides of the equation and made the right call – not to go. You didn’t want to miss robotics club after school, nor Scratch programming during school, nor chicken nuggets, your favorite school lunch. Those were the components of your equation. It was really interesting to see you decide that being able to say “I was there” was not the most important thing to you.
You asked me the other night, what position might be best for you in a football game (I’m working on starting up a flag football league). We’ve often talked about how much you like quarterback, but you’re also a big guy. There are a lot of positions you could play. I’m certainly not qualified as an expert in these matters, but I DO love the game myself. It’s a little like modern day knights–guys who go out onto the field of battle in all their gear in the hopes of an honorable victory. (We’re reading King Arthur right now.) Thus, I have come to conclude that the attributes I see in you would certainly make you a good quarterback, should your spiral skills continue to develop as they likely will. You are smart, strong, courageous, deliberate, an excellent strategist, and above all a great leader.
I am so lucky to be your mom and watch you transition from boyhood to manhood. It is a great privilege to give you my best, every day. When I fall short, you inspire me to try harder the next day. Yesterday I cleared something off my schedule that I really wanted to do so that I could kick a sore throat and give you my best, not my leftovers. You and Ben deserve that, and each day I will strive to engage in my own fields of battle (commitments) with honor.
I love you dearly, Sam. Thank you for your example.
Your mom
12th man on our land
Such a great game for the Seahawks fans! I was the only Broncos fan around as far as I could tell, but you know – I was won over by Russell Wilson’s remarks after the game. He’s a class act as well. Soooo…we may be playing hooky on Wed for the victory parade… 🙂 When in Rome…We missed school for the Eddie Aikau surf competition in Hawai’i, so it is a family tradition to honor certain celebrations and events when in one’s hometown. All the January pictures are up if you care to surf on over to the album…including Sam’s flag football party. Here’s a link to that.
Ben playing ukulele
I was posting pictures of Sam’s party last night and heard the sound of Ben playing ukulele with his Daddy. I quickly spun around and filmed it. He has a nasty cold and is wiping his nose constantly, but is making happy music. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Sam’s 9th Birthday
Well, it was a great time but completely nuts! Our volunteer ref and friend, Nate (5th grade) actually taped up a dark shirt with masking tape to look like a referee. That is my hiking whistle he’s using. Love the mustache! Nice touch. He really worked hard out there. Lots of tough calls, and you would not believe all the yelling and screaming on both teams – very vigorously-expressed opinions! I tried to do a “last shall be first and the first shall be last” approach to picking teams so those who usually aren’t first got picked first. That worked with ok with my pre-defined NFL draft pick roster, until about double the number of kids showed up! Word apparently got out that I’d invited the whole school. Maybe next time I will – and get several more coaches and refs! 🙂 All said they had a great time. To wind it all down, I tied an old beat-up base drum around my waist with a bike tire inner tube and one of the other moms beat on it as we marched down the field. It was very funny! Alma has some rhythm! Sam said it was probably the best birthday yet. That is what REALLY matters at the end of the day. The birthday boy felt celebrated by his friends and had fun with them. THANK YOU to Brie for being photojournalist. She snapped 94 shots before her poor hands froze off. And thank you to Vicki for the pom poms for the cheerleaders (the girls), and to all the guys and gals for coming out to play! That was a ton of fun!