Liberace Revisited

I'm pretty sure it would be impossible for me to be anymore proud of JR when he plays the piano.

The way I carry on you'd think he was recital-ing at Carnegie Hall, and not St Mark's Episcopal church.

His teacher is leaving for 3 months to go play on a cruise ship, which, of course, JR thinks is the coolest thing he's ever heard. (Hence the reason for a recital in November.)

And if you want to hear the virtuoso/child prodigy/pianist at work, here you go.

I'm pretty sure the tongue wag is just another sign of his piano genius.

Swamp People

JR has been waiting for this trip since January.

He was so super excited to go alligator hunting with Jason and Grandpa Gary, and thankfully, it turned out to be a great hunt. 

(I believe their final totals were 15 alligators: 1 over 12 feet, 1 at 11 feet, and none under 6 feet.)

The alligators don't look too happy, but you'll notice JR is all smiles!

It's Here!

Yippee-Ya-Whoooo!

It's the first day of school!

JR seriously cracks me up.

He chose to go with formal wear since it's a special day.

He had me walk him to his class, but then quickly dismissed me when he hooked up with some of his friends.

I'll update later on how the day went.

Off The Hook

I was trying to think of something JR would enjoy doing this summer, and remembered how much I liked to latch hook when I was his age.

I bought him a kit, opened it up....and couldn't remember how to latch hook at all.

My dad used to latch hook with me, and he too, couldn't remember.

I assumed there was a You Tube video out there to show me how, but I was in a rush to get to Dallas for our Britney Spears extravaganza. (Priorities!)

I told JR I'd figure it out when I got back, and my dad said, "Oh that's okay, I'll get Freddie (my dad's farm hand) to show him how."

Me: Daddy! Freddie's not going to know how to latch hook!

My dad: Sure he will. I'll just let him read the directions. 

(Directions, which obviously, my dad and I couldn't figure out.)

While I was gone I didn't give any thought to my dad assigning Freddie the job of JR's craft mentor, and was able to get a latching refresher course from my friend, Kelly's, sons since they were latch hooking this summer too.

But sure enough, when I got home, there were two or three latch hook squares finished. 

I turned to my dad and said, "Oh! You remembered how!"

My dad: No. Freddie did it.

Of course he did.

But in all seriousness, JR is so proud of his little project.  We made it into a pillow and he can't wait to put in on his bed at home.

News Worthy

Look who's in today's edition of the Houston County Courier.

I'm used to our name being misspelled, but that's one I haven't seen!

Camper Extraordinaire

JR had a super fun time at camp.

I know this since when I picked him up on Friday I said, "Did you miss me?"

and JR replied with, "No. Not one bit. Can I come back to Red Cloud next year?!"

After the awards ceremony, (JR got the "engineer award" as in, he was like The Little Engine That Could) he gave us the grand tour.

The cafeteria where they only served water (the horror!) and his favorite dinner was a meatball sub.

The store where he bought Ring Pops everynight.

Cute little creek in the middle of camp.

His cabin

inside the cabin

And his bed.  He had the top bunk.

I can tell he changed clothes everyday (YES!) since they were all covered in dirt...and clothes that have gone ziplining, on a ropes course, canoeing, mountain biking, overnight camping, and on an 11-mile hike up a mountiain might as well be thrown away as washed.

 But since I found his soap still in the box, I'm guessing a rinse off "shower" was as close as he got to getting clean all week. 

One's Away

On our way home from Denver we dropped JR off for camp.

To say he was excited is a huge understatement.

(Him being homesick is not something I'm worried about.)

We met up with his BFF, Steven, in "downtown" Lake City to make the drive over to camp.

We pulled into camp

And then crossed a little bridge

And took in the views...

I packed his clothes in outfits so he'd know what to wear everyday.

Jason told me not to waste my time cause he probably wouldn't even change his underwear!

I also practiced and practiced with him on how to brush his hair, and told him he had to brush his teeth.

And yes, I know, I'm sure none of that will actually happen.

Can't wait to see what he looks like when I pick him up on Friday!

Very Important Stuff Around Here

Things that rank high in importance at the Ingersoll house, might not rank so high in other homes.

But around here, a BB gun target that looks like this gets as much praise as an all A report card!

Pretty Cool

I may not have a working computer, but I do have a picture of JR with two Olympic athletes, Tracy and Lanny Barnes, who are ranked number 1 and 2 on the US Biathlon Team.

They competed in both the 2006 and 2010 Olympics, and came out to talk to the boys at Cub Scout camp today.  

The girls brought their rifles they use in competition, and there was a collective gasp of 'awesome!' and 'cool!' heard round the room as 150 boys' eyes lit up at the sight of the guns.

Pretty cool!

Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah

We just couldn't bring ourselves to buy JR yet another Wii/Nintendo game for his birthday.

So we figured this year we'd try buying him a gift that you don't unwrap.

We took him ziplining.

And when I saw 'we', I mean Jason also ziplined and I stayed safely on the ground taking pictures.

Kyle and Reed even got into a little bit of the action.

They let them try out the practice zipline!

But it was the two big guys that had the serious fun.

2 hours of ziplining.

I'm pretty sure they're both "hooked"!

No Way That's Possible

There's no way it was 8 years ago today that I drove myself to the hospital.

No way that little baby I had 8 years ago, looked like this this morning.

(I know. His shirt is awful.

I was in Vegas when I found it and knew he would love it.

Of course, it's his favorite shirt.)

He's so much like me,

and so much like Jason.

So much like both of us...

Never passing up a moment to be the center of attention.

Fashion Fabulous Friday

Pirates of the Caribbean Birthday Party Edition

I was seriously excited when JR said he wanted a Pirates of the Caribbean theme for his birthday, cause I knew that meant one thing.

Costumes!

I might have had a little too much fun dressing up the party guests.

It wouldn't be Kyle if he didn't demand 'pink'.

Kyle and Reed had been walking around with skulls and crossbones on their cheeks for a few days. 

They happily let me practice on them before the "big event".

 The eye-patches got the flip-up treatment quite a bit. 

It's kinda hard to paint pottery and eat pizza with one eye.

The earrings became a huge hit later in the party. (You can see Jacob wearing one here.)

I saw earrings dangling from everywhere.

Especially their noses!

But what do you expect from a party with 11 boys and 1 girl?

Last One

It's the last day of school

(I'm not putting a punctuation mark at the end of that sentence since I'm not sure if I'm excited for summer fun (!) or dreading the 5:15AM wake ups (.)

JR can't get up on a school day, but is awake with the sunrise on non-school days.

In non-school day tradition, JR was up about 5:45 this morning

(I swear it starts getting light about 4:30 AM here)

since:

A. It's the last day of school.

B. He's celebrating his birthday at school today (he took donuts).

and

C. He's having his birthday party this evening (what was I thinking?).

Polar Lands (And NOT Durango This Time)

I went to JR's school yesterday to see his Power Point presentation on the Polar Lands.

Would ya look at that?

 Just as the super-divas before him (Cher, Madonna, Prince) he's already identifying himself by one name.

I know I'm showing my age here, but I still can't get over kids using Power Point.

After my first year of teaching I took a summer school "technology class" at SFA.

They taught us how to use Power Point (and send emails).

 I was the only teacher in my school that knew how to use it.

And I'm going to have to be the bragging mom here for a second, because JR did great.

His speaking voice was nice, slow, and clear.

And he worked that computer like a master.

I've seen Jason do lots of public speaking, and he really reminded me of him.

(And, of course, having a touch of my flair for the dramatics didn't hurt either!)

I also LOVED that this was a school project.

Everything was done at school, which was very obvious.

Some of the "interesting facts" I learned yesterday:

The black bear and the gorilla are animals that live together in the forest.

AND

The food chain for the grasslands...The lion eats the elk.

Like I said, Loved it!

Gotta Wait on the S'Mores

I mentioned last week there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth if we had to call off the cub scout camp out. 

Well, being that Purgatory got 22 inches of snow from Wednesday to Thursday, and the campground is about 2 miles from there...yeah, we had to cancel.

Thankfully the wailing was short, and he didn't even have time to gnash since I followed the cancellation news with..."BUT! Daddy will take you out to eat and to see Pirates of the Caribbean!"

And from JR's positive response, that must have been the appropriate form of entertainment to counterbalance a cancelled campout.

JR picked to eat at Sushitaraian, and even got his own frequent diners card. (Cause every almost-8-year old needs a punch card at a sushi restaurant, right?)

We girls already had babysitters lined up because we thought the boys were going camping.

So glad a cancelled campout didn't affect us!

Seriously, velvet wallpaper doesn't get more fancy than that. 

(Diamond Belle Saloon "revered as one of the most famous original ragtime piano bars in the Wild West".)

Last Dance (Thank Goodness!)

Whew! We made it through dance recital weekend.

In typical JR fashion he started crying at the dinner table last night that breakdancing was over.

(Eventhough I kept telling him he could take it again when school starts.)

The recital was at Ft. Lewis College's Concert Hall, which sounds pretty big-time, but Ft. Lewis has fewer students than my high school, so it's a pretty small auditorium. 

Small, as in, I waited til Friday to buy my ticket,

so I was on the very, very, very back row in the balcony.

JR and his friend Emma. (Emma's mom is my friend, Niki.)

Just sign these two up for a Disney special.  I can see it now....The Breakdancer and The Ballerina.

After dress rehearsal on Saturday we had just enough time to take the kids to get something to eat before the show.

No Mickey D's for these two.

We went to have sushi.

Being a year older than JR, Emma was a little shy thinking they might be on "a date".

Being a 2nd grade boy, that thought never crossed JR's mind.

And finally, scenes from the "big production"

JR's the one standing up on the far left.

The Big Finish

Boogie Down Productions

And I'm not talking about me!

With a house full of boys, I certainly never thought I'd be attending a dance recital.

But as I've learned, never say never with this bunch.

JR's been taking breakdancing all year, and the recital is this weekend.

They had their class (and individual) pictures taken in their costumes this week, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy one.

If his costume actually looked liked a costume, then sure.  But since it just looks like something he could wear to school, I wasn't really sure what I'd do with the pictures.

I told JR I'd take the pictures, and he got right to work giving me his best gang-sta poses.