Other March Moments

Jake has always preferred that I read him stories and he gets really upset when I point out a word that I know he knows and ask him to tell me what it says.  He hates it.  "Just read the story, Mom!!!"  He has shown zero interest (unlike his brother and sister who were begging me to teach them how to read).  One evening, he picked up Danny and the Dinosaur right as I was putting dinner on the table, and proceeded to read the entire book out loud to himself.  I was in total shock and disbelief!!!  I let dinner get cold and I didn't even care.  I wanted to hear all of those wonderful words coming out of his mouth!  So proud of you, Jake!  I knew and you knew you knew how to read.  You just weren't ready to let the world in on your surprise!

We always JUMP at the chance to head to the movies when there is one that is in English that the kids can watch.  Almost every single kid movie doesn't make it to Chile with subtitles.  They are always dubbed over.  So we rarely go.  But Cinderella came out and we ran to see it.  Deluxe style of course, with the seats that recline fully and the waiters who bring you everything from the normal popcorn and drinks, to ice cream sundaes, and chicken wings if you'd prefer!  We are going to miss that for sure!!!

A perfect park day.  I love afternoons like this.  

Someone got his own private lesson by default!  

Instructor was super impressed at his flexibility.  So was I!!!!

He LOVES Taekwondo.  Can't get enough.

Just wanted to capture this morning when we went to school.  First of all it's insanely dark every morning because Chile decided not to do Daylight Savings anymore.  I feel like every morning it's like 3AM it's so dang dark.  This particular morning, there was one of the biggest thunder/lightning/rain storms I have ever seen.  And it happened to hit exactly during drop off.  We all got out of the car and tried our best to stay under the umbrellas, but the umbrellas were malfunctioning do to the wind.  As the thunder cracked right above our heads, our shoes fell into rivers of water as we raced to the safety of the overhangs and finally the doors of the classrooms.  We were COMPLETELY soaked from head to toe.  To the point where all kids removed their socks and shoes to dry during class time!!!   The soccer field above was a complete lake.  I was muttering under my breath the entire time, "This is when homeschooling is just the best. We should NOT be out in this!!!"  Haha!  There are perks and negatives to everything.  It was just WILD!  

Arts in Action.  The kids were supposed to come dressed up in crazy hats for the big celebration.

At Arts in Action

Apparently Jake's sombrero was a little large and blocking everyone's view, so he opted for the blue wig.

Santi, Isla and Jake

Regina, Kate and Olga and Mr. John looking like he has had enough of all of the noise.  Hahaha!

Lots of little Bunnies at Goldfish!

Getting ready for Easter :)  I seriously love his face. 

I had to put this picture in because I want to talk about this outfit Luke is wearing.  Every day it's the same thing.  I dress him for jardin and immediately when he comes home, he says he needs to change.  And every day he dons the EXACT SAME CLOTHES.  The Brazil futbol jersey and those shorts with the red flip flops.  Every day.  

On our way to pick up Jake and Kate at school.  

This bunny is fast!

And this dude knows how to chill.  

Apparently the blue hair made it's way home.  It's a good look. 

Because this can happen in the two seconds I leave to go get towels for the boys.  I told them to get in the bath and when I returned, I surprised Luke and Luke surprised me!  This just kills me.

Jake's Actual Big Day

He is now officially 7 years old.  

This boy who prefers to be shirtless now matter what the weather. 

The boy who has conversed with every adult like an equal since the day he started forming sentences. 

 The boy who raids our office and staples countless of white sheets of paper together so he can write and especially illustrate another story.

 The boy who can't sleep at night because his tooth is wiggly and he can't stop thinking about it ...and he comes downstairs 3 hours later with a tooth between his fingers and the biggest grin you've ever seen.

 The boy who is happiest when he can dig through the trash, find just the perfect empty box or paper and take out the tape, stapler, glue, pens, screws, nails, paint, odd looking tools, a few rocks, some dirt, hand soap, and food coloring and then spend the next 3 hours working on his next big project.

 Only to find that when I walk into another room, the other project remains that he had been working on yesterday, are still scattered all over the floor, not to be touched because there are still just a few more things to touch up.

 The boy who has a very sensitive heart.

 The boy who claims he has hated living in Chile the entire time we have been here because we have kept him away from his best friend and cousin Brik.

 The boy who has ALWAYS dreamed big and has one of the biggest imaginations around.

 The boy who LOVES to make people laugh and thinks he is pretty top notch when a joke goes off well.

 The boy who thinks being treated fairly is more important than a lot of other things.

 The boy who absolutely adores swimming and is great at it, but put him in a class or on a team and you have just betrayed the one you love.  You are the worst person in the universe for even thinking it could have been fun.  Because free time is valued more than anything else.  

 The one who loves to make all sorts of creations (in that disorganized office) and surprise his mom and dad, his brother and sister, his teachers at school, his friends and family with these gifts.  They are treasures straight from the heart. 

 The boy who still finds excuses to come down and snuggle in our bed at night when I'm too tired to even realize he's there.

 The boy who prefers vegetables over fruit.

 The boy who can walk away from sweets and dessert like it's nothing.  He'd rather have a second helping of dinner.   Except brownies for your birthday!

 The boy who always volunteers to be my sidekick when no one else will.

 The boy who cries dramatically and collapses to the floor when it's something small, but is tough as nails when it hurts so badly, others would drop.  

 The boy who still believes he is a superhero and I tell him every day that he's right.  Except for the flying part.  

 The boy who needs this the most out of all 3 of our kids.

 Because he is his very best self when Dad is around.

 The boy who will play catch for like 5 minutes and then decided that all of the rocks need to be moved from one spot in the yard to another because there was a secret treasure buried in that spot thousands of years ago and he needs to dig it up.

 The boy who could build lego cities with his sister all day long.

 The boy who never cried as a baby.  Even when he got every single one of his shots.  

 The boy who sometimes would rather sleep in the bottom bunk with his brother Luke, instead of the top bunk alone.  

 The boy who sometimes asks for 2 PBandJ's in his lunch because he likes one for snack and one for lunch time.  Then when he's home, he'll ask for apples (his choice fruit) and another sandwich.  "What?!  I'm hungry!!!"

The boy who thinks it's a total honor to be the class clown.  And yet is very logical in his thinking.  When he wasn't invited to a birthday party, he asked me why.  I told him I didn't exactly know the reason.  "Can I go ask his mom, why?"  My heart sunk to my toes.  Sometimes kids aren't kind.  But before I could say anything, he had turned to find the mom.  Moments later he came out and reported that the mom apologized and explained that their apartment was too small to have a large party her son was only allowed to invite 4 boys.  He had the truth.  He was good with that.  He picked up his backpack and started telling me about the rest of his day.  Never mentioning the party again.  It wasn't an issue.  Honesty and being straight forward usually is best with this one.

 The boy who won my heart over 7 years ago and I pray every day that I'm doing what I should be to raise him to be his very best self.  Sometimes I feel like I fail miserably.  Other days the heavens are smiling down on me.  I love those days.

 I love you, Jacob James.  With all of my heart.  And so does everybody else!

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Mad Scientists at Work Part 3

We had a balloon rocket race set up from our roof down to the pool fence (which taught the kids that not all experiments work the way we think they are going to) and then after that we got together for our very last experiment.  This was going to completely amaze, inspire, and impress!

They were ready ;)

Kate was keeping her distance.  

Time to introduce the first graders to the MENTO experiment    

 Attempt #1 was pretty impressive.

 But we can do better than that, right, dad?

 So we did another one.  

 My FAVORITE  shot of the entire evening.  This, by far, took everyone by surprise!  (Well....maybe everyone except Luke who totally missed it)

Attempt #2?  Total Success.

 Happy 7th Birthday, Jake!!!  We all love you so very much.

 And with that, the parents began to show :) 

I think it turned out to be a lot of fun.  I know we all slept REALLY well that night :)