Sleep Walking Funny

Collin talks in his sleep and has been known to sleep walk but it has been a LONG time.  He gets it from is Dad.  Last night, I had just gotten into bed when I heard Collin walking into my room....you know, that cute pitter patter sound of his feet on the carpet.  I assumed he was coming over to give me a hug or he needed something.  I could see from the faint light in the room that he walked into our master bathroom, opened a draw and then came out....butt naked.  He then walked into the living room where Dad was watching TV.  Dad asked him what he was doing and why he was naked.  Collin's response was "hmm".  Collin turned around, went down the hall and started to climb into the guest bed in another room.  Dad came to get him and had him put some underwear on.  Collin climb into his bed and started snoring.  While this was happening, I opened all of the drawers in our bathroom and found some of Collin's underwear in the top drawer.  He must have taken it off while in there and put it in the drawer.  Too funny!


We mentioned all of this to him this morning, and he remember nothing of the night before....especially why he might have put his underwear in our bathroom drawer. 

Irish for the Win!

First play of the game.  Let's go Irish!!!

Backs of the 3rd grade boys on the team

The Irish won their early morning Saturday game with a score of 33 - 0.  Collin did fantastic with several plays and was really focused during the game.  Twice, he tackled and pushed the guy on the other team carrying the ball out of bounds.  That helped keep the team from scoring.  He did get the ball three times but got tackled, ....hard, each time. 


The big difference probably was that the boys watched their films from the previous game to see what the did right and how they can improve.  I bet they will be watching films again to get ready for the next game.

3rd grade boys on the team.  These guys did great!!!

Coach Hanlen discussing how well the boys did and thinks they should watch the plays as a review to get ready for the next game.

Parent/Teacher Conference - 1st 9 Weeks - 3rd Grade

We met with both teachers this morning to discuss Collin's progress in 3rd grade for the first 9 weeks.  Here is his report card.  The scores are higher than they were at 4 weeks so it looks like he is settling in and getting focused.

 

 

 

After we looked over the report card and signed it, the teachers had the following to say about Collin:

 

When working with word problems, he rushes through answering questions.  When asked redo the work, he gets the answers correct so we know he knows what he is doing but does not take the time to consider the question and choices to select for the answers.


He clearly does not like to read.  When it's time to read, Ms. Gandolfo notices he had to usually go to the bathroom and ends up not getting much reading done.  This is affecting other subjects such as Social Studies and Science because there is reading involved when answering the questions.


Great with Spelling including the more difficult bonus words.  However, when it comes time to write a story, he does not spell well and, generally, does not include ANY punctuation, including periods.  When asked to edit his writing, he scores high, capturing most of the mistakes.

 

They both said he is:

• Very social but this group of kids seems to be more social than others.  He is not disruptive but does talk which is why his daily conduct is an S and not an E.
• Respectful to the teachers
• Sweet boy

Both teachers would like to see Collin use his social skills to be a leader in the class.

Game Night ... Every Night

Other than the nights he has football practice and once all homework is completed, Collin and I have been playing card games after dinner to wind down and spend some quality time with each other.  We play for about an hour before it's time to go to his room for some quiet time (he is supposed to read during this time...and usually makes plenty of excuses why he cannot).  His favorite card game is still Uno that we started playing during our summer trip to the United Kingdom but he has learned to play the following in the last week:

• Skip Bo - This requires a special set of cards where players skillfully build their own stacks of sequentially numbered, ascending cards.  I used to play this with my cousins when visiting Mema and Pepa in the summers.  We could play this for hours!!!  Collin caught on really quick and seems to like this game.  Mimi has even play with us a few times during her Sunday afternoon visits
• Slap Jack - OK, he already knew this game but it has been more than a year since we played it.  He is a big cheater when playing this one and, I have to admit, I don't have the patience for that so it's not as fun.
• Speed - Dad taught us this game.  He used to play it with friends at the bowling alley while his mom played on a league (might give you an idea that he grew up in the 70s and 80s).  We watched a video and then played a few practice games.  Dad won each time and was sweating after each game.  Guess he is a little competitive?  Well, we knew he was and still love him.
• War - we played this game years ago so he had to relearn it...especially the rules about the secondary war when each player has the same card. 

I want to teach him Crazy Eights the next time we play.  I love this time we have together where he is not distracted by TV, the computer or electronic games. 

Irish Lose - Again

The Irish lost 0-46 to the #1 team in the freshman league.  We knew it would be a tough game but the boys worked hard.  Collin did have some great blocks but did not seem to run has hard or fast as he has in prior games.  There were two times he was inches from tackling the other guy before he made a goal...but he just could not get there.  Collin was not too bummed after the game knowing they lost.  He was hot and sweaty from the noon game in the heat....and was ready to eat lunch.


The weather was great for me to take some really good action shots.  Here are some really good ones....

Waiting for the other team to line up

Great blocking

Headed toward the guy with the ball

Headed to help a team mate get the tackle

Lining up for a play

Waiting for the other team to get started

He almost had the ball here

Running after the guy with the ball

Headed toward the guy with the ball

Getting pulled from behind which is a no-no

Headed toward the ball

Great blocking here....

.....and here.  Coach said he is so much more aggressive and doing great.

We will try again next Saturday.  Go Irish!

3rd Grade School Picture

Finally, a picture of Collin smiling.  This one might be my favorite so far....hard to choose though.  They have all been good for different reasons.  What do you think?


Here are the prior ones to compare:




2nd Grade

He used to love wearing his hair long.  I think we just got it cut knowing school pictures were coming up.  He has a great smile in this one.

1st Grade

I love the attitude in this one.  He is not quite smiling probably because he has an audience that includes his friends.  He used to wear those admission tags on his wrists until they fell off or smelled too bad.  Notice the scrap on his elbows?  He probably had several on his knees, too.




Kindergarten

Not sure why this picture is so fuzzy...but you can still see how innocence and sweet this little boy is.  He is at least smiling for is mommy.

Pre-K

...and the best for last.  I loved the chubby cheek stage.  He is so excited to start school.....and still smiling.


I am sure this will leave you with a big smile on your face too.  Here's to another great school picture.  Thanks Collin!

Fishing and Friends

This past weekend, we had friends come to town and stay the weekend with us.  They brought their youngest, Justin, who is 14 years old.  Collin and Justin have gotten along really well in the past BUT the 5 year age gap could start being a factor now that Justin is almost in high school. 


Collin was excited for them to arrive.  When they finally did, it took him a little while to warm up to Justin. He did follow him around like a shadow and hung on him at times.  I wondered if Justin would grow tired of this fast, but he did not.  After dinner, the boys played games together and watched a movie before it was time for Collin to go to bed.


The next day after Collin attended an Odyssey performance training session, the boys road their bikes around the neighborhood.  They came back after they found a good place to fish.  Justin was prepared because he brought his fishing pole.  Collin had never fished before but was interested in trying.  While away, Justin would send text messages updating how they were doing.  He said that Collin caught a perch and he caught a small bass.  That's great they were having some good luck.  Justin also said they saw a snake and he wondered if it was poisonious.  He described a coral snake....glad the boys decided not to mess with this poisonous snake!

Collin's perch - first fish he ever caught.  Awww......

Riding Bikes is the Best!!!

After school one afternoon, instead of driving to a local restaurant, we all got on our bikes and headed to the bike trails to ride around for about 45 minutes to an hour on and off the bike path.  We eventually made it to an Italian restaurant to eat dinner before riding our bikes back home.  What a great way to spend the evening.  We decided we wanted to do this at least once a week, especially during the week.  We have not do it again because Collin's football has kept us busy.

Here is Collin on his way to school.  He continues to ride to school daily...even when it's drizzling.

Ready for the Zombie Apocolypse

Sunday was a quiet day because of the busy Saturday we all had.  I got up a little early to work on some scrapbook pages and noticed Collin get up about 30 minutes later.  He did stop by to give me a hug and a kiss (I love this!) before he started playing upstairs.  It was quiet again and then Collin came downstairs looking like this:





He said he was getting ready for the zombie apocalypse.  His backpack was LOADED with bullets and had two loaded Nerf guns on either side of the backpack.  He also had a loaded gun in his hand.  He said he was ready to protect us if we needed it. Thank a lot DAD for introducing zombies to our son!!!

Irish WIN!!!!

I missed the football game this past Saturday because I was riding with Team Wonder Woman on our annual ride.   We road 52 miles on the rolling hills in a beautiful small town 2 1/2 hours north of home. I did not get home until 5pm that day but could not wait to hear about the details of the game.

At the halfway point of the 52 mile route.  Happy to have some yummy banana bread to keep us going.

Feeling like celebrities at the end with the announcer talking to us about the ride.  We were ladies #4 and 5 of the 52 mile route.  That felt really good knowing that....and to be off the bike.

I heard from Dad that Collin made a touch down helping the team win 31 - 21.  When I asked Collin about it, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "yeah, I did make a score".  Either he really does not think it's a big deal (probably not the case) or he does not like to have the spotlight on him and take the credit (probably the answer).  Dad found the video highlight of the beautiful run and Collin did not day much about it.  I wish I could post it here but I am unable to copy it.  Collin did say he had a great time at the game probably because they played the Spartans, the rival team from school.  Here are Collin, Trace (Spartan) and Clayton after the game.....all smiles for everyone.