Busy Weekend

We had a really busy weekend starting Friday. 


Friday - We met some friends for dinner that we have not seen since the end of the tackle football season. Clayton played on Collin's team.  It was great to see his family and catch up.


Saturday - Collin went to a baseball skills clinic while I went to yoga.  He was signed up for this class before he broke his thumb so we were not sure how much he could participate in.  Turns out, there was a running drills section of the clinic which Collin ended up doing twice because he could not throw a ball.  Mimi came over for several hours.  It was good to see her.  She went with us to run some errand consisting of picking up my race packet for a duathlon in the morning and going to another bike shop to replace my cycling glasses that lost the fight with the basketball.  In between the two bike shop stops, we went to a local bakery for a treat.  Collin got two cake pops and Mimi and I shared a pecan square.  It was nice to just sit and people-watch.  That night, Collin, Dad and I went to the theater to watch The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  We thought it was important to expose Collin to the theater like this.  We enjoyed the questions and the comments about his observations.  I had not seen the theater like he was seeing it so I was grateful to share this experience with him.  The play started at 8pm and was over at 10:40pm.  Collin was going strong until about 10:30pm when I heard some light snoring.  He made it so much longer than we both expected!


Sunday -  While I raced in the duathlon, Collin and Dad went to the grocery store and continued to paint their Pinewood Derby cars.  These have to be ready by Friday for the official weigh-in and then the race Saturday.  After I got home and got cleaned up, Collin wanted to show me his BB guns he got from the neighbor that did not want them anymore.  He liked showing me how good his aim was from several different distances.  When then went to his Odyssey of the Mind meeting. His team has only 3 more meetings until the presentation.  There were some struggles today that they will need to work out before the presentation.  Collin ended the evening with basketball practice before resting for the evening.


Looking forward to a great week!

Collin's car is the camo one and Dad's is the arrow.  Lookin great so far!

Setting up for a great shot.  Love the left leg in the air!

Concentrating on his aim

What boy would not have fun doing this?

"Hey Mom, did you see that I hit the ball?"

My goofy friend in the back photo bombing me.  She owes me a LOT of these. 

Weekend Update

Wow, we did have a busy weekend but it was full of activities.  Collin's thumb continues to heal and it does not hold him back at all. Other than seeing a brace on his left hand, you would not know that he broke anything.

Saturday, while I was at the spa, Dad and Collin went to a local gym to meet a famous baseball player, Humberto Quintero.  Collin got his signature on the back of his shirt and wanted to wear it the rest of the day.  They then used some rotten tomatoes discarded from a charity event Friday, set them up on the driveway and shot at them with Collin's BB gun.  It was not as fun as they thought because the tomatoes did not explode...the BB just lodged into the tomato.

Collin then had friend come play with him for several hours while his mother had a job interview.  They mainly played outside because it was a beautiful day.  Because they boys will be doing a triathlon in May together, the practiced their transitions from the bike and run.  They started running down the driveway, ran to their bikes to put on their helmets, rode the cul-de-sac, came back to take off their helmet and then ran to the end of the driveway and back.  Collin was really slow the transitioning to his running shoes because his laces were too tight.  I am sure it's because he has a hard time putting on his shoes with his brace.  Nevertheless, he is so competitive that he did not like losing to his friend even if it was just a practice.

That night, we had dinner with friends do discuss a possible new adventure with them.  Stay tuned for more!

Sunday, while I was running my long training run (11 miles) for the upcoming half marathon, Dad, Collin and some fellow cub scouts delivered blankets they collected throughout the week to the homeless downtown.  To collect the blankets, Collin delivered 26 letters to our section of the neighborhood explaining what he was doing and that he would collect the blankets by Saturday afternoon to deliver Sunday morning.  Seeing that only one blanket was dropped of at our house by Friday night, he delivered another letter explaining that there is still one day left.  That must have worked because we had over 15 blankets delivered to our house by Saturday night.

The boys did enjoy passing out the blankets but did need some supervision because they wanted to walk up to anyone AND cross a busy street to do so.  When they saw how the homeless where living, they said it looked like fun and that they wanted to do that.  We did explain that the "fun" would include using the bathroom outside, no running water, no hot food, no toys, no sports, no shelter....I think they got it but still wanted to do it again.  We plan to go back at the end of February to deliver socks and underwear. 

Afterwards, Collin had another friend spend the day with us doing the following:

• Odyssey of the Mind meeting for an hour.  The project is really coming together.  The team is practicing their skit and should be ready for dress rehearsal Sunday.  I am excited to see the whole presentation all the way through.  They have stuck it out since October and their time and hard work is starting to show.

Collin, Will (the friend visiting for the day) and Eli

Kamila, Valerie, Saige, Bella, Collin and Eli

Discussing the skit and who will play which part

•  Dad, Collin and Will went to a Scout's house to cut their Pinewood Derby car they designed earlier in the day.  Dad and Collin changed their designs from last year after learning what works and what does not.  I am excited to see how these turn out.
• While they were doing this, I was teaching a neighborhood friend how to transition because she will be racing a duathlon for the first time next Sunday.  I will be racing this one as well because 1) it's a great race and 2) I race it every year that I can.  Look out for a post-race report next Sunday
• We quickly made dinner for all of us to eat, including Will's mom, before heading to basketball practice.  Collin can do the drills but not participate in any practice plays.  While the team is doing this, Dad and Collin practice shooting baskets.
• I pulled together our 2016 tax documents to get ready to file our tax return...I know, boring but it has to been done.  If I don't start now, I will be kicking myself in the butt later.  Before pulling the documents, I did have to sort and file receipts, bills, etc for the last 6 months because I have not found a system that works where we (ummm...where I) can stay on top of this regularly.

Looking forward to a great week.

Broken, But Not Bad News at All

We had a doctor appointment with an orthopedic surgeon this afternoon.  He looked at the X-rays, examined Collin's thumb and concluded that the break was not on his growth plate.  Therefore, he said that Collin should refrain from physical activity especially school recess and basketball games for the next two weeks.  He does have to wear the brace on his arm always unless he is bathing. 


We have a follow up appointment in two weeks to take new X-rays and see how much the break has healed.  He said that kids heal really quickly so he expects that Collin will be out of commission for 2 weeks and possibly 4 weeks at the most. 


This is great news!  We will go ahead and register him for baseball. 



The break is just about the white mark on the right side of the X-ray.

"Hot Cross Buns" x 50

It's recorder practice time in the house!  I remember when I practiced on the recorder and thought I was something else because I could read the music and play the very basic songs.  Well, it's Collin's turn.  I had no idea if he would want to practice his recorder or not when it first came home.  The homework assignment was to practice Hot Cross Buns for a test on Friday. 
The recorder sat in its bag all week and most of the weekend until he opened it up and wanted to play it Sunday morning.  He did well in the beginning of the song, especially wearing a brace on his left hand, but kept getting stuck on the 3rd verse.  Instead of him repeating over and over that verse incorrectly, we looked up the music and the notes on the Internet.  I took the recorder not knowing how good I could play the song the first time.  I hit every not and the rhythm perfectly.  Collin's eyes got huge as he said "You did great mom!  How did you do that?"  I reminded him that I played instruments and the piano when I was a kid and that reading music comes easy to me.  He then took the recorder back, read the music and practice about 6 times before he got it right....and then he played the song over and over again....inside the house, followed me to the garage, in the backyard, upstairs....pretty much wherever he walked...he played the recorder.
Here are a few of the many videos he wanted me to take.  No, he is not mad....that's the look on concentration!

Here he is when he did not play it perfectly and wanted me to not send that one to Dad or his music teacher.

We had to run errands that afternoon and he wanted to take the recorder with him.  Fortunately for me, he forgot it at home when it was time to leave.  Phew!  Based on the homework sheet, it looks like we have at least 10 more weeks of this.  Maybe it's not going to be that bad....and then again....

Thumb Update

Turns out Collin's thumb is broken!  Friday afternoon after school, I noticed his thumb was still swollen.  Sure, we did not ice it as much in the last day but I would have expected some of the swelling to go down.  It had not changed at all.  The bruising was not as deep but it had spread around his thumb and to the inside of his palm.  Knowing our neighbor was studying to be a Physician's Assistant, we asked her to look at it.  Collin could move his thumb all around without pain.  However, when she slightly squeezed the bone between the thumb knuckle and the hand, Collin winced a little.  She looked at me and I knew we needed to get that thumb X-rayed. 


Collin and I packed up and went to one of those doctor offices in the strip center that had an X-ray.  The doctor did the same thing as our neighbor and agreed he needed an X-ray.  At this point, it was not obvious if he had a fracture or a broken bone...or just a deep bruise.


Collin hat a lot of questions about the X-ray machine, why he was wearing a "skirt" (the lead skirt to protect his "parts") and if he needed a shot.  He was most concerned about the shot which is why I think he was so talkative. 


He did great during the X-ray and wanted to see the picture after each one.  The nurse took four pictures.  Only until she took the last one did I see a small piece of bone detached and the base where the bone connected to the hand.  I was hoping I did not see that right....but turns out that I did.  The doctor said he did break the bone because it was more than a fracture.  He has to wear an arm brace that holds his thumb still until we meet with an orthopedic surgeon to see what that doctor says we need to do next, if anything at all.

First X-ray.  He did great at being still.

He gave me a big smile just before the nurse took the X-ray picture of this position

See, he does not look like he is in pain. 

Up close of the brace

Collin does not like the attention with the brace BUT does like wearing it.  He is mainly bummed that he cannot play in the basketball game Saturday afternoon.  We plan to go anyway to cheer on the team.  He was then excited that it was movie night because he knew he could not play video games with the brace.  He chose Ratatouille and The Lorax.    Great choices because we had not seen these in awhile.  It turned out to be a nice evening waiting for Mimi and Aunt Nancy to come over (Nancy is in town for the weekend).

Basketball - Raptors Game 1

The Raptors played their first game last night.  I was a little worried about how they might do based on the last two recent practices.  It seemed like the boys forgot all of the played they had learned before the Christmas and New Year holidays.  Well, maybe it's what they had for dinner before the game, because the boys looked fantastic during the game.  Even some of the boys that generally stay out of the middle of the plays were in there getting the rebound or stealing the ball.


Collin played really well even though he thumb was hurting him.  I was really proud of how that did not stop him from getting several rebounds and stealing the ball.  Unfortunately, he was not able to make a basket probably because of the way he held the ball right before the shoot due to his thumb.  We will need to practice shots more.  It was clean that he was the fastest kid on the court.  He could the ball and be on the other side of the court before any of the other players could catch up to him.


In this first video, you can see how fast he is:

Here he is with the rebound running to the other side of the court.  This did allow his team 4 shoots at the net but they all missed them.  Ouch!

I did not remember to bring the good camera but here are some decent shots during the game:

Collin on his man

Running back for the rebound

Collin staying on his man

Collin listening to the Coach and headed to the middle of the court.  Dad is keeping score in the background.

Collin and Isaac in the middle of a play

The Raptors did end up losing the game even though there was a time or two that the score was really close.  Tough loss but the boys now know what the need to focus on before our next game this Saturday.

Drummer Boy

Collin continues to have drum practice with his teacher and does practice at least 3 times a week at home.  The practice at home of the song he is currently working on and the drills has really paid off.  He is able to keep the rhythm better and has really improved.


Dad took this video of him during his regular Wednesday afternoon practice (he goes Monday and Wednesday after school).  He is doing great, right?!?!?  Really proud of him....and great song!

Which One is Bigger Than the Other?

I was out of town Tuesday for work and received the sweetest message from the school nurse on my way to the airport headed home:


"Hello Mrs Holmes.  This is the school nurse...no emergency.[Glad she added that comment first!] Collin came and saw me around 2pm today. He had, an hour before, hit his thumb while playing football during recess.  His thumb is swollen.  We iced it.  He seems to have most of his range of motion in his left hand.  I wanted to keep you aware of that.  Maybe ice it again when he gets home.  Let me know what you notice tonight.  He is a very stoic young man...and very polite!  I asked him to come see me tomorrow so I could check on him and make sure he is doing OK."


I did not get to see him on his thumb long when I got home because he was out playing (a really good sign) and his Dad and I had a hot date that night.  His thumb was clearly swollen and was very bruised but it did not hurt him much and he could bend it.  Mimi watched him that night and said he seemed fine...even using his thumb to play his favorite video game...Call of Duty.  Pappy saw pictures later and thinks he might have dislocated it but it went back into place.  We will watch it a few days and see how he does. 

Underside of the thumb showing the swelling and bruising

Ignore the finger nails at the moment (that's an entirely different battle), so you can see the swelling of the thumb on the left. 

Rock Climing with Friends

Because all sports were canceled today because of the cold weather, what were we going to do to entertain and wear out a bunch of boys?  How about some rock climbing?  Yeah!  The boys were really excited about this.  They had all been before because of a recently birthday party.  We picked up a few friends and other met us at the indoor gym. 


I had not seen Collin climb before so it was fun to watch him pick his next "rock" to use and climb up the wall.  He was not as fast as some of his other friends nor did he want to go as high but, he still did really well.  Dad and I were trained to belay the climbers which means we held the rope, took up the slack and helped the climber come back down the wall when they were ready.  I was not prepared for an arm workout, but I sure got one....and a few blisters on my fingers.  Collin LOVED that I was doing this so it was really worth it.

Collin at the start of his first climb

There he goes

I love the concentration in this picture

Here is how big the gym is.  Several spots for kids and adults to climb together.

Dad in the lower right belaying William, one of Collin's friends

Here I am belaying Collin

Second 9 Weeks Report Card

Collin has been focused on reading even reading every day during the winter break.  Because of this extra work he has done much better this last 9 weeks.  His reading grade increased from 80 to a 94.  Super job!  However, noticeably different was his Spelling and Math scores.  He is still rushing when working on math problems.  Spelling was a shock to us until we found a 61 score on a test.  Well, that will drop a Spelling score fast!  He mixed up "where" and "were" and then misspelled 3 words.  He got all three bonus words right though.  Maybe he was just not focused that day either.  That one hurt though dropping his Spelling from 100 to 85.  He should be able to make that one up quickly though this next 9 weeks.

Elementary Lunch - Very Interesting and Lively

Having lunch at school with Collin and his buddies is always very interesting.  We have talked about the election, the president, the weather, sports, plans for the weekend...and even the food they have for lunch.  It's never dull....and I look forward to getting in the car so my ears will stop ringing from the noise and questions thrown at me.


I had lunch with Collin yesterday.  He did not know I was going to be there and was happily surprised when I showed up to his table. I asked where I would sit, he gave me a hug and then made a buddy scoot over so I could have some room.  I brought a sandwich and some chips, purposely picking out chips I knew he would like.  Collin's first comment was about my hair and wanting his friends to see it.  I was caught off guard by that one because I really did not think it was a big deal nor did I think his friends really cared.  I had just highlighted my hair the day before at Dad's request because my hair was getting really dark.  When I came home that night, Collin saw me, stopped what he was doing and said "Mom, your hair!  I love it!  Turn around so I can see all of the colors."  He said he liked the way it went from light brown to darker brown starting from the top of my head down.  He must have wanted to show his friends this too.  We then talked about basketball and the upcoming games on Saturday.  Some of his friends are on his team and the others are on the other team from the school.  Two of the boys don't currently play basketball but were interested in our conversation.  I did also learn that Collin drinks his applesauce up so including a spoon is a waste.  He did request Jell-O once the applesauce cups are gone...."the red or green kind".  OK, we have tried that before and he did not eat it.  Maybe he does not remember or he is wanting to give it a try again.  We talked about various other things and then it was time to clean up.  The 30 minutes really did go by fast.

Collin and Will

Sleep Walking....to My Side of the Bed

Maybe because of the short week at school this week and getting adjusted to a schedule again, Collin's sleep pattern has been off.  First, he peed in his bed two night in a row.  This has not happened since July.  Next, he has walked in his sleep every night for the last 3 nights.  The first night, he walked into the living room, walked around the kitchen and then went back to his bed.  The next two nights, he has ended up on my side of the bed.  The first time, I had no idea he snuck in until the alarm went off.  I reached over to turn the alarm off, and was blocked by a warm body snoring.  Last night, I had a little tap on my shoulder before he asked me to scoot over.  I thought he might have peed in his bed again but he said, "No, I just really want to be next to you".  I loved having him next to me and let him stay.  I fell back asleep until he started to snore...then the alarm went off too soon after that (5am because I had a 6 mile run to get in before work).

New Year's Celebration at the Bay

For the New Year's weekend, we spent time at our friend's place on the bay about 2 hours south of our house.  They were there with their 13 year old daughter, Sara, her cousins, Zoe and Joe, plus some other relatives.  Another couple with their son, Brian, who is in college, was there too.  Collin adores Brian so I was glad that he would be there so Collin would not be so bored...and he should not have been.  While there, we:

• Sat on the pier to watch the fish jump.  Collin enjoyed the hammock.
• The boys went to shoot rifles and pistols on our friend's other property.
• The boys shot skeet.  Collin did not shoot because he was still trying to get comfortable with all of the people there.
• Played ping pong, foosball and card games
• Watched about $500 worth of fireworks shoot of the pier and then the kids played with sparklers and other handheld fireworks
• Read a book on the back porch...well, only I did this.  The boys were inside watching the football game and the ladies were on the pier.  It was nice to have some quiet time.

;;;;and celebrated the beginning of the new year!


When we weren't doing any of the activities above, we were sitting around a table or other areas of the barndaminium talking.  Yes, we stayed in a barn but it was REALLY comfortable inside.  Each side of the barn held the sleeping quarters and the kitchen.  In the middle was the play area and gathering room.  The huge garage door could be open in this area but it was not because it was a little too warm to do so.

Back of the barn which faced the bay

The pier which had several benches, a hammock and the boat

Main room from the first floor

Main room from the balcony leading to one of the bedroom wings

The main room bar/small kitchen

The boys left for about 2 hours to shoot guns on the farm.  This is 16 acres they have just down the street a few miles from the barn.  Collin got to shoot a pistol for the first time.  They guys all mentioned how accurate and steady he is with the gun.  His 3rd and 4th shots were in the bull's eye!

Collin and Eddie



Collin watching the guys shoot

Eddie, Collin and Dad

Showing us how well he shot

While on the pier, we got to see the crab one of the nephews caught.  They were really interesting to watch once they were let out of the cage.  One immediately jumped off the pier and the other one stayed to fight us off as to say "I have them Bert!  Get out of here!"  Collin found it interesting that they ate chicken necks.  He thought they might eat fish.....and they might but the chicken necks worked great.

This guy wanted to jump as fast as he could

Here is the fighter.  Margaret had to eventually give him a nudge off the pier.

All caged up

Here are some shots from the pier that evening.

Collin relaxing...and hiding in the hammock

We thought the sunset would not be spectacular because of the cloud coverage but it turned out to be a wonderful, peaceful sight to see

Here is another view of the sunset

That night, the older boys got on the pier to shoot off the larger fireworks for about 20 minutes.  It was our own personal firework show that rivaled the town show we could see in the distance.  Here is just one example of how good the fireworks were:h

In between the fireworks, we checked out the constellations because the sky was so dark and clear.  Several of us saw a few shooting stars.  So amazing!  I loved being out there with my family enjoying this experience.


Then, the kids and some of the adults played with the rest of the fireworks.  Collin enjoyed writing his name in the air with sparklers.  Then, he and Dad shot some Roman Candles.  This was his favorite because of the "boom" and how bright they were.

Dad and Collin enjoying the sparklers

....and more sparklers

Collin was determined to stay up until midnight because the rest of the crew planned to celebrate the start of the new year.  We have not stayed up for the new year in several years but, because the group was and they had noise makers and sparking juice to celebrate, we thought we would make it happen this time.  By the time it was 10pm, we were tired and did not know how we would make it another 2 hours.  We did what we could to pass the time.  Eventually, we sat and played several games of Uno.  That helped pass the time because, I looked down and we had 10 minutes left.  We stopped the game and got ready for the new year celebration.  Collin was tired but was a trooper and celebrated with the group.  He loved the noise makers...and I was sure to put them to the side so he would not find them the next morning.

Here he is ready to celebrate the new year

What?!?!  He really liked the sparkling juice.

Getting ready to cheer for the new year

We had to have a group selfie. 

The next morning, we did eat the traditional black eyed peas and cabbage.  Collin was fine with the cabbage but hated the black eyed peas.  Fortunately, I am only going to make him eat these once a year.


The Holmes family is looking forward to the new year and making the best of 2017.