Tackle Football - Collin's the Running Back!

During last night's tackle football practice, they finally started working on some plays.  I was really surprised to see Collin playing in such a spotlight position - the running back.  Here is the kid that refused to catch the football two years ago because he did not want the attention and potentially dropping the ball which would have let his team down...to now the running back making some crucial plays.  What a difference two years and some confidence makes! 



He did really good catching the ball and running the direction of the planned play.  He was never tackled and made it through the line to potentially make a touchdown.  They stopped the plays before he could to had time for more practice plays.  There were a few times he did not catch the ball because it was hiked over his head....but he did try. 

Getting ready for the ball hike



Here comes the ball!

The quarterback pushed him a little which is why he is bent back a little

He caught it and then took off!




In this video, he is the one at the back in orange and yellow socks next to the quarterback (blue jersey).  I try to make him wear bright socks because, otherwise, it's hard to tell all of the boys apart when most of them are wearing the same colored practice jersey and pants.

In this video, he does not catch the ball but fakes like he is to distract from the quarterback getting the ball and running.  These plays have names but I don't know what they are yet.

I was so proud of him tonight!  When he got in the car and requested chicken quesadillas from his favorite Mexican restaurant, I did not hesitate to say Yes! and let him know why.  He was focused, not distracting others, listened to coach, did not wine and did his best. 

Tackle Football - Collin's the Running Back!

During last night's tackle football practice, they finally started working on some plays.  I was really surprised to see Collin playing in such a spotlight position - the running back.  Here is the kid that refused to catch the football two years ago because he did not want the attention and potentially dropping the ball which would have let his team down...to now the running back making some crucial plays.  What a difference two years and some confidence makes! 



He did really good catching the ball and running the direction of the planned play.  He was never tackled and made it through the line to potentially make a touchdown.  They stopped the plays before he could to had time for more practice plays.  There were a few times he did not catch the ball because it was hiked over his head....but he did try. 

Getting ready for the ball hike



Here comes the ball!

The quarterback pushed him a little which is why he is bent back a little

He caught it and then took off!




In this video, he is the one at the back in orange and yellow socks next to the quarterback (blue jersey).  I try to make him wear bright socks because, otherwise, it's hard to tell all of the boys apart when most of them are wearing the same colored practice jersey and pants.

In this video, he does not catch the ball but fakes like he is to distract from the quarterback getting the ball and running.  These plays have names but I don't know what they are yet.

I was so proud of him tonight!  When he got in the car and requested chicken quesadillas from his favorite Mexican restaurant, I did not hesitate to say Yes! and let him know why.  He was focused, not distracting others, listened to coach, did not wine and did his best. 

Tackle Football - Collin's the Running Back!

During last night's tackle football practice, they finally started working on some plays.  I was really surprised to see Collin playing in such a spotlight position - the running back.  Here is the kid that refused to catch the football two years ago because he did not want the attention and potentially dropping the ball which would have let his team down...to now the running back making some crucial plays.  What a difference two years and some confidence makes! 



He did really good catching the ball and running the direction of the planned play.  He was never tackled and made it through the line to potentially make a touchdown.  They stopped the plays before he could to had time for more practice plays.  There were a few times he did not catch the ball because it was hiked over his head....but he did try. 

Getting ready for the ball hike



Here comes the ball!

The quarterback pushed him a little which is why he is bent back a little

He caught it and then took off!




In this video, he is the one at the back in orange and yellow socks next to the quarterback (blue jersey).  I try to make him wear bright socks because, otherwise, it's hard to tell all of the boys apart when most of them are wearing the same colored practice jersey and pants.

In this video, he does not catch the ball but fakes like he is to distract from the quarterback getting the ball and running.  These plays have names but I don't know what they are yet.

I was so proud of him tonight!  When he got in the car and requested chicken quesadillas from his favorite Mexican restaurant, I did not hesitate to say Yes! and let him know why.  He was focused, not distracting others, listened to coach, did not wine and did his best. 

1st Week of School - We Made It!

Actually, the first week of school was really uneventful...and I am not complaining.  Homework had not started yet and not much is coming home in his daily folder. We cannot get much out of him about the day.  I know he shows up to school but you would think all he does is eat, have recess and talk to his friends based on what I can get out of him about the day.  He does not say much about the teachers which I guess is fine...he at least does not hate them.  :)  He sits by his regular "crew" at lunch:  Sabby, Luke, Ford, and Cody.  He has not had class with Luke and Cody before but he has played sports with these guys so he knows them.  His best buddy is Sabby and he is excited that they are in class together again.  Ford is his buddy from Pre-K.  They have been in a few classes together but not last year so it's good that they are in class together again. 


We have Back to School Coffee this Friday.  Maybe we will learn more about what is going on in class otherwise, we will have to wait until the first 9 weeks report and teacher conference.  Dad has a way of getting information from the teachers before then so we will have to see what he can find out.  He is not the room parent this year so it might be more challenging because he will not be in front of Collin's teachers as much.

9 and Very Social

Collin is such a social, friendly guy.  Friday after school, he rode his bike to a friend's house to play for an hour before he had to go to football practice.


Saturday, Jake came over to play for a little while until they rode back to his house to play for 2 hours before having to come home for dinner.  The boys met a friend for dinner while I stayed home (I am not feeling well).  Dad called to have me pack an overnight bag because Collin was going to spend the night with Foard, the family they just had dinner with.  I walked out to the car when they drove up to get the bag.  Collin gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek before grabbing his bag and thanking me for packing it for him.


Tomorrow, we will attend a local team baseball game before Collin attends a birthday party for ANOTHER friend.

Stuffed Animal Halo

Collin is a stuffed animal kid.  He says he loves the way they feel and they comfort him.  I have gone through his pile and donated a lot of the animals but kept the ones I know are his favorite.  When he went to sleepover camp, he used some of his money to buy more.....yeah!  ;)  He bought a snake that's as long as he is, a bear and one other one I cannot remember right now.  When we went to Scotland, he had to have a sheep....which I really liked too.


Every once in awhile he goes through his pile and this is what I find at night when I go to tuck him into bed.  Yes, he is sleeping on the floor. He likes to do this too.  It's been probably close to a year since he has done this though and then, for some reason, he made a pallet on the floor earlier this week...and it's continued.  I don't mind so much now because he is still in his dry streak at night that started after we came back from our vacation....42 days dry now.  I am probably more excited about him being dry than he is.  No more waking up at night to either helping him or hearing him take off the wet layer of sheets to get to the dry layer and then having to help him make his bed the next night...not to mention washing sheets almost every day.

On the floor with his crew.  The snake is the leopard spotted stuffed animal. 

There's Monkey, front and center (well to the right his face), as always.  I love how Puppy is resting his paw on Collin's head.

Look who is still awake. 

Drum Lessons

Collin has been taking drum lessons for about 2 years now.  Recently, we changed instructors and focus.  He is now working on the basics again instead of trying to learn a song.  Keeping the beat and working on hand/eye coordination has been the focus the last few weeks.  His instructor, Andy, thinks he is doing better and is a quick learner.  We also have seen some improvement in how he sounds when he practices at home.  Plus, it's not as much of a fight to get him to practice because he wants to....but still only for about 10 minutes and not more than that.  I don't blame him because he does have school, homework, football practice, rest time and drum lessons or practice almost every day.  That's a lot for a 9 year old to do during a day.


Here is what he sounded like during practice last night.  We have been using dampening pads on the drums to help with the sound which Mommy like much better.  ;)

Mr. Greenie, Corner (fka Lazy) and Ligthening Bolt

Corner is coming out to say Hi

Lightening Bolt is crawling out next

Collin took some videos of his hermit crabs eating lunch and then moving along.  Every time he cleans out the food bowl and puts in new food, he is supposed to put the crabs on the food so they know it's fresh.  They may eat then or come back later.  So far, these guys don't eat.  They wait for it to be "safe" and then they move on and check out the habitat or bury themselves. 

1st Day of 3rd Grade

Before writing this post, I checked out what I wrote the last time and had to laugh.  Even though a year has gone by, the 1st day of school today was just like last year:  Collin was indifferent about going back to school so much so that he forgot it was today, it was so humid out, I had to clean off the camera lens frequently because of the fog and we took our traditional 1st day picture by the tree so we could compare how he was growing.  Similar to last year, we did not need to buy new clothes or a backpack because his clothes and shoes fit well and were still in really good shape.  His backpack and lunch box were holding up great.  He used them for 1st and 2nd grade...and he was fine to use these again this year.  Yeah! Here is the post from last year.  http://ceholmes.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-09-01T06:22:00-07:00&max-results=50&start=40&by-date=false


He woke up around 7am.  We needed to get out the door by 7:40am to take a few pictures before he rode his bike to school.  I made cinnamon rolls using the waffle iron and he announced he was not hungry.  He only drank some milk and wanted to watch some TV before getting dressed.  He got dressed, brushed his teeth and was ready to go to school.


After taking our traditional pictures, he wanted to use the selfie stick he got this past weekend to take a picture.  It turned out great. 

He and Dad then got on their bikes to ride to school.  Dad was not going to ride with him but I guess he changed his mind at the last minute.  Fine with me because he got to walk Collin to class and get another picture with Ms Kohl.

The boys are on their bikes and ready to go

He rode by so fast that he was just a blurr

Collin and Ms Kohl

He came home and said the day felt short and did not give us more details about his day.  He also said he knows how to read and does not understand why he needs to learn more.  I can tell it's going to be another fun year at the Holmes house.

Kids and Selfie Sticks

Collin got a selfie stick from the baseball game last night.  Everyone that attended got one.  We have not used one before.  I thought we have been find without one and were not missing out on anything.  Collin must have thought differently.  Dad and he figured out how to use the stick and he spent the next 30 minutes taking at least 20 pictures and a few videos with my phone.


I thought he did a great job with the pictures centering the people in most of the shots.  They were also really clear.  I love his look of concentration.  He gets that one from his Dad.

He practiced first with Mimi and I. 

Next, he took one of Dad using Facebook

Here is Pappi watching the last day of the Olympics

Timmy and Collin were loaded and looked like they were ready for a Nerf gun war.  I can only assume that Leah was their target.

Timmy's serious face is hilarious here!  If only I knew what they were talking about in this picture.

Well, Leah is smiling in this one.  I guess she held her own or this was before the shooting started.

9 Year Old Boy in Tha House!

Alert!  We have a 9 year old now.  It happened so fast but the day is here. 


We started the day with Collin being dropped off from spending the night with Trace and Clayton.  The night before, Dad was a DJ at the neighborhood couples Back to School party.  I was a little sad that I did not get to wake up to see the birthday boy, but it's not all about me.  He was fine that he woke up somewhere else "as long as I get to spend most of the day with you".  OK, I am all better now.


We went to Petco to buy his birthday present....3 hermit crabs.  He has been wanting them since he saw them and got to play with them at Jake's house several weeks ago.  After explaining these crabs were his responsibility and understand what that meant, he promised to clean the cage, feed them, spay water every day and take care of them, we bought 3 because it's recommended to have at least two.  Hermit crabs are social and need buddies to pick on...which is what these guys (or gals) do. 


Collin wanted to keep the crabs in his room.  We explained that he needs to make sure Burke does not get in his room without us knowing because...bye, bye crabs.  He picked a spot in the corner of his room which will probably work out well.  These crab came with painted shells so he named them based on their shells:

Crab's home

Lazy is on the top of the picture and Lightening Bolt is at the bottom.  Mr. Greenie is hiding right now.  They like to burrow in the sand.

At 4:30pm, his friends started to arrive.  15 boys were coming over to have pizza and a birthday cookie before heading to watch a local baseball team play.





Skeeters baseball team banner



Boys patiently waiting for pizza



What are they talking about while eating?

It was so humid outside that it fogged the camera lens

Birthday boy table

Before heading out, we sang Happy Birthday to Collin.  The boys were really excited that the birthday treat was not cupcakes or cake but a cookie instead.  Yum!

Look at all of that icing!

Time for some singing

Now, that's a happy birthday boy

He did not have a hard time blowing out one candle

After eating ALL of the cookie cake and a dozen of blue iced cookies, we loaded up 5 cars and went to the baseball field.  Before loading up, the boys posed for a picture.  I was impressed the slack line held them all.





When we arrived at the field, they were handing out Selfie Sticks.  I immediately collected them from all of the boys because I could see these turn into weapons really quick.  Later when I passed them back out, these were golf clubs, swords, lightsabers...anything but the a Selfie Stick.  Only a few of the boys knew what these were for.


We took up 3 rows at the game.  At first, the boys were watching the game but finally got thirsty, hungry or bored around the 4th inning.  We planned to stay until at least the 6th inning and needed to stay until the 4th inning because that's when they would flash Collin's name on the board and wish him happy birthday.  Most of the boys, including Collin, missed this because they were too busy trying to get one of the players to throw them a ball.  That did not happen so they were ready to go. 

When we first got there, it was easy to get a picture of all the boys

...and here is what it looked like right before we decided it was time to go

Birthday boy cooling off and not wanted to pose for a picture

Timmy sat next to me and had lots of questions.  He is a talkative little guy.

Posing for a picture before getting back in the cars

This was supposed to e the serious picture

Yep, the crazy one. 

As a birthday treat for the boys, I did not want to hand out candy or Dollar Store items.  We handed out a small Skeeters baseball bat instead.  The boys were REALLY excited about these but we let them know we would take them if these were used in the car on the way home.





Collin opened presents that night when his cousins came over.  He got several $20 bills, boxes of candy, football, airplanes and play masks and swords (which he immediately played with).  I was surprised not to see any Legos in the pile.