Budding Entrepreneurs

Check out the little entrepreneurs! Jaxon & his buddy Ethan teamed up for the Second Grade flea market. Each student or duo had to come up with a product to market to their peers. Jaxon & Ethan decided to sell tokens to play their Claw games that were stocked with candy, miniature versions of the arcade Claws. The line to play was 10 kids deep at times. Keep it up, boys! Your parents are counting on you for retirement funds!

Concours d'Elegance

Living in a house full of boys, there are certain events that pop up on the calendar that I just know will be a HUGE hit. The Concours d'Elegance on Amelia Island is one of those events. With over 250 classic and exotic cars displayed on the Ritz Carlton golf course, I knew we were in for an eventful day. The boys were in HEAVEN, and I'll admit, I also had a fabulous time.

Daydreaming is easy! Returning to reality is NOT!

Shoot & Score

Jaxon & Baylor are participating in a few camps this Summer. First up is basketball camp. Boy oh boy did we start off with a bang! The week was a raging success! The camp is a well organized machine with great coaches, and the kids in Jaxon's & Baylor's age group were instant friends.

I knew both boys would have a good time because they really like basketball, but I wasn't certain whether the sport would hold Baylor's attention 3 hours a day for 5 straight days. It did! Despite giving it his all, Baylor never managed to score a basket. Even with the rim lowered, the basket was just too high for 4-year old Baylor. That disadvantage never swayed his interest though. If anything, it made Baylor try even harder. Look how low he would crouch to try to gain every bit of momentum possible when shooting. Poor kid!

Jaxon, our sports nut, was in heaven. He really has a competitive spirit and looked forward to the daily free throw contests. The camp was broken down into 4 age groups. The winner from each group would then compete against the other age groups for a daily winner. Jaxon won his age group 2 out of the 5 days, but none of boys were able to take down the older competitors. Oh well. There's always next year!

Grant & I didn't stay for the entire camp, but we would stay for the first 30 minutes, and then arrive early for pickup to watch the free throw contest. This is Grant's facial expression during our time in the gym. Imagine 75+ kids all bouncing basketballs...Yeah, maybe that was my facial expression too.

The coaches went over the rules of the game and put the kids through some drills to improve their ball handling skills, and the group was split into teams of 3 for daily tournaments. Never once did anyone seem bored. In fact, at the end of the week, Jaxon and Baylor both asked me if they could come back the following week for another round of basketball camp. I would have gladly agreed, but Lego Camp was already on the calendar and paid for. Thankfully, that turned out to be a hit as well.

Jaxon and Baylor made new friends and mastered new skills. What more can you ask for? Summer 2012 is off to a great start. Let the fun times continue!!!

Mother Knows Best

Yes, Mother does indeed know best. I know what my 4 boys like and what they don't. I appreciated all the effort they went through last year to spoil me on Mother's Day, but I accepted and even embraced my fate this year. We spent the day together enjoying The Players Championship at Sawgrass. When the testosterone outnumbers you 4:1, you really shouldn't fight it. A golf tournament is way more our speed than a tea party.

Of course, it's hard to believe that this little fella' was BREAKING NEWS and one heck of present for me last year. How many women actually find out they're expecting on Mother's Day?

Oh my, and to say that Grant was a hit at TPC would be an understatement. Actually, I felt sort of like a walking spectacle. People weren't subtle about pointing our family out and making comments. Either they thought my boys were cute or we were mistaken all day for some celebrity golfer's family?

The comments and attention peaked when Jaxon and Baylor took their turns at the various hands-on exhibits. Take for example this virtual golf competition. The boys lined up for their turn with all of the other much older men. One group of guys let them skip in line because they didn't want to miss seeing the boys show off their skills. With all that attention, I was a bit nervous that the boys might feel pressured or shy...WRONG! They both stepped right up and drove the golf ball down that virtual hole with expertise! The crowd went wild! I confessed that they both take weekly lessons and the crowd seemed very impressed. Fingers crossed that some golf scholarships are in their future!

Little Grant was happy to play the role of sidekick this year, but something tells me that he'll expect to take a turn driving the ball next year. Grant is already on a mission to prove that he can do anything his big brothers can. He studies their every move on and off the course.

I just hope that Jaxon and Baylor don't follow in their "idol's" footsteps...Tiger Woods...at least, not his off-course extramarital footsteps. Thankfully, Anh is doing his best to introduce Jaxon and Baylor to some of the new, younger stars on the course. Fingers crossed that someone steals their admiration!

I have no doubt that a lot of women would be annoyed to spend Mother's Day on the golf course especially if they don't golf. In the end, "my day" was ultimately all about Jaxon, Baylor, and Grant. Of course, isn't that part of being a mother? So, my day was truly perfect.

Zap

10 days. That was the length of Zap's stay with us. Who is Zap? He was the 15 cent feeder goldfish that Jaxon won at the school carnival. Yes, I said WAS. Zap has gone on to the that big aquarium in the sky. Poor Jaxon was the one to discover him this morning. As he reported the news to me with tears in his eyes, I asked "Are you sure Zap is dead? He's not just sleeping?" A tear escaped one of Jaxon's eyes as he responded "He's stuck to the tube." The tube is the aerating filter, and yes, that would indeed mean Zap is dead.

I did my best to convince Jaxon that Zap's passing had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of care his proud owner provided. I'm not certain my sad little fellow believed me, but Jax seemed relieved when I told him I would bury Zap in the backyard and not flush him down the toilet. I knew Jax was really shaken by Zap's passing when he told me he would have to think about whether he wanted a replacement fish from the pet store. Wow! Maybe we won't be getting a dog or cat in the future if losing a fish is this distressing. Luckily, Jaxon came around by this afternoon and told me he does indeed want to get another fish. Wait...Did I just say "luckily?" Maybe the boys aren't the only ones that like having a fish.

Tonight as the boys were upstairs with Anh getting ready for bed, I realized that both Anh and Baylor were unaware of Zap's passing. I forgot to mention it during our busy day. I listened as Jaxon filled them in on the empty aquarium and his disheartening discovery this morning. Then I heard Baylor exclaim, "Oh man! What happened?" Jaxon repeated my explanation from this morning about how "Fish just don't live that long." and "We did everything right. It didn't die because we did something wrong." Thank goodness! Jax was actually listening and obviously feeling better about the loss.

Baylor, however, might want to work on his listening skills because as soon Jax finished explaining every last detail of the morning's sad event, Baylor marched downstairs and asked me, "Why did you kill the fish?" Ummmm...WHAT?! Why did I kill the fish?! I'm the one that bought an aquarium for a 15 cent feeder goldfish. If anybody wanted that freakin' fish to live, it was ME! Ugh! I calmly asked Baylor, "Why do you think Mommy killed the fish? I didn't kill the fish. He just died." Baylor looked at me with doubt and blurted out, "Jaxon said you did something to the fish!" What?!

Surely Jaxon doesn't believe I offed the fish? No, he doesn't. Baylor just tuned out after hearing, "The fish died." He heard Jaxon say, "Mom did something with the fish," but missed the part of the story where Jaxon explained that I buried it in the yard. It's good to know that Baylor thinks so highly of me. Well...I am Mean Mommy. Let's see how mean they think am this weekend as I fork over the money for the replacements. Yes, replacements. You know I'm not going to get away with just one replacement, and you know the boys aren't going to settle for 15 cent feeder goldfish either!

Character Counts

My boys aren't just cute. They're sweet & caring too! As their parents, we know this. We see it every day. However, it's not every day that others acknowledge they see it as well. So, it was especially touching to learn that Jaxon was voted for by his peers to receive a Character Counts award for Caring. That's my boy! He's got a heart of gold!

Giddy Up & Gallop

On your marks! Get set! GO! And, away the kids went galloping their hearts out to raise money for their school. I can proudly report that the 2nd annual Mustang Gallop Fun Run went off without a hitch, and Jaxon once again proved he is indeed the fastest kid in his class, possibly even the fastest kid in First Grade!
Jaxon lapped his class very early in the "race," and I use that term loosely because only to our extremely competitive son is The Gallop a true race. The volunteers and teachers running the show deemed everyone a "winner" simply for participating. That's not good enough for Jaxon. He has to be "the best."
Jaxon obviously lives by the "If you aren't first, you're last." mentality. Therefore, he gave The Gallop every thing he had, and the track was definitely more challenging this year. Last year, the race took place in front of the school on the paved blacktop. This year, the setting was more picturesque on the sports field behind the school, but the track was bigger making each lap more of a challenge.
Jaxon didn't seem to mind! He sprinted around the track without a care in the world. The idea of pacing himself wasn't an option. He was full-speed ahead the entire time, and even though he was a lap ahead of his closest competitor, Jaxon would push himself harder any time someone was in close proximity.
Once the buzzer sounded indicating their allotted time was up, the class made it's way to the sidelines to tally the laps. The kids received a bracelet for each lap they completed, and Jaxon waited anxiously as each of his classmates announced their total for the official record. In the end, Jaxon was victorious with 10 laps. Looks like he secured bragging rights for another year!
Whether Jaxon ran 2 laps or 10 laps had zero impact on the pride Anh and I felt in our hearts. Our little man and his competitive spirit always shines in our eyes. As parents, Anh and I love that Jaxon is never content to settle for "good enough" and always pushes himself to be the best regardless of whether it's racing or mastering math and spelling lessons. Our little over-achiever makes us proud just because he tries so damn hard!
Way to go, Jaxon! Keep up the strong work!