Three of the Sweeties ran a 5K early this morning — and all three medaled. It was the first 5K ever for Kiley (7) and Aidan (6). They took third in the K-1 age group, girls and boys. Mack took second for third grade boys.
All three play team sports later in the day.
First posted here two years ago.
Buy kids all the video games and Disney princess paraphernalia in the world — or let them drop stones down a storm drain grate at the soccer field. Which to you think they’ll choose?
Five of The Sweeties® demonstrate. Click image for larger version.
First posted here six years ago today.
Look out, Barry!
Three-year-old Mack informs everyone (through his mommy) that he was one of only two kids to hit a home run* during his at bat at tee ball class today. Yay Mack!
*”Home runs” are conditional in many ways. Some, but not all, of the factors that contribute to a tee ball home run include:
1) How well the child hits the ball off the tee.
2) The speed with which the instructor reaches the child and redirects him towards first base after the child goes tearing indiscriminately towards left field.
3) How many of the children playing in the field are actually paying attention to the at bat, rather than standing at the bleachers asking their mommies for goldfish crackers.
4) The “coming within ten to twelve feet of second base is close enough” clause.
5) Which child fields the ball. It’s usually Zachary or Carson (“The Big Kids”), and no way are you getting a home run. But if your ball accidentally trickles right up to the feet of Noah (“The Kid Who Won’t Participate Without His Mommy”) you stand a chance.
Jill has yet another new post at Dinner without Crayons. She begins:
Sometimes I worry about my kids’ taste in music. I’ve introduced them to all the classics – and by classics I don’t mean Tchaikovsky but rather The Beatles, Elvis, Fleetwood Mac, Motown.
But despite my attempts to steer them towards quality tunes, they have an unrelenting tendency to embrace the trashiest current music they can find.
At Dinner without Crayons, Jill writes about breakfast dessert and other assorted adventures with the Gruesome Threesome. A brief excerpt:
The children, smelling my vulnerability like a dog smells fear, will then gleefully band together to try to break me. I think they must theorize that if they put me into a mental hospital, and their daddy is still off “working,” they will have free reign over the house and can skip school and watch Cartoon Network and rated R movies all day.
Sweetie Reid is 4 today.
Reid is his great grandfather’s middle name — and his great great grandfather’s given name.
Reid’s middle name is Fisher, which is my middle name — and my dad’s middle name and my granddad’s middle name.
So then, both Reid and Fisher are fifth generation names.
Reidie got all the family heirlooms.
No Kiley hasn’t been released from jail and forced to wear an ankle bracelet. She’s just ready to run a mile.
And she did, finishing fifth among 32 women ages 7-8. Aidan finished third among boys ages 6 and under. Mack was third among boys ages 9-10 and sixth overall out of 120 male runners through age 13. Mack ran the mile in 6:58, great for his first race of the season.
Sofia, one of my Wild Irish Sweeties, celebrates St. Patrick’s Day.
Veronica, tucking 6-year-old Sofie into bed after a loooong weekend: “I love you. You are my princess.”
Sofie: “I love you, too. You are my servant.”
This one was first posted here five years ago today.
It was titled: What four-year-old boys sometimes do to their one-year-old brothers when Mom isn’t looking
The little guy seems more proud than irritated.
First published here four years ago today.
Mack, official oldest grandchild of NewMexiKen, was nervous. According to his mother, it was “pajama day” at Little Lambs pre-school. That meant that all the five-year-olds were supposed to wear a favorite pair of pajamas to school. In his pajamas in the car on the way however, it felt a little uncertain.
To alleviate the uncertainty — which by then had started to settle into her own mind — his mom began to suggest other “clothing days” there might be. In the joking that followed, Mack suggested — as 5-year-old boys will — “underpants day.”
His mother assured him there would be no day when the kids just wore underpants to class — at least not until college.
| “Oh, Mack has been on skis once in his life. But that hasn’t stopped him from planning how he will act on the medal stand after he wins his downhill gold. (Rock and roll finger horns yes, mouthing the national anthem no.) The kid does not suffer from a lack of confidence.”
Mack’s Mom |
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Jill tells about a variation on brotherly love.
And, from three years ago, even then Mack always had HIS priorities set.
From 2006.
Grandpa likes to tell The Sweeties childhood stories using their names for the lead characters. For example last night The Three Pigs were Reid, Mack and Aidan. Since I was telling the story to Aidan he got the brick house.
Grandpa: “So the wolf huffed and puffed and huffed and puffed but he couldn’t blow the brick house down. Do you know what happened next Aidan?”
Three-year-old Aidan: “I turned into the Black Power Ranger and killed the wolf.”
Last week the elementary school three of my grandchildren attend was recognized by its district as a School of Excellence. That means the school has made “Adequate Yearly Progress” under the No Child Left Behind Act, and achieved an overall score of 90 or more out of 100 points on district Strategic Plan-based measures. It’s a big deal.
So they had a little ceremony at the school to mark the occasion and the Superintendent of Schools was there to present the banner. From the more than 1,000 students the Principal selected one girl and one boy to receive the banner for the school.
And the boy was?
Yup, Mack.
They also had an essay contest. All the students were asked to write why they thought the school was an excellent place to learn. The best essay was chosen for each grade.
And the winners were?
Yup. All three. Aidan got the medal for kindergarten (his was a poster), Kiley for first grade, and Mack for third.
Excellence R us.
Oh, BTW, this announcement is on the school website today: Escuelas cerradas, Código Rojo. El programa SAC no se ofrecerá. In Virginia. It’s a bilingual country. Excellent.
License, registration, I ain’t got none
but I got a clear conscience
‘Bout the things that I done
Mister state trooper, please don’t stop me
Please don’t stop me, please don’t stop me
Bruce Springsteen, “State Trooper”
Emily, official mother of four-year-old Alex, reports:
“Twice this week, [Alex] has handed me a paper with a name written on it. He then asks me to send the name to Santa because the kid has been naughty at school.”
Sweetie Mack is 9 today. Mack isn’t his given name. It’s his nickname (from birth) and comes from his middle name — Mackenzie, a family name on his dad’s side. Mackenzie is a Scottish name, from the Gaelic Maccoinneach, meaning son of the fair or comely. (And also meaning son of Kenneth.)
Mack, the oldest of The Sweeties®, turns nine tomorrow. His birthday party is today.
Here’s what we wrote five years ago:
The oldest of the Sweeties, Mack, turns four Monday, so his parents decided to host a birthday party. To their horror, nearly everyone invited accepted — and all who accepted came. That meant that Saturday afternoon 24 three- and four-year-old boys (and one two-year-old girl cousin and one little brother) took over the island that is Mack’s playroom.
Jill, official mother of Mack, reports that the swarm was amazingly well behaved, but that it did require a periodic “Freeze!” so that a census could be taken to make certain no one had escaped to some other part of the house, or worse, outside. (”Christopher? Are you sure you dropped him off? We don’t remember seeing him.”) There were moments, Jill also reported, when the boys seemed to realize that they had the adults grossly outnumbered, but she says they were easily held at bay with the cake knife.
The ice cream and cake was delayed until the last minute so that the children could be released to the custody of their parents before the sugar fully kicked in.
NewMexiKen is sad to live so far from his grandchildren; hence the prominent display of their photos on this blog. Even so, 1900 miles seemed about right while this party was on.
Brothers Mack, who will be 9 in a week, and Aidan, who was six in September, ran in the Jingle Bell Fun Run Saturday morning. The distance was a mile and during the race the rain changed to snow. Their mom, Jill, reports:
The boys came in third and fourth overall…Aidan was third.
Yep, Aidan ran a [personal best] 7:40 and Mack was right behind him at 7:41.
To be fair, Mack struggled the whole way and threw up two times after the race. He had thrown up Thursday at school, and was home sick yesterday. He has a bunch of junk in his lungs and has that cough that has passed from Aidan to Reid to him.
I know, I couldn’t believe he was out there, either (after I saw him halfway through, begging me for oxygen as he came around — like was I supposed to have a spare tank sitting by me?). I think he thought he had a chance to win overall, which is always fun. And on a normal day he probably would have. …
In typical fashion, after the race Mack was crying about doing poorly, and feeling sick, and Aidan didn’t say a word. In the car, Mack looked at me and said, “Aidan beat me (sob sob).” I looked at Aidan and Aidan softly said, “I wanted him to win.”
I took a lot of photos during my recent stint visiting and babysitting. This is probably my favorite.
There’s a larger version underneath your mouse click.
Veronica reports as Sofie recovers from a serious bout with the flu:
Me: Hey sofie. You haven’t eaten in 4 days. You can have whatever you like.
Sofie: Anything?
Me: Yup.
