Christmas cards

I knew that all the kids would be together for Tilden's birthday so I made plans to take our Christmas card pictures. It was a chilly autumn day...not exactly winter looking, but you have to make due with what you have. LOL

I am NOT showing you the picture that I will be using...instead I want to share the quantity of mishap non usable pictures. :) Plus, my kids can't resist that trampoline, so here are a few shots of their antics.

Jacob threw his arms out at the last second and Alex was in the process of trying to bite him.

This angle makes Jacob look even smaller than he is...the GIANT Tatebe children.

Welcome to REAL school

Jacob's introduction to school was lovely...short days ...fun...friendly. He went for 3 weeks with no one else in the school, but Kindergarten. Plus, they only went for half days.



This week he started "real" school. He was fine the first day. Tilden and I took him to school and the parking lot was jam packed with cars and people. He wasn't nervous at all because he had already been here and made new friends and knew his teacher.




He was smiling when he got to class and found that he had a NEW cubby with his name on front with his favorite color, blue.


He signed in on the sign up board and went right to his seat without even giving Tilden and I a hug or a wave. He was busy being "big".


So the first day was pretty fun. He had a million things to tell me and was excited about making new friends. Second day...the length of the day was beginning to sink in and he was disgusted with me for taking so long to pick him up. Apparently, he feels that he should go home when he wants to...whether or not the day has ended. LOL

The final day of school for his first week was a whole different story. I picked him up at the end of the day and he was in tears. Then I hear from his teacher that he had been crying off and on for the past 2 hours. He was "to tired for school and to sad because he missed his mom", according to Jacob. He didn't even go to art that afternoon because his mom likes art and it made him miss her more. LOL What a manipulative little man he can be! The teacher let him stay in his class room with her and he read books silently to himself while she did some work.

We've had a nice 3 day weekend and he goes back tomorrow. He's not fussy or saying that he doesn't want to go to school, but man oh man...do I feel sorry for his teacher this year! He is really good at getting his own way by manipulation. He's so little and adorable and he can well up tears in a nano second, drenching those long eyelashes and making them look even longer. I am going to have to buy her something really nice for Christmas. Have fun Mrs. Shaw!

New Videos

Don't have much time to write...as I am needed at the soccer fields. I already have sunburn from sitting through 2 games this afternoon . LOL

I thought it would be calming to sit here for a minute and listen to one of my favorite songs, " Whatever you're doing/ Something heavenly" by Sanctus real. ahhhhhhhhh Just in case you are curious, here is their video for that song on YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06AgY5Xoavw
Odd to most, but it's a calming song on a crazy day like today. :)

I just uploaded a video of Jake's birthday party and his very first soccer game.
He scored 4 goals in 6 minutes and also took a few other shots. He's pretty good...what can I say? Refresh the page if the new video's aren't showing up on youtube.

Pictures

I am trying to add a slideshow of my pictures on flicker...hoping one of my sisters will read this and give me a hand.

I added it as a new gadget...picked "user name" and then put in my flicker name...BUT I am only getting random pictures on here. Any clues?

Views on building

It's already time for Alex and Caleb to go back to college. I feel like we lost the whole summer somehow...how is it already August??
Yesterday, Pam, Micah, Eric, Jake, Haliegh and myself went to Alex's new apartment by YSU. You have to walk up 19 narrow steps to get to her apartment, which Micah and Eric felt was a competition. LOL Pam and I worked on a ginormous armoire that Alex got at Ikea last week.

So here is the "picture" ...for your mind. We put a fan in the window in the living room as it was the only window that doesn't have a brick wall directly outside and can provide a nice breeze. Jake and Haliegh played on cardboard boxes in the living room the entire time...so they were cool and comfy. Now, lets shove 3 or 4 adults into the bedroom to work on this jigsaw puzzle known as an armoire with no air flow. Sweat, sweat sweat...drip drip drip.
Pam and I would consider ourselves relatively intelligent people, but we were stumped for at least 30 minutes on STEP 1!!! We were supposed to stick 3 of the main giant pieces of wood together. There were at least 10 pieces with all varying degrees of holes and patterns of holes. We tried one direction...took it apart...tried another ...took it apart. Alex came in and said, "put that one there and this one here" . We did what she said and it appeared to work, so she left the room with her college brain giving her a high five. HOWEVER, when we moved on to step 2 we noticed that the piece with 45 holes in the pattern of the southern night sky was not lining up with the picture in the directions. We stood over these 3 pieces of wood with those directions and turned them upside down...sideways...backwards...sigh. Would it be so difficult to actually print a tiny letter on each piece of wood to identify them. You know, "place board A into board C"?
I stepped into the living room to get some air and discovered Jake and Haliegh throwing popcorn into the fan so that it would blow all over the living room and create a "snow storm". I had to put a stop to it, of course...as she doesn't own a vacuum yet. OOOPSIE. Haleigh said, "this is so cool. I wish I lived here". LOL KIDS!!
Then I went into the dining room to check on the progress of Micah and Eric as they were building a tiny bookshelf. In their 13 year old boy wisdom they rushed and split some of the wood with the nails that you drive into the back piece. They didn't feel the least bit concerned over that problem and decided to run around the house as fast as they could and throw things at each other . I decided to stop them and give them something to do. I made them move things from one room to another.
Back to the Ikea project...it was finally moving along as we had discovered the proper orientation of the first 3 pieces. Cut ahead two hours later and we have ourselves a finished project. I smashed my toe and got 2 cuts on my hands throughout the project, but it's all worth it. Alex got herself a lovely closet/dresser and her 2 little brothers and 2 cousins felt like they helped her in some way. I'm sad to see her move out again, but I'm proud that she is confident enough to take on the world and find her own apartment.
Now the mom side of me has to stop worrying about her living there. LOL

So what now?

Our society has this constant urge to keep each other moving. When you have a baby people can not help but ask you, " so are you having another one soon?". With my fourth child going off to school this year I have been the target of an endless barrage of , "what are you going to do with yourself now that Jake is in school?".
Have I suddenly become useless to society because my child is in school? Have I given up my rights to raise him because he is in school? Silly people!! Silly society!!
Guess what? I choose to stay involved in HIS life just like I have in all of his siblings lives. I don't plan on abandoning his child hood for the sake of my own life. I don't need to go to work or start thinking of myself and what I want to do because I now have free time.

I have learned from raising 3 other kids that I have no free time. I loved being there for Alex to chat about the weird boys at school or being the mom who was willing to french braid 5 cheerleaders hair before a game. I was always available to my boys when they needed me to drop everything and drive half the team to a soccer game. They were never late for practice or missed a game because their mom was "busy" and they couldn't find a ride. I have attended nearly every single gymnastics meet, band concert, baseball game, soccer game, track meet, school play, Open house, basketball game, prep bowl, challenge 24, science fair and spelling bee that has lighted across my path. I have been there...at home...when someones heart was broken by their 'true love" or their staggering disappointment because they were cut from the team. I have whisked them away to a "just you and me" lunch or dinner to commiserate or celebrate the event in their lives. I've stolen them away from school in the middle of the day for a surprise trip to see a movie or go to the zoo because they had straight A's.

I AM THEIR MOM...I am their mom 24/7. I am still Alex's mom, even though she is 21 years old. I am still Jake's mom, even though he is now in Kindergarten. Last night around 11pm Alex, Caleb, Micah and I were playing Boggle on my bed and laughing hysterically over our collective ignorance in spelling words. Yeah, that's right...11pm on a Sunday night MY KIDS wanted me to play Boggle with them. Wonder why that is? Oh yeah, it's because I am their mom and not their care giver who raised them for 5 years and then let the school system handle the rest. :)
I have great kids. I have REALLY great kids. People comment to me on a weekly basis that my kids are so accomplished and wonderful. Guess what? It's because I committed to being their mom and let go of the worldly view that I need "my own life". I don't need it...my job is to turn out 4 new adults who will be cherished by their new families some day.
If you see me soon...and you realize Jake is in school now. Don't you dare ask me what I am going to do with all my free time!! There is no free time when you have 4 kids.

First day of school

Jake started Kindergarten today. I have a picture of each one of my kids standing on the front porch the first day of school. Jake is by far the happiest one. LOL He will go for 3 weeks and then have 3 weeks off before they actual school year starts up. It's a program for Kindergartner's to experience school with none of the older kids around. They will have the entire school to themselves and things won't be as scary.

Jake has been very excited about the whole thing. Last year at this time he would have crawled into his self made shell and refuse to talk...refuse to get out of the car...cry...cry some more...

It's amazing what a whole year can do to the maturity level. He's gone from a scared withdrawn 5 year old to an outgoing fun loving 6 year old. Okay, so he's ALMOST six. Keeping him home last year was a very good decision. That point was driven home as I stood on the playground in a sea of crying, scared kids.

Jake couldn't wait to get to school today. He was anxious for us to hurry up and leave. Alex woke up early and came with us...which made him very happy. As with all the other kids, I got a shot of him standing next to the school sign. He was slightly annoyed that I made him stop and take the time to do that picture. LOL

He walked right up to his teacher and said, "Hi". She introduced herself and then told him that he could go out on the playground until they were ready to start. He didn't have to be told twice...since running and jumping are his favorite things. When we got outside there was another little boy with the same exact "Super Mario Galaxy" backpack. Apparently, this meant they were best friends as far as Jacob was concerned. He instantly started climbing this jungle gym with his "new friend". He's wearing the green shirt, at the top of this yellow climber.

After about 2 minutes had gone by he tossed his back pack at me and said, "Hold this while I play tag with my new friends." LOL He then spent the next 10 minutes running wildly around the playground. I let him do it too...because I figured he needed to release all that pent up energy. I'm sure his teacher would appreciate that thoughtful gesture on my part. :)

We were there pretty early and as he was playing the buses started dropping the kids off and the playground got pretty full. There are 5 kindergarten classrooms at our school. When the classes started to line up he came over to me and said, "who are all those other kids?". I told him that they were in other Kindergarten's and he just looked confused. I snapped a shot of him walking in his line into the classroom. You can get a feel for how the school is set up from this picture. His line is the furthest...you can see Alex standing at the end of the group and Jake is just about to enter the building. It's so nice that they all have their own door directly from the playground.

I walked into the class with him and said, "I'll see you after school" and he said, "OK, bye" with a HUGE smile on his face. It was so easy to leave him there today knowing that he was thrilled to be at school. I can't wait to pick him up and hear all his stories.

YAY me!

Garmin 255W

I used my mom's Garmin twice in June and I loved it...even though I am perfectly capable of printing a map off MapQuest and I rarely get lost. However, the Garmin was quite handy when I missed my exit and it recalculated the next best route.

What I really love is the feature that lets you find points of interest and places to eat around your location. We were able to find a few beach side parks and a cool Japanese restaurant in Shaker Square up in Cleveland. We travel a lot with Micah's soccer stuff , so it was nice to have that option to show us where to go and what we could do in the big breaks between games.

Tilden drove to the last tournament and followed the Garmin's directions. It only took one time and he was completely hooked! LOL He did feel that it made him "directionally challenged" though, as he no longer paid attention to actual road signs and just blindly followed the Garmin's voice directions. We decided this week to go and buy one ourselves because there was a very good sale at Best Buy. We rarely buy ourselves anything in the "luxury" category like this, so I am pretty ...lamely...excited.

The one thing that irritated me when I borrowed my mom's was the fact that my vehicle on the display was a blue car and I just felt that was so boring. When I registered my Garmin today I noticed a little link for the "garage" and when I clicked on it there were all these FREE downloadable vehicles. It took me a full 45 minutes to figure out how to get them onto my Garmin , but I finally did it and here are some of my choices, just to give myself some variety on my trips. (Plus, it will keep Jake entertained when the vehicle is "cool")

Yes, that is a Christmas bulb and it blinks too. There is even a turkey for Thanksgiving and a ton of Christmas and Halloween choices. Fun fun!

ODP

This is Micah his first year of playing soccer...at age 5.

Mostly I am writing this for my sister...Allison. I think she is the only one who actually KNOWS what "ODP" is all about. LOL Since I can't call her right now, this was my next best idea.

Micah has been doing a very long drawn out series of try-outs to get on the Olympic Development Soccer Team (ODP). He started in November and has made it through cut after cut, keeping himself alive with his tremendous determination and raw talent. It's VERY hard to make this team. It's the top 16 kids in the entire state of Ohio who were born in 1995. They divide the teams up by birth year. Micah is a little unlucky in that aspect as he is born in December and so most of the kids are bigger than he is and a grade older as well. I've been driving him up past Cleveland every Tuesday for the 2 hour try out sessions. He is one of the smallest boys out there.

They started with hundreds of boys and have been slowly making cuts, eliminating 1/4 of the boys each time. I got an email this morning and Micah MADE THE TEAM!!! He isn't an alternate either...he is ON the main team!! When I told him, his eyes got soooo big and he just said, "wow". LOL He will be leaving us for a week pretty soon to go to the Regional Camp in Indianapolis. At Regional Camp they will be looking at the top 16 boys from 5 states and taking 20 of them to represent our region in the National Tournament. Honestly, none of us expect Micah to make the regional cut. Maybe in another year...when he can catch up in size...who knows. We are all pretty excited for him and proud of him for this HUGE accomplishment. I just wanted to share :)

They sent me some paperwork to fill out and they wanted to know how many years he's made the "state pool" and the "regional pool"...and how long he's played on an International team. Ummmm...he's never done ANY of that stuff. LOL The other parents in the crowd were shocked that he hasn't had any "real" training. I guess he showed them, didn't he? Sheer talent and hard work can get you pretty far.

Washington DC

Last week Jake, Pam and I made a spontaneous trip to Washington DC for our last chance to see Allie before she headed to Spain.

We got up at 5am so that we could get on the road and not waste precious daylight hours. It was a peaceful drive and I only "almost" hit 3 deer on the Pennsylvania turnpike. LOL I was really getting paranoid as they kept dashing out into the road. Perhaps my van is some type of deer Nirvana?

Pam had been to DC recently and knew all the shortcuts and tricks to getting around town. We parked at a Metro station 15 miles outside of DC and rode that all the way into town. Jake could hardly hold back his enthusiasm as he waited patiently for the train to show up on these tracks.

Once we got on the train ...he never stopped smiling. He carefully counted down the 9 stops that we needed to make before it was our turn to get off and look for Noah. He easily overlooked the fact that the train smelled like mildew and was last decorated in the 1970's....something that did not allude his mother, LOL.

Allison told us to go to the museums and not worry about meeting her as she was stuck in a long line at the Federal Passport building. Pam figured out which metro stop would take us closest to that building and we got off and walked 3 blocks in search of the Passport office. It was crowded and busy and people bustled past us on their way to lunch during their work day. We were looking at our map and searching for the address when I looked up and saw a very familiar little boy and I said, "Isn't that Noah over there?". Pam quickly shouted out "ALLLLIEEE" and we all gave each other big hugs. It was very good timing as she had just stepped out of the office to get some air and let Noah run for a second.

We got Noah from her and took him to lunch with Jake. There were not a lot of kid friendly options in that local, so we ended up at Chipotle a few blocks away. The boys ate some cheese only taco's and then ran around a statue for 20 minutes...completely oblivious to the fact that this restaurant was jam packed with people and standing room only.

We walked back to the passport office to discover that Allison was getting closer to her turn, but was still going to be waiting awhile. We decided to take the boys to the Smithsonian site and let them run around and then Allison could meet up with us over there. Pam gave her a quick lesson and a map of the Metro. " Just walk up 3 blocks and you will see the Metro station. Take the escalator down into the station and buy an all day pass...get on the red line to the Smithsonian".

We got into the station and Pam bought Noah his pass. The boys were so thrilled with the whole process and very quickly learned how to put their ticket in, pass through the turnstile and take their ticket back out. They simply could not get enough of the cool tunnel and train tracks.

We got off the metro at the Smithsonian Castle. No sooner had we disembarked and I got a call from Allison that she was done and walking up the street looking for the metro station, but that her phone battery was dying. Wouldn't you know that MY phone battery was dying too? LOL sheesh!! I told her that we would meet her at the castle. As soon as I got off the phone Pam said, "I should have stayed with her and rode back here with her. I am going to get back on the metro and go meet up with her, keep calling her until you get a hold of her and let her know that I am coming".

From that point on it was like a really bad sitcom. Allie had gone underground and her phone didn't work...I couldn't get a hold of Pam either...as she was also underground. I left both of them voicemail and hoped for the best. I drug Noah and Micah into the castle where they quickly made fast work of turning it into a playground...running , jumping, screaming...all the boy things.

I took them out of the castle for fear that we were going to be thrown out. LOL As I was leaving I got a call from Allie and she said, "where is the castle, I don't see it". I asked if she could see the Washington monument or the capital building...she said that she couldn't. Then both of our phones started beeping to let us know the batteries were dying. So I quickly said, "just find the castle Alli...ask someone where it is. I will meet you out in front". I literally stepped out the door and there she was, just hanging up her phone, LOL. She said, "this is a castle? I thought it was a church". I made her turn around and said, "hellooo...there is the Washington monument"...hahahahaa...Poor Allison, she was just to fried and frazzled to even notice it. I made her stand there with Noah and I took this picture.

Now all we had to do was find Pam.....LOL

We headed to a shady spot out there on the Smithsonian lawn and Allie got a bite to eat and then fed little Brennan while Jake and Noah endlessly chased pigeons. I kept an eye out for Pam the whole time and finally saw her walking across the lawn. Allison stood up and did her big man whistle and we were all quickly united.

I will write the rest later...as this seems like plenty to absorb for now. :)

Jake's butterfly

We went on a walk on a nature trail the other day..just looking for bugs to catch. We stumbled upon a butterfly that was still coming out of it's cocoon! It was almost completely out and was still drying in the sun so it was very easy to catch. I put it inside of Jake's bug bucket and then we walked back to the van.

He showed that butterfly to everyone in the park who was willing to have a look into his bucket. He decided that it was a Peacock butterfly, based on one of the butterflies in the Animal Crossing game. I have no idea if it was or not, but I just went along with his assumption. LOL

He talked to it all the way home and studied every single dot on it's wings. When we got home he let it go and I took a video of that whole extravaganza. It's uploaded on YouTube, so refresh this page and have a look. Jake and the butterfly.

Bugs...

Jake with his bug net. Forget those ducks behind him, he was looking for dragonflies.

Jacob has a new fascination with bugs and fish because of the Nintendo game, Animal Crossing. In that game you can catch fish and bugs that have real world counterparts. He knows a lot about fish based on his experience in that game.

He begs and begs for me to take him fishing to catch a REAL fish. At first I bought him a toy fishing rod that satisfied his urge to fish for maybe a week. We quickly moved up to a real fishing rod, but I won't buy him a hook to put on the end of it. It currently has a fish shaped counter weight on the end that works fine and allows him to cast the line out pretty far.

He LOVED this fishing rod and it was his favorite thing for nearly a month, but now he has decided that he needs a hook. Every single body of water strikes up his curiosity and he looks at me and says, "do you think that there are fish in there?". Even the large puddle at the end of my driveway will house fish in his five year old mind. LOL

I thought I would try to steer him from the whole fish theme by purchasing him a bug net. He runs around the yard all day long and catches bugs for me. However, when he does actually manage to catch a bug in that net he will start to scream for me to come set it free. Every single bug that he sees triggers the same question for me to answer, "what does that bug do to you?". If it will bite or sting...he wants no part of it. heehee. I took him to the park and he actually caught a dragonfly and a toad in his bug net. It was a lot of work and he was terrified when they were actually in his net. It's so funny because he wants to catch them and as soon as he does ...it's a scream fest!

However, his discussion about catching those bugs afterwards would rival the story about the Little Tailor. Remember that Mickey Mouse cartoon? He killed 5 flies, but somehow it was turned into 5 giants in one swat. Jacob is like the "dragon slayer" of bugs. ....the Steve Irwin of the preschool set.

Here are a few pictures of Jake with his fishing pole in the back yard.

There is a video clip of him on YouTube...smashing ants. It just struck me as very funny that day. I also plan on uploading one of him fishing in the backyard. Maggie was playing with him that day, chasing the fishing line.

Alllll together now

Well, college is out for the summer and the older kids are back home. I see higher electric bills, water bills and grocery bills in the very near future. LOL

It's nice to have everyone home again. Micah thoroughly enjoys no longer being the oldest in the house and having someone besides Jake to discuss sports with. Jake (his own words) likes that everyone is sleeping here again, the WHOLE family. He gets worried about where people sleep for some reason.

There will be some major battles for the Wii as Jacob is accustomed to having it all to himself and Caleb is accustomed to doing whatever he wants. Lets just say that our first day back together wasn't a "scream free" day. Then, of course, the Lakers lost..which made all the testosterone driven residents grumble and complain.

This morning was a good one. Caleb got up and mowed the lawn and moved around some of those annoying tree parts from the storm last fall. Alex and I started our little garden and planted some peppers and tomato's. Jake just kicked the soccer ball around the entire time. Then Alex and I rented a GIRL movie!! It is so rare that I have someone to watch those with, LOL...we watched "Bride Wars". It's wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either.

Tatebe clan is back together again for the summer. wooohooo!! Good thing they all have a DS, huh?

Easter eggs

Oh yeah....Easter Eggs!! There isn't to much to say about them. Jake dyed his hands every color of the rainbow and enjoyed himself tremendously. I had to do at least ONE egg...that is mine with the little blue hearts all around.

Alex and Micah found a box of latex gloves and decided to utilize those to keep their hands from changing colors.

Caleb abstained from our traditional Easter festivities. He hasn't dyed eggs or carved a pumpkin since he was 10 year old. I guess he's just not the "holiday" type of person. He stayed in the living room and played Rock Band with Tilden. Alex never misses the opportunity to dye eggs. :)

I know this is a little late, but I finally uploaded a little video montage of Micah playing basketball. I spliced a few scenes together and it should show up on the Youtube link.

Have you seen Susan Boyles?

While I was watching some entertainment news last night I saw this clip about a 47 year old Scottish woman named Susan Boyles. She tried out for Britan's Got Talent and wowed the judges, included Simon Cowel.

Well, on a whim in a moment of bordem today I decided to google her and have a look at her song. It popped up on YouTube and has had 20 MILLION views in under a week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

I watched it out of curiosity to see what the buzz was and I was so shocked to find myself crying. I can't even pinpoint why it made me cry. It was something about her "sweetness" and her total unphased simple personality. She gives you something to laugh at in the beginning in her little pre interview because she's so witty. When she takes the stage she is actually booed as soon as the crowd hears her age. It doesn't even bother her and she just starts singing. She shuts the crowd and the judges right up in about 2 seconds into her song. When she is done she simply walks off the stage and has to be called back. She is just SOOOOO completely lovable and you want her to succeed. I couldn't help , but to share her video. LOL

Track update

I figured that I'd keep you all posted on Micah's progress. He had his second track meet today and dropped his times in both the mile and the 800 meters. Both races had around 20 participants.
He came in 5th in the mile with a time of 5:53!! Obviously, he is getting faster :)
He came in 3rd in the 800 meter with a time of 2:51. He was in the top 2 kids from his school in this race, which was the goal. Only the top 2 times can go to some of the bigger meets. He was trying to be in that elite group.
After the meet his coach came up to us and said, "Wow, that Micah is improving fast. He's doing great for a 7th grader. He runs his hardest at practice and always listens to us and that is why he's getting better. He's easy to coach."
Tilden and I were pretty proud of him. Not only is he working his butt off at track, but he also got a 4.0 this grading period. Add to that the fact that he made it through the second sets of cuts in his try outs for the Olympic Development Soccer Team. THAT is incredibly difficult to do. They only take the cream of the crop to form the Ohio team. He made it part way last year, but was cut at this point. He's gone one step further so far.
The try outs are pretty far away and it's a commitment from US as well as Micah. He begged us to allow him to try out because he just loves this sport. Everyone else that is trying out has been playing for international teams and paid thousands of dollars for personal training and elite camps. Micah is going in there with just sheer talent...very little training. No one knows who he is, but he is fighting his way through try outs and forcing them to notice him. LOL He sure is scrappy!

Kraynak's

If you are missing Kraynaks....here you go!

Easter Bunny Lane.

Jake and Micah liked this SpongeBob scene the best.

Jake was pretty enthralled with this giant stuffed duck. He talked a lot about how it needed to come home with him and be his "new friend". LOL
I'm not sure what this scene was all about, but it appeared that Sesame Street characters were attending a birthday party for Winnie The Pooh.

A trip to Kraynak's isn't complete until you've wandered through the green house and smelled all the flowers. :)

My picture in the header is actually from Kraynak's 2008. heehee

Micah's first track meet

This is our first experience with Middle School track. Alex ran track for 2 years at the high school level, so we were familiar with how a track meet works and all those detailed things. Middle school track is different though because they don't do finals for anything. It seemed unorganized and chaotic at times, but maybe that was just the location...who knows? LOL

Micah is one of the youngest kids on the track team, but it doesn't seem to matter to much. He is so competitive and has been this way all of his life. As he was running the 1600 meter race ( 1 mile ) I was remembering all those times in his life when he needed to be first. He was constantly asking us to time him on whatever he did and he ran everywhere he went. He even owned his own stop watch by the time he was 4 years old. I guess that he's been a track runner his whole life and it's FINALLY gotten to the point where he can put all that energy and desire to good use.

The 1600 meter race at a track meet is the longest race in middle school track. They go around the track 4 times. Tilden and I were discussing Micah's thoughts as he ran. As his parents we knew exactly what that boy was thinking. He looked at each runner on that track as his enemy...his prey. He would see someone ahead of him and then he would literally hunt them down and pass them with this intense look on his face. We heard him shout , "Come on you are faster than this" to one of his team mates as he passed him, LOL. ( they are good friends )

There were 20 kids on the track for this race and it was the first time Micah has ever stepped foot on a track for a competition. Eighteen of the runners were 8th graders and had run before. He started off slowly and paced himself for one lap and then systematically hunted down runners for the next 3 laps. I took this picture in the home- stretch of the final lap, you can see Micah is putting every last ounce of his energy into passing this kid. Micah completely took this kid off guard and literally FLEW to catch him.

Unfortunately, this boy was more familiar with how to "work" a race. He got close enough to elbow Micah and knock him off his lane. It took Micah off guard and he slowed up just enough for this boy to pass him just 2 yards from the finish line. He talked about it a lot that night. He said that when he was shoved he wasn't sure if that was like a foul or if maybe he stepped out of his lane and was going to be disqualified and it disoriented him enough to make him "lose his game". I'm sure that was the point!! LOL One thing about Micah though...that will NEVER happen to him again. Once is all it ever takes and he has it figured out now.

He finished that race with a time of 6:24 and was 5th place. We were VERY proud of him and impressed that he could hold his own in a pack of experienced 8th grade boys. He runs a pretty fast 400 meter too , but was not in that event this time around. The coach is still trying to figure out where to put all the kids for the bigger races. Micah's goal is to be one of the boys chosen to attend the Invitationals. There are 40 boys on his track team and they can only take about 15 of them to the big meets. He wants to be one of those boys. Good Luck, Micah!!

Ode to a washer...

Tilden and I are about to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary. As I went downstairs to start some laundry this morning it dawned on me that my washer and dryer are also 22 years old!!

I felt it was fitting to write a sonnet for my washer and dryer. Celebrating 22 years of fine work in the Tatebe household.

Ohhhh fair washer with your unassuming off white color. Did you know that we paid extra for that tint on your housing? Yes, if we had chosen white we would have paid less. But YOU fine washer were worth that extra pigment.

You have worked tirelessly for our family.

You didn't fuss through all those potty training years.

Those days when I filled your drum with stinky damp tiny clothes.

You didn't flinch as I grumbled at tossing endless pairs of "accident" undies into a load. I complained...you did not.

You worked feverishly through soccer season.

Often running 5 times a day to clean those uniforms before the next game. Remember that year that we had 3 kids playing at the same time? I was lulled to sleep at night by the gentle hum of your motor as you spun the water out night after night...summer after summer.

In your old age you are still a champ. Washing whole loads of stuffed animals for Jake. You gently clean his stuffed friends and he thoroughly enjoys watching his pals churn up and down. A fancy front loader wouldn't have the same entertainment value that you do. Those new washers can't hold a candle to your longevity! They can't accept just "one more" stuffed animal after the load has started. You are so accepting, dear friend.

Wash On , oh yee Kenmore beauty. WASH ON!!

Spring is coming!!

We have been having our usual hints of March springtime..aka "Ohio Spring". We will have a day where the temp. only goes up to 23, but the very next day it hits 65...only to drop to 40 the following day. It's a topsy turvy month at best.

I keep some little kites in the back of my van and when a warm day hits...we hit the skies! LOL Jacob is new to this whole kite flying fun and has been extremely exuberant as he runs across the field with his fish kite following him, clipping the ground with each step. This year I found little nylon kites at Wal-Mart. They are perfect for Jake and don't take up any space in the back of the van either. Micah has a kite shaped like a hawk and it's nearly the exact size of the local hawks in flight too. We were cracking up because his kite attracted a few hawks to the field we were using this last time. I guess they saw competition and had to come check it out. :)

Micah flew both kits for awhile....it was a fun challenge! LOL