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