Us – Page 24 – A Blonde and 3 Boys

What A Catch!

Congratulations to Sam!

Sam is back from after heading to Canada for 10 days with a friend and his family. He had the best time ever! (his words) Which again, makes me happy! Don’t get me wrong, I miss him and couldn’t wait for him to get home, but I am glad he can go out on his own and be successful!

Anyway…here is a picture of Sam’s first catch in Canada!
Way to go Sammy!

Then he went out later that week. Nice and early and sent me this picture!

Holy Walleye!! Yes, he really did catch that and no, he couldn’t keep it. There are restrictions about size…once a fish is beyond a certain weight then they are considered important to spawning and they need to be thrown back in the water.

It was the walleyes lucky day as much as it was Sam’s!

Spot On!!

Laughing Out Loud!!

This is a conversation that Jack and Jason have on a regular basis!

This one made me laugh out loud, too!
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It made me thin of the post I shared on Dec. 16, 2010. At that time, it was a classic Belding dinner.

Seriously…

Jason made corn bread to go with the chili for dinner….

Jason: “Boys you need to try the corn bread. Just one bite won’t hurt you.” (words of death)

Jack: “I’m not doing it.”

Sam: “Just one bite?”

Me thinking: Great. Someone is going to throw-up, Jason will get upset, I’ll gag and dinner will be ruined. SERIOUSLY…don’t go there, Mr. Jason. Remember when you made Jack try carrots??? (barf-o-ramma)

My internal trauma thinking: NO DON”T DO THAT JASON! My mom and dad made me sit for over an hour sometimes to eat one pea….and I still don’t like them…the peas. The average person waits in line for 6 months of their life…that doesn’t include waiting at a stop light, waiting at the Dr. office or on the phone. So basically, my parents just added onto my life waiting time. Plus I got to practice my stubbornness.

Sam after trying one bite: “I don’t really like this. ”

Me: “Not a problem, Sam. Thanks for trying a bite.”

Jack:” I’m not doing it.”

Jason: “One bite. That’s all.”

Me thinking: Do I step in and save my child or do I team work with my husband?

Jack takes one bite and the GAG-O-RAMMA begins.

Sam: “OH NO!!”

Jason: “Jack, swallow it and take a drink.”

Me thinking: Too late, Mr. College Boy.

Jack throws up on his napkin.

Me thinking: (Wish you didn’t eat that fabulous Santa cookie, Jack…what a waste)

Me: “Jason, seriously?”

Jason: “Seriously, Jack!”

Sam….Sam….Oh, he bolted upstairs.

Me: “Have fun cleaning that up.”

Sam (standing at the top of the stairs): “Dad, that just goes to show you that not all people like the same things…and that is OK!”

Me thinking: High Five to me for teaching Sam that little speech!

Me: smirk and Jason and shrug my shoulders

Jason: “Sam, I really don’t need your advice right now!”

I clean up Jack…

Sam comes down and sits on the complete other end of the island…but not before asking: “Did any of that stuff get on my plate?”

Jack: “See, dad, THAT is why you people should never try new foods.”

Since then, Jack has lived on hot dogs, mac-n-cheese and chicken noodle soup.

What is hilarious is that we were at friends house, not so long ago. We were eating chili and oven fresh corn bread. Jack was offered corn bread and (surprisingly) said he would try it. He then said, “I need to eat it over the garbage can though.” Our friend replied “Oh ya..corn bread can be crumbly and messy.” Jack, “No. I have a tendency to throw up when I eat corn bread.”

Mission Trip

Happy Day!

Sam has been one busy young man this summer! He went on his first “big” adventure last week. I call it a big adventure due to the fact that he went to Kansas City for four days, without his parents! (Maybe it was more of an adventure for me!) As much as I love to see my boys become independent and try new things on their own, it’s still hard on my end, but I am also so proud to see them grown and start dong their own things!

Enough about me…
Sam headed to Kansas City on a Mission Trip. He took off on Thursday and returned Sunday evening. When I picked him up, he said it went so fast and was bummed to be back. (Which I see as a good thing.) He honestly loved every minute of the trip and can’t wait to go again!

Sam’s group was on dinner duty, meaning that every night his group made dinner for everyone! I can’t believe he is cutting up tomatoes…he’s come along way!

I Cannot even believe that he put cucumbers on his eyes! I don’t think I have ever seen him so close to a green vegetable!

The first day their group went to food pantry, sorted and bagged potatoes. Sam mentioned the potatoes were very interesting…and squishy.

The next day they went to a shelter and set up desks and shelves.

Sam is very focused on his large pop!!

The dinner crew making tacos!

Scheming during human tic-tac-toe.

This day they went to a house and pulled weeds, picked vegetables in the garden and cleaned and organized the house.

He was then home for three days and headed to Canada for 10 days with a friend and his family. Can’t wait to hear about all those adventures!

I miss this guy, but I also know that he is making memories and will have lots of stories to share and that is what it’s all about!

A Tough Morning

Welcome Back!

You know those days that you have all planned out and ready to go, get things done…then something happens and your plans are shot. Well, that happened to us last Friday.

Jack woke me up around 5:00 in the morning (very early for me…still night time, actually) telling me that his head hurt so bad and that he felt sick. Well, about 30 minutes later, we were in the bathroom and Jack emptied his stomach. Big time. He was sooooo sick. I tried all my “tricks” for nausea, but nothing worked. Every half hour we were in the bathroom. He got to the point where you say, “Will this ever stop?” (I was thinking the same thing!)

Poor guy…eventually laid on the floor in his bathroom instead of running from his bedroom each time he got sick.

About three hours later, he finally was able to make it to the couch and fell sound asleep for three and a half hours. (Phew!)

And then get this…when he woke up, he was fine! He actually said he was hungry and wanted something to eat! Later that night, he even went to a movie with Jason. So, we really don’t know what was going on, but I am glad it didn’t last too long!

I told him if he didn’t want to do the errands we had planned, he could have just said something.

Comfy…

When I am doing important computer work, at times, Jack will hang out with me and watch important Minecraft videos.
comfy jack

Oh to be young again and flexible!

Jack’s Track Season

Welcome Back!

One thing that I am very excited for with this web-site is the ability to share videos with you! Lucky viewers!!

Jack had a great track season and we really enjoyed watching him run, race and jump this year! Jack ran for Turbo Track Club and for this club, Jack ran with 11-12 year olds because that is how old he will be at the end of 2016. So at the time of the races, he was 10 years old running against 12 year olds in some races. It was definitely a learning year and some races he did super well where others were a bit more challenging!

Here is a video of one of Jack’s 100 m races. He is in the orange jersey on the far left. You can hear people cheering for him, “Go Jackson!” Love at the end when his coach yells “Come on buddy push” and then “Catch him..that a boy!” That makes Jack smile, because he did catch the boy!

This next video is of Jack’s 4×100 team. Jack is the third leg getting the hand off from the tall boy. You will notice that Jack didn’t take off and the kid ran up on Jack…simple mistake and another running lesson!

Jack did go to the USATF meet and ran the finals in the 100 and 200. He placed 6th in the 100 and 7th in the 200. There were two false starts in the 200, so when the gun went off for the third time, Jack actually started and slowed down anticipating another false start. Another running lesson! Jason and I looked at each other and said, “Oops. Never talked about those did we!”

Jack was pretty upset with his 6th and 7th place finishes, but we reminded him that of all the runners his age, he placed 6th out of 34 kids and 7th out of 24 kiddos! He also showed up and ran against those kids and was successful no matter his place. It was an excellent reminder to us that it isn’t all about winning, but doing and finishing what you set out to accomplish and Jack did just that. After that realization, Jack did wear his 6th place medal with a puffy chest!

(The other day were at the mall and a boy in front of us had a running t-shirt on with “Sixth Place” printed on the back. Jack looked at me and I said, “You could wear that, couldn’t you.” He looked at me with a smile and said, “Yea. I’d wear that.”)

Jack also participated in the long jump this year. He had only practiced a couple times, but when we asked if he wanted to jump, he said, “Why not.” It was good practice for him! Can you see my mom and me in the background?

Jason and Sam gave encouragement and tips after each jump.

Side note: People always comment on how much Sam looks like my dad..I caught this picture: check out the facial expressions, their mouths, noses and eyes (they are the only two people in our family that have blue eyes!)

Such handsome gents!

Can’t wait for next year track season!!

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

I cannot believe that jack is turning 11 years old today! Thought I would share a few of my favorite pictures of Jack growing up! Didn’t think I would have a tear in my eye by the end. It truly goes so fast!

One Month Old
Sam would pull Jack’s pants up and tell us he had on grandpa pants!

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