Boys School and Sports- Fall Edition

This is my bi-annual kid update.  We recently had the boys parent/ teacher conferences for the end of the 9 weeks and they continue to set the bar pretty high.  First, you will notice immediately that I have zero, none, nada pictures of Hunter and Ashton playing soccer.  This is because I coach them and when you coach, the camera is an afterthought.  I even brought my camera to their last game and forgot to even take it out of the bag.  This is the first season that I have taken pics of Shep besides the three years ago when I didnt coach his team. Sorry guys!  I promise to do better next season... and there is always basketball, right?

Love these boys!  All five of them.

Shepherd.
School
This kid blows me out of the water.  We have always known his brain works at slightly higher level than other kids his age (even though he is quite goofy/ quirky/ odd). :)  I never knew if that would translate into school smarts or if he just thought differently.  Apparently, it means both.

Shepherd received the highest score on his MAP math test for the entire 1st grade in his school.  He was in the 99%.  We dont put a lot of weight into these standardized tests but it is nice when your kid does really well.  His reading score was also really high at 89%.

He had all 3's on his report card which is the equals grade level.  His teacher sang Shepherd's praises saying that he helps his classmates when they dont understand. He is well-behaved and obeys.  He can be silly but it is at appropriate times and  immediately knows when it is time to stop (this was a major worry... haha).

His writing is also far above grade level.  He writes full, descriptive sentences with adjectives and correct punctuation.  It is really amazing.

I posted a lot of his work because he is ALWAYS doodling, coloring, drawing, writing.  My kitchen table is normally littered with Shep's work (with some of Bennett's scribbles scattered in there too).

Just some of the stuff that was within my line of sight.
1- A folder with space things on it that is filled with drawings.  2- a chicken coloring page 3- angry bird sketches 4- a paper airplane with characters drawn in the plane. 4- an extensive landscape of a Minecraft scene 5- an original book called,Super Dog vs Evil Cat

I took apart the Super Dog vs Evil Cat book to see the scope of his writing.  He did this all on his own, no help from me.

This was done at school.  His Pokeon writing with picture.

Sports
Shepherd had a unique opportunity this year.  He decided to give baseball a try and take a season off from soccer.  This also allowed for me to not coach U8 soccer (hooray!).  Baseball was... different.  I cant say I enjoyed it all.  He played the minimum amount and was at the 10th spot on the batting order.  It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was average at best.  Unfortunately, Chad was not able to make it to any of Shepherd's baseball games.  Since all the games were during the week, Chad's practices made it impossible to make it to any.  Fortunately, Shepherd did not do anything all that impressive and Chad didnt miss much.... you gotta love a mom's brutal honesty.

He did get slightly better hitting by the end of the year but it normally went right to the first baseman.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I think he would rate it about a 5.  He was originally batting left handed, but he busted his nail and decided to switch to right.

His 3rd nail to lose in his almost 7 years of life.

His first time making it to first- he also scored a run. He was so happy.

Thankfully, the fall season was not a total bust for him though.  About two weeks into baseball season, friends of ours from soccer were talking about not having enough kids to field their soccer team (3 kids on their roster never showed up).  Since baseball had no weekend games, I offered Shepherd.  They immediately took him and he did an amazing job.  He hardly ever came out of the game and was either the 2nd or 3rd highest scorer on the team.

Ashton took this pic with his phone... I love it. 

 There were no conflicts between baseball and soccer until the last week when he decided to finish the year off with the team that really needed him... soccer.  His team came in 2nd place going into double shoot outs with a team that had killed everybody.  So proud of his little team.

Getting his medal.

Needless to say, he wants to stick with soccer next season.  Praise da Lord!!!

Ashton
School

Ashton is my cool kid.  He seems to just attract attention.  He was voted by his class to be their student council representative.  He loves going to his student council meetings.  Ashton tested into Gifted and Talented.  Ashton is smart but in a different way than Hunter and Shepherd.  His math ability is super high.  He can ready really well, but his comprehension is average.  His teacher and I are both working on trying to get his inference skills a bit higher.  I had never noticed, until testing, that he sometimes has a hard time connecting Point A to Point B.  He is good with concrete facts.  His MAP scores were a mixed bag this time.  Math continues to soar with a 93%.  Reading has been a continual decrease over the last year.  He started last year at the 83% and has fallen to the 57%.  His teacher this year is super tough, but really good.  She and I both agree that this score is not a good reflection of his ability.  Hopefully, he will be able to pull this up.

Test scores aside, his report card was great.  A's in science and math and B's in ELA and social studies.  He skipped a big section, by mistake, on a test in SS at the beginning of year.  The teacher did not let him go back to fill it in... told you she was tough.  If it wasnt for this, I am pretty sure he would have pulled an A in SS too.

Ashton's student council speech.

Sports
This kid is a freak in soccer.  After much consideration, we decided to move him up to U12 soccer with Hunter.  I was the assistant for this team and the head coach assured me he thought Ashton could handle it... Sure enough, he did.  He played stopper and had many goals and held up just fine with kids that were far bigger than him.  He hardly ever came out of the game and was an anchor for the defense.

The older two doing their homework... Notice my social butterfly with his phone on right beside him (I think he is texting my parents).

Hunter
School
Hunt is enjoying the little bit of freedom that 5th graders get.  He rotates classes and was put back into GT classes.  He also pulled 2 A's in Math and Science and 2 A's in ELA and Social Studies.  Again, Social Studies was a shock for him.  He has always excelled in SS pulling basically straight 100's.  This teacher puts a lot of weight in the study guide.  So when he did not study hard for the first test and there was info on the study guide that had not been taught during class, he bombed it. (He is my very auditory learner.) Thankfully, she gave a bit of extra credit, because the class as whole, did poorly and he started studying and was able to pull it up.

His MAP scores... were again, similar to Ashtons.  Math was great at 85%.  ELA was STRUGGLE.  I was honestly, shocked.  He dropped from the fall of last year from 85% to 45%.  At first I didnt know if he just tested poorly or if he really dropped that low in the course of a year.  Judging that two of my kids had very similar results in ELA MAP, I must admit a red flag has gone up with the school.  I am hoping that the winter scores go up... way up.

I am thankful that I got back Hunt's spring scores from SC PASS as it eased my mind a bit.  His math score was 86% and his ELA was 82% (which is where I think he is.).  He scored exemplary in both SS and Science as well.

So, I am optimistically chalking up the low ELA MAP scores of both H and A to just a bad day.  Rest assured, if it happens again with the winter scores, I will probably have a meeting with the principal and teachers because dropping 30-40% in one year is just not cool.

Couldnt find any cool school stuff... just the boring worksheets, quizzes, etc.  But, this shows his continuing love for super heros.  Hunt and I both love our super heros!  He surprised me with these sketches as his art skills are not normally all that impressive. ha :)

Sports.
Hunter did a really good job in soccer as well.  We moved his position to striker about half way through the season and he did a great job there.  Hunter has a slow twitch muscle  so I constantly have to remind him to stay on his toes and to think ahead.  He had a couple clutch goals this year and stepped up to be a pretty good leader on the team.  Chad and I both agree that he is perhaps the most unflexible child on the earth and if we can get his flexibility better, he will become such a better athlete.

Bennett
School
Bennett and I have a daily school lesson for about 20-30 minutes a day.  I am using Little Hands to Heaven by Heart of Dakota as our guide.  I have used this with the other 3 and love the length and content... great preschool curriculum.

Things he has hung on his wall)

Some other random things he has completed this year.  My favorite is Bennett's Number Book (blue book in the center).  Over a 10 week period, we learned a number a week and had a coordinating Bible Story.  He then had to cut out and glue that number to the page.  The picture on each page gives a clue to the Bible Story.

An example page of Bennett's Number Book.  Find 7 shoes in a magazine and glue them to page.  This goes with the story of Moses removing his shoes because the ground was holy.  It was a fun little project.

Some things we are doing.
- A Bible story each day
- A letter a week
- Made a number book (the first ten weeks)
- Learning to use scissors/ cut
- Learning to dress ourselves
- Coloring/ painting... we do about 3 crafts a week.(we will begin Handwriting Without Tears in January.)

He doesnt do real well with remembering the letter names, he does a little better with the sounds which most professionals say is more important anyway.  I hate to compare the boys, but he is picking it up a little slower than his brothers.  haha.  I do feel like he is right on the verge of it all clicking into place.  He loves for me to read books to him and he "makes" books when Shepherd is making his books.

The silly pic

Overall, I am so proud of these kids.  We have things to do every night from practice to AWANA to games.  They get their homework done without complaints (except for Ashton, he will sometimes often complain.)  They never get in trouble at school, they are leaders at school and on the sports field. and are making good grades. Proud of them!

Keep it up kiddos!

Impromptu Clemson trip

When you think you kids are going to the Championship game but they then lose the game before, and you realize you finally have a free Saturday, you head down to Clemson to watch the Tigers play!

At our favorite spot- 3 generations! 

My dad :)

I offered each child in my family the option to stay home with their dad or come with me for a day trip to Clemson.

Listening to the band before the game.

Hunter- "Yes, I am going."
Ashton- " I dont know... I will miss all the other games on TV."
Shepherd- "Are we spending the night?  If not, I dont want to watch another football game or be in the car that long."
Bennett- "I want to play with Wepwerd."

Me and my boy

It turned out to be just Hunter and me.  We literally talked for 2 1/2 hours about the CW shows, Arrow and The Flash.  We are both Big fans... haha.

Go Tigers!!!

We ran by mom and dads house.  They fed us and then the four of us went into Clemson and enjoyed the weather, the game, and downtown.  It was a spur of the moment trip, but so much fun!!

I'm a Dog Watcher...

...I'm a dog watcher. Watching dogs by, my my my.

If you didnt sing the title and the first sentence to the tune of "I'm a Girl Watcher," then you must go back and sing it.

This dog is my shadow.  He loves his mom. :)

------------------------------------------------------------

If this doesnt bother you...

dog scratches all along door- I have to repaint this door every month.

...then you need a dog

If this doesnt bother you...

Doggy footrprints

...then you need a dog

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you know that my boys, my parents, one of my brothers, and I are slightly in love with the canine species.  (You may say, "but Hannah, you have two brothers."  And, while I do in fact have two brothers, one brother has the dog obsession gene and the other... Zach, has a normal liking of dogs.  And, Zach, I am not slamming you... just stating a fact.  He does like dogs but has what society would call a normal appreciation.

Total joy from person to pups

Anyway, first let me give you an update on my pig Molly Schwein.  I posted about her unfortunate run-in with my dog nephew, Riggs.  After a few weeks at GrandmaDean's ICU for stuffed animals she has made a great recovery and is now back at home. She had some skin grafts done and has some scarring but she is home.  When we have dog visitors, she resides under Hunter's covers.

Before pic

All fixed- thank you GrandmaDean

Second, I got to dog sit my parents dogs for 4 days while they went to the beach.  It is quite an honor to be trusted with my parents dogs.  Ol Eddie is just that... old.  My parents go above and beyond to care for his aging body giving him pain meds and vitamins and specific feeding.  And then there is Isla Maria, Moses litter mate.  She is balances out Moses' goofiness.  I seriously had such a fun time having 3 dog and 4 kids in my little house.  It is messy and dirty but I loved it.  I tried to convince Chad that 2 more dogs would be an easy transition but he quickly squashed that idea.  :/

Isla giving me some kisses.  She is a licker. 

The week before Isla and Eddie came, Riggs and Moses had been on the hunt for moles that were tunneling under our wood pallet patio.  They did minimal destruction and as most men, lost interest in small amount of time.

Love this- amazing doggies

Enter Isla.  Isla, the great.  Isla absolutely destroyed my patio area.  She lifted pallets with her nose, scratched up monkey grass, overturned chairs, tossed dirt all over the place.  She would lay in wait for a mole to appear.  Needless to say, she had a ball.

The hunt is on (sing to The Heat is On)

vigilant

Eddie loved his sister's hard work and the fresh, cool dirt

Though she made a mess, it cleaned up rather quickly.  Plus, I had been meaning to move some of that monkey grass around anyway.

The destruction

and again

And lastly, this probably deserves a post of its own but I want to throw out a huge thank you to my baby brother, Nolan.  He told me last spring that he was looking to buy a new car and when he did, he would just give us his old 4Runner.  I thought he was joking, but after talking to mom, realized he was serious.  God and His timing are always spot on.  Chad's old SUV died a couple months ago and two weeks after that, Nolan bought his new car and gave us his old one.  Nolan said that mom and dad bought that car for him and so he didnt feel right selling it plus we watch Riggs all the time (let me add that though I refuse to take money from Nolan for watching Riggs, Nols has found creative ways to "pay" me, ie, jewelry, Chick-fil-A, gift cards.) Though it feels kind of weird for my baby brother to give me a car, we are so appreciative.  Car or not, I would watch my Riggsy boy any time.   Thanks again Nolan!

Our "new to us" car.  Yes, it is 13 years old and has over 200,000 miles but we are hopeful he will run for years and years and years.  Oh and Nolan, you asked about the headlights and Chad told me someone at work offered to clean them so as usual, you were right when you said they looked cleaner.  

One more thing, just a plug for adopting vs buying a dog.  If you are looking for a dog, check your local shelters- all of my childhood dogs and my family's current dogs have come from a pound or a rescue facility.  There is nothing like a rescue dog!  They are the best.

SmAsh's 9th

Ashton has grown up a lot this year.  He is really starting to shine- getting a cool confidence about him.

He is still a people person and is most happy when in the center of a crowd.  Where most kids are scared talking in front of people, he looks forward to it.  Ashton decided to run for student council this year and won for his class.  He had to give a speech and he loved every minute of it.  He is definitely not shy.

Sports continue to be his real passion.  Though he has favorite sports, he will never turn down an invitation to play any game.  Most of the time, his sportsmanship is good, occasionally he will fall a part over a game (board games seem to cause more angst then sports games.)

Ashton still wins the award for the biggest pest in the house.  He can drive Hunter crazy.  He can make Shepherd whine. And he can cause Bennett to go into a complete meltdown.  Even Moses has to sometimes just walk away from him because he is quite intense.

I love that Ashton is the only one of the boys who will let me kiss him goodnight without cringing or wiping it off (besides Bennett, Bennett gives kisses pretty freely.)  He will curl up beside me or Chad when watching TV.  He is very touchy, a lot of times this causes fights with his brothers because he just taps them and they haul off and hit him... then, it is on.  Ashton will be the last one standing and will take the cheap shot to win the battle.

Singing Happy Birthday

Big 9 year old blowing out his candles!

Ashton had his first surgery this year- had to have an extra tooth surgically removed.  We were not sure if his permanent, top tooth was going to come down by itself, but thankfully, after 10 months, the tooth popped through.  So happy he is no longer a snaggle tooth.

We celebrated the birthday boy right after school.  He quicky unwrapped his gifts.  We gave him his main present this summer (a cell phone.)  He gave it to him early because the company we use was changing plans and I wanted to be grandfathered in on the old style plan.  I gave Ashton the choice to wait or get the phone early (knowing that he would not be getting anything else on his day if he picked early.)  No big surprise in that he picked to start using the phone in July.  :)  I went ahead and rewrapped the phone though.  He expression was funny.

Opening his phone for the second time.

He loves his phone and uses his phone way more than Hunter uses his own phone.  

Though I said he would not get anything else, i caved a bit and got him a couple Florida shirts (here he is doing the Florida chomp.  We also gave him a big checker board (like what they sale at Cracker Barrel), but this was actually something GrandmaDean just recently found in her attic, so I guess I re-gifted.) haha

Ashton, I love you so much.  You make me so proud from the good things the teachers at school say about you to your passion and drive in sports.  You are truly something special.

Ash and Mosie

Some things about you.
-You love to eat chicken pot pie- you are the only member of this family (your dad included) that has never cringed over dinner.  You will always eat what I put in front of you... Thank you!
-You still love watching football- your fave teams are the same (U of Florida, Clemson, Bama) except you thankfully hate Ohio State now and love West Virginia U.

The cake before Bennett snuck in and ate the corner. :/

-You love to play games and take pictures with your phone.
-You have really started loving dogs and animals this year.  Before this year, you liked them, but you have really developed a love for them... Moses has that effect on our family ;)
- You have been gifted with much, remember to Whom you belong.
- You weigh about 55 lbs (skinny as a rail) and are 53" tall (you so wanted to hit 54" so you could ride the big coasters at Carowinds, but now you have to wait until next year.)  You can wear an 8 or 10 top, and 8 slim pants.  Shoe size is 4.5.

When you were little you loved to help me.  Unfortunately, now, you act like I ask you to do impossible things when I ask you to help your brothers pick up their mess.  I want you to always remember that serving others is a way that we serve our Father.  We need to not only serve but serve with a joy-filled heart.  Life is sooo much better when we have a good attitude (I say this to myself as well.)

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."  Ephesiens 4:2

Ashton loves a good selfie!

I hope you have an amazing 9th birthday!  You are pretty awesome!!!

Love you SmAsh mouth!
~Mom

Hall of Fame Induction

Soccer has always been my passion. I started playing in 4th grade and it never got old.  I wasnt one to burn out.  I just wanted to play.

After my last high school season, I knew that I didnt want my playing career to be over.  I also knew that I wanted to go into a program and make an immediate impact- no sitting the bench or waiting my turn.  Concord University was the perfect fit.  My family lived in WV at the time so I wanted to stay at an in-state school for the cheaper tuition.

Coach Steve Barrett was brand new to Concord when we stopped in (in 1999), out of the blue, to check out the campus.  Turns out, I was his first recruit.

My Ashton loved how they called me Ashton-Smith.  Since I got married my summer before my senior year, I decided to hyphenate my last name for soccer stuff for name recognition. 

Saturday, I was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame.  I feel kind of braggy saying that.  I was very surprised this past spring when I got a call from the athletic director at CU saying that I had been nominated and voted in to be a 2016 inductee.  I always knew that I was a pretty good player, but I never imagined when I walked on the Concord soccer field in 2000 that my career would end with this award.

Thank you to all the family that made the trek up to CU this weekend.  My mom and dad and grandma drove up with the boys and me Friday night.  We stayed in a quaint little lodge (thanks for paying mom and dad).  My in-laws and Chad drove up early Saturday morning for the reception.  And, Sandee and her family were able to come up as well for the game.  (Also, thanks to mom and my mother-in-law for taking over camera duty.  I am normally the one wearing the camera so thank you for documenting this event for me. And thanks to GrandmaDean for watching the boys during the very long reception.)

The reception was at 9:30.  I asked my dad to be my presenter and he gave a nice speech and even teared up at the end.  I had no idea that I had to speak until we got there... I had to wing it.  Turns out my mannerisms are very similar to my father.

 This series of pics makes me laugh.  I had no idea I talked with hands!!!

Brunch- definitely Shep's favorite part.

2016 Inductees

The plaque that will hang in the athletic center.

 Homecoming football started at 1:00.  It was so hot... too hot for an October football game in WV.

Where these kiddos got their start

waiting for my name to be called

The boys and the girls

Sandee and her family

My crew

Crazy to think that us 4 stood right here 15 years ago... Chad was playing his last year at Concord and Tommy was playing his first.  A lot has changed!

 Let me just add, WV is really one of the prettiest places on the east coast.  I had forgotten how gorgeous it is... especially this time of year.

By the lake at the lodge he stayed in

So pretty.

I am so thankful that God's sovereign hand steered me to Concord.  A lot of good came out of these mountains!