Playing Catch-Up

Not entirely sure why blogger has been being mean to me. After a half a dozen tries at trying to upload from the laptop (where the pictures are) I finally gave up and transferred some of them to the old computer. Let's see. November...it was pretty uneventful. Brandon and Rick had a scout campout up at Lake Sommerville (one of favorite places to family camp). It was a Survivorman type of campout for the boys, no tents or coolers. The adults, well, they got to have both. It was rainy and muddy, so my guys (and their gear) came home...wet and muddy.

Brandon is still really enjoying KickStart karate. He earned 3 black stripes (for academics, citizenship and {I think} skill). He also advance in rank. After tomorrow's ceremony, he will be a yellow belt.

Jacob's behavior has improved at school and we are getting almost no "pushing/biting/crying" notes home. His handwriting continues to improve, although he can't seem to decide between using his left or his right hand. His left gets used more, but we still look over and see him using his right hand on occaision. This is also new:

Just random jumping. He'll be walking around in the mornings, waiting for the bus, and will just insert a little 2 footed hop in his routine. Walk around some more. Add a hop. It amuses me. Seems to amuse him, as well.

This was Brandon's 8 hour pet lizard. He loves catching them in the backyard. Them, they don't enjoy it so much. He kept it in well ventilated container while waiting for us to decide if he could have a pet again. We had finally said yes before Rick said, "Crap, does this mean we have to start buying live crickets again?" Now, buying the crickets wasn't such a bag thing, and it's not like they're expensive. No, the issue comes in that now matter what we kept them in, they always managed to escape, and tended to congregate in the bathrooms. As soons as that came up, Brandon went and let the lizard out.

This guy gets bored on weekends. On this Sunday he decided to go outside and sit and wait for the bus. He might have sat there until the next morning, but it's doubtful. Notice the boatload of acorns in the street. The trees are going absolutely nuts this year. I've pesonally been beaned on the head a few times walking to the curb to meet the bus in the afternoon. Not fun. Our lawn is a virtual carpet of acorns and acorn tops.

We did have a little downturn in the weather. Not really coat temperatures, but he doesn't really have a jacket and likes wearing it. Jacob was nice enough to pause his jump routine to let me take a picture.

And then there's this one. He found the new gloves I bought and couldn't wait to try them out.