Jacob

Jacob has had an awesome year in 3rd grade. Kelly, Jacob and I set a few goals for Jacob this year in school and one was to get 100 AR points. This is a big deal in Deshazo Elementary and we thought it was something that Jacob could accomplish. After a good start, we all but gave up on the 100 by Christmas. After a busy Spring and a lot of reading at night, Jacob had 100 points by the end of April. He was awarded for his hard work with the opportunity to paint a ceiling tile at school this week. This was more difficult than I thought it would be, but he did a good job. They kept running out of paint colors and Jacob had to keep changing his plan. Next time we will take our own paint.

Make a TOUCHDOWN for Reading!





Today, Deshazo had their annual track meet. Jacob came home with two blue ribbons. He got 1st in the 100 meter dash and his relay team got 1st place. What a fun day! Way to go, J!

Jacob with his individual ribbon.


Waiting for the relay to start.



The 3rd grade boys blue ribbon team... plus a few extras.


Mrs. Gallman's class at tug of war. They lost... but had fun! Jacob is in the front.

KFC Awards

Our church has a wonderful after school program that meets every Wednesday. The kids memorize scripture to advance to the next level (or receive the next patch) and they make time for games, stories and snacks as well. Riley received two patches this week at the awards ceremony. Jacob is on a very hard level and he is still working on his scripture. The kids enjoy KFC and look forward to next year.

Tired... The New Normal!

Between baseball, the garden and end of the school year activities, we are all tired! Jacob has baseball games that start at 8 at night on school nights. We don't get home until after 10 and everyone is pooped! (Not to mention that we have 5 games in 6 days.) Our calendar is full to the brim until the end of May (and a lot of June) but I hope to get caught up on rest some day. I feel like we are all tired all the time... even poor Kyle has been taking long naps and sleeping later than normal. Baseball is hard on little guys!


Sorry the picture is a little blurry... Jacob took it all by himself.


And speaking of baseball... Jacob had a great game tonight! He played 3rd base and did not see much action there, but he had some great hits! The first at bat he walked. The second at bat he got a triple and then "stole" home on the next play when the catcher dropped a pitch. The third at bat he got a double. I hope these good hits build his confidence!

Riley has had some fantastic plays as well. He usually gets a pretty good hit on the ball and has had some in the field homeruns. Defensively, Riley is making lots of outs and even got a double play on Saturday. He is really starting to "get" the rules of baseball and is looking forward to machine pitch next year!

Mother's Day Tea

I had tea with Riley at school on Friday. The Kindergartners have worked so hard making goodies for their moms and learning special songs for the day. This was such a special day and I loved having tea and cookies with Riley.

Working Together

I picked the boys up from school on Tuesday and headed for the garden. We had an awesome time! Kelly showed up to help get us started and he decided to lay off rows with the tractor. After we planted the corn, Kelly took Kyle to get some other work done. This gave Jacob, Riley and I time to get everything planted! Jacob and Riley worked very hard and got along great! I had to sit back and watch at one point because they were doing so good! I wonder if they will be so willing when all the hoeing has to be done?!?!?

The Kettner Garden Part 1

I guess my "no till" farmer found a use for his old plows. We finally decided on an area for a garden and got the ground plowed yesterday. This "small" garden seems to be getting bigger and I am not sure I can handle a project quite this big. It is not as if I know what I am doing in the first place. You would think I could ask my resident farmer, but he is not any help in this department. He only knows how to farm thousands of acres... this small scale stuff leaves him puzzled. We decided to go ahead and put the sweet corn in the garden and not under the pivot this year. I hope to report later about the plethora of vegetables we have, but it might be a patch of weeds. I hope something comes up!









After plowing the garden, we checked the corn on the nearby farms to see if it was coming up. All looked good... we should start planting cotton this week.

Play Ball!!

We had "opening day" for baseball this weekend and Jacob is playing in the minor league this year. The biggest change is they bat against pitchers, not a machine. Jacob was not very excited to play outfield for the game, but I tried to tell him that every position is important, especially at this level because the kids can hit the ball farther. I don't think he bought any of that, but he did cheer up a little. I didn't get any action shots of Jacob. (There was not a lot of action and I was a little nervous for him.)



Jacob played best bud, Triston, on Saturday. They never can get on the same team.



Riley had a great game. He was trying so hard to hit a "homerun" that he had several misses on the T. Once he slowed down and kept his eyes on the ball, he had a good hit. Riley also played great defense. He got three outs in one inning. He was so proud of himself, that he has told everyone that has asked. Jacob and Riley's next games are Thursday night at the same time.

Kelly's New Toy

It finally arrived from Kansas. (or was it Nebraska... I can't remember and Kelly is not home.) Our new combine arrived a week or so ago and I finally made it out to the field this week to see the "toy" that cost more than our house. Since moving to the South Plains, we have always had our grains custom harvested. Kelly decided that it was time to do it ourselves and spent a good amount of winter looking for the right machine. Here she is. The kids thought she was pretty cool, too.










You cannot have a grain combine with out a grain cart.