The Boys - Luke, Jake and Eli
News From the North
Recently Jake received a text from his AAU coach. A coach from University of Hartford had heard about Jake and wanted to watch him play. He is coming to the Milwaukee tournament where Jake’s team will be playing in July. Hartford is a small D-1 school. I have no idea how a coach on the east coast could hear about a kid playing in Minnesota. Today he received a “recruiting questionnaire” from the University of North Colorado – another small D-1 school. It’s really cool that Jake is getting some attention from colleges already.
This past weekend we ran into a logistical problem. We had three kids each needing to be somewhere - all at the same time. Luke’s baseball game was closest to home, so we recruited Lydia to take him to his game. When I told Luke that his mom and I wouldn’t be at his game and Lydia would be taking him he says, “Ahhh, I wish I could have someone better!”
Youth sports would be so much better without the parents! Bella’s basketball team has been one big drama after another. The team started out with 15 players (which was too many). After a tournament a few weeks ago a parent got mad and removed his daughter from the team. Then the next tournament - two more dads get mad – three more girls gone (a set of twins). A fifth girl doesn’t like it that all her friends left, so she leaves too. Then another follows. Now we’re at 9 players. Three of these girls were starters and another was probably the 6th girl.
One thing this did was open up an opportunity for Bella. She had already begun to start, but now the leading scorers on the team were gone. Bella played in a tournament this weekend and as Lisa said, “She played out of her head.” She had a “double, double” in each game. In the second game, Bella almost single handedly brought the team back from a 14 point deficit by scoring 10 straight, unanswered points. They only lost by 2 points and Bella scored 16 (two 3-point shots). When asked why she had never played like that before, she said that she felt like she should leave the scoring up to the better players.
This coming weekend will be fun. Jake will be playing basketball in Fort Wayne, Indiana which is about 2-1/2 hours from our family in Ohio (11 hours from us). Several family members will be making the journey to watch Jake play basketball. Even my best friend, John, will be traveling up from Kentucky. I haven’t seen him for a couple years. It’ll be great to see everybody that comes!
Earlier this week I found Eli had stripped off his pants and underwear and was in the process of shaving his leg with a razor he found in the shower. As Isabella says, he is growing up with too many sisters. He only cut himself twice.
Lisa picked up Isabella from school. She got in the car and stated, “I think I could be in a bad mood today.”
We used to say that Eli was the smartest baby that couldn’t talk. Now we say he is the smartest toddler who doesn’t know his colors. He just isn’t good at those things everyone tries to teach their kids - like colors, animals, counting, and animal sounds. It’s not like we haven’t tried. We have! Even the children have taken it upon themselves to get this kid to know these first facts that all toddlers are supposed to know. The other day Isabella was drilling him on colors. She was using M&M’s as the lesson and the reward. “This M&M is orange. Orange! Eli, this M&M is orange! What color is it?” Eli replies, “Orange.” Bella repeats, “What color is it?” Eli answers confidently, “Orange!” Again, “What color is it?” Eli responds, “Orange.” Then Bella proceeds, “Ok Eli this M&M is yellow. What color is it?” Eli repeats, “Yellow.” Isabella then brings back the orange M&M. “What color is this?” Eli looks at it, puts his fingers up to his mouth as he thinks, and then says, “Ummmm. Uhhhh. Ummmm. I fink it’s (hesitation), ummm (hesitation). I fink it’s, uhhhh – Nim & Nim’s!”
Eli is having a rough night. He sprayed himself with Jake’s cologne. Unfortunately he sprayed it into his own eyes. Then he ran into the bathroom where the floor was slightly wet from Luke’s shower. Eli’s feet slipped out from under him and he fell pretty hard by the sound it made. He started screaming. I went to check on him after he had been comforted by his mommy and sister. He was still fussing. I asked him where he hurt himself. He pointed to his side. I asked him if he hit his head. In a pathetic voice he tells me that he did. I asked him, “Where did you hit your head?” Eli whines, “On the floor.”
Sophia was asking Eli what sounds different animals make. During the process Eli asks, “What does a tree say?” Sophia responds, “Trees don’t talk.” Eli says, “They do on Dora.” Sophia asks, “What do trees say then?” Eli mimics the tree’s voice and points, “The path is that way.”
Love,
JR
Recently Jake received a text from his AAU coach. A coach from University of Hartford had heard about Jake and wanted to watch him play. He is coming to the Milwaukee tournament where Jake’s team will be playing in July. Hartford is a small D-1 school. I have no idea how a coach on the east coast could hear about a kid playing in Minnesota. Today he received a “recruiting questionnaire” from the University of North Colorado – another small D-1 school. It’s really cool that Jake is getting some attention from colleges already.
This past weekend we ran into a logistical problem. We had three kids each needing to be somewhere - all at the same time. Luke’s baseball game was closest to home, so we recruited Lydia to take him to his game. When I told Luke that his mom and I wouldn’t be at his game and Lydia would be taking him he says, “Ahhh, I wish I could have someone better!”
Youth sports would be so much better without the parents! Bella’s basketball team has been one big drama after another. The team started out with 15 players (which was too many). After a tournament a few weeks ago a parent got mad and removed his daughter from the team. Then the next tournament - two more dads get mad – three more girls gone (a set of twins). A fifth girl doesn’t like it that all her friends left, so she leaves too. Then another follows. Now we’re at 9 players. Three of these girls were starters and another was probably the 6th girl.
One thing this did was open up an opportunity for Bella. She had already begun to start, but now the leading scorers on the team were gone. Bella played in a tournament this weekend and as Lisa said, “She played out of her head.” She had a “double, double” in each game. In the second game, Bella almost single handedly brought the team back from a 14 point deficit by scoring 10 straight, unanswered points. They only lost by 2 points and Bella scored 16 (two 3-point shots). When asked why she had never played like that before, she said that she felt like she should leave the scoring up to the better players.
This coming weekend will be fun. Jake will be playing basketball in Fort Wayne, Indiana which is about 2-1/2 hours from our family in Ohio (11 hours from us). Several family members will be making the journey to watch Jake play basketball. Even my best friend, John, will be traveling up from Kentucky. I haven’t seen him for a couple years. It’ll be great to see everybody that comes!
Earlier this week I found Eli had stripped off his pants and underwear and was in the process of shaving his leg with a razor he found in the shower. As Isabella says, he is growing up with too many sisters. He only cut himself twice.
Lisa picked up Isabella from school. She got in the car and stated, “I think I could be in a bad mood today.”
We used to say that Eli was the smartest baby that couldn’t talk. Now we say he is the smartest toddler who doesn’t know his colors. He just isn’t good at those things everyone tries to teach their kids - like colors, animals, counting, and animal sounds. It’s not like we haven’t tried. We have! Even the children have taken it upon themselves to get this kid to know these first facts that all toddlers are supposed to know. The other day Isabella was drilling him on colors. She was using M&M’s as the lesson and the reward. “This M&M is orange. Orange! Eli, this M&M is orange! What color is it?” Eli replies, “Orange.” Bella repeats, “What color is it?” Eli answers confidently, “Orange!” Again, “What color is it?” Eli responds, “Orange.” Then Bella proceeds, “Ok Eli this M&M is yellow. What color is it?” Eli repeats, “Yellow.” Isabella then brings back the orange M&M. “What color is this?” Eli looks at it, puts his fingers up to his mouth as he thinks, and then says, “Ummmm. Uhhhh. Ummmm. I fink it’s (hesitation), ummm (hesitation). I fink it’s, uhhhh – Nim & Nim’s!”
Eli is having a rough night. He sprayed himself with Jake’s cologne. Unfortunately he sprayed it into his own eyes. Then he ran into the bathroom where the floor was slightly wet from Luke’s shower. Eli’s feet slipped out from under him and he fell pretty hard by the sound it made. He started screaming. I went to check on him after he had been comforted by his mommy and sister. He was still fussing. I asked him where he hurt himself. He pointed to his side. I asked him if he hit his head. In a pathetic voice he tells me that he did. I asked him, “Where did you hit your head?” Eli whines, “On the floor.”
Sophia was asking Eli what sounds different animals make. During the process Eli asks, “What does a tree say?” Sophia responds, “Trees don’t talk.” Eli says, “They do on Dora.” Sophia asks, “What do trees say then?” Eli mimics the tree’s voice and points, “The path is that way.”
Love,
JR
The Girls - Gabi, Bella, Lydia and Sophia
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