Baseball

Isaac is playing Little League baseball and having a ball!

First time in uniform

Whitney shared her pictures with us and are the ones below:

He has had a few fans:

Gma B caught the first game

Snowballs at the game!

Brian and Whitney visited

Sarah and Sandy made it to his second game, and the Leonards also caught a game. Unfortunately, I have no record of their visit at the game besides Mark's pictures below.

Here is to our first season of baseball.

Lost Teeth...

…left and right at this house!  At the end of September Isaac had a tooth that was hanging on by a thread. He went to the school's resident "dentist" Miss M. to pull it out, and she proceeded to pull out a different tooth. He was pretty excited because she gave him a little tooth holder, a certificate, and a package of Smarties.

The next morning (October 1) Caleb woke up and his tooth had fallen out during the night; thankfully, he didn't swallow it. 

His note to the tooth fairy says, "Hi, tooth fairy, this is my first tooth. Love, Caleb. I will see you tonight." You can see his letters and the note a little better in the picture below. (Double-click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see it even more clearly.)

Within two weeks Isaac's top tooth that had been really loose originally was also pulled out by Miss M (on October 14). 

We were a little bit creeped out by his weird front top tooth that centered itself in the gap. Fortunately, that one came out within three days--also pulled by the wonderfully talented Miss M.

No top teeth--I lisp now!

To celebrate we went to Coldstone for ice cream.

The second time was a freebie since Isaac won the school's Box Tops monthly drawing and got to choose a gift card to Coldstone.  Gotta love gift cards and the joy of trimming lots of Box Tops! (Thanks to those who contributed Box Tops so we could go out for ice cream. ;-)

Isaac's Birthday

Isaac turned eight years old in May. When he was a baby and we were sleep deprived and sometimes overwhelmed, I secretly rolled my eyes at the people who told me that time would fly by and that he would be all grown up before we knew it. Eight years later I understand since it does seem like a blink of the eye is all that has passed since he joined our lives. I remember our leaving the hospital with him and feeling like the world rested on our shoulders and that every car on the road was out to take out our car and injure the newborn baby within.  J

For his actual birthday he decided to celebrate with our good friends one last time before they moved to the Midwest. We had birthday cake and singing right after school and then headed to the bowling alley.  The kids all bowled and enjoyed pizza while we adults just talked (and also enjoyed pizza).

Giant b-day cookie at Tavern-n-Bowl

He loved opening presents (who doesn’t?) and is enjoying playing with all of them.  He went with a Star Wars theme this year having the Millennium Falcon as his cake and Darth Vader and storm trooper rings and light sabers on his cupcakes for his class treat. (Kudos to Paul for baking cupcakes and for decorating them at school before Isaac passed them out.)  At school he enjoyed being sung to in his classroom and at the Friday singing time and also got to be line leader. Caleb made Isaac a birthday crown from the preschool and gave it to Isaac after school. (I love seeing how much the boys care for each other…most days. ;-)

He also had his first birthday party with school friends this year. He invited the boys in his class for a party after school got out. They spent part of the time swimming and the other part of the time playing games and eating snacks—root beer floats and rice crispy bars. 

Looking back over this year, we see how much Isaac has grown and changed. He started first grade reading very simple things but now is reading chapter books confidently and passionately. His favorite books include The Magic Treehouse series and The A to Z Mysteries. He started doing Accelerated Reader and absolutely loved the challenge of getting enough points to earn a Slurpee or $ from Dad. In class he loved getting “Prize Box” for good penmanship and neat pictures. He had his first spelling tests and focused on getting the bonus words correct each week. He still loves math and “sprints.” Recess was a highlight, and he loved playing soccer, foursquare, and going on the swings. The field trips enjoyed were a horse ranch and the zoo. His teacher was Miss M. who encouraged Isaac to become a more independent and confident learner and who also introduced them to the world celebrating the Chinese New Year and Chinese culture with them (Isaac discovered he loves orange chicken!), and she taught them so many other things Isaac really enjoyed this year. He also wanted to be the first one to Miss M.’s class each morning by beating two other classmates who are also teachers’ kids. 

Where have these eight years gone?!? It has been a joy watching Isaac grow into the boy he is today. We are thankful that God blessed us with him and entrusted the care of his growing up to us. 

Mini-Olympics 2013

Isaac got to take part in the annual tradition at Calvin Christian called the Mini-Olympics.  It is a wonderful day where the eighth graders run different events in which the kindergarten through seventh graders participate.  

The seventh graders are the team captains who choose their athletes on draft day.  Isaac was super excited to be chosen by his seventh grade friend Josh.  His team country was team Russia, and his team color was maroon.

The afternoon is filled with various events including softball throwing, basketball shooting, jumping rope, hanging from the monkey bars (yep, that is all that they do for "Hang Ten"), running an obstacle course and a mini marathon, jumping both the long and broad jump, running the 50-meter dash, kicking a soccer ball, and throwing a softball for distance and accuracy.  The day is capped off with a gigantic relay race that has all teams and athletes participating as they run back and forth across the big field trying to be the first to finish the race.  We are pretty sure that Isaac's team finished the relay in second place.  After the relay all athletes get Big Sticks (a fantastically delicious Popsicle--ask Grandpa N about these).  The eighth graders will tally up all the points in math class this coming week, and then the overall winning team will be announced as the teams gather one final time for this year's Olympics.

No matter who wins, this day was fantastic!  It is always one of our favorite highlights of the school year!

Team Russia!

 Running the obstacle course

 Arm hang

Hey, look what we found!  (It was a gopher snake!)

Jump rope

Basketball shoot

 Beginning of the mini-marathon

This one has got to be my favorite!   Running long jump.  Check out the shadow!

 Softball throw for distance

 Isaac's biggest fan!

Caleb and his best friend watching the opening ceremonies

 Team Russia

 Kevin and Paul (and Caleb)

The Lapka boys enjoying their Big Stick popsicles after the final relay.  Danae was busy rounding up her eighth graders to start the clean-up process.

Legoland

Danae and I surprised the boys one Saturday in February and took them to Legoland in Carlsbad along with our good friends and their girls.  Isaac and Caleb have both been SO into Lego lately, and every time they go to the store we hear how they planning to buy another set.  Probably the most exciting part was seeing all the Star Wars stuff and talking about what they had recently seen while watching some of Star Wars movies! 

Enjoy the picture tour of our day and some of our favorite sights:

It was a great day, and Caleb thinks we should go back there every time we get in the car.