1st grade

I'm slow to post pictures of Josh's first day because they are on Mike's camera that he uses for work... but they will be coming shortly.

But he's had a first couple weeks... His teacher is Mrs. Burke and he is in the same class as one of his good friends... so what could be better. He wasn't nervous at all on the first day... he wanted to ride the bus and everything. (I always preferred to be taken to my classroom by mom on my first days of school). But he did just fine! And although I don't get a lot of details out of him, he does enjoy school because he pops right out of bed every morning and can't wait to get out the door!

And even Caleb is getting used to the idea of him being gone. And when Josh gets home, they play so great together... a little time apart every day must be doing some good... because on a good day, they will play together for sometimes 2 hours with no fighting! As I'm typing this, they are singing a beautiful medley of "America the Beautiful" and the "GI-JOE Theme Song".

Which brings us another thing... Josh is getting into Gi Joe's, which Mike is loving! Mike played with Gi-Joe's when he was younger, and so they have the best time having wars. And I have been priviledged to have taken part in my first Gi-Joe Battle, when Mike wasn't around. And believe it or not, there are many rules to keep track of. The first, is to build your fort... and this is an important part of the process. You have to make sure there is plenty of coverage and places for snipers to hide. And then once the battle starts, you have to announce where your guys is shooting... and who he shoots... and a guy isn't completely dead, until he lands completely flat on the ground... If an arm or leg is still up in the air, he's not dead... he's only wounded, so he's still able to limp or crawl over to another fallen comrad, take possession of his gun and keep fighting. Playing this way, does lengthen the amount of time that I have to use my "machine-gun sound effects", so it actually can be quite exhausting. Not to mention helicopter and jet fighter attacks!

I even tried to end the game early, by giving up and saying that all my guys were dead. But Josh was carefully keeping track and informed me that I had still 4 guys that were covered by debree, but really, they were still alive and well.... and that I could try to take over his tank if I wanted.

Anyway, back to school.... he is doing well getting his homework and chores done every day... and just seems to be getting so big and mature!

And last night, we had our first baseball practice of the season. He's in machine-pitch now... and it was his first time hitting off the machine! HE DID GREAT!!! He hit the ball almost every time... some were fouls... but at least he was connecting with the ball the majority of the time! I was so proud! Saturday is our first game... and I can't wait to see him in action! I'll break out my telephoto lense and get some good pictures for sure!

That's it for now!