During the night we heard a tornado warning.

A tornado did actually hit just a mile from my home.  We live about an inch from the top of this map and about a half inch from the left edge.  You can see a short white line in the area which is the cement flood control area behind our home.

Anthony stayed up all night playing video games and watching TV.  Alyssa and I fell asleep later than normal but not much later.  I came home around 9am.  My soccer game was canceled because of more rain and wet fields.

Mommy and I planned to spend the weekend at the lake but we decided to take Anthony and Alyssa with us so we changed our plans to just spend the afternoon there.  Andy, Kristan, and Anna Kate came up also.   We had pizza and we swam and rode our scooters and enjoyed the entire afternoon.
Papa was on crutches.  He will be able to put more weight on his knee starting tomorrow.

On the ride home, I fell asleep.  When I woke up, I said I just had my eyes closed, but everyone laughed because they knew I was sleeping very soundly.

I got a little too much sun.  It was so cool we didn't even think about sunscreen for me.  We will remember next time.

Barbara and Anna Kate saw a science experiment on Sesame Street TV show.  She wanted to try it with me, so we tried to use a white piece of paper, a flashlight, two strips of masking tape, and a glass of water.  By shining the flashlight through the water we should have been able to see a rainbow on the white piece of paper.  We spend 30 minutes trying three different flashlights and had almost no success.   The halogen flashlights did not work at all.  The old fashion flashlight gave us a bit of color but basically we were not successful. 

Mommy and I started working on a couple of small projects for me to give to my teacher next week for Teacher Appreciation Week.

 I climbed into tree by our mailbox and played with a rope I found.  Mommy and Barbara decided we could maybe jump rope with it.  They showed me how to swing the rope, so Barbara and I swung the rope while Mommy jumped.  I tried a few times and got discouraged.  They said I just need to keep trying and it would happen for me.  



 

Friday, April 29, 2016

I took my sack of recycle stuff to school.  Everyone really liked what all the things I brought.
Behavior = Orange = Great day.   All of my adults are glad I am back on track.

After school Alyssa and I ate some Top Ramen and a brownie.  We played with Anna Kate.  I think her favorite time of the day is when we play with her.

I wanted Alyssa to go to my swim team practice but Barbara was taking me to practice and she won't take any other children.  She says it is a responsibility she does not want to take on, especially around water.

There were only 8 children in my age group there today.  I had my same instructor.  I really like him.  I asked him his name, but I quickly forgot what he said.  We are still working on free style.  I swim a few strokes then I grab for the lane divider. I need to quit doing that.  I'll get better.

Practice was over and I was coming to get on shirt and shoes so I could play on the playground for ten minutes.

Then we drove the five minutes home.

I played with Alyssa until dark.  Then we decided to have another sleepover at her house.  We watched TV and watched Anthony play Mindcraft then Alyssa and I fell asleep.

Papa hurt his knee a couple of months ago and it was decided he needed surgery, so at 6am Papa reported to a surgery place to have surgery on his knee.   He only arrived back in the states yesterday and he wanted to have it as soon as possible so he would have time to recover before he has to fly back to his job in Nigeria.  I think he was home by 11am starting his recovery.  

Cy-Fair ISD and Klein ISD (my school district) both anticipate spending close to $4 million each to repair campuses damaged in the storms that poured as much as 17 inches of rain in parts of the metro area, damaged more than 2,000 homes and left eight people dead.  Our schools were closed for an entire week.

It was a mostly normal school day, except for one thing:  My behavior color was Blue.  I think this is my only time to get Blue.  Blue is one step down from Green (our starting point).  When I slowly got off the bus, I asked Barbara if I could talk privately with her.  Because I did that, she guessed something was amiss.  I pulled out my purple Behavior binder but wouldn't open it until I told her a boy in my class did something, and my teacher believed him, so I ended up getting a "clip down."  Barbara was understanding and she could tell I was upset.  She asked for more details but I said I didn't remember what had happened.  I think, she thinks I know, I just didn't want to tell her.   Everyone is so proud of the Behavior report I bring home everyday.  They know all children and all people mess up from time to time.    The main thing is for me to tell the truth.

GGM had made me some brownies.  Alyssa and I each had one and a glass of milk while we reviewed my sight words.  We both know them really well.  One word I seem to have a bit of trouble with is "the."  I want to call it "they."  Funny.

Mommy took me to swim team practice.  I swam the length of the pool five times.  Free style.  Barbara is so funny she wants to call it the American Crawl.  And she calls flip flops "thongs."
Get with it, lady.

I played in Cole's backyard until time to get ready for bed.  While I ate an egg roll snack, Barbara read one of my new library books to me.  It was about basketball.

I was in bed by 8:30 but didn't fall asleep until 9pm.

Nicole's frightening story: Around 10pm Brad was not home, when Nicole almost stepped on this copperhead snake in their living room.  She scurried up the stairs and called my mom. (Mommy and I were sleeping when the call came in.  I didn't wake up.)  Surely she didn't think my mom could come kill it!  Mommy told Barbara, Barbara called Mr. Mark, Alyssa's dad.  He is a retired NYC policeman.  He said he would come right over.  He came armed with a baseball bat and Alyssa's Disney Easter basket.  Barbara opened the garage door for him.  He went inside... Barbara did not follow.   About five minutes later Brad arrived home and told Barbara he heard that Mark had killed the snake.  They both went inside and sure enough there was the copperhead, maybe about 18 inches long.  Barbara notice Nicole was really pale.  She was still shaking.

A funny thing:  One of GGF's eye medicine bottles was empty, so GGM got a new bottle and put the drops in his eyes.  Then she went out to the street corner and threw a bottle in the recycle bin.  After she was inside, she realized she was holding an empty bottle in her hand.  GGF and GGM went out to the street corner and tumped our big four foot tall recycle bin on it's side trying to find that little bitty bottle.  A neighbor saw them and asked if they needed any help.  They said thank you but they would find what they were looking for.... and they did.

Mimz got to hold new baby Jett for a couple hours this afternoon at the hospital while his parents rested.  She has another baby in the family to love.

We had a big storm during the night.  There was a tornado in the area.  Our electricity was out for 20 minutes but I was sound sleep during the entire thing.

I took my sack of recycling to school.  Last week was supposed to be Earth Day week, to help us learn about protecting our planet by "recycling, reducing, and reusing".  We are doing some of that unit this week.

We had some excitement late in the day.  There was a fire or something in the science lab, so we evacuated the building.  One police car and one fire truck came to the scene.  Oh, what fun.  No one was hurt.  I'm not really sure of any details.  ------ Oh, now we know, there was no fire at school, just the smell of gas.   
Papa flew in from Nigeria early this morning.  I hope I get to see him very soon.

Behavior = Red = Outstanding

 This was my spring school picture.  Mommy order some for everyone.

 My weekly report.

 I did a great job on recalling information from one of our books.

I was very happy to get an E and smiley face on this writing rubric.


I jumped off the bus expecting to see Mimz, but since soccer practice was canceled by today's rain and I wanted to go to swim team practice, she didn't come get me.

We babysat Alyssa for two hours after school.  I did homework and Alyssa helped me some.  She is a very very good reader.  I need lots of practice to become a better reader.  Alyssa and I played with Anna Kate and then we played outside with Tyler, a fourth grader.

When Mommy got home, I ate, got dressed in my swim trunks and waited for time to leave.  Alyssa and Cole came with us.  They watched me swim and then we played on the playground.  Back home, I played outside with them for thirty minutes.  Cole and I took off our shirts and I ended up with several bites on my back after rolling around in the grass.  I ate again, bathed, and did more homework, and managed to get in bed by 8:30pm.  It didn't take me long to fall asleep.

Barbara is keeping track... she thinks there are 23 more days of school.  I wonder why she is counting the days.

Cousin Lilly should have her baby boy (to be named Jett) this evening...maybe he is already here.
.................

Cousin Lilly had her baby boy before 9:30pm. Mother and baby are fine.   Jett Thomas R   8 pounds 14 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long.
Congratulations.

Aunt Kathy and her fifth grandchild.  That makes her have four grandsons and one granddaughter.


Mimz has been walking, trying to get in six miles a day.  

We were slow getting around this morning so Mommy drove me to school this morning.

Behavior = Green

I jumped off the bus, hugged Anna Kate, ate some Fiber One cereal, then worked on homework with Barbara for 15 minutes.  Then the doorbell rang...kids wanting me to play.  That was the end of homework for then.   We planned for Alyssa to go to my swim practice with me until her parents found out she hit Anthony on the bus.  She was grounded, so she could not go.

I dressed in the swim trunks Aunt Lisa bought me.  I took my water bottle, towel, and goggles.  Mommy took me.  It takes five minutes to drive to Londonderry.  I happily jumped into the pool.  There were some big kids there to help us.  I had to big boys helping me.

I swam the length of the pool.  They said I did great.  Mommy said I really was the best swimmer there.  Remember this is age 6 and under, so I was one of the oldest kids.

I really enjoyed it.  I was in the pool the entire 30 minutes.

Today was our first day back at school after having a week off because of the massive amount of flooding all over Houston.  I enjoyed this second "Spring Break" but I also was glad to get back to school to see my friends and Mrs. Meredith and to learn new things.

After school I had a golf lesson.  I enjoy it and but don't say much about it. Golf is over at 4:30pm. 
At home I ate dinner and played with Alyssa until it was time for my first swim team practice. 

Swim team practice is from 6:15 to 6:45p for my age group 6 and under.  It was too cold to get in the water today but they think we will get in the water on Tuesday.  We did some exercises and met each other.  There were three kindergartners there.  None of them are in my class but I recognized them. River lives about ten houses down from me.  I have played with him a couple of times.

Back home, I was too tired (or didn't want) to do homework.  I promised I would do it first thing after I got off the bus tomorrow.  I was in bed by 8:30 and asleep by 8:45pm.

I spent the day with Daddy and Mimz.

Daddy styled my hair for me.  It was sort of messed up by the time I had played all day and this picture was taken.

Late in the afternoon Mommy brought me home.  First thing I had to do was get up the nerve to apologize to Anthony for throwing a rock that hit his head.  After I apologized Alyssa and I played at my house and then at her house.

At 7:30pm I had to come in to get ready for a big day tomorrow: first school day in ten days, golf lesson right after school, and swim team practice at 6:15pm.   I was in bed and asleep by 8:40pm. 

I enjoyed my sleepover with Knox.

No soccer game today due to flood a week ago.  This picture of the fields was taken almost a week ago.

Mommy came to pick me up from Daddy around 10am to take me to sign up for the Londonderry swim team.  I can join it because my neighborhood does not have a swim team.  I met another boy who is my age and will be on the team.  Practice starts Monday.  We practice from 6:15 to 6:45pm Monday through Friday until the end of June.  We have swim meets on Saturdays.  I think the meets start at 6am and the kids age 6 and under go first.  I am in that group.  The meets start so early because they take a long time, and it gets really hot later in the season.

Mommy, Andy, and Bridget were all on a swim team for several years.  Back then only Speedo trunks were worn by swimmers.   I said I wanted a Speedo swim suit... until I tried on a Jammer.  I liked the long shorts better than the little brief.

Mommy took me back to Daddy.  Then I got to go to downtown Houston to a Kids Expo with Knox and his family.  There were a lot of things going on.

 Dinosaur display...

 Knox and me with Star Wars characters...

And we got to get on stage and rap or jam.
 -----------
When we got home, I stayed over at Knox' to play until Daddy had hamburgers grilled for our dinner.  Knox joined us for dinner and he didn't go home until 8:30pm.  The burgers were very tasty.  Daddy and I are staying at Mimz tonight because daddy's roommate has friends over.  I was enjoying this.  After a much needed bath, I watched PJ Mask and was asleep by 9:30pm after a big fun filled day.

Daddy and Mimz kept me most of Friday. Daddy didn't have to work very long.
I wasn't there but my buddy Knox jumped off his dad's truck and fell into some rock.
We have a neat picture of the injury, but we won't put it on here in case anyone would be bothered by the graphic picture.  Knox was taken to the emergency room to get eight stiches to close up the wound.  On the way home he got a new Nerf gun and by the time he was back home he was moving at warp speed.  We boys are tough.

I've not had any stitches yet.  Uncle Scott needed 8 stitches on his eighth birthday.  My dad didn't have any until he was an adult.  A warehouse door broke and hit him between the eyes.

A few days ago Knox tried to sleep at Mimz home, but he went home before going to sleep.  So we tried again to have a sleepover but this time I stayed at his house.  We had a good time.  Notice the band-aid over Knox' left eyebrow... that is where he had eight stitches this afternoon.

I woke up at 8:30am at Mimz home.  As it turns out Knox went home last night at 10:30pm.  He is only four and I guess he was a little homesick.  Mimz and Knox' dad were not surprised he wanted to go home.  I wasn't feeling great this morning and my eyes were a little matted this morning. so I laid on the sofa.  I'll be okay after I wake up more.

Mimz took Knox and me to see The Jungle Book movie.  It is hard to corral two little boys at a movie.  Knox spilled his drink.  I was no trouble.

Barbara and GGF met Mimz at Sprouts to get me.  We stopped at Panda Express which made GGF  and me happy.  He got Honey Walnut Shrimp and I got Orange Chicken, Barbara got Chicken with Green Beans.  We all shared with each other.  Yummy.

I played with Anthony.  Then we had an incident.  Evidentally I threw a rock and it hit the top of Anthony's head.  It didn't bleed and he was okay, just hurt.  I denied it, which is what I always do.  Boy, did I get in trouble.  After Mommy got home, Barbara spanked me.  I will not play with the kids until I apologize to Anthony.  Mommy took me over to Daddy's so he could talk to me about it. 

We watched the Rocket's basketball game and I fell asleep long before the game was over.

No school for the third day!  This flood is much worse than it seems to us, since we have been safely tucked away in our little neighborhood, just seeing a few pictures on TV.  We read where school buses can still not get into some neighborhoods and that is one of the reasons school has been cancelled today.

Alyssa woke me up around 8am.  We came over to my home to eat pancakes and milk.  We rode our scooters and went back over to Alyssa's to see if Anthony was awake and if he wanted to play.  Anthony is enjoying playing Mindcraft on his iPad and most of the time won't play with us little kids.  He is in fourth grade, we are in kindergarten.

I called Mimz at 8:20a to see if she could get me early today.  She said she was enjoying reading in bed, but she would get up and get ready.  It wasn't long before she found out that both entrances to her neighborhood were covered with flood water.  She could not get me until the water went down.

Back at my home, Alyssa and I played in my room.  Barbara printed off some color by number pages.  Alyssa chose to color the dinosaur.  I then chose the butterfly.  Barbara was happy that we left her the cute monster to color.  Alyssa and I quit before we finished our pictures.  After we ran outside, Barbara finished coloring her picture.

For lunch we ate Ramen noodles and then got a red Popsicle to eat in the garage.  It rained off and on.  We played at my home, Alyssa's home, and outside.  Later Cole came over and we played with our iPads.  Cole told me about a new app he had.  I downloaded it, with Barbara's permission.  (I must get her permission because I don't know her password and she won't share it with me.)  I got to level five on the new app easily.   

It was soon after lunch that Mimz called to say she could now drive out of her neighborhood and she would meet us at Sprout's Market.

I took Barbara's iPad in the car so I could play a new app, something about Hungry Sharks.  Around 2:15pm I jumped from Barbara's car to Mimz' car.  GGF was with Barbara.  He likes to "go" anytime someone leaves the house. When we got to Mimz, I asked her get that app on her iPad.

Mimz and I stopped at Papa Murphy's to get a pizza for dinner.  (Barbara took GGF to Walmart, then Kroger, then she stopped at Papa Murphy's also.)   Before we got to Kroger, I almost fell asleep.  I asked if I could nap in the car after we shopped at Kroger while Mimz drove home, then I would be energized to play more.

Of course, there will be no soccer practice today and probably no soccer game on Saturday.  This picture was taken a few days ago of the soccer fields.

  This is the bridge we have to cross to get to Mimz' home.  The water was level with the street.  We also saw one flooded street and one flooded house.  Man, that was one horrible storm the entire Houston area had this week. At least five people died and hundred of homes were flooded.  Many businesses were closed because streets were flooded and everyone was advised to stay home.

I laid down on the couch to watch PJ Masks and before long I was napping. Mimz woke me up at 5:30pm.  I needed to be able to go to sleep normally this evening because we might have school tomorrow.  We won't know until around 7pm.

Knox came over to play.  Daddy joined us for pizza.  Daddy had to leave around 8pm because he has to get up early tomorrow to play in a golf tournament.  What fun for him.

Knox and I had all my cars out in the middle of the den floor.

We wrestled.  We both had late naps so we were going to stay up until 10pm.  We were being really good.

I enjoyed my first sleepover so much, I wanted Knox to spend the night with me at Mimz' home.  We were both looking forward to this and I thought Mimz would enjoy having two little boys in her home again.  It would be Knox first sleepover.  We went to his home to get his backpack packed with his sippy cup for bedtime milk, a passy, and his toothbrush.

Well, before we were asleep, Knox decided he wanted to go home.  He is only four-years- old.  So at 10:30pm his dad walked across the street to get him.

I can't believe this:  No school again today because of all the rain Sunday night and the flooding that is still causing havoc with the entire Houston Metropolitan area.  Fortunately all of my family's homes were safe from the flooding.

I guess I will play with my friends all day.  First I ate breakfast, then I laid down on Barbara's bed to play with her iPad and then I took the iPad downstairs to watch it while I ate a frozen lemonade.  Finally at 9:45am Alyssa and Cole were ready to play.  We started out playing Army with our backpacks loaded with all of our supplies.

We played tag and played in the water along the curb.

Anthony came over and he and I played a wrestling game on my x-box.  Then we ate chicken and noodles, milk, and and apple.   We went over to his house to play.

I came back home with Alyssa and Cole.  We each got a box to put worms we found in the street.  We put dirt, water, and grass in the boxes and we had fun watching our worm families.  We wanted to eat a grapefruit, so Barbara cut into three grapefruit and used a grapefruit knife to section them for us.   We each ate a whole grapefruit with sugar on them.  They are Brad's grapefruit and they are not sweet so they need that extra sugar.  When we finished we went back outside to play worm family.

When we found out there would be no school tomorrow we asked if we could have a sleepover.  It was my first time to sleep away from my family, I think.  We ate dinner while we wached the movie Nanny McFee.  I was adement I did not want to wear pajamas since I knew Anthony would not be wearing them.

I had no problem sleeping away from home.

I woke up to some unexpected news.  Klein schools were closed today because of the huge rain storm that dropped 16 - 20 inches of rain over all of Houston last night.  So Kristan stayed home with Anna Kate and so did Andy.  Mommy's work was closed so she stayed home with GGM, GGF, Barbara and me.  Barbara and I walked the fence to see how how the water was in the ditch behind our home.  It was very high, high like I have never seen.  Another ten feet and it would have been overflowing.  We were using a large umbrella to keep us dry.

Three times we went out to check on the water level in our ditch.  It had dropped each time.  At 6pm i was still flowing pretty quickly but it looked to be only two feet deep where it was at least ten feet deep this morning.

 7am.  Very high fast moving water in ditch behind our yard.

 6pm.  Much much lower water level, still moving quickly.

Same ditch at 6am...

...and at 7pm.

This picture is of Mimz beautiful park taken early in the morning by mounted cameras.

I could have had a large breakfast but I chose to only eat a piece of sausage and drink milk.  I don't know why I didn't want more.  I just didn't.

I had Alyssa come over to play.  Before long Cole joined us and we ran from one house to the other and got very wet having a blast on our day off from school.

We played in the water standing along side the road.  We didn't have a care in the world.  Oh, we had a few squabbles but mostly it was a fun day.

I came in to re-energize for about ten minutes.

I received the game Beat the Parents for Easter for people ages 6 and up.  Barbara opened it up and read the instructions.  She decided I need to be a better reader for us to enjoy playing, so maybe in 6 months we can try again.

GGM and Barbara made a recipe for Maple Bacon Crack.  They decided it was not a keeper recipe, there are many easier to make, better tasting snacks.



I sure didn't want to stop playing.  I grudgingly took a bath, etc.  Barbara read one of my library books to me while got dressed for bed.  I had 25 minutes to play on the iPad before 8:30pm lights out.

I spend the night with Daddy.  He was not feeling good again this morning, so Mommy came to get me around noon.

I played with Cole and Alyssa until it was time for me to go to to a birthday party.

Shaylee's party invitation

Shaylee is a girl in my kindergarten class.   Her party was at the Jerry Matheson Park in Tomball from 3 to 5. There were about 10 children at the party.  The only other child from our class that came was Layla.  I don't know if we were the only ones invited or why there were not more children from my class there.  The other children were family and neighbors.  The park was lots of fun.  I rode the little zip line about a hundred times.  I played tag and rode on the tire swing.  We ate pizza and birthday cake.  Shaylee loved the two Shopkins I gave to her for her birthday.  They are a girl thing.

I came home and played with Alyssa and Cole. 

My dad started getting sick yesterday.  He had a golf match planned with Uncle Scott and a couple clients so he played even though he felt bad.  This morning he was still sick so he did not come to my soccer game.  Mimz brought me.

Mommy, GGF, and Barbara were there also to cheer my team on to victory.  The score was something like 3 or 4 to 1 or 2.  They don't really keep score and I don't keep track very well.  It was a joy to watch and Barbara did not get it on video.  From about midfield, everyone was behind me and I kept kicking the ball until it slide right into the goal.  Yea for me!

I gave Mommy a big soccer hug.

 I was waiting for the ball to be throw in, so I could kick it towards our goal.

I scored one goal for my team.

After the game when slap hands with the other team.

Mommy joined in the fun.

Mimz took me home.

 Mimz and I are growing some strawberries.

 We picked this one.....

...and I ate it.  Yummy!

Mimz and I went to her park and I had a great time playing with kids from a birthday party.  I didn't know them.  Someone offered me a Capri Sun and I went to ask Mimz before accepting.  Mimz was pleased that I asked because she and I had recently talked about taking things from strangers.

Daddy was feeling better so Mimz took me to him around 4pm.