Anna Kate came to my home this morning so GGM could babysit her.  Barbara needed to take GGF to his eye doctor.  That means I got to see and play with her before school.   She likes coming to my home because it is different and there are more people her for her to see.

We were outside waiting for the bus before 7:30am.  Since it has been coming early, we didn't want to miss it.

One of the teachers gave me a spirit stick because I was being so well behaved in the lunch room.  That was a big surprise and I loved it.

Our library day is Wednesday.  We posted this on the refrigerator.
When something funny happens, I don't laugh much, but Alyssa really laughs big time.

I'm trying to stay off of monkey bars and such to give my hands time to heal, but it is hard.

Mimz is good at timing her arrival at my home after school.  She passed my bus and got here one minute after I arrived.

Barbara found my chin guards but no one has found my cleats for soccer.  We will have to look some more.  Mimz took me home to eat a turkey and cheese sandwich and start my homework.  I read all of my sight words except for six.  If I practice them every night, I'll know them all by testing time.   Mimz and I read my new library book and I will read it again before bedtime.  I was very pleased with my good grades.

I had my first soccer practice tonight.  Daddy is the assistant coach.  Eli's mom, Miritza is the head coach.  Mommy is the team mom.

A strange thing:  at 7:50pm an ice cream truck drove by my house with his music on.  First time this summer... to late for many kids to be outside running to stop the truck.

Mimz fixed pork chops with rice and green beans in her slow cooker.  That is what we had for dinner tonight.

I woke up happy to get to school so i could turn in my book order.  Hopefully some new books will make me want to read more.

I had mac and cheese, milk, and dipping dots for lunch.

We did math in class, just adding numbers.

My palms look better.

I played with the gang until 6:30pm.   While we were at my house, we ate ice cream cones.  

Site words for kindergarden and first grade.

At 6:30pm I started my homework.  I had three parts: reading, flash cards, and a math page.  I did a pretty good job sticking to the task at and.  Not super great, but pretty good.   

We had a party in Mommy's room while we watched the last part of American Ninja Warriors where Daniel Gil finished the course.  That sure made me happy.   Our party food was watermelon.  I ate two bowls of it.

I had showered, brushed my teeth, and had my clothes laid out with 15 minutes to spare before bedtime.  I was in bed by 8:30pm but I couldn't go to sleep until after 9pm. 

I woke up at Mimz' home and she got me ready for school and delivered me home so I could get my backpack and get on the school bus.  Thank you, Mimz.

I am supposed to be careful with my hands for the next week.  I need to give the blisters a chance to heal.

It was pouring down rain when I jumped off the bus.  GGM and GGF were in the garage waiting for me.  I dropped off my backpack and ran off to play with my gang of friends.  Barbara and Anna Kate arrived a minute after I ran off to play.  They were surprised that they missed my bus.  They were here by 3:30pm.  They bus was really early today.

I played with Anthony, Alyssa, and Cole. 

We spent a few minutes working with Mr.
Brad in his yard.   At 7pm it was time  for everyone to go home to get ready for school tomorrow and get ready for bed.

My homework consisted of three parts.  The first part was I had to practice the sight words from Kindergarden that I missed when Mrs Cat tested me.  There were six of those words and I also practiced on the new sight words for the first nine weeks of first grade.  I can read most off of those words because we practiced them this summer.

I read Go Dog Go.

And I drew a pictue of my family and labled the pictures.  Mom, Dad, and Mason.  I am to put the number 16 beside my name on all of my work this year.

Tomorrow's home work will be sight words, reading, and a page of math.

American Ninja Warrior part 1 of the finals was tonight from 7 to 9.  I had to do my homework before I could start watching the show.  It was a two hour show, so I didn't get to see most of it.  I can watch some in the morning and the rest after school.

I forgot to write on this day.

Mima and I went to the park so I could run and jump and climb, all things I love to do.

 My blisters before Mimz clipped off the dead skin....

...and after.

I woke up still having bad blisters on both of my hands and today is my Mini Ninja Competition.

Mimz did the best she could to find an answer to my situation.  And I did compete but I could not grip like I had to to be able to do most of the events. 

 I ate a good breakfast of eggs and a protein bar and patiently waited for the 11 o'clock start time.

 My fans were: Mommy, Daddy, Mimz, Barbara, and Papa.  Let's the games begin!

Someone said there were over 40 children in my age group, 6 and 7 year olds.  They were not all from the Iron Sports gym.  Other gyms were invited to participate.  We were divided into three groups.  There were three parts to the competion.  My group started upstairs on the ring portion of the competition.  Remember my grip is not normal and I quickly fall on most of the events that use hand grips, but I still did well and had fun.  We decided to take off the gloves because they were to slippery.  This was the first time Mommy, Daddy, and Papa have seen me at Iron Sports.

The second event included a rope swing, spider wall, cargo net, and the warp wall.  This was my best event.

The third event included the quadrangle-steps and the devil's stairs.  Mimz kept replacing my bandages and tape.

I tried hard.  

I won two red ribbons for second place and a white ribbon for third place.  Every child got ribbons in those three places.  Three boys won trophies for first, second, and third place.  We were all pleased with my effort and enjoyed this competition.   It was over by 2pm.  I went home with Daddy.

I wore my last years Metzler's shirt since it was Friday.

Barbara took this picture for my dad.  He is a U of T fan.
 
I was outside by 7:35... no other kids were there yet.... we waited and waited and no bus came and no kids came.  At 7:50am we were sure I had missed the bus, but that was okay because Mommy could take me to school.  And Barbara could have taken me.  Normally she is already at Anna Kate's but Andy is off work today, so she only has to babysit for three hours later in the day while Andy mows and cleans up his yard.

Mommy dropped me off at school on her way to work.

.... Bad news.....  First thing when I jumped off the bus I showed Barbara my hands.  I had several bad blisters on both hands.  I got them from playing on the playground equipment at school.  Tomorrow is my Ninja competition.  We are worried that I won't be able to participate.

Barbara and Mimz met at Sprout's.  Mimz looked at my hands and the wheels started turning.  She was trying to decide what could be done to help blisters not stop me from the competition.  She bought some gel bandaids and tape and some fingerless gloves.  This was a worry for us all evening  and the next day too. 

Be sure you read the very bottom of this day's journal.  It will make you tired just reading about MASON'S SUMMER ADVENTURES.

I was a little late getting to sleep last night an was a little slow getting started this morning.  Mimz stopped at the doughnut shop as we drove to get me home to get on the bus.  We drove up to my house just as my bus was pulling up.  GGF, Cole's grandmother and the kids were standing on the corner and they all cheered  that I arrived in time to catch the bus.

We had music class today and sang a song that said hello, clap your hands, and stoop your feet, or something like that.  Mrs. Cat read a story about a soccer player who worte a book.

No homework yet.  I played with all the kids until 7pm.  That is our set time for everyone to go home for the evening.

I had an awesome chicken salad sandwich and a bunch of cantaloupe.  I ate all there was and wanted more.  

We sat a stopwatch to see how long it took me to take a shower.  It took me three minutes... well, really four because we didn't start the stopwatch until I had already been in the shower for a minute.

I received the September 2016 Boy's Life magazine in the mail today.  It was about exploring our future, about jobs we might like to do.  I really enjoyed the article about firefighters.

 I have a hard time just walking through a doorway...

 ...the Ninja me takes over...

.... what strength!   I watched a few minutes of a new American Ninja Warriers show, then brushed my teeth, and got in bed with the iPad.  I only had time for ten minutes of iPad use.  I watched people jumping off the ten meter diving board for the first time.  They all did it, but they were pretty scared.

I couldn't sleep so Barbara talked me to sleep.  I was asleep at 8:55pm.  She was talking about all the neat things I did this summer.

MASON'S AWESOME SUMMER ADVETURES:

vacation to Disney World for a week
Boy Scout camp for a week
mini golf with boy scouts
boy scout fishing derby
baseball team
swim team with all my family coming to watch
Iron Sports
Mini Ninja Competition
Mimz's park mostly to practice Ninja skills
Splash Town
Little Beakers
Incredible Pizza. laser tag, ice skating, bumper cars
Mimz neighborhood pool
skating rink with Eli and Jacob
water balloon play date with Eli and Jacob
my neighborhood pool
Anthony's pool parties
Sleep-overs with Anthony, Alyssa, Cole, and Knox
learned to use a pogo stick
Cole's birthday party
Anthony's birthday party
Brooke's birthday party at Woodlands Gymnastics
Swimming at Andy's
lots of play time with neighbor's on Mimz' driveway
lots of play time with my neighbors, including basketball, riding bikes, Hide and Seek, water balloons, Pokemon cards, a little video games
dinners with Anthony's family
babysitting Anna Kate
helping GGM cook
helping Mr Brad do yard work
bike rides with Mr. Brad
bike rides with Cole's grandmother
a few weekends at Papa and Grandma's home
playing board games
Cousin's day at Main Event
 
Now I would say that was one pretty incredible summer?  Who had time for television and video games.... not me!

I also earned 44 stickers for extra great behavior.  Meaning I did something above and beyond everyday behavior, like behing helpful, saying thoughtful things, doing the right thing without being reminded.  When I earn 100 stickers I will get something extra special.  I was aiming to get 100 stickers this summer, but I'll keep on trying to be the best I can be and soon I will get there.

Papa decided it was time for Grandma to get a new car.

Her old 2012 car had over 90,000 miles on it. 

They bought a Cadillac XT5 today.

Anna Kate had her 2-year-old Well Baby check-up today.  She is very healthy.  31.4 pounds and 35.5 inches tall.  She had two shots.  Andy said she cried for at least two minutes.  I was told I cried but for just a few seconds.

It is easy to get off to school when I go to sleep on time and have my clothes laid out, and backpack ready to run outside to wait for my friends to meet me at the bus stop.

I got green again today, again not moving up or down any.  We did some adding and subtracting in groups with chips.  Mrs. Cat did not help us at all, we did it all as a group.

Mrs. Cat read to us but we have not read books yet.  I don't know if we will read ourselves or not.  But probably we will.

Again I thought my favorite thing of the day was having recess right after lunch.

Mimz was there to meet my bus.  I ran right pass Anna Kate to give Mimz a hug.  AK was a bit confused but I then came back to AK and she was pleased as punch.  She was carrying a blue balloon and dropped it.  The wind was blowing it away but I saved the day by chasing it down.

I got a Boy's Life magazine in the mail.  My first magazine ever addressed to me.  I looked at it on the drive to Iron Sports.  I was happy to find an article about Michael Phelps, the great Olympian swimmer. 

Mimz brought me a turkey and cheese sandwich and chips which I ate on the drive to Iron Sports.  Mimz took me there because she wanted me to have an opportunity to practice one more time for the Mini Ninja Competition this Saturday.    We were glad she took me because they were practicing things specific to the competition.  I slack off during the warm up but I work hard on the obstacles.

I went to dinner with Mommy and Daddy.  Mimz went to a birthday dinner for one of her friends.

All four of us kids were waiting for the bus this morning.  We missed not having Jackson with us.  He is going to middle school now.

I had a good day but I didn't have much to say about what we did.  We did have P.E. first thing this morning and music in the afternoon.   I know my lunch code now and I bought my lunch.

The bus ran on it's normal schedule today.  We got home about 3:45pm.  I jumped off and all four of us kids went to Anthony's....well, I did stop to hug Anna Kate and to give Barbara my backpack.

Anthony and I came to my house for a snack and to play in my room.  Alyssa was playing with Cole.  We call this split time.  We often play better when we split up.

Barbara plans to talk with the parents of us kids to see if we could make a rule that they all need to go to their own home until 4:15 to unwind and talk about school with our families, then we can meet up to play.  We have a rule that we all need to go home for the night at 7pm.

That gave me enough time to eat dinner, shower, brush my teeth, and a little time for ABC Mouse and a very little bit of time on the iPad before my 8:30pm bed time.  It took me almost 30 minutes to fall asleep.

My first day of first grade was today.  I think the confetti under my pillow helped me have a good nights sleep.  I was awake before Barbara left at 6:30 to babysit Anna Kate.

Barbara brought Anna Kate to my house so they could watch me get on the bus this first day of school.  AK wanted to go with me.

I had already picked out my clothes and had my backpack ready so I only had four things to do:  Eat breakfast, brush my teeth, brush my hair, and get dressed.   I was not hungry and not at all willing to eat.  I had a few bites of toast and drank some milk.  Maybe I was a bit nervous about my first day of first grade.  I'll probably be better able to eat tomorrow.

I was outside waiting for the bus at 7:30am.  Mommy, Anna Kate, GGM, and Barbara were all there with me.  I kept wondering where all the kids were.

I did this for my dad.

At 7:45am I was the only child waiting for the bus when it came around the corner.  I found out later that Alyssa's family all over slept.  They woke up at 8:10 and rushed to get to school before 8:25am.  They were not counted as tardy.  And Cole was not able to go to Meet the Teacher day so his mom took him to school this morning to meet his teacher for the first time.  They will all be on the bus for the second day of class.

Bus number 325.
I knew right where to go to get to my class.  There were two children in this class that were in my kindergarden class.  Tobin, who is my best friend, and Amanda.  They both sat in my little group of four.

Mrs. Cat took this picture of me today on my first day of first grade.

We said the Pledge of Allegence along with the Public Address system and listened to annunouncements.  The first thing we did was draw.

I took my lunch and in my lunch box I found this note.  I ate all of my lunch except for a few carrots.  I like having recess right after lunch.  But today we had indoor recess because it was raining.

We have a different behavior reporting system this school year which I will take home every day for my parents to sign.  I told Barbara I got orange today and Alyssa got blue.   We were pleased to hear that we were clipping up and down like we did last year.  Orange is great job.

Our daily schedule.

Getting off the bus.   The trip home from school was different.  The driver turned left onto Kuykendahl and drove all the way down to the railroad tracks.  The kids were all hollering that she was going the wrong way.  She turned into a neighborhood to turn around.  The other reason we were late getting home was the traffic at school was horrid.  There were so many cars that the buses could not get to their pick up points.  We got home at 4:10pm instead of the normal 3:40pm.

Alyssa and I both had a good day in our class with Mrs. Cat.  Alyssa is two months younger than me.

I played with Alyssa and Cole at all of our homes.  Anthony did homework and played video games. I ate spaghetti and meat balls with Alyssa's family.   The parents have all agreed that 7pm is time for everyone to go home to have family time and get ready for bed and school the next day.

I was in bed by 8:30pm and asleep before 9pm.  I had a hard time unwinding from this exciting day.

Willis house today.
   

At 7am Papa and I drove his truck to the Willis property to fish.  We didn't catch anything and it started raining hard so we jumped into the truck and we found ourselves stuck in mud.  Grandma and Mommy drove the car to get us.  We left the truck there.

Mommy and I came home early in the afternoon.  Anthony had a birthday play/swim/cake party at 2pm, just the neighbor kids and a couple of baseball buddies of his. I came home at 5:10pm saying swimming was over, now it was time for the other part of the birthday party to start.  Mommy helped me get out of my wet clothes, while Barbara gave me my dry clothes to put on.

I wanted to wear green because I was going to wear green shoes.

I played with Cole, Anthony, and Alyssa until 7:30pm when Mommy and Barbara both came to get me.  

 School year calendar.   177 days but who is counting beside Kristan and Barbara!

I have a lot of stuff on my dresser mirror.  Somethings from pre-school and kindergarden.  The envelope is from Mrs. Cat to be opened before bed tonight.

This is the envelope from Mrs. Cat that I opened after Anthony's party.  I was very curious about the contents.

Inside the envelope was a poem about how I might be a little excited or nervous about the unknown that I will encounter in the morning on my first day of first grade.  There were some red and blue confetti stars that I was to put under my pillow to help me sleep well.  I put it under my pillow, laid down for a few seconds, and said I don't feel anything.  lol.  I gave Mommy some and Barbara some too.  I wanted us all to have a good night sleep.

I was in bed by 8:10.  I watched firefighters on the iPhone until lights out at 8:30.  Barbara said I was asleep sometime before 8:50pm, which was when she checked on me.   I was informed that we will have to spend this time reading from now on. 

Saturday August 20, 2016

Happy 2nd Birthday Anna Kate.  She is not in town.  Her parents had to go to a baby or wedding shower in Austin so she had to go with them. 

Anna Kate dancing at her birthday party.

Everyone was still sleeping when Grandma and Papa left to go play pickleball.  When they got back everyone was up fixing breakfast.  Grandma tries to go every morning that she can and Papa will probably do the same when he is retired.  I think he has just one more trip to Nigeria, then he will be home for good.

Papa and I drove the golf cart to the neighborhood pond to fish.  We didn't catch anything but we had fun.

Papa and I went swimming in the swimming pool.

 I like swimming under water especially since I have goggles so I can see under water.
I had some choices for lunch.  I chose a turkey and cheese sandwich.

 We showed Bridget and Chris a Daniel Gil American Ninja Warrior video.  We showed them videos of me during my ninja classes.  They were impressed with Daniel and with me.  That made me happy but I tried to be cool.

I spent the day with Daddy.

After she got off work and after it was dark, Mommy and I drove up to the lake.  Daddy came up in his truck.  Bridget and Chris, Mommy, and Daddy all arrived at the lake within 15 minutes of each other.

Everyone played the game Left, Right, Center except Papa.  He had a bad headache.  We played many games.  Everyone won, I won a couple of games.

At some point I got sleepy, so I laid on the sofa and the adults keep playing the game.  

I spent the morning just hanging out with Mimz.  We did get my hair cut so I would be very handsome to meet my teacher this afternoon.  My dad picked me up to go to my school to meet my teacher.   After getting me, Daddy dropped by Mommy's work and she went with us.

Meet the Teacher was from 1:30 to 3:30pm.  We went around 1:40pm.  There might have been seven or eight kids there the same time as me.  To get to my new classroom you go down the second hallway (kindergarden is down the first hall).  Turn right and the second door on the right is where we found Mrs. Cat.

My teacher's name is Jean Catozella, but she has her students call her Mrs. Cat.   She introduced herself and my parents introduced themselves and me.  Mrs. Cat asked me to write my name on a post-it note and put the note on the desk that I would like to use.  Most of the desks were in groups of four.  One group only had three desks and then a fourth desk was by itself by the door.  That is the desk I chose.  My adults wonder what I was thinking.  Maybe I thought first in line for lunch, recess, and bathroom breaks. 

This is the letter Mrs. Cat has on the school web site to introduce herself to her students and their parents.

Mrs. Cat gave me an envelope and told me not to open it until Sunday night, the night before my first day of first grade.  How exciting!  I wonder what this is all about.

We hung the envelope on my dresser mirror so we would know where to find it.

Daddy dropped me off at home, where I told my great grandparents and Barbara just a little about my teacher and what happened at Meet The Teacher.   Then I ran off to play with friends.

It wasn't long before Alyssa left with her dad and brother to go to Meet The Teacher.  And guess what?   Alyssa came back saying her teacher's name was Mrs. Cat!!!!!!   I was very happy to hear that bit of news.    Alyssa is a very good reader and she has helped Barbara help me several times with reading.  Hopefully this turns out to be a good thing.

Barbara played dodge ball with me.  Those rubber balls have been one of our best toy investments.  We used to play dodge ball every day in my big toy room.  Now we don't have the big room to play in so we don't play it as much.

I wouldn't eat pork chops and mashed potatoes.  I wanted something else.  GGM made me a balona sandwich.  They bought some this morning for the first time in a long long time.  I liked it.  Barbara thought it was the first time I had eaten it, but I told her Papa had fixed it for me before.

Someone gave me a box of Disgusting Jelly Beans.  Every once in awhile, Alyssa and I will start to eat one, then we run to the bathroom to spit it out and wash out our mouths.  We gave one to Barbara.  She almost threw up on us!  (Well, not really.  She didn't put it on her mouth because she knew what we were doing, but we didn't know she knew.)

I've been begging Mommy to buy me a new backpack.  Barbara thinks that is really unnecessary because my last years backpack is in perfect shape and looks like new.  I hoped I'd win this little battle.  And guess what, I did!

A little before 9pm Mommy drove me over to Daddy's so I could spend the night with him.  He is taking the day off tomorrow so he can spend some time with me.  I took my Battleship game so Daddy can teach me how to play it.  He is really good at that game.  He is really good at most games and sports.

Mommy bought me a couple new shirts for school.  Mimz already bought me shoes, so I think I have everything I need for school except I will need jeans when it gets a little cooler.