Action's (aka...) School Year in Review

Action finished his last day of 7th grade. Let me tell you, this school year wasn't without some struggles and frustrations both for him and Hubby and I.  Don't get me wrong, it was full of good, fun, laughs and happiness as well! 

Let's begin as I did with Hannah yesterday ~ Nicknames.  

Action.... Action got his nickname not only on this blog, but in real life as well.  We don't really use it anymore, but we use to.  Jackson is his actual name.  Action wasn't his only nickname either, Sodbuster was his other one.  Just as the busyness the name Action implies,  Sodbuster does as well.  Technically it means a farmer or worker who plows the land.  Jackson was busy and full of life.  Some of that constant moving and busyness has faded away, but he is still full of life.

Lets begin with September 2016

School started ~ 7th Grade

Football was in full swing.  Jackson had fun working hard and learning new positions.  It is definitely a proud parenting moment when you see your child work so hard.

Football Season ran right into hunting season.  Jackson took the hunter safety course required to get a  hunting license, meaning instead of just walking along, he was able to shoot.  This was an exciting first time for him and he couldn't wait to get out in the fields.

Of course right after that came Halloween.  I'm not sure Jackson has many more years of dressing up (and trick-or-treating anyway) ahead of him but this year he decided to dress up as Robin Hood (much to his dismay, his little sister dressed up as Robin Hood's Sister ~ as we called her anyway! Pics of that in my next post) This costume seemed to carryon the hunting theme ~ bow hunting instead

January was a busy month!

First, Jackson was able to travel with Smiley and I to meet his new cousin.  We thought we were heading on a 4 hour journey to attend a baby shower.  Baby shower turned into a birthday party when this little guy decided to arrive 3 weeks early!  A surprise for sure, but wonderful as we were all there to celebrate anyway!

The next weekend, he was able to head out of town with Dad, a buddy, and a few other guys for a fun  boys weekend.  They had a lot of fun hanging out and ice fishing.

Finally, we had a big day to celebrate.  Jackson's 13th Birthday!!! We didn't just have one celebration either.  (all the details are in this post)

One with just us as a family (with his favorite chocolate cake with chocolate frosting)

Another celebration with Grandpa and Grandma when they were able to come up for a visit.  This time he picked cheesecake as his celebration dessert.

Finally, he had a small party with a couple of friends.  First things first they went and worked up an appetite at a paint ball facility. They had a blast ~ literally and each of them had a few paint ball bruises to show for it!  Afterwards, they had a cupcake (or maybe a couple) to celebrate. Again ~ chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, just in cupcake form.

Once we got through January, things slowed down a bit.  The holidays were over, his birthday was celebrated. Time to focus on school and family.  Soon enough though, spring was creeping up on us.
Easter took us to Grandpa and Grandma's house where church, good food and lots of family were just what we needed.  Of course there was time to do a little four wheeler riding'

Baseball tryouts happened, and the team is practicing and gearing up for some fun baseball.  Jackson is playing with some buddies from previous years and is excited to play.

And just like that, 7th grade is over.
Jackson isn't very organized and finds himself playing catch up a lot of times when it comes to homework which hubby and I find completely frustrating.  However he had a good 7th grade year.  He made some fun memories and ended up with good grades.  We are definitely ready for summer though (and a haircut! Sheesh!)

SaveSave

Another Teenager in the House!

Action has been talking about this day for 2 1/2 years.

I don't know why, but when Sassy turned 13, back in 2014, I thought it would be fun to get her 13 presents ~ a couple bigger items and a bunch of little items: lotions, nail polish, fun socks, you know 13 year old girly stuff.  

What I didn't realize was, I was creating a new tradition.  One that Action couldn't wait for.  Thirteen presents on your 13th birthday! Oh, the anticipation!

Fast forward to Sunday January 22nd.  Oooh the air was abuzz with excitement.  Action came down from his bedroom in the morning after a good nights sleep to see that there were indeed 13 presents lined up in front of the fireplace just waiting for him.  However, upon further counting, he was bummed to see there were actually only 12.  I had to explain to him that the headphones he "needed" a few days earlier because his older ones had broken were actually part of the 13 (*wink *wink ~ more to come later!) gifts.

No worries, he was still excited!

Now he just had to wait until his Dad and Sassy got home from softball practice........

When they finally got home, present opening began:

He received:
A Book Light
Nerf Gun Darts
Body Spray
Body Wash
Deodorant
Twix Candy
A DVD
A Duvet
A Duvet Cover (time to redo his room ~ an update the decor he'd had since he was 2)
A Book
New Wall Art
And
Sneakly I wrapped presents 12 and 13 together in a one, so it looked like he was only getting 12 presents!  #12 was his first cell phone and #13 was a case for his phone.

Needless to say he was excited!

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and when we got home it was time for CAKE!

True to form, he requested his favorite chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (RECIPE HERE ~ with update pictures!).

A week later Grandpa and Grandma were able to make the 4 1/2 hour drive to visit.  Sassy had a volleyball tournament, but we still found time to celebrate our newest 13 year old.  This time the requested dessert was cheesecake ~ yummy!

(I think 13yr old stayed up too late the night before ~ he looks a bit sleepy in this picture!)

But that wasn't all!  Just last weekend, Action had a couple of buddies over to celebrate as well!  They went to an indoor paintball facility for a few hours, came back to our house to have  ~ you guessed it ~ CAKE, chocolate cake (although in cupcake form), and spent the night.

I think this kid of mine had a good time celebrating his 13th birthday!

7th

Now to bring you up to speed on Action.

He is 12 1/2 years old and just started 7th grade.

School is definitely not his favorite place to be and his lack of organization skills doesn't help, but we work hard to help him do his best.

He doesn't really like to read, but he did devour The Treasure Hunters series by James Patterson this summer ~ helps that it was interesting and a bit of an easy read for him!

He still has dimples that can light up a room.

Enjoys playing golf, baseball and football.

He is definitely an almost teenage boy and can find humor in the silliest things....objects and smells....I know, disgusting!

Much to his dad's chagrin, he likes to stick up for me!

He was gifted a remote control boat this summer and it has been the best thing ever!  He really enjoys driving it around the pond behind our house.  Only downer was when it ran out of battery power in the middle of the pond.  While he really wanted me to put on hubby's waders and walk in and get it,  I let him do a little brainstorming and figure it out himself.  It was fun watching him use his resources to solve the problem!

He enjoys playing with friends, going on bike rides and spending time on our actual boat.

I love his tender, loving, relaxed (although sometimes lazy) personality!

Puerto Vallarta ~ Part 3 ~ The Final Chapter

Onto the final chapter.....

Thursday, the girls hung out with another family and did a little shopping while Hubby, 

Action and I went zip-lining.  Action was feeling MUCH better and was excited to have his turn.  

The three of us had a blast ~ it's a bit invigorating to find yourself flying through the trees and over a river on a beautiful, warm, sunshiny day.

Friday ~ kind of a sad day ~ our last full day in Puerto Vallarta.....

Since Hubby, Action and I missed out on walking around and shopping a bit, we decided to to that on Friday morning with the Sassy and Smiley.   It just so happened that Friday wasn't just any Friday, it was Good Friday.  We took a taxi to the Malecon.  The Malecon is basically a boardwalk with lots of little shops and interesting sculptures.  On this particular day, there were also lot sand sculptures.  

This was one of them:

very cool!

There were also stations of the cross set up along the walk as well.  

I was very impressed and know fully that this would offend people in the US and most likely would not be permitted.

We continued walking and enjoying the culture.

Personally, I loved the architechure.

We also were able to visit this beautiful church, Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish. 

There was a Good Friday service in progress, so we just stood in the back and admired the inside of the church.

Sassy and Smiley had also gone in the day before when they were shopping with friends, and just like then, 

Smiley felt the need to kneel down and pray.

When we were finished, we headed back to the resort to enjoy our last day in the warm sun.....

(lots of handstands were performed in the pool)

Saturday we headed home.  

After a flight cancellation and an unexpected overnight in a hotel in LA, this is how we spent Easter Morning ~ 5:30am at LAX.  It was an adventure to get home, but we eventually made it.

This vacation was a much needed break from the run-around of our everyday lives.  

The hustle and bustle of school, work, sports and daily life.  

We had such a great time and made some awesome memories with each other and with our friends.

Puerto Vallarta ~ Part 2

I will just continue where I left off yesterday......

Wednesday.

Wednesday we had scheduled a dolphin swim experience (through this company, which I would definitely recommend). Two other families in our group were scheduled for the same time.  We all set off to create some lasting memories.  As we waited for our opportunity to interact and swim with the dolphins, the kids were able to hold a monkey (Smiley wasn't so sure about it, so she opted out):

Finally, our wait was over. After some brief instructions as a large group, we were separated by families with our respective dolphin and trainer.  We got in the water with the dolphin  (ours was a male) where we were able to  learn about him, "pet" him, dance with him, get and give a kiss, get him to "sing", do a few tricks (act like a shark, wave, have a water fight, blow bubbles) and ultimately we were given a ride by this amazing creature.  For me, this was a highlight of our trip, something I have always wanted to do that I can now cross off the bucket list.

After our dolphin experience, we were able to pick and purchase some pictures and a short video of our time with the dolphin.  While we were waiting for those to print, the kids were once again able to hold another animal, this time a parrot.  

We headed back to the resort and the rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool.

Come back tomorrow for the final chapter......