Jonathan just finished his sophomore volleyball season. He played fabulously, if I say so myself. Granted, I am his mom but I’m pretty sure by the end of the season he was the best player on his JV team. A dad of one of the other boys on the team told me that it’s not just because he’s my son but he felt like Jonathan was the “most versatile player on the team” and I think that described him well. He did a good job at the basics: serving, passing, setting, blocks and hitting. It also helps that he’s a solid 6’4” now.
He’s been putting a lot of effort into school and it shows. He got in the 99th+ %tile on the PSAT for Sophomores. It definitely plays on his strengths.
He had a bad attitude about early morning seminary last year so I’ve been doing seminary at home with him and he attends on Mondays when the start time is 7:00AM instead of 6:00AM. Although I wish he'd go in-person and hope he will next year, it’s been nice in a lot of ways to study The Old Testament with him.
He and James went to our stake youth Trek over Spring Break. He may or may not have been a willing pioneer but he seemed to be happy after coming home. His “Ma” said he was a huge help to their handcart family and I’m glad he went.
He and James accompanied a stake youth choir at an Interfaith concert on Sunday. I had roped them into accompanying the primary when our piano player couldn’t make it for the program last year, but other than that and a little piano accompanying during covid, this was their first time playing with people singing. I thought they did great.
Lastly, Summer 2020 we were at a ward beach get-together during COVID and a mom in the ward pointed out to me that Jonathan had saved a kid’s life. In his typical quiet, silent ways he didn’t want to talk about it but we finally got from him that he saw a ten or eleven year old kid being pulled out by a riptide. He asked if he needed help and the boy said “no” but he noticed he was struggling and asked again and the boy said, “yes”. Then he pulled him to the side and to where he could stand, then to where the boy could stand. It was an especially neat experience for me since a few months prior, I had read an article about a man saving lives in a similar situation and we had talked about it during Family Home Evening, then watched a church movie comparing it to spiritual safety.
At school his peers sometimes ask him what country he is from and have a hard time believing he is American. I guess his size and light complexion throw them off.
James has been busy playing soccer as goal keeper, playing basketball in a city rec league and is also doing a robotics team. He and Jonathan are refereeing soccer in the Murrieta youth league on Saturday mornings which seems to be a great first job. He and Michael are the same height up to their waists then Michael has him beat upper-body wise. The other night they compared feet. James' are a lot bigger and he teased Michael asking how can he stay balanced with such small feet. He had three friends over the other day and I pointed out that they were all of Asian ancestry. He replied that “I guess they’re the nice ones”. He also mentioned teachers have him sit by the delinquent kids at school. I’m glad he is known for being well-behaved but wish the teachers didn’t do this.
Grace is a diligent learner in school. She gets all A+’s in school and goes early and comes home late so she can do homework at the library where there’s some peace and quiet. She’s taking cello, loves Young Women’s at church (is the secretary of whatever they call the Beehive class now), and is super happy to have finally made some friends at school. She and one nice girl in her math class got along really well. It ends up the other girl is a member of our same church in a neighboring ward. She inherited James’ apple watch and I can’t tell you how nice that’s been. She randomly will send sweet texts saying “I love you Mom” with a heart and helps me out around the house more than any of the boys. I’m so grateful for her!
Michael and I agree that Ryan is our child that seems to take the most after Michael. He’s such a character. This morning for example, he wanted to go to school wearing a batting glove on one hand only because he has a hurt on it from his football game yesterday. I told him he can’t wear a batting glove to school and asked Michael what was going through his head to make him think it would be a good idea. Michael replied by saying, “I guess you were never a nine-year-old boy :) ”
Ryan has been playing baseball and football. Michael signed him up to play a level up on both teams so he’s been the youngest by far. We had to work through a challenging coach in football but have resolved that and he is enjoying his first experience with the sport. He is an important contributor to both his teams. Yesterday, he got two awesome touch downs in a highlight game for him.
Ryan has been fascinated with eyes and did a project on vision for school. I told him maybe he’d be a good eye doctor like my brother and he replied that would be a good option if he hadn’t already decided to be a professional baseball player. I suggested maybe he could do both.
James and Grace made Ryan a cute homemade robot costume from old boxes for Halloween. For Thanksgiving, we went out to AZ to see my sister Mary and her family before they move to Washington DC. Mary had two little redheaded girls and it was fun to see him interact with them. He just loved teasing them.
When the kids were home due to covid, Ryan was given a school iPad. He ended up being a ringleader for kids in his class to play Minecraft together instead of doing schoolwork. Later in the school year after many mornings and afternoons at home with conflict around appropriate screen time, he decide, in order to try to overcome his electronic addiction, to throw his iPad in the outdoor trash can. Unbelievable! I could tell something was going on when he would pass me and smile like he was proud himself then ask when the garbage would be picked up. Then on Monday morning, there was no iPad to be found. I got suspicious and pointed out that if we lost that iPad we’d have to pay for it. Sure enough he went out to the curb and came back in with the iPad before the garbage truck came. He confessed to throwing it away to help himself overcome his habit of playing videogames during school. The following summer we put restrictions on his Chromebook and iPad.
He has a generous heart. When our piano teacher’s wife passed away from covid, he wanted to give him his money.
He loves foot rubs, playing with friends, things that involve making messes and has boundless energy. He’s enjoyed reading some of the same series his older siblings have read and turns his nose up on any books that aren’t long chapter books. Sundays are torture for him because he “has nothing to do”. His favorite place to be is right between Michael and me with a comfy blanket.
