student athletes

we've now got three student athletes on the watkins team. 

1. cooper's loving the first grade. he lucked out and got the kind of teacher that every mother dreams of. he amazes me with his school work. since he's one of the oldest in the class & kind of brilliant it makes sense that he would be the smartest in the class. but that's not the amazing part. what's so rad about this guy is how he uses his down time at school. he finishes all of his assignments in record time & rather than sit around he challenges himself to take his assignments one step further. if the teacher asks them to copy his spelling words he will copy his spelling words then write sentences for each word. if the teacher asks for sentences he writes paragraphs. oh, and he rarely comes home with homework because this time-manager finishes most of it while in class. he's just like his mama. and i couldn't be more proud. he just started another year of soccer & he couldn't be more excited. soccer season is his favorite time of the year. he got his favorite coach, daddy, again this year. he's kind of a natural when it comes to managing sports & school. when cooper's teacher asked him what made him special he said, "i'm super fast & super smart." (coop was asked to write sentences for his spelling words. the word was hat. he wrote "the man had 1 hat on monday, he had 3 hats on tuesday, the net week he had 10 hats!" so creative. then for the word what he wrote, "what was the present? it was a surprise. i wonder what it will be. a boat? or a big toy master? now it is night time i woke up and it was a big remote boat. it was my first guess! yesssssss!" um, brilliant.

2. tj started preschool. it's called storybook school & it's a co-op. so far he loves it. i wasn't sure how he would do but since a few of his old friends are in the class he seems pretty comfortable & confident. i taught the first week & loved it. the kids are awesome, the curriculum is so fun, & i just love seeing a different side of tj. on days he doesn't go to storybook school tj & i do our homeschool. we've been doing "school" since january but we've really stepped it up this school year. we have our homeschool preschool every morning (he insists. in fact, he won't leave the house until his school is done.) so far he's mastered shapes, colors, & coating, & he's half way through numbers. we have weekly themes & field trips. each day we have art, reading, a fine motor-skill, & a gross motor-skill activities beyond our worksheets. i love this quality time i get with my middlest child & he amazes me with how quickly he catches on to everything. he has a unique way of thinking & every day he comes up with something brilliant that just amazes me. he has an incredible memory, & a real knack for distinguishing differences, & navigating problems. tj was going to start soccer this year but with two other student athletes in the house i decided i couldn't take on another time commitment. but he thinks he's on cooper's team & participates in all the practices. 

3. todd started the executive mba program at university of hawaii. this is a distance learning program so he's able to do most of his schooling from maui & just travels to oahu every month or so. he couldn't be more excited about this new phase of his life. needless to say, this is a real adjustment for our whole family. he now works full-time & attends school full-time, which combined equals about a billion hours a week. so we squeeze in family time every chance we get. between school, work, & coaching todd doesn't get much downtime but when he does you can usually spot him on the waves or passing a ball at the park.

(just cause it doesn't feel right writing about 3 of the 4 i'll add a little tid-bit about the mighty. if he's awake while tj & i do our homeschool he always joins in. he either colors in his favorite coloring book for the day or he works on color activities with me. so far he knows blue, orange, white, & "hulk smash". and he's a huge fan of the number 4. he hates the 3 hours a week when tj is away at school. i was so excited to have some alone time with my baby but he prefers the company of his brothers. he may love soccer more than any of my other boys. he wants to play all the time. and he insists on practicing with cooper's team, through the entire 2 hour practice. he dribbles, passes, & shoots right along with the u8's.)