Seven Years of the Fifth!

The Fifth “is a kind and caring friend who is always the first to share with his peers or let them take a turn first,” according to his teacher.

He is authentic. There is no duplicity in him. The Engineer’s summer school teacher shared that the Fifth looked inquisitively at him for a while and said, “You’re handsome.” The teacher is a jock, a former Mater Dei/Villanova football star. DH snickered at the story when I told him and responded, “Well, he IS kind of handsome.” The Fifth is great at immediately saying what everyone else is thinking. We love him so much!

I took him to Disney for the first time (for both of us) to celebrate; and he loved it!

Stats Coming Soon!

Previous Stats:

Six Years, Five Years, Four Years, Three Years, Thirty Months, Two Years, Fifteen Months, One Year, Nine Months, Six Months, Four Months, Two Months, One Week, and Birth.

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Servite v. Centennial

Our opponent was no. 8 in the nation. The Eldest played defense, offense, and all special teams. The coaches kept him in for 3/4 of the game with only brief play breaks. It was 90* on turf in black. He was also playing opposite a veritable giant, who he nevertheless tackled a couple of times. I do not have those on camera; but there were reverberating cheers from his parents! Highlights:

The giant. “Is he actually a freshman?” was asked a few times.

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Not Bound By Convention

“Why are you wearing a suit?” 

“Because I want to.”

This is what he changed into at night after his shower.

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First Day of Elementary + Middle School!

The little boys woke up at 6:15. “We can’t be late for school!” Sol announced no fewer than five times. He reminds me of his dad. Everyone left at 7:42. I’m always surprised by the time it takes to launch everyone: breakfast, showers, nail trimming, teeth brushing, clothes steaming, lunch packing, etc.

Today, this was a 2-parent effort, which is much more peaceful than doing it all alone. We love these people so much!

It was sunny which is noteworthy! We often have clouds (and sometimes a hurricane) in the morning this time of year. [The final photo is only slightly better than the outtakes. 😂🤣]

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Harvest

“Mom, I’m helping Dad farm!” the Fifth announced as he picked pomegranates. We have two trees, the most fecund of which yields about 100 pomegranates per season.

The internet said to harvest all the pomegranates when the first of them splits. They are early this year.

Every time we see a $5 pomegranate in the grocery store, we ask ourselves why we aren’t selling these!

 

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Freshman Football/Beach Bonfire

We split up per usual tonight. DH took the youngest four. I took the Engineer to the Firstborn's first high school football scrimmage. Last week, we watched Gridiron Gang, the inspiring true story of a high school football team in LA. Today's scrimmage started earlier than advertized. So, I missed seeing him play. When complete, we joined DH at the elementary back to school bonfire.

D-Line coach:

Head coach, also has six kids:

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Profundity from the Engineer

“Mom, you and Dad have a lot in common.”

“Tell me about that, Bud.”

(Of course, I know this is true but want to know his perspective.)

“You both have blond hair and blue eyes. You are both of average height. You both have wide feet, which are rare. You both have ADHD.”

“All true.”

“The only thing you don’t have in common is taste in music.”

“I know. I have significantly better taste.”

—————

Of Sol, “He puts the ‘date’ in ‘play date.’”

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