The Second

The big news for Jack lately is that he participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) with his class in November.  He got really into it and worked on his book as much as possible: before school, during school, after school, and even in the car.  He loved to read us what he'd written and he even helped Luke act it out.

Jack's teacher's expectation was for each kid to write a book with at least 1,000 words by the end of the month.  Well, Jack hasn't quite finished his book yet, but he far exceeded the word-count goal.  In fact, he and the other kids who had reached their goal early received a special treat of a VR session on a teacher's phone during school one day.

Jack was considered a winner because he met his word-count goal, even though the book isn't finished yet.  By the end of the month Jack had about 5,600 words written of Justin Sersone's Adventures, Book 1: Token's Army.  It's the story of a 15-year-old boy with super powers who teams up with other super-teens to defeat the evil villain Token.  I'm hoping to share it here when it's finished.

While Jack's class was working on NaNoWriMo, they were also learning the Cup Song.  They worked hard to put together a performance to "Best Day of My Life" for Show What You Know at the beginning of December.  Jack is on the far side of the table in this video.

In other school-related news, Jack made the following poster about Millard County, UT for his County Project in Social Studies.  Can you tell that he has a little thing for Pokemon right now?

Jack continues to enjoy Cub Scouts.  He's earned a few more belt loops over the last few months, with his favorite activities being learning about fingerprinting and cooking (making English muffin pizzas).

My favorite was when he came home with two plastic cups of dirt and referred to them as "pickles and basils."  I assumed that he'd planted cucumber seeds in one and basil in the other, but I was wrong.  The first cup contained dill (which has grown a lot more since I took this picture a few weeks ago) and the second has yet to sprout anything, which I suspect is due to a lack of watering.

Jack is showing more and more promise on the piano.  He hasn't protested practicing piano with me as much as he used to and he is even doing a better job of practicing on his own.  He's enjoying his new solo pieces and he's learning them really quickly.

Antics and More

This is from mid-October but I don't think I've shared it yet.
Jack was so excited to be Harry Potter for Halloween that he gave himself
a lightning scar.  Using a pen.

Jack carried his shoes while he walked to the car after school one day.
Neither of us remembers why.

When I was getting the kids' church clothes out on Saturday night, I couldn't find Jack's belt
to go with his too-big-in-the-waist church pants.  I cinched the waist using a safety pin and
expected him to wear the pants that way.  Instead, this is what the pin looked like when I
saw Jack the next day after choir.  I'm not sure why/how this happened, but it made me laugh.

...and then I understood where Jack's broccoli went during dinner.

Jack led the kids in basketball fun during Cat's halftimes.  It didn't bother him at all
that the boys' team was on the court at the same time.  He continued to dribble,
pass, and shoot with his siblings as long as he could.

I loved that Jack entertained himself during Cat's piano lesson the other day by reading
a new(ish) illustrated Harry Potter book we checked out from the library.

Jack's been really into football lately and plays every chance he gets.
He was thrilled when a neighbor gave him a kid-sized ball to keep,
but when he tried to give it more air, he overdid it just a bit.  The ball
doubled in size, expanding out of its skin.  It's now approximately the
size of an adult rugby ball.