Jack and Cate Update -- January, 2010

Friday, January 1, 2010

Over Christmas, the kids spent a night with Grandma Irene, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Scott, and Cate learned to make chocolate cookies *from scratch*. Fortunately for us, she was anxious to show off her new-found talents when she returned home.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Jack was decidedly less enthusiastic about photographing his new-found talent of building scale-model motorcycle jumps.

But deep down, we know he's thrilled to share his gift with us. Deep, deep down.

Friday, January 1, 2010

A girl and her dog.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Dog. Sans girl.

The kids are incredibly lucky that Snickerdoodle is such a compliant dog. They'll pull her and pose her and generally run amok, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Jack discovered a YMCA team with a bunch of his buddies, and he immediately recognized that basketball is the sport for him. He's never played before, but early indications (very early: this is the first practice) are good.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Basketball would be so much easier if you didn't have to run *and* dribble. Even in the first practice, Jack could quickly run the drills up and down the court.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

When it can time to shoot, however, Jack applied the more liberal six-or-seven-step rule that the league generally frowns upon.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Grandma Irene generously took us to [Great Wolf Lodge](http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/greatwolflodgeingrapevine/) for a weekend.

Cate models [Paul Frank](http://images.google.com/images?q=paul+frank) while Jack models how not to use a window.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

"Look, Dad! Look, Dad! This is what I'd look like with [Galifianakis-esque](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Galifianakis) beard!"

Actually, she never said that. It would've been pretty cool though...

Saturday, January 9, 2010

After more than four hours in the wave pool and the water slides, we're lucky she didn't fall asleep before dinner. It must have been the television in the kids' "cabin."

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Cate powered through dinner and was still (somewhat unbelievably) conscious for the 8 PM story-time.

Our night at the lodge coincided with the Cowboys first-round playoff game. I was worried that we'd miss it, but we watched the game over our dinner along with a highly partisan crowd. [It was great.](http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/news.cfm?id=169AE15F-939C-1E63-6BC05CF8E012715A)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Jack Nelson: suited-up, fired-up, ready-to-go.

Summoning my every ounce of willpower, I refrained from quotation marks to Jack's jersey with a Sharpie: turning it into "Lasers", Dr. Evil-style.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Coach Mike carefully crafts a second-half strategy.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Coach Mike still carefully crafts a second-half strategy.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Coach Mike continues to still carefully craft a second-half strategy.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Only a week later, and a team huddle involves actual eye contact. Now that's progress.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Forgive the bloody paper towels, but even this mess doesn't really do it justice.

When we purchased the trampoline, we didn't fully appreciate that it's primary purpose would be full-contact wrestling and suprisingly little [up-and-down jumping motion](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgS-4stj8fQ). Cole, Jack and Cate were all wrestling when Cate took Jack's knee squarely on the nose. There was so much blood, I was initially sure she was missing some teeth. After significant clean-up, we discovered only an extremely bloody nose.