Jacob's 2011

Jaco had a great 2011! In March he was able to go to an overnight school activity where he did not get too much sleep but he did live and returned home to us! His school went to Camp Hancock which is an OMSI sponsored field station east of the John Day River in NE Oregon. They did night hikes, day hikes, rock climbing and all sorts of fun things.

At Camp Hancock

In June he went to his first school dance. I was not 100% for him going, but it was a final hoorah for him before we moved away from his school. It was an 80's theme and there were plenty of adult chaperons and no couples so we decided it was ok. He had a lot of fun!

June 15th he finished 6th grade and had to say goodbye to some amazing teachers, a great little school and get ready to start middle school! He finished the year reading the second to the most Accelerated Reader points and won a gift certificate to a book store.Last Day of school with flowers for his teacher

Saying goodbye to Mrs Conly

receiving his AR award, looking perplexed because he thought he came in 1st place, not 2nd.

While in 6th grade, Jaco had to take a basic Spanish Class. He quickly became frustrated with the slow speed they were being taught. He took it upon himself to learn to speak Spanish. He literally spent hours doing online courses and littering the house with page after page of vocabulary notes and note cards. When he started 7th grade at the new middle school, his teacher realized he was way farther advanced than anyone else in her classes and has put in a request for him to take Spanish class at the high school. We will go to the high school on January 4th to meet with the principle and for him to take the high school placement test. The high school principle told me the school has never had a request for a middle school student to take high school Spanish...lots of math requests but this is the 1st Spanish one. According to his middle school teacher, he is at least at a high school junior level. I have had several people tell me he speaks amazingly well. Now that he feels pretty confident with Spanish, he is teaching himself Mandarin Chinese.

Studying foreign languages even while on a family hike!

On July 22, Jaco turned 12! It was a special birthday because not only was he old enough to be ordained a deacon in our church but we also finally got the keys for our new home in Ashland! We went to lunch at Sizzler with his friend Anson Savage. He got a basketball hoop which was already at the new house so it was a fun surprise. Dinner that night was pizza with the crowd from our new ward who helped us unload all our gear into the new house. After dinner he had fun shooting hoops with some new friends. His birthday cake was made to look like Hugo from the book series "Fablehaven". If you've read the books you might see a resemblance but if not, it might look like a chocolate blob on a green cake!

July 24th was a big day. Jaco was ordained to the office of Deacon in the Aaronic priesthood in our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was a special day made even more amazing by Grandma and Grandpa Finch driving all the way from Idaho just to spend the day with Jaco. We did not know they were coming so it was a huge surprise when there was a knock on our door Saturday evening and there stood G&G Finch. Our friends the Savage's also came from Grants Pass to share the day with our family.

School started September 6th and Jaco entered the large world of Middle School. He loves school and especially enjoyed an intro to Chinese culture class which got him interested in learning Chinese! He played a season of Basketball and was on a great team that only lost one game.1st day of 7th grade!

Go BLUE!

Justin has convinced Jaco that golf isn't too bad, especially over on the Oregon coast. The boys have taken several trips over to hit the little ball around. It sounds like Jaco is getting pretty good at it!

Jaco is now officially a Boy Scout. Our troop did a popcorn selling fundraiser. Jaco sold more popcorn than anyone ever has in this troop which earned him an Amazon gift card, a nerf type toy and a wad of cash from all the commission and tips he earned. It gave me a headache to keep everything straight and organized! :-)

Jaco's latest obsession is learning how to skateboard. La-La and Care Bear received skate boards for their birthdays and it got Jaco wanting one too. He is getting better and better and trying to master the ollie. I have to say, boarding is something I never would have pictured him doing. As long as he doesn't take on the look and attitude of a boarder, I am fine with it.

So there you have it, Jaco's 2011!