Jackinator

Mr. & Mrs. Mayor

Here's a small video clip of Mr. & Mrs. Mayor, their daughter Jo-Jo and the Whos of Whoville, courtesy of our local on-line newsgroup, NK Patch.  Amanda & her friends thought it was cute that Jack was the smallest member of his 'family'...

    

 After the show:

    

The Big Show!

The performances of Jack's play, Seussical Jr., have been a success so far!  Only a couple of minor mishaps which the cast covered for nicely.  On the way home last night, Jack asked me if I heard a toilet flush during the show.  He thinks someone may have gone to the bathroom with their mic on.  I didn't hear anything but it reminded me of a very funny scene from a movie from my college days.  I showed Jack the clip after we got home; it's still funny!

Jack is exhausted but happy.  For the past 2 weeks, he's had rehearsals every day after school until 6 pm, 5K training (he's up to 1.5 miles walking/jogging!) and 5 performances in 3 days.  He's been asked for his autograph (OK, that was from Pop-Pop :) and has been given notes & hugs from pretty girls (Amanda's friends think he's just adorable; he pretends not to like this).  Tonight is the closing performance and cast party at a local restaurant. 

I'll post more pics soon!

Are you kiddin' me

We had to gather up items for Jack's costume for Seussical Jr. this week.  He's wearing soccer shorts, colorful knee-high socks (he chose mismatched ones from Amanda's bountiful supply) and black, red & white sneakers.  After he put those things on, he looked down at himself and said, 'Are you kiddin' me.'  Hehehe - can't wait to see the play!  The performances are next week - Wednesday, Thursday & Friday the 6th, 7th & 8th at 6:30pm.  For you locals, I have 4 tickets left for Thursday and 1 ticket left for Friday.  If you'd like to go, let me know!

Funky Painting

A piece of Jack's artwork was chosen for the town-wide junior art show, one of only 10 from the entire school!  His class studied the artist Romare Bearden and then had to paint a 'self-portrait.'  Quite a funky piece of art!

Poetry

It's back to school for Jack on Monday!  He has completed all of the work that was sent home.  One of the pieces of schoolwork was a poetry worksheet.  He is writing about Martin Luther King and had to complete various sentences that start with I See, I Want, I Hear, etc..  We worked on it for an hour and he surprised me with some of the phrases he came up with.  Especially since for the first 10 minutes, he was trying to include 'hopscotch' and 'french fries' in his poem!  I only had to nudge him a little, mainly just by reading the I have a Dream speech to him so he could get ideas.  Here are some of his responses:

I hear black men sing of freedom
I see injustice and must change that
I pretend hatred means nothing to me
I touch the bars on my jail cell
I feel cheated

We may have another writer in the family!  In school, there is an inter-classroom mail system where the kids can write letters to each other.  Well, a few weeks ago, Jack wrote a letter to the garbage can in his classroom.  His teacher said it was just delivered last week so we'll be eagerly anticipating the garbage can's response :)

Mr. Mayor!

Jack got his part in his school play, Seussical Jr. - he is the Mayor of Whoville!  It looks like a pretty good part and he starts rehearsals today after school.  He doesn't know what his costume will look like but I picture a top hat and a tuxedo coat with long tails.  Jack is hoping for a cane and a monocle!

There is also a 'Mrs. Mayor.'  When Amanda found out about that, she did quite a bit of teasing, much to Jack's dismay.  It was getting out of hand, so I threatened taking away Facebook if she didn't stop.  Well, she decided it was worth it to give up Facebook for the evening to keep teasing Jack.  I must admit, it was cute to see Jack blush! 

Jackinator ProductionZ Presents...

Jack has been experimenting with his music-making device and video editing software, and here are some preliminary results -

Dance Competition Spoof:

 

 

Original Music & Dancing:

 

Nana and Pop-pop

We're having a nice week with Nana and Pop-pop visiting!  We've been to the town beach and our pool club.  Last night, we got the chiminea going on the deck and made S'mores.  This was a first for Nana, although she said she preferred a toasted marshmallow with the Hershey bar on the side.  I prefer to eat the ingredients separately, too.  I guess the marshmallow doesn't fall far from the firepit :)  Also, Jack invented a new hotdog, which Pop-pop tried and liked.  It's called The Beast:  melt your favorite cheese on a hotdog roll; place a layer of french fries on the roll; put a grilled hotdog on top of the fries and top with ketchup.  Yum, yum!

 
 

Isaac and Jack

Jack and Isaac spent another afternoon together.  Here's some lyrics I made up about them, to the tune of The Addams Family theme song:

Their ghostly fascination
and vast imagination
keeps them deep in conversation

They're funny as can be

They gang up on Amanda
and get her in a panic
and then they laugh like manics

They're funny as can be

Isaac and Jack (snap snap)
Isaac and Jack (snap snap)
Isaac and Jack, Isaac and Jack
Isaac and Jack (snap snap)

Isaac's friendship was fantastic
when Jack was hugely casted
I'm glad that it has lasted

They're funny as can be!

Side Note (posted by !aMaNdA!)

Today at dinner, Jack and I were arguing about whether Jack, or me,  gave Mom the better French Fry. Mom likes the small, crispy french fries, and the one I gave mom was waaaaay better than the one Jack gave Mom. (leave a comment on who you think is right! meee) Later, Jack, Dad, and I went outside to play some "Kickball" and me and jack had a heated argument about whether a yak would run you over if it got in your way. It definitely wouldnt, right?!?!? it would just go around you! what do you think?? LEAVE A COMMENT!!!

~!aMaNdA!~