Collin is 10!

Happy 10th birthday, Collin! 

For Collin's birthday activity this year, he picked taking his friend Jayden to Fly High (a trampoline park), out to lunch at Cafe Rio and to Coldstone for ice cream. They had a great time the Saturday before his big day.

His actual birthday was the first day off of school for Holiday Break, so we invited Jayden over to eat popcorn and watch Eragon, the movie Jayden had gotten him as his gift the weekend before. They also spent some time playing Minecraft.

That evening I made him steak, baked potatoes and steamed broccoli for his requested dinner. He opened his presents (origami paper & instructional book from Nana and taekwondo nun-chucks from us). For dessert, he wanted cheesecake. He ate four slices himself! Yum.

Collin is still such a joy to have in our home. I appreciate him and his peacemaker-attitude so much. When picking cheesecake for his birthday cake, he wanted the one with all the slices the same so there wouldn't be a fight. And when picking his birthday activity out-to-lunch restaurant, he wanted to check with Jayden first to make sure he liked Cafe Rio too. Sometimes we think he let's others walk all over him, but... Do you know me?

SCHOOL
As far as school, Collin really excels. Though he struggles to sit still, pay attention, and not fidget, I have worked with his teacher this year to help him. Too often he has more homework than I'd hope for, but he now sits in a rocking chair at his desk, which seems to be helping with his focus. He is in the gifted & talented math course (covering half 4th-grade math and half 5th-grade math) and the highest reading and spelling groups. I have the chance to give the spelling tests each Thursday, and I love getting the chance to be in his classroom so regularly.

Two days per week Collin goes early to school - with Brennan - and helps lead games and exercises for the other students to participate in before the bell rings. He loves being a leader and serving others. 

Here he is presenting his research on Silas Soule at the 4th Grade Wax Museum.

TAEKWONDO

Collin continues to love and work hard at taekwondo. He'll be eligible to test for his black belt at this time next year. He is super flexible and can do the splits. Unfortunately, he struggles with push-ups (again, do you know me?) and even told his friend the other day in class, "Look at my arms! They're twigs!" He is a slight guy, to say the least. In fact, they did a health screening at school this month, and the only asterisked-area was that his BMI is only in the 1st-percentile for his age-group.

PIANO

Despite having four different piano teachers in four years, Collin loves to play and is getting quite good. He worked really hard on a simplified-version of "Demons" by Imagine Dragons and got into the highly-competitive school talent show, which will be held the end of January. I never have to ask him to practice; I more often have to ask him not to!




















He has also been selected to participate in the elementary show choir. They practice twice per week before school and have a performance in May. He loves performing and is really excited about it!

LEGO LEAGUE
Collin has also gotten interested in computer programming. He loves playing with Scratch online, and Ryan bought us a MindStorm kit for them to work on together at home. At school, he was on the Lego League competitive team this past fall (meeting twice per week after school), and Ryan was the lead coach. Unfortunately, their team had a teammate who caused a lot of problems, and the competition the first week of Dec didn't go so well. Lego League also had a surprising amount of non-programming challenges, so that was frustrating too. All in all, I don't see Ryan coaching again. We'll see if Collin chooses to do it again.

CUB SCOUTS
Collin will start his last year of cub scouts in January. He should be able to finish his Arrow of Light right as the Church pulls out of the scouting program. He loves being with the other boys and doing the activities, and Ryan has always been his leader. He also loves all the stuff I hate - belt buckles and loops, pins and badges and matching shirts. I try to be supportive, but I'm looking forward to the new program in 2020.

As far as the new program, Collin will be done with Primary in Jan of next year. With the age changes and his late birthday, Collin will actually be eligible to receive the priesthood when he is barely 11. We have a big year ahead of us getting him prepared for that big responsibility.

We love Collin so much. He loves trying new activities (he just started knitting!), and he is a great example to his younger siblings. Happy birthday, man! You have made it to double digits!