Music Man

Just hanging out at home, watching a little Wreck-It-Ralph, and deciding to pick up the guitar to sing along with "When Will I See You Again" during the movie ...

Big Spender

Earlier in the school year, Xander participated in the fifth grade entrepreneur fair at school. He and his amazing teacher Mrs. B helped formulate his business plan at school. We baked home made chocolate chip cookies at home. And he sold them at the fair, both during school and again after school.

Turns out, he is quite the entrepreneur (and the people at school happen to know and like Mom's home made chocolate chip cookies). He also happened to score the best spot at the fair, right as people walked in the main doors. I'm sure that also helped.

Cookies were 25 cents each, or a whole jar for 5 dollars. He sold out his inventory, and cleared $40 cash after paying for the cookie supplies and his booth rental fee and his interest fee (for Mom and Dad loaning the money on the supplies).





Today we made it to the store where he got to pick out a few things to buy with his hard-earned money. I loved that of all the things in Toys 'R Us, he ended up picking two retro toys that I had as a child. An Etch-a-Sketch and a Playskool Xylaphone. Art and music, two of his loves.

Snapshot Sunday

There are not words to tell you how amazed and impressed I am by this kid every single day. He played (strummed) the guitar and sang "Counting Stars" by One Republic at his school's Variety Show. He's brave and fearless, and so talented at the things he enjoys.

Variety Show

While Sawyer was off getting his chronic ear infections taken care of with surgery for tubes, Xander was busy getting ready for his big performance in the school Variety Show. He was playing guitar and singing "Counting Stars" by One Republic. He rocked all three performances ... two at school for the students (broken up by age group to help overcrowding in the gym) and one in the evening for parents and friends. He is so fearless, and has come so very far. I still remember when he didn't talk at all, when the words faded and we only had signs and sounds. And here he is, eight years later, singing in front of the whole school like he was born to do it. The people who know him best, who have worked with him and seen his progress over the years, were all in tears. Happy tears. Because our boy has come so very, very far. Past teachers were in the audience, driving in to cheer him on as he performed. And he LIVES for the applause. He loves the spotlight and the cheering.

Basketball Camp

Xander is our natural-born athlete, lefty and all. He LOVES sports. And he excels at just about everything he tries. He has a competitive streak a mile wide, loves to win and lives for the applause and cheers of the audience and his teammates.

This summer, we had the opportunity to let him participate in an adaptive basketball camp at a local horse farm. He LOVED every minute of it ...

(Well, as long as he made the basket ...)





He especially loved music therapy day ...



He seriously tried to steal the guitar ...



Sawyer was less impressed when he had to come watch a few days ...





Fast break ...



He loved the day we got to tour the horse farm ...



Standing with the father of the triple crown winner ...



Showing off his tie-dye uniform shirt from a craft project earlier in the week ...



Standing (or sitting) front and center for the group picture ...



Breakaway score ...



With one of his favorite buddies, Miss A, after the game ...

Music Man

On the Fourth of July, we went over to the house of some friends in our neighborhood. The boys enjoyed swimming in the backyard pool, then watching fireworks, and just roaming around. Xander, in particular, found the music room and stayed there. One of his latest loves is the guitar and singing. Here is "I'm in love with a monster" from the Hotel Transylvania 2 movie, a recent favorite ...

Radioactive

Xander has gotten into music lately, trying to take over the playlist on our drives too and from school. He has several favorites that he requests on a regular basis. "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons has been a big favorite lately.

I love how he knows the melody and the cadence of the words, even if he sometimes doesn't get the lyrics exactly right ...

(Resolution is low so that the video would upload to the site).