Going to VEX Robotics Worlds Competition

Everett and Team have earned a spot at the 

2018 VEX Robotics World Championship 

VEX IQ Challenge Middle School Division.  

We will be traveling to Kentucky in a couple of weeks; we are very excited to have this opportunity.  

Celebrating Emory Today!

This amazing kid is 8 years old today!

Height 

53.5"

Weight - 77.7 lbs 

Favorite color - teal / aqua

Hobbies - 

READING, Comic books (writing and illustrating), Legos, board games (Clue, Life), 

card games with Grammy, swimming & Cub Scouts.

A word he over uses: 

"LITERALLY!"   (even when it isn't *eye roll*) :-) 

What type of friend is Emory?

 He is an amazing and loyal friend.  

He encourages inclusion and keeping fair play.  

I love that he has a peacemaker's heart. 

Great leader and role model.

Grades in school:  

Straight A's; his grades are routinely 99 or 100! 

He is naturally smart (like his Mom,  Monica, of course) :-p

Annoying Trait: 

Noisy & messy eater; we call him our cookie monster

Clothing/Shoes

Shoe size 4 1/2 , Pants - 10, Shirts - M

What he REALLY hates

Injustice and strep throat tests.  

What he REALLY loves

His family, climbing, nature, stuffed animals, books & watermelon

Favorite Food

Watermelon, Cheese pizza

Favorite Music Artists

Billy Joel, Michael Jackson & Justin Timberlake

Best day of his life (so far)

Family vacation to Disney World this past Halloween

What makes his moms most proud?

 Emory's kind heart 

 He is the friend that will stick up for you if you are being treated unfairly

He is the boy who will play with you when no one will.

He is the competitor that will challenge you so you improve your game

He is the son who knows how to PUSH MY BUTTONS, but am a better mother because of it. 

Happy Birthday, Emory 

We are so proud of you and excited to celebrate you today. 

Love, Mommy, Mama & Everett

Emory's First Musical Production - The Addams Family

This experience was brutal for our family's already busy schedule.  Committing to this production was the cause of many arguments, many tears, hours of practice, robbed our nights, weekends and holiday breaks, but without a doubt a wonderful experience for Emory and the end result made it all worth it for us all. I'm certain we will do it all over again next year. 

 

 Emory was in the Featured chorus (soldier ancestor) the Addams ancestors, who range from a caveman to flight attendant. The ancestors are raised from the dead once a year and in the musical take a interest in helping the Addams Family work out its issues.

 Emory knew part of the role required theatre make-up, which he has never been a fan of, not even on  Halloween.  The make-up is thick and very oily, similar to Desitin diaper crème.  

 Seems after the third night of make-up he adjusted just fine and even figured out how to transfer make-up scars on his face to his hands to make additional scars.

Emory appears on stage and dances/sings behind Morticia:

At intermission the actors hit the auditorium to sell raffle tickets.  After all, who can say 'no' to these faces:  

 Emory is directly behind 'Gomez' on the right.

Emory is just off center at the top:

Deona and I had been so looking forward to last night's closing performance and getting back to our regular schedules. The final performance was bittersweet for us all.  

We have enjoyed watching Emory develop a love for singing and dancing on stage and I believe this experience has given him a better attitude in general. Both he and Everett are already talking about trying out for next year's production.

Happiest Place on Earth

Deona and I have always wanted to surprise the boys with a Disney World vacation.  

Well guess what? Deona and I were just as surprised when my parents announced they would be taking us all on a Disney family vacation! Keeping this a secret from the boys was no easy task however the plan worked and made it even more special!

While waiting for our dinner at Chuy's Friday night, the boys took to scratching off their fake lottery tickets,  I made for them earlier in the week. 

No problem getting up at 5 a.m.; Everett & Emory were so excited to be flying for the first time (actually Ev has flown before but he was a tiny 7months old):

Same Pooh Bear you'll see in the photos this vacation.  :)

The boys were invited in the cockpit. 

Boarding the Magical Express Bus to our Disney Resort!

For 6 days, the four of us along with my parents, sister & family were able to enjoy a family vacation at the Happiest Place on Earth!  Disney World!!

After we checked in we headed straight to Magic Kingdom

One day Brittney Bradshaw (Deona's youngest cousin) will meet her Prince Chad.  :)  <3

Chad is my adorable nephew; he loves Disney as much as we do!

Ev is tall enough to drive himself.  :(

The Jasos Gone Wild!

My adorable great-nephew Maxton with his wild and crazy parents. :)

Everett & Emory conquered all major thrill rides this week, including... 

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Space Mountain

Rockin Roller Coaster

LOL LOL LOL

Expedition Everest

And finally, the Tower of Terror

Additionally, I think we rode all but 2 rides, although I didn't capture them all. :)

Can you guess the ride?  Winner gets song stuck in head for the rest of the day! You're welcome!! :)

EARLY Saturday morning we headed to Animal Kingdom so that we could be one of the first in line to ride Avatar's Flight of Passage.  Less than 1 hour in a line is great, in fact the norm is 120-180 minutes.  The longest wait time (while there) was 250 minutes in line!  We were fortunate to only stand in line 45 minutes! This new ride is spectacular and Disney's BEST, in my opinion; this ride literally moved me to tears.   Go here to experience the ride, but you'll have to make a trip to Animal Kingdom to experience it with full simulation.    

Everett with his new banshee.

What are the chances you'll meet your Cub Scout buddy on Tom Sawyers Island? It really is a small world, after all! ;-)

Happy Halloween!

This year Em dressed as Dash from the Incredibles, Ev - Spiderman, Deona - Pooh Bear and I, Piglet. 

 Meeting Chewbacca was AWESOME and a highlight!

 I'm in love with a wookiee.

hahahahahahahahahahaa!  Emory didn't know what to do; he was quick to abort. 

Everett saved his money for a couple of days to buy a 7' double lightsaber. 

AND to close out our amazing day at Hollywood Studios...

Our final evening included a dinner show at the Polynesian resort

Then by monorail we endedu up at Epcot for our final park visit. :(  

We stayed for the awesome firework and Laser show and then it was time to head back to our room and pack.

Packed and ready for the Magical Express bus to pick us up and take us to the airport. 

Not so happy face. On our way to the airport.

What a wonderful week with family and Mickey.  I hope to fill in more of the blanks at a later time, however I needed to plug in pics while it's fresh on my mind.  

Thanks Mom, Dad, Tammy, Donato, Chad, Chris, Kim and Max for sharing your time with us; we had an amazing time and will cherish these memories forever.  

Everett & Emory at Magic Kingdom in 2012 and 2017.  

I sure hope we don't have to wait 5 more years before the next!