Happy 11th Birthday Carter!

Carter turned 11 years young on the first of March.  Now that we are at home, I am finally getting around to writing his birthday post.

He's an old soul with a strong work ethic.  Sometimes he worries too much.  He's really smart and works hard at everything he does.  He's earned the highest score a kid can get on the state CA test two years in a row and medaled in the statewide shooting competition.  Carter's nailed his batting this year, it's been very fun to watch him direct the ball.  Super bummer that we aren't at games right now.  He's padded his savings with several thousand dollars due to his work ethic.

Most importantly he has an amazing heart and is kind.  This year when we asked what he wanted for his birthday, we knew he could have said he wanted a new fancy bat or some promising baseball training tools.  Nope, all this kid wanted was to have family dinner with his family.  We love you so much Carter and we are so proud of the young man you have become.

Name:  Carter Bradley Isbell
What is your favorite thing to do:  Playing baseball with my friends, hunting and fishing with my friends.
Who is your best friend:  Wyatt and Finn and Miles
Favorite Color:  Orange
Favorite Toy:  My DeMarini Bat
Favorite Food:  Bucksteaks
Favorite Drink:  Pepsi
Perfect Day:  Playing in the championship game in a baseball tournament with the Dirt Dogs.
What do you want to be when you grow up:  A Major League Baseball Player
What will you miss about being 10:  Playing on my 10U baseball.
What are you looking forward to about being 11: Higher baseball league and getting closer to being able to buck hunt.  Looking forward to seeing friends from Etna at Jr. High.
What are you really good at:  I am good at playing baseball, especially 1st base and hitting.
What are your chores:  Feeding, weedeating, drivng the tractor, welding, working on dumpsters, delivering dumpsters, chopping kinling, chopping wood, stacking wood, whatever I am asked to do.
What makes a good person:  Being kind to everyone, not being a showoff.
Favorite thing to watch: SF Giants Baseball
Favorite thing about school:  Seeing friends
Something you can work on: Being patient with my brother and not arguing with my mom.
NEW QUESTIONS CREATED BY CARTER:
Favorite thing to hunt:  Ducks and Geese
Favorite animal: Dog
Favorite truck: Ford F350 SuperDuty
Things I am proud of: My baseball team, the money I have earned in my savings account, my work ethic, my cousin Mason, My Papa, my cousin Shelby.
Person I look up to:  My dad

2020 Stimulus

Our schools have been shut down since March 17th and will be until the end of the school year. 

Baseball season is non existent in our personal life and our MLB life. Bradley continues to run

an essential business. Bradley's dad is in Portland Oregon fighting brain cancer, the most

aggressive type known to mankind.  Playdates and visits have been replaced with

Zoom/GoogleMeets and baseball practice relies on two brothers to get along.  

There's a lot of uncertainty, fear, and finding toilet paper is a true issue. 
However, there's momentum.

Stimulus: A thing that rouses activity or energy in someone or something; a spur or incentive.

I'm not just talking about Trump's package slated to hit our pocketbooks mid-month. 

I'm talking about the things that we are doing created by the energy within us, pulling us closer

to our homes, to our families, to our values.

We've taken this time to teach the boys new things by focusing on CTE or Career and

Technical Education Courses.  In fact, we've opened enrollment for the Summer 2020 term.

Carter and Miles both enjoy the heck out of welding and their skills have come in handy with

dumpsters and fences.  Carter has been invaluable with his tractor driving ability on a daily basis

on Terry’s old tractor. (It’s not an automatic either!)

We have always made it a habit to sit down to the dinner table together,

but there's something different about enjoying more than one meal together a day. 

A meal that all hands helped prepare, not just mom's.  

There's been a stimulus to do the regular cleaning and organizing.  I've gone through all of the

old T-ball and Little League shirts to send off to make into quilts.  We've dusted shelves, cleaned

out light fixtures, and even organized our sock drawers.

Getting back to our historical roots, we introduced the kids to a VCR and have had many laughs

looking over VHS tapes.  Miles is pretty in tune with this technology because of his frequent

walkman use. We may go over DVDs next week as part of our social studies distance learning
lesson.  

Carter is driven to be prepared for when and if baseball season returns and completes and

designs workouts for he and his brother to do.  

For added entertainment they've set up a disc golf course in the backyard.  This has given the

Easter Bunny incentive to bring a few portable cages to the Isbell Homestead this Easter Sunday. 

Nothing says Christ has risen, quite like a competitive game of disc golf.  

Not able to connect with students every day, I've taken to recording bedtime stories.  I've been

inspired to keep this up based on the student and community responses. They get posted to

Facebook and then emailed to each student.  I've even been spurred on to utilize the GoPro

and edit the footage to match the theme. If you're interested, check out the YouTube link here. 

Not many views on this platform, but several videos have over 5K views on Facebook alone.  

I've been inspired to share on this blogging platform again and am working to finish a blanket

I began crocheting months ago.  In light of my regular office hours, I seem to be enjoying running

again. Probably because it doesn't have to happen at 5am and can take my partners.  I am toying

with the idea of training for another marathon. Who knows when and if runners will ever gather in

masses again (I can't imagine the idea of touching all of those cups), but one can be inspired right?

There may not be a County Fair, but our fair pigs on coming to the Isbell Homestead this week. 

The boys have made sure the pens are ready, feed is ordered, and shavings are ready.  

When we bought our house 11 years ago, President Obama gave 1st time homebuyers an

economic stimulus check.  We used it at the time to buy furniture, mostly bedroom furniture.  

Our accountant told us this week that we would receive President Trump's stimulus check. 

You know what we are doing with his stimulus? New fences around the garden and strengthening

existing sections of fence around the property.  One might say we were inspired to build our own walls.
I don't care what political party you subscribe to, the irony between our use of the two stimulus
packages is humorous.

Evaluate your own stimulus in response to COVID-19.  If you need inspiration, take your check

with you to Lowe's - I'm sure you can find some fencing supplies.