The kids were so excited to see Gram! They came in the door calling her name and begging for her attention. Before too long the cousins arrived and that made the day even better. We had our usual Chick-fil-A nuggets, Burch locks, and general chaos.
At the end of last weekend, the kids wanted dessert but were adamant that we didn’t have any desserts in the house. Kaitlyn immediately got creative with what she could find. The boys were impressed and followed her lead.
Ben always gets to celebrate a couple of times for his birthday – once at home and once on the road. Today was the day we celebrated at home.
The plan was donuts for breakfast. I had planned to get up and go to Dunkin. Alex had taken orders the night before and told me he was going to walk down to pick them up, but I didn’t quite believe him. I knew it was going to be early, cold, and dark. Imagine my surprise when I got downstairs this morning and there was Alex sitting at the table, drinking hot chocolate (our favorite is from Dunkin), with a box of donuts.
We had candles in donuts and then Ben chose a present to open. He chose the biggest and it was the Gabby Dollhouse he has been hoping and hoping to get. I put it together and he and Kaitlyn played until the bus came.
Ben and I had a sushi lunch (his favorite) and then he picked Chick-fil-a with milkshakes for dinner. His cake was paw patrol but we did presents first, at his request. He had a fabulous birthday and he can’t wait to celebrate again in KY.
We started decorating for Christmas tonight. (I like to have the Christmas decorations up when we get back into town from visiting family for Thanksgiving.) Ben quickly decided to try on all the Christmas hats at one time.
This past summer, Ben decided to let his hair grow. He wanted a ponytail like Kaitlyn (see here). After about 4-5 months, he has decided (with no prompting from me) to get a haircut.
Before:
After:
I will admit there were parts of the longer hair I really liked. Because of that, we decided to keep his hair longer than we did before.
Sometimes when the big kids are at school, Ben convinces me to play games. We get some snacks, pull out his favorites games and have a little fun.
Teague joined the bell choir this year, but it is a very small bell choir. They started the year with three ringers, but at some point the number dropped down to two. They kept practicing and hoping to recruit more kids. Sadly that hasn’t happened. Wade has pitched in to practice with them and today they had their first performance. Teague did a great job and it was fun to see him up front!
At the end of cheer season, parents and friends are invited to a special performance by all the cheer teams. The girls perform their routines, do a few stunts, and show off any special talents. This year a few football players appeared at the end and gave flowers to all of the cheerleaders. It was equally sweet to see by the adults and obviously awkward for the poor preteen football players!
The kids had the day off from school (Thank you Election Day). Kaitlyn started the day by getting a cavity filled. After that we picked up one of her friends and headed to the Ecotarium for a day of fun. The kids would have stayed till closing time, but their favorite activity was definitely the wind tunnel.
Today was Kaitlyn’s last soccer game for the fall. I never dreamed it would be in the 70s and the entire team would be in shorts! Her team had a great season and she can’t wait to try out winter soccer.
