Wade has been slowly working on the wood chips/mulch left from having our big tree cut. He took today off and had a large list of things he was trying to get done. One item on the list was to get the rest of the yard cleanup done. He was still working on it when the kids came home and they quickly jumped in to help.
Family movie night – Avatar.
Alex and I went shopping for new clothes recently. He fell in love with this shirt. I gritted my teeth and helped him find the right size. I did love when Wade cracked jokes about where he would need a purple camouflage shirt? A grape farm?
Today was a no homework day! That means lots of time for comics.
The desire to learn to tie her shoe is there, but only if we are already running late to get out the door.
Somebody got a new shield today!
I’m pretty sure Ben is regretting his decision to sign up for soccer this session. Today he decided it would be a lot more entertaining to kick everyone else’s soccer balls instead of his own when doing soccer drills. He thought it was hilarious and the other kids were getting so upset. (Part of me was laughing inside because it is such a typical Ben thing to do. The other part of me was trying to figure out how to correct him from the sidelines.)
I was quite surprised when I opened Ben’s backpack this morning and found two of my socks (non-matching) inside. Then I realized they matched the two Ben was wearing. I asked him why he had put extra socks in his backpack. His response was so typically Ben – “backups.”
Today was a half day and Alex had some friends spontaneously appear. Ben escaped outside to play with the “brothers” and they were nice enough to let him join for a while before I got out to collect him.
I love finding lists the kids have made. I’m pretty sure Teague made this one over summer but I just ran across it a few days ago.
Besties
Ben… Also known as “the tornado” and “the gremlin”
Obviously I take a lot of pictures of my kids. Most of them are candids, which they don’t mind at all. In fact, they are pretty indifferent to my camera. The problem comes when I ask them to look at the camera. Instead of looking right at me, they turn their face in the right direction and then their eyes wander off into space. All of my children do this and it drives me nuts!
In the pictures below, I actually got Ben to look at me, but he is obviously distracted and barely gave me the one glance.
Note: 1.) This is how he spends the majority of his time. 2.). Note the poor scabs still healing on his legs from his fall last Friday.
It looks like a nap, and it is, but it’s also homework avoidance.
These two fight a lot, but they also spend a lot of time playing together. I keep hoping the playing together nicely will someday happen more than the fighting.
This banana phone has been ringing all day!
Every year we celebrate the day Teague joined our family. We take a picture in his Korea shirt. We have Korean food (although the kids more often than not now choose Sushi). I’m still amazed that the huge screaming baby has become such an awesome 11 year old!
I love that Alex does his own laundry. I don’t love that he steals one of my laundry baskets and holds it hostage for days. (I have two that live in my laundry room waiting for the clean clothes. They are used to carry the clean clothes to my room where they are folded and then put up by each child.)
This was a rare night where I let everyone fix their own dinner. Even more, I didn’t require it to be leftovers. Teague was so excited to make Mac & Cheese.
It turns out the Mickey Mouse Club had a meeting tonight.
These guys worked hard to move all the wood chips left (weeks and weeks ago) by our big tree being cut down.
Sunday roundup.
Kaitlyn has a fear of bring outside in the rain. I’m not really sure why or when it started, but she hates to be forced out in it. (She has no problem voluntarily dancing in the rain.) Playing soccer in the rain truly freaks her out. I knew there was a good chance it was going to rain today so I tried to prepare her in advance. Sure enough it rained and Kaitlyn did a great job of playing through it.
Today’s cheer competition is known as FunComp. It’s a kind of practice competition and more for “fun.” There are four sessions today and Kaitlyn’s team is in the second session. Each session has about 8 teams. When we arrived they were already at least 30 minutes behind schedule for the day. In Kaitlyn’s division there is only one other team so there are two teams competing for first and second place.
Today was pretty smooth and I know more parents than any other year which makes the waiting move more quickly. Wade popped in just to see Kaitlyn perform, which we both enjoyed. I’m sure after reviewing today’s performance and seeing other teams, there will be some changes to the routine. It’s always fun to see where the girls begin the season and where they end.
This is one of the few chores Alex could do today with his poor hands.
Kaitlyn’s cheer team did great at their competition and came in 2nd.
Teague ended up babysitting quite a bit today while Wade and I attended Kaitlyn’s cheer competition.
Kaitlyn has her first cheer competition tomorrow. That means a dress rehearsal tonight. (This crazy, awkward pose was all Kaitlyn, but I love it!)
Alex decided to join some friends at the high school football game. He evidently took off running down the hill (we live minutes from the school) and quickly noticed that his shoe lace was untied. He said he was about to stop to tie it when instead he tripped and fell. To make matters worse they have completely torn up our road (down to dirt right now while they regrade). He was back at the house in minutes with blood dripping down both knees and both palms. The biggest bandages we had in the house were old eye patches so we made do.
Donuts coming right up.
Typical crazy school morning breakfast.
This kiddo had a want list a mile long today. It was getting late in the day and we still hadn’t made the M&M chocolate chip cookies. I warned him that I was heading out to dinner with some friends and we might not have time to bake the cookies but we could at least make the dough. However, the stars aligned and we got a single sheet of cookies baked – just enough for everyone in the family to have a few.
Ben and I were making cookies but Ben did allow Alex to help form the dough into balls.
Homework session.
A duel between a lacrosse stick and pinwheels.
As I was cooking dinner, Alex walked in and asked to help. He said he really wanted to learn to chop carrots as fast as the chefs on TV. I told him practice was the best way to learn and set him up to start.
Kaitlyn seems to come home with a new bracelet everyday. She turns them in for raffle tickets for a drawing done each week at school by the principal. You earn the bracelets for acts of kindness, which I love to hear.
The current craziness that is my kitchen.
Tonight Wade and I had Back to School Night for Teague. I left the big boys in charge of the baked potatoes. They were having a little too much fun poking the holes as I was leaving…
Doesn’t everyone do homework in a bejeweled fox mask?
I have had a ton of afternoon/evening meetings lately so this guy has gotten a lot of extra iPad time.
Ben and Kaitlyn started swim lessons at a new place – Goldfish swim school in the middle of last year. Instead of having to wait to move up to a new level at the end of a session, the enrollment is continuous and you move up to a new level as you pass requirements. Kaitlyn has moved up several levels in the last year. Ben has not moved up a single level. I was determined to work with him in the pool this summer and with me he would put his face in the water and swim without a floaty. (Note here that he has no problem with water in his face. He just has no desire to put his face in the water while kicking.) Today his teacher worked miracles.
Not only did he put his face in the water and swim, but he passed his requirements to move on to the next level!
Homework in his favorite place.
They wait for each other as they get off the bus and then race to the house. It’s the cutest.
The cutest napping duo.
This year all of Kaitlyn’s soccer games are at 3 on Sunday. I love that the time never changes and I don’t have to constantly look at a schedule. That also means we are the only two teams on the entire field, which I have never seen before. Kaitlyn’s coach said he had requested the latest game time to accommodate all the girls’ schedules. It’s kind of nice!
Soccer Sunday.
Sunday roundup – minus Kaitlyn. She went straight from church to a birthday party.
Ben got invited to his first birthday party from a school friend. He was so excited to pick out the present and even more excited to attend.
