Kaitlyn is at a sleepover tonight so the boys all had a gaming night.
Alex
Teenager.
Wade asked for late night cookies and Alex was happy to provide.
Family Game Night.
(Left, Right, Oink – Game created by Ben)
Alex was kind enough to cook dinner tonight on our crazy night. The dinner of choice was waffles, which everyone loved.
We had a two hour delay this morning due to the snow yesterday. I don’t even have all four kids together in the kitchen on weekend mornings. For it to happen today was definitely a rarity!
First snow day of the year!
I did a double take when I walked by Alex’s room today and saw Pepper on the bed with him. He rarely keeps his door open and even more rarely lets her on the bed.
Tonight Alex and I had some cookie dough and watched a super hero movie after everyone else was in bed.
Alex is back into programming and has been spending a lot watching videos to teach himself.
Alex went up to the library and Cumberland Farms to see if any of his friends were around. They weren’t but he came home with a new friend, “Jeff.” He and “Jeff” hung out until Jeff was all gone.
Wade decided to teach Alex how to grill burgers tonight.
Alex decided to put his new waffle iron to use and made everyone breakfast.
Sunday lineup
Candlepin bowling
Alex got some new computer components for Christmas and couldn’t wait to get them installed.
Granny and Pop are here and the kids couldn’t wait to open presents!
Over the break, Fortnite has become an almost nightly event for most of the family. The big boys always play. Wade sometimes joins. Ben has played a handful of times and jumps at any chance. Kaitlyn has developed an interest and now she joins in too. Sadly we have one less device than we do people wanting to play.
Wade decided today was the day to fix Pac-Man. He recruited Alex to help him move it downstairs, fixed it, and then got his help to move the working game back upstairs.
Christmas!
Cookies for Santa.
The only hard part of basket presents today was waiting till everyone was awake. There is a large gap between Ben/Kaitlyn’s awake time and Alex’s.
Basket presents are providing a great opportunity to get most everybody in a picture together.
Obviously this last few days of school really wore Alex out. I walked through the kitchen to find him just like this. I got quite a kick out of it. He simply ignored me and stayed in place while I took a picture.
Basket presents after school.
Basket presents.
Basket presents start today! Let the countdown to Christmas begin.
Sunday lineup.
Every single school is having a cookie exchange for their teachers. They are all asking parents for donations. I have kids in all four schools. Two dozen cookies per school is a lot of cookies. I had signed up for two schools before the others sent out their requests. I gave up and told the big boys they could make cookies for their teachers if they wanted but I didn’t have it in me. Alex gladly jumped in to help. Thankfully Teague’s are do a day later and he’s going to make his later.
One of my least favorite jobs is getting this particular insert into this dog pillow. Thankfully Alex was around and I could assign that job to him today.
Alex’s winter choir concert was tonight. Wade and I enjoyed an evening with just the two of us in the audience. Then we took Alex out for a treat afterwards.
Family game night – Mario Kart!
Teague was super excited about being a human chair. Alex thought it was hilarious.
Alex is convinced all the fun happens when the littles go to bed.
Sunday lineup.
Everyone had a great time at Ben’s party!
Alex’s morning hair was crazy impressive today.
Gingerbread house making – All because Alex asked to build a gingerbread house.
Afternoon piano practice.
I feel like Alex is fully trained to put up his own dishes in any situation. The other kids mostly put them put them in the dishwasher after dinner (Ben is the exception). Slowly but surely, I’m trying to decrease my workload.
These boys are all excited about video games, high scores, and new characters.
Girls On The Run 5K today – cold and rainy but here we go!
Cookies coming right up.
I made an old recipe that none of my kids remember – Chicken lettuce wraps. In particular, Ben loved them. By the time I started paying attention he had had over 10. When I got to 13 and made a comment, Alex decided to try to compete (obviously feeling outdone by his little brother) and started shoving them in his mouth without taking bites. These two ate every bite of food on the table. Ben totaled out at 15 lettuce wraps… Alex came in second but made an impressive second place.
Family Mario Kart night.
Alex saw Kaitlyn trying to cut an apple and decided she definitely needed help.
Alex decided to steal Ben’s hat.
Tonight we decorated our tree.
The last 6 hours always feel eternal.
A quick goodbye to Gram before we get on the road.