Today’s craft in Sunday School was a resurrection garden. We pulled in the HS/MS class for help and all the kids did great. Although it’s a really cool craft, I’ll admit that I’m secretly very glad that Alex chose not to create his own and we only had to bring home three.
Alex
Sunday lineup.
Alex has a new plan for his computer case. He used his vinyl cutter to print Mario. Now he’s going to work out painting this – strategically to get all the colors just right.
Wade has spent the entire week traveling for work. He left very, very early Monday morning for Belgium and he got home this afternoon. I wash shocked he didn’t immediately crash, but he had dinner with us and then provided dessert with a variety of treats he brought home with him. We all took a sample of everything and everyone had a different favorite.
Dad’s home and he brought snacks back from Belgium!
Alex got a vinyl cutter and spent this afternoon trying to set it up.
Alex has spent quite a bit of time lately doing some 3D modeling. Even crazier is he is hanging out in the kitchen doing it. The littles loved it because it meant they could play outside while I was gone. (The rule is they have to be inside while I am gone unless someone is with them or specifically watching them.)
As of this weekend, all of the kids have their own Fortnite accounts. I love the usernames they have picked for themselves. Alex’s username is Crusher. (They all have random numbers after the names as most usernames do these days.)
I put the other kids to bed and was surprised to walk through the living room to find Alex and all his homework spread out everywhere. I’m not sure if he rarely has homework or just never does it downstairs.
Sunday lineup.
Kaitlyn decided to make breakfast this morning – pancakes! Alex wanted to supervise (but Kaitlyn was having none of it!)
Alex is having quite a bit of trouble 3D printing the gears he wants to use on the case he is modding. This is what happened on his last attempt.
Pasta and Bingo Night!
Tonight we had a dinner and game night at the elementary school to raise money for the 6th graders trip to Nature’s Classroom. I went to the school early afternoon to help set up and work the cashbox behind the bake sale. Wade showed up with all the kids (after Alex plainly told me he would not attend earlier in the week) for the second seating and I did take a short break to sit with them. The littles immediately checked out the prize table and couldn’t wait for Bingo to start. Ben seemed to have the worst luck and couldn’t fill a single square in on his card. Amazingly, Alex got a Bingo and immediately gave it to Ben. Before too long Kaitlyn won and got her desired prize (which one of the principals had hidden behind the table to keep safe.) The kids had a great night and it was fun to see some friends and raise some money for the sixth graders!
I convinced Alex to unload the dishwasher one last time before he went to bed. Then I can tackle the huge amount of dirty dishes piled up on my counter before morning.
Laundry time for Alex.
Although Alex is a typical teenager in that he never wears a coat in winter, he only wears shorts when he is overdue on laundry. I can almost bet he is currently washing every pair of pants he owns.
Sunday lineup.
Saturday morning chaos with two cooking breakfast – muffins and waffles.
Alex was nice enough to agree to make Kaitlyn a peanut butter and jelly for snack today.
Video games for all the kiddos.
Alex and his rain coat crack me up. He has worn it twice, maybe three times in the last three years. He always chooses to wear it only on his head and covering his backpack. He only wears it to protect his backpack and mostly the electronics inside.
Alex went to the library to hang out with his friends. He came home covered in mud. He looked at me and said “Fishy Fishy is a fun game.” I only know the game from preschool but Alex informed me it is an entirely different game with high schoolers in the mud.
I had to search him out in his bedroom, but I found Alex today. (I think he has been hiding from us today.)
Sunday lineup.
Alex is getting another lesson in cooking burgers. He’s determined to be able to do it solo soon.
The littles were awake and sitting in the living room just waiting when I came downstairs at 7 am. They quickly decided to build a fort and bring their stuffed animals to visit.
We continued with a lazy morning until lunchtime. Then I got everyone out the door and to the post office in time for our passport appointment. We finally decided to bite the bullet in terms of paperwork and get the kids their passports. For the most part everyone was pretty well behaved and things moved pretty quickly. Alex is the one that held us up. His picture had to be taken over and over and over to meet the requirements. Poor Alex and his issues with low light and flashes. They finally got a good one!
Then we headed back to the house for some time with Granny and Pop.
This is what happens when you stay up too late the night before.
Alex left the sweetest treat on the kitchen island for his siblings to find this morning.
Alex was more than willing to help with dinner tonight – thank goodness.
I love having big kids. They help with the chores you hate the most – like taking the big bags of pet food to the basement.
Back to feeding his starter.
Alex finally decided to make bread! He followed the directions, got frustrated with the measurements (grams instead of cups), but did a great job. I was gone tonight when the bread was finally finished. I did get a text telling me it was good.
Then I got home from running kids around and was told Alex got a piece, Dad got a piece, and Pepper helped herself to the rest of the bread. (Typical Pepper). Alex did find a small part that Pepper hadn’t been able to reach that I could try. It was yummy but I didn’t get any pictures of the finished bread.
Alex finally decided to try to make bread.
Alex was moving faster than I could grab my camera and snap a picture, but I wanted a picture of him being barefoot out in the snow. He hates to take the time to put on shoes to take out the trash or the recycling.
Alex and Ben were having quite the epic battle tonight. I’m not quite sure how it began, but they were having an awesome sword fight – with wooden spoons. It was around the kitchen island, over the floor, over the kitchen island, and then involved wrestling (of course).
Ben’s new I Spy book was fun for everyone tonight.
Alex’s mock up for his new computer case.
Alex loves lo mein – even cold and straight out of the fridge.
Alex offered to cook dinner tonight and his offer came at the perfect time. I was on the couch waking up from a late nap and was not getting very far motivating myself. His Chicken BLT salad with buttermilk dressing (for some of us) was delicious.
Birthday money is the best!
Today was SONSHINE Sunday at church.
Alex woke up as a 15 year old!! Unfortunately for Alex, his birthday fell on a Sunday – a Sunday where both boys had bell concerts. That meant we had to get to church even earlier than normal, but it also meant we were all up and ready to go really early. That worked out well for Alex because we had extra time for donuts and he could open all his gifts before church.
The upside is that we celebrate SONSHINE Sunday today. Everyone wears bright clothes or Hawaiian shirts. The three boys got new shirts and Wade borrowed one of Alex’s.
(The picture of Ben above shows him doing his new favorite job at church – handing out bulletins. The guys say he does a great job and loves greeting everyone.)
Our church has community events every month or two. Tonight they had a hoe down. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but it sounded like fun so we dressed almost everyone up, took a few pictures, and headed to the church. (Note in the first picture Ben is wearing a gun and holster. He found it in the barn earlier today in B’s old toys. We agreed to let him wear the holster to the Hoe Down but he left the gun at home.) We ended up having a great time and did quite a bit of dancing – Ben and Kaitlyn loved it and danced with everybody!
(Note Ben’s belt – that is a hand-me-down from Alex’s second Halloween costume. See here)
Dressed and ready for the Hoe Down.
Alex had some boys over to celebrate his birthday. They always ask me to take them to the Dollar Tree and I love the tradition.
Alex has a new class this semester that involves cooking. He decided to practice tonight for his cooking test tomorrow – making French Fries.
A rare school morning where all four are in the kitchen at the same time. (It’s probably due to the muffins Alex made last night.)
Alex really wanted to bake tonight but nobody actually wanted sweets. We finally came up with the idea of muffins for breakfast tomorrow morning.
Alex’s favorite way to eat leftovers is in a quesadilla. The littles usually convince him to make them one too.