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.
Ben
Kaitlyn borrowed a boardgames from school for the weekend and has wasted no time in playing it over and over. Ben was fascinated with the “electronic” controls.
Our neighbor has a new puppy and my kids are spending all their time next door.
A month or so ago, I decided Ben’s brown shoes (from last year) needed to be replaced. I was shocked to find that he needed shoes almost 2 sizes bigger than the shoes he had been wearing, which he insisted still fit. The problem came when he realized I was going to through away his old shoes. He got quite upset and demanded to keep one of the shoes. I’m not sure where he keeps it, but every once in a while he will randomly appear with one new(er) shoe and his old favorite shoe.
Ben got to stay home with me today. He mentioned right before swim lessons last night that his ear hurt. I just brushed it off and forgot about it until he started acting agitated and grumpy as we watched a movie before bed. Then Ben proceeded not to sleep all night long. He was very vocal about his ear hurting until about 5 am.
When he woke up at 9, he seemed great. He said his ear didn’t hurt but felt a little stuffy. I had already decided to keep him home from school due to the lack of sleep. I feared an ear infection, but with four kids, we’ve only had one ear infection so I don’t know a lot about them. I called the doctor to see if they thought I should bring him in and they said yes. We had time for breakfast and Ben wanted to make donuts, so we did.
The doctor told me she was very surprised to see an actual infection. She had anticipated fluid or redness. We got medicine and spent the rest of the day doing fun things like the grocery and a very long nap for me.
Stick ’em up!
As of this weekend, all of the kids have their own Fortnite accounts. I love the usernames they have picked for themselves. Ben’s username is chickenbigbutt. (They all have random numbers after the names as most usernames do these days.)
An early dinner before swim lessons.
I’m not sure if the time change hit Ben extra hard or if he just really loved his back rub, but we were ready for church early this morning. I sat down on the couch to read, Ben crawled in my lap, pulled up his shirt, and asked for a back rub. It was only a few minutes before I realized he was asleep.
Sunday lineup.
As I was reading this afternoon, Ben curled up beside me and took a little nap.
This lazy Saturday morning didn’t even start with cartoons. When I got downstairs Ben was entertaining himself by jumping backwards off the arm of the couch. As soon as the cartoons were done and chores started, the littles decided building a fort sounded like a much better idea than just plumping the couch cushions.
Ben has been asking to buy his teacher flowers for weeks. The other day I finally remembered to grab a bouquet when I ran in to get a few items. I had them waiting when Ben got home from school. He took one look and his first question was, “They are going in a vase, right?”
The next morning I got them in a vase and agreed to drive him to school. He wanted me to carry the vase till we got inside the school. Then he told me, “I got this mom” and off he went down the hall.
There’s supposed to be a new season of Fortnite released today and all of my kiddos are quite disappointed that the release keeps getting pushed back by hours and hours. Ben finally convinced Wade to play Smash Bros with him before bedtime.
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!
Ben’s school has a night dedicated to specials – art, PE, music, computer, etc. The students and their parents come for an evening and visit each speciality and the activity they have planned. It was loud and hot and hectic, but the kids had a great time and I couldn’t believe the number of people I ran into.
I also got to see The Tower of Books Challenge. Ben has been bringing home a sheet of paper that tells him what types of books to read (a book that rhymes, a nonfiction book, a Dr. Suess book, etc). Every time we finish a sheet there is a new one. Ben’s class has the second most sheets turned in for the school!
This crazy guy.
My monkey has a new trick.
Ben had his yearly eye appointment today and afterwards we went to pick out new glasses. We walked by the blue dog and it seemed only right to take Ben’s picture. I have years worth of Teague’s picture (see here) in the same spot.
The sunglasses are to help with the bright sunlight. His eyes are dilated and he was having trouble seeing.
Brothers.
Sunday lineup.
I love winter Saturday mornings. We rarely have anywhere to be and have very slow mornings. Alex sleeps late. The littles get up first and start the morning with a cartoon each. Teague appears at some point during these and usually chooses to watch a cartoon too. Then at least one child usually wants to cook something for breakfast – waffles pancakes, muffins, crepes, etc. After breakfast, we finally get around to starting our weekly chores. I am not looking forward to spring sports and the hectic mornings that go with them.
These two decided to have some fun with the morning chores – plumping the couch cushions took much much longer than normal.
As long as I have known Wade, I have known about his fascination with rolling ball sculptures. He loves to find them in random malls, hospitals, and sometimes restaurants. Visiting Boston Children’s Hospital has always been a treat because of the huge sculptures they have (until the last year when they took it out)!
Today a box arrived at the house addressed to Wade. He looked a little confused and then got the most excited look on his face. Evidently he paid into a Kickstarter campaign three years ago and they finally delivered – a desktop rolling ball sculpture.
Wade got a new toy and the kids loved playing with it all evening.
Video games for all the kiddos.
These three were pretty cute tonight all cuddled up in the big chair:
The one shoe wonder.
ROAR
Pirates are still a favorite here!
Ben absolutely loves the sword Kaitlyn brought him from Disney. It has been played with by every person in this house. Tonight I decided to introduce him to the movie behind “Jack Sparrow.” Kaitlyn assured me that she wouldn’t be bothered by the graphics (I did warn her about the skeletons). The littles loved the movie. They watched, danced, and fought swords. It was adorable.
Sunday lineup.
Tenzi – one of the few games everyone will play together.
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.
Pirates and swords!
Ben spent the morning with two of his best friends from preschool. He joined them for a morning of cupcakes and cartwheels at a local dance/gymnastics studio and had a great time.
Games with Pop!
I can’t believe we now have two teenagers in the house! Teague turns 13 today. It’s probably the first child birthday where I barely saw the birthday child. Teague had his friends spend the night last night and those boys didn’t stop until almost 6 am this morning. (I know this because they were also very loud.) Traditionally, sleepovers happen on our third floor. Then the rest of the family lives on the other two floors. I woke up this morning, a little grumpy with little sleep, stumbled downstairs and found two boys asleep on my living room couches. I managed to keep everyone quiet until they woke up around 10, but it was not fun.
The boys left around 1 pm. I took Ben, Teague, and Alex out for a sushi lunch. Then Teague got home and went back to bed. I didn’t see him again till we woke him up for dinner, cake, and presents. I don’t think I have ever taken so few pictures on a birthday before!
Ben drew a treasure map!
It occurred to me recently that Ben has never been to Build-A-Bear. Then we were planning out this week and I realized Ben wouldn’t be able to attend the evening fun at Apex with Teague and his friends. Taking him for a one-on-one trip this morning seemed like perfect timing. Ben had a lot of fun going through all the animals and finally chose Longhorn. I let him choose one outfit and Ben picked a Marvel outfit (from Black Panther) because it had a spear. Definitely a successful trip!
Ben and I had a one-on-one trip today. I realized he had never been to Build-a-Bear. Meet – Longhorn, dressed in a Black Panther outfit.
Deep discussions about Minecraft and toys while I fix dinner.
Ben has discovered a program on his iPad that translates his words to text. He loves to read a book and watch the words translate to his iPad.
Ben wanted to make pop-tarts this morning.
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 thought I was taking a picture of his new fidget toy. I was actually taking a picture of his attempt to button his top. I tried to tell him his buttons weren’t quite right, but he checked them in the mirror and told me they were perfect.
Ben’s new I Spy book was fun for everyone tonight.
All ready for school.
Valentine’s Day!