handsful

One day old…sound asleep

17 years old…and, feeling a little sleepy from last night’s dance!

(If my oldest child is now 17, I can’t exactly claim to be in my 30’s anymore, huh?)

Happy Birthday, Abbey-girl!

All dressed up…

with somewhere to go.

With her good friend, D’Qota.

The homeschool Valentine’s Dance.  On her last day being 16, too.

He surprised her with this fun ride to the dance…borrowed from a friend.

Payton and Ethan also went, but they refused pictures.  I’ll get them back for that later…

Marley decided not to go, since she sprained her ankle last Monday on the dirt bike.  Like the attractive foot attire?  She gets to wear it for two weeks.  Kylie and Kailee still wanted their picture taken with her.

I’m still waiting for them to plan a “Parents Only” dance one of these days.  I’d love an excuse to buy a pretty dress!

We’ve recently instituted something new around here.  It’s the Comment Jar.  It sits on the kitchen island, with paper and a pencil nearby.

Do you have a grievance you want discussed?

A suggestion on how we could do something better?

A compliment to share with everyone?

An idea for discussion?

Put it in the jar.  After dinner prayers, we’ll jump into whatever topics those little slips of paper dictate.

Recent ones…

Dylan would like everyone to stop tickling him so much.  Especially Ethan.

Lainey would like us to all go to the movies as a family.

An anonymous person complimented Payton on how kind he’d been that day.

A certain kid’s friend even put one in.  It read “Pie is good.  You should get some”.  I’m thinking I should out-law friends adding to our comment jar.

Given Randy has been traveling for the last 7 out of 11 days, our jar is getting full.  Thankfully, he’s on a plane right now, on his way home.  And, he tells me he’ll stay home (mostly) for the next 2 weeks!  This wife is happy ’bout that.

If you’d like to add something to our jar, electronically, just let me know.  We’ll be sure to discuss it at the dinner table :)

Lainey and Dylan, on their own, designed and built this fort.  They used all the blankets they could find, chairs, benches, sleeping bags, lotsa rubber bands, and my chip clips :)  We were all very impressed.

Silly builders.

Today, a week later, Lainey has a fever and is feeling puny.  Both littles are still in their PJ’s and it’s almost noon.

No matter what, you’ve gotta love Saturdays.

Today, I added “hair colorist” to the many hats I wear around here…

Blonde…

Brunette.  With a touch of auburn for good measure.

Mom did good.  And, she luvs it…

Someone decided she wanted bangs.  I think she made a good decision :)

The lemon cheesecake, took literally hours of preparation on Saturday.  And, on a scale of 1-10 for taste, it’s easily a 20.

Bravo to the chefs!

Head chef, D’Qota…

and, one of his trusty sous chefs, Dylan…shown here, working very hard!

Payton couldn’t be reached for a photo, he left early for a friend’s house.

However, before that, the boys had an experiment to try out.

Anyone know what happens to an egg when you put it in a microwave?

Yeah, that.  Instant scrambled eggs.  All over the microwave.  How many moms would allow their boys to do this?!?  I’m so cool.  Heh.

Good thing the guys were good at cooking AND cleaning…

Now, please excuse us while we eat.