No Longer a Teenager

We have made it through the teenage years with our first.  This is the first birthday I was able  to spend with him in two years.  Last year he was at school finishing up his second quarter of college.  The year before that, I was gone with Benjamin on an 8th grade trip to New Orleans.  

He had a good day, I think.

First off - he's on spring break, so he gets to sleep in.  I think all college students love that!  Then in the afternoon he went with a few of his friends to pretend to be protesters in a training sessions for the local police. He's done this another time as well. I think today, he got to throw tennis balls at the trainees. 

Tonight we went out for dinner at a local Japanese place.  (We usually get Japanese on his birthday since he was born in Japan.)  After dinner we went home to hang out for a little while to wait for Drew to get home. He had been traveling, but got home just in time for cake and ice cream and gifts. 

And I think a good time had by all.....lots of laughing....and singing loudly in the car....love these kids...especially this one who made me a mom. 

 

Christmas is Up!!

Our house is finally decorated for Christmas...well...sort of...all but the tree.  And at the moment we have decided not to get a tree this year. Not sure if that decision will stand...we'll see. In the past we have  picked it out before Thanksgiving and then gone back to the Christmas tree farm that's close by after Thanksgiving to actually cut the tree down. But this year we never did go and pick out the tree.  And with the rain this weekend, we didn't want to buy one wet. So...that leaves us with no tree right now...   I do have an artificial tree upstairs at the window - that just may do for this year. 

I actually have several small trees throughout the house. At one point in time some of them were in the kids' rooms, but now they seem not to care if they have their own or not, so they have stayed in the front of the house.

And they don't seem to care about us having a big one downstairs....so......we'll do easy this year.

I like easy.

Current Going-Ons

I found a new author at the library this week: Carre Armstrong Gardner.  The first book in her series is All Right Here. It's about a couple trying to find their way when their married life didn't go as planned.  I've already have the second book in the series on hold at the library - hope to get it today!

I've, also, been reading a lot of Julie Garwood. For many years she wrote historical romance, but around year 2000 she began writing contemporary mystery/romance. I do remember reading the first when it came out, but not any of the others. I'm working my way through them all currently.  And so very thankful our library has all of them - which is like 16!


I am reading a lot because work is slow right now...I'm not putting in many hours at all.  I am, also, sewing some. I made my mom a bag she asked for. I love how it came out! I think it's so cute! If all goes well, then tomorrow when I'm at home, I'll start a new quilt while the laundry gets done.

The other current events around here is soccer - of course.  The high school team has been doing conditioning since late June. Then in September and October  many of the team did a local recreational team. This week was the official start to the high school league.  Which means on top of conditioning, they are, also, practicing with the ball. For the most part Benjamin loves it, but it makes it a long day when he doesn't get home until after 5:30. We all think he's playing better than he did last year...and hoping that means he'll get more play time....

His problem this morning was not being able to find two of his uniform shorts....I know at the beginning of the summer when we went through all his gear, we had them. We placed our gear order back in June, and when it came in last month, I really didn't go though it to make sure we got everything we ordered.  Then this morning Ben says he can't find his white or purple shorts. Great...just great...  And of course, the coach had us order through some special store that's not taking our orders anymore....urggg...

This weekend we will celebrate his 16th birthday.  Benjamin's choice of a party? Paintball.  I'll be the one sitting off to the side - with a good book!

Birthday Boy

Friday we celebrate Benjamin's thirteenth birthday. I think he had a good day - even if he had to go to school! Since this was his thirteenth, it was a year he had a party with his friends.  We had six of his friends over for pizza and cake. Then we went to the opening night of the movie Ender's Game.  It's another youth fiction book brought to the big screen, so most of the boys had read the book.   Overall, I think everyone had a good time....just was missing Drew!

As our tradition, Benjamin got to request the type of cake he wanted. He asked for a cinnamon roll cake.  Hmmm....okay. I had to search for a recipe, but I found one. It was really easy - just make a basic cake recipe, pour it in a baking pan, then pour a mixture of melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon over it and bake. During serving you pour icing over it as well.  After Ben took his first bite, he dropped his fork and gave me a big long hug. 

"I take it that you like the cake??"

"Oh, yes!!"

 The boy next to him closed his eyes and stopped talking as he ate his first bite -yea....he liked it as well. Two other boys did the same, but added, "Can you be my mommy???!!!"

Funny, kids!  So, yea. The un-usual cake was a big hit!  Ben's already asked for it next year.

 

 

(The pictures of Benjamin and his friends are on my camera - this is the only one I took on my phone. I'll try to download and post those soon.)

 

 

Benjamin turning thirteen made me think of William turning thirteen....which you can read about here.

Birthday Time

Today was the first time in many - MANY - years I was able to celebrate my mom's birthday  with her and all the family.  What a nice time!  My brother and sister-in-law did a great job with the food and my aunt brought us all petite fours: the best things on the earth!!! 

And I got to bring some home.

I see many more walks in my future for all the extra calories I will be eating......

These are the days we are so thankful for being close to family - for being 5 with family.

Mr. 14

While his cake tasted exactly how he wanted it (lemon), it looked nothing like I wanted it.....

That's what I get for trying to take a short cut and not flouring the pan properly!!

The Grands

All four grandparents came in this past weekend to help us celebrate Benjamin's birthday.  My parents came in Friday just before  lunch.  We ate lunch at a local Mexican restaurant - very good. (I'm so addicted to Mexican!). Then I took Mom to the Louisiana Boardwalk. She had never been before. I think she enjoy it - she bought a few things.

After shopping we were at the house waiting for the kids to return from school. My father said we needed to get a picture with all the grandparents and the grand-kids.   Yes, of course, we will.

Then we never thought of it again.

Yuck.

This is the second time in just a few months that we were all together and the second  we all forgot.

I pray we have another chance. And that we won't forget.

What's In Front of You?

This weekend we celebrated Benjamin's birthday at a local indoor mini-putt-putt. It was a little further away from the house then I wanted, but it was what he wanted.  It bothered me was several did not RSVP and so I assumed that they would not attend. Also, one that did RSVP did not show up. I felt bad for Ben. I wanted the day to be perfect for him - full of all his friends.

At one point I  asked if Ben if he was enjoying his party. He said, "Yes! I'm playing putt-putt, some of my friends are here, I get presents and cake. What more could I want?"

And it stuck me how totally unconcerned he was about those who did not come. He was just happy with what is.

 I love that.  It was just a gentle reminder from the Lord that I, too, need to just be happy with what's in front of me. Be happy with what is.

November...Aleady

I never intended to go so long without posting. I really want to post every few days, but it seems that life just gets in the way. So. What has been going on?? 

Last weekend my dear friend from Maryland came for a long weekend visit. Dawn and I had a great (and wonderful and awesome) time! We talked and talked...ate and ate...shopped and shopped. So much fun! We hit several stores I had not visited yet. Wish she could have stayed longer.

The kids did return to the allergist. All three decided to do the food challenge for chocolate. All three are set for December.  My prediction is that William will react, but the other two won't.  I did promise Melissa that if she is NOT allergic to chocolate, I will make her a plate of brownies.

I see my days of having a monopoly of the chocolate in the house coming to an end.

Also, at the allergist, Benjamin was put back on asthma meds. I wasn't very happy about this. But after talking to his pediatrician about it today, I feel resign to the fact that it'll be a part of our life again.  You should see the counter in our kitchen. It looks like a small pharmacy with all the kids' allergy meds! Each is on at least three different kinds. (And yes, I did breast feed each for a year, thank you very much! So much for that helping.)

I, also got to have lunch with my friend Cheryl.  We met in Guam, but didn't have too many opportunities to get to know one another until now.  She lives about 45 minutes away and we have been able to get together for lunch almost once a month since the summer.  She's a hoot!  And I love hearing her take on things in the world. She is very plain spoken and just calls things like she sees them - no politically correctness at all. So much fun to be around.

Today I was a chaperon for Melissa and William on a field trip.  The school librarian takes the top twenty-five readers each quarter on a special trip as a reward for reading.  (The top twenty-five is based on points earned through the reading comprehensions testing program.)  I was excited that both were able to go.  This nine weeks the trip was to the State Fair.  We had perfect weather and the kids had a blast! I enjoyed getting to know some of their new friends. They enjoyed riding the rides while I kept my feet on the ground. I learned that my body no longer enjoys the thrills of rides last year when I rode the SlingShot in Guam. My two feet stay on the ground these days.

This weekend we will celebrate Benjamin's tenth birthday which was on Monday. He's thrilled that this is a year for a large party. (Here's an old post that talks about our birthday traditions.) And he's also thrilled that BOTH set of GRANDPARENTS will be here to help celebrate. In fact, we're all thrilled. Yes, I honestly love having both sets at the same time. And yes, they all get along.

It's going to be another wonderful weekend!