A Teenager in the House

Early in the week, I took Henry and Caroline to the store to buy a birthday gift for Josiah.  It wasn't until we got in the store that they told me their secret plan.  They had already decided amongst themselves that they were each going to give Josiah $13 for his 13th birthday.  They said since he was no longer a kid, he didn't need any more toys.  

Josiah's birthday started early.  Really early.  Caroline came in our room at 2:52 a.m. She kept telling us that she couldn't sleep.  After repeating this sentiment a few times, I told her that I could sleep and please go back to bed.  Ten minutes later, Josiah was awake for the day.  3 a.m.  He was so excited to turn a teenager.  I know that because he told me so 4-5 times from 3:00-6:00 a.m.  By 6:00 a.m. it was requested that I get out of bed!  Gift opening commenced.  Josiah loved everything he was given.  A Lego kit and a marble art kit.  A karaoke machine and a book of Beatles song lyrics.  A Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey and his very own phone.  He was a happy, blessed boy to have so many extended family show him love.

From gift giving, we moved on to breakfast.  It was a trifecta of doughnuts.  Cinnamon, powdered, and chocolate.  The kids burned a hole in the doughnut bags all morning.  

To compliment the carb overload for breakfast, we had another carb overload for lunch.  Josiah requested crockpot mac and cheese.  Henry and Caroline were not fans of this dish, so Todd and Josiah enjoyed the mac and cheese for days to come.  

Mid-morning, Josiah was surprised by his classmates with a video chat and a birthday surprise in Minecraft.  They had him log into a special world and there they had a table set up with 13 cakes.  They made a throne chair for him at the head of the table and his class sang happy birthday to him.  They made him a Froot Loops pool.  He opened one gift and it was Minecraft cotton candy.  Another gift had Benson in it.  They had a giant wall that said Happy B-day.  They told Josiah to flip a switch.  When he did so, the wall crumbled revealing all the things Josiah loved - Luigi, the Dude Perfect logo, a Whopper-i-o (Josiah's comic creation), and a Minecraft figure.  He was so excited and appreciative and very, very happy.  He told all his friends how kind and thoughtful they were.  His favorite friend in all the world, Bobby, had set it up, and his friends had worked on it in the weeks prior to his birthday.  After showing him all the surprises, they had a build battle.  Josiah built Peely from Fortnite and Spiderman.  

Froot Loop pool

The afternoon of Josiah's birthday, we watched Spiderman Far From Home.  Josiah wanted to do jiu-jitsu that evening because their instructor flips kids on their birthdays.  Josiah wanted to be flipped.  

After class, we went out for a late dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.  We were pretty tired by the end, so we got our cheesecake to-go.  Josiah wanted it to-go anyway, so we could sing at home rather than in the restaurant.  Finally, at 9:00 p.m., we were home and singing.  We each ate about half our cheesecake before we were very ready for bed.  It had been a long day.  Really long for those that were up at 3!! 

 

The kids started their Wednesday night activities at church this week.  Josiah wanted to continue doing the KSM (student ministry).  This semester they offered God's Girl's, which Caroline had not done since before covid.  She enjoyed her class.  We weren't sure if Henry would do his class, which is called Collide.  He doesn't always want to do all the activities.  However, Josiah told him that when he did Collide, they got Taco Bell one day and pizza a different day.  So, Henry made the agreement that he would go once, but if he didn't get Taco Bell, he wasn't going back.  Well, he didn't get Taco Bell, but he still enjoyed himself and wants to go back.  So that's a win. 

CC started back this week for the younger two as well.  For the next quarter we are back to painting for Fine Arts.  This week we learned about Giotto and were able to make paint in a manner similar to him.  We used egg yolks, water, and crushed up chalk to paint.  The colors were very vibrant and the whole project went well.  Most kids were only able to paint one picture, but Caroline was an overachiever and did all three!  

We had quite a few families out this week due to sickness.  Not just covid, but other junk going around.  For that reason, I had to help out in the after-class.  It is for all the kids who have siblings in Essentials or Challenge and have to stay the afternoon.  Usually there are 10-15 kids in after-class, but because of all the families out, we had three kids.  One was Caroline.  The other two were girls her age.  For our outside time, she and I played baseball.  The other two kids put on a show for us, so it was an easy afternoon.  

The first day back (of anything) is always exhausting and this week was no different.  However, Henry still wanted to do the no-gi class for jiu-jitsu that evening.  He likes the classes where they just wear rash guards and shorts.  He did well, but he was one tired kid that evening.  He fell asleep early while reading Harry Potter.  He told me the next day that he had put the book down to rest his eyes for a bit, but ended up falling asleep for the next 9 hours!  

Henry has to learn vocab words for his Essentials program. While I was reviewing them with him this week, I would read the definition, and he would have to give me the word.  We got to the definition, "full of joy," and I made the comment that it was just like me.  Smiling and full of joy all the time.  He picked up on my sarcasm and without skipping a beat he replied with another vocab word, "ruthlessly."  

Josiah has been enjoying his karaoke machine all week.  He's tried to put on Beatles concerts at night, but he starts so late in the evening, he's relegated to just one song a night.  He is very much enjoying holding a real microphone in his hands.

This weekend, we woke up to Henry and Caroline making pancakes.  I got to the top of our stairs and immediately smelled pancakes.  Upon arriving in the kitchen, they quickly told me that they were cooking and they had to throw out their first batch because they forgot to spay the pan.  They served us two pancakes each.  Todd only got one, but it was bigger in size.  They didn't know that I usually double or triple the recipe.  They did well, though.  I'm glad they are working on their cooking skills.

It was so windy this weekend.  Windy and quite cool.  Poor Benson does not know what to do with himself.  He is very much a warm-weather dog.  When it is cold, he just barks at the back door to go out, but once we open it and he's exposed to the elements, he has no desire to walk out.  We have a few more days of cold weather before it should warm up more to his liking.  Because of the cold, windy day, we lit another fire.  This time, it was Caroline's turn to light it.  She was a bit more nervous than the boys.  We enjoyed the fire and had a movie night.

For dinner that same night, we had a quiche.  We made two - a spinach, onion, & cheese one, and a broccoli & cheese one.  The kids had never had one, or at least it had been a really long time since they had had one.  The general consensus was: too eggy.  That's pretty much quiche.  Eggy.

We start off this coming week celebrating Josiah again at a bowling alley/arcade/laser tag place.  It'll be an exciting day tomorrow!