Day Three Hundred Forty-One: Table Football

Max has really been enjoying his copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys lately. And, today he let me be in on one of the projects. He taught me how to play table football with quarters, and we played for close to an hour and had so much fun!

Learning about Table Football

The competition was pretty fierce!

Day Two Hundred Sixty-Eight: Unique Birthday Activities

Months ago, Clay made out a birthday agenda for his big day. It included some items you would expect for a birthday party and a few truly unique items like "Wake up as early as possible," "Building Contest," "Draw a wolf," and "When I go to bed, everyone goes to bed." I can honestly say I have never been to a birthday party where I participated in a wolf drawing contest or a building contest, but it was super fun!

Wolf Drawings
(Top left: Me, Top right: Jeff
Bottom left: Ruth, Bottom right: Clay)

Day Two Hundred Fifty: Hanging Out with Abe Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson

Today was our last day of CC, and the older boys got to present their Faces of History research papers, which they have been working so hard on this semester. (And I got to break a microphone stand in front of an audience, which was a First I hadn't counted on!) Max's paper was about Abraham Lincoln, and Weston's was about Thomas Jefferson. They both did a wonderful job, and I'm very proud of them! I had so much fun being their tutor this year!

When you break the microphone stand, you end up having to hold the microphone!

Abraham Lincoln

Thomas Jefferson

Day One Hundred Ninety-Four: Invitation-Only Team

Max has been participating in a Ninja Warrior class since right after the new year, and tonight his coach approached me to express how much he loves having Max in class and to tell me what a hard worker Max is. Then, the coach extended an invitation for Max to join the Ninja Warrior team. This is obviously more about Max than me, but it was the first time I've been approached with an offer for any of the kids to join an invitation-only team, and I'm very proud of Mr. Max.

So proud of my Ninja Warrior!

Day One Hundred Fifty-Four: Gigantic Ice Cream Sandwich

I always love to hear what the kids come up with for their perfect birthday cake each year, and I try my best to make their birthday cake dreams into realities. A few days ago I asked Max, whose birthday is tomorrow, what kind of cake he wanted. He thought for a minute and then declared, "I think I want an ice cream cake." A minute later, he changed his mind, "No. I think I want a cookie cake." And, then a light bulb came on and his eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "What about an ice cream cookie cake?!" The best of everything. So today, I made my first ever ice cream cookie cake, aka a gigantic ice cream sandwich. I think Max will be pleased.

The biggest ice cream sandwich I've ever seen

When it comes to birthday cakes, size definitely matters!

Day One Hundred Twenty-Two: Rogue One

I am not really a fanatical Stars Wars fan, but I have seen all the movies at least once, in the theater, no less. All except one. I missed Rogue One last year, because, according to our family rule, Clay was still too young to see the movies, so I stayed home with him while everyone else went to see it. The older kids have since taken a vote to let Clay into the Stars Wars club a little early, so he's been trying to see all of them before the new one comes out in theaters next week. Since I missed Rogue One, I decided I better get caught up, too. So Max and Clay and I piled into the back seat of the parked car today and watched it on an iPad with a shattered screen. There were several new experiences in there, and a good time was had by all!

Watching Rogue One with a couple of cuties

Day One Hundred Twenty-One: Dinner Out with my Littles

Because our family is in a crazy divide-and-conquer stage of life, I had dinner out with just my "Bigs" a few weeks ago, and tonight I got to have dinner out with just my "Littles." (In both cases, we went to Mexican food restaurants, which is how you know I'm raising my kids right!) The boys picked Chuy's, a family favorite from way back, and we had fun watching a lady make tortillas and indulging in some of our favorite Mexican food, smothered in creamy jalapeno sauce. While I would prefer to have all my people together, I do also appreciate and enjoy the time spent with one or two of them at a time.

Excited about fresh tortillas

Dinner with my "Littles" (who aren't very little!)

Day Eighty-Seven: Ninja Warrior Contest

We spent a portion of the afternoon watching Clay and Max compete in Ninja Warrior contests, which was a new experience for all of us. The gym where Max takes gymnastics was transformed into a giant obstacle course, and the kids were divided into age groups for the competition. It was so fun to watch, and I was so proud of both boys!

Little Monkey Man

Ninja Clay

Max was made for this

Max got 2nd place overall in his age group

Day Eighty-Five: Watermelon Margarita and Chocolate Pinata

Tonight we had dinner at Uncle Julio's, a new-to-us Mexican food restaurant in Grapevine, to celebrate me being freed from my knee brace after six long post-surgery weeks (and about four pre-surgery weeks). I had a delicious watermelon margarita, which was a new flavor for me. And, after dinner, we ordered the Chocolate Lover's Pinata, which was a very fun and unique twist on dessert. And that doesn't even get into the wonderful food we ate between the two! We had such a great time, and we are all so very thankful that my mobility is returning!

Uncle Julio's

Watermelon Margarita

Max loved getting to whack our chocolate pinata

The incredible contents of the pinata

Day Eighty-Two: Super Tutor and Fun Mom

We aren't much into Halloween, but since CC fell on that day this year, we decided to dress up along with the rest of the campus. Weston repurposed his Eric the Red costume from last year's final Essentials project. Max went as a cowboy. And, Clay was Neil Armstrong. I'm not much of a costume wearer, but I wanted to get in on the fun, too, so I borrowed Clay's Batman cape and became Super Tutor. My Essentials class got a kick out of it, and it was about as much costume as I felt I could pull off.

Later, when I was getting ingredients out for dinner, one of my children traipsed through the kitchen and asked the age-old "What's for dinner?" question. I replied "Jack-o-lantern cheeseburger pie," which caused a shocked response of "Fun Mom must be here!"

It was definitely my most spirited Halloween in all my adult years!

Super Tutor

My Halloween Helpers and Jack-O-Lantern Pies

Day Seventy-Three: Ft. Worth Symphony

We had our first experience with the Ft. Worth Symphony tonight and had so much fun participating in the instrument petting zoo and listening to some familiar tunes from the Harry Potter movies. I'm thankful for all the opportunities we have living here in DFW!

Checking out the French horn

The drum was a natural fit for this guy

Such a fun, interactive concert!

We loved the venue and the orchestra!

Day Sixty-Three: Moon Drops

After getting cautious clearance from the surgeon and the physical therapist, and after a brief driving lesson with Jeff last night, I finally crawled back behind the wheel today. But even though it seems like forever since I've driven, that's not my first for today. I went to the grocery store by myself for the first time in weeks, and while I was there, I found a fruit I had never seen before. They were called Moon Drops, and they were pinkie-sized, dark-colored grapes. They were also on sale, so I decided then and there that that would be my first for today. I snatched up a bag and brought them home. The kids always analyze every item that enters the house after a shopping trip to see if there is anything interesting, and sure enough, they honed in on the Moon Drops and begged to try them. Max snagged a couple and promptly proclaimed, "They taste just like grapes!" This is true. They do taste like grapes. But they are grapes, so there's that. It was a fun discovery, and I'm glad I am now knowledgeable about Moon Drops.

Moon Drops taste just like grapes