Eleven

Tuesdays, I pick Will up at school at 12:15, and we have about an hour and a half together until we go back for Jon (he has STEM club on Tuesdays after school.) Today, I picked Will up and we went and had lunch at Fresh (a fancy-ish grocery store). We had sushi and berries for lunch, then we went to the bakery and he picked out a German Chocolate cake for his birthday cake... because sometimes Mama is too busy to cook and the cakes at Fresh have been delicious.

We enjoyed our time together, and it was an added bonus that it happened on his birthday. As we were on our way to get Jon, the school nurse at Ben's school called and said I needed to come get Ben, so our quiet time was short-lived, but special.

I think every year I get to December 2nd and wonder where time went. How did Will make it to age eleven? The last few weeks have been a struggle with lots of back talk and arguing. There have been plenty of days I wondered if we would both make it to his eleventh birthday... but we have all survived so far. Today, Will was in great spirits, so I can finish this story with a big grin! Happy birthday, [sometimes] Sweet William!

PS - He loved the gifts he opened today, as you can tell by the smiles. When the last gift was a Theodore Boone book he has been wanting since spring, he blurted, "This has been the BEST birthday EVER! I got everything I wanted!!" He got a couple sets of Magic cards from us, a metal take-apart puzzle from great grandparents, a magazine subscription from Gramma and Granddad, a Theodore Boone book from Uncle Jason and Aunt Angel, and a Doctor Who watch set from Nana and Papa.

More Cousin Crafting

Saturday was a girls' day out. Allen had gone back home to check on Tico who has been pretty sick lately, and Jason and Dad kept the boys until Allen got back to Waco Saturday morning. The guys all hiked down the street for burgers for lunch.

Mom, Angel, and I took Maddie and Julianne to the Fair again since Julianne hadn't been with us yesterday. The girls chose different crafts to do, but a couple times they were working at the same table.

Maddie really enjoyed basket weaving, and she was so proud of her pretty basket!

Next, she made a little tissue holder. She has done some embroidery stitching at home and tried cross stitching yesterday at the fair, but I think this is the first time she's sewed something really useful.

While Maddie sewed the tissue holder, Julianne sewed a gift bag, and Aunt Angel sewed a tissue holder, too.

Julianne tried a few other crafts that Maddie or the boys had done yesterday, then the girls went to pet the chicks and bunnies.

That evening, we rinsed, washed, and dried the tie-dyed shirts.

Sunday morning, we packed up our luggage to head home. Before we left, though, I helped Maddie and Julianne finish another part of the textile badge. Instead of having two wearable shirts, I taught them how to turn one of them into a cute purse. When we got home, I showed Maddie how to use the sleeve scraps to make braided bracelets, and that's how she did the badge (well... almost. Now she just needs to write up what she learned.)

Black Friday at the Homestead Heritage Fair

This year we had Thanksgiving with my parents in Waco. We headed to Waco Wednesday morning and had a pretty laid back couple of days. Maddie took several opportunities to get Granddad to help her with her Fishing badge, the boys played outside in leaf piles, and I couldn't tell you what I did.  Every other year, when we go to Waco, we go to the Homestead Heritage Fair the day after Thanksgiving. It's my favorite way to spend Black Friday, and each year we seem to enjoy it more and more as the kids get old enough to participate in the crafts and learning.

As soon as we got to the fair, we headed to the do-it-yourself tent since it wasn't too crowded yet. Will and Ben built wooden sailboats while Allen and Dad assisted as needed. Since I was with Maddie, I didn't get photos of the boys doing the building, but I got there in time to see them painting and launching the ship.

Jon started off doing a leather-worked bookmark, then Mom stayed with him as he began weaving a coaster on the big loom. Meanwhile, I was with Maddie as she learned to cross-stitch a bookmark.

 

Maddie was stitching for awhile. While she was sewing, Ben and Jon dipped candles and made caramel apples, and Allen and Will took the big sail boats to the car.

We had lunch and wandered through the fairgrounds for a while. After the DIY crafts, the biggest hit at the fair for my kids are the animals. They love holding fluffy chicks, cuddling the baby goats and puppies, and playing with the bunnies.

One of Maddie's badge requirements is to attend a craft fair and notice new types of crafts she might want to learn to make. She really enjoyed watching a young lady making a basket and asked if she could try it someday. Here are the finished crafts she had me photograph for her to remember.

We got back to the house a bit before my brother's family arrived and Maddie had time to finish her bookmark. Once Jason's crew arrived we were all back to busy again. Angel and I thought it would be fun for Maddie and Julianne to work on a badge together. Both girls and moms went through the handbook searching for one the girls could finish in one weekend and have a great time doing it. The girls began working on Textile Arts by weaving pot holders with Gramma earlier in the summer. Tonight, the girls each dyed two shirts and Jon, Ben, and Will each did one. Since the color needed to stay on the shirts for several hours, we left soaking until the next day.

Ben's Blessings

 

 

Book Worthy?

This weekend I have been working on finishing up the 2013 blog book for Christmas gifts. Most years, I get worn out from sitting over a computer knowing it takes awhile to get all the stories formatted and the higher quality images attached to the right stories, but feeling like all I'm doing is sitting and not getting other household chores done. Every year, I wonder if it is worth the trouble, but I know how much I like reading the books and the gifts are appreciated so I keep going.

As I finished up the last few things and chose background colors and images for the cover, Will sat watching over my shoulder as the pages went by on the screen. A few minutes later, he asked if he could get one of the printed books out and soon he was laughing and reading aloud stories from 2011. It didn't take long for all four kids to be crowded around the book on the couch. Allen took a break from working on dinner and came and kissed all the kids on the head and I caught his eye as he smiled over them. Forty minutes later, they were still flipping pages and giggling together over the funny things they said or did when they were four years younger. So... I may have wondered earlier today if the book was worth the trouble, but now I know. It is! And these are the reasons I blog and print the stories.

So... Book worthy? ABSOLUTELY!