Just an Average Week

They fall asleep in just as amusing positions when they are teenagers as when they were toddlers. Ethan slept this way for a good 45 minutes. Early morning seminary makes for a long day. And he did eventually regain feeling to his legs; it just took a little while.

Grace managed to temporarily lose all of her jackets. Sam was willing to share, thankfully. They couldn't be cooler if they tried.

I found my happy place! I need a Hobbit hole of my own. 

We finally took the kids mini golfing, with the certificates they were awarded last summer. The kids patiently waiting for Tiki to make fun of them for not getting a hole in one on the final hole.

I am laughing because I got my only hole in one of the night, here at Tiki. He even shot flames to celebrate (in the above picture)!

Spring Break

Every spring break I think we should have a short vacation, or at least a staycation. That would be fun. Instead, this year at least, we worked. And then worked some more.

This shed has been given over to the kids as a play fort. It was pretty decrepit when we moved in, and the last almost ten years haven't been kind.  I told the older kids I would pay for their yearbooks if they would scrape and paint it. 

 Forty-eight hours later, with all of us pitching in, this is the new shed! It's so shiny and tidy. I love it.

 Once the outside was painted the girls decided the inside needed freshening up.

So they and the neighbor child set to work. I don't have a picture of the finished work, and I'm too lazy to go out and take a picture.

Just kidding Grace was reading over my shoulder as I typed, and scurried out to take a picture. You are welcome. This is after they have been playing in it again, hence the mess.

While the girls painted, Ethan power washed the fence. He then stained it. I don't have a picture of the stained fence because I hate the color. Natural Cedar stain looks nothing like cedar, natural or otherwise. It mostly looks like Grandma's harvest gold Tupperware. Why did I paint my fence this awful color? It was an accident. Ethan started it while I was gone, and after a couple panels, stopped. He was a little worried about the color.  I came home and decided it would be too much work to start over, and hoped vainly the color would look better when it was completely dry. So for the next ten years we have a yellow fence. At least it is stained.

                                              

I also made the kids shovel tons of bark mulch and soil and move railroad ties to make a raised garden bed in the backyard.  I'm so excited to start planting this year. I don't know how much my little bed will produce, but it will be a fun learning experience.  You can see my harvest gold fence in this picture. It's even brighter than this in real life.

We didn't spend much time having fun, but we were very productive, and I believe the kids fought less than usual. Maybe I will make them re-landscape the yard every school break.

Library Shenagins and Fieldtrips

For First Thursday the library invited Dr. Picklestein to teach the children about science and chemistry.  I think Michael loves him as much as the kids do. Michael even got to play with Dr. Picklestein's invention, the name of which I cannot recall.

Ethan and Libby still go to teen nights most weeks. This week they painted rocks and Libby painted her arm.

I'm grateful the librarians haven't banned us yet. Truly, I love the Main Library and the librarians there. Grace and Sam are trying to convince me to take them to attend the school age classes. We will see. I only have so much energy.

The day school started back up, Grace, Sam, and I went on a field trip to Celebration Park, about an hour outside Boise. Here is Sam examining the petroglyphs. We spent four hours out there and learned how the petroglyphs were created, by whom, and why they created them. We learned about the diets of the people native to this area and learned to be grateful that we aren't fated to die at 25 due to a infection in our gums.

The most interesting part for the kids, though, was playing with the atlatl. A person uses a stick to launch an arrow, faster and farther than they could throw it. I even took a turn and discovered I am a natural. Of the six times I threw, I hit the hay five times, and went completely over once, which was the best of anyone in our group.

As I sat there wondering why throwing the arrow felt so familiar, I was finally able to put my finger on it. It is the exact same motion I use to throw Harley's ball from the ball chucker. I guess I'm not a natural; just well-practiced.

Just a few of the monkeys that went on the field trip. Despite the frigid start, it looks like everyone had a great time.

Choir

Ethan and Libby are still loving choir. They just presented "A Night of Broadway". As a choir they sang "Why Are All the D'Ysquith's Dying" from "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder". I don't have a sound recording, but they did a really good job. Their choir was definitely the best of the three we saw perform. 

There were also quite a few smaller group and solo songs (by quite a few, I mean, please, please let this end. Shy, reserved 12 year old girls should not sing ABBA songs.)

Ethan (far right) and his group sang "King of New York" from "Newsies". You could tell these were the older kids. They strutted and owned their stage space, their singing was confident and almost always in key. They did an marvelous job.

Libby (middle, she straightened her hair) and her friends performed "Requiem" from "Dear Evan Hansen". I believe they were mostly on key, but the microphones chose to die right before they sang. We had to strain to hear them, although Libby did do a good job projecting without a mic, once she realized it was dead. Unfortunately, thirteen year olds rarely have the volume to fill an auditorium without electrical assistance. I was proud of her for soldiering on despite the technical difficulties. I had to restrain Michael from going and taking control of the soundboard. Next concert he may just volunteer himself beforehand.

Last Half of February

Grace wrote a report on the colossal squid, which should not be confused with the giant squid. She will be happy to tell you the difference; I have forgotten. She made a colossal squid to present to her classmates at co-op. She made the above representation; a real one can be as long as 46 feet! Also, big thanks to her cousin Aubrey for helping with the construction!

Grace and Sam also made boxes to receive their valentines at the card exchange. With Michael's help they were wired to light up. I guess I didn't manage to get a picture of Sam's with the eyes lit up, but it was pretty cute.

Grace with her glowing box. They each received lots of valentines and lots of candy. Their were no complaints.

We had warm weather in January, and everyone was lulled into hope for a early spring. Then came the end of February. Cold weather, snow storms, and frozen roads were the norm. Grace and Sam got in some sledding, so it did have an upside.

All these teenagers also had snow plans. They were going to travel to an area outside Twin Falls to go sledding. The buses were packed, teens had sleeping bags and warm clothes, and they clutched their bag lunches close. Right when the buses were about to pull away for the overnight adventure, a phone call came in. The roads were too bad, and the overnight portion of the trip was canceled. I ended up with my two teens, plus three more. One bathroom is not enough for five teenagers, but we survived, and they had a good time together.

They even made cake, because, why not?

In the morning I drove them to the church for breakfast and activities. They deemed the activities boring and walked two miles back to my house, much to my surprise. From there they went to the Y for swimming and to wander around downtown. They all returned to their own homes in the evening. I was relieved to have my little house just a little less chaotic.