After we finished worship band rehearsal this morning, some peppy hispanic worship music was playing, and Caeden just couldn't keep from dancing!

After church, the kids had Beacon lunch and rehearsal, then youth group.  Jeremy and I had lunch at the Thai House, then spent the afternoon shopping.  He bought me some new jeans and a couple pairs of shoes, and we also stopped at a few car lots and looked at cars.  It was wonderful to spend time together.  

This evening when we got home after youth group, Annah and I went up to the school for a little bit to finish priming the flats on stage.  

RCM

 Caeden's guitar teacher has recently started him in the Royal Conservatory of Music curriculum.  At this point, he won't be doing the testing and certification, but he is enjoying the challenges of the curriculum. He has even said he is liking to practice and play more now too. 

Buddies

Caeden's friend Loren invited him and a couple other boys from school over to his family's big farm today.  It was all Caeden talked about all week, and he couldn't wait to go!

When I went to pick him up after lunch, the boys were playing catch in the yard--sometimes with a watermelon or cantaloupe from the garden.  They were all wearing different clothes than when I dropped him off.  They had gone to the pond and gotten very muddy.

They also helped Loren with his chores, including feeding the sheep and trying to get one to charge them.  They had pizza for lunch, and did all  the kinds of things 12-year-old boys can find to get into on a farm.

I am thankful for Caeden to have a good friend like Loren.  

I woke up to a gorgeous sunrise happening this morning.  Our bedroom window faces north, so I usually don't see the sunrise. But today it was so beautiful, it took up the whole northeastern sky.  Obviously, I couldn't capture a good picture through the screen of our window, but I was just excited how awesome it was to start the day this way! 

We are getting ready to go on vacation! So, today I had Caeden clean out the car. I got the shopvac ready for him, and gave him detailed instructions and a tub of disinfectant wipes too.  It took him almost 2 hours, but I think now he will better appreciate the fact that our car is not a dumpster.

This evening, after Sylvia's cello lesson, we went to the store to get some road trip snacks, suncsreen, and a few other things for vacation.  Caeden thought he needed this...

It was half off, and he has been thinking about it for a few weeks. However, his dad and I helped him consider the purchase, and he decided to go with a smaller option.  (Thank goodness!  I didn't want that huge thing in the house!)

Working on some mandala projects recently...

...This one with ocean inspired colors as I look forward to our vacation...

Church family

During worship service this morning, Pastor Karin interviewed Pastor Scott about Pivot Youth.  At the end of his interview, she asked the congregation to turn and lay hands on any member of the youth group they happened to be sitting near while she prayed over Pastor Scott and all the teens. I happened to be sitting next to Caeden, though both girls were serving in KIDS.

It was a pretty great moment.

LEGO Dimensions

Today Jeremy granted Caeden's long-time wish...

He got LEGO Dimensions, which was pretty much the entire reason he had wished for an XBox.

 I was the one who was actually at the store with him today to buy it, even though Jeremy was totally in charge of the idea.  So we were texting back and forth, and when he asked if Caeden was stoked about it or not, Caeden replied, "Are you kidding?!?!  I am so super excited right now that it's taking every bit of my energy and concentration not to bust out break dancing right here in the middle of the aisle!!!"  (Not that he is much into break dancing, but Jeremy replied, "That's my boy!"

 I have to say, we are all blown away by how awesome this thing is!  It will be hours of fun, I'm sure!

My little reader boy.  He sat there like this until he finished the book the other night!

Today we had a weather alert I'd never seen...and we did notice the dust storms coming off the fields and across the roads as we went to and from the school this afternoon and evening!  

Red Note

 I was just really thankful for this moment...Caeden and his buddies hanging out at church before the service started this morning.  

After church, Jeremy took us all to lunch at Moe's--the kids choice, mmm!  Then I dropped Sylvia off for a special rehearsal at the ISU CPA. The Sinfonia ensemble has been working on a unique piece by a living composer, who came to work with them on his piece during rehearsal today!

I took Annah to her violin lesson while Sylvia was at rehearsal, then picked everyone up and took them to youth group.  Jeremy picked up Annah and Caeden from youth group and took them home, while I took Sylvia back to the CPA for the concert.

My beautiful girl, ready to make music...

I suppose we look a little alike...

 While most of the kids in Sinfonia didn't enjoy the piece (or even working with the composer, really), it was a good learning opportunity for them.  

They performed it this evening on the first concert of the Illinois State University Red Note New Music Festival.

In the dailies

Monday face.

Annah has vocal jazz rehearsal on Tuesday mornings at 7:40 this semester. The kids' bus comes at about 7:30, but doesn't get to school until about 7:45 or later, so I have to take them on Tuesdays.  Though I feel like they are little because I'm driving them to school, they don't look so little when I drop them off on this JH/HS side of the building.  It just made me have a twinge of sadness at the the speed of their growing up this morning.

Beacon Sunday

Beacon Youth Band led worship this morning at PoC!

VIDEO:

Caeden led the first song they sang.

Siblings

 Sometimes they drive each other crazy.  But sometimes they actually show that they love each other. 

That Gumby Kid

We've recognized for years that Caeden is kind of freakishly flexible. 

Now wrestling coaches and referees are noticing his flexibility regularly. Multiple times recently he has had referees stop matches to ask if he was okay because his opponents were putting illegal moves on him that should have made him howl or at least wince. Sometimes he does notice that he is in a potentially dangerous move, but he is fortunate that parts of his body don't mind being stretched and moved beyond where they probably should.

One of Caeden's coaches told Jeremy that at a wrestling meet recently, a referee pulled him aside and asked "Who is That Gumby Kid?!?" All the coaches were standing there and burst out laughing, knowing he was talking about Caeden!

I remember when I was in elementary through high school and we had to take flexibility tests, I was always the most flexible one in my class.  Jeremy had ridiculous flexibility as well, even through college--when the picture here on the left was taken.  So, we know where Caeden gets it.

The best part

Caeden has a couple patches of dry skin on his face (probably a combination of it being dry winter and the fact that his face is rubbed up against other people/headgear/wrestling mats every night), so I took him to urgent care yesterday morning to make sure it wasn't ringworm.  I knew it wasn't, but if a wrestling referee or trainer notices something on the skin and thinks there is any chance it could be something contagious like ringworm, they can choose not to allow a wrestler to participate.  So, I just wanted to get confirmation that it wasn't contagious and get the official doctor form for the IESA filled out before the tournament tomorrow.  It took 3 hours, and the student doctor we saw wanted to treat Caeden with 2 types of creams.  I'm pretty sure he'd be fine if just put some lotion on. But, I got a whole morning with my goofy kid, so that's cool.

He was pretty happy that I came to his wrestling meet today, and said that it helped him wrestle better. I loved watching him and his team, and enjoyed cheering with the other wrestling moms!

When we got home and Daddy got home from his tournament, we all had a lot to talk about. And some more wrestling happened in our living room.

This is my favorite part of it all, watching these 2 guys sharing something they love.

Portraits of the Kids

My parents have been asking for new portraits of the kids.  Apparently I haven't taken new ones for 4 years?!  I doubt it's been that long, but a couple weekends ago we squeezed out a little bit of time on a gorgeous fall Saturday afternoon/evening to take a few hurried shots.

I think this one is my favorite of Sylvia.

Sometimes she doesn't hide the sass!

And she has a goofy side too.

Annah got the golden hour time slot.  But I don't know enough about how to use my camera to do a great job with it.

This guy doesn't like the pressure of pictures.  He's still pretty cute though.

He always yawns when I'm taking pictures of him, but tries to smile through it.

My boy.

By the time I was ready for all 3 of them at the same time, the sun was rapidly setting.  I focusing mostly on avoiding glare on their glasses and didn't even notice the face Annah was making.

Uh...???

Here they are doing their Chandler smiles (FRIENDS fans will know what I mean, or here's a clip.)

It is a little easier than when he was a toddler.  I think?


They do have nice faces.

Here's a good one.

But this is my favorite.  It's a real, true, current representation of these kids.

They are pretty great.

The girls were both wearing shrug sweaters I made them, and wanted pics together.

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