Full Half Day

The kids had a half day of school today, and we had play rehearsal from 12:15 to almost 5:00.  We got a lot of scenes blocked!  And we ran the scenes we blocked on Monday too!

Pay Phone scene

Lazy Eye scene

We also had lots of visiting when the seniors started reminiscing about acting during recess in elementary school.

The teachers had a meeting about cell phone and earbud use in class, and Mr. Metz joined us afterwards.  We blocked Wheels.

Annah actually fell asleep like this on stage and slept for about half an hour while we were blocking Wheels!

Then we blocked Fireworks.  It was a productive and nice afternoon!

Caeden spent the afternoon at home by himself because he didn't want to sit at school and watch rehearsal.  He is currently grounded from screens for 2 weeks because he stole his sisters Twinkies that she was going to share with her class.  So, after practicing all 3 guitars and piano, and finishing a book, he busted out the Legos!

He built a helicopter anding pad with a sliding door.

Thursday morning, this photo was posted early on Blue Lake's Instagram.  How beautiful!  I'm sure the girls must be loving it there.

Sometimes Caeden embraces the voice cracking and just rolls with it!

On Friday, we did a little Wal-Mart shopping.  Caeden decided to dress the part.

Yesterday morning we had a big storm while I was teaching!  

The guys volunteered at the Midwest Nationals wrestling tournament at IWU all day to earn some money for the Ridgeview wrestling program.

We decided to order a carry-out deep dish pizza from Giordano's for the first time since it opened in town!  Goooood stuff!!

Church was wonderful this morning.  The sermon was about finding our passion.  

So good!!

After church, Jeremy went home to mow and get 9 holes of golf in with Scotty!  Orwigs invited me and Caeden over for Chinese food at their new home.  Chris got out his childhood Legos and he and Caeden and Noah built a pirate ship!

This evening we watched 2 of the newer Star Trek movies with Caeden.  He liked them, but was ready to be offended by the similarities to Star Wars.  

Guys Day Out

Jeremy and Caeden had a guys' day out today.  They went to the new Original Pancake House in Normal for breakfast, went shoe shopping, and picked up some t-shirts for Caeden. Jeremy took Caeden to Blair House for the youth group ministry event there.  Steadfast sang several songs with the residents there, then they all enjoyed St. Patrick's Day snacks together while they visited.

(For some reason, I'm having trouble uploading anything in YouTube right now.  I don't know if this Google video can be viewed, but I'm leaving it here so I will remember which one it is when I can go back and figure out what's up with YouTube.)

Oh yes, Jeremy also picked up the last story pack for LEGO Dimensions for Caeden today, so when they got home he had to play it right away.

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Organized

Those who know Caeden know he is not an organizer.  He usually fights organizing with all he's worth.  However, I noticed today that there is one thing he organizes regularly.  These are his LEGO Dimensions game pieces.  He keeps them in a bin next to the entertainment center and XBox, but when he has time to play the game, he organizes meticulously!   

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!

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us, but lots of exciting things going on.

Sylvia was elected JH Student Council President! She is excited to serve her fellow junior high students.

Annah and Sylvia spent their Columbus Day off school auditioning for ILMEA district honor ensembles.  Annah auditioned for the orchestra on her violin, and not only was the only RHS instrumentalist accepted in to an ensemble, she will be playing the 1st violin part! She was shocked, and a little freaked out, but it will be an awesome experience for her!

Sylvia auditioned for both the choir and band.  She really wanted to sing in the choir, since she had the honor of playing in the band last year.  Well, when she got to school Tuesday morning, her band director hunted her down to tell her he got an email from ILMEA about her.  She made both the choir and the band!  She had planned to choose the choir if that happened, but she was seated as 2nd chair horn!  So, she called me to talk it through, and decided it was too exciting an opportunity to pass up.  She chose the band.  She will have tons of fun.

We are all really excited to watch and hear the girls perform in these concerts at Olivet Nazarene University on November 19th!

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This cracked me up every time I saw it floating around Facebook this week:

And, as I was scrolling through all the marching band pictures on Facebook this week, this one made me do a double-take.  This is my high school marching band, my senior year!

I've been crocheting as much as possible lately, and also completed a 6-class course through the American Crochet Association this week.  I'm pondering more and more the thought of what I would like to do with my crochet.  There are lots of opportunities, but it's tough for me to choose a focus.

This week, I made a golden yellow infinity scarf.  (The scissors were for an online forum post about my favorite crochet tool.)  This was the first time I had used the herringbone stitch.

And, I also made a really soft and silky Tunisian infinity scarf. This was also a new-to-me stitch.  Fun!

When I got out of the car the other evening, I noticed that the neighbors burning bush next to our garage is just starting to "burn" with a few red leaves!  It feels like the fall colors are really late to arrive this year.

Caeden is playing a fun wii game this week: Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal Wackyland. I reserved it for him from the bookmobile because I thought it looked fun, and he says it is.  

Annah, doing some Spanish homework...

Sylvia is sewing aprons for Annah's fall play.

This morning, I came home from dropping the kids off at school, and it was 39 degrees.  As I got out of the car, I noticed my pink lilac bush had these blooms on it!  It is supposed to be 84-90 degrees on Monday.  I can't tell if it's Sumtumn or Autmer.

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4-day weekend

Brickworld FW

For Caeden's birthday, he received 2 tickets to Brickworld Fort Wayne 2015.  Today was the day!  I got the kids in the car by 6:20 a.m. and, despite my 40 minute detour in Lafayette, we made it to my parents' a little before noon Indiana time.  Mom had packed sandwiches for me and Caeden, so we dropped the girls off and headed into Fort Wayne.

I was nervous about driving in downtown (Hey, I haven't lived around here for 15 years, and never drove downtown that much anyway!), but with GPS and Trav's parking directions, we did fine.  

We tried to take the skywalk from the parking garage, but the automatic door wouldn't open.  

So, we walked down the street and into the front entrance of the Grand Wayne Center.

Brickworld was pretty awesome!  We checked out every display and booth and activity and talked to some nice exhibitors too.  Caeden was pretty pleased with the day, and I even thought it was cool too.

There were several Star Wars displays, but this was a favorite of the entire exhibit.

Later, we saw this exhibitor changing batteries in this display and talked with him and his wife for over half an hour.  

Replica of the USS Missouri...

...and a little of its history...

Another replica...

...the details are so cool...

So many tiny details!

Pirate ships from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, including The Black Pearl!

A cool battle scene... 

Many of the displays had lists of items to look for, which made it more fun.

This young man is quite a creative inventor with his Legos.  Here he was demonstrating a functional gumball machine he built, and he also had a claw machine, a working guitar, rubber band guns, remote control cars, and many other impressive inventions he was demonstrating.

Caeden spent a little time building at the interactive table full of 2x4 red bricks. 

I had $15 cash in my pocket, and I needed $4 for parking, so I told Caeden he could spend up to $11. He found some minifigures, including a Chewbacca.

A lady saw us trying to get a good picture with this Lego Movie model, and she let Caeden inside the display area and took it off its stand so he could hold it for a picture!

Jurassic World

Lego Movie characters!

We had a good time together.

I loved seeing Caeden so "in his element," and enjoying the exhibits, talking with people, and not worrying about what people thinking about his liking Legos.

Good times!