11.5 Years Old!

Eighteen months from today, I'll be the mother of three teenagers. The time is just flying by. In addition to today being Oliver's half-birthday, today is also the 27th anniversary of the day Paul and I met at a ballroom dancing class at Boscov's department store. Originally, I planned for him to have a date with Paul this afternoon at Kaos, but Xandir's mom asked if Oliver could spend a few hours at their home and then go with them to Kaos this afternoon. Yesterday Oliver did extra schoolwork so that he could have this fun outing today. 

Here are eleven current descriptions of our youngest:

1. He loves the blanket shown in the photo above. He carries that thing all around the house for many months of the year. 

2. He loves to try new foods - especially any kind of seafood. He's looking forward to eating some "gator bites" when we're in Florida later this month. 

3. He eats the widest variety of foods for lunch than anyone in our family. The items he requests include tomato soup, grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, any kind of Ramen, hot dog, ham and cheese Hot Pocket, or an egg salad sandwich. 

4. He enjoys doing jigsaw puzzles although the 1,000-piece puzzles we've been doing lately are a bit challenging for him. Paul and Nadia do the majority of those puzzles. 

5. He still loves Nerf guns. He recently went shopping at Walmart to spend some money he received at Christmas, and he purchased another Nerf gun, a Lego set, and some fingerboards (basically a very tiny skateboard if you're as clueless as I was until he showed me one). 

6. He loves to use the iPad to chat with his cousins in Quito or to play a video game. 

7. His favorite book series to read are Dead Sea Squirrels, Imagination Station, and Magic Tree House. During our fall session of co-op, he read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

8. He still is very generous.

9. He still talks almost nonstop.

10. He still is the only one of our children who sometimes chooses to go to bed before his bedtime.

11. He loves to have his back, neck, or head scratched. He's also a hugger, for which I am very thankful.

I usually do my gratitude lists on Thursdays, but I'll write one today since I doubt that I'll write another post this week.

1. I spoke with the investigator again on Monday. He said he's going to ask the insurance company to reimburse us $20K from my 2021 ankle surgery. That would be such a blessing! I greatly appreciate his help!

2. I've been talking to Yvonne for 1-2 hours once a week lately. I don't talk to Wendy regularly, but she called me once near the end of January, and that was a treat. 

3.  We hosted two game days for homeschoolers in January, and we're hosting one more this Friday afternoon. I'm thankful we can have the kids' friends over. Our little co-op that we host in our home will begin in March and last for ten weeks.

4. Last Saturday Oliver went to a Nerf war at another church while Julianna spent a few hours at our home with Nadia. Their family (of 5) joined our family for dinner, Apples to Apples, and Quiplash.

5. Cooper has been sleeping through the night lately, which is greatly appreciated. The two dogs get along pretty well. We will be dropping the dogs off on Tuesday morning. We've had Cooper for two weeks so far. 

6. Nadia earned an A in her third class through Grand Canyon University. She'll start her fourth class in early March. 

7. The Living History Fair went well on Friday night. There was a really nice turnout for the event.

8. Ian's piano recital went well on Sunday. I'm also thankful that Pop Pop came up to attend it. 

9. Ian did well on his math and reading standardized tests on Monday and Tuesday. I can't say that Oliver did well, but he did better than he did in 2021 so at least he's moving in the right direction. They'll take their language test on Monday. In our state testing is required in grades 3, 5, and 8, which means this is Ian's last time until he takes the PSAT/SAT. 

10. I took my friend, Cheri, out for dinner on Monday night to celebrate her birthday (which was January 25). I hadn't seen her since December. 

11. We had tickets to go up the Washington Monument in 2020 which obviously was cancelled due to COVID. I have tried multiple times since then to get tickets and never managed to get them before they sold out. Today I got 5 tickets for March 8! I was SO happy when I completed that purchase!