a boy and his dog

 I am enjoying having JT here! 

https://youtu.be/_1oHL_7iZrQ

Finishing a Room

John and JT are working on a room in the basement, for JT and Miley to share (Miley is the big bear-dog). They started in August. 

Framing:

Here is the room and hallway, last week. Looking pretty good!

 

starry night

 

JT took this one evening as he walked Miley down by our creek. 💗

Everybody needs a Luci.

She's a real lovebug!

She has been planning an anniversary dinner for John and me for a long time.  She told the boys that they had to help, because "it's a family activity!"

JT stayed around to help, and they cooked two different dishes from Luci's Disney Princess Cookbook.

Here they are whipping up Bayou Meatloaf and Gus' Mac and Cheeseburger (without the burger).

And the end result at dinner, with the "fancy decorations, Mama."

 It was all delicious.  Of course, I am saving the menu!  It is priceless.  Luci still spells everything phonetically.  :)

JT and Luci also frosted John's birthday cake last week.  Luci did all the putting together, and JT helped to frost it.

I must say, I'm loving how blogger has changed and lets you insert videos quite easily now.

Don't you love his hair?

JT's new paintball mask arrived today.  He was so happy to have it that he wore it while doing his school work!

And we have a Winner!!

JT participated on a BEST Robotics team this year.   The teams from different schools get a set of materials and have to build a robot to complete certain tasks.  JT went to training to learn CAD drawing with SolidWorks, a form of CAD that lets you draw in 3-D.  JT was in a group of homeschool students.

Well...JT did so well with his drawings that he earned third place with this competition!  There were eighteen teams participating.  I am so proud of JT, and so happy for him.

John was one of the adult mentors with JT's group.  Which means he showed up at the first meeting and ta-dah! he was signed up.  :) 

 JT's team out on the floor.  The object was to have the robot climb the metal pole and deposit balls into the plastic container at the top.  There were also 2-liter bottles that were to be moved from the top to the ground.  JT is not in this photo, but later on in the competition he did drive the robot and got two balls moved into the container.  I'm sure John went wild watching JT!  Unfortunately, the robot's arm locked and knocked the balls out.   Luci and I missed it--we were there for part of the morning and JT worked in the afternoon. 

There was a huge, noisy crowd.

Did I mention it was NOISY?

Creekside Technology's booth.  (JT's homeschool group)  The team also won first place for their t-shirt design and second place for marketing.  Great group of kids!

Some participants really got into the "robot" and "space" theme.

A good luck hug before competing.  This is my favorite picture.  Luci is stingy with her hugs!

First Day of School

Yes, we began school earlier than the public and private schools around here.  We also got out of school last year a whole month before they did, so this starting date makes sense.

Annual shot of the schoolkids in front of the hutch:

Hey!  Where's Luci?  Move over, JT!

And, since JT feels like he's incarcerated every school day, we have the mug shot:

Look at my babies in the school photo from 2007:   JT has grown so much!  So has Luci.  I love that each child has their signs either backwards or upside down; in Luci's case, also in front of her face!  So cute.

Something I tolerate in our school room:  Passing Notes in Class.  Luci makes a "nest" below the table to do her school work.  She wrote a love note to JT.  :)

Happy Birthday!!

JT's birthday is today.  Sweet 16!  He got a new car!!

JT sometimes helps in the garden...

 umm, JT, put the iPod down!

 And now the boy young man has enough candles on his cake that we can turn off the overhead lights!

I never woulda thunk it...

but...

This week has seen JT actually eager to shovel a huge load of horse manure fertilizer.  Eager to work in the garden.  Eager to help his dad with cedar chips for the flower garden.

This boy loves nothing better than playing video games.  And yet, he was working outside, happily, for the past two days?

Why?

To earn two tickets to a WWE event in June!   That's wrestling, y'all.  I don't understand the attraction, but I guess since we are in Alabama, it's okay to be a little redneck, don't you think?

JT thinks it's cool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
added later Tuesday evening...

Now he's willingly scrubbing the boys' bathroom from top to bottom!

Officially Gluten Free

We are going Gluten Free at our house--all except John's favorite cereal (Raisin Bran Crunch) is gone.  I don't dare touch his cereal.

Luci and I both have reactions to gluten.  She gets eczema, and I, well, I won't bore you with icky details.  JT has presented some symptoms that I finally connected to gluten and so we are now gluten free.

I've been busy this past week--baking up a storm! 

These are rolls made from Pamela's Amazing Wheat Free and Gluten Free Bread Mix.   JT proclaimed them just as good as the rolls at Logan's Roadhouse.  Made me happy to hear that. 

 I also used the Pamela's mix to make some cornbread for making into dressing.  Since we're Southerners, and my Mom grew up down here, cornbread dressing is the way to go! 

JT realized that gluten free living meant that the Girl Scout cookies that Luci sells will be off-limits to him.  Oh, that was a sad day when he figured that out!  So, being the good mama I am (or am aiming to be, anyways), I found a gluten free version of Thin Mints, which are JT's favorites. 

I wish you had a scratch and sniff computer, because, wow, these are good!  Taste like the real thing.  Not only gluten free, but these Thin Mint lookalikes are also all natural!

I can't wait for JT to get home and try these cookies.  He's on a church trip with John and will be back tomorrow evening.  I'll let you know how the taste-test goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, and that sleeping in the big bed thing with Luci??  I did jinx myself.  The very next night she woke up at 4:30 and slept the rest of the night under her bed.  Because her room is too tiny for us to sleep next to each other next to the bed, she had to be under the bed.  Good thing it's got a good clearance for her sweet head when she sits up!

It's a Banner Day!

This happened on the way to town today:

First, JT told me that he was, um, not exactly right on a subject that he brought up.  I nearly wrecked the car when he told me that.  It's as close as he's gonna get to saying, "I was wrong."

Then, on the return trip, he started singing (another first!) a song he made up himself.  One of the verses included, I was reading a book.  Nearly went off the road again!

And what else could make today better?  The weather turned cold!  It might not last long, but I'm enjoying it...along with those gorgeous leaves, which you can see in the photo above.  That's JT working on flying a kite, with all those beautiful trees in the background.

JT's Weekend

Last Saturday JT had a Tang Soo Do Championship meet.  He had a good time! 

He's in there, somewhere.  Trust me.

Practicing his form.  Love the height!

As a time judge...JT is near the center of the photo, one of the two young men sitting together as this young lady gets ready to perform.

Handsome!

Guess Who?

John found a photo album yesterday, and we had fun looking through it.

Here's a photo of me with my Mom and siblings 'way back when we lived in Albuquerque.  You can tell I was thrilled to be a big sister, loving that I am no longer the one in Mom's lap.  Yeah.

Now I know where JT gets that face.  Here he is at about age 4, in an angel costume at church.  Martha Harrison, JT's Sunday school teacher that year, dressed all the kids up, took their photos and decorated the class with them.  You can tell JT's thrilled with the get-up.

Oh, JT, you are so cute!

When I grow up

 I used to pretend I was a teacher.  And I became a teacher, both in public school and here at home.
.
Luci pretends to be  a "Biz-Niz Woman."
.
Here she is interviewing JT for a job as an Army Guy. (I think he's trying out for Beetle Bailey's job, in that outfit.)
.

Luci even has a cup with lollipops in it for "the people who bring their kids into  my office."  (Feingold friends, they are Yummy Earth lollis!)

We have no doubt that she will be running a major corporation someday.  She sure runs our household!  I've seen her walk through groups of older girls at soccer practice and in a minute or two, she will have all of them doing whatever she wants. 
.
I think she'd make a great President of this country, but that law about being born on US soil has to change first.  So major corporation, it is.

Video Games

A big, new video game came out today.  The boys pre-ordered it at GameStop in our mall.  So, of course they had to be there at midnight to pick it up.   How nice of the shop to have a "game party," which the other moms and I thought should have been labeled a "torture your parents by keeping them up late" party.

Bryan and his 4 gaming buddies got there by 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon and secured the first places in line.  They had fun!  JT got there around 10:45 p.m. (he didn't get there on his own, Mommy had to got to drive him).  As soon as Luci got to sleep, we headed out the door.  John got to go to bed at a decent time.  Lucky him.

Bryan and JT were nice enough to let me snap their picture with my cell phone, and they even talked to me a little bit.  I was not totally shunned.  However, I nearly got my arm broken when I tried to take my photo with the boys. 

Got it!  Bryan (the blurry one) and JT head out through the mall after getting their ridiculously priced precious game.

Happy Birthday, JT!

We love you!  

We are proud of you!

You are one funny young man.

Here is JT's birthday cake.  He requested an "Eskimo Pie" cake.  No ice cream involved!  But it tastes soooo good!

Luci-isms

Luci's studying The Creation (you know, the Seven Days of the beginning of the world and the Adam and Eve story) in Sunday School.  Yesterday she had this question, as she thought about the primitive way Adam and Eve lived:

Mama, you know water?  When you were little, a little girl, where did you get water?

We had this amazing thing called a faucet.  How old do you think I am, Luci?

Really old.  Like Eighteen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

talking about her doll:  

Jessie likes to eat vomit-crats.

What is a vomit-crat?

It's from Africa.  It's a sammich made with chicken and cow.

Is it like a demo-crat?

Yup

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And this lovely from JT, as he, Luci and I drive through Missouri:

I am with the best two people in the whole world.

(anything he wants, don't you think?)

Where's JT?

Oh Yeah--He's on the Flow Rider!
.
This is the most fun thing, according to JT.  He spent almost all of his time in the waterpark this week doing this:

and this:

and this.  Watch out, folks in the viewing area! JT also learned to do barrel rolls with this board, and a couple of other things that I am just not that fast to catch with my camera.

And this makes him a real Hot Dog at the park:

JT, I am so proud of you!  This talent did not come from your Dad or me.  :)

.
And now, a video of JT being Cool.