Debit Card

 Zack, like all my older kids, has been counting down the days till he could get a debit card. We make the kids wait till they are 13. Zack turned 13 on a Thursday and on Saturday we were at the bank getting an account (after eating ice cream cake for breakfast!)! He was so excited. After opening up his account we went out to lunch. It was so fun getting to hang out with Zack!

Broom Ball Bash

This winter has been incredibly cold, and with so many nearby lakes and ponds, we live in the perfect spot for a little broom ball game—a mix of ice hockey, brooms, and regular shoes. One Saturday morning, the youth decided to get together and enjoy some time on the ice. Andrew and Zack were having an absolute blast, really getting into the game, when Andrew was checked by Bro. F and landed hard on the ice. The problem was, it happened so quickly that Andrew didn’t have time to brace his fall, so the check ended up breaking his fall. It was immediately clear that the concussions he’d had in the past were affecting him again. Bro. F reached out, and Christopher went over to check on Andrew.

It became obvious that Andrew had a concussion. He was supposed to compete in the Districts swim meet, but after failing his concussion test, he was benched for the remainder of the season. Fortunately, the season was nearly over, and he only missed one regular meet and the Districts competition.

Unfortunately, the hits just keep coming for Andrew. On Wednesday, he came home from school saying he didn’t feel well, and that was the last time we saw him for more than a few minutes over the next three days. Today is Sunday, and he’s still not at 75%. I’m not expecting him to return to school on Monday, but fingers crossed for Tuesday!

Teenager Hangout Night

All Zack wanted to do to celebrate his birthday was have a funky monkey hangout. No big party, just a handful of guys over to play video games and chill. He had very detailed ideas about how his night was going to go. He wanted a "Zack's favorite foods" dinner (chicken malensas, cream corn, orange rolls, and chocolate ice cream cake), lots of soda and hang out snacks, and just play video games all night. Jesse is still recovering from breaking his leg so their hangout was on the main floor - with no stairs involved. Calvin and Garrett came too. They played guitars, piano, video games, and just had a blast. I could hear them laughing from upstairs. It was an awesome way to celebrate Zack!

Teenager in the House! Zack turns 13

This kid is a teenager! Finally! He woke up this morning with a hallway happy to see him (happy face balloons all over the wall), streamers around the house, and a hot cinnamon raisin bagel with a fancy cup of chocolate milk waiting for him. Zack was not thrilled about going to school today - so to soften the blow I drove him in. When you start school at 9:30am you get to sleep in every day! 

The plan was to take Zack out for lunch to celebrate, and we got a fun surprise of having Christopher working from home today, so he joined us! Zack didn't want to go back to school - so he ate VERY slowly, ordered a second helping of fries (of which he only at 2 of) and almost made lunch stretch out to a whole hour. I was pretty impressed! He made it back to school just in time to completely miss science - which was his plan. Smart kid.

After school we videoed Grandma and Papa to open their gifts to Zack. This year he had riddles to solve, and they were all motorcyle themed! Then it was time to open his presents! He was ready to open presents as soon as he woke up this morning!

The face of the kid who realizes he got what he really wanted (and really thought he wouldn't!). This brought this sweet boy to tears. I was really against getting him a gaming monitor, but Christopher really fought for it - and he was right.

These boys got right to work setting up a new gaming space for Zack in the music room next to Christopher's work area. Nick and Xander were also very committed to this process!

Poor Andrew has been sick all week, but was such a trooper and came upstairs to sing to Zack. We took a little family picture - missing Ben and Kal.

 

We brought the cake to Andrew. He wasn't feeling up to going into the kitchen. Of course we had to have a texas sheet cake, with sprinkles, and 13 candles. There was so much smoke!

And yes, he got his piece from right smack in the middle of the cake!

And don't worry - we even were able to get a picture with Ben and Kallie when Kallie called to wish Zack a happy birthday!  Zack loved showing Ben and Kal a tour of his new gaming area. I love having 4 teenagers/adults now! Next up, teenager hangout at our house tomorrow night!

 

Chef Zack

This year Ahma and Joy gave us a family recipe book #2! We were so excited to see all the new recipes - but no one more excited than Zack. He has committed to making a recipe a week from the book. The first one he chose was cream puffs! We had one minor ooops, one cube of butter - not one CUP of butter. We had to double it, but really, there are worse things! They turned out amazing and Zack even took some over to a hang out he had later that night.

 

Transgender

 Thought you guys would get a chuckle out of our conversation this morning as I was driving Zack to jazz band. We were talking about something and I went off on a tangent and he's like "Mom you just went off on a transgenderized let's get back to the topic"  

Me: "Zack, I don't think you mean to say transgender."

Zack: "What's that big word Brother Freckleton used? That means a math term that you barely touched the topic and went a different direction?"

I was rolling! 🤣🤣