The Point of No Return

It had to happen eventually, the point when friends become more important than family.  It started for "T" in March of 2014.  He didn't really have a lot of friends (namely friends that were boys) or have a great desire to hang out with anyone often.  The "husbird" and I worried about him finding some great guy friends. He finally found one and they started spending a lot of time together, every weekend, and sometimes during the week as well.  His new friend came from a good family and the two of them had a lot in common. We were thrilled.  

"T" started to see some things in his new friend that he didn't like. After about 6 months (the honeymoon phase) they spent less and less time together.  I tried to tell him that he won't find a perfect friend and to try to be understanding of others faults.  This was the second time this had happened with a friend. To no avail, by the end of the summer they never saw each other anymore.  I had to trust him to do what he felt was right.
Thank goodness school was starting soon and he made friends with another guy.  His friend has had some issues in his life, but so far they have been friends for about a year.  Yay!  

They have made friends with a few amazing girls as well.  I wish I had a picture of the other girls in their little group.  There are a bunch of girls and then the two of them, the only boys.  Ha ha.  They all get along so well and hang out as much as possible.  

When the boys had to work on making a video for school all day one Saturday the two girls above came over with all kinds of food and made them waffles.  How nice is that?!  They are also teaching "T" how to treat me better.  They call him out when he talks back to me and tell him, "Go give your mom a hug." Gotta love those kinds of friends.

Even though I don't always see him as much as I'd like I'm so grateful he has found such great friends that are positive influences in his life, especially going into his high school years this fall.

T is for Tennis

Just in...this handsome chap just returned from a week long tennis camp at BYU.  He’s become quite the tennis player, so even though playing tennis for six hours a day for a week would be torture to me he thinks it is fun and there really isn't anything he would rather be doing.
He jumps on his bike just about everyday and rides over to a nearby tennis court.  
He recruits anyone he can to play with him and if not he goes to a court that has a cool automatic ball machine so he can hit balls. 

 I love to watch him play even though I rarely get to. 
I'm entertained by all his facial expressions.
He's improved his game so much in one year by lots of practice and lessons.
 I'm so happy he found a sport he has a passion for.
I hope he always has a love for tennis and never stops playing.

Our Town's "Got Talent Show"

"T" decided he wanted to try out for our little towns Talent Show.  

(Ampi-theater where he preformed)

Does any one else find it hard to see your child do something where they could get their egos crushed? I do.  I know it's good for my children to experience failure and I know it's better for them to experience it while under my wings, but it's still hard.  

There were only 11 spots for the actual show, so I thought his chance of getting one of those spots might be slim.  Well, he got one.  Yay!

He played a piano solo.  He did a good job, wish he would have smiled more;)

He didn't win, but it was a great experience for him and a really fun show to go see as a family on a summer night.

Aladdin

When "T" told me he wanted to try out for the Junior High play I was a little shocked.  Probably because that is something I never had the desire or nerve to do at his age.  He's definitely his father's child. Ha.

He wasn't really happy about the part he got as Jafar's guard and he thought about not doing it, but the "husbird" and I encouraged him to stick with it. 

(He's the only boy on stage in the back.)

It was a lot of work, with practices almost every night after school for a few months.

 
(Here he is with one of his friends that was in the play too.)  

We went to see the play for the "husbird's birthday." It was so great to see him with all his makeup on, ready to go on stage.

He had a fun time, but I'm not sure acting is his thing. I'm still glad he got to have the experience.  

Young Men's Choir

My "T" got to sing in the choir at the general conference, priesthood session.  If you don't know what general conference is you can read about it here.
 
He had to go to numerous practices leading up to the big day. 

Since the priesthood session is for males twelve and older only "T" and the "husbird" got to go. The rest of us stayed home.  
Luckily it was broadcasted on TV, so of course we had to watch it.  It was like a game of "Where's Waldo?" for the kids. They had fun trying to spot "T" in the choir.  Do you see him up there?  Middle left.  Ha ha.
In all seriousness, we feel so grateful he got to sing at such a meaningful, spirit filled event.  It was an amazingly, wonderful opportunity. One I hope he doesn't soon forget.

Teendoom Hood

Well, we did it.  We entered the teen years at our nest.  "T" went and turned thirteen without asking permission.  He's still a little boy in some ways.  He builds Lego creations for hours and plays with them while making sound effects. 
At the same time he takes off on his bike to the tennis courts on his own to play tennis for hours with a friend.  I'm glad he's not all grown up yet and still has some kid tendencies.  I'll be sad to see those go, so I guess I'll have to keep supporting his Lego addiction and anything else that keeps him a kid longer.
For his birthday the "husbird" and I took him to a water park.  We asked him if he wanted to invite friends and he didn't want to, so it was just the three of us.  I know it won't be long before all he wants to do is hang out with friends so I was thrilled to get this one on one time with him.  It was overcast and kind of cold, so we didn't last as long as we thought we would.  When we left we took him to ride go-carts and play a few arcade games to make it up to him.
We're proud of him for so many reasons, the way he honors his priesthood and his effort to get and keep straight A's in all his classes at school just to name a couple.  Happy Birthday to Our First Teenager!  We love you!

One Less “nestling”

Mister "T" left for scout camp at 6:30 this morning, so things will be a little different around the nest this week. The volume of noise will be, how shall I say, lower.  And, I won't even talk about the drop in food consumption.  We will definitely miss him, but I won't miss his hollow leg.  Ha Ha. I hope he has a great time at scout camp earning all kinds of merit badges to add to his sash.

The First and Last Tooth Saga

The tooth fairy is having a hard time keepin' up round these parts.  I mean, why do children have so many little teeth to begin with?  Why can't they just be born with the teeth they'll have all their life? Do you know what it's like to have four kids with teeth falling out at the same time?  Let's just say the tooth fairy has a full time job at our nest. 
When little "D" lost his first baby tooth this week I wanted to cry.  Baby teeth are so little and cute.  Adult teeth, not so much.  He doesn't even know what happened to his tooth.  He was eating a peach outside with "C" and they came in the house to tell me he lost his tooth.  I think he swallowed it.  

Miss "C' got right to work writing a letter to the tooth fairy on his behalf explaining what happened, so he would have something to put under his pillow that night.  I'm not even going to mention that he has another lose tooth. Sniff. Sniff.  I'm not ready. Not ready for those cute baby teeth to be gone.

Then, if that's not enough, mister "T" lost his last baby tooth. Why? I mean, I know he's not a baby anymore.  He turns thirteen in August, but this just makes it official.  We've got our first teen.  Heaven help us.

Oh, I almost forgot, miss "A" is about to lose a tooth as well.  See what I mean? Three teeth in one week. Busy, busy, exhausted tooth fairy!

Epic Ninja

I'm not sure why, but "T" goes through different phases where he uses a particular word or words VERY OFTEN, 

like in almost every sentence that comes out of his mouth.

Lately those words have been EPIC or NINJA or both words together.

"That's epic."  

"Ninja."

"He's an epic ninja."

Here's a little video of an epic windmill thingy he made at school.

 

I'm not sure where he gets these words from, but instead of getting completely annoyed by them we usually end up joining/mocking him by using the words ourselves.

It keeps us all epically entertained, 

until they're replaced by the next set of over used words.