4th of July

We went to Stephen's Lake Park again to see the municipal fireworks. We got there a little bit beforehand & listened to the last band (I think the same one that's performed the last few years!) 

We were set up at the very top of the amphitheater & it didn't seem crowded, but when we walked around the lake there were several thousand people at the park.  

Jim was at camp up in Wisconsin over the 4th! They saw some fireworks there, but he wrote about it in his letter home that he didn't know / maybe was disappointed that he'd miss the 4th with us. 

Here's the rest of us: 

Amelie had to be cajoled into wearing a patriotic shirt. I guess I could have asked someone else to take our photo all together! 

Sleep Study

After some arguing with the insurance company, Jim had a sleep study done. He & I went and checked in at 7pm. They hooked him up at about 9pm & the tech let me know that we got the only room with two beds - I was prepared to sleep on the fold out chair but glad that I didn't have to! I think we both ended up sleeping better than normal, which is probably not the usual outcome. Jim did promptly fall asleep and then snore all night, though, so there's that. I'm curious to see what the results are. 

He wanted me to take a picture of the electrodes. The goo was all in his hair the next day. 

The instructions said that the participant should get some exercise/spend some time outside the day of the study (and no napping during the day!) so I dropped Jim & Amelie off at the pool & unfortunately he got sunburned - he said it wasn't bothering him but it sure would have bothered me. 

(He also requested that I post this!) 

Summer goals

Amelie’s mowing the lawn (she did this a tiny bit last summer) & Leah took off her training wheels. 

Mini Golf

 We played a quick game of mini-golf out at Midway. Amelie got THREE hole-in-ones, but Sam still won the game. 

Crazy Hair Day

 Summer school is over (Leah's the only one who went again this year). They did a spirit week the last week & we didn't get pictures, but we remembered!- PJ day, sports day, tropical day, and crazy hair day. Leah had a plan for her hair, even though we didn't have all the rainbow-colored pipe cleaners. 

Oh, also I wanted to add this one - one of the older girls in the neighborhood did Leah's hair - she wanted me to take a picture so that she could see! 

Midsummer Night's Dream

Jim tried out for the community theater production of Midsummer Night's Dream & was cast as Robin Starveling/Moonshine! He's one of the players in the play-within-a-play (one of the mechanicals)  

Here are some pictures from rehearsal: 

Sam & I went to see the play on opening night & closing night together - and then we went separately one more time each. Grandma Mary and Papaw tried to go & got partway through & it was rained out so they went 1.5 times on the make-up day. Nana Jana took Leah & Amelie one night & Leah ate a boatload of concessions & fell asleep after intermission.

Here are some photos from one of the actual performances - "This lanthorn doth the horned moon present; Myself the man in the moon do seem to be."

Jim was a big, big fan of Marquan Martin, who played Bottom. 

It started at 8pm - when the sun went down - which meant for pretty late nights, a plus for Jim but it was hard on me!

Leah’s Animation

Leah made an animation this morning on Flip A Clip. She was surprised that I had a YouTube!

Birthday Interview

Amelie Birthday Interview

Amelie is 15! Her birthday came right during finals crunch time & we had to reschedule her party for next month! But we made a little celebration. She picked dutch baby pancake for birthday breakfast, Dairy Queen for her birthday dinner, & an ice-cream cake. 

Leah & Amelie & I picked up one friend & went to see Kiki's delivery service: 

And then tonight she played along for an interview. 

1. How old are you? 15
2. What is your favorite color? Blue
3. What's your favorite possession?  3-D printed dragons. Actually, change that - The Book of Bill 
4. What is your favorite game? I'm a Little Crabby
   
   
   
   
   
5. What is your favorite song? "Good Luck Babe." Do you have a favorite band? Maybe just AJR. I listen to their music most consistently. Is that your favorite concert that you've been to? Yeah
6. Do you  have a favorite animal? Fox
7. What is your favorite book? Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (this is the sequel to her favorite book last year.) 
8. What is your favorite movie? Wolfwalkers
   
9. What is your favorite TV show? Gravity Falls
   
   
   
   
   
10. What is your favorite thing to eat? Dutch baby (pancake) 
    
    

    
    
11. Where is your favorite place to go? No idea. What did I put last time? (Outside.) Just repeat that.
12. What is something you learned your first year of high school?  What scarcity is. (?) It's the concept that everyone has unlimited wants & needs, but because there are a limited amount of resources, people have conflict over what to do with those resources. 
13. What is something you'll learn now that you're 15 (or next year in 10th grade)? Maybe driving stuff? I know you really want me to. 
14. What is your favorite subject at school? English
15. Who is your favorite teacher this year? Mr. Batik (Social Studies)
16. Best memory from this year? Probably something from Youth Group. Anything specific? Watching Bottoms at the lock-in. It's a movie - it's really good.  
17. What is something that is hard for you to do? Talking to people 
18. What is your favorite thing to do? Read
19. What is your favorite thing to do with friends?  On the rare occasions that it does happen, debates - or just deep conversations
20. What do you like about Me (Mom)? I don't know. You're my mom! 
21. What do you like about Dad? He's my dad! 
22. What do you like about Jim? Shared music interests
23. What do you like about Leah? She's very energetic
24. What do you like about yourself? I think I'm creative
25. What do you want to be when you grow up? I don't know. Happy.

Here's the link to last year: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2024/05/birthday-interview.html

Shelter Garden

Sam took the kids over to Shelter Garden & snapped some pics for me, and Grandma Mary, and Nana Jana for Mothers Day. 

I like the ones of all 3 of them together. 

Leah is 8!

Jim is 12!

And Amelie will be 15 tomorrow! 

Bonus photo of our firstborn (& first grandchild on both sides, too): 

Leah is 8! Pool Party & Doctor Visit

Leah had a great big class birthday party & we took no photos at all (in my defense, I was in the pool). We rented out the ARC indoor pool & invited her whole class & nearly everyone came. A good time was had by all! 

The big sibs could invite a friend each & Shauna's middle kids were there to swim with them, so I think Amelie & Jim had an equally good time!

Papaw came over with a present: 

We also had her 8-year well-child doctor's visit that happened to be on the same day as Fancy Lunch at school - where they put out table cloths & drink out of fancy cups & use their best manners. 

Height: 47.3 inches - just shy of 4 feet (& therefore too short for the water slide at her party!) 
Weight: 60.5 pounds
No shots!

Dr. Swofford was able to admire her earrings. One of the reasons I was able to convince Aunt Holly that it would be okay to get the piercing done at Claire's was that our doctor could check them out shortly thereafter. 

And the other big news is that she moved out of the booster seat & we are car-seat-free in the Buffaloe household for the first time in very close to 15 years! 

Spring Band Concert

Jim's moved from the trombone to the tuba. The good part about it is that the school gave him one to keep at home & one to keep at school (since they're huge!) 

He's the second one from the left - sitting on an encyclopedia to boost him up!

Here's a link to the winter concert. 

Tiger Tuesday

Leah won Tiger Tuesday! Nominated by Coach Mason, no less. She won a meal at Raisng Cane's!

And got her picture in the RAP! 

Here’s what the email said:

Leah was our winner this week for Tiger Tuesday! She earned this for displaying exceptionally safe, kind, respectful, and responsible behavior in PE! 

Fun Day, Goalie, Minecraft

We had a big day! (The other Saturday! Not today - soccer's been rained out.) 

Leah had soccer & got to be a goalie in a game for the first time! 

The elementary school had their big fundraiser. Only a little color hair spray got on her uniform (& I got it out!)

And then we all went to the Minecraft movie. I haven't ever played it & didn't know what the big deal was! A lot of folks in the theater were shouting out lines (I guess because they'd seen clips online? Or they're a part of the game? I don't know!) I thought it was supremely dumb! The kids had fun, though! 

Easter

We had another Easter! Last year, Amelie didn't want to do matching dresses, so we didn't. This year, I had the genius plan to see if she'd be more amenable if she was the one who got to pick them out. It worked! And, miracle of miracles, Jim and Sam played along, too. 

We went to church in the morning & then had dinner and an indoor egg hunt at Sam's folks (due to weather). Plus the sirens went off & there was a tornado warning so we spent some time sheltering in their (thankfully quite large) interior bathroom.

Ellie & Amelie were reading. Jim and Ben sang a song (Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne, of course). Leah was not happy, but cheered up with some Bluey after the all-clear. 

Here's the grandparents with all the cousins!

Here's the link to last year. 

I Hate Shakespeare

Jim was in the middle school play - he had a nonspeaking role as a Zombie in I Hate Shakespeare. They put on a great show! 

This was my favorite part: Mark Antony comes out and says "Friends, Romans, Countrymen ... wait, hold up!" and the zombie hoard carries him off. 

Here's Jim giving me the thumbs up from backstage: 

He's also in a class play for his elective, Musical Theater Production, and in rehearsals for the community theater show coming up. 

My 2 Front Teeth

 Leah’s missing her 2 front teeth! They were loose a LONG time! And now she sounds pretty funny/lispy.

Birthday Interview: Leah is 8!

I almost forgot about the birthday interview until Nana Jana reminded me today! Leah started off strong but had to be prodded a bit to finish it. 

1. How old are you? 8
2. What is your favorite color? Spring Green (breaking Orange's long run!) 
3. What is your favorite toy? Hmmmm. Green Tea. It's a squishmallow cat. 
4. What is your favorite game? Hmmmm. I know what it is, but I don't really know what it's called. Can you describe it? It has to be on a windy day. You stand at one side of the yard & when the wind starts blowing in the opposite direction, you start to run forward & when the wind stops blowing, you run backward, and you try to see if you can get all the way across the yard before the wind stops blowing. Did you learn this from Bluey? No. Where did you learn it? I actually made it up, but when I told other people at school about it, they said somebody had already made it up. Do you play it at school? Yeah. 
5. What is your favorite song? "Beep Beep, I'm a Sheep" 
6. What is your favorite animal? Fox
7. What is your favorite book? Wings of Fire
   

   
8. What is your favorite movie? BFG 
9. What is your favorite TV show? I don't really know. Mark Rober videos
   

    
10. What is your favorite thing to eat? Salmon!
11. Where is your favorite place to go? Cosmo Park  
12. Who is your best friend? Frankie 
13. What is something you learned last year when you were 7? Last year I learned about sea dragons What are those? It's a type of slug that lives in the sea that kind of looks like dragons
    

    

    
    
14. What is something you'll learn now that you're 8? How to ride a bike without training wheels definitely
15. What is your favorite part of school? Probably reading & writing 
16. Who is your favorite teacher? Ms. Bashem
17. What is hard for you to do? (long pause) Thinking of things like this 
18. What is your favorite thing to do? Crafts 
19. What do you like about Me (Mama)? (long pause)  I do but I can't think of anything! (after another pause) You help me with stuff
20. What do you like about Dada?  He usually makes our dinner
21. What do you like about Amelie? Oh! She lets me borrow pretty much anything 
22. What do you like about Jim? He's good at music
23. What about Spark? He always wants to play with us
24. What do you like about yourself? I get back up again when I fall down. Is that literal or metaphorical? It's kind of both. The recess that I spent the whole time playing my favorite game, I fell down, got a bandaid and then started playing again. 
25. What do you want to be when you grow up? A chef!

Links:

7th birthday interview: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2024/03/birthday-interview-leah-is-7.html 

6th birthday interview: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2023/03/birthday-interview-leah-is-6.html

5th Birthday Interview: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2022/03/birthday-interview.html 

4th birthday Interview: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2021/03/leahs-first-birthday-interview.html