Artwork

Amelie brought home a couple of art projects. For one, she had to recreate & modernize a classic painting and do a silkscreen background. Here's her inspiration painting - it really looks like Leah! 

Here's the reference photo she took in our hotel room on spring break. 

And here's the finished product: 

She also did this t-shirt with ink stippling and fabric paint - it's been washed a few times & is holding up great: 

I asked if she wanted to model it for the blog & she said no! 

Rockbridge

These are from an earlier trip to Rockbridge that I apparently never published on the blog. Jim has just 100% stolen my jean jacket. 

Learning facts about bats: 

 We also went to Rockbridge for a Christmas hike. I didn't take the dog because I thought it might be crowded, but there was only one other car in the parking lot. 

Zooming in - you can see Jim took his drumsticks once again. 

Amelie's 16th Birthday

Amelie's birthday fell on the last day of school - which was a 1/2 day - so that's a pretty cool present to get out for the summer for your 16th birthday! 

Sam drove her in so her theater project wouldn't get banged up on the bus - she had to do a scale model of one of their sets: 

She had a chocolate long John for breakfast & we lit a candle & sang. 

She was super busy & stressed with school all the way up til the last day, so we just did a family party & she'll have a sleepover in June. Also, Sam was out of town for dinner, so Nana Jana & Aunt Holly came over for take-out & Amelie picked Love Sushi. 

Leah made her a big stack of color-themed presents.

Aunt Holly brought over a case of Arizona green tea - you'll see I also let her pick out a gallon of it at the grocery store! 

Mother’s Day

Sam took photos of the kids for Mother’s Day again:

I like pictures of them all 3 together.

It doesn’t always work out this way, but Mother’s Day and the flower communion fell on the same Sunday. Leah helped gather these up from our yard. 

After church we went over to the big playground at the elementary school across the street & then we went out to eat Indian food (my favorite). 

Birthday Interview: Sweet 16

I asked Amelie if she wanted to do the birthday interview & she said “I am willing to do it,” and then she had to type most of it because I sliced my finger. 

1. How old are you? 16
2. What is your favorite color? Still blue
3. What's your favorite possession?  Not sure, the skeleton squid thing 
   
   
   
   
4. What is your favorite game? Mafia 
   
5. What is your favorite song? "Black Sheep" 
6. Do you have a favorite animal? Fox
7. What is your favorite book? (Or what is the best book you've read this year?) I haven't finished it yet, but Project Hail Mary 
8. What is your favorite movie? Project Hail Mary 
9. What is your favorite TV show? The Amazing Digital Circus 
   
10. What is your favorite thing to eat? Dutch baby pancake
11. Where is your favorite place to go? Youth group 
12. What is something you learned your sophomore year of high school? A lot about cancer in bio
13. What is something you'll learn now that you're 16 (or next year in 11th grade)? Drive, hopefully 
14. What is your favorite subject at school? Biology 
15. Who is your favorite teacher this year? I have several least favorites. Favorite is Coach Lou (that's her geometry teacher & ethics bowl coach) 
16. Best memory from this year? Youth Con in KC 
17. What is something that is hard for you to do? Turn in homework on time 
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-still true
20. What do you like about Me (Mom)? You do lot of little things for me
21. What do you like about Dad? Fun talks 
22. What do you like about Jim? He gets references 
23. What do you like about Leah? How she rants about shows while they are on 
24. What do you like about yourself? I think I'm creative-still true
25. What do you want to be when you grow up? I wish I knew 

Here's the link to last year: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2025/05/birthday-interview.html 

Birthday Interview: Leah is 9!

 

Birthday Interview: Leah is 9!

I interviewed Leah right after cake on the night of her birthday.

1. How old are you? 9
   
   
2. What is your favorite color? Green 
   
   
3. What is your favorite toy? Um. Trumpo. (I searched back through and he was a gift from Joe & Jenn in 2020! She still sleeps with him, though he’s lost some of his stuffing.)
   

    
4. What is your favorite game? Um. Hm. Battleship! 
   
   
5. What is your favorite song? "Roar" by Katy Perry (and that's exactly how she said it, too - "Roar ... by Katy Perry.")
   
   
6. What is your favorite animal? Panda
   
   
7. What is your favorite book? The BFG 
   
   
8. What is your favorite movie? Descendants. (I asked about K-Pop Demon Hunters & she said) It's a tight competition. 
   
   
9. What is your favorite TV show? Steven Universe.
   
   
10. What is your favorite thing to eat? Um. Salmon. 
    
    
11. Where is your favorite place to go? Dino Park. 
    

    
    

    

     
12. Who is your best friend? Franklin.
     
13. What is something you learned last year when you were 8? Hm. I learned about leafy sea dragons! (You put that last year! What did you learn when you were 8?) You said last year! (I said last year when you were 8! Meaning the time period when you were 8!) Division & Cursive. 
    
    
14. What is something you'll learn now that you're 9? The Uppercase letters in cursive! (Last year she put that she was definitely going to learn how to ride her bike without training wheels & she did! So that's pretty cool!) 
    
    
15. What is your favorite part of school? Reading & Writing ... and cursive!
     
16. Who is your favorite teacher? Hm. Bashem. 
    
    
17. What is hard for you to do? (long pause) Um. Hmm. Umm. Writing fast with the cast on. 
    
    
18. What is your favorite thing to do? Hm. Riding my bike, but I can't really do it right now.  
    
    
19. What do you like about Me (Mom)? You read books to me. 
    
    
20. What do you like about Dad?  He can play a bunch of instruments. 
    
    
21. What do you like about Amelie? I can talk to her about Wings of Fire and stuff.  
    
    
22. What do you like about Jim? He can come up with insults pretty quickly, but all he really says is I'm short. (And that's something you like about him?) *laughs*
    
    
23. What about Spark? He always wants to play usually. 
    
    
24. What do you like about yourself? Hm. Hmm. I usually like to play with Spark. 
    
    
25. What do you want to be when you grow up? Hmm. Um. Umm. An artist. 

Links:
8th birthday interview: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2025/03/birthday-interview-leah-is-8.html

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

Leah's Room

Leah wanted to redo her room for Christmas. We bought paint & wrapped it up under the tree & apparently on the day over break that the kids were fending for themselves, she was trying to figure out what the gift was & couldn't make it out. Ha! 

I didn't 100% get a "before" photo, but this gives the idea. Beige on beige! 

She wanted it to be "seafoam green." She also requested that we pack up the dollhouse furniture (sob) & she's going to use the dollhouse that my Grandpa Bob built for me as a bookcase (& put her own stickers on the back wallpapered bit of it). 

She was helpful! 

We moved her furniture around while we were at it!

Jim's up next, but can't decide on a paint color. When we were first talking about it he wanted black (!) but now he's being somehow even more ornery & says he wants to re-paint it beige. 

Talent Show

 Leah had signed up to participate in the Ridgeway Talent show before she broke her wrist. She was set on making a costume & doing a dance routine!

She was also pretty excited about the makeup aspect. 

She made up the choreography- I think she left out a spin in the middle & the over exaggerated facial expressions are part of it that might not be as visible on the video! 

 

Updated with super nice photographs from one of the teachers who was there! 

Up on the Rooftop

 It was super nice yesterday, so Sam got up on the roof with the leaf blower and cleaned out the gutters, and trimmed some branches back from our neighbors tree that is overhanging our garage. One of the things we wanted to do was too clean out the dryer vent, but it is a fixed in such a way we can’t take the cover off without disturbing the shingles.

Broken Wrist

 As you might have seen, Leah's got a broken bone. She fractured her wrist out riding her bike with Jim about 5pm. They came in the house afterward & Jim said, "I told her not to go down that hill," and then later Leah said, "Jim told me not to go down the hill." Apparently, two different people stopped their cars to help. 

I took her to urgent care & we got an x-ray and a splint (it closes at 7:30pm so I was glad we didn't have to go to the ER!) She's got a pretty gnarly bruise on her opposite hip.

And then several days later Sam took her to the orthopedic clinic & they put on a waterproof cast so that she can still do the water park when we head to South Dakota. 

She's had several of her classmates sign the cast. 

And of course it's her left arm & her handwriting with her right hand is very, very poor! 

Now she's just switched to holding the pencil with the tips of her fingers in her left hand - which I was surprised the doctor said was OK for her to do in the cast. 

Amelie broke her wrist when she was 8, too, but she did it in just the last few days of school right after she'd turned 8 & Leah will still have her cast on for her 9th birthday. 

It doesn't seem to have held her back much so far! 

Amelie's Room

I think for her 13th birthday, Amelie picked out paint & painted her sad beige room a bright blue. 

I think it is a little bit of a swimming pool color. 

She did a lot of the work on it! 

And then for Christmas this year, she asked for a dragon mural. Apparently, we got the wrong one - I'm still not sure if the error was on the part of the Etsy shop or me (I really thought I just "added to cart" the one that she chose!) But she is still quite pleased with it.