Makin at 15

Makin at fifteen you....

Love all things tech.

Work often on your combat robot design.

Listen to audiobooks and podcasts during your spare time.

Are into Minecraft and various VR games. You don't get a lot of time to play these but sure enjoy them when you do.

Have great comedic timing/a great sense of humor.

Love Husker football and are excited for this promising season.

Golf, but currently have mixed feelings on it. Golf is not a game of perfect, which is a challenge for those with perfectionist tendencies.

Continue to be a picky eater and prefer to eat a bowl of goldfish daily. You love dairy and carbs.

Listen to upbeat music.

Are kind-hearted.

Use slang words often. Top Most used are: bruh (dude or disbelief) and cap/no cap (lie/truth).  A few more also used are...sus (suspicious), low key (actually), bet (agreement or challenge accepted), W/L (win/loss), yeet (throw, send flying) cooked (exhausted/defeated), flex (show off/boast). We love to tease you and use them incorrectly ourselves.

Love to sleep in.

Quotable Moments:

"It's a swirlydo!" (Roundabout)

Me: (Trying to figure out what to make for Friendsgiving and asking what dessert he wants to bring...) How is butterscotch fall?

Makin: I don't know, because butterscotch is orange and fall is orange?

Me: But I don't want to have to spend money on things.

Makin: You could not spend money on other things...like carrots.

"Being helpful is nonnegotiable."

"So after you blow your nose, isn't it a dirtyex?"

(Talking about physical therapy)

"Did you know this isn't a bone! He said it wasn't a bone and I checked the skeleton and he's right!"

(Me telling him I realized his three favorite meals are also the ones that are the most work to make and clean up...)     "I love quality."

Me: Hey, I like those flat feet!

Makin: You better, you're paying a pretty penny for them! (physical therapy)

"I'm not sun-kissed. I'm not sunburned, I'm sun-roasted."

"Do you think I should read the cards? Because you do not have a good poker face."

Makin's Fifteen Year Interview

Favorites -

Food: Pesto Stuffed Shells

Place: Home, Universal Studios

Movie/TV Show: Super Mario Bros, Sonic, Ninjago

Color: Red or Royal Blue

Thing To Do: Listen to my audiobook

Animal: Watson

Books: Harry Potter, Keeper of the Lost Cities, Gryphon Chronicles, Percy Jackson

Song: Wolves - Beatsaber Soundtrack

Treat: donut, Oreo shake

Holiday: Christmas

What do you like to do with Dad? golf, play games, watch Husker games

What do you like to do with Mom? play games, hang out, eat

What do you like to do with Lorelei? go on walks

What makes you happy? books, audio books, friends games

What do you think about before you fall asleep? how late I can sleep in

What do you want to be when you grow up? Mechanical engineer

Lorelei at 17

Lorelei at seventeen you...

Continue to have a huge passion for animals including using positive reinforcement. You plan to make some version of this your career.

Love learning. One of your highs of the day is almost always school work.

Love to make plans.

Love your friend time. They give you energy.

Have a great energy/joy/zest for life.

Read often and appreciate almost all genres of books.

Crochet and knit in your spare time.

Enjoy babysitting. You make entire geography-based fun plans for almost every time you babysit. On the rare times you don't, you bring an entire IKEA bag of games and activities to play.

Adore almost all food. If it was a love language, it would be one of yours.

Are on cloud nine because you finally have your own dog. This is also challenging and growing you in ways, but overall you absolutely love it.

Love to decorate.

Aren't quite driving yet. It makes you nervous. You hope to get your license in the next year.

Quotable Moments:

Me: We've taken him over to the dark side.

Lorelei: Maybe it's the light side.

Me: I can't believe what good artists you are!

Lorelei: Well, we get it from dad.

Me: Well unless you don't want to eat chocolate cake?

Lorelei: Ummmm that would be never and if I did that would be concerning. Like you should ask if I'm ok.

"I get stressed when I travel but I love to travel. (Laughing at herself...) I'm very complicated."

Grandma: (Explaining a card game...) We play in suits.

Lorelei: He's in a swimsuit, is that ok?

Lorelei: What is a potluck?

Me: (Stares incredulously realizing her complete failure as a mom.) What do you think it is?

Lorelei: I don't know...food and lucky pots?

(Playing Creator in Minecraft)    "I remind myself I shouldn't get emotionally attached because they are just pixels!"

Lorelei's Sixteen Year Interview

Favorites -
Food: Spaghetti

Place: Valley View Ranch, CMA, my bedroom, ManeGait

Movie/TV Show: Walk Ride Rodeo, Enola Holmes 1 and 2, All Creatures Great and Small, How To Train Your Dragon

Color: Pink, Purple, Turquoise

Thing To Do: ride horses, spend time with Watson, read, crochet, school, spending time with family, volunteer at ManeGait, train animals, spend time with friends, babysit

Animal: Dog, Horse, Dolphin

Books: Harry Potter Series, The Christy Miller Series (and all series related to it), The Viking Quest series

Song: Stargazing by Myles Smith, Brave Souls by Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Dusty Bibles by Josiah Queen

Treat: Reese's PB cup or mint Ice Cream, pumpkin cookies, peanut butter balls

Holiday: Christmas

What do you like to do with Dad? ride in the car and talk, play with Watson

What do you like to do with Mom? adventures, read alouds

What do you like to do with Makin? go on adventures

What makes you happy? animals, books, family, nature, kids, food

What do you think about before you fall asleep? my dog, horse camp, my future

What do you want to be when you grow up? Anything with animals, preferably work at CMA, anything with animals/children combo, eventually stay-at-home mom and homeschool

Makin Turns 15

Makin's birthday this year was what I call a "brain rot day". This meant basically playing video games most of the day followed by family TV time that evening.

He requested some of his his favorite meals (Breakfast: donut, Lunch: pizza, Supper: Pesto stuffed shells) and what has now become his usual birthday dessert choice of Better Than Anything Cake.

Using the new mic.

Photo taken night before, but thought you might like to see the whole thing.
We love to give this kid a hard time about his slang words so this was perfect for this year.
Translation: The truth is that the cool guy known as Makin is in fact 15 years old.

Happy Birthday Makin!

Lorelei Turns 17

Lorelei requested heading to the lake at sunrise for her birthday and how could I turn that down? It was an absolutely beautiful way to start the day.

We headed back to enjoy her breakfast request of French toast, which I made the night before (that was awesome!). 

This was her first day at HOPE prep! She loved getting to have lunch with her friends who celebrated here over lunch as well.

After HP, she spent most of her afternoon playing Minecraft with her brother, Henry and Mae Mae. 

I had to capture her "usual" birthday supper because I don't typically...this girl has had spaghetti for her birthday supper since she was old enough to tell me that is what she wanted!

When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday dessert this year she said, "I'd like a fun Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor." I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. She loved her choice.

We wrapped up her day watching a movie together as a family while enjoying ice cream.

Happy Birthday Lorelei!

August Mashup

Compass Scavenger Hunt

One activity idea listed in the history curriculum was to have the students use a compass to navigate. I found a day that wasn't crazy hot (it just so happened to be our first day of school!) and we headed to a park for a compass scavenger hunt.

Joyride for the winning team.

Catching Up!

Visit With Uncle A.J.

A.J. took the train from OKC to Fort Worth during his venture south for the summer. We met up with him and enjoyed a half-day together! Thanks for coming to visit A.J.!

Water Gardens

Brave Girl - she didn't love those steps down!

Museum of Science and History

Each of us can now say we laid on a bed of nails.

Just loved the book pages on the ceiling with various quotes.

Trying to catch the scarf as it came out of any of the tubes.

Some fun Texas history including ways to quiz yourself.

Definitely a favorite for M.
The middle circle was spinning and you could try and get the other items to stay spinning on it.

Sand therapy/art.
(Also included spinning circles!)

The Lorax!

Pool Time With Friends

Fit in some pool time with friends for a Funday Friday.

Titanic Exhibition

This exhibition came to the area back in February and we thought it sounded great but have been unable to fit it in. We were so glad they extended the dates and we made it! Such a fun immersive experience!

I shared just a few of the pictures. If you are interested definitely zoom in on the photos to read the info! I learned SO much.

Wow.

I couldn't believe they had a room for reading/writing set up like this!

Learned SO much about the class systems in place during this time.
I believe these dishes were for third class.
(Most of the items were from the sister ships, but were what the Titanic would have had.)

One of two postcards you could buy onboard.

Couldn't believe so many of the things on the ship!

One piece salvaged from the wreckage of the Titanic that they can identify where it came from.

The last bit of info on here amused me.

I did not realize how many warnings about ice they had and ignored.

I also did not realize they had more lifeboats than were required at the time.
Changes were made after this tragedy.

You could touch the ice for an idea of how cold the water was.

Such a sad part of the story.
They had various music fitting each area we were in through the exhibition.
This song was playing in this area.

You received a ticket at the beginning with a name (a real person who was on board)
as if you were a passenger on the ship.
At the end you can read through the list to find out if you survived.

Summer Artwork

Had to fit one in! They opted for mosaic-style fruit and used paint swatches to make their fruit.

August Date

We kept it extra simple and had a coffee shop date with games and conversation questions.

Adventure Club

We headed up to Turner Falls and spent the day. It was amazing.

That time mom knew we had life jackets for both kids...but forgot Makin may have grown a bit in the last few years...thankfully Robin could grab him a jacket that morning before we left.

Snack break.

A social butterfly. We loved seeing him flit all around the people swimming.

What we think is an apalone turtle.

Rocky hike to the cave.

Exploring the castle.

These boys ended up throwing this green stuff at each other, because why not?

Such a quiet car...sign of a good adventure.

Friend Meet Up

We met up with the Coats for Canes and games (it was raining) before our quarantine began. The boys had a great time together and these sweet friends gave Makin some gifts for his recovery time. So thoughtful.

"Makin Day"

We headed out for one more day of fun before we started quarantining (semi - we tried very hard to limit possible germ intake but also didn't want the kids to miss many classes etc.) before Makin's upcoming surgery. We headed to play putt putt and drive go karts. (Can you tell this is a favorite choice for M?)

Take note of his feet.

Lorelei's Bedroom Spiff Up

This year for Lorelei's birthday she asked for a bedroom spiff up/makeover. She has been working towards the Hogwarts Dormitory look for years now and was blessed with some phenomenal deals for furniture on fb marketplace which rounded out the furniture look she has been working towards. Then Yasmine helped me come up with a new plan for her room. (AMAZING FRIEND!) Brad and Lorelei headed to the library for the day while Y and I worked on her room most of Saturday. It turned out beautiful and Lorelei absolutely loved it.