Makin At Fourteen

At fourteen you...

Love engineering and robots. You have a couple of avenues for this, one of which is LEGO Club. You set the standard for yourself to always have some sort of LEGO creation that involves programming/robotics.

Take selfies anytime you get ahold of someone's phone. (See photo on left. ;) )

Are fascinated with all things tech. You like to fix up keyboards and computers. You ordered light up fans to go in the computer you purchased so that it would look cool.

Are a figure-it-out guy.

Listen to audiobooks or a podcast in your spare time. You prefer to listen to the same book series over and over and don't really want to try new books.

Wish mom let you play lots of video games, but make due with the time you are given (typically a couple hours a month) and really enjoy it.

Love the Huskers. You don't really remember a winning season, so the fact that we are winning games this fall is pretty exciting.

Strive to have a thumbs-up in every. single. picture. If there is ever a picture without one, it is because we have told you, "no thumbs-up for this one!"

Love to be funny.

Quotable Moments:

(Doing his first subject on a Monday morning...sadly/longingly...) "I miss yesterday."

Me: It's a beautiful day.

Makin: Too bad it has to be marred by school.

(Appt coming that afternoon) "I will physically try to be less gloomy, but on the inside I'm still shriveling with sorrow."

"Putting off the inevitable is my middle name!"

Me: Because I'm cheap.

Makin: Frugal.

(On the way home from their holiday xpo sale)

Brad: Should I go all the way to the bank or just pay the $3 fee?

Makin: That's a spatula...

(Wearing new slippers for Christmas) "My feet are so cute!"

Me: Do you still want me to make toast?

Makin: Yes! That's the only ray of sunshine for this breakfast.

Lorelei: Why are you glaring at me?

Makin: I'm not glaring at you, I'm looking at you with distain!

(Makin with a sunburn...)

Brad: Why didn't you get any tomatoes on your burgers Bob? 

Makin: Because I'm not a cannibal.

"You're meal planning is like Sudoku."

"Oooooo the mother card."

(At Nana's house, when she wanted me to do something and she said, "I am your mother.")

Me: Did you eat your two fruits today?

Makin: Yes, Blueberries and pizza sauce.

Me: Pizza sauce is not a fruit.

Makin: A tomato is a fruit.

"Mom, I didn't want to tell you this until the whole hospital thing was over, but one day I didn't eat until 4:30."

(After predicting a movie event accurately before it happened...) "Plots are my thing."

Makin's Fourteen Year Interview

Favorites -

Food: Pesto Stuffed Shells

Place: Home, Universal Studios

Movie/TV Show: Super Mario Bros, Ninjago

Color: Red and Black

Thing To Do: Listen to my audiobook, drive my battle bot, listen to my podcast (The Spawn Chunks)

Animal: hawk

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

Song: Wolves - Sam Tinnesz and Silverberg, Gladiator - Zade Wolf, Beatsaber Soundtrack

Treat: ice cream, jelly beans, Better Than Anything Cake, dirt

Holiday: Christmas

What do you like to do with Dad? golf, eat pizza, play games, watch football

What do you like to do with Mom? board games, hang out, eat, read alouds

What do you like to do with Lorelei? tease her

What makes you happy? books, games

What do you think about before you fall asleep? life...

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

Lorelei at Sixteen

At sixteen you...

Continue your passion for animals. You incorporate this into everything you can, from papers to speeches. You love your animal behavior training team time, ManeGait and horseback.

Are a vegetarian. See above. ;) You made this change over the summer and have continued to want to stick with it so far.

Love research.

Have an energy and zest for life.

Love learning.

Love to read and color in your spare time.

Listen to a horse podcast often. You get bits of news from that and share it with us.

Love surprises.

Are working hard to save up for horse camp and try to earn money in a variety of ways.

Enjoy learning different languages - Spanish and American Sign Language are currently the two you are focused on.

Appreciate good food. If it could be a love language it would be one of yours. If you are eating something you especially love, you tell us thank-you for it multiple times.

Love an adventure.

Quotable Moments:

Me: Don't forget to say please and thank you.

Lor: Mom, I'm not a heathen.

"I don't have an attitude. I have an independent mind."

(Immediately after opening her pumpkin for carving.) "Ooooh! It already smells like Halloween!"

L: (sigh)

Me: You're ok.

L: Am I though?

"We take our ornaments pretty seriously."

Me: Do I look old in this shirt?

L: (pause...smile...) I mean, you don't look any older than you usually look...

(After sneezing several times as she is getting started on school...) "I guess I'm allergic to math."

Me: Have you had any fruit today?

L: I've had jelly...

Me: We just purchased one meal and it was almost twenty bucks!

L: That's why all the millennials go to Taco Bell!

B: Do you know what cliff notes are?

L: No, but they sound terrifying. Like you are taking notes on a cliff.

"In my emails I use lots of exclamation marks. When I use a period it makes me sad because I don't sound excited!"

"Mom, I feel like if you had your way you would somewhat live Amish."

"I'm just saying, cake fuels my brain."

Me: You aren't supposed to have ten answers on each. (filling out survey below)

L: BUT I LOVE SO MUCH STUFF!!!!

Lorelei's Sixteen Year Interview

Favorites -
Food: Spaghetti

Place: beach, school, CMA, barns, my bedroom, nature

Movie/TV Show: Harry Potter, Walk Ride Rodeo, The Young Woman and The Sea, Rescued by Ruby, How To Train Your Dragon

Color: Pink, Purple, Turquoise

Thing To Do: read, knit/crochet, color, crafts, ride horses, train animals, edit movies/videos, school, try new foods

Animal: Dog, Horse, Dolphin

Books: Harry Potter Series, any animal books, historical fiction, Gryphon Chronicles, Keeper Of The Lost Cities, High Hurdles, The Christy Miller Series (and all series related to it)

Song: Brave Souls and Handpainted by Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Ku Ha'Aheo

Treat: Ice Cream, cake, peppermint bark, dirt

Holiday: Christmas

What do you like to do with Dad? back massages, color, eat yummy food, business stuff

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

What do you like to do with Makin? reading the same books, teasing each other/wrestling, playing games, outside time

What makes you happy? animals, music, reading, books schoolwork the beach, nature, sleep, food

What do you think about before you fall asleep? the next day, planning out anything and everything, the beach, animals

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 Fourteen

We celebrated Makin's birthday just the way he wanted. At this stage he loves all things video game, and since he doesn't typically get much media time, that was his main birthday request.

Assembling his new chair.

Donut Breakfast

Lots of VR time.

Better-Than-Anything Cake

AFV + Pizza

His Fav Bday Candles :)

Monday (the day after his bday) he celebrated with a couple of friends at Main Event.

We had so much fun celebrating this guy!

Happy Birthday Makin!

Lorelei Turns Sixteen

Although we celebrated Lorelei big with her trip for her gift and party, she also had a wonderful day of favorite things to celebrate her on her birthday!

Her traditional birthday French toast. :)

A new coffee shop with Harry Potter vibes.

Flea Market Shopping

Her finds.

Lunch at Blue Goose

Spaghetti and a movie.

We had so much fun celebrating our girl!

Happy Birthday Lorelei!

Sweet Sixteen Birthday Trip

As Lorelei and I started brainstorming various sweet sixteen celebration options we dreamed big as well as came up with various options that were also not-so big. ;) When it came time to decide - no surprise her dad said - go big - this is a special birthday! SO Lorelei got to have a dream come true - she chose to travel to Maine for her birthday because not just one, but TWO of her friends live in New Hampshire. That meant a trip WITH friends. 

These three girls were SO appreciative of the entire trip and I'm so thankful Lorelei has these girls she can call her friends. I'll add a quick backstory for why in the world a Texas girl has two friends in New Hampshire... Anna is a friend she has had since Kindergarten in Nebraska. Anna's family moved back to New Hampshire a few years ago because her parents were from that area originally. Her mom joked her children are Midwest kids living in New England. (They were in Nebraska about nine years.) Micayla is a friend Lorelei met at HOPE Prep last school year. They enjoyed lunch together each week, as well as working on the yearbook staff together. Her dad took a job in New Hampshire, so they relocated. It just so happened to be very close to where Anna lives!

Now - on to the Sweet Sixteen Birthday Trip!

Off on an early flight!

Lorelei wanted to go to the beach each day.
They saw an amazing sandcastle the first day.

Divide and Conquer shopping trip.
The girls had SO much fun picking out their goodies.

Fitting it in the car with bags was an added challenge.

Rainbow on the drive.

They had movie night each night of the trip.

Our view. We all wanted to move in forever.

Reading while friends get ready.

This tree turned early just for me. ;)

All three girls are stuffed animal girls but said they know they can't get anymore.
We took a pic with the ones they wanted to get. :)

THE place to get donuts made from potatoes.
They tasted amazing.

Blueberry for me and chocolate for Lor.

Portland Head Light, the oldest lighthouse in Maine!

Lobster rolls for most of us.

All three loved any chance to see a dog.
This dog was waiting to get on a ferry.

Maine has 4,600 islands, so we decided we needed to visit one!
Only 4,599 to go!

Picnic Point

The ice cream was delicious.

Another furry friend.

Morning view.

Mom's cup o coffee.

Binoculars were a fun surprise find in the house.

Nature watching with Anna.

Birthday French Toast

"Can we please go to the bookstore?"
I mean, moms dream of such questions.
Yes girls, lets go to the bookstore.

Beach time!

Micayla's sister and mom joined us for this day.

Mainely Custard.
So. Yum.

Kayaking!

She loved it and can't wait to go again.

Loaded Popcorn

Sunrise.

So thankful for this time with her!

We couldn't resist putting a video together for this one. :) Enjoy!