Practicing

He was holding a mock Spelling Bee here. A man's got to practice.

Natural Habitat

We see this scene a lot lately. Location varies somewhat. lol

Seen in his natural habitat - iPad in hand like usual.

Friday Five

This week seemed to drag on longer than previous weeks have. I think we all hit the wall somewhere around Tuesday. Sheesh. I don't know if it was because we had the added stress of dentist appointments or what, but it was a rough week.

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Speaking of dentist appointments, Jason had two cavities, one on each side. Of course that meant two appointments because they didn't want to numb both sides of his mouth at once. Fun!

Jason was SUCH a trooper, even when he had a flair of pain from one of the nerves. :( I am so proud of him. Plus, now that the hard stuff is behind him, he slept so much better last night.

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Shawn will get his chance to go back to the dentist in April. We know that sitting in the dentist chair for any length of time will be nearly impossible for him, so we are opting to not stress him when we don't have to. He's going to get any/all work done in April under the comfort and obliviousness of some happy juice. I think he'd prefer it that way. (Heck, I'd prefer it that way for myself, too!)

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Jack's teacher told the class about the Spelling Bee. The kid is SO EXCITED about that. He's been waiting for his crack at the Spelling Bee for years now. lol

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We need to find some sort of adventure to go on...we're all going a bit stir crazy. Hopefully the feeling will pass soon!

Appointment

Jason had another dental appointment today. He did an AMAZING job and was a total ROCK STAR.

I am so very proud of him for facing his fears!

Mission Project

Jack worked so hard on his project and paragraph!

Here is his paragraph:

"I made the San Buenaventura mission for my project. I learned many interesting things about it. First I learned it has five bells. They were borrowed from Mission Santa Barbara. Second, I learned it was founded in 1782 on March 31. It was founded by friar Junipero Serra. It was the ninth mission. Third, I learned Chumash people live there. They made leather, wine, and olive oil. I also learned the bells would tell them to do things like when to have breakfast. Lastly I learned this was the only mission that had wooden bells that were used only during the week before Easter. The San Buenaventura mission is an interesting place to visit."

I think he did a FABULOUS job!

Power Cut

Last night we had a power outage that lasted for several hours. Fortunately, we had already had a chance to celebrate Shawn's Homecoming Day before the lights went out. 

Anyway, in Team Lopez fashion, we made the best of things and managed to have some fun. :)

Jack is playing with slime via candle light. Doesn't 
everyone do that? lol

Shawn's Homecoming Day!!!

Today was Shawn's 13th Homecoming Day!

We're so lucky you're ours, kiddo. Happy Homecoming Day!

Talent!

This kid is so talented!!

Cute Big Boy Saturday

How do we roll when it is raining outside? We just swing inside! He's getting so high with this thing now.

 (These were taken by his dad.)

Friday Five

We're getting back into the grove of this whole school thing after the long winter break. The big boys have just passed the midpoint of their second trimester this year. Report cards grades should be coming home soon. Jack continues to get all of his assignments in, and he's doing well, too.

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Speaking of Jack, he has been assigned the California Mission project. He has to create a mission and write about it. It is due next Friday. Much as I tried to lobby that he use one of the two completed missions in the garage, Jack nixed that idea. And...because of course...he chose a completely different mission than them, so we are in for the whole project all over again. :( I think I have finally figured out what Jack really wants to do the project for. He remembers when the big boys did their projects and created their bubble wrap roofs. That is pretty much the only thing he wants to do. LOL. It cracks me up that of all the things about that time, it is the roof design that he remembers. 

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After a heat wave and Santa Ana winds, we are finally back to cooler weather. It is supposed to rain tonight into tomorrow and next week. Because of the rain prospect, we have put off working in the garden and planting anything until that is over. I don't want the rain to wash all of our seeds around the garden, and with our luck, that is exactly what would happen.

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We have had a fun time with the air fryer we got Isaac for his birthday this year. It makes the best, non-greasy French fries. (I will admit that FFs are my comfort food, so we have been having them a LOT lately. Don't judge.) I am hoping that we can work on making the new donut recipe this weekend, too. This one is supposed to rise more, so I am hoping it will make the donuts lighter and fluffier. Fingers crossed.

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We went out more this week than we have since March with the two dentist visits. It felt so odd to actually put on clothes and talk to people other than our family. Jason has two more appointments to fill some cavities (a cavity on each side of his mouth which means one appt for each side). Hoping that goes well for him. Shawn has his follow up appt in April.

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Shawn has his Homecoming Day on Monday! We can't wait!

Throwback Thursday

This week (1/23) in 2015...

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Rocking the dentist...

His Favorite Thing

I'm not kidding when I say that this is probably Jack's favorite thing. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES this swing. He is on it at least 10 times a day, and I'd guess that is a major underestimation. 

He has made it his mission to go as high as possible. He gets bonus points if he can kick whomever is sitting on the couch by his feet. LOL. Too funny!

Dentist Visit

Shawn had a dentist visit today. He did SO well! We are very proud of him, too!

Jason has his appointment tomorrow. :)

Donut Making

Jason and I made donuts (from scratch!) in our air fryer today!

They weren't too terrible for our first attempt. They were a bit denser than we would have liked (think a cross between a bagel and a donut for the texture), but they were tasty!

We already have a different recipe to try to see if we can make them fluffier!

Cute Big Boy Saturday - Shootin' Hoops

The crew was hanging outside playing basketball today. :)

Friday Five

We are all very excited that this is a three day weekend. This week was somewhat of a tough transition back into school for the little people, so the longer weekend is a nice chance for every one to recharge.

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Jack's class is learning about recycling and trash this week. It has made for some interesting conversations, and he is all into conservation. I have to say, though, that the idea of reducing, recycling, and reusing right now is more than my tired, pandemic brain can deal with. lol. He's just going to be happy with our regular old tin can recycling for the time being, because that's all I've got in me right now. 

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Our seeds are in! This weekend we need to go outside and start getting our garden ready to plant. I think we're going to make some additional planters beyond our raised flower bed, too. Exciting!

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Can you believe it is almost Homecoming time again? Shawn's day is coming up on the 25th. I asked him if it was time to stop celebrating yet. Nope - he wants to celebrate forever he said. :)

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Jack got attacked by our indoor swing. I don't know what he did exactly, but I heard a noise and then a quick, "I'm okay!" That's never a good sign. 

Sure enough, the kid scratched up his spine. It takes me back because I was forever scraping my spine on everything, too. He must be my kid, I guess. lol

Tour of the City

Jack is over this whole stay at home business. We truly haven’t been anywhere really (and definitely not inside somewhere except a doctor’s office) since this all began. He came to me tonight with his “Tour of (our city)” list that he wants us to do:

1) Disneyland

2) Target

3) Local Zoo

Lol! Not a single one of them is in our city! (Even the Target that he is talking about is outside our city.)

We're all ready for all of this to end, too, kiddo. Hopefully that will be soon!

Way Back Wednesday

I couldn't pass sharing this shot. This is the proof we got from our very first family portraits. We took the pictures on January 12, 2012, but the photographer shared the proof with us 9 years ago today! Oh, my tiny guys are so adorable!!

These were taken at the old sets for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which have since burned down in fires that swept through a few years back. I think that makes these even more special. ❤️