My Boys Sing

Tate is loving having two new Nintendo Switch Labo sets from his birthday to build. He definitely can follow instructions better than I can! 

 

We had a ton of little babies in the nursery Sunday morning, and we didn't have enough arms to hold them all. Carver was crying, so I offered to text my mom to recruit her to help with him. She came, but we still needed help, so I texted Michael to come help. He took over Baby Sadie duty from me (and I'm a little bitter, because I've been waiting all week to snuggle her! Alison hands her directly to me outside the nursery so I get dibs), so I could jostle fussier babies. Kristi Stacy ended up asking me if I could text Wesley and Carigan to come. Anna Kate was already working in the preschool. If you were in worship this past Sunday, the Rogers family was not offended by the sermon... We just kept getting called away one by one!

Sunday lunch at Mojo... Carigan noticed me taking a picture of them being loving, so she switched modes. Then she tripped and fell and I ended up with a picture of her legs sprawled on the floor:

I took Jacquie to Harry's for her birthday Monday night. Clearly it is impossible to unneighbor me. 

Lakeland Christian's Concert Choir and Ensemble Choir (Wesley is a member of both) qualified for State after scoring such high marks at the Florida Vocal Association's District MPA (Music Performance Assessments) earlier this year. Choirs traveled from all over the state, but lucky for us, it was held right here in Lakeland this year, at First Presbyterian Church. I helped chaperone. I got to hear many of the performances, and they are truly the best of the best! The top choirs in the whole state. I get teary when I hear Wes sing. The kids got to eat lunch at Lakeside Village afterward, and I had lunch at GrillSmith with Mrs. Carl, Khaysy and Lisa Jones. We are so lucky to have Wendy at LCS!

Nasa's SpaceX Crew-4 launch was in the wee hours of Wednesday morning (4/27), and our neighbor got a good shot of the spacecraft over our house. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a Crew Dragon spacecraft on its seventh manned flight. Astronauts will begin a six-month expedition on the International Space Station. More importantly, Wednesday was Aunt Cynto's birthday! We celebrated at Carrabba's:

 

Tate's spring recital was Thursday night. I know the window is about to close on these excited waves I get from stage. I'm enjoying every second while I can! Tate spent the opening prayer seemingly checking his manicure:

Doesn't get any sweeter than kids singing praise songs! And look who came to see the kids... Mrs. Henry! We've missed her this year!

Wesley is running for student council (update... he won!) and his posters are plastered all over campus. And by posters I mean papers taped all over school by Jadin. He literally covered an entire wall floor to ceiling in one hallway. Wesley's friends decided the current student council needs shaking up, so they assembled "Cayden's Cabinet" and aimed for a complete takeover. Well it worked... every single one of them won. Wesley had the most opponents in his field for class secretary. We shall now address him as Mr. Secretary. 

 

Grandpa took us out to Dairy Queen after Tate's recital. Michael did not cheat on his no-sugar diet, but he wasn't very happy about it. To make him feel better, Wesley got the world's smallest Blizzard. Tate got a large and ate every single bite.

 

Bradford's mom offered to take Tate with her and her boys to Defy every Friday if I got Tate a membership. Friday was Tate's first Defy date with Bradford. Tina sent me a few pics. Now Fridays can be extra fun!

Anna Kate's First Formal & Swan Derby Returns

Tonight was Anna Kate’s first school dance (because… Covid). She looked make-her-mama-teary grown up & gorgeous. Tonight was also prom for many local high schools, so I had to call a long list of salons before I found AK an opening to get her hair done. I took her to Copper Penny Hair Studio just down the road, and she had her hair thinned out and straightened. Here I am, snapping pics, thinking this is a magical memorable moment for Anna Kate. When we got in the car the first words out of her mouth was, "THAT WAS CHILD ABUSE!!!" She never said a word, but apparently my tender-scalped girl was fighting back tears the whole time from pain. So much for magical memory! For some reason straightening AK's hair made it look super-blond! I wanted her to love her hair, but she was pretty bitter about the torture, and didn't seem thrilled with her hair. But no matter how she felt, she looked GORGEOUS. 

Libby, Anna Kate & Ellie. Anna Kate refused to let me get a solo picture of her. When I tried, she walked away. There's always cropping...

Carlee couldn't make it to our house in time for pictures, so Amy got a picture of the whole crew right after they arrived for the dance. She sent me a video of the girls walking across the parking lot while she chanted, "Work it girls, WORK IT." 

Being the awesome brother that he is, Wesley had Jadin personally escort Anna Kate to her table, and video-taped the whole thing for maximum embarrassment. The sophomore class is responsible for planning Spring Fling, and they went with a decades theme. Wesley's crew was in charge of the 70s table. Anna Kate sat at the 80s table. She forbade photography within the dance, but all the sophomores who worked to host did get a group photo:

Mom has been so excited about the return of the Swan Derby on Lake Mirror since it's two year absence due to Covid. I've been so preoccupied with Spring Fling & play dates that I almost forgot about Swan Derby. Mom got there early with a friend, but I decided to walk over just to see the race and then come back. But when we got there, the race was delayed, and the kids started playing (and collecting freebies), so we ended up staying a long time. 

The Rooms to Go tent was giving away kites. My kids have now officially done something I've never done successfully before... fly a kite! Just a small one, but it counts!  Tate is like a whole different kid since discovering his bravery on Universal Studios roller coasters. He has always been the most cautious kid, and never would go up more than a few feet on this (below)... now he climbs straight to the top!

Alondra got to experience her first Swan Derby with us tonight as a kick-off to their sleepover weekend. Libby & Ellie are spending the night too, so we have a full house!

And finally... They're off! 

 

The girls came home with 80's Jem-esque inflatable microphones. There was no dancing at this first dance of theirs, but they ate food and got yelled at by the 10th graders to stay in there seats so they could try to organize a game. Sounds just about as awkward as I remember my middle school dances being. The good news is that it sounds like the sophomores had a lot of fun!

Little Bunny Runs Away to Atlanta

Wesley's plans to go visit TJ in Atlanta have been foiled more than once by Covid, and he's held it over me for more than a year now that I've been to TJ's house and he hasn't. Well I had to give up my boy for Easter, but he finally made it to Weeksville. When we realized LCS had a four day weekend (Good Friday off plus teacher work day on Monday) we realized it was our best shot. His plane was scheduled to take off from Orlando Thursday evening, but it was storming pretty badly and his plane was delayed a few hours. He didn't end up taking off until after midnight, and didn't get to TJ's until the wee hours of the morning... which didn't stop them from hopping right on their games. Wes has flown to Nashville with Anna Kate a couple times before, but this was his first time flying solo.

 

Weeks crew earns their title as coolest parents ever. They let the boys sleep in and then had them out and about. They started the day with foot massages at TJ's favorite spa. Here is my man child choosing his essential oils:

As always, RT never let Wesley spend a penny of his own money. He would slap the wallet out of his hands. The boy lives like a king at the Weeks.

RT kept his promise to send me pics throughout the day, and by late afternoon it became clear I'd been thoroughly replaced. Poor TJ couldn't keep up!

Wes is ready to enroll in TJ's school. But we all know he would never survive. TJ was so worn out he had to recuperate Sunday morning, but Wes is officially a Weeks so that didn't bother him one bit. He had a great Easter morning service with RT, Sudi & Jazmyn. So very thankful for this second family! They picked up steaks and had a big African Easter meal with Bubbles (uncle) and his African grandma.

Late night Easter shenanigans. 

1st & 3rd in real life Mario Kart.

Wesley’s flight home was repeatedly delayed and eventually cancelled around 1 a.m. this morning. Any other parent of any other friend (sadly, including myself) would have rolled Wesley out at the curb of the airport and told him to have a nice flight. But God knew we needed the Weeks Treatment, and RT insisted on standing in line for a security pass to accompany Wes to his gate. Then he insisted on waiting with him, despite Wesley and Michael and myself all trying to convince RT to go home and get some rest. But he sat with Wesley and they waited.

 

And waited and waited and waited and waited some more. Until the flight was cancelled. And then he tried to rent a car to drive Wesley home through the night because he knew he was stressed about missing school today. When he couldn’t get a car so late, he stayed on the phone with Michael and me until we had found a morning flight, and then he paid for a hotel room right by the airport so they could sleep for 4 hours. And lemme tell you, Rocheforte T Weeks will not let you spend a dime when you are on his watch, and it’s impossible to convince him to take any sort of reimbursement. This (below) was the scene at the Spirit terminal when they arrived back at the airport after a few hours of sleep. But RT got him on his plane and didn't leave until he saw it push all the way back from the gate. 

 

Servanthood is a way of life for the Weeks family. As much as they’ve been through (umm, RT was escaping a war in Liberia and Sudi was surviving Hurricane Hugo in the Caribbean with nothing but a mattress keeping her from blowing away along with her entire house while I was living the suburban IBM childhood, and that’s just the beginning of where my cushy life diverged from theirs), they focus always on the needs of others around them, not on their own difficulties. Like Sudi’s stroke or RT’s recent work injury. They reject despair and choose ALWAYS joy. And they find joy in giving and loving and pouring into others. I fall so woefully short of their Christ-glorifying witness. I will continue to pray, “Teach me your ways, Oh Lord,” as I watch it in action in the lives of our friends.

I picked Wesley up in Tampa this morning, but he was too wiped out to go to school, so he came home and slept. I did see this Camero on Harden. Wes keeps saying he wants a Camero now that Caden has one. This one accents his purple hoodie. 

 

Finally got to open his Easter basket! He didn't want to wait for everyone else to get home. Despite all the flight delays, he had a pretty perfect Easter weekend. And I'm so proud of him for rolling with the punches. We can't wait for the Weegers Family vacation to Alaska this summer!!!