What's better than a birthday party? A waterside at a birthday party! It's so hot, it was perfect for an afternoon party. 

It was fun to see some of NJ's old classmates and their parents. We had a great time hanging out and talking and eating. NJ was done with the slide after coming in to snack. Then he went to play with Legos. But when I went to get him to eat I found him in the corner of the room reading. All the other boys were playing with toys. I thought it was funny, cute, and very nerdy of him! 

Checking out the cake. Yum! Can't wait to see them again soon, we always enjoy their company. 

We try not to be in such a hurry that we don't check NJ's face for crust, his hair for strays, and plenty of sunblock on. 

It's so sweet how NJ loves to hold Baba's hand and walk close to him when we walk to school. 

Baba went to pick NJ up. When I came downstairs they were refilling coffee pods together. NJ is part of our cheapskate system. He's always so helpful. 

Armed with two water bottles today, one in each side pouch of his backpack. Yesterday he came home complaining that he was out of water by half the day through. Today is supposed to be even hotter. I instructed him to drink the bottle water first since it won't stay cold as long. Then the thermos bottle second since it's insulated. When I asked him if he understood what insulated meant he said, "That means the stuff around it makes it stay cold." 

Hmm, that's actually pretty good. Good job, NJ. 

We're starting to see the same parents at the same time and meeting and talking to them. 

NJ is doing homework and his workbook while Baba is eating a very late lunch. I made some chicken curry salad for us and Baba bought some hawaiian bread rolls to make mini sandwiches out of them. 

The boys are hungry and eagerly waiting to pray and dig in to dinner. We're having breakfast for dinner! I tried out a recipe for a potato and egg casserole. I added onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and bacon with a cheesy crust. Baba help me with making some garlic and cheese drop biscuits. Plus some chicken sausage for more meat for the boys.
My friend came to visit this morning. We had some coffee and sat and talked for a while.
Later another friend came to visit with her baby and we hung out and talked for a while too. No coffee, just tea and some lunch. I didn't even get out anywhere except for NJ's drop off today, but I still had a blessed day of connecting. 

This morning he was already working on a bracelet. He said he told a girl at school that he was making one for her and her sister, twins. Isn't that sweet.

Ready for school, we're out the door! 

Homework after showering, he did it so quickly. 

Back to bracelet making.

I picked this up today when I went with a friend to downtown and found lots of cheap goodies. I thought of him since he was making bracelets this morning. The one he has is so complicated, I thought this might be easier. But actually, it was harder for him since he's not used to it. And I have no idea what I'm doing! We're so late with this, everyone had one what? A year or two ago? We're just too cheap to get him one. Until I found this one for cheap and there are nearly no instructions. Maybe he can get help from one of his girl friends. 

It's fundraiser night at Rounds. No drafts for us, just some burgers. A veggie one for me. Pretty good. We remember this place as Wolf Burger when Baba and I were in college. They had the best onion rings. We ran into one his classmates and her dad. We got to talk for a bit, that was really nice. We talked about a playdate to make some s'mores or something. That would be fun. She said she's new and just started this Monday. 

Good morning, finish your breakfast so we can get going! 

Homework before playing.

Someone's excited about baking again! 

He missed the chocolate chips, but he got the dried blueberries to snack on. 

The banana cake is ready to go in the oven! I love the smell. 

NJ asked to play with play-do. He said he wanted to make the bird just like on the box. I'm glad he was occupied while I finished baking. 

Done and yum! I haven't made banana cake in a long time, but did so by request. Hope she likes them Baba is delivering them for me tonight. I think I'll include a card with a note too. 

I guess we're not sharing this salsa with any guests anymore! He's using every tiny chip crumb left to scoop it out. 

There wasn't much left already by the time NJ got to the rest of the chips. But my goodness he really ate every crumb. 

Baba and NJ played a game of chess together. First time breaking out this set that Baba had put away. 

The casualties of war on the sidelines. NJ surprised Baba with a few moves and caught him by surprise. It was a good game. We were happy to find out that there's a chess class at his new school so we signed him up. 

So willing and helpful! He was disappointed to take the trash back and not the recycling. 

We said the trash is just his size, then recycling for me, then yard waste for Baba. 

Spaghetti Night

First homework sent home from school. I thought it would be more, but I guess it's only the first. His homework before was writing and math and projects. Good thing we have workbooks for him too.

NJ, "What's this? What are we making?"
Shredding some purple onions for salsa. And some more onion, carrots, and zucchini for the bolognese sauce. Cuts the time of all the chopping and makes it so much faster. 

As the sauce simmered for an hour, we played a couple games of chutes and ladders. NJ won both times! 

We had some spaghetti with the bolognese sauce and bread. Some chips and salsa, some bean dip that I ruined, hummus and pita chips. The kids played hide and seek until they asked to watch some Wallace and Gromit. It's so cute to hear them play and laugh. 

"Are you gonna finish that?"

It was so hard to get up this morning. But it was worth it to wake up to my boys waiting for me for breakfast already at the table. How sweet! I feel so loved. I hardly ate any of it though and NJ could tell so he said, "Mama, are you gonna finish that? Can I have it?" 

Sure you can. Both boys are becoming my finishers now. 

He made a crown at church. Now he has one from school and one from church. He liked wearing it upside down for some reason. We went home and I made a quick lunch for us before taking a little nap. I really needed it!

We had a date night celebrating our friend's graduation. It was going to be a girl's night turned into date night with our men too. We laughed a lot and ate a lot. But it was an early dinner and we weren't out for long. 

Our friend's son was staying with ours, they stayed in together. It was so cute, they built a set together while we were gone. We had dinner for them too that they ate in between. I hope NJ wasn't too bossy and behaved well with Baba and Mama away. So nice of Josh to stay with NJ (thank you!)