Zeke is 14! We had a great time celebrating him in January!
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| He chose this delicious chocolate mint cake from my new Great British bake-off cookbook! |
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| It was very delicious! For his birthday dinner he chose BBQ Chicken pizza with olives, chips and pineapple salsa, and fruit salad! |
BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW! 2/13/2026
What is your favorite color? Blue
... food? Pizza and Jelly Beans (he got 2 lbs. for his birthday!)
... movie? "The Adam Project"
... TV show? "Grizzy and the Lemmings"
... book? "I really enjoyed the 'City Spies' series."
... fruit? Pears
... animal? Elephant
... instrument? Trombone and piano
... YouTube channel? "This is a hard one! I like Project Air, Mark Rober, and Sheet Music Boss."
... video game? Factorio Space Age and Minecraft
... band or singer or favorite thing to listen to on Spotify? "Sheet Music Boss and Home Free."
... thing to do every day? "Read a book."
... thing to learn? "My favorite subject in school, I feel like, handwriting. In general, my Arduino class (he just started this coding class on 2/8 and received a Arduino kit for his birthday which he'd really been wanting)."
... about Naomi? "She's cute and cuddly."
... about Zoë? "She is artistic."
... about Levi? "He always tries to be fair, even if it's over-the-top."
... about Mom? "My favorite thing about Mom is that she makes us do these blogs every year."
... about Dad? "He lets me assist him on doing jobs and stuff. I really enjoy that!"
What do you want to be when you grow up? "A plumber, an electrician, an HVAC technician. You know, the usual stuff a kid wants to become."
What do you like most about homeschooling? "The schedule is very calm and we're not rushed as much."
What are you most looking forward to this year as a teenager? "I am looking forward to start saving for a car. And I look forward to moving up into high school."
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| Birthday lunch at Five Guys -- yum! |
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| New Rocky Mountain National Park sweatshirts from Grandma! |
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| Our new ax-throwing game from Grandma |
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| I finally got around to taking Zeke to the Union Station train set-up at Christmas time. He loved it and even I was impressed at all the work and details. Zeke enjoyed explaining all the different gauges, set-ups, and things I didn't understand or truly appreciate :) |
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| When he's a grown-up, everyone will want to invite him for Thanksgiving because of his excellent cranberry sauce! Also, he cooks regularly for the family on Monday nights. He has learned to make Tuna Mac Cheese 'n' Peas; BBQ Chicken Pasta, Chicken Enchilada Pasta, and just regular Ground Beef and Red sauce pasta. |
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| Noteworthy this year: he does tons of dishes for us, as long as he's allowed to put on headphones and listen to his Spotify playlist. We support this easy trade-off! |
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| November butcher day up in NE. We processed half a beef which goes a long way to supply our family with quality meat for a good portion of the year! |
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| We finally got around to another bake-off challenge between the kids. Zeke and Naomi teamed up in October to make these Brownie Cauldrons during our Harry Potter movie month. |
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| He does not fear heights! He probably got up here to get a frisbee or something else accidentally thrown onto the roof! |
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| You can read anywhere! Including at Lake Olathe on a beautiful day when everyone else was playing in the water :P |
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| Your final year of middle school! It's hard to believe you will be a freshman later this year! Your diligence and responsibility has improved. Your patience and understanding have grown. You offer help more often and make many mature choices. You've begun to pull the vehicles in and out of the driveway for us. You help with repairs around the house with Dad. I think you're going to be ok after all :D |
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| You went to middle school camp with Restore. You seemed to really enjoy your time with the other 8th grade boys -- they were quiet and put their things away. You enjoy your small group leader, Talon, a lot too! You loved that Talon let you sit in the front seat and be part-time DJ! |
Other notable activities: you began homeschool band in September, playing trombone. You seem to really enjoy it! We've started going to Costco together on Monday nights during our together time. I like the company and you like checking out all the new products in the electronics aisle. You waited so patiently for us to enroll you in your Arduino class on Outschool. You seem to really be enjoying it and there are 2 more sessions that you can continue to learn from as the year progresses. You helped us very much during the renovations on our new house last year. You are an invaluable part of our family team! You continue to help set-up and run lights (with an adult) at Restore, about 1 time each month. SOON, you will be allowed to do it all on your own! I am both excited and nervous about this possibility, but I know you will do well and step up to the challenge. You seem to truly understand all there is to know about how it works to set up and run, so now it will be a matter of paying attention during the service and keeping everything working smoothly! I love that you are such an avid reader, you like to play around with different songs (be ear) on piano as well as add little elaborations on the songs you are assigned. I love looking out our front kitchen window and seeing you relaxing in our swing, just thinking your own thoughts. I appreciate all of your hard work, the good conversations we have, and the way God make you uniquely you! You are a great kid! Love, Mom
