BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01732 Tonight Eva had her Homecoming dance. She had Allison get her a nice new red tie and they found a great black jacket to wear as well. With her hair cut today and the new threads she was ready to go with her great fiend, Elizabeth. Elizabeth came over right before I left for work so I could take a photo of the two of them together in their coordinating outfits. I love how they plan these things out together and do such a nice job complimenting each other. I hope they have a great night!

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01731 Tonight Allison and I went to see a comedian that we both very much enjoy. He started his comedy tour tonight in Providence and will be taping a special later on during the tour or at the end , I’m not sure exactly when. Hasan Minhaj was the host of a show called The Patriot Act on Netflix and we really enjoyed it. Then it was cancelled. Then he did a guest spot on The Daily Show as a guest host for a week and we’d love to see him take over. He did a great job on the show and the comedy show tonight was so much fun. We were laughing so much. There were no phone allowed at the end and definitely no photos so we took this selfie in the parking lot of the mall before we walked over the The Vet.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01730 Andy is back at the experimental baking. Andy got the idea to create Mango Sorbet cupcakes. So, today after school Andy and their new friend Maia made these cupcakes. Andy has been walking home from school with Maia whenever the chance arises. The two of them have fun together and it is nice that Andy has made a new friend. We did have to talk a little about some walking home from school rule today, though. Trying to make the kids both understand that if they are going to hang out in the park for a bit that we get a text about that. Allison and Maia’s mom had a nice long talk this past weekend and we can contact her and let her know that the kids are playing together. The cupcakes were delicious, too. Very light on the mango flavor but enough to know it was mango.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01698 Andy decided that we would enjoy a dinner of snacks. Andy created something called Hulk dippers because many of the ingredients were green. They were crescent rolls wrapped around provolone cheese. There was also some filling which was pickle juice and olive juice. I can see the pickle juice, that is fine sort of like the fry sauce that we make but olive not so much. Then Andy made a special butter to put on the dippers. It had quite a bit of garlic added to it. It also had chopped up pickles. Andy is nothing if not creative. The basement continues to be an issue and we will be working on that this week. The highlight of that kerfuffle was Eva taking and shower at the same time as Andy flushing the toilet. That resulted in the water coming out of the pipe behind the washing machine. Lovely.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01729 Our local High School has a restaurant that is run by the students. It opens for tree days a week for lunch and I have been excited to try it out. I wanted to go because Andy is very passionate about cooking and baking and wants to be a part of this program when it is time for High School. I want to encourage Andy to pursue this because it is something very important to their happiness. Andy is incredibly happy for baking and for rock climbing and these things that make Andy happy are things that we will continue to encourage. the restaurant itself is worth the trip. They really do a great job there and I am looking forward to going back. Not only is the food good quality but it is very inexpensive as well. I was able to get a Caesar salad, very good sized, a burger and a drink plus two pastries for under $20. That is pretty unheard of right now. I want to be able to take Andy there sometime but it is at the same time Andy is in school.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01728 The kids can make these heart shapes with their fingers that are way too complex for Allison and I to do. They are constantly teasing us when we try to do the same thing with our fingers but it does not work right. They end up in a fit of giggles over it. Andy was trying to help me out to make this heart shape with our fingers and just kept laughing about it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01727 Mondays are going to be Andy’s second day for rock climbing. We decided that since Andy will no longer be doing Krav that we would go an additional time to Rock Spot so that they can climb more often. We made a deal that Andy would climb for at least an hour on Mondays to make it worth the effort to drive over and back. So then Andy will get about 2 1/2 – 3 hours a week to climb.