hanging out with my boy...

The boy had two half days of school this week, so I got to spend some time with just him. It was really nice and the beautiful weather just made it that much better.

On Thursday, I picked him up and we went out to lunch. I wanted him to try the place that Clara and I had tried on her day off recently. One last check of the menu before he digs in...
It was definitely NOT soup weather that day, but their soup is really good.

From there we hit a resale shop. We ended up with a bag of books for $1.37. Alex still loves the Hardy Boys for a quick read now and again. He picked up a box set of some that he hadn't read and a book that just intrigued him by the name... Vampirates! :-) We found a really nice hard cover mystery about ballet for Clara.

Then it was time for his orthodontist appointment...... very into the movie they were showing while he waited.

He's ready to start! He has his first appointment in two weeks and then two weeks after that, he'll get the rest done. His teeth are better than expected, so he's only looking at 18 months instead of 24.
While we were there, we also got the results from Clara's appointment. She doesn't have to have the herbst appliance!! She only has to have the thing above on the right, and I think she only has to have it on one side. Given that she doesn't have to have the herbst, they don't need to start right away, so they'll evaluate again in six months!

After the orthodontist, it was time for his make-up guitar and voice lesson (he had missed them on Tuesday due to his school band performance)...
It was sooooo nice out!!!

After dinner, it was time to head back to his school for his end of term conference. As usual, we were very impressed... both with Alex and his school. Here's one of the teacher comments on one of his progress reports...
This has nothing to do with Alex, just a snapshot of our lives...
... Mango's collection. She LOVES socks and had collected a pair of Alex's socks from his gym bag and a pair of Clara's. She also has her two favorite stuffed toys there as well.

Friday was another half day. I went to school early to see the band play again as they were playing during "morning meeting". I have video of their performance that I'll try to get posted. After school was out, one of Alex's teachers asked if he wanted to stay and jam for a while. I sat with some other parents and watched them for about 45 minutes! I know his school isn't for everyone but it sure has been a good fit for us.

After lunch at one of our favorite places, we stopped by and got Alex a haircut. He wanted to stay a little shaggy, but still wanted to be able to see...
He then rushed home, because he had a Mine Craft date set up with some friends from school. They get on google talk and play... it's so funny to listen to them.

When I picked up Clara from Battle of the Books club, she had this...
... I had been dying to read this book! We loved The Invention of Hugo Cabret so much! Clara is still finishing another BotB book, so she said that Alex and I could read it first. We were heading straight to their basketball class, so I took it along. That hour and a half flew by!! I finished it last night before bed. He's just such an amazing storyteller.