A Graysen Blog

Looking through my pictures, I realized there were quite a lot of Graysen moments to share! So, he gets his very own blog post . . . I'm sure if he read the blog, he would be honored! :)

First up, he finally put our beloved Christmas gift to use! He told Buck he wanted to learn to shave--but just his chin, the 'stache stays. He also told me, without me having to ask, that I could take pictures as long as I didn't post them. I think he meant on Facebook, which I did not do. I figured for my readership of grandma, auntie, and siblings we'd probably be okay to share them here (but nowhere else :) Buck said in the second picture, "You're lurking." I am not lurking!! Well, maybe a little lurking . . . 

I also remembered to take a picture of Graysen's second piano lesson (possibly still a little lurking ;) He seems to like lessons; he's certainly got a fun teacher (his buddy's big sister). She's taught Caelan and Brennen, too. I think learning how to be a good teacher from a good teacher is as important as the music lessons, themselves.

One busy day, when Gabby had to work and Buck forgot his keys, I tasked Brennen with driving me (on the big roads!!) to deliver the keys. This left G$ home alone doing school . . . until Caelan invited him to college! He loaded up a backpack with (home)schoolwork and spent a couple of hours on campus with his big sister. Caelan said, "He doesn't look 14, they will never know." She was right! Another student brought his bird to school and was told to take it home. She brought her brother but didn't have to take him home! Buck wanted to know if it was show-and-tell day, presenting . . . Graysen! Ha! Glad they had fun doing college together (and posing exactly the same for my picture :)

Lately, Muriel has been very cuddly. She likes to give Graysen hugs :) She might be asking why he didn't bring Caelan home from college; Muriel is very big into serious discussions.

I saw on FB recently that our friends' mom lost her yard clean up guy to a jail sentence (although she later saw some info that he was not in jail, so she's not sure what happened, there, but it all worked out for G$ as I'll relate once I end this very long parenthetical aside). The guy who was supposed to be in jail recommended another guy who turned out to be a flake. In the flake's stead, the elderly grandpa was out cleaning up the three-dog back yard so the great-grandkids could come over to play. Afterwards, he instructed his daughter, "Tell your dogs not to poop tonight, okay?" Ha!

Well, I mentioned that G$ had been in the business for several years, and we were willing to expand his territory (since the kid wants a job so badly and can't keep up with teenager expenses with almost zero income), and our friends' mom was delighted! She knew G$ has been hoping to buy skates of his own and asked me how much such a purchase might be. I did some research and after A LOT of searching for availability in his size, found a good pair. When I told her the total, she advanced him two months' worth of earnings on his first day, so he could enjoy his skates before the winter season is over. Aww!! He was delighted to hand me a handful of money and to lace up his new hockey skates. Now we just have to get them sharpened and he's ready to glide!

Gliding on to the next topic . . . we are discussing the book of Ruth in youth group. Last week, the kids were asked to create movie trailers that summarized the Biblical tale. They broke off into age groups: high school boys, middle school boys, high school girls, middle school girls. Needless to say, they had to get creative with their casting. Somehow, G$ landed the starring role as Ruth. Perhaps you, too, can enjoy the powerful story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz through this short series of videocaptures . . .

In the land of Moab, the Israelite husbands tragically die. Ruth (G$), Orpah (Brennen in the clown wig), and Naomi (our pastor's son) are left to grieve their loss and make some big decisions about what comes next.

Although Naomi successfully convinces the surprisingly red-headed Orpah to return home to "her" family, Ruth decides to stick with Naomi (the falsetto voices and strange understandings of how women stand during conversation were highly amusing during this scene :)

Back in Bethlehem, Ruth impresses Boaz's fieldhands with "her" incredible work ethic and muscular strength (lol!!)

While Ruth needs to work on not sitting like a dude, "she" listens carefully to the odd instructions (pastor's son) Naomi is laying down for her. I actually stopped taking screen shots at this point, because the story becomes increasingly weird as staged by a group of high school and college boys. Lol! It had the same happy ending as in the Bible . . . Boaz accepts Ruth's proposal to redeem herself and her mother-in-law, a Princess Bride style wedding ceremony takes place, "Maiwwwage. Maiwwwage is what bwings us togevah today." And they live happily ever after as the room full of teens erupts into applause and laughter :) Ah, youth group.

Being the youngest, but running with the older kids, means G$ gets to do special things--like drive to lunch with his sister and a bunch of kids from church on Sunday--maybe a little sooner on the age scale than the other three would have been allowed to, but the kid goes to college, what else can we do? :) I'm glad the Crew has the friend groups that they do, and I'm glad that God protects them on their jaunts here and there. Currently, they are packing up bikes with our pastor's son (hopefully it doesn't rain) for a lakeside ride.

Update: it did rain, but not until they returned home after a brisk ride in the wind and fading sunshine :) And now moving on . . . with the other two attending a dance at a public school, G$ decided to become a party-planner once again and invite some of the guys over to play video games. He selected snacks from a photographic menu sent home by his dad, and arranged for two extra tvs, a play station?, and at least one Oculus to land in our little downstairs. 

His guest list fluctuated as various invitees decided if they could attend or not--with one's official return from vacation, another's car fixed, and one who decided video games sounded better than evening baseball practice, we ended up with six teenaged boys gaming in our basement. Also, they were almost completely silent . . . what?!! This is not what I expected! One stood quietly waving his arms around in the laundry room, Oculus glued to his face (okay, not actually glued :) Three crowded into the classroom, utilizing the space for the exact opposite of home education, ha! And the other two got the big TV and the hot mini tacos for snacks.

Another successful party for G$! He just said he wished it wouldn't have taken an hour to get everything set up. Also, our WIFI was like, "Whaaaaa???!!!" Lol :) So that's my Graysen post, pretty cool guy!