Cold Water, Hot Air, Cranky Kids, Curly Hair

I would say it has been one tough week in the ol' homestead.  Last Sunday morning we noticed that there was no hot water.  It was clear right away because the water here is usually super hot.  We notified our property manager and it was not until Wednesday night that it got fixed.  The home warranty company did not want to pony up for a new hot water heater so they ended up paying $410 (less our $75) to fix a 1998 hot water heater.  Now to make it to next July without it rusting out on us!  We noticed it was hot in the house Wednesday night, but thought it might have been because we had people coming in and out all day and the attic was open.  But that was not the case.  The A/C isn't working either.  So we begin those phone calls on Monday.  It's been a sweaty, cranky weekend (85/86 degrees inside the house).  Caroline showed her disapproval of the circumstances through projectile vomiting Saturday night.  She did that a couple of times and finally went to bed around 10:30/11p.m.  Josiah showed his disapproval of the circumstances by waking up Sunday morning at 4:27a.m.  And once Josiah's up, he's up.  He does not go back to sleep.  Here is hoping the A/C gets fixed Monday and we have 3 kids that sleep well ALL night long.  And, no, we can't open the windows because some windows have no screens, and the ones that do usually have plant growth coming in from outside or holes.  It would be an invitation for bugs.

A benefit of a hot house - Caroline's hair curled up.  I should cut a few curls now to save!

The boys did build a fire truck at Lowe's on Saturday morning.  They insist on going with Todd all alone and will find things for Caroline and I to do together so that we don't go with them.  It's good they have their Daddy time and enjoy it so much.

Saturday afternoon the boys and I went to the library to get more books and a DVD.  Josiah wanted to watch the DVD as soon as we got home.  So, they sat down to watch it, and Henry, showing he truly is my child, did as I always do...again. He and I just cannot stay awake during movies.

Josiah and I tried to take a walk around the block this afternoon, but only made it 1/3 of the way down the street before heading back.  His bike had a broken/loose part that needed to be tightened and I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.  We really need to invest in some bug spray so we can go outside more, especially now that it is finally cooling off.

And can I just say how much I love small legos.  They are played with every day, enjoyed by all, and keep the boys entertained for an hour or more.  I love legos.

We had a very artistic week.  The first thing the boys did was make airplanes/gliders/rocket ships out of construction paper and a whole roll of tape.  I knew they were using a lot of tape, but didn't think they'd actually use the whole roll.  It did keep them entertained for a long time.  Although, Henry kept getting frustrated because he wanted his to fly, but he kept adding and adding to it to where it wouldn't glide anymore.  So, we added the hanger to help support the massive weight of construction paper and tape.  Here's hoping Costco puts Scotch tape on sale for the holiday season.

Josiah's alien rocket ship

Henry's "glider"

Henry is in his rainbow picture phase.  Sometimes it is an obvious rainbow, sometimes it is just colors and he describes it as a rainbow picture.

Our family.  Henry is the biggest.  

Josiah drew Looney Toon characters.  I love it when he draws because it is always so amazing what he can produce.  

Bugs Bunny

Daffy Duck

Tweety Bird

Marvin the Martian

The boys also sat at their picnic table one day, looked into my mirror and drew self portraits.  They both wanted to use the magnifying side, so they took turns with the big side and the regular side.  Josiah said the kids on Curious George did it.

Josiah's self portrait

Josiah's self portrait

Henry's self portrait

Henry's self portrait

And cutie Caroline saw I had the camera in my hand and jumped on the fireplace and said "cheese" again.  This week she has learned how to say "A" and "B" while reading her ABC food book.  She says "A, B" on every page, so it's not the letters she recognizes yet, but she does say the sounds very well.

And that is our week.  Cranky, Cold, Hot, Artistic, Happy, and Chaotic.  Typical week with 3 small kids I suppose.  And since, I didn't state it above, Caroline seems much better today after being sick last night.  Just a 24 hour bug it seems.

And one last picture. I am a bit stingy about printing things off the computer for the boys. We have gone through a lot of printer ink and it is expensive. Plus, they don't always color in the coloring sheets they just HAVE to have me print. So, this morning, Josiah drew his own coloring sheet and then colored it in.

Aye, Tea

Our week started off well with our CC school work. On Monday, Josiah stood in our entry way (pretending it was his stage) and he wanted to tell me everything he knew from school. In his recitation of all his memory work, he demonstrated to me that he knew more than I thought he did. So, that was an encouraging way to start the week. He picks up on the science memory work super fast; he enjoys the math, history, and geography as well. Our weak areas are English and Latin. This week our history sentence was about the Boston Tea Party. We read a very good children's book about it, which provided a lot of detail. I had the boys cut up "tea" and then stand on their picnic bench and throw it overboard as we recited the memory verse. We also made Mohawk (Indian) headbands with leaves Josiah found at church. Not authentic, but at least we were talking about the Boston Tea Party. We also tried tea. Josiah was not a fan which wasn't surprising. Henry drank all of his. Not surprising either. :)

Fingerprint art

Boston Tea Party by Josiah (Henry cut up his picture to make a puzzle)

We also made fingerprint art because that was his science experiment last week - studying fingerprints. This week, they did a lung capacity experiment. They filled a gallon jug with water, placed it upside down (still full) in a tub of water (pink hospital tubs), stuck a tube up it, and the kids had to blow as hard as they could into the tube and we'd mark a line to indicate how much air they blew into the jug, displacing the water. Very cool experiment and we could do that for years to come.

Henry was up at 5 a.m. several times this week. Never good for him. Of course one of those early days was our Friday CC school day. He was quite upset in the nursery, but I left him anyway (more like constant whimpering/crying, not wailing). After a while another mom told me he had fallen asleep on the floor. He's at that rough in between phase of needing a nap so he isn't overly tired and cranky in the afternoons, but at the same time when he takes a nap he doesn't go to bed very early and it seems to make him more tired the next day.

Good thing he's so cute.

Josiah was also very helpful around the house this week, doing chores without even being asked. He really wanted to go to Music & More on Wednesday night. He, of course, got to go and played the "stair bells" as he called them, but he said it looked like a xylophone. Henry played regular bells. I'm glad they enjoy it so much. We'd like to give them music lessons at some point. Josiah needs to work his way up to tuba after all.

Todd took the boys to see the Lego Movie at our local library. He said the library gave them each a little bag of popcorn. Josiah really liked it. Henry enjoys movies much like I do - with his eyes shut. He got a good nap in anyway.

The boys have taken to making their own sandwiches this week.  It is a white cheese sandwich with mayo and bread, sometimes turkey.  It is a test of patience every time (for me), but they really do enjoy making them.

This evening we played a couple of games of UNO with the boys. They had a lot of fun playing, but still need a few lessons on rules. Josiah tried to sneak in a second card underneath the card he was playing. It was as if he was channeling Grandpa. Henry has a lot to learn, because when he put the "wild" card down and he could change it to red/yellow/green/or blue, he picked red because that's Josiah's favorite color even though the only cards he had left were green and yellow. :)

And how could I forget about our little lady. She can now point to eyes and say "aye." She's good at poking our eyes over and over and over..."aye, aye, aye."
This morning before church, I said I wanted to take a picture and she goes straight to the fireplace, stands on it and says "eeeeeeesss." (cheese)

Yesterday we made the easiest fort ever. Two sheets, 30 seconds, and a set of bunk beds. Caroline laughed and giggled so much. It was a little too much fun. After both Henry and Caroline separately got fat lips, the sheets came down. Until next time...

Josiah's art still continues to amaze us. This morning, he was up at 5:45 a.m. and sat and worked on this picture until 7 a.m.

Homesick

This week seemed like an emotional one with the boys. They definitely were homesick for all the things they miss in Virginia. Josiah said he missed family members (Nana, Grandad, Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma, and then he went through my siblings and his cousins), friends, his old room, our carpet ("it was so soft"), taking walks in our old neighborhood, Hardee's, and being a Cubbie (Awana program at church). He said he loved being a cubbie. The only Awana program we found here was Awana-at-home which sort of defeats the purpose for us - we wanted it at church. Henry says he misses Nana & Grandad/Grandma & Grandpa, our old house, and Dairy Queen. :) I think they've gotten a little better as the week's gone on. It helps to receive cards/letters and they received a few this week from both family and friends which helps to know they are loved and missed.

Caroline turned 18 months old last Sunday and she had her check-up on Tuesday. She is still topping 95% for height and 85% for weight. :) She received 4 shots so she was a wee bit cranky the rest of the day. As a reward for all 3 of them doing well at the doctor's office, we went to play on the play place at Chick-fil-a. I had always liked this one because Caroline couldn't climb up any of it. Well, now she can. Even with 4 shots in her thighs, she managed to climb all the way up the twisty slide and play in the top portion of the playground. Fortunately, she has also managed to figure out sliding DOWN the slide, so I didn't have to go up and get her. She has done lots of climbing this week. She now can climb half way up the bunk beds. She is super proud of herself and laughs loudly once she reaches the middle point. Thank goodness there is a big gap between the top and bottom bunks/ladder portion so it should be a while before she can make it all the way up.

This week we have played a lot of hide and seek. Everyone seems to understand the concept of the game. Josiah is super good - he will find a good hiding spot, hide, and stay quiet until you find him. Henry will either hide in the same spot that I had just hidden in (with me literally next to him counting with my eyes "shut"), or he will find a new spot, but when you go seeking him, he lets out a loud laugh so you know exactly where he is. (Not that it's too difficult anyway.) Caroline will sometimes try to hide under a chair in our bedroom, but she only stays put for about 2 seconds. Mostly she will be on my team and find the boys with me. I try to pretend I can't find them immediately, but she runs right to them and shouts their names ("-SIAH!").

We had an exciting morning on Friday. We woke up to a lizard in our kitchen. It was a tiny lizard and it was covered in lint, so I think he came in through the dryer vent. I thought he'd run away really fast if we tried to catch him, but Todd was able to get him in a box fairly quickly and release him to the wild of our backyard. I had seem them outside our house a fair amount, but never inside! Josiah, of course, wanted to keep him as a pet. Thank goodness the lease doesn't allow us to have pets. :)

Saturday, the boys were busy making binoculars at Lowe's. The good people of Lowe's (they sure have great employees!) :) also gave them two extra/old sets of toys to make. So mid-morning we made Toothless - the dragon from How to Train Your Dragon (I think?) and in the evening we made a puppet robot from Monsters vs. Aliens (Disney?). I worked with Henry on the robot puppet and I'm glad he's 3 and doesn't notice how poorly I drive nails into the wood. :)

School started off a little slow and rough at the beginning of the week, but then I remembered a godsend of www.halfahundredacrewood.com. It is a website that follows the CC curriculum that we are using. The curriculum is broken down by weeks and this website has all sorts of activities/crafts/books/etc. for each week. So, I incorporated making a q-tip skeleton into our work on Thursday and, lo and behold, Josiah said he liked school now. He labeled the parts of the axial skeleton which was his science thing to learn this week. (Cranium, vertebrae, ribs, sternum, if you can't read the labels he has on it.) Of course, Josiah can't leave a picture simple, so he added a few embellishments. We even looked ahead and got books on the Boston Tea Party for this week.

Henry is picking up on Josiah's schoolwork, too. As I was quizzing Josiah on states/capitals, Henry kept giving me all the answers. He knows Augusta, ME; Concord, NH; Boston, MA; Providence, RI; & Hartford, CT. He thinks he's hot stuff to answer them. Of course, that is one of the benefits of homeschooling - the youngers learn from watching the older kids.

And probably the highlight of the boys' weekend was learning how to shave with Daddy. Todd put shaving cream on their faces and then gave them tongue depressors (razors). Josiah really enjoyed it on Saturday and then this morning he told Todd that he thought he needed to shave again - his face was a little rough. After they shaved, both boys came to let me feel how smooth their cheeks were. And they were definitely smooth because they are 3 and 5. :)

Look at that concentration.

Usually in the evenings, Josiah and Caroline go to bed first and Henry and I stay up and color a lot. We usually color in coloring books, but sometimes we draw and color. The other night we were drawing Where's Waldo? characters. Henry drew Wizard Whitebeard and Odlaw. It was super cute because he was SOOOO proud of his Wizard Whitebeard picture and said it looked just like him. :)

And Caroline enjoying those cookies she likes so much:

And Henry enjoying his, too. :)

Hero and Hiro

Monday was Labor Day, so we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood in the morning. This neighborhood has a lot of large pond areas which attract a lot of very large (and pretty ugly) ducks. We always encounter them when we walk to the library and they are not shy. They will walk towards you as you’re coming, not get out of the way as you pass, and then will follow you after you pass. They are a little freaky and I have to put on a brave face when we walk to the library because there is a pond on one side of the sidewalk and a street on the other, so we just have to walk quickly by them and try not to look back. It was hot on Monday, of course, and as we were walking home, Henry got tired. Todd carried his tricycle so he could walk. When we got on our street, the sidewalk was a little inclined and Josiah kept falling off of his bike. He’d get back on right away, but fall quickly again. On his final fall he scraped up his knee. Henry, the hero, swoops in, finds the energy to hop back on his tricycle and brings Josiah home via tricycle ambulance. It’s a good thing Josiah’s light. 

On Wednesday I started a Bible study called, Moving On After Moving In. A Bible study about moving. Who knew? So far there are only 5 of us in it, but it is very good and everyone has totally different stories of how they got here. The kids are watched in the nursery so they get some time with different people and toys. A win-win.

Friday was Josiah’s second day at CC (Classical Conversations). He did not participate for the first half. He basically sat in his seat and stared – not repeating any of the new material. I try to put myself in his shoes and realize that it is really hard to repeat songs (like skip counting by 3’s) if you really don’t know your 3’s yet. So, I try to give him grace about it. He did perk up with the science experiment (they looked through a drop of water and saw that it made words/pictures larger). By the time they did their review work from last week’s material he was all out energetic. For his presentation this week, he introduced the class to his train Hiro. He actually got into character, as if he was Hiro, and described who he was. He also brought in 5-6 pictures of trains that he had drawn and pretended to have his Hiro train drive by the pictures of the trains and have them talk to each other. His presentations are a little bit different than the other kids’ presentations, but he’s his own little person. All week I try to get him to practice his presentation in front of me so we can work on it together. It changes daily and he doesn’t seem to mind doing it on the fly on Fridays. I’ll still try daily though.

Henry has been gracing us with his presence at 5/5:15am every day this week. It is highly unusual for him to wake so early. Coupled with not taking a nap most days and he is a ray of sunshine come 3pm. Sunday night we put him to bed at 6:45pm. When I asked him why he is waking up so early he said that he wanted to see my face. How can you get mad about that? Even at 5am…

The boys made more Super Hero costumes. These were much more involved than the others. Poster board was required. :)

Caroline has been busy lately. She can say, “woof” quite well when she sees a picture of a dog She also now says “please” which sounds more like “-ease.” Although it is really more like “-EASE!!!!” because she is standing next to the refrigerator asking for her (soy) milk. As soon as we open the fridge for her, she takes her cup, but then will also get the boys’ cups for them. She is VERY eager to take them their cups of milk. Fortunately I put lids and straws on their cups, so there is little spillage. This week I found some gluten/dairy/wheat free shortbread cookies for her. She always misses out on desserts because they always have wheat or dairy (or banana) in them. She has smiles of pure joy when she eats these cookies. They are German and cost quite a bit, so I need to learn how to cook and bake with different types of flours for her. Some of her favorite foods are avocado, eggs, sweet potato fries, and apples with peanut butter. If I dare try to give her apple without peanut butter, she will refuse to eat it and just point at the pantry until I go and get the peanut butter. She pretty much has an apple with peanut butter daily.

She also loves to do her puzzles now. She has a set of 4 puzzles with 4 pieces each and I put them together, but she has to push down on the piece to lock it in place. She will get the box and dump it on our dining room table and pretty much scream until I work them with her. I’ll be happy when she gets a few more words in her vocabulary so she doesn’t have to scream quite so much. Although she is quite proficient at saying/screaming “Mommy” & “Daddy.”

She also turned 18 months old on Sunday. It is hard to believe she's that old already.

We will be enjoying a nice Papa John's pizza tonight. They have a deal that if the Houston Texans win, their pizza will be half price the next day. They probably thought it'd be an easy promotion since the Houston Texans are pretty bad, but they beat the Redskins yesterday, so we're taking advantage. That's one way to get us rooting for the local teams.