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. :)