A Whole Hand

Henry turned 5!  He was so happy to turn 5. and to get cards and packages in the mail.  Josiah made him a very sweet card.


The grandparents came through again with the Lego kits.

He loved the toy from his cousins - a car racing track in which you get to launch the cars.  He and Josiah race all the time.

We got him a new bike, but it rained at the beginning of the week, so he couldn't test it out right away.  When we finally got outside, he had a little trouble learning how to brake.  Apparently, with his tiny bike before it, the pedals went backwards and did not brake.  So, with the new one he was constantly hitting his brakes, but after a few days he's gotten it and is riding on his own.  

For dinner he requested shrimp and cornbread.  This had been on the menu for weeks and we were always trying to get one more food in there.  He finally agreed to baby carrots.  We all dressed up in our Star Wars masks for the main event.  I identified them to the best of my ability: Henry, pilot; Todd - Chewbacca; Caroline - dirty stormtrooper; Josiah - clean stormtrooper.  I was also given, "Clean Stormtrooper" until Josiah's mask broke and I sacrificed mine so that he could continue to fight the force.

There is no shortage of facial expressions when it comes to Henry.

I hope he had a good birthday.  It was an early night because they had woken up before 6 to celebrate which made for a wee bit of crankiness in the afternoon.

Henry has said that he really likes the P.E. class now.  They played soccer this week.  When they were inside on Wednesday, the boys talked nearly the entire time.  It is mind boggling to me to talk that much.  I cannot imagine the need to say every thought that comes to my head.  So, I did speak to them about not talking so much and listening more to the instructor.  They were talking far more than any other child in there.  I did not get to see if they spoke less for their Friday class because we met at a park and Caroline spent her time running around, checking out the water/rocks, walking to the car to get her sunglasses that she kept on for a good two minutes, walking back to the boys, throwing pebbles in the water, walking to the public restrooms.


One thing we have learned about homeschooling is that it is messy.  The house gets messy every day and it is nearly impossible to keep clean.  I look forward to a few weeks off in the summer to try and get things organized again.  But for now we continue on.

Josiah de-leafed a stalk for his signage re: snakes.

We made Roman mosaics with beans, popcorn, and noodles.  I showed the kids examples of the mosaics, how they were on the floors and thus would be flat.  Josiah insisted on making his mosaic 3D and then when he kept getting glue everywhere he informed me that "artists are messy."  I countered with the quite precise and orderly Ancient Roman civilization of which we were studying.  I am glad that we'll cycle through the "Ancients" again with our history because I figured out a better way to do the mosaics in the future.  Henry got it, though.  He made "waves."  He didn't have the stamina to make a full mosaic, though.


Josiah was given a chart from his Trail Life troop in which he was supposed to write down all honorable acts that he either witnessed others do or that he himself did.  It has really helped him to serve others more this week.  One day, completely on his own, he started doing all his brother and sister's chores for the week.  He said he was going to earn their money and I said that no, he would not earn their money, but it was still very nice of him.  He was happy that I wrote it on his Honor Chart.  Then that same evening, since he did want to earn money, he asked to clean my toilet.  Uh, yeah you can.  He asked if he could clean it every week for $1.  It took me 3/10 of a second to answer that in the affirmative.  Hopefully he'll want to start dusting, too, because I have always disliked dusting.

Caroline has watched the boys eat cereal with milk for a couple of years now.  She has never had it before because it isn't something we think of with her since she can't have gluten or dairy.  But this past week she asked for cereal with (soy) milk and she was one happy kid to be like her big brothers.  Todd also found a flourless peanut butter cookie recipe that is a huge hit with her (and even more with her father).

Caroline also likes to "hide" from Todd every time he comes home from work.  This is how she hides and I took the picture from Todd's perspective when he walks in the door.  Every night.

Several weeks ago a friend from CC gave us two free tickets to the Houston Zoo.  Then the mail had a flyer in it with a coupon for buy one get one free zoo tickets.  It was about to expire and since we had never been, we figured we better go when we could get the best deal (even though it's not really Todd nor my favorite thing...).  So, Todd told the kids that they were going to "surprise" me with a birthday treat of going to the zoo.  So, for my birthday at the end of the week, we went to the zoo.  It was a really nice zoo, but even with all of our coupons we still had sticker shock over the prices.  It's tough to grow up in the D.C. area with all the free museums and the free zoo and then see what it's like everywhere else.  Two tickets, $30.  I looked at the lady and said, "With the coupon?"  She laughed.

Afterwards I asked the kids what their favorite animal was that they saw that day (which is funny, because I always hated the "favorite" question when I was a kid).  Josiah said he liked the baby bats, the giraffes, and the lemurs.  Henry liked the lemurs and a surprise animal of which he has yet to reveal.  Caroline liked the peacocks and baby elephants.  We saw no peacocks.  But the baby elephants were the cutest things ever.

baby elephant

Caroline also really liked the recycling waste bins.  She pointed them all out to us.

Henry trying to drink from the bottle.

And I'll leave with a few of the pictures our CC director took of the kids.  She said Caroline wouldn't smile for her, but you can see one cracking through.  She managed to keep it from fully forming.  :)

Cavities and Company

The boys had an amazing Monday.  Their friend from CC, Abby, came over to play.  Before she even arrived, Josiah had made her a card with one of his precious seashells taped to it.  They had made decorations and taped them around the house on walls, doors, and windows.  They were excited.  It ended up being a very long playdate, but definitely an enjoyable one.  They have asked daily since then to invite her back over.  When she and her mom did leave, Josiah loaded Abby up with cookies and a stuffed animal, and a water bottle for her mom.  He is our hospitable kid for sure.

Josiah proved his bravery on Tuesday when he got three cavities filled!  He was definitely nervous about it and we prayed for him to be brave before we got there.  When he was in the chair, he heard the hygienist open all the equipment behind him.  He peeked over his chair and nervously, quietly asked, "What's that?"  The very nice hygienist, with the equally awesome name of Erin, explained what all the instruments were used for.  She calmed his nerves a lot through her explanations.  Then he sat very still for all the work.  The dentist kept telling him how awesome he was doing.  At the end, the hygienist said he could come any day, not for fillings, but just to hang out.  :)  We definitely found a good dentist!


Meanwhile, Henry and Caroline had their first experience with a babysitter in our home!  I figured it was best not to have them witness Josiah getting his cavities filled.  I called up a girl that worked the CC nursery last year and fortunately she was available.  When I was describing her to Henry, he kept asking me, "Is she the red one or the white one?"  This made absolutely no sense to me - it clearly did not identify skin tone or hair color.  After she left (and all went well), I asked Henry if the babysitter was who he thought it would be.  His reply, "She was the red one, not the white one." (He was gunning for the white one.)  It took a game of 21 Questions with him, but I think we got it nailed down to what she wore last year.  One of the nursery workers wore white, and this particular girl wore red.  Yet, he was in the nursery 24 different Fridays last year....   He also told me that he had too much fun, but offered no further explanation.  It is good to now have someone on hand that the kids (and I) are comfortable with!  Rodeo concerts here we come.  :)

The boys wanted to pretend to be Angry Birds and sleep in their "nest" in the playroom.  We put them in there at 7:30 p.m.  I timed it to see how long they'd last.  Not quite half an hour and they were all in their own beds.  Although, Caroline got kicked out early on because she wouldn't stop talking and moving around.  The boys each came out on their own because, shockingly, it was uncomfortable.

This is how they were attempting to sleep...

I have never been real confident in my cooking skills.  We eat meals.  I cook meat.  It's cooked all the way through; sometimes it's cooked through all the way and then some.  And yet, kids seem to know just what to say to boost that confidence up a notch.  For dinner Friday, we had chicken with leftover gravy, leftover spaghetti, and some sort of vegetable combo that folks just pushed around.  Josiah kept saying, "Mmmmm." as he ate.  Then he said, "Wow. This is good. I think you cook better than the chefs in prison do."  Thank you, son.  Thank you.

Caroline's phrase of the week:
"You never let me do anything."
She's 2.

A little shout-out to the person who first thought it was a good idea to put a rubber strip at the front of the vacuum cleaner. Much appreciated, friend. Good invention.


Our sweet boy Henry turns 5 this week!  He has been counting down to this day since Josiah's birthday, so he will be one excited boy come tomorrow morning. We bought the boys new bike helmets because they just keep growing! Henry doesn't know it yet, but his will come in handy tomorrow when he sees his new bike!

Bubbles, Boats, and Valentine's

Henry and Caroline had a blast with bubbles in the bathtub while Josiah was at Trail Life.  They were blowing the bubbles on eachother's bellies and when they stuck on their skin, they both thought it was hilarious.  I got a great video of their belly laughs.  Of course, then they smacked the bubbles to pop them, so they were smacking each others bellies.  After a while the smacks got a little too rough and the bubbles got put away.

Caroline has been having more accidents lately, mostly because she does not want to stop having fun to use the facilities.  One evening this week, she was running to the bathroom, holding herself, announcing, "I have to go pee.  I have to go pee. I have to go pee."  She reached the bathroom and I heard, "Uh oh." followed by, "Mommy, don't come in the bathroom."  At least she makes it to the tile floors before having her accidents.  Easy clean-up.

Caroline has also been refining her operating skills.  She spent some time playing the Operation game.  It sounded a bit like the lawn guys outside when they are blowing the leaves/grass.  "Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (1/2 second pause) Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (1/2 second pause) Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  I got it!"

While Caroline was playing Operation, the boys entertained themselves with Battleship.  They didn't actually play a game of Battleship, though.  They each set up their boards and then sent SOS messages to help rescue the Titanic.  Henry surrounded all five of his ships with icebergs (white pegs).  Fortunately, global warming came to the rescue, melting his icebergs and releasing his ships from the grip of death.  I wouldn't want to play a game against Henry anyway, because his ships had a tendency to wander.  He showed me how his Carrier went from Row B all the way down to Row J.  The tides just took him there, I suppose.  I'll have to remind him to anchor-down when we play.

We learned about Chinese characters in school this week.  How in Ancient China they started as pictograms and evolved to characters.  We practiced writing several real characters.  Then we got to create our own.  I created the ever-simple "book."  Josiah got a bit more involved in his writing...


The boys got their entrepreneurship streak back this week.  They wanted to sell me their artwork, but at least this time they asked me first what I wanted them to draw.  I picked the generic "boats" and here's what they came up with.  Henry drew a boat on fire at night.

It cost me $1 a picture, but they're worth it.  :)

Todd and I are not big Valentine's Day people.  It's hard to buy into the overly-commercialized, let's pay three times the amount for flowers because it's Feb 14th deal.  However, we do have children who love all things holidays, especially the eldest.  So, being the good dad that he is, Todd took the boys to the doughnut shop this morning and let them each pick out a doughnut.  And Josiah, being the kid that he is, picked the biggest thing in the shop - a giant cinnamon roll.


While Todd and I agreed to not get each other anything, he still whipped out one of the best gifts ever.  :)  We love us some amazon (ladies).
 

Why, yes, I think I will take $100 for myself.  :)  Happy Valentine's Day!

Big Hugs, Strong Bond

We are very grateful that our boys have a strong bond with each other.  We had wanted them to have a good, solid relationship and at the moment they really do.  We only hope it continues as they get older.  When Josiah left for Trail Life this week, Henry told me he was sad.  He said he missed Josiah, but then added that he was glad that Josiah got to go to Trail Life.  A little later I checked my phone and Todd had texted me that Josiah missed Henry.  Josiah was talking about Henry as they were driving to his meeting and wanted to let him know he missed him.

Sometimes their enthusiasm for each other does seem a little intense.  We started our new P.E. class this week.  The instructor has his own karate studio and so he is the typical martial arts instructor - very orderly, no goofing off, the kids stay on task.  It is good!  He teaches them to be respectful as well, both to him, to each other, and to the facility.  They meet twice a week.  They really liked it, but on Friday, when they met outdoors, the boys kept hugging each other.  A lot!  These are not just little, friendly hugs.  These are giant bear hugs, long embraces, lots of squeezing and neither wants to let go first.

Our boys on the right.

We played a fun game with ice cubes for Henry's school.  The object was to melt your ice cube the fastest, but it was all based on the roll of the dice.  If you rolled a one, you sprinkled salt on it; rolled a two, you held it in your hand for 10 seconds; rolled a three, and you put it in a dish of water; rolled a four, and you had to stick it down your shirt; etc.  It was pretty fun and it was interesting what made the ice melt fastest.  The salt really helped, especially if it went in the bowl of water soon afterwards.  Definitely a "keeper" game.

adding salt

We have been working a lot on pronouncing our words, letters, and letter pairs.  Josiah has been working on saying the "th" sound correctly, he tends to substitute the "f" sound for it.  Because I am always working on this with Josiah, I was trying to make sure Henry pronounced everything correctly to be more proactive!  It was a bit more difficult with him since he's missing his one front tooth.  We use those teeth a lot when we speak, especially the "th" sound!  Henry also uses the "w" sound for all his "L's."  Caroline likes to get in the mix as well.  Whenever we go over the sounds of the letters using a little rhyme from Henry's book, Caroline likes to say it with us.  I am over-joyed that she wants to say it with us, because if she can learn all the correct sounds at 2 then we are going to be doing well when she's 6.  She, however, has a tendency to over-use her tongue when pronouncing the letters.  Sticking it very far out, even when it is totally unnecessary.  Again, having front teeth would help her as well.  Unfortunately, Henry gets super mad when she joins in because he fears she will know more than him.  Typical sibling issues, I suppose.  I had a younger sibling always tell me that he was smarter than me and I'd often respond with the ultra-mature, "Oh yeah, well then why are you in 3rd grade and I'm in 6th grade?"  No one wants their younger sibling to be smarter than them.  (Of course, he is now an anesthesiologist, so there may have been some truth to it.  I only say, may, though.  I haven't seen his SAT scores.  He hasn't seen my MCAT scores either.  :))
    
Henry had a great time at Awana this week.  When I picked him up, he had such a big grin and said he had a surprise to show us when we got home.  He wanted to make sure everyone could see what he had made.  He kept hinting at it on the way home, clearly proud of his creation.  At home, he finally took it out to show us.  It was a picture of Moses and the burning bush.  For us, it looked like his other pictures, but it was really something special for him.  It is now hanging up in our bedroom.  :)

Josiah has been wanting to go to Sweet Tomatoes with just me, so we finally made it happen this weekend.  I think he liked the company a just fine, but he loved the food.

Especially dessert.

Trying to meet some new people at our church, we went to a Super Bowl party this afternoon.  The kids all played really well (huge sigh of relief) with the other kids and we all had fun.  We all seem to really like this church.  Except Henry.  Oh, Henry.  He did not do well at drop-off in the morning and we didn't get a very good report at pick-up either.  We are going to be praying hard for him this week, to actually enjoy his class - to participate so that he can enjoy it.  Of course class isn't very fun when you choose to sit and do nothing for 2.5 hours!  If only we could convince him that class would be much more fun if he participated and played and colored and played on the playground instead of just sitting the entire time!

Maybe Caroline needs to read her Bible to Henry.  She was sitting down and reading it by herself today.  I could hear her telling the stories as she turned the pages.  Then at one point she said, "I need my Jesus."  Yes, sweet girl, we all need your Jesus.
We're praying for a little more of Him each day this week.