Todd's Birthday & Dewberry Farm

Todd and I have learned that it is not exactly fun to take three kids to the grocery store all by ourselves.  However, the kids have learned that it is fun to go one-on-one with us to the store.  I took Josiah to Costco one evening, gave him a $5 and stepped waaaaaaaay back as he went up to the counter and ordered and paid for his own churro.  He kept looking back at me for reassurance, but he had probably the nicest lady at the register.  She was a young lady, but she spoke to him like a proud grandma.  "Well, Hi.  How are you?" she spoke in her sweetest voice.  "You have a good day!"  Then he bought two waters for us from the machine and we sat for a while.  He had wanted to go that evening to get Henry and himself the same type of workbook that Caroline had gotten.  He was excited to surprise Henry with it when he got home.  By the very next evening, Henry was already on page 111 of his book.  Josiah was a bit disappointed, because he thought the workbook was in lieu of our regular school.  Not quite, buddy boy.  Nice try.

Henry went with me to Sam's Club today.  He specifically wanted to go because he wanted to get on a particular cart.  We couldn't find what he wanted, so he settled for a flatbed.  It was just big enough to hold our bag of chips and deli meat.  He happily munched on a Three Musketeers from the free-osk.

All three kids were very, very excited for Todd's birthday.  They sang to him multiple times in the morning and the boys gave him their gifts they had made almost a month ago.
Josiah made him a card,

and his gift was three puzzles that he had made.

Henry made him a card,

and his gift was a tube to hold up that said, "Go Team!" and a #1 finger thing that said, "Go Todd."  (We're working on "space between words" in school, I promise.)

I got him a super cool $7 t-shirt from Walmart and a new picture for his picture frame.  It was a pretty exciting birthday.

One of the best things, though, was that I made him a gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin bread.  It wasn't looking hopeful when I saw the batter and it looked a bit grainy like most gluten-free items.  But, it magically turned out fairly moist and edible.  Caroline loved it which made me so happy.  It isn't often we score well with her food.  She's been asking to have some of Daddy's cake at every meal.

Todd got the day after his birthday off, which worked out well because Henry had to stay home with him while I took the other two to Dewberry Farm with our homeschool group.  Unfortunately, Henry has been disrespectful a lot lately and had been given many warnings about his behavior.  At CC, he's been falling apart if he doesn't win at a game or he's hidden under a table when things haven't gone his way.  He's also cheered when the other kids have missed answers.  Not good stuff.  He had had more than enough warnings, so he was told if he didn't get in line he wasn't going.  He told us he had an awesome time with Todd.

The morning of Dewberry it was actually cool and not humid.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  We got in the car to make the drive out and five minutes after we left the house, Caroline announced she was hungry.  Five minutes after that she had to use the bathroom.  Didn't you just go???!!  She had to wait til we got there as it was a long drive and we had to be there at a certain time.

This time we didn't have to stay with our group, so we had the run of the place.  They wanted to do the zipline first and they both rocked it.  They wanted me to stay with Caroline since she was little, but she shocked them with her hanging-on abilities.  I didn't mind running with her, but I had no fear of her falling off either. (Caroline on the left, Josiah on the right.)

Caroline loved the pedal cars.

The giant bouncy thing was a hit.

The hoppity-hop swings were fun, but Josiah spun around a little too long.


We even made it out to the itty-bitty pumpkin patch where they got to each pick one out.

When we got home, Josiah immediately gave his pumpkin to Henry.  He said he got it for him, which was sweet.

Josiah's favorite part of the day was seeing our old CC group.  He saw his favorite tutor and got to give her a big hug.  It made his day.

Even after hours at the farm that day, we still made it to karate that afternoon and we couldn't miss Crazy Hair day at Awana that evening.  We were an exhausted bunch that night.

After such a good week, Josiah's weekend did not begin very well.  He got caught in our guest room going through a bucket of confiscated toys that no longer belong to the kids.  He was sneaking some out.  Then I discovered he had also gone through the closet where I keep all their birthday and Christmas gifts.  I was so mad, that I didn't know what to do with him.  I did tell him that everything he saw in there he would not be getting.  I'm either returning what was specifically his, or giving it to Henry, or keeping it for a future birthday party.  I'm sure it'll be funny some day, but not this week.

This coming week is our week off of school.  We are all very excited about it.