A Pig and No Wife, Makes For a Happy Life

The kids spent some time at lunch talking about their futures.  Caroline said she was going to have 24 kids and name them all Caroline.  Henry told her that wasn't a good idea, so she started naming her kids, not a one of them normal (Hello, this is my grandchild, Tambergrade.)  Henry's going to have 100 pets.  After a lengthy discussion from all of them with many scenarios played out, Josiah came to this conclusion, "I'll be a man that doesn't have a wife.  I'll buy a pig and have a happy life."  OK, then.  He has actually mentioned not getting married more often than getting married, so we shall see.

The boys have said they are going to live together or at least on the same street when they get older.  Henry is determined to do whatever Josiah chooses for a living.  They may be going for full Socialist lifestyle.  This past week, they dressed exactly alike every day.  If Josiah wanted a peanut butter sandwich, Henry wanted peanut butter as well.  Then they put their money together to purchase a Lego Ninjago kit.  The package was set to arrive on Friday.  At 7:00 a.m. Friday morning, the boys had already done their math, spelling, and handwriting work for school in anticipation of it's arrival.  They were disappointed to learn that UPS doesn't deliver at 7:15 a.m.  Needless to say, they finished the rest of school quite early and were bored for much of the morning.  They couldn't read or play because they were too focused on the package that "would never arrive."  Henry kept first watch at the front door.

It finally came and they were able to get some of it done before karate and the rest after.  There was quite a bit negotiation as to who would do which part.  But they worked it all out amongst themselves, so yay for problem-solving.  The finished product, 1093 Lego pieces later:

Caroline had a good day at karate that day, too.  Her instructor told her that because she was doing so well in class and participating in all the activities, he promoted her to white-green belt.  She was beaming.  She really has been doing well in class.


Josiah has learned how to make paper airplanes from his Boys of Iron group at church.  He can now make "The Standard" quite well so that it really flies fairly far and straight.  He practices with just about every kind of paper he can find.  Math drill sheets, tiny post-it notes, freshly designed planes for his siblings, and the partly completed math lesson.  He said it was my fault he didn't finish the math because I should have undone the airplane and noticed.  Right...

The boys got a package from their friends back in Virginia and included in it were two pictures.  They taped them up in their room soon after they got them.  Fortunately, they used enough tape that they should remain hung for the next 10-15 years should their friends come and visit.

They also got some Madlibs in the package, so Josiah has been wanting to do those a lot.  It is good grammar practice.  Despite the fact that we say the definition of nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives all the time (and give examples), he is forever asking me, "What's an adjective?"  when we do Madlibs.  It should be good for the grammar.

We finished our week by doing a little tree trimming.  It wasn't until all the branches were on the ground, that they kids came outside to join Todd and I.  They thought it was a playground.  Henry was jumping in branches like they were autumn leaf piles (with a much harder landing).  I think we heard, "Can I keep this stick?" a hundred times.  A few good ones remained, but the rest were bundled up and put on the curb.

And that was our week.  It is hard to believe May begins tomorrow.