Water, Water, Everywhere

Monday morning the plan was to mow the front yard.  For some reason this particular morning, the kids, who had shown no interest in lawn mowing, all of a sudden all wanted to help mow.  Henry had asked first so I had planned on him mowing, which  made the other two not too happy to have to wait.  I'm sure fighting over who gets to mow the lawn won't be an argument we'll be having in a few years.  So, Henry mowed the front lawn.  I had to help with turns and staying in the lines - he had a tendency to look down near his feet instead of forward.  I guess it's the same as teaching them to ride a bike - they always want to look at their feet.  As he neared the end of the front yard, he looked up and asked me, "How much do I get paid?"  Surprised, I replied, "I thought you were doing it for fun?!?"  And our easy-going Henry said, "Okay, I'll do it for fun."  Monetary negotiations need to take place before the job has started.


Henry and I played a game of Battleship this week.  As we were setting up our boards, Henry stacked his ships on top of each other and then asked, with all seriousness, if that was an acceptable way to set up his board.  Only if you're playing with Grandpa, Henry.  Only with Grandpa.

We finally made it to the pool this week, too.  They loved it, of course, and it was nice to be back in a pool again.  It's been a long time since I've been in a pool.  Josiah practiced some of his swimming skills that he learned last year.  Henry kept wanting to practice floating on his back, but he never was able to do it without my holding on.  They all need a lot of lessons.  Josiah was playing where he'd go under water and then kick off the bottom and shoot out of the water.  He was doing it just fine, but then got in too deep of water, wasn't able to reach the bottom, and literally was drowning.  I was watching him the whole time, so I pulled him up, but it was scary to see how quickly he had gotten himself in a bad situation.  He recovered well and I had him try it again a little later (in shallower water) just so he wouldn't be scared to try again.  Although, that's usually not a problem with him.  He was fine.

break time...strike a pose

And speaking of watering holes.  We have a big tub in our master bathroom.  It's the type of tub that has the jets in it, but minus the jets.  The kids love taking baths in it because of its size.  They can move all over the place.  It has been banned once or twice due to too much movement causing copious amounts of water to flow overboard.  Well, we had gotten lenient and they had been back to using our tub all the time again.  One evening this week, I went in to give the bather their towel and discovered large water puddles on the floor, water all over the front and side of my vanity, water splashes up my mirror, it was just everywhere.  Now, upon seeing this it would be an understatement to say I was not too happy about it.  So, I had the child clean up the mess, while later Todd sat the child down to ask what happened.  There was much, "I don't know, it just happened." or, "It was an accident." or, "I just happened to be there when all this water spontaneously shot out."  Todd talked to this child for quite a while to get the real story of what happened.  It was finally told that they laid on the ledge of the tub, next to the window, and then belly-flopped down into the tub like it was a water slide.  Todd calmly asked, "Was that a wise decision?"  "No." said the offender.  And Todd's next question was the best, "Could you have done it more than once?"  "Well, I may have."  Oh my goodness.  These children!

Caroline moved up in rank at karate again.  She is now a white-purple belt.  The instructor told her that she had been doing a good job in class and that she raises her hand to come to the front of the class to demonstrate the next move they'll learn.  She is so fun to watch.  There is a lot of enthusiasm in her class of 4- and 5-year olds.


Next week we are having our foundation fixed.  We had another company come this week to do an assessment.  The man they sent out was so personable.  He came in and shook all the kids hands and asked their names.  He let them help by reading the numbers off his measuring instrument.  He was super nice.  When he left, Josiah even said, "We need to go with him and not that other company."  But, as we already knew by this point, there were sinking issues in our dining room and that side of the house.  It felt like we were always noticing new cracks each day, so we have been quite anxious to get it fixed.  We would prefer as little interior damage as possible.

Tomorrow begins the new school year!  It'll be a short first day, because I made their dentist appointments mid-morning.  That's the trouble of making them six months in advance!  I'm sure there will be no complaints about a short school day.