CC Begins

I wanted to give all the kids a freshening up before CC began.  So the night before CC, we had a hair cutting party.  The boys' hair had been getting long and Caroline advised me that she wanted a lot of hair off.  She had been talking about shorter hair for quite a few weeks.  So, after cutting all the menfolk, she sat down in my chair.  I was immediately humbled by how the real hairdressers can comb, part, and clip up 3/4 of the hair as quickly and as easily as they do.  Caroline indicated how much she wanted off by pointing to a spot near her shoulder - about 3.5 inches.  I got to work.

After showing her the finished product, she was smiley, but then she said she looked like someone she knows.  I got the impression that wasn't a compliment.  Then she got less smiley.  I told her it was okay if she didn't like it and that it would grow back if she didn't like it so short.  She quietly responded, "I want hair like Rapunzel."  That's a ringing endorsement for my skills....  We'll be on the lookout for Great Clips coupons for future trims.

The kids were really excited for their first day of CC.  We have a wonderful group of families and the kids all get along so nicely.  It is a big blessing to do school alongside them.

Henry gave me only these two expressions: crazy smile or unhappy teen.

Notice she wanted to put her hair up so no one would see her haircut.

Caroline loved that her CC class was all girls.  She made one new friend and got a bit rowdy with some old friends.  She's very happy to be in kindergarten.

Henry came out of his class with big smiles.  He has the same tutor that Josiah had last year and she's awesome.

Josiah liked his class as well.  This was also his first year to start Essentials.  He enjoyed the writing portion the most - making a key word outline from a paragraph.  "It's fun," he says. (Yeah!)  They do 45 minutes of grammar, 45 minutes of writing, and 30 minutes of math games.  We played a game called Number Knockout and it was very challenging.  The tutor rolls three die.  In class she rolled a 1, 4, & 6.  Then we had a grid of numbers from 1-35.  We had to make formulas using only the numbers rolled to cross out as many numbers as possible from the grid.  Ex. (1 x 4) + 6 = 10, cross out 10.  6 - 4 + 1 = 3, cross out 3.  These kids were fast!  It'll definitely build Josiah's math skills to compete in class.

Writing his key word outline - despite his expression, he really enjoyed this.

This weekend we finally got started painting the boys' room.  First they had to clean up their room so we could move the furniture.  That lasted for two-thirds of Saturday.  It wasn't a pleasant two-thirds.  They had Legos hidden in every crevice, under every piece of furniture we moved, you name it, there were Legos underneath.  Once the room was as cleared as it was going to get, we all painted the primer on the lower half of their wall.  The current color was black and we chose a very dark blue to replace it.  They all wanted to help.  When it was Caroline's turn to help, she was happy.  When it was her brother's turn there was a lot of, "When is it my turn?  I want to help!  Can I paint?  I can do the roller.  Is it my turn?  He's painting too far/long/high/low.  Is it my turn?"  Eager helpers, they were.  They all got a turn, and then another turn.  Today we were supposed to paint the top half, but I only got the borders done.  So, our plans for this week will be to paint after we finish our schoolwork.  Who knows, maybe that'll encourage them to focus and finish their work early.  That would be lovely.

Since the boys' mattresses are on the playroom floor, Caroline has been jealous that they got to sleep on the floor and she could not.  So, at 5:30 a.m. for the past two days, she has woken up and climbed into Josiah's bed.  This has caused Josiah to wake up.  Josiah, not wanting Caroline in his bed, came to tell me that she was in his bed and wouldn't leave.  So I was woken up.  Then when I went to get Caroline, Henry has woken up in the process.  It has been a rough two mornings.  At bedtime tonight I reiterated that I really do not want the entire family up at 5:30 a.m.  Especially me.  If you're throwing-up or bleeding, please, wake me.  Otherwise, can you please stay in your beds until the 6 at least, but the 7 would be even better. 

That was pretty much our week.  School. CC group. Painting.  This coming week will be a rinse and repeat.