Caroline Learns To Read & Todd's Birthday

Caroline started her week learning how to read.  She began with the "-at" family and learned mat, cat, hat, sat, rat, pat, & bat.  She was so excited to learn these words that she didn't want the lesson to end.  After telling her we would do more the following day, she went to find The Cat in the Hat so she could read it to me.  I read most of the words, but every time we came to "hat" or "cat," she would read it.  A whole new world has opened up to her.  She's so excited and smiley.  It's a great beginning to reading.

In Josiah's Essential's class each week, the tutor gives the students who want to read their writing assignments aloud, the opportunity to do so.  The second she asks for volunteers, Josiah's hand shoots in the air.  He loves reading his papers.  This past week, he had to rewrite a story about a toad that helped a crocodile and they become friends. At home, he had to take the original story, which was three paragraphs long, and make a "key word outline" for it.  Then he had to retell the story, in his own words, using only his outline.  Then we edit his paper and he rewrites the final draft.  This has been the typical week.  Josiah, however, wants to get incredibly creative and detailed with his retelling, and there has been a problem with him not being able to write as quickly as he can think.  So this week, I decided to type his paper allowing him to get the story out quicker (and not lose his train of thought).  After all our edits, his story was 2.5 pages long, typed, double spaced.  He loves to tell a story.  The best part in class is that after he finishes reading his paper, it gets passed around the classroom so that the other students can leave encouraging post-it notes on it.  Lots of "Good job!" and "Grate job!"  (they're 9, they're working on spelling).  Josiah loves, loves, loves to read the notes.

Reading his story in class.

The boys were elated to get a package from HEB early in the week.  HEB is a local/Texas grocery store.  We discovered that they had a summer reading program in which you only had to write down 10 books that you read and they would mail you a free t-shirt.  The boys jumped on that bandwagon and a few weeks ago we sent away for their t-shirts.  Little Miss Caroline told me that she didn't want to do it.  I threw in a few "Are you sure's?" just for good measure.  She was sure.  So, the shirts arrived this week along with a bookmark, pencil, and certificate.  Guess who was upset she didn't get one?  Henry graciously gave her his pencil and then held up his t-shirt and said it would fit her, too.  He can be so kind. Next year, I think she'll get her own.

In Botany this week we dissected a flower.  The kids had fun taking it apart and labeling it all.  Henry somehow got all the parts on his paper, but we had to take apart a few flowers to get them.  Henry's hands are a bit more bull-in-china-shop than delicate.

We have been discussing how flowers reproduce and next week we're discussing bees and more about pollination.  It just so happened that we had a field trip to the Nature Discovery Center in Houston this week, so we could see some of that in action. The Discovery Center had several animals/insects onsite. They were all injured in some way so that they could not return to the wild.  But we also walked around their grounds and looked at their fish, flowers, bee hives, and we looked under rocks to see what lived there.  The lady that was giving our tour said that originally this part of Texas was just all prairie with tall grass.  The only trees were near the banks of the rivers.  She also pointed out a plant there that we have in our backyard, which I had thought was a weed, so now we'll keep it. I hung out with the "little kid" tour, while the boys were in the other group.  They had a sheet that talked about habitats and what each animal/insect they saw ate.     

Injured pigeons

Looking at what lives under logs.

The mosquitoes around here have been unbelievably bad.  We doused ourselves in bug spray at the Nature Center before the tour, but at home they are just too bad to go out and play.  They're bad all day long - even worse at dawn and dusk, but still bad all the time.  Because we haven't been getting outside as much, we went with friends to the trampoline park mid-week.  It was a homeschool jump and a final count had 100 jumpers!  Fortunately, it's a big place, so it didn't feel like that many.  Henry told me that it was more fun than it looked, although I thought it looked pretty fun.  They had jousting, a trapeze bar, dodgeball, and giant foam pits to jump into.  The kids were running all over the place the entire time and despite the high risk of injury, I only noticed three kids with ice packs in the two hours we were there (and none were our kids!).  Most of the pictures are of Henry and Caroline.  Josiah made himself scarce nearly the whole time.

The Park (at least part of it)

Josiah jousting

When we left it was time for the boys' karate class.  Josiah didn't think he could go because he felt too sick from all the jumping.  Then for a few days he was complaining about his stomach, but it seems that it was his muscles that were hurting.  That's what two hours of jumping will do to you.

Driving in the car one day, the kids were all talking about what they wanted to buy at Disney World.  Henry said that he was going to spend half of his money on sushi.  He is dead serious, too.  Then Josiah kept asking me about bread.  Do they sell bread at Disney World?  Could he buy some bread, some garlic bread, and save it to eat the next day?  I guess?!?  We keep telling them we have their food covered.

We spent the weekend celebrating Todd's birthday.  We celebrated All Weekend Long.  Not really.  But he did wake up to a beautifully decorated downstairs courtesy of Josiah.

The rainbow carpet to walk upon

He got donuts and a Come and Take It t-shirt.

The kids gave him their cards.  Henry's card showed perspective and it was an aisle in the grocery store.  On the top left is a shelf of OxyClean and at the bottom of the shelf is a row of Cheerios.  In the back are eggs.  On the right are cookies.  Obviously he knows Todd likes food.

Josiah's card was a scavenger hunt.  Josiah took Todd's birthday coupon from Zaxby's and hid it.  Todd had to follow the clues from his card to find it.  He eventually found the coupon.  The same coupon he gets every year, though I'm not sure he's ever used it.

We never made it out to celebrate a birthday lunch because our children are in the midst of an extreme bickering phase and we cannot take it anymore.  Lots of snide remarks among the three of them.  It has been incredibly frustrating.  Why are you guys so mean to each other?  Todd usually comments, I don't understand siblings.  And then to me, Is this what it was like to grow up with siblings? Uh, sometimes.  Only one child made it to cake time.  The other two were sent to bed early.  Although, as we were eating the cake, the two that had already been sent to bed sang Happy Birthday from their beds.  It was actually pretty sad to hear it because they weren't downstairs with us.

So this week we are hoping for some kind, loving, encouraging words from everyone in our family. We need to take a page from Josiah's Essentials papers and leave each other encouraging notes.  Caroline learns the -AD family tomorrow.  We are RAD and GLAD, not SAD or MAD or BAD!

Crazy Hair, Don't Care

Earlier this week the boys helped mow the lawn with me.  They came out to play originally, but it was just too hot to play for long.  Josiah went in the house (on his own accord!) and brought out a cold water bottle for me.  I had him hold the mower to keep it running while I took a sip.  He held it for half a second before he took off mowing.  I just let him go and watched the entertainment.  He mowed a bit like a Roomba Vacuum vacuums. - just sort if in his own random way.  He did straight lines, he did diagonals, all sorts of nonlinear patterns.  I think if I had let him keep going the lawn would have been mowed all the way, just not in the most efficient way. But I let him go so that he would enjoy the experience.  The experience that will be his as soon as he's strong enough to do it on his own.  After he was done, I went back and mowed a bunch of 2 inch x 30 feet strips of grass left behind.  Both boys helped sweep up all the grass on the sidewalks and driveway, too.  Everything they did was without me asking them.  It was wonderful.  Of course, about four hours later they did ask if any currency would be exchanged for such services.  We obliged. They actually got money out of both Todd and me because Todd didn't know I had given them some.

Josiah was in charge of lunches this week.  He had a Super Mario Bros./Mario Kart theme to start.  First he had Luigi in his kart, second day was a star (from the game), the third day was a dachshund dog (no relation to Mario), and the fourth day was so bad I didn't even take a picture (which is probably surprising considering how bad the lunches are that I have added here).  Thankfully all three kids have had their weeks and we are back to just sandwiches on a plate.

Right around mid-week, Todd left for work and texted me that we had water leaking in the front yard, which was exactly what I was hoping to hear at 7:00 a.m.  After calling our water company, the county came out and determined that the leak was on our side of the property.  I did have him shut the water off at that point so we weren't paying to water our sewer.  Then we called our friend the plumber.  Unfortunately they were not able to make it to our house until the following morning.  So, the boys each took a tree in the backyard and enjoyed the adventure of no working toilets.  It was actually a very good lesson about how much we use and rely on water!  Overall, it wasn't too bad because we had CC the following morning, so we were gone all day.  Fortunately, Todd was able to stay home that morning and wait for the plumber, so all was fixed by the time we made it home.  I think Caroline was the most disappointed that the boys couldn't use the outside toilet anymore.  She found it quite funny.     

Wednesday night, Caroline and I had finished with WAM and had an hour to kill while the boys were in Boys of Iron.  She was hungry.  It was too hot and too many mosquitoes to take a walk outside, so we did the next best thing.  We went to Taco Bell.  She ordered a crunchy taco.  I ordered a soft taco.  When the food arrived, she thought the soft taco looked a lot better, so we switched.  The boys were not happy we didn't get them a taco.

It was crazy hair night at Awana this week.  Awana has been going well.  Henry's plowing through his book as quickly as possible.  As parents we want him to memorize the Scripture passages and own them - to understand them and truly know them.  Henry wants to finish his book as quickly as possible so he can finish the extra credit book as quickly as possible so he can earn every possible prize that he can.  His one speed is often 100 mph.

This weekend Todd took the kids to run errands on Saturday morning.  They went to three different places together.  I went to one store by myself.  Ahhhhh.  One of us was in a good mood at lunch time.  Actually I spent a good bit of Saturday finally finishing painting the boys' room.  The trim was the last bit and we were just so busy last weekend that it didn't get done.  So, today we moved the boys' mattresses back in their bedroom.  We're trying out a new floor plan, too. It has been a big deal to them to move their bed from the north wall to the east wall.  When everything is put back we'll get some pictures.  That may be another few weeks.  I've learned that doing a project like this during the school year is not the best move.  Caroline also wants her room repainted - Pink! - but we will have to make that a Christmas break project.

Henry drew a pool picture today.  I thought he did a really good job making it look like people were swimming.

Caroline drew a picture of the two of us.  She wanted me to have a mole/freckle on my neck like she has on hers.  

And that was our week.  This coming week we have a field trip to a nature discovery center, plus an afternoon at a trampoline place, so that should be fun.  

Birthday Party Battles

This week ended our bean seed science experiment.  We learned that seeds need water, warmth, and air to wake up from their dormant state.  However, they also need sunlight to make their own food so they can grow.  These were shocking results to all.  Caroline was proud of her growing seed.  We sort of destroyed the ecosystem within the plastic bag by opening up the top to allow it to grow taller.  Josiah's seed, which sat in a dark closet, did awaken by opening up, but with no sunlight it did not grow more than a little root.  Henry's seed, which sat in the refrigerator, didn't even shed it's testa (seed coat).  Simple experiment, but a good teaching tool for them to see what would happen.

Josiah started off his week showing quite the initiative.  He was waking up at 5:30/6:00 a.m. and immediately started his school work.  His goal was to finish school by 10:00 a.m. He did a great job on what he accomplished, though he didn't quite finish by 10:00.  The problem of his finishing early was that he went to play with Caroline while I continued to work with Henry.  The result was lots of yelling and fighting from upstairs.  So, finishing school early: awesome.  Lacking self-control when playing dolls with your sister: not so awesome.

For one of our history lessons, the activity was to make paper bead necklaces.  The kids rolled a triangular piece of paper around a pencil, gluing it's end so it remained in a 'tube' shape when slid off the pencil.  Once dry, all the tubes were strung on a piece of yarn for a necklace.  No one actually wore their necklace and most will probably end up in the trash in a few days when I see them on the floor.  But we can say they worked on their fine motor skills and had fun with it.

Our CC group had a field trip to see the Snake Man this week.  We had to drive nearly an hour to a library in a different county because none of the libraries in our county would let Snake Man take his snakes out of their containers, which pretty much defeated the purpose of his visit.  We saw Snake Man a few years back, but it is always good to have a refresher course on snakes, especially in this part of the country.  Clearly, from his presentation, this man loves his snakes.

After the talking came the touching.  I touched a couple, and though they felt cool, I made myself photographer for our group, so conveniently I could not hold one.  Someone had to capture the magical moments!!  Josiah did touch some, he held one, and he was pretty into it.  Henry touched some and was definitely interested, but he didn't hold one until the end (and another mom got that picture).  Caroline looked at them, but spent most of her time chatting with the girls from her class.  Caroline keeps telling them that they're all invited to her birthday party.  The birthday party that only she is planning for MARCH!


Henry got his New England Patriot's lunches this week.  I missed the simplicity of Caroline's meals last week: butterfly, smiley face, etc.  Plus, most days I had to explain the meal - not exactly showing skills if you have to ask what it all was.  So, in order of the pictures, we had: #12 (Tom Brady's jersey number); Rob Gronkowski's face complete with black under-eye make-up, bandaids, and gauze (because Todd says he gets injured a lot - I personally have no idea); hot dog football on the grass, with the added deflated balloon to pay homage to the Deflategate which put the Patriots into Super Bowl XLIX; and finally a football helmet.  The helmet apple looked better in my mind.  In reality, it looked like a messed up apple, so the tired looking ping pong ball face seemed to make it all just come together.  I don't think Henry's going to ask me to use my paltry creative skills in the future.


The kids were super excited to get a package from Grandma & Grandpa this week.  It was filled with all sorts of chocolates, cookies, and candies, as well as some toys.  They have been feasting on it all weekend (and sometimes even with permission).  When you see candy wrappers on the countertop at 7:00 a.m. and a sheepish grin from the transgressor....uh-huh.

New football, hair bands, and giant magnet!

Here is one such transgressor dressed as Luigi from Super Mario Bros.

We had a super busy weekend with birthday parties.  All of Josiah's classmates are turning 10 this year so it is turning into a big party year.  Yesterday's party was a Nerf Gun War.  After food and cupcakes at the house, we all walked to the park to have their Nerf gun battle.  This was Josiah getting himself ready.

They played until the boys were all sweaty and smelly before heading back to the birthday boy's house.  The parents were brave to allow all those stinky, sweaty boys back in their house.  I thought their foyer said it all.  At least they were all respectful and took off their shoes.

Henry had a birthday party today for his friend from CC.  They had a bouncy house in their backyard so the kids went from bounce house fun to Bay Blade battles and back again.  Bay Blades are the hottest thing in their age group.  They are these spinny top things that "battle" it out in a plastic arena thing.  I don't know if they go for whose spins the longest or whose knocks whose down.  However they do it, it's incredibly entertaining for 6-11 year-old boys.  (Both our boys always ask to go to CC early so they can get some battles in before the day officially begins.)  Towards the end of the party they had a pinata, but instead of hitting it with a stick, this one had a bunch of ribbons on the bottom.  Each kid held onto a ribbon and when they all pulled together, the bottom fell out.  I think somewhere, someone got whacked a little too hard with a pinata stick and sat down to reinvent the pinata.  Henry had a great time and brought home lots of candy to share with his siblings.

It was an exhausting weekend, but a fun one for the boys especially.  Caroline's going to try and talk her classmates into having birthday parties when she gets to CC this week.  And so begins another week.