Henry Got a Baseball

The kids were so excited to open a package from Grandad and Nana on Monday.  Josiah exclaimed, "More Charlie Brown shirts!"  He loves his yellow collared shirts.  He wears them as often as they are clean.  This particular morning, all three kids were wearing yellow shirts because they were pretending to be Madeline (from the story book).  They also sent Legos and puzzle books, sprinkles and a magnifying glass.

We have already put that magnifying glass to good use.  We are in the midst of a bean experiment around here.  We put one bean, with a wet paper towel, sealed in a Ziploc bag, hanging in a sunny window.  Another is in the refrigerator and the last one is in a dark closet.  We have to measure and observe them daily.  Caroline picked the window bean to measure.  The boys have the others.  The boys are not too pleased to have to chart "0 cm" day after day.  At least Caroline's has given us something to graph and observe.  Enter magnifying glass.

At CC this week, Henry sat down in his seat in his classroom.  Ten minutes after class began, Henry's tutor said, "Henry, why don't you take off your backpack and stay a while?"  to which Henry responded, "I can't get my backpack off.  I'm really good at tying knots, but I'm not very good at untying them."  He had all the straps tied around his waist.  He had to slip out of his backpack for me to work on the knots.  I concur, he is good at tying them.

Todd taught the kids charades one evening after work.  Josiah and Caroline were having a lot of fun with it.  Josiah was trying to do the hand motions that meant "Two words. First word. First Syllable.  Sounds like, etc."  He chose movies or characters for us to guess.  Then Caroline wanted to play.  She started out dancing and sleep walking.  We guessed, "dancing" and we guessed, "sleep walking."  No! She kept dancing and sleep walking.  We gave up guessing.  Exasperated, she said, "Shaun the Sheep!  Remember that episode where he was sleep walking?"  How could we have forgotten that particular episode she watched six months ago...

Todd went to the eye doctor this week.  After ten years of not having to wear glasses, his eyes have gotten to the point of needing them again.  We took his prescription to Costco this weekend so he could pick out some frames.  While he said he wanted my opinion for the frames, he may not have wanted my complete opinion.  "Too feminine...those don't look good...the rectangular pairs don't look as good....[wearing circle frames] you look like you should work in a soda shop...Are you sure those are men's frames?..."  He tried on about 20 pairs, but then he took off his ball cap.  Upon taking his hat off, his whole head looked totally different.  I told him we had to start over with his "new" face.  I don't think he was keen to that idea.  In the end he/we picked out frames, the kids didn't get lost/wander off/crash the cart into anyone, so it was a win.  Now we just wait for the glasses to come in and we'll get a picture of his new face.

Saturday morning, Josiah came in our room at 6:30 a.m.  My first question, with eyes still shut, was, "Is this a good reason to wake me up?"  He responded, no, and then proceded to tell me that he had set up a Build-and-Grow downstairs and wanted me to come down to check it out.  My next question was whether anyone else in the family was awake yet.  That was a no as well, so I said to give us a little more time.  When we all finally made it downstairs, Josiah had taped off the entire kitchen and living room.  He set up a sign-in area where we signed our names and picked up our kits.  They were not so much kits to build as they were finished products.  When I opened my bag, I had a completed Iron Man face with a stand.  The other bags had other Avengers.

Check-in Desk

Ribbon cutting ceremony to open the "building" area.

Like father, like son.


After our Build-and-Grow experience, the kids wanted to make pancakes.  Of course, they all wanted to help make their own stack.

Saturday afternoon we went to another Skeeter's games.  It was first responders night so there were lots of freebies and emergency vehicles.  The give-away was a pack of Skeeter baseball cards. Todd and Henry sat and watched the whole game.  Josiah and Caroline did not.  First, they asked to go to the playground.  We went and they had a lot of fun.


While we were gone, Todd had gotten Swatson to sign his baseball card.  So when we got back from the playground, Josiah wanted to hunt down Swatson to get his card signed as well.  Our hunt was a success.

We made it back to our seats for a few minutes before everyone was hungry.  Caroline and I went to get some hot dogs and fries.  Before Caroline even finished 1/4 of her fries she was asking to go to the splash pad.  I made her eat some more, but she got Henry to finish them off so we could head to the water area.  They played at the splash pad.


While we were gone, Henry got a game ball.  We were all so happy for him because he has really wanted a baseball.

We came back to see a little baseball, but only sat for an inning, before me and my brood were up taking another walk around the stadium.  We got a lot of steps in (if we kept track of those sorts of things...).  It was a double header, but we only stayed for the first inning of the second game.  We were beat.  All had a good night.  The kids have all said they are doing their Skeeter's experience as their CC presentation this coming week, so that's another win. 

This morning, Caroline got ready for church.  She put on her favorite dress, added the sweater because she likes the beading, and then added shoes.  Baby girl, it is not 1980 and you are not walking from the Metro to your office building. Put on some white sandals.  She thought she looked fine in dirty tennis shoes.   

Tomorrow is Labor Day and we are taking real school holidays this year.  The kids are quite pleased to not have to do school when Todd is home.  I'm all for the day off as well.