Henry's Baptism

Our week began with our second Ancient Greek Olympic Games.  We played the same games from when we did Ancient History three years ago:  (They were so little!)

Our events were javelin, "discus" (using a football because no one wanted to go find a frisbee), running long jump, and a running race.  We opted out of the boxing and wrestling events of the Ancients.  I couldn't see any good coming of it.  Caroline was concerned about losing each category, so we competed with girls vs. girls and boys vs. boys.  We began with javelin.

Henry and Caroline were the javelin victors:

Josiah beat us all in running long jump:

I won "discus," but Henry's picture is cuter:

The athletes:

We'll revisit these games in another three years. 

Caroline has been asking me every single day, What did you do as a kid?  She wanted to know what I did on a daily basis - what I played with and whom with, etc.  She's asked so many times at this point that I have my answer to her memorized.  Finally, one day she said, You know why I keep asking what you liked to do?  [No, I really don't.]  Because you lived in the old days and I live in the new days and I already know what I like in the new days.  Ah.  Thanks...

Despite living in the new days, we keep teaching them about the old days.  Specifically the early 90's.  All three kids have been trying to learn the lyrics to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song.  They sing it constantly.  Henry has almost got it all memorized.  Caroline likes to say, "Yo Holmes, smell ya later," which is always endearing to hear.  Josiah likes to repeat the lyrics of Parents Just Don't Understand.  Todd felt that if I was going to introduce Fresh Prince, he was going to introduce his own favorite Fresh Prince/Jazzy Jeff song.  Todd also taught Caroline how to do duck lips with Pringles, so we're passing down the important things from our childhoods.

We went to Goodwill this week to look for a vest for Josiah because he wanted to be Hans Solo for Character Quest at Awana.  We not only found a vest (for $0.75!), but Henry spotted the game, Clue.  I couldn't resist buying it because it was my favorite game growing up.  So far we've played two games together.  The first was just me and the kids.  The second game Todd joined us and he, of course, read the rules.  Apparently I grew up never playing by the written rules of games.  In the rules version you not only take the weapon into the room with you, but you take the suspect there as well.  In the last game we played, several people figured out my player (Mrs. Peacock) was the suspect and were taking me all over the board.  It was slightly frustrating to never get to the room I wanted.  Durn rules...

Awana had their Character Quest night this past week and the kids all dressed up.   We splurged on their Dollar Store costumes this year.  Josiah was Hans Solo.  Henry was a ninja.  His headband had the Japanese symbol for peace.  Caroline was a butterfly princess who wore her sagging wings from last year instead of the new pink wings we bought her that fit correctly.  Why?  Because her wand matched her old wings better...  She told me that at Awana she kept forgetting what she was because butterfly princess is such a long title.  She also kept taking the costume off piece by piece.  Every time I saw her that night, she would give me her wings, her headband, etc.


The boys had their last October birthday party this weekend.  It was a video game theme and the boy whose birthday it was is big into Mario, so Josiah dressed up accordingly.

While the kids played video games, the adults played a mean couple of games of Uno (which was hilarious because we all had different rules for that game).

While we were at the party, Todd took Caroline out to Target to get some Christmas ideas.

Our weekend ended on a great note as it was Henry's baptism day at church.  He has been so excited about it.  He's been telling everybody at CC, karate, church, and Awana.  Todd was able to baptize him which made it all the more special.  Our church always encourages the fathers to baptize their own children.  Todd did a good job, too.  Todd kept teasing Henry that he was going to dunk him down good and long to get the sin off of him.  For us, baptism is just an outward show that you are a believer in Jesus, His death, burial, and resurrection.  Salvation, surrendering your life to Him, comes first.  Henry did that this summer with his buddy Roberto at VBS.

Josiah came to the baptism and tried to sell newspapers for a penny apiece.

Caroline wasn't quite as excited, because for one she wasn't going in the water, and for two I wouldn't let her climb all over the rocks.

Fortunately, google made an animation of it so everyone can see his baptism.

We celebrated at Sweet Tomatoes which was totally packed with the after-church crowd, but since it was Henry's day we stayed.

It's been such a busy time that we may have to take a mental health day tomorrow.  I've been trying to plow through this fall knowing that November brings some fun that will keep us from our school work.  I think it's catching up with me, though.  A mental health day may do us all some good.  There probably won't be too much complaining from the student body.

Label Making Mania

For our devotional on Monday morning, it spoke about imitating and how we should be imitating God in the sense that we should be doing the right thing.  When faced with following people doing the wrong thing, we should always follow God's way.  Talking about imitating reminded Josiah of charades and he immediately jumped into game-mode.  He drew on a piece of paper just like Caroline does and Henry quickly guessed, Caroline.  Then Caroline ran out of the room and came in wearing my house shoes while carrying a big laundry basket.  I guessed myself, giving me the opportunity to play.  I got Henry's baseball glove and ran in the room as fast as I could throwing a ball in the air.  We all captured each other's likeness.

Caroline also learned the "-AP" family this week.  We went through cap, lap, map, nap, sap, tap, etc.  When we got to rap, Caroline thought it meant wrap, so I gave her my best rendition of the opening to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  She thought it was great.  I know my audience.

We had a field trip to the local HEB grocery store with our CC group this week as well.  Our tour guide through the store was Miss Jumie.  Caroline became fast friends with Miss Jumie because Caroline likes to be at the head of the line for everything.  By the end Caroline was holding her hand, walking backwards, and trying to lead the group with her.  When I tried to intervene, Miss Jumie said it was good she had leadership skills, which was very kind.

As part of the tour, we went through the perimeter of the store.  In the seafood section, the man, took a lobster out of the water and let all the kids touch it.  He even had a Boston accent, "Hey, ya wanna touch the lobstuh?"  The best part was when he put the lobster back IN the tank with all the other lobsters.  Some poor fellow is going to purchase a lobster that's been touched by 20 school children.  Mmmmm.

In keeping with our birthday party month, we went to two parties this week.  All three kids got to go to one boy's party at Altitude - the trampoline park we've visited.  It started off fun, but Henry twisted his ankle and sat out for a while.  Then he wanted to go play some more and he came back in tears.  He had gone to the dodgeball court and had been smacked in the face/eye multiple times.  He said he never wanted to go back to Altitude again.  He did enjoy the chocolate cake, chips, and juice.  Josiah and Caroline had a fine time.

This weekend, Caroline had a birthday party for one of her friends.  She was so happy to finally have a birthday party to go to without the boys.  It was a very chill party with mostly the kids playing, which was great.  At cake time, Caroline could choose between the chocolate cake or a vanilla cupcake.  She chose the cupcake.  But then they gave everyone a piece of chocolate cake anyway.  Caroline partook of the icing and gave me the bald cake.  While I went to get myself a fork, Caroline got herself another cupcake.  Later she had a cookie.  She didn't understand why I told her she could only eat healthy food when we got home.

This weekend our neighborhood had a yard sale.  I was determined to get a few things out to try to sell.  As we were setting things up at 6:40 a.m., while it was still very dark out, a lady pulled up.  She bought our little clown bike and all of Caroline's old clothes.  It was awesome.  Eventually I sold everything I was hoping to sell, profited $39, and closed up shop at 9:30 a.m.  We had two trash bags of things to take to Goodwill, plus an old bike.  It was the best yard sale experience ever.
Josiah was itching to check out our neighbor's sales.  He was constantly nagging to go check them out.  We let him walk to two neighbor's houses and he was there forever.  We could see him looking at everything.  He had $3 burning a hole in his pocket.  After much begging, we (actually just me, Todd doesn't want to say he was a part of it), I let Josiah spend $0.50 on a label maker.  It came with three extra cartridges.  After changing the corroded batteries, it worked just fine.  Josiah has already gone through TWO of the cartridges.  He has no idea what a label maker is, he plays like it's a typewriter/printer.  One of the best "labels" he made, though, was this one:  postcard from the breafkest room

He spelled breakfast the way he says it.  He's always said it funny, and seeing it printed out cracked me up.  I could totally hear him saying it.  Meanwhile, we have a ton of labels everywhere, but not a single true label labeling anything. 

We've had some nice chilly (60's) weather here lately.  It's been absolutely wonderful.  This coming week holds the last October birthday party and then, hopefully, we'll have a reprieve.

You Should Chew Gum

Caroline had a very good experience at Awana this week.  During game time, the kids played a field hockey-type game with pool noodles and two Nerf soccer balls.  Each team had two goalies as they had to defend a large area.  The kids playing could only hit the ball with their pool noodles.  For Caroline's team, she and her friend, Hannah, were given the goalie positions.  Before the game began, Caroline and Hannah were just talking and whispering and giggling.  I really thought they would get scored upon right and left because they were more interested in chatting than goal-keeping.  But then Caroline surprised me.  I don't know if it was because Henry was on the opposing team and she was determined to not let him score, but whatever it was, she went after the ball.  She'd chat with Hannah when the balls were on the other side of the court, but the minute the balls were about to pass her goal line, she ran and threw herself on it.  She made many saves.  And, after every save, she went back to chat with Hannah.  At the end when the leader gathered all the children up he said that there was one person who played exceptionally well out there.  Caroline.  He said that she sacrificed herself over and over again to run and save the balls.  She'd dive on her knees to get to them in time.  He was much more eloquent with his words and he made Caroline feel pretty special.

The kids had another birthday party this weekend.  This one was a pool party at our CC friend's house.  The kids had a ton of fun with all their CC friends and I enjoyed talking to our CC moms.  We seriously have the best CC group.  The kids play so well together.

We were the first ones to the party.

When it came to cake time, they gave out giant portions. Our kids were in chocolate heaven.

It was a great time.
The whole drive home I fielded questions like:
Why do they have a pool?  Because it's hot as Hades in Houston.
Why don't we have a pool?  Because our yard is too small.  (the easiest answer)
Why do they have a pool?  Because they wanted a pool. 
Why can't we have a pool? ...

While we were at the pool party enjoying life, Todd was working hard and trimming our trees.

The following night I was able to do a paint night with some of our CC moms.  We had a fun ladies night out.  The boards went from this:

To this:

The kids have watched The Voice on TV a couple of times this week.  We like to watch the blind auditions.  Josiah woke up early one morning and got to work on this picture of the judges from the show.  From left to right: Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, & Blake Shelton.  Obviously.

We had a plumber come to check out a leak that we have been having in our laundry room.  The water was dripping from the light fixture on the ceiling.  Over the laundry room is the master shower.  They cut three little squares in our ceiling to try and find the leak, but didn't see anything.  They ran the water in our shower, splashed it everywhere, and finally thought it was coming from a little hole in our shower door.  They caulked it and charged us $0.00.  That part was nice.  But they told us not to patch the holes in the ceiling, because the problem could be our fiberglass shower floor, which would need to be replaced.  At least the pipes are all alright.  And now we have a little extra ventilation in the laundry room.

And in Henry news from this week:

Henry's latest artwork: football plays and baseball diamonds (complete with a parking lot).  He was inspired by both the Texans and Astros playing today.

This may look like a simple picture, but if you heard Henry's explanation, it's quite complex.

Henry was able to retrieve all of his balls that he had lost to the ledge in our foyer.  They had been gathering there over many weeks.  Henry never stops throwing balls around.  Never. Ever. Ever. Stops.

I also opened the refrigerator to see this:

Orange bowl = Henry.  So I asked him, "Henry, why is your cereal bowl in the refrigerator?"  His answer, "I didn't want to waste it."  Needless to say, he did not go back and finish the cereal.  I cannot imagine how soggy the Cheerios would have been and it certainly didn't look appetizing anymore.

In the car, Henry was reading National Geographic Weird But True Facts.  This is how the ride went:
H-"On Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, red crabs outnumber people by about 29,000 to 1."
H-"A study found that babies born in winter tend to crawl sooner than babies born in summer."
H-"A Farmer in China grows pears shaped like babies."
H-"A study found that chewing gum puts you in a better mood."
H-"Mom, you should chew gum."
Me - ...

Movin' On Up, In Karate

Caroline learned the "-ad" family on Monday, so she now knows that it's not bad to be sad or mad, but if she had, it's better to be glad.  She's doing a great job at her reading.  It is the coolest thing to hear her sound out the words.  When she gets to the word, "the," she always pauses, looks at it intently, and says, "Oh yeah, this is the one you can't sound out.  The."  Yes!

She also moved up to the boys' karate class this week.  Everyone from her current class moved up as many of the bigger kids in the boys' class had moved to a different class.  She was nervous to go in for the first time.  When asked, she was most scared about the 5-minute dodgeball game at the end of class.  I didn't blame her, there are a few boys that throw the ball with all they've got.  Those same boys play baseball, so they hit hard and on target.  She was able to stand on the side during the game.  The rest of class, she did great.  Her small group was pulled to the side to learn their Basic Form 1, but other than that she was immersed in the class.  I'm sure her nerves will dissipate quickly.  She's a tough karate kid.

Henry was tested for his green belt-black stripe on Saturday.  He did great on the test.  He's a tough karate kid, too.  At the end of the test, he easily kicked through the board on the floor.  Then he had a new challenge - break a board with his hand.  He broke through the first one on his first attempt.  So, then they got a bigger board.  He gave it three whacks but couldn't break it.  As he finished, he looked at his hand and shook it a bit.  I imagine it hurts more to hit and not break it, than to hit and break through.

Fortunately Josiah and Caroline each had a friend to play with during the belt test.

After his test, instead of getting ice cream, we went out to Sweet Tomatoes and finally used Todd's birthday coupon.  It is always freezing in that restaurant, so along with bringing jackets, we all got hot chicken soup to maintain a decent body temperature.  After the kids were all thoroughly warm, the boys got their ice cream sundaes and Caroline got her bowl-o-sprinkles.  Then it was a rush to get outside and warm up again.  It took all of two seconds to warm up outside.  It's still ridiculously hot.  Even though the temperatures say high 80's or low 90's, the humidity has been such that it feels like a sauna outside.  Coupled with the intense mosquitoes it's been a rough go for a few weeks.

We did try to go out for a recess break a couple of times this week, just because I know it's important to get outside.  We've stayed out for about 30 minutes and when we've walked inside everyone has been drenched in sweat.  It's so gross, but it just happens the minute you step outside.  You don't have to do anything intense to sweat.  We have all been happy that we homeschool on these sorts of days, because the moment we walk inside everyone wants to take a shower and rinse off.  Fortunately we have the luxury to do so.

An equally awesome part of homeschooling is that I get to do elementary school for the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th time with each kid.  It's paying off on our competitive Jeopardy calendar.  I beat Todd's score for September and I've gotten all 7 questions for October right.  It can only get better as we go up in grades.  :)

I was checking over Josiah's Awana work the other day and there is a section where he can write in prayer requests.  He often doesn't write anything there, so I was intrigued when I saw he had written in: "that Henry makes the NFL"  Henry may have other goals, though, as he remarked this week, "I wonder who will draft me in Major League Baseball?"  He wants to do baseball because football players can get head injuries (easier).

I had a meeting one night this week and Todd told me about Caroline's experience with her chicken pot pie dinner.  She kept saying how much she liked the noodles in her pot pie.  They were so soft and good to eat.  We're not totally sure what she was eating, but there were definitely no noodles in the pot pie.

The weekend ended well.  The Texans are currently playing the Cowboys.  Caroline has gone into cheerleader mode, "When I say J.J., you say Watt.  J.J.! Watt!  J.J.! Watt!"  And the kids got to open another package from Cheryl & Phillip.  Caroline got a pair of black and orange striped tights and she has already tried them on and has a big costume planned.  She asked me if I could buy her witch shoes.  Uh, no.  You'll have to work with what you've got little girl.  She has like 20 pairs of shoes, all but two are hand-me-downs from various friends.  There are definitely a few black ones in the mix.

Activity books from Cheryl & Phillip!

We also tried to take our Christmas card picture today.  We never got Christmas cards out last year, so I'm trying to be a little more proactive this year.  One child, a boy who shall remain nameless, was what we would call uncooperative in the smiling department.  I threatened no media until Christmas if he wouldn't give me a smile.  Caroline and the other boy did well.  

It looks like a Merry Christmas to me!