Caroline the Finisher

Caroline had a big day on Friday.  In the morning she finished her Kindergarten math book.  She did the same things the boys did by putting cups (full of hidden items) in order by weight.  She was pleased to see that one of the cups was full of sprinkles - her reward for finishing well.

Then that same evening she finished her first Sparks book in Awana.  She's moved on to the extra credit book, which is a bit long, so she may work on that into next year.  Her favorite thing about that particular night, however, was not finishing her Sparks book.  It was that she and the boys were allowed to stay late at Awana for Parent's Night Out.  For $1.00/child we were able to keep them at Awana until 10:00 p.m.  We had been gifted a very generous amount of money to a fancy steakhouse, so we dressed up and hit the town.  It was probably the fanciest dinner we've ever had.  We got appetizers, entrees, sides, and dessert.  We went all out since we may never go back to such a fancy place again!
When we picked the kids up from Awana, at 9:20 p.m., our darling daughter was mad.  Mad to see us, mad to leave "early," mad that she hadn't gotten her snack yet (she lives for snacks anywhere she goes).  They were working on Lego creations when we got there, but they had also done a sand art craft.  Much to Caroline's relief, they gave them their snacks to-go and our snack-loving kids ate them on the drive home.  They cannot wait to do Parent's Night Out again.  Did they sleep in the next day?  No.  Up at 6:15 a.m.

Caroline has also finished losing all her upper teeth.  She has four in a row absent and she absolutely refuses to smile with an open mouth.  I told her I wouldn't show anyone, but I just wanted a picture for her baby book.  No go.  But then she wanted to look at my phone in selfie mode so she could see her new top teeth just under the surface.  I know her and I know that she cannot resist taking selfies.  I got my picture.

Caroline had a birthday party for a friend from CC this afternoon.  It was at a pottery painting place and she chose a mermaid to paint.  She did a really good job and we're excited to see how it turns out.  It takes a week to get it back, so hopefully we'll have a photo next week.  The birthday girl had a unicorn/pony themed party and unicorns are incredibly popular right now.  While another mom and I were trying to get the girls to pick boxes with decorations on the top (something useful), the vast majority of girls chose figurines.  At that point we just stepped back and let them paint it however they wanted.


This week I celebrated a birthday and Caroline came in our room at 5:30 a.m.  She indicated that her belly was rumbling with hunger.  How she knew I wanted to get up at 5:30 to fix breakfast and start celebrating my birthday is anybody's guess, but we were up!  She did whisper, "Happy Birthday" on the quiet walk downstairs.  Todd and I don't really do gifts, but I surprised him with a purchase.  ;)  Surprise!  We bought a king size bed several years ago due to the number of children that would inhabit our bed during the night.  The kids kept growing in size, so the queen bed we previously had was getting tight.  Since we acquired the king, we've been using our queen size quilt on it because we could not agree on a comforter to save our lives.  Todd's choices tended to be a bit too manly for me.  My choices were typically too boring or "light" for Todd.  So late one night I made a spur of the moment decision and bought a king size quilt for our bed.  I hope you like it. He said, "It's a little light."  Since we previously had the dark brown "man-spread" for the past eight years or so, I figured it was my turn for a prettier print.  Todd also washed my car, which was great.  It doesn't get cleaned all that often, so it's always surprising to see how shiny it can really get.  It was appreciated.

The boys celebrated Texas Independence Day by building a replica of the Alamo.  They did a pretty good job.  James Bowie is lying in the stretcher.  Todd taught them that Texas Independence Day was about Texas declaring itself independent from Mexico and, for a brief time (1836-1846), was it's own country, The Republic of Texas.  The Alamo (February 1836) was part of that, but Texas lost that battle.  They finally won at the Battle of San Jacinto (oddly enough, the "J" is pronounced in this) in April 1836.  It's taking us some time, but we're catching up on Texas history.  Fortunately, many of these battles are fairly close to the Houston area, so we really need to make a road trip and visit them.

After watching Jurassic World last week, we shockingly had no children come running to our bed in the middle of the night.  The boys, however, did draw some pretty amazing pictures of dinosaurs.  Josiah drew them and Henry colored them in.  I was impressed with their artwork!

We have our final birthday this week with one very excited little girl.  Every time I ask her what she wants, she usually replies with, "So much. I want so many things."  Doll accessories are definitely at the top of her list, so hopefully she'll be a happy camper.