Driving to Church in a New Car

Spring Break was a little like it was back when I was in school.  The first few days I slept in a little later than usual (7:30 a.m.), then a little later (8:00 a.m.), and by Friday I slept in until 9:00 a.m.  It was time to set the alarm clock again, though the extra sleep was wonderful.

Henry picked out a puzzle for us to do Monday morning.  We worked on it for a while together, but then he wanted to go play outside.  The kids were outside for a couple of hours playing nicely, during which time I couldn't stop doing the puzzle.  When he came in, I had finished it.  The weather has been absolutely beautiful this week - low 80's, sunny, breezy, and very little humidity.  They spent a lot of time playing outside, riding bikes, and making chalk drawings.  We did have one morning of thunderstorms, but then they enjoyed playing in the puddle.

One morning I mowed the yard and afterwards Caroline helped me sweep the curb.  She was a good helper.  Then we moved to the backyard where all three kids wanted to help mow, so they each got a turn.  The whole back got mowed, but I don't think there was a straight line mowed among them.  Whatever gets the job done (and them helping).

Cheryl & Phillip sent the kids another Easter package to their delight.  Josiah immediately used the sidewalk chalk.  He's been drawing the Alamo on our driveway along with the U.S., Texas, and Come and Take It flags.  Caroline has been wearing bow after bow and loving every minute.

Mid-week we went to the Children's Museum.  At first Caroline didn't know what to do and she was bored.  She was expecting the big Children's Museum in Houston, but we went to the smaller off-shoot in Sugar Land.  It wasn't until halfway through our visit that she decided to have fun.  She lifted herself up in the pulley-lift, did a little art, and played "dispatcher" where she had an old fashioned (like 1980's old fashioned) phone to her ear while she spoke into the light.  They always have a theme country or area that they highlight and this time it was Oaxaca City, Mexico, which was cool because Oaxaca was one of the cities they had to identify for geography in CC.  Caroline made a bean tambourine, tissue paper flowers, and as we were leaving she saw the faux Oaxaca City market.  The same market all three kids dashed by when we entered the museum, but now that it was 2:00 p.m. and we were all starving from not having had lunch yet, they wanted to spend time in Oaxaca.  We stayed until my stomach was eating itself, I was hangry, and made them leave.

The boys made this whole structure with a pulley system to boot.

That same evening the boys had their special Memory Master dinner.  This is a dinner just for the memory masters, siblings not invited.  We dropped Caroline off with Todd and made our way to Pappa's BBQ.  We were quite early, so we sat in the car with the windows open, smelling the BBQ cooking (which may sound lovely to those who like BBQ.  I, however, am not a BBQ lover and it was getting a bit nauseating.  I happily enjoyed a meatless salad for dinner.)  Somehow Henry got it in his head that this restaurant was all about the meat.  When we were in line to order, he asked for a cheeseburger with a side of steak.  He was adamant about it.  No matter how many times I told him there was no side of steak, he still wanted that.  I asked him of all the places we have eaten burgers, has he ever had a side of steak.  He rightfully answered, No.  I asked him again did he want fries on the side.  Yes. And steak.  He got a cheeseburger with fries.  He ate all the fries first, and then came over to me to tell me how full he was without having even taken a bite of his burger.  He managed to find room for the hamburger as the evening went on.  Then came the cake.  It was already after 8 p.m. by this point and the sugar combined with the tiredness made the boys crazy.  But they had a lot of fun with their friends.  At these events we always have a parent's table and a kid's table so we can all enjoy the time.

Sugar High

Meanwhile, Todd had taken Caroline to Sweet Tomatoes where she got her standard plate: cold noodles, shredded carrots, crumbled hard-boiled eggs, and a pile of cheese.  She added a bowl of soup and a bowl of sprinkles to round out the meal.

We had our last Awana this week.  Josiah finished his book and they had their Easter egg hunt.  I was glad they had an egg hunt there, because we (I) decided not to do anything for Easter here at home.  I don't know if it was because it was Spring Break and they watched too much TV or what, but the kids haven't been acting the best.  Lots of complaining in general, upset about having to put their own things away, talking angry and mean to Todd and I, ungrateful for all the things they have and places we take them.  So, I had zero desire to make any effort for Easter.  It's not about the candy anyway.  I warned them ahead of time that I hadn't bought anything and with their attitudes of ingratitude, I wasn't planning on buying anything.  Amazingly I still got a nice picture before church.  I think it was because they were excited to drive in Todd's new car.

Saturday, Todd and Henry went to the car dealership just to look, talk, and test drive.  They did all three and then bought one.  Todd said that Henry had a good time with the test drives.  He always wanted to biggest and best model of car.  The dealership had a soda fountain with Lemon-Lime Powerade in it along with popcorn and water bottles.  Henry helped himself to all of it.  We had to meet Todd there to sign some papers and the kids wanted a final picture with the Mazda.  They were super sad to part with it.  They really wanted us to keep it despite it being on it's last leg.  However, we've had two drives in Todd's new car and they've all but forgotten the Mazda.

We have six more weeks of school.  These should be easier weeks in general, so hopefully school can take a shorter amount of time each day.  Hopefully...