At the Car Wash....Losing Car Parts

Our poor pumpkins did not last more than 48 hours in the Texas heat.  We put them on our front entrance area Sunday night (after dark).  By Tuesday, mid-day, Josiah's had completely collapsed and all three were filled with mold.  The white mold did make Henry's skull look a little cooler.  Josiah was incredibly mad about the whole thing and went off about the entire state of Texas, in particular its unforgiving climate.  We also learned why the previous owners left the pumpkin carving kit.  There's no point in carving them!  Some of our native Texan friends just laughed when we told them what happened.  Apparently, you only carve pumpkins the morning of the 31st around here.  We didn't clean them up until the end of the week by which time they were swarming with fruit flies.  The whole thing was a squishy, liquidy, buggy disaster.  The kids did enjoy hosing off our entryway.

Caroline went back to the doctor this week to have her arm checked out.  We were concerned that she still cannot straighten it out and it is painful (perhaps tight) to do so.  The doctor said her arm was looking good and that she had enough range of motion to play professional football.  He also said that she should have full extension by the end of the year.  She has about 20° still to go with her extension.  However, he did release her to participate in anything and everything which thrilled her.  Later that day she did her first post-op cartwheel.  That should help get the extension going.  While we were at the doctor's office, the doctor noticed that Josiah's wrist was wrapped up in an Ace bandage.  He asked about it and Josiah told him he injured it roller skating.  He then asked Josiah to unwrap it and he checked it out.  Fortunately it was the side of the wrist that was hurting, so it's probably just bruised.  The tendons all checked out.  We were very fortunate to have an orthopedist check on him (for free!).

Henry had two baseball games this week.  Our neighbors came to the first one, which made him happy, although I don't think his friends watched a single minute of the game.  They lost that game, but won the next one.  We've seen definite improvements in the players.  Pitchers are getting better, the kids are actually hitting some of the balls.  At the same time, there are still tons of dropped balls.  If the ball does get hit, there is all this anticipation from the parents, then an Awwwww when the ball is dropped, followed by smiles that they're just kids.  During Henry's second game this week there was a legitimate double play.  The parents were so excited to see some action!  Henry still really likes it.  He's been able to play 3rd base as well as center and right field.

Todd was off work on Friday.  It's always fun for him to watch the school day and the sheer amount of mental stamina required to make it through all the subjects.  It'll give me a few sympathy/empathy points for a while.  All three kids are talkers, so by the time Todd gets home from work, I'm usually in the mood for some silence.  Now he understands why.  Win-win.

The kids had a very fun Saturday.  Caroline went to a birthday party for a friend from CC.  Then as soon as she got home, we did a quick turn around and shuttled all three kids to another friend's house.  This friend and her husband have opened their house 1-2 times a month to watch our kids from 5-9 pm for free.  She says that she wants all the parents to go out on a date and work on their marriages.  She plans activities and makes it such a fun evening.  I think our kids would gladly go live with her if we let them.  Todd and I went out to eat and did a little grocery shopping sans kids.

After church today we fulfilled a promise to Caroline and went to a car wash.  It was at the Buc-ee's in Katy which has the longest car wash in the state.  The kids had a great time going through it.  The soap was coming out in different colors so they were excited about that.  As soon as we hit the driers at the end, a piece of our car flew off.  This particular piece had been barely hanging on for a few years now, but it still hung on.  Until today.  Then when we got home, Todd noticed that something broke off at the bottom of the antenna making it unstable.  But our car is shiny.
Car Wash: $16
Smiles on the kids' faces: priceless
Auto repairs following said car wash: $$$
We won't make it a habit of going back.


The Astros made it to the World Series again, so we'll be watching that this coming week.  Hopefully it won't be edge-of-your-seat stressful like two years ago.  We'll be happy to take a clean sweep and go buy the t-shirts.