Grandaddy & Nana Visit!

Todd picked up Grandad and Nana from the airport Tuesday evening.  The kids were eagerly looking out the front window, waiting, anticipating, watching all the cars pass by.  I told them that when they did pull up, to just let them get in the house before plowing over them in excitement.  Nope. The very second they saw that it was Todd's car pulling up, they rushed out by way of the garage.  Todd said he saw three sets of feet dancing up and down as the garage door slowly moved up, releasing them to hug on Grandad and Nana.  The excitement was palpable.

Earlier in the day the kids had gotten out on the driveway and drawn welcome greetings to Grandad and Nana.  Chalk is not an easy medium, but Josiah can create some clever chalk drawings.  He does shadows and shading.  It's really cool.

Caroline even made a gigantic cup tower for Grandad and Nana, but sadly it was knocked down before they got here.

The weather's been cooperating, so for their first day here, we were able to get outside and Henry got to toss the baseball with Grandaddy.  The menfolk and Caroline have since been in the backyard practicing their batting skills.  Josiah says he's interested in playing baseball in the spring.  We shall see how that interest holds up.

The kids have loved having their grandparents here.  They have loved it so much that they want to be as close to each of them as they can be at all times of day.  They have fought over who gets to sit next to whom at every meal, who gets to sit next to them on the couch, who is their partner in the store, who holds their hands in the parking lot.  Three kids and two grandparents.  Before they even got here, we were having the same type of issues in our car.  We have two seats in the middle and the row of seats in the back.  Everyone wants to be in the middle two seats so they can stick their heads out the window like a dog.  So I wrote up what I titled, "Ridiculous Seating Arrangement Schedule" for our car.  It's written up for two months time because I cannot handle any more arguing about it.  Can't you learn to just rotate on your own?!!   I think now we're going to need a "Ridiculous Seating Arrangement Schedule for Meals" as well as a "Who's Your Partner Today? Schedule."  There is so much love for Grandad and Nana that no one wants to rotate once they get time with one of them.

We had our last week of CC for the semester.  It was so, so good to finish that day knowing we didn't have to go back until January.  It's been a busy (but good) semester and a break came just in time.  For Josiah's last Essentials class, the students had to play teacher by leading the class in a 6-minute game using their vocab words or their grammar charts.  Josiah chose to do a game using their vocab words.  He went through many game ideas at home and settled on the simplistic game of "Telephone."  He had all his classmates sit in a line, he spoke the definition of one vocab word into the ear of the person at the end, and as it made it's way through, the last person had to say the definition and then say the corresponding vocab word.  Josiah was up there in the front of the class talking like a game show host.  He was in his element loving the whole experience.  At the end, his tutor gave all the kids superlatives for their games.  Josiah's got Funniest Game as some definitions didn't make it through the whole telephone line and one time he gave the same definition twice in a row.  After all the games were played, they had a cupcake party.  They got to pick a bald cupcake and decorate it with frosting and toppings of their choosing.  Last year, at the same time, Josiah ended up eating three cupcakes at the same party.  This year, thank goodness, they invited all the other kids on campus to make cupcakes, so Josiah ate his one and only one cupcake.  Henry, however, enjoyed his one and then repeatedly petitioned me for more. 

The kids also turned in their Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes at Awana this week.  We were running late that night, nearly forgot to bring them in the first place, so as we stood outside our car in the cold, windy parking lot, it was a "Hold this. Smile. Go inside!"  Grandma made a box for us as well, but they're packed full of things, so they're actually quite heavy, (therefore I did not load them down with another to carry).

This weekend, Todd and two-thirds of our children were able to take Grandad and Nana to Sweet Tomatoes.  Everything went according to textbook at the restaurant.  Salad.  Soup.  Muffins/Bread.  Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes.  Sprinkles for Caroline.  Nap for Henry.  He has seriously fallen asleep at nearly every visit to this place.  He must overdose on the tryptophan in the chicken noodle soup.


Since I am horrible at taking pictures of the kids with their grandparents throughout the day, we made sure to get at least one picture at church with them all together.

The kids basically have the best week ever next week.  They have no school (schools around here get the whole week off), they have Thanksgiving with all the deliciousness that comes with it, and they have Grandaddy and Nana all week.  They'll be in heaven.  Assuming we have a seating schedule.

Frosting? Sprinkles? Yes, Please.

Monday was Veteran's Day and also Chick-fil-a craft night.  We walked into CFA and Josiah and Caroline immediately walked over to the crafting tables.  We barely got Caroline to eat she was over there for so long.  They made red, white, and blue star necklaces for Veteran's Day/USA.  They also did turkey puppets with brown paper bags.  They had a good time.  Henry went into a long explanation that he wasn't going to do the craft, because he probably wouldn't use it and it would just get thrown away anyway.  He sandwiched himself between Todd and I at the booth and kept himself warm.  That day we had a 30 degree temperature drop.  The weatherman showed the cold front coming all the way from Siberia.  It got cold and very windy.

Cold!

Henry had his last baseball game of the season on another very cold 46° evening this week.  We were really hoping he would get one good hit this game since he had struck out every time at bat the previous two games.  We weren't sure how this game was going to go because it was against the very first team they played, which we were told was an 'elite' team.  We were expecting a loss.  Henry's first time at bat, he did it.  He got a hit and made it to first base.  He was able to steal his way around the bases and scored a run.  By the top of the 3rd inning we were tied 8-8.  Henry made it up to bat during the bottom of the 3rd.  He ended up getting walked to first.  He made his way around the bases and then he stole home.  Usually every kid slides into home to make sure they beat the ball there.  Not Henry.  He stayed upright and ran.  Todd asked him, Why didn't you slide?  His response?  I didn't think Mommy would want me to get my pants dirty.  (He still came home with his pants dirty - not that I mind!)  But when he touched home plate it was the winning run.  Henry did a little jumping dance and his team came out shouting his name and cheering for him.  They won their last game.  What a way for him to finish!  And do we have any of that on camera?  No.

At CC this week, we had Decade Day.  I had really planned on going to Goodwill to get a flannel shirt and go grunge for the 1990's, but I never made it there.  Josiah wanted to do the 1970's, but said he couldn't because I had cut his shaggy hair a few days beforehand.  So he chose, not just the 1920's, but 1922 specifically.  Henry got dressed and I asked him what decade he was.  He looked at me.  "2019."


Caroline did not participate in Decade Day because her presentation was how she and her doll have the same clothes, so they dressed alike.  She still very much loves her doll and all the accessories/outfits.  Best gifts she's ever received!

This weekend Caroline and I were able to go to a special Tea at our church.  It was for girls grades 1-5.  Caroline was interested because she was sure there would be cake.  They had a sash decorating area, so Caroline worked on one.  They had a list of things that God calls us: Cherished, Loved, Adopted, Wonderfully Made.  Caroline wanted none of that.  She wanted her own "saying," one that no one else would have on their sash.  So she wrote God is the Lord.  She actually ended up making two sashes.  Her other one said, God loves everyone.  We took a few pictures together and then sat down for the tea part and a lesson about Queen Esther.  Caroline gorged on Chick-fil-a Chicken Mini's.  They had muffins fruit, and macaroons as well.  She bit into several macaroons, but didn't like any of them.  So, I got some very tasty macaroons.  No cake.  No cupcakes.  But still, very much a good time.  (She wore her "wedding dress" - the dress she wore to a wedding - and her sparkly rain boots sans the rain.)


We got home from our tea in time to turn around and drive to a birthday party out in the country.  This was supposed to be a drop off party for Josiah.  Caroline and I had plans to go to the store to pick up a few things.  But as soon as we got in the front door to drop Josiah off, the younger sister of the birthday boy was inviting Caroline upstairs to play.  So, there went my plans.  :)  They both had a great time.  It was a Lego party and they had Lego building competitions which Josiah ate up.  He won the first competition - build a robot in 3 minutes - his was voted the best robot.  He won a second prize later.  Yay.  More Legos.

While we were partying it up, Henry and Todd went to another HBU football game.  People keep giving Todd free tickets.

By the end of the day we were all exhausted.  Today, Sunday, we were at it again.  We had our CC Holiday party tonight.  Three amazing ladies from our group baked all the cookies and set up all the decorations.  It was awesome!  The kids had a lot of fun decorating (and eating) their cookies.  Caroline's table was filled with girls all around her age.  They were more interested in height as all their cookies were decorated to the nines.  There was a good inch of frosting and toppings on the tops of all their cookies.  They got to play and just have a really good evening.





For this introvert, the weekend was exhausting!  I need a few days of silence to recuperate.  :)
The kids have been counting down because in just a few short days Grandaddy & Nana are coming.  The is a lot of excitement in the air.

Renaissance Fair

We made it out to the Renaissance Fair this week.  It was in Todd Mission, TX, population 146.  Since we had been once before, the kids were more interested in using this visit as a theme park/riding rides visit.  And true to form, almost as soon as we arrived, they were hungry.  We decided to do a very early lunch (9:30 a.m.) so that we could see the other happenings.  Henry wanted a giant turkey leg, while Josiah and Caroline opted for over-sized corn dogs.  We did try to get some learning in at the beginning.  They sat and watched the blacksmith for far longer than I expected.  Next door to that was the broom-maker who was very interesting.  Brooms are made from broomcorn, a sorgum, that is basically grown for the sole purpose of making brooms.  Education completed.  On to the rides.  They did this mini-4-story crawling maze that they had done on our previous visit.  Henry actually tried to do the maze the correct way and made his way through it fairly quickly.  Josiah and Caroline were intent on getting their money's worth and took a very long time making it to the exit.  Henry kept coaxing Caroline towards the exit.

They did the jousting ride again which is a favorite.

Both boys are in this picture

Later Josiah and Caroline opted to do a bigger maze - more like a corn maze, but with tall sheets instead.  While they were finding their way through that, Todd and Henry went on a spinny ride.  After all the rides, they wanted dessert.  Caroline and Henry found ice cream at the first dessert vendor we stopped at.  They were happy.  They were enjoying their ice cream.  And they had nearly finished their ice cream when we stopped at the cheesecake-on-a-stick vendor, which is what Josiah had been holding out to get.  The minute the cheesecake was placed in Josiah's hand, Caroline threw a fit.  She said she didn't want her ice cream anymore  (note that she was at the very bottom of her cone).  She was yelling, "I didn't know it looked like that" and throwing a big-kid tantrum.  Meanwhile, Josiah enjoyed his cheesecake.  He even let her finish the last third of it.

This was Caroline shortly after we got home from the Ren Fair.  She slept for a couple of hours.

Henry had what should have been his last baseball game of the season mid-week.  He has a make-up game scheduled this coming week, so that'll officially be his last.  This game was like all his other games.  By the end of the third inning, the score was 10-10.  It was 8:05 p.m.  The games are scheduled to go til 8:15 p.m.  The (teenage) umpires did not call the game at this point!  There was absolutely no way we were going to finish a full inning in 10 minutes.  So the players took the field for the top of the 4th.  Our team was fielding.  After the opposing team hit their 5-run inning limit, our team was coming off the field.  When, to our surprise and dismay, the opposing manager came out on the field and yelled that once you hit the 4th inning, there is no run limit per inning.  So, by the time Henry's team came up to bat the score was 20-10 and it was getting close to 9 p.m. on a school night.  I had already left to take the other two home, but we were quite annoyed by the whole thing.  Todd said the umpires were just calling everything on our team so the game would end.  Final score was 20-10.  Henry was livid.  He's never playing baseball again!  Except for the game this coming week...

For CC this week, we had a part of the day that was spent cleaning up the church where we meet.  Caroline (and many of her classmates) kept saying how fun it was to clean.  But then they were quick to qualify that they enjoyed cleaning at CC, but they did not enjoy cleaning at home.  The difference?  Cleaning with friends was more fun.  I say we just have playdates where we rotate houses and spend the time cleaning.  Make use of this cleaning-with-friends-is-fun bit.

We were supposed to go to Dewberry Farm this Friday, but it got postponed until the spring because it rained cats and dogs the day before.  Every mom in our group was very relieved to not have to walk around a very muddy farm in 55° weather!  I still made the kids get some school work done, but they did have extra time to play on Friday.  They made tons of creations using Brain Flakes.  They were very creative in what they made, but I didn't take a lot of pictures.  They played with them for hours, all the while getting along.  It was awesome.

Josiah wanted to help make a spaghetti dinner tonight.  Our ever-shirtless boy enthusiastically put on my kitchen apron to "protect" himself from the steam. 
Henry and Caroline are always telling him to put a shirt on. 

We have  a regular week of school coming up along with Henry's final baseball game.  We're really hoping he gets a hit for this one.  He's struck out at bat over the last several games, which has been quite discouraging to him.  We'd love him to get a decent hit (or really just a hit).

Everyone Recognizes Forky

On the way home from Henry's baseball game Monday evening, Caroline asked Henry if she could try a piece of his banana.  She hasn't had banana since she was probably one-year-old when we thought she could potentially be allergic/sensitive to it as she was already sensitive to dairy and gluten.  As the years have gone on, this was the one food sensitivity that never got tested because she never wanted to try any banana.  Until Monday night.  I told her to eat only a bit just in case.  She did eat a bit (swallowed it) and said she didn't like it.  It was a late night when we got home, so the kids went to bed right away.  Caroline was talking and moaning A LOT in her sleep.  Very odd, very restless.  Then she threw up at 3:30 and 5:30 a.m. (and later that morning, too). The only problem is, she's had a cold so we don't know if it was part of her cold or the banana.  So the whole thing still seems unverified.  She, however, confirmed that she doesn't care for banana so that'll probably be the end of it for her.

Both she and Henry were under the weather Tuesday and Wednesday.  Most of their ailments were cold symptoms, but they sure tried to get out of doing school work (and they succeeded in that).  One of the school days went great as I only had to work with Josiah.  With their not feeling well, this week's character trait became very relevant for Josiah: Initiative.  You can start your school work AND complete certain tasks without me asking you to do it.  We've actually camped out on Initiative for two weeks as it's a very good trait to learn and not one we've mastered in any sense of the word.
I spent that evening making the Pioneer Woman Chili.  It took a couple hours from start to finish (with lots of simmering in between), but as we're about to serve it for dinner, Josiah asked, "Did you make the chili from scratch?"  Yes.  "Oh. I like the chili in a can better."  I'm sure you do.  We were actually surprised that everyone ended up liking it.  Pioneer Woman for the win!

 Henry and Todd watched the defeat of the Astros Wednesday night.  None of us made it til the end of the game.  We were sad, but we still love the Astros.

Josiah's favorite part of Essentials is getting to read his paper to his classmates.  He loves, loves, loves to do this.  This particular week, he was dressed up as Tintin, hence the pony tail in the front of his head.  He wanted Tintin's swirl/swoosh in front, but he's not a hair gel kind of a kid.  Earlier that day, as we walked into the building to go to CC, he saw his shadow and said he looked just like Tintin. (Tintin is originally a Belgian comic that started in 1929 and ran through the '70s from what I can tell.)

Thursday was Halloween.  Josiah and Caroline wanted to walk the neighborhood.  Henry didn't want to go (he does NOT like scary things).  So, I went out with Cinderella and Forky on a very cool 50° evening.  That night it got down to the 30s, the coolest Halloween since 1925 in this area.  We broke out our winter coats to walk the neighborhood.  Midway through our trek, Caroline burst into tears.  Everyone recognized Forky, but no one knew who she was.  So we had a sad, red-faced Cinderella for a few houses.  Poor girl.  Todd says no one appreciates the classics anymore.

After we got home, we did our regular ritual upstairs with all three kids.  Todd was in Josiah's bedroom, I was in Caroline's.  The kids went back and forth knocking on our doors.  We'd be a different character each time we answered the door based on what we could find in their rooms.  Who knew this little ritual (that we created to avoid walking around the neighborhood!) would last this long.
I was mean and made all the kids eat their carrots that they had conveniently skipped from their lunches before eating any Halloween candy.

We were able to play outside a good amount this weekend.  The weather's been amazing.  Henry and I have tossed the football a lot and Todd's worked with him on his batting.  They've all had time to ride their bikes and play with friends.  Todd also spent several hours helping Josiah clean up his room today.  Josiah is totally content living in complete chaos with Lego 'creations' all over the floor, papers of artwork piled high, books and clothes everywhere.  Whenever we try to tell him to clean it up, he goes off on a tangent about kids' rights and how since it's his room he should be able to keep it the way he likes it.  Except I don't want bugs in my house, and cleanliness is a really good thing.  It is an ever-constant battle around here.

This coming week should be lots of fun.  We are going to the Renaissance Fair one day and Dewberry Farm another.  With CC taking up another day, they only have two full days of at-home school.