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.