Hot & Humid in Houston: Al Dente

At the beginning of this week, the boys were invited to a neighbor's house to swim. He had just gotten an above-ground pool and our boys along with two other boys were invited. Because it was going to be five boys swimming (all older), I kept Caroline at home. She was LIVID. We never let her do anything. It's not fair. The boys get to do everything. Lots of screaming. When she finally calmed down we sat and watched a movie together. We had not gotten far into the movie when the boys came home. They didn't have as much fun as they expected because one of the boys who came was their friend's older brother. An 8th grader. Apparently he was a bit of a tosser - tossed them off the floaties and things. It was unappreciated.

Later in the week the kids were invited to go over to the pool again. This time it was just our kids and the neighbor, so I let Caroline go. I gave them a clock, told the boys to keep an eye on Caroline, and told them to be back in two hours. And they did it. They had a lot of fun. It is a salt water pool which is pretty neat and since it is above ground, it is only about 4 feet deep (gauging from the kids description of "it comes up to here on me").

They have played with this neighbor friend for hours upon hours outside this week. Bikes, roller blades, basketball, Nerf gun fights. They've really had a good time. They've eaten a ton of tortilla chips and popsicles and lemonade and Gatorade. It's been great. During one of their times outside their friend brought over pieces of scrap wood and our kids took to pounding nails in them and tested out all sorts of tools on them. This gave me the idea of string art. Get them hammering nails for a purpose. So one evening we had them trace out their initial and pound some nails in it. After the boys finished their boards, it was clear we wouldn't have enough nails for Caroline's "C," so to delay it, we told her to paint her board so her "C" would pop against the white thread (since we only had black thread, orange yarn, and white thread.) Throughout the process, Henry had the most intense hammering face I think I've ever seen. Every strike of the hammer was accomplished with a very strained face.

In between all the playing, there has been a ton of bickering with the youngest two. It's been an almost near constant insulting, criticizing, mean words barrage between them. I think every other sentence that I say to them is, "Was that necessary to say?" No. It's incredibly frustrating to listen to. BUT in the midst of all of this, one afternoon it started to thunderstorm. It was about two in the afternoon. All of a sudden the kids were super excited because at some point in the past (years ago??) they said that I said that they could all sleep in Caroline's bed whenever there were thunderstorms and/or fireworks. I, of course, do not remember saying such words, but to Henry they were written in stone. So, they went from bickering to elation in a matter of moments. So while the storm was at 2 p.m., it still counted at 8 p.m. They played Pictionary in her bed (without a yell or fuss) and then slept side-by-side as if they were the best of friends.

Despite the rain at the beginning of the week, Henry kept begging me to mow the backyard. Uh, yeah you can. We had to wait a few days for the yard to dry out, but then we gave him the go-ahead while the motivation was still high.

This weekend we enjoyed a meal from the Skeeter's. Since they have not had any ball games this season, they decided to sell their stadium food. It wasn't the hot dogs or fries they were selling, as Josiah anticipated. This was the "fancier" stadium food - pork tenderloins and chicken with three sides, rolls, and cookies. They made the pick up experience fun by allowing us to drive around the field. The kids enjoyed seeing Swatson. It was good food, too. We've been eating it all weekend.

After watching church on TV this morning, Todd went for a walk with Caroline while the boys went outside to play. Henry is notorious for coming in every few minutes for every random thing. (This is really no exaggeration. When Bobby's mom was here she experienced it herself. We got a good laugh over it.) I experience no peace and quiet when they're outside because the garage door is constantly opening and being slammed shut. The boys were not out there long before their neighbor friend came over to play. They opened the door at one point to say their friend had a question for me. He asked if the boys could go with him to play at his aunt's house this afternoon. She lived 30 minutes away. I said I would have to talk it over with Todd when he got back from his walk (although it was already a pretty firm 'no' in my head). They were cool with that and the door shut.
Two minutes later Josiah came in to say that their friend's dogs would not be coming with them.
Two more minutes pass and it's Henry at the door. Their friend's mom said it was okay for them to come.
Five minutes later and it's Henry. They're not actually going to his aunt's house which is 30 minutes away. They're going to a garden, which is a little closer, so it is probably 29 minutes away.
Five minutes pass and it is Josiah coming in to say their neighbor's dad said the dogs were coming and that our boys couldn't come.
Two minutes later, Henry comes through the door to relay the same story.

Then they finally just play for a while. Caroline and Todd make it home from their walk and Caroline stayed out to play. When all three kids finally came in for a late lunch, Caroline walked in from the garage saying, "They're going to drink beer." What? "They're going to drink beer. [Friend] said they were going to drink beer. He can drink beer." What? He's 10. No he can't. I thought they were going to a garden.
Henry walked in saying, "They're going to a beer garden."
Biergarten. Yeah. That would have been a 'no' to going with them then.

Josiah's puppet arrived this week. I think it is impossible to convey the excitement he has had for this puppet. Up until this evening, there had not been any puppet shows, because, to Josiah, the puppet has been more a part of the family than a puppet. It is a chef named Al Dente and Josiah walks around with him on his hand all day talking for him as if he is a regular part of the family. This evening he put on his first puppet show. There is no doubt there will be more to come. This kid is a performer.