1st Day of School

Monday was our first day of school.  The kids were so excited to sit all in a row at the table in the school room.  Benson was really excited, too, and bounced and jumped and walked and sniffed and licked every bit of the room.  Henry thought that if we brought his bed in, he'd lay on it and sleep while we did school.  So the bed was brought in.  Benson had no intentions of laying down or sleeping, only exploring.  We tried putting him out of the room so we could focus on our work.  That didn't work either because he stood on the other side of the door barking and whining.  Eventually we gave up and moved "school" to the breakfast table.  Benson chilled out and we were able to get our schoolwork done.  

We even had our first science experiment of the year.  We are studying anatomy and physiology this year in science.  The beginning of the book talks about ancient civilizations and what they knew (or didn't know) about the body.  We read about how the Ancient Egyptians used salt and other chemicals to preserve/mummify dead bodies.  So, in like fashion, we took an apple and cut it into eight slices.  Each slice was set in a cup with either table salt, Epsom salt, baking soda or some combination of the three (and a control with nothing).  They are to sit for a week and we get to see which has caused the apple to lose the most moisture.  Josiah is the only one who ventured a guess and he went with the apple covered with 1/2 cup of table salt. 

With Hurricane Laura intensifying in the Gulf, Todd was sent home Tuesday evening with his laptop and orders to work from home the rest of the week.  We were anticipating getting some of the outer bands of the storm.  We did laundry and put extra ice in our freezers in case of a power outage.  We gassed up our cars and put them close to our garage doors to protect them from the winds.  Wednesday evening came and it was clear the hurricane was going to hit the Texas-Louisiana border.  As we were watching the news Tuesday evening, Henry was getting anxious and said they'd all have to sleep together like they do with the fireworks.  Caroline kept asking, "We're in the 'yellow,' right?"  Yes.  We were in the yellow band of the storm (Not red.  Not orange).  After all the anticipation, we didn't even get a drop of rain.  I know because I was outside with Benson at 11:00 p.m., 2:30 a.m., and 5:00 a.m. that night.  It didn't even get windy, just slightly breezy.  Obviously, east of Houston got hit hard.  Our church has sent out their "chainsaw team" to Louisiana to help break down the fallen trees.  In Texas, the major grocery store chain wrote out their hurricane restrictions.  (I actually looked at the comments from this meme and people were dead serious about buying up brisket.) 

Benson has discovered his reflection in the oven.  One evening as dinner cooked, he stared, barked and growled at himself.  Now he passes through the kitchen regularly to growl at the dog in the oven.  Henry has also taught him that if he walks partway up the stairwell, he can turn around and look at himself in the mirror.  More barking.   

He has really grown in the past two months that we've had him.  On the left he is 6 months, on the right 4 months:

The heat here has really been oppressive for several weeks.  It's nearly impossible to play outside.  However, one evening this week, Josiah got out to do some sidewalk chalk.  This is a ninja from Lego Ninjago.

This coming week we start CC!  I am not prepared in the least at this point, so I need to kick it into gear quickly.  The kids are excited to see friends again.  It will be good for us to get back into a routine.  It helps to keep us all accountable in our schooling.