Thanksgiving Break

It was so nice to have a week off.  The kids had planned projects and activities that they wanted to accomplish.  I had my own list.  We started off with a bang.  Monday morning we completed a 500 piece puzzle that Josiah had bought for me from a dollar store a few weeks ago.  We followed that up with some humble pie at the orthodontist.  I had given Josiah a baggie that contained an envelope with his seven brackets as well as a piece of paper documenting the date each bracket was lost as well as what he had been eating at the time.  I had done it for my own records, but the orthodontist and assistant studied that list and put it in his chart.  Josiah was reminded not to eat any pretzels no matter how small, nor was he to eat any granola bars no matter how crunchy or chewy.  I kept quiet, but I wanted to plead our case.  That we cut up all his food.  That he eats mostly all soft foods.  That several of the foods on there shouldn't have made the brackets fall out at all.  But I kept quiet.  For the first eight weeks the orthodontist will make any fixes for free.  After that they start charging.  I told Josiah to be on his best behavior with his eating.  I also reminded him that if the brackets keep falling off, it is only going to prolong the time he has to wear braces.  He isn't enjoying them as much as he thought, (because of all the food restrictions they bring), so he wants to get them off as soon as possible.  Eat soft, my son.  Eat soft.  He did choose 'fire red' and 'lime green' as his rubber band colors to celebrate Christmas.

our puzzle

 Monday afternoon we made bean pictures which was on Caroline's list of things to do.  She started off making a landscape picture.  She had a nice tree with a swing hanging from it, but the beans were just too fun and the glue squirted out too quickly, so her second picture was covered in beans.  I tried to take a picture to show the height of her beans, but it doesn't give due diligence to her creation.  Despite letting it dry for half a day, there was still a cascade of beans falling off once we picked it up.  

Caroline also wanted to have some one-on-one time.  One evening she and I played Pictionary together.  Some of the scariest words that came out of her mouth were, "Oh, this is easy.  You'll get this one." after she picked her card of words to draw.  Every time she picked up the marker, I said a little prayer that I would figure out what she was drawing.  She did a really good job overall, but there were a few that she gave me "clues" to help me solve the picture. 

Tuesday was spent putting together Josiah's model of the USS Arizona.  Josiah had been given this as a birthday gift this past year.  It has been faithfully sitting on our dining room table for nearly 11 months now.  We couldn't reach another birthday without putting it together.  The first half of the build wasn't too bad.  We started assembling it using our bare hands, but after some of the glue dripped on our hands, followed by a hot burning sensation on the skin, we put on some gloves.  We glued on tiny piece after tiny piece.  After we did all that we could, we set a timer for two hours giving the upside-down hull time for the glue to dry.  We were using a modeling cement glue.  Very stinky.  About the time our headaches set it, Henry picked up the glue and noted the skull-and-crossbones toxic fumes warning label.  We opened a window and set a fan in it to suck all the air out of our house.  Good times.  For the second half of the build, we built up.  Masts and command centers.  Lots of windows smaller than the size of a sharpened pencil tip.  Everything was really tiny.  It was about this time that I decided I was a one-and-done when it came to building models.  Josiah, however, surprised me with how much he liked it.  All in all, it turned out fairly well.  The masts both lean a fair amount, but that doesn't seem to bother Josiah.  Any hobbyist would be horrified by the gluing job we had done, but for us it was fine.  I told Josiah that it was more of a looking-at type thing, not a playing-with type thing.  He acknowledged my suggestion and went on playing with it for an hour.  

Tuesday evening we were able to go to our friend's house to decorate gingerbread houses.  We had skipped our CC Christmas party because of COVID - just too many people for comfort with the rise in cases.  So we had our own little party and had a really great time together.  Henry kept sampling the small candies.  Midway through the decorating, Henry pulled out his molar with a gumdrop stuck to it.  I hope it was loose?!!  Caroline used massive amounts of frosting on her trees.  Henry was more particular with his placement of icing and candies.  Josiah got frustrated with his decorating and sabotaged his houses - getting frosting all over his hands and making battering rams out of his sugar cone trees.  (I think he was a little upset knowing he wouldn't be able to eat any of it.)  Caroline made a M&M village.  I had a lot of fun doing the decorations for my own village and I was glad we got a picture before the drive home.  It took one quick stop for a red light and two of my trees dropped down to the car's floorboards.  At home Henry and Caroline asked to eat part of their village.  They discovered that gingerbread houses are more fun to make and not quite as tasty to eat.  The frosting, however, was all homemade and was delicious.  We tried to soak Josiah's gingerbread roof in milk to see if it would soften up so he could try it.  After half an hour the roof was still incredibly hard, so it was a no-go for him.  

Henry's project for the week was to build his Erector set Corvette.  He had received this as a gift for his birthday and he had worked on it when he got it, and I had assumed he had completed it.  But he brought it down one day over the break to say he didn't erect it correctly and he wanted to rebuild.  No problem.  We disassembled and started again.  I did not account for how difficult it would be.  I felt like I had sausage fingers trying to hold all the tiny nuts and screws.  It took two days to complete, but we accomplished it.  

We had a very COVID Thanksgiving with just our little family.  Henry made me single again when he wrote the name plates for the table.  He had requested we eat at the dining room table, which is a place that only gets used when company is in town.  He seemed to remember where everybody should sit, but arguments were brewing, so I had him write names at places to keep everyone's head cool.  

Just as we were finishing up cooking, we noticed that our neighbors across the street had a fryer out on the sidewalk.  I made a joke about it going up in flames and showed the kids a quick video of what happens when wet/frozen turkey meets a fryer.  We made our plates and sat down together.  As Todd was sitting down at the head of the table, we watched as our neighbors brought out their very large, very raw turkey to the fryer.  Todd said the blessing for our food, but the rest of us kept one eye open watching out the window.  They put the turkey in the fryer, and as if on cue, giant flames erupted from the pot of oil.  Giant flames.  Not just up, but out to the sides.  We could see the oil popping everywhere.  They set the grass on fire.  But they got it under control fairly quickly.  (A couple of days later, the kids were roller blading outside and said it still smelled like turkey by their sidewalk - this after two days of solid rain.)  

We made Cornish game hens to try something new.  We really thought it would be cute if everyone got their own little bird.  Todd found a spice rub to put on them that was amazing.  They were much tastier than I expected.  The only thing that made them unappetizing was Josiah's carving of his own bird and naming all the bones/parts.  I think this is the sternum.  These are the ribs.  This must be the spinal cord.  We had to request he turn off Dr. Josiah.  Todd said we cooked them upside down since the breast meat was on the bottom, but I think it made it tastier because the white meat just sat in the juices which was really delicious.  

To keep Benson at bay, Todd had bought him a new bone.  It was beef flavored and to say he has thoroughly enjoyed this bone would be a gross understatement.  He loves, loves, loves the bone.  He happily gnawed on it for nearly our whole meal, until he decided to walk around the table and see what we were doing.  He got a bit under Josiah's arm and I saw his tongue reach out and lick the hen.  Then it was game on.  He wanted more.  He kept poking around both boys' plates trying to get another taste.  

For dessert, everyone had a different pie request.  Caroline wanted pumpkin, Josiah wanted cherry, Henry wanted pecan, and I wanted apple.  (Todd likes pecan, too, but he's trying to work on his figure, so he had a dessert avocado.)  We had a Costco pumpkin pie for the ladies and the boys each got a mini pie of their own.  We also have bigger versions for them in the freezer so we'll have a pie of the week for the next several weeks.  

Todd got some football time in with Henry.  Henry doesn't like to just toss the football.  He likes to create plays.  He is forever trying to catch it on the run.  

We did a ton of yardwork earlier in the week knowing it would be a rainy long weekend.  Caroline asked to help out with the mowing and she did the perimeter of the backyard.  When I told her to do the perimeter, I kind of meant like a 6 foot perimeter or something wide.  She took perimeter literally and did a strip all around the outside of the yard.  She fulfilled her mowing desire and passed it off to Henry who mowed a wider perimeter.  Benson tends to keep the entire middle of the yard very short with all of his running around.  

On Saturday, it had rained all day on an already water-logged yard.  Todd and I got tired of walking Benson around the yard in the pouring rain to use the bathroom facilities.  We figured that since we had to towel him off every time we went out anyway, that we'd just let him be free.  And so we unleashed him and he took full advantage.  As if on cue, he ran like a crazy dog all around the yard, splashing in the small lakes of collected water. 

We also put up the Christmas tree on Saturday.  We (I) decided to keep it upstairs this year.  It just seemed like it would be a nightmare to have the tree where Benson could pull off and destroy ornaments.  To avoid that headache, we put the tree up in our playroom.  The kids did a really good job of decorating it.  They can finally reach all sections of it so we don't have a bare top anymore.  Josiah was our star-putter-on-er this year.  Todd was happy for that.  He has bird bones and still feels quite light.  We'll be pulling out the ladder for Henry to climb next year.  Solid as a rock.  

It was a good break week.  We needed it!