Henry turned 10! He told everyone the night before his birthday that he wanted us all up at 6:00 a.m. to open presents. Caroline was the lone rebel. I went in her room at 6:15 a.m. to sort of nudge her, but she was sound asleep. I went back at 6:20 a.m. because Henry was getting really impatient. I got her up, but told him that if she was in a bad mood all day it was because we woke her up. He got so many nice gifts from grandparents and cousins and siblings and friends. He was a happy boy.
Before we ate breakfast, he wanted to put the Lego kits together. He was in an extra generous mood because he let Josiah and Caroline help. All three got their own kit to assemble. (Henry did supervise their building though.)
For breakfast, Henry wanted Chick-fil-a mini biscuits. He got the idea from Caroline who had already announced her plans for her birthday breakfast - breakfast tacos from Taco Cabana. That gave Henry the idea to go out and forgo the usual sugary cereal or doughnuts. So chicken biscuits we had. We were fortunate they were open - his birthday was the first full day they were in operation since the winter storm.
For lunch, Henry chose the very classic sub sandwich. He picked out ham, cheese, sub rolls, and tomatoes. We had brownies as a special dessert then because the boys' friend was over to spend the afternoon with us. Henry's one 'wish' for his birthday was to have the boys' friend, Bobby, come over and spend the day. Sadly, Bobby unexpectedly lost a grandma just a few days before Henry's birthday, so we weren't sure if it would happen. The day before his birthday, Bobby's mom texted me that he could come on Henry's actual birthday. Henry said that he had prayed to God for four nights straight that Bobby would be able to make it. Bobby is a really amazing kid. He is the nicest kid in the world. We love it when he comes over because he is so pleasant to be around and so kind to all three kids. Even after he leaves, the kids will always randomly comment, "Bobby's so nice." Needless to say, they had a great afternoon doing Legos, playing video games, and having light saber battles.
And then there was dinner. Dinner was a trip around the world. His main food was Mandarin orange chicken from Asia. Traveling west, the chicken was served beside Israeli pearl cous cous (much better than regular cous cous and much harder to find in the stores!). Continuing in a southwesterly direction, we had a side of Mexican Street Corn along with the southern U.S. favorite, fried okra. I am not sure there is another kid who has ever put those four foods together for a birthday meal, but Henry was a happy boy.
Henry lit his own candles and then sliced the cake. Into eight slices. Below shows the actual sizes he passed out. The kids thought they had hit the jackpot with those giant slices. They were happy until 1:00 a.m. when Henry came and got me because Josiah was feeling sick. I got Josiah down from top bunk, walked him to the bathroom, and he proceeded to get sick. Too much birthday. He had a rough go for about 20 minutes, but then settled back to sleep on the couch and he was really fine the next day (except angry that I wouldn't give him any cake).
We did do school this week. We have been learning about the circulatory system in science. We did a very cool experiment to 'see' our pulse. We found our pulse on our wrists. Then we took a little bit of playdoh, stuck it on our pulse, stuck a toothpick in it and watched the toothpick move. It was the tiniest movement but clearly our pulse's constant flow.
At CC we learned about Andrew Wyeth and used watercolors to paint in the style of his landscapes. Our pictures have dots on them that we were able to remove after they dried so it looked like the first autumn snowfall (he painted mostly scenes from Pennsylvania and Maine).
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| Caroline's Wyeth |
We had a theme night at Awana this week. Go Texan Night. It should coincide with the Houston Rodeo, but that was postponed to May this year. The kids had fun dressing up. Caroline was gifted her jean dress just a few weeks ago and it was a great cowgirl do. She asked for braids and fell in love with that hair style. It's been all braids, all the time since that night. And since we only had one plaid shirt for the boys, we gave everyone a handkerchief to perfect their cowboy look. (And for the record, they came up with all these poses.)
Saturday morning we took Benson outside for his normal morning constitutional. Usually he walks around the whole backyard and is pretty consistent with where he goes. But we couldn't see him. Anywhere. I got my shoes on to explore and he was by our fence gate, sniffing at something on the other side of the fence. I couldn't see what was on the other side, but we did hear a squirrel very loudly chittering at us from a nearby tree. The squirrel's yells were so intense that I was scared the squirrel might jump at us. I pulled Benson inside, but then he spent the remainder of the morning whining at the back door. Todd took him out another time and discovered two baby squirrels in our yard. They were hiding behind the wheel of our trash can. Todd shook the trash can hoping they'd run away (up the tree), but they weren't big enough. One tried to run up the fence, but only made it 1/3 of the way up before falling. Another went and hid in a bush, which wasn't good because Benson could totally get him. We took him out on a leash for the remainder of the morning, until it was clear that they were on the other side of the fence again (more chittering). Poor little guys. I hope they learn to avoid our backyard from now on.
We have one more birthday to celebrate here before our birthday bonanza is over. Caroline is excitedly awaiting her birthday next week. She is, however, disappointed that it falls on a Sunday because that means she does not get the day off of school. Tough break.
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