Crated Children

This week we pretty much finished school.  We have one more day of science to read, so we'll officially end on Tuesday.  I informed the kids that they would each have to do their math twice a week throughout the summer.  We've had summers before (maybe only one, I think) where I didn't make them keep up their math skills and come August there were many tears of frustration from all three.  So, I told them they could pick whichever two days of the week they wanted (Mon-Fri), but they had to do it first thing so that it was done for the day.  No one complained.  Not even a little!  They were more focused on picking their days.  As it is right now, the boys picked Mon/Fri, Caroline picked Tues/Thurs.  I also told the boys that if a holiday falls on a Monday, they still have to do two lessons that week (but they can move it to Tuesday).  That was because they were already lauding the fact that this weekend was Memorial Day and they had Monday off.  I don't think so. 

Henry fulfilled a few dreams this week.  We allowed him to try the Milkbone treats.  He's been asking to try them from the first day we bought them.  He crunched into one and said, "Are these good for me?"  I'm going with a 'no' on this one.  Then he asked to get in Benson's crate.  And there he stayed and hung out.  Benson willingly walked into the crate with him.  It all looked too tempting, so a few minutes later, Josiah joined them.  And then they encouraged their sister to do the same.  The poor dog didn't know what they were doing with his space.  

At jiu-jitsu, it was Professor Mike's birthday this week.  He is the owner and main instructor in all the classes.  At the end of Caroline's class, all the kids sang to him.  Then another adult instructor flipped him over his shoulder, which is what Mike always does to the kids if they go to class on their birthdays.  The boys' class was next and at the end, Mike allowed every student to flip him!  In this picture, Henry is on top in the white, Josiah is in the grey on the bottom.  

Caroline has found a new book series she loves - the Cam Jansen books.  They are mysteries and she really gets into them.  She likes to retell the story as she reads and lets us in on how she thinks the case will be solved.  She typically reads in bed at night and brings the book downstairs in the morning, "I finished it."  It was through the reading of this series that she decided to have a family game night with a carnival game they had in one book.  She got a piece of red poster board, drew eleven circles on it, got a nickel, and called everyone upstairs to play her game.  We got two tries each to flip a coin onto the poster board.  If we got our nickel in the circle we got one point.  If the nickel was exactly in the center of the circle we got two points.  If the coin was touching the line of the circle or out of the circle, we got zero points.  We played ten rounds and at the end, Henry won.  However, I do not think we should discount where everyone was sitting.  Todd and I were on opposite ends of the couch tossing our coins to the poster board on the floor.  Josiah stood up on a box and tossed his coin from on high.  Caroline sat next to the board, but still gave nice tall coin flips.  Henry, however, sat next to the poster board, and often flipped his coin a measly two inches high over a circle.  Next time we'll have a "flipping spot," to make it a bit more even.  

Josiah is still very much into the presidents.  He checks out lots of books on them and reads them all.  Then he'll ask if I thought Taft was a good president or Pierce or Johnson.  I have no idea!  I very often have to respond that I know nothing of their presidencies and that he is sure to know more about them.  Now I've started reading the books after him just to gain a little knowledge.  He is also, of course, drawing them.

At dinner last night, the kids were coming up with adjectives to describe themselves.  They were calling out: Helpful Henry!  Charming Caroline!  Joyful Josiah!  Cute Caroline!  Hunkin’ Hankster!  Helpful Josiah (said with a Spanish ‘J’)!  As they’re extolling all their greatest qualities that began with their letters, Henry asked me if he should try to do 'Mommy' and 'Daddy' or 'Todd' and 'Erin.'  I said, “Erin.”  Instantly, Caroline called out, “Irritating Erin.”  Really?  Excellent.  Encouraging.    

And earlier in the week, Caroline and I were in the car, it was a quiet moment, pleasant.  Then she broke the silence and asked, "Are you ever going to be attractive?"  Um, it's not looking good at this point.  

Today was a day where four out of five of us used a good 50,000 words each.  I was not one of them.  But I heard all the words.  Currently, I have on my noise-cancelling headphones.  And tomorrow's a holiday, so no school/work, so that means more words.