Lighting a Fire

We tried to keep up some old traditions this week.  We had our annual Battleship tournament with candy cane hot chocolates.  Josiah was my first opponent.  It was a close game, but I eked it out.  Next was Caroline.  I made my ships into a pattern thinking it would throw her off if the boat numbers didn't seem to add up.  Unfortunately, Caroline got a 'hit' on her second guess, and basically got the entire vertical row immediately.  It didn't take her long to get the horizontal row either.  But, she didn't count the ship dots because there was one lone ship without a 'hit' that kept the game going.  She figured it out before I won.  We played a second round and she got me on that game, too.    

We got the kids hot chocolate bombs for their stockings, so we tried them out this week.  They required warm milk instead of our usually microwaved water, so I hope they enjoyed them!  Basically, when the warm milk was poured over the chocolate shell, it opened up to reveal a cache of marshmallows.  They said it tasted just like their Swiss Miss powdered packets.  Josiah added some hot chocolate whip cream, because his goal was to get as many grams of sugar into his mug as possible.  

The kids tried out Henry's GI Joe launcher one morning.  It was 8 a.m. and they were having fun until one child launched it into a neighbor's yard and they had to go find it.  

Caroline displayed a new mopping technique.

Caroline also earned her first stripe on her grey-white belt.

I taught Caroline how to play Twinkle, Twinkle on the keyboard and she in turn taught it to Henry.  I went looking for my old piano books, but only found a piece by Bach and a piece by Pachelbel and she's not quite ready for that.  But we're glad she's interested and are looking for some beginner books.  

Todd took Henry on a walk at the beginning of the week, but didn't tell him where they were going.  They walked to the end of the neighborhood and then kept walking to Chipotle.  Henry had never been, but sure enjoyed his big burrito.

Later in the week, Todd took Caroline to the Over the Top Waffle Shoppe.  Todd said they made the waffle cones to order.  The newly made waffle was held in front of a fan to cool, so it was still slightly warm when the ice cream was added.  Caroline didn't mind eating it a little fast.  She said it was really good.  The kids are always happy to do things individually.  Josiah didn't go anywhere with Todd this week, but that's because he has a big birthday coming up and we have many plans for this birthday of his.  He did, however, help make cookies.  Todd found a recipe for brown butter cookies, so we gave it a try.  

The highlight of Benson's week was when Todd carved a rotisserie chicken.  He waited patiently, but expectantly, until he was given some of the goods.

And then came New Year's Eve.  Todd had told the kids they could stay up as late as they wanted.  So they did.  We started the night by watching Jumanji 2.  

Then the kids had a disco party in Caroline's room and played video games.  

The fireworks were going off all evening, but of course they ramped up at midnight.  The kids watched them and then we made them go to bed.  

Benson did a lot better this year than he did last January.  The fireworks still bothered him, but he wasn't sitting at attention the whole night like he did last year.  He did hide under the computer desk for a bit.  While he didn't like the really loud booms, what bothered him the most was the smaller fireworks that made the whistling sound.  Anytime he heard the whistling, he barked a lot.  

Yesterday it was 81°.  We had a high of 81°/82° all week.  In fact, we set a record for the warmest December for this area's history.  Last night a cold front came through and it is currently 36° outside and very windy.  Benson doesn't know what to do with himself.  He's barking madly, because he wants to go out.  But the second his Southern paws hit the freezing cold concrete, he turns around to jump back inside.  It should be back to 70° in a couple of days, which should make him happy.  We do hope it stays cold long enough to kill the mosquitoes though.  They have still been bad lately.  When the end of December comes around, we're kind of tired of dealing with mosquitoes.  

Happy at 81°

Because of the cold snap, Todd put a log on the fire for the first time in this house.  He had bought a box of the Duraflame logs to have on hand after last year's freeze.  Henry did the honors of lighting it.  Then the kids all sat close and even Benson checked it out.  (These logs do not 'pop' so the kids were safe.)

Tomorrow starts a new school semester.  I'm not sure I'm ready.  I think I could really go for a week of complete silence to recharge.  But so it begins...