Flipping for Belts and Pogo Stick Counts

Josiah earned his grey-white belt this week.  When the instructor puts new belts on the kids, he usually gives them words of encouragement or advice.  While he tied on Josiah's, he said that he was really good at jiu-jitsu and that he deserved the belt.  He mentioned how Josiah stays calm even when he doesn't win a round.  It was really nice and encouraging for Josiah to hear.  And, of course, when you get a new belt, you get flipped.  Josiah enjoys that part as well.

We were busy all week, but this weekend we went out to celebrate Josiah's achievement.  He picked Chili's for their awesome chicken tenders.  

We've had some shaggy haired menfolk around here.  They've been growing their hair all winter it seems.  Henry's hair was covering his eyes, which he claimed made it difficult to do his math work.  We solved that problem.  After he completed his school work on Wednesday, we headed to Great Clips.  Caroline, too, wanted to cut her hair, but she was unsure how much to cut because she really liked putting her hair in a braid.  She bit the bullet and cut off 5+ inches.  She said the hair dresser used a razor and cut off the big chunk all at once.  Then she trimmed it up so it was straight.  Caroline was behind a screen for most of it, which was how she wanted it.  She was hoping to surprise us, so all I was able to see was her hair drop to the ground.  She loves the new length and is even considering going shorter (but not as short as Ramona Quimby she keeps saying).  Just to try it out.  Thankfully, Henry is able to do his math again. No longer hindered by his luxurious locks.  (The picture doesn't do his hair justice.)

By the time our CC day came around, the weather was turning very cold.  The morning we drove to CC, the temperatures were in the 40s.  But as the afternoon progressed, the temperatures were dropping.  Not only that, it was raining as well.  Many families did not stay for the afternoon classes, but we stuck it out.  It was not supposed to dip below 32° until 6pm, so we figured we could make it home before the roads iced over.  Henry's afternoon class only had five kids on campus.  Typically there are fifteen.  While Henry was in his class, Caroline finished her Henry Huggins book in after-class.  She is a huge Beverly Cleary fan at the moment.  She's read all the Ramona books and has moved onto the Henry Huggins series.  

The next morning we woke up and it was 25° with a 'feels like' 13°.  The schools all around our area cancelled due to the icy roads.  Even Todd was home from work.  The kids begged to have a day off as well.  The temptation was too great, so we had an "ice day."  Josiah still had his Latin tutoring because it was over Zoom, but other than that, we had a relaxing free day, albeit a cold one.  The kids spotted a few icicles, too.

Caroline said she had been looking forward to playing outside in this cold weather.  She and Henry worked on their pogo stick counts.  She asked me to go outside to watch her.  25° is  not my favorite, so I stayed inside our heated house and counted her bounces through the window.  Henry decided that he wanted to beat the world record for pogo stick bounces.  He had reached over 600, so we looked it up to see what he would have to work towards.  206,864.  A man jumped for 20+ hours to achieve that number.  So, Henry has a new goal.  This evening, he worked at it again and reached a new high of 659 bounces.  Then he collapsed on the couch because his abs hurt so much.  Caroline broke her record, too, and jumped 84.  

We've had some very cold mornings all week.  Benson still gets up for his early morning constitutional, however he and Todd have only been walking around our front yard area.  Even Benson isn't too keen to take a stroll around the neighborhood when it's freezing out.  Back inside, he immediately curls up in bed.  He has a big week coming up, because on Tuesday, Benson turns 2!