Stripes, Recitals, and Belated Graduations

Henry was all about jiu-jitsu this week.  He went three days in a row so he could receive his second red stripe.  His original intention was to go four days in a row.  He wanted to see if he could earn two stripes before we head east in June.  Alas, meningitis curbed his plans.  Thursday rolled around and he finally had his 11-year well check.  They gave him two vaccines, one in each arm.  By Thursday evening, his arms were hurting pretty bad, so no jiu-jitsu.  He has continued to say his meningitis arm hurts.  I'm not sure if it was the tetanus or the meningitis, but one arm is hurting still today.  He says if he flops his arms out in front of him they feel better, so every now and then he stands and just flops his arms like a crazy boy.  

Both Henry and Caroline finished their math books this week.  They took their final tests and were happy to have it completed.  Henry, however, was not happy the following day when I produced a final exam that covered his entire book.  It was six pages!  So unfair, I was told.  He took it begrudgingly and did fine.  Henry has his math skills down.  His challenge is reading the directions.  Now they both get a reprieve in math lessons until I order their new books.  No doubt I'll be greeted with big smiles when I pull out the flashcards tomorrow.  

Caroline does a lot of her reading with Benson.  

Saturday morning, we had a Cracker Barrel breakfast.  I had a year's old gift card and we finally put it to use.  This may have been our very first meal where everyone ordered off of the adult menu.  The boys both ordered Mama's Breakfast - bacon, eggs, and a stack of three gigantic pancakes.  All three kids took a good bit of food home which served as both dinner and breakfast the next morning.  

Saturday afternoon, the boys and I drove a long way out to a friend's house.  This family has six kids and they were putting on a music recital as well as having a graduation party for their high school senior.  For the recital, four kids played the piano, a different child read a published short story, and another read three original poems.  Three of the kids played very nice piano pieces.  Some were familiar.  All were very good.  Then, towards the end, the one son who is in 9th or 10th grade sat down to play.  He proved to be quite talented.  He said he had been working on the first part of Deux Arabesques by Debussy for three months and wanted to play the second movement(?) but had only been working on it for three weeks.  He started playing and it was clear the boy had skills.  Later I learned his goal was to become a concert pianist.  I think he'll make it.

After the music, we helped set up for the graduation party.  The kids played and when the food was ready Henry enjoyed a plate piled high with brisket and sides.  While we were away, Todd and Caroline tried out a new chicken salad restaurant.  The menu consists of multiple options of chicken salad.  When their bellies were full, they headed to Lowes to get one of the paint colors for Caroline's room.  She picked out a blue for the top half and a green for the bottom half.  Of course, the green is from Lowes, the blue is from Home Depot.  The guy at the paint counter was very nice and showed Caroline how they colored the paint.  Todd said he opened up the machine thing to show her where the colors came from.  Now we're on the hook to get her blue and we can get started on her room.  She is going for a garden theme - green for grass and blue for sky.  

After church today, Josiah started arguing about something.  In the argument he brought up the fact that he never got a kindergarten graduation.  Henry and Caroline got a special graduation and reception at church, but Josiah was already in first grade when we started going to our current church.  He never got anything at the other one.  We fixed that.  We immediately hummed Pomp & Circumstance, put a robe and hat on him and announced his completion of kindergarten.  His face says it all.  

Henry and I were hanging out back with Benson one day and Henry snapped some pictures of the blue sky and a selfie that he wanted to make sure was shared.  

Since it is Memorial Day weekend, we wanted the kids to know what Memorial Day really meant.  Todd has been reading stories of Congressional Medal of Honor recipients so we could hear of their bravery and sacrifice.  The Congressional Medal of Honor Society has a website with all of their stories telling how they earned their award.  They are inspiring and sobering all at the same time.  

A Personality You Can't Handle

The kids had a great start to their week.  Josiah joined the yearbook committee at CC this past year.  Since we have a small community compared to regular schools, Josiah had two pages that he was responsible for - the Essentials class and the Faces of History page.  To celebrate completing the yearbook, they had a bowling party.  And to Henry and Caroline's delight, families were invited.  Monday night we headed over to Main Event and the kids had an hour to bowl, followed by pizza, cupcakes, and a $10 arcade card.  These kids had so much fun bowling.  And it wasn't so much knocking down the pins.  On the computerized screen, they were able to change their names and pictures as often as they liked.  They took full advantage.  Bowl, change name, change photo.  Every. Single. Frame.  But there was a lot of laughter and smiles, so we just sat back and let them.    

The $10 arcade card did not take long to use up.  Josiah was under the impression it was a 30 minute card, so he used his up extra fast.  Henry played a game of air hockey with a friend.  That was the only photo I got as I sat and talked with the other moms.  

The next night, we went to our neighbor's belt promotion ceremony at his school.  Instead of traditional gym class, they had the option to do Kickstart Kids which is a karate program by Chuck Norris.  As we sat in the bleachers, I counted 113 middle schoolers, but as they did their introductions, we learned they were from four different schools.  The best part was when the head instructor called them all to attention and all 113 of them stopped talking and sat up straight.  They showed off what they knew and even had a demonstration team whose acrobatics were fun to watch.  They called every name and gave them their new belt.  It all took exactly one hour which was impressive given the quantity of skills they demonstrated.  

This week, Josiah earned his 2nd white stripe and Caroline her 4th.  To Smoothie King they went.

Poor Benson cut himself somehow.  He had a slit in one of his paw pads, which we discovered after walking downstairs one morning and seeing drops of blood all over the wooden floors (and some on the carpet).  It was a rough spot on which to be cut, because he could not avoid walking on it, although it seemed to bother us more than him.  Our three young vet techs took very good care of him.  His back paw got a saltwater spa every time he came in from outside.  It looks much better now that we're five days out.  And he still sleeps like a crazy dog.

The kids have big summer plans.  Midweek Henry and Caroline helped Josiah clean his room.  It made his second bunk bed available for sleeping, so they wrote up a summer sleeping schedule.  Each week they are going to rotate the room where they sleep.  This week was Josiah's, tomorrow they switch to Henry's.  To get our approval, Josiah said that they could learn how to live with a roommate like they would have to do in college.  It would teach them how to respect each other's things, and morals.  I liked how he threw in the word 'morals' to make the plan sound more appealing.  They've been in Josiah's room for four nights now.  There has been a lot of noise and chatting each night, but they're enjoying it so we're going with it.  

The school days have been much lighter, which has been nice.  However, I did talk to the kids about shortening the length of them.  This past week we had several days where math lessons were taking four hours to complete.  It wasn't difficult math, it was just a sprinkling of math, have a snack, little math, read a few chapters, a bit more math, DuoLingo, typing, etc.  I challenged them to try to finish by 10:00 each day or something close to that (they're up by 7 most days anyway).  Then we have the rest of the day to do the things we want to do.  They're all on board for the eight days of school we have left.

All three kids did jiu-jitsu class this weekend.  They had some fun and did sumo for a portion of their time.  Easy rules - if you step out of the circle or fall, you lose.  They were very quick, but fun, matches.  

Henry

Josiah

This afternoon Caroline walked up to me with a smile and said, "I don't have an attitude, I have a personality you can't handle."  We asked her where she heard it and she said she made it up.  I kind of wish she had heard it somewhere.  Our hands are full! 

And the squirrels this week have been crazy!  They have multiplied and are fearless with Benson and us.  Caroline and I walked out to the car one day and there were six squirrels in the front yard.  They kept darting back and forth under the car so much we were scared to try and get in.  They've been in the crook of the tree where Benson likes to jump and they just sit there watching him.  They could easily scurry up the tree without incident, but they just sit and taunt.  

A week and a half left of school.  We're trying to finish well.  

Mary Poppins Jr.

To have something to do in the evenings besides watching TV, we taught the kids the game of rummy this week.  Our first game, the practice round, Caroline showed her skills collecting three 5s and three Aces.  We had to keep reminding a certain sibling that it was just a practice round.  It didn't count.  We were not keeping score.  But, if we were keeping score, Caroline would have won.  We've been playing off and on all week and they've picked it up pretty well.  It's been fun.  I tend to show no mercy at card games and I have yet to win a game against them, so they've done well.  

The kids have also used some of their extra time reinvigorating their Super Girls comic book.  They had worked on it a year ago or so, but then interest waned.  Now that our school days are shorter, they have more time in the afternoons.  When they decided to pick it back up, there was a lot of discussion, somewhat heated, as to who would be the idea man, who would be the inker and who would color the pictures.  There was more than one child vying for the inking job.  

Henry has used all his outside time this week sitting in a tree.  He started on Monday while we were doing yardwork.  He made it up pretty high and has enjoyed its boughs ever since.  He just sits and watches the traffic go by as if he were sitting on a porch swing.  

He's gotten Josiah up a few times, too.  Other days, Josiah has worked on his chalk drawings.  This week he drew Agent Jones. (Fortnite again...)

I ruined dinner the other night.  I put the peas in the Rice-a-Roni.  One child, who shall remain nameless, said they would eat the Rice-a-Roni (because they love it!) and they would eat the peas, but only if they were separate.  When that child was told, Take it or leave it, they used their best death scream, "You ruined dinner!!!"  I have since made a mental note to tell their future spouse, Do not put peas in the Rice-a-Roni.  Always on the side.  It has been several days since that incident and I have been told repeatedly that I ruined dinner that night.  Ruined!  I thought it was good.  I was going for a fried rice type thing with the vegetables in it.  Not appreciated!

This weekend we went to see the play/musical Mary Poppins Jr.  Josiah and Henry both had classmates in it.  Josiah's classmate was a butler, who didn't speak much, but had a lot of stage time.  Henry's classmate was Chimney Sweep #3.  Their older sister, however, was Mary Poppins.  They did a really good job.  We were blown away by how well they sang and acted.  Josiah got the acting itch after seeing it.  He said if they ever made a play about the Beatles, he'd be the first to sign up.  This particular acting company is over an hour away from us, but we'll have to see what might be on our side of town.

Josiah volunteered at church again this morning.  He was assigned to the same classroom he's been in with the pre-K kids.  As we walked to our car after church, he commented, I think we need another helper in there.  Those kids are a train wreck. Apparently there is one kid in there who is a bit on the destructive side.  It's not boring, that's for sure.

This evening, Todd brought us to the Over the Top Waffle Shoppe.  This is the place he brought Caroline a few months back.  They make the waffle cones fresh and then scoop your ice cream into them.  Caroline got a smores waffle, Josiah got cookie monster, and Henry got chocolate lava.  As Henry ate and the chocolate drippings fell on his face and hands and arms, it reminded me of him enjoying his chocolate cone at the beach a few years back.  The boy loves his chocolate ice cream and he does not mind it all over him.... 

The kids are looking forward to the start of next week because we get to go to a bowling party.  May is very much a fun, easy month for us.  We're enjoying it.  

Finishing Up

On Monday, Todd came home from work with a box full of food.  His boss had a retirement party that day and he got to bring home a ton of leftover food.  Crackers, cheese, meats, prosciutto, olives, grapes, veggies, so much food.  The kids felt like it was a feast.  It was so much food that it lasted the whole week, making meals very easy.  What do you want to eat?  Get out the giant Ziplocs of cheeses, crackers, grapes, veggies, and pita chips.  Any day I don't have to come up with an idea for meals is a win.

This has been a week of finishing up.  The kids had their last Wednesday night at church.  They all had a good semester there and seemed to enjoy their classes.  Caroline was particularly happy that she got a snack this last week. Her class never gets snack, whereas Henry's class always seems to get a bag of chips.  Josiah is in the student ministry and they get pizza every Wednesday night.  So a snack on the last night for Caroline was pretty nice.  After picking up the younger two from their classrooms, we waited in the hallway for Josiah to come down from the jr. high/high school area.  He met us in the hallway carrying two Chick-fil-a sandwiches.  They had had a special night honoring the high school seniors.  At the end of it, Josiah asked to take two sandwiches for his siblings.  Very nice.  As we walked out of church and into the parking lot, both Henry and Caroline were opening their sandwiches.  I told them, Wait until we get to the car.  You wouldn't want to drop it and not be able to eat it.  Caroline took one bite and put the sandwich back in its pouch.  Henry turned and looked at me, I'm holding it with two hands.  It's not going to drop.  10 seconds later it was on the ground of the parking lot.  His little pouch had a hole on both ends.  Henry adheres to the 5-second rule, however.  He picked that sandwich up and proceeded to eat it.  That's how we build up our immune systems around here.

The following day, Josiah had his final day of Challenge A.  It was a day of blue book assessments.  For his science assessment this semester, he had to present on the respiratory system.  (Parents were allowed to sit in on this section, but we were told to stay silent. 😉)  He had to draw it for his classmates, describe all the parts and how they work.  I assumed that since it was a final assessment it had to be completely from memory.  So for the past two weeks, I've had him present it to me at home from memory.  He was the only one to not walk up with a notecard or something to read.  But at least he knows the respiratory system.  In his drawing, he ran out of room, so he put the diaphragm to the right of his lungs.  He got a chuckle for that.  When he was done with the main parts, he talked about the dangers of smoking as well as what happens in an asthma attack.  He did really well.  He says he gets nervous, but he always surprises me with how well he speaks in front of others.  He certainly does not look nervous when he's up there.  

Now that blue books are over, Josiah has a lot less on his plate, which he appreciates immensely.  He said that his favorite subject this year was the Reasoning strand.  He loved learning about fallacies (red herring, straw man, etc.) in The Fallacy Detective.  He also liked his Analogies book.  I asked him what he liked best after those and surprisingly he said science.  He had a great year.  

While Josiah was taking his blue books, the rest of us were enjoying the End of Year party.  We had a potluck and the kids played for hours and hours.  They were outside a lot.  They played a ton of card games.  I didn't see Henry and Caroline much at all.  Mostly we'd pass in the hallway.  I would ask them if they had eaten.  They had, though I didn't know what they ate.  

Not knowing what they ate at the party came back to haunt Caroline.  That night she woke up at 2 a.m. with a queasy belly.  She proceeded to empty her stomach.  The next morning, however, she seemed pretty okay, so it must have been the smorgasbord of foods she enjoyed.  

Last week, Henry was trying to get all his school work done by 7 a.m.  This week he realized that there was no benefit to that because then he would be bored for a good part of the day waiting for his siblings to finish their work.  So, he's relaxed on his 7 a.m. deadline, but still gets his work done the quickest.  He has filled his days with helping out around the house.  He's done the dishes, laundry, and picked up Benson's 'business' in the backyard.  He's brushed Benson's teeth every day.  He has helped cook many meals as well.  He's been a welcome help.  

Henry finally wore his new gi this week, too.  He's had it for a while, but felt it was still a little too big.  The other gi was a little too small, so we convinced him to give this new one a try.  

At the end of the week, Caroline had her Awana Award Ceremony.  She had completed her book and earned all the awards and patches that went with it.  She was happy to receive her envelope of goodies.  After the ceremony, they always have cookies and lemonade.  Someone was not too happy that her brothers, who did not participate in Awana this year, were still allowed to have a cookie.  Someone said that if you didn't do the work, you didn't deserve a cookie.  That same someone was reminded of all the times she was able to get Dairy Queen or McDonald's when Henry got Memory Master in years past.  But apparently they were not an equal comparison in her mind.  

This weekend we celebrated the kids finishing CC at Outback.  Caroline spent a few minutes getting her area just perfect.  

The food was good.  Both Henry and I got steak and shrimp.  The boy can eat!  

For Mother's Day we got breakfast tacos.  Caroline put her stamp on the box.  

I also got a clean car - Caroline vacuumed the inside and we took a drive through the longest car wash in the United States after church today.  We like this car wash - we feel like we're getting our money's worth.  

Josiah has been drawing a lot before bed.  He's colored a good bit in his Garfield comic books, but one day he got inspired to draw all the presidents on index cards.  It took two nights to complete the set, but he did well.  He really captured their faces and expressions well.

We should have a nice easy week coming up.  The kids will be excited when they see their lesson plans for the week.  Since we have so much extra time, we're going to deep clean one room a day.  Yay for me.    

And Benson, getting a better look at the neighbor's cat.