Twelve is Swell

Josiah made it all night sleeping next to Benson last Sunday night.  He was determined to do it a second night, so to make it more cozy he added a second layer of couch cushions.  The bed itself was quite soft, however any movement upon said bed caused the cushions to part leaving great voids between each section.  Not exactly conducive to good sleep.  By 4:00 a.m., Josiah gave up and moved back to his own bed.  Wise choice, young man.

Caroline spent President's Day at church doing a Winter Retreat for 4th and 5th graders.  The theme was Escape Room.  When she got in the car, she said it meant "escape from sin."  Nothing wrong with that!  They did have a real escape room, and she said her group was able to make it out.  It was an all day event, so while she was having fun, the boys and I worked on some school.  Josiah had a full day of school. (He writes out his own weekly schedule of when he's going to complete everything.  I had to remind him of that fact when he was having to do the most work that day....)  Henry worked on his end of year Faces of History project.  He read and outlined an entire book.  Even though Caroline was exhausted at the end of her retreat, she still found it in herself to go to jiu-jitsu that evening.  Her powerful motivation was that she needed two classes this week to get her next stripe.  Crumbl Cookie was calling.  She slept hard core that night.  

The next day, Caroline earned that stripe.  She got her cookie.  

The boys made the jiu-jitsu facebook page.  

The day before Henry's birthday, he decided that everybody would sleep in his room.  To make it even more of a pre-birthday bash, they all dressed up as Henry.  Camo pajama pants and grey t-shirts.  We dragged a mattress in for Josiah, but Caroline got the cot and that was about as comfortable as Josiah's couch cushion bed next to Benson.  One of the big reasons that Henry wanted them in his room was because he had a strict 6:00 a.m. wake up time for all members of the household.  

While they stayed up late chatting in Henry's room, Todd and I did some deep thinking.  Henry wanted all of his birthday gifts hidden with hard clues.  We've been hiding their gifts for so many years now, that finding new spots is not easy!  Todd had good ideas and we got the gifts hidden before too long.  Then, at 6:00 a.m. on the dot, all three of them were hovering over me to make sure I got up.  The scavenging commenced.  

Henry's birthday card held the first clue.  It was a puzzle in the shape of an "L."  The only thing shaped like an L is our sofa.  X marked the spot and he got his second gift.  

This gift had a multiplication problem on it that had five decimal points.  He had to solve it and then we had three possible answers.  The two wrong answers led him to spots that had "Try Again" written on them.  The correct answer led to his next present.  

His next gift had a rebus puzzle.  We had rhymes, riddles, "the classic spot," and lagging which meant his computer desk.  He likes to say things lag when he's not doing well in his video game.  Eventually, all the gifts were found.

He got some great gifts from so many.  Legos and Nerf guns.  Headphones and games.  My favorite gift that we got him was a tank top that says, "I flexed and the sleeves fell off."  He'll never wear it out of the house, but it'll be funny to see him wear it to bed.  

For breakfast, Henry opted for bacon and eggs, which, for the price of eggs right now, made it a gourmet meal.  I made enough eggs for everyone, but only Henry and I ate them.  That meant Benson benefited greatly and had a very hearty egg breakfast.  He wasn't complaining.  They spent the day working on Legos, playing video games, eating, Legos, video games, in an endless cycle.  

For lunch, Henry opted for Chipolte.  A massive burrito hit the spot.  All three kids like Chipolte a lot.  

Dinner was a Henry original.  The menu:  Orange chicken, fried okra, green bean casserole, and rolls.  I did not realize you had to blanch the green beans first, so I sort of ruined that dish.  Crunchy green bean casserole... We do not have it often, but when we do, it is Todd's dish to make.  

For his cake, Henry wanted a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream in the middle.  It looked like a whoopie pie pre-icing.  Henry was very specific with the icing - homemade buttercream.  No store-bought container, no cream cheese in it, just the basics.  He also wanted a light layer of icing - just enough to hold it together.  (The boys are not looking forward to Caroline's cake because she said she wants a frosting cake.  Mounds of frosting cut into slices.)  We sang to our new 12-year old.  They were tired that night because they didn't sleep much the night before.  

It took Henry three days to get his Lego Police Station put together.  It was one of those 18+ kits and they have a ton of details. The interior desks had typewriters and old style phones.  After it was made, Josiah asked if we could get him the adjoining bookstore that was in the picture.  Uh, you can pay the $200 if you want.    

The game Henry got was Chinese Checkers because he had played it at a friend's house and liked it.  He and I have had quite a few Chinese checkers battles this week.  We play three games at a time to see who gets the most wins.  Then, throughout the day we play two more sets of three games to see who is the grand champion.  I completely forgot that you could hop, but Henry was quick to hop his marbles all the way across the board.  I learned quickly to up my game.  

At CC this week, we learned about Van Gogh.  We painted Starry Night and three years ago and it was a huge hit.  At that time, we had a family member pencil in the outline to Starry Night on canvases.  This year the kids got construction paper and their own creativity.  It was not a favorite! 

After CC, Josiah and a few classmates went to the mall to hangout.  They stopped in Barnes and Noble to take a picture with their favorite childhood books.  He had a good time.  

Caroline spent Friday on a cleaning spree.  While I was working on school with the boys, she had gone mysteriously quiet.  She emerged from the school room hours later with an announcement.  She had cleaned all three school desks along with their shelves and the art/painting shelf.  I am thoroughly enjoying this zealous interest to clean and organize the whole house.  

It is rare to see this much "desk" on Josiah's desk.

This Friday was Go Texan Day, which is the unofficial start to the Houston Rodeo.  At Awana, they had to come dressed as cowboys/girls.  

This weekend we participated in Caring for Katy.  It's the day our church closes its doors and does service projects in the community.  This year we were at a house that belonged to a missionary's father (who had passed).  Todd spent Saturday doing demo work.  They had to take down the old fence and put in new posts to harden overnight.  Sunday, many worked on putting up a fence.  There was drywall repair, furniture building, and landscaping.  The kids did a lot of the landscaping.  We started by clearing rocks out of one bed.  We planted, moved rocks around, cleaned up debris, and worked til our backs were sore.  The kids had a backyard project of planting around a tree that they did all on their own.  They had a lot of fun with the many tools lying around, especially the post digger.  In the end, it looked a lot better.  Todd and I are hoping we can get out of bed tomorrow without too much pain.