Firemen, Miss Frank, and a Fancy Gala

Monday morning we headed out to CC for Henry's tutor proof.  He typically likes to proof with new tutors because, as he says, they don't know the process as well and are usually not sticklers.  There was one tutor he was hoping not to get because he thought she would be pretty strict.  Only two tutors were on hand that day. Henry got the "strict one."  She was very nice and passed him even when he said "Floyd George of England" instead of "Lloyd George of England."  He has one more proof this coming week before he closes the door of memory master forever!  

After the proofing was done, we headed to a friend's house.  Caroline got to play there all morning during the proofs and Henry joined in after lunch.  They played, we ate, and then we headed to a park to play some more.  It was a park we had been to before, so the kids wanted to recreate their 'tree' picture.  

The following day, Henry earned his first stripe on his solid grey belt.  

All three kids got haircuts this week.  We looked up hairstyles for the boys because they both like it long on top.  For Henry, we showed the stylist a picture of Ryan Gosling.  Josiah wanted the 'mop top' look of the Beatles, but I may have made it less appealing when I mentioned that when I was in kindergarten, the bowl hairstyle was all the rage.  We always lean towards Tom Holland styles for Josiah anyway.  They have the same face shape.  Both boys look a lot better - cleaned up for sure. Caroline was debating how much to cut off.  She walked off with the hairstylist telling me it would be a surprise.  She disappeared behind the barrier, and 15 minutes later walked out 6 inches lighter!  She looked very cute, but at bedtime, she had cutter's remorse.  She cannot put it in braids anymore.  Despite the tears that evening, by morning she was back to liking the cut.  It's always fun to try new styles.  It'll always grow back.  

Midweek was full of Latin tutoring and dentist appointments.  Three out of four of us left the dentist with smiles on our faces.  The lone ranger blamed their less than stellar report on their maternally inherited 'deep grooves,' not their subpar dental hygiene.  The kids had their last Wednesday night at church as well.  In the student ministry, they celebrated the graduating seniors with pizza and ice cream.  Henry very kindly saved his ice cream sandwich and handed it to Caroline when we picked her up.  

We had our last day of CC (for the younger two) this week as well.  It was jammed packed.  Throughout the morning, the classes got to go outside and test their egg protectors.  A local firetruck came and dropped them from their ladder truck starting at 24 feet.  In Caroline's class, only two survived the first drop - Caroline's and another boy's.  The firemen were very accommodating and each time an egg survived, they were like, "Let's go higher!"  Caroline's cracked at the 36 foot drop.  The boy in Caroline's class survived the 36 and the 48 foot drops, finally cracking on the 60 foot drop!  Poor Henry cracked his egg while he put it into the protector, but they dropped it anyway.  

Loading the eggs:

Caroline's two drops:

In the afternoon, Caroline's class did their Faces of History presentations.  When she got on stage, she looked out at the very large crowd assembled and got a hint of stage fright.  She looked at me like she didn't want to do it, so I mouthed "You're good.  Just start."  As soon as she started, she did an amazing job.  She remembered everything that she had practiced for the past three weeks.  She was Anne Frank.  

In her class, they had: (L-->R) Anne Frank, William Herschel, Corrie ten Boom, Empress Theodora, the Bubonic Plague, (their tutor), Perpetua, Alfred the Great, Leonardo DaVinci, Beethoven, and Harriet Tubman.  

In between the Faces of History presentations, Josiah's Challenge B class did commercials.  They each picked an element from the Periodic Table and they had to sell it to us.  Josiah chose Copernicium because it was named after Copernicus and he loves Copernicus.  It's symbol is "Cn," not Cartoon Network, he told the kids.  He had a lot of fun with it.  Since there is no price, it's priceless!    

After all the presentations, there was an ice cream party for the Essentials kids.  There were leftovers, so the Challenge kids made their way to the tables as well.  

It was a very full and fun day and we were all totally exhausted when we got home.  

The following day we kept things light.  That evening, Josiah had his Gala.  He couldn't sleep the night before because he was excited about it.  It was held at Texas Safari Ranch.  They have peacocks roaming the grounds and, while beautiful, the grounds were also their bathroom and we had to watch where we stepped!  We arrived early for pictures.  Most of Josiah's class came as well as other students from our campus.  The sunglasses picture was my favorite.  

During the evening, we got updates on Facebook about what they were doing.  It was fun to get a glimpse of the food and fun.  We noticed Josiah waiting to put in his song requests with the DJ.  Throughout the evening, he requested A Hard Day's Night, Don't Let Me Down, and New Kids' on the Block's The Right Stuff.  All were played.  We were also able to download all the photobooth pictures, which was a really nice keepsake for the kids.  To prepare for the dance, he had learned The Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  I asked if he did it there and he said he did.  All his friends knew he was going to do it.  Then he had to step up his game when the line dancing came on - he hadn't practiced those.   

 He was completely exhausted at pick-up.  He has always been an early bird, and once the clock passes 11, he gets really tired.  There was no rest for the weary, however.  The next morning, Todd took Josiah and Caroline to the grand opening of the Lego Bricks and Figs store.  The first 100 customers got a free minifigure and Josiah wanted to be part of that group.  His poor friend Bobby had to work 10 hours that day after having stayed up late at the Gala himself.  

The store had a lady making balloon animals.  Caroline asked for a cactus.  She had never made a cactus before, but it turned out really well.  

The boys finished their weekend at their own respective pool parties.  Their Life Groups ended for the year so they had parties to celebrate.  The weather turned cold and rainy today (66°), so I wasn't sure the pool parties would happen, but both houses said the pools were heated.  Food was eaten.  Fun was had.  

Josiah has a busy week ahead of him.  He has meetings every day to prepare for his mock trial, with the actual trial happening Friday morning.