Stock Photo Style

The schools here started on Wednesday, so our neighbor friend wanted to hang out at the community pool the day before to enjoy one last hurrah.  We did our school in the morning and took a lunch break at the pool.  They enjoyed their time and we got some fun shots of them jumping in.  Then there was a bit more school for the boys in the afternoon, which went as smoothly as could be expected after a few hours at the pool.  Focus.  Hey. Focus. FOCUS.  Can we please just finish this?!!

And to celebrate the end of his first half week at school, Henry and Caroline swam in his pool this weekend.  

Caroline had a very good week because she finally got to find out who her new tutors would be for the year.  She was ecstatic that she got the tutor she was hoping for and a class full of her favorite friends.  Her group of 10-year old's is pretty large, so we were unsure how they would divide them up.  Her classes start this coming week. She has her outfit ready and her excitement is palpable.  

Henry's been working on drawing Canada for cartography all week.  With practice, he's learned it isn't as hard as he thought.  

Henry also got his creative juices flowing when I brought home a container of cherries.  He took so many photos.  Sometimes a group of cherries, sometimes a duo.  There were cherries with stems and those without.  Some singlets.  He was pretty proud that he created Stock Photo quality material.  

Todd spent his weekend checking out the Texas health care system.  He spent Thursday progressively feeling more and more sick.  It felt very similar to his last kidney stone, so in the evening we made our way to the ER to confirm that was indeed what it was, as well as get the proper medicines.  But instead of a "quick" ER trip, he ended up getting admitted because there were also signs of infection.  On Friday afternoon, the doctor was able to remove two stones and insert a stent.  By the time he was able to eat after the procedure, he had been fasting for around 36 hours.  That hospital tray with shrimp scampi and veggies was quite good to his parched palate.  The hospital menu had typical American fair - burgers, spaghetti, & sandwiches, but then it had a Tex-Mex section with tacos and quesadillas, which sounded good on the surface, but the more I thought about it, the less I would want to order hospital tacos.  On Saturday, he was grateful to get his marching orders.  What he didn't realize was that it was quieter at the hospital than at home.  No photos were approved for this story...

This weekend we were happy our new oven was delivered.  We took a picture of the inside.  This'll be our "before."  As soon as we opened it, Caroline said she knew it was blue.  We've had it 24 hours and have already baked taquitos, cookies, pizza, and biscuits.  No more experimenting with broiled food around here, although Henry was getting good at broiling open-face bread pizzas.  

The kids have big plans to cook pancakes on the griddle tomorrow morning. 

At church this weekend, they had hung up pictures all the children had drawn of their families.  I searched them all until I found Caroline's.  A couple weeks ago she mentioned that she didn't know how to include Benson because dogs are hard to draw.  It was suggested she draw his tail on the side of the picture, so he made it in.  I like her detailed attention to our hair.  She loves hair!     

Benson is still the cutest.  He loves snuggling with his blanket.  

Caroline made a Benson-stache, too. 

Caroline has the most excitement for the week ahead.  For the boys, it's Week 3 of CC.