Complimentary Chauffeur

I think I need a chauffeur hat when I get in the car from now on.  That's what I've turned into around here.  We had a break week from CC, but in no way was it a break.   

Monday we had our dentist appointments.  Nerves always run high because no one wants to be the one who gets a cavity, but also none of us are completely sure how our teeth will check out.  This visit we were 4 for 4.  No cavities.  Josiah said we should get Dairy Queen to celebrate.  Um, no.  That evening they had wear-your-costume night at jiu-jitsu.  We didn't get the memo, so our kids went as jiu-jitsu students.  They separated the kids into "costumed" and "uncostumed" that night and they mostly played games.  They had sumo tournaments as well as the worst, most injury-inducing game, Touch the Foot.  The two opponents are tasked with being the first to touch the other's foot (below the ankle).  

Caroline

Josiah & Henry

Tuesday, Halloween, Josiah had an early morning orthodontist appointment.  He truly is at the end.  They took molds of his teeth for retainers and he has his appointment early in the new year to get his braces off.  Finally.  Later that day, he had plans to trick-or-treat with friends from church.  I dropped Kermit off at 6:00 p.m. with three baskets of McDonald's fries as his "appetizer" to share.  Their group walked around his friend's neighborhood for hours getting candy.  He had a lot of fun.  

Meanwhile, Henry and Caroline went with some friends to a trunk-or-treat in East Bernard, TX.  They, too, had a good time and ate some MOD pizza on the way home.  

We also made cake pops on Tuesday.  The kids were pumped to make them, but then, because of all the Halloween candy, no one ate them.  We are also well aware that we are not at the level of selling our cake pops.  They are made for consumption, not aesthetics.  

Wednesday, Josiah had a friend come over to work on their debate.  They are doing Team Policy Debate, and they are the negative team trying to convince the judge that they should keep capital punishment as federal law.  Essentially, the affirmative side comes up with three harms (reasons) as to why we should repeal the death penalty (federal ban).  They come prepared with their arguments typed and ready to go.  The negative side has no idea what reasons the affirmative side will give, so they have to prepare for every possible reason.  They've brainstormed potential reasons in class as a group, so there are some common ideas everyone is familiar with, but the negative side has a lot more preparation.  Josiah's debate is in two weeks.  His partner is very pro-capital punishment, so he is particularly excited to debate the negative side.  

While Josiah was working with his classmate, Caroline was playing with his younger sister who is her classmate.  At the same time, Henry got picked up to play at a friend's house for the afternoon.  When we met back up with Henry that evening at church, he said he had a great time at Adam's house.  They made a zip line in the backyard using rope and a pipe.  They held onto the pipe to slide down the rope.  It sounded like they had a lot of trial and error which is some of the best learning.  Henry loves going to this friend's house.     

Thursday, Josiah had a four-hour yearbook meeting out in Pearland.  I drove all the CC kids from this side of town, so it was a full car.  With each stop, Josiah, the Uver host, welcomed his friend into the Uver van and then he read out a list of rules.  Keep it family friendly.  Love the Beatles.  No fighting.  All the important things.  I did not have to drive the afternoon leg, for which I was very grateful.  

During our Thursday drive, Josiah noted that the new song, Now and Then, had been released from the Beatles.  He listened to the song in the car with his friends.  Three times.  He could not wait for their video to drop the next day, as well.  Josiah has contributed significantly to the song's millions of views/listens.  Significantly.  So much so that the song made it into my dreams after only one day of listening.

Friday was a field trip to the Houston Holocaust Museum.  This was originally a Challenge A field trip - Henry's class - because they recently read Number the Stars.  But almost half of his class couldn't make it, so the field trip was opened up to all the Challenge classes.  It ended up that more of Josiah's class was going to go.  That, coupled with my childcare falling through for Caroline (who is too young for the museum - 6th grade is the youngest), made Henry choose to stay home with her with the hopes of going with his classmates in the future.  Josiah and I attended.  We had a very good docent who gave a two-hour tour.  They had a Danish ship that rescued thousands of Jewish people from Denmark (to Sweden), which was part of the Number the Stars story.  This particular museum followed the stories of survivors who settled in the Houston area.  

We had to rush home from the museum to get all three kids to their evening activities.  Caroline had Awana per usual.  

Henry had a movie night at his friend's house.  They do dinner and a movie once a month with his group of friends.  They started watching the old Treasure Island, but gave up after an hour and played outside.  

Josiah, meanwhile, went to a local high school's basketball game with some church friends.  It was a four hour block of watching basketball, which seemed a little much for Josiah, but he had a good time.  Afterwards his friends went to a golf place and played putt putt.  We gave him til 9:40 p.m. before strongly encouraging him to come out to the car.  They were only on Hole 5.  We were tired!  

Saturday morning we slept in.  Henry made us pancakes for breakfast.  Then, in the early afternoon we all went outside to do yardwork.  Henry did a much needed poop walk in the backyard.  Benson thanked him.  Then Henry mowed the back.  While he mowed, Josiah and Caroline cleaned out our "garden" area, so named for the garden that never got planted.  It was overgrown with big stalks of weeds.  They used the big clippers and cleared it out.  Everything's fun when you can use giant clippers.  While they were working in the back, I started cleaning out the garage.  Everyone switched and Josiah mowed the front, while Henry and Caroline helped with the garage.  We filled up our recycling bin and our trash can completely.  As we made our way back to the backyard to sit for a minute, the kids reminisced that the last time we cleaned to this degree, I got them milkshakes from Chick-fil-a.  

Henry said, Yeah. Remember? You were in a really good mood and got us milkshakes?  

me - What?  I'm always in a good mood.

Henry - Prove it.

Well played, sly dog.  What flavor milkshake do you want?

Caroline finished out her weekend with a roller skating party after church on Sunday.  She hadn't been on skates in quite a while, but she picked it up quickly and had a really good time.  

The boys had to come with me to pick up Caroline to ensure they made it to their LifeGroups on time.  We had about 10 minutes of time to kill, so we did the swings at a nearby park.  They were enjoying themselves.  Then Caroline said, Look! No hands!  And a second later she was on the ground, face down, with the wind knocked out of her.  I asked her if it was because of the No hands!  It was.  When she got herself gathered again, she sat on the swing and noticed her body imprint in the mulch.  It's hard to see in the photo, but we could make out her face, body, arms, and legs.  She iced her hand when we got home, but other than that she seems to be fine.  

She was facing the other direction on the swing when she fell off it.

And now we're back to school as usual come Monday morning.