Parks, Picasso, & Pals

Our break week from CC got sufficiently filled up with fun with our CC friends.  

Early in the week, Henry and Caroline joined a friend at a park.  We had tried this playground last year, but some (truant) teenagers took over the top of the slide area, so we thought we'd make another attempt.  This time, the kids had it all to themselves.  They played a tag sort of game and later did obstacle course races on it.  Caroline filmed herself jumping and doing cartwheels.  On the very last cartwheel, she slammed her leg into a bench and ended the day with a 2"x 4" bruise.  It hit her right below the knee.  But overall, a good time was had by all.  

That evening, Josiah wore his new gi to jiu-jitsu.  All three kids have been wearing highwater gis.  The idea was, I could buy Josiah a new one and then each child could move up to their sibling's gi.  Henry was a no-go on this idea, so Josiah looks very nice in his new white gi, Caroline looks great in her new-to-her blue gi, and Henry is standing ready for the flood.  

One morning, Henry asked me if he could use the flaps from the top of a box.  I gave him the okay, he cut them off, and then I didn't hear anything else about it.  Until Josiah got to drawing.  Josiah drew President Reagan in the style of his Rat Town characters.  He liked how it turned out, so he asked how he could hang it in his bathroom without ruining it.  Why did he want to hang it in his bathroom?  So Reagan could tell Henry to "tear down this wall."  The cardboard box flaps became a wall that Henry erected between their two sinks.  So, this is the current state of their bathroom.  Divided like Berlin in 1987.  

Later in the week, we had a most busy day.  Josiah had a yearbook meeting.  They all gathered at a teahouse and worked on their pages.  Apparently the school photos were not uploaded by the start of the meeting so they spent the first two hours playing games on their computers.  For the latter two hours, they worked.  It was a boba tea place.  Boba meaning there were little tapioca balls in the drinks.  It is a very popular drink among some CC families.  Josiah had never tasted it, so he got a friend's recommendation and ordered one.  Josiah tried the tea, but was not a fan of the boba part.  Ever the wise child, he learned if he downloaded the app, he could get a free drink.  He did so, and got himself a boba-free free tea.  At the teahouse, for whatever reason, the men's bathroom had no toilet (literally - it was a hole in the ground as they were doing repairs).  So Josiah left to find a bathroom.  Three doors down, he walked into a different business, not realizing they weren't open yet, and explained he needed to use the bathroom.  They were kind and allowed him and he bought one of their cream puffs as thanks.  He said they were amazing cream puffs, so now we want to go back and try them.  The adventures of Josiah.  

While Josiah was enjoying his puff, Caroline was at the Fine Arts Museum in downtown Houston.  She went with another CC family and had a very good time.  There was art by Lichenstein (the 'dot' guy) and O'Keeffe.  But they also had a Picasso entitled, Woman With a Large Hat.  It was bequested by a Caroline Wiess.  Our Caroline saw the name Caroline next to the painting and thought it meant the painted lady was named Caroline so she was even more excited since it was her favorite painter.  One mom made a scavenger hunt for the kids - they had to find different paintings throughout the building and got a small prize for doing so.  They ate lunch on the grounds and then the family Caroline went with stopped at a dessert shop on the drive home.  They each got a cupcake.  It was a very good day.  

Meanwhile, Henry and I stayed home and cleaned house.  We were having friends over that evening for a Game Night conceived and brought-to-you by Henry.  Two CC families came over and we ate pizza and then we played Apples to Apples all together.  It was so, so fun.  Apparently we have the adult version, so the other kids were a little surprised by some of the cards.  So many laughs were had.  Caroline ended up winning it.  The key to Apples to Apples is to know who is judging the cards.  After that initial game, the kids split off and played Clue for a while and then switched to Bang!  The other moms and I played a mean game of Scrabble.  We got a picture with the two big winners of the night.  

After everyone went home, we celebrated Benson's 4th birthday. Earlier in the day, Henry and I had made him some birthday treats - a peanut butter, pumpkin, and oat flour baked concoction.  Benson was so interested in the treat Henry was holding, that it completely distracted him from having the hat on his head.  Score!  Once the treat was eaten, the hat was immediately shaken off, not to be put on again.  

Josiah had a sport-filled weekend.  He cheered on his friends at their basketball game on Saturday and then went to a Super Bowl party with the same friends on Sunday.  To show support for both teams, he intermingled their logos. 

Caroline finished out her weekend with curls in her hair.  She got a curling iron for Christmas, but had yet to break it out.  We practiced on her mannequin head for the first few passes.  Then we tried Caroline's actual hair.  There was a learning curve but we got a few curls going.  Caroline did comment that if she wanted to curl her whole head, she'd have to wake up an hour earlier to do it.  Yep.  Then she said she could pull most of her hair back and curl just two little strands in the front.  Much more time efficient!  

It was a very full week.  Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we'll have the foundation repair guys digging around our house.