Double Ones

At the start of the week, Josiah earned his newest jiu-jitsu stripe.  After seeing how the boys flexed in her picture last week, Caroline was ready.  Henry was next to her, all-in as well.  So now this is how our stripe pictures are going to go - with the other two siblings flexing in the background. Even the guy who took the picture noticed and chuckled at what they did.  

Josiah chose Cinnaholic for his stripe.  He had never been before, which strengthened its appeal.  All of these dessert places are so over the top.  Josiah got Old Skool, which was just a regular cinnamon bun.  But all the other options were piled high with toppings.  Henry claimed his was healthiest because of the strawberries on it.  Yes.  The two cut up strawberries on the giant cinnamon bun covered in frosting, jam, and chocolate chips.  Caroline got the Cookie Monster - a cookie dough conglomeration.  

To continue with the festivities, we celebrated Caroline's 11th birthday mid-week.  Her birthday fell on a CC day as well - all three kids birthdays were the same day of the week this year.  The night before, she was not feeling well at all, so she changed her morning breakfast from bacon and eggs to a plain bagel.  When she woke up on birthday morning, she was feeling better, but didn't want to chance anything.  She received many fun gifts from her whole extended family - games and fingernail crafts, shirts and a locket necklace.  We got her a full length mirror, but it arrived broken.  The new one arrived today and she's happy with it.  Josiah picked out a chicken Squishmallow named, Todd.  For her locket, the boys were a little offended that Caroline plans to put pictures of her friends in it as opposed to her family.  That's 11.  

She brought sushi for lunch.  For her presentation at CC, she talked about the origins of Rice Krispie Treats.  We made a few batches the day before so she could bring them in and share.  
For dinner, she chose a favorite - Chipotle.  We never know who is going to be making the burritos, but the lady that night was very generous with the servings.  Happy Birthday to all of us.  

Caroline surprised us with her choice of cake this year - carrot cake.  We got one from the grocery store and it was good, but very sweet.  Caroline mixes the cake and frosting all together cake-pop style and eats it that way.  

To continue the celebration, Caroline was sung to at Awana and then she brought cookies to share with her T&T group there.  They had a low turnout night (it is the start of spring break), so the leader said the kids got 2 1/2 cookies each.  They were big Costco chocolate chip cookies, so I'm sure the parents were thankful for the sugar high at 8:00 p.m.  Now to begin the post-birthday-season-sugar-detox.  

In Josiah's CC class, they take about 15 minutes each day of the spring semester to go over etiquette in anticipation of Protocol at the end.  It is a fancy dinner followed by a play or ballet or some event.  Josiah's class practiced that a gentleman stands up whenever a lady at the table stands.  He has three girls in his class total, but only two were there this past week.  EVERY time either of them stood up, every boy stood as well.  Every time they left the room or came back, all the boys stood up.  They had so much fun with it.  The girls had fun with it, too, randomly standing at times to see if the boys were paying attention.  I don't think they'll ever forget this little tidbit of etiquette after that day.  

We learned this week that Henry has his own slang for the police.  Whenever we see someone pulled over, I always say, Uh oh, the PoPo.  For some unknown reason Henry has misunderstood this comment for the last 13 years.  He thought they were the HoPo.  Ho for their red lights and Po for their blue.  He is insistent that I taught him that.  No, child.  I never taught you HoPo.  Henry is fond of his word, however, and plans to continue using it.  

Josiah got to go to a game night this weekend.  It was open to several CC campuses - Challenge I-IV levels (9th-12th).  This particular one had a big group from Josiah's class.  He had a lot of fun.  Pizza was eaten.  Games were played.  He typically misses out on these particular events because the usual host is over an hour away from us.  This time things were closer to our end of town so he got to attend.  

Friday, I lost my voice and haven't felt the best.  I don't have time for that during spring break, so I'm praying things feel better in the morning.  We have something fun planned for just about every day this coming week.