Pool Parties 1, 2, & 3

Caroline spent the first half of the week at Camp 345.  At drop-off on Sunday, she got quite upset after checking in.  For months, she and her friend Savannah had been planning on doing everything together at camp.  However, when they found each other, they discovered they were put in different groups and on different buses.  Tears were shed, but I tried to encourage her to make the most of it and still have a good time.  Camp 345 is smaller than the boys' KSM Kamp, but they go to the same Pineywoods Camp.  The church had a drop box of pictures, so we got to see Caroline as the days passed.  Each picture of her had her standing next to Savannah.  It ended up that the leaders let them be partners.  They are not allowed to go anywhere at camp without a partner, so that was why Caroline was so upset they were not in the same group.  I was glad the leaders let them stay together.  They did the zipline many times and rock climbing.  They really wanted to do the giant swing, but didn't have a third person.  Caroline was not a fan of the water games.  She protested by wearing as many clothes as possible.  Overall she had a very good time. 

 

This was the week of pool parties.  Early in the week, Josiah had one at a church friend's house.  They were smart and had everyone bring food to share.  He had a good time.  I receive no photos from 9th grade pool parties...

Henry went with friends to a KSM water party at our church's other campus.  There he tried a slip-n-slide for the first time.  Poor deprived child.  They had a lot of fun and went out to Whataburger afterwards.  

The following day, Henry had another pool party with all of his MARCH friends.  

But the biggest pool party of the week was the one for CC.  We went to the End of the Year Pool Party, walked into the backyard, and were greeted with, "Surprise!"  All our CC friends threw us a going away party.  The kids had a lot of fun swimming with their friends.  Our friend made Caroline's favorite hot dogs.  There were cards and gifts.  There was cake and ice cream.  Then they prayed over us and it was a wonderful, humbling experience.  We have loved our CC community.  We have loved their friendships and they have been our Texas family for ten years now.  

Josiah's friends made videos of themselves in the pool.  One of his friend's did a number of belly flops.  No doubt his stomach hurt the next day.

I spent the beginning of the week on the phone with moving companies.  As someone who hates talking on the phone, this was an exhausting process.  However, the silver lining is that we now have a move-out date sometime between July 19-21.  We'll know the exact date as the time gets closer.  This coming week we have a POD coming, so we can get all these boxes out of the house.  We had a big packing party (amongst ourselves) this weekend.  The boys have been concerned about their Lego creations, so we got giant bags of packing peanuts and have packed them very gently.  Josiah is packing his room up with such care.  Each box contains just a few items that are wrapped in tissues and packing paper and then taped together.  He uses such extreme care and precision that I have to walk away because of the sheer amount of 'cushioning' being used per item.  Nothing of his should break.  Ever.  

I myself keep finding stuff to throw away.  One such item actually made it all the way from Virginia.  It was a jar of baby food that we bought for Josiah.  When we got it home, we discovered that everything was written in Russian.  So, what better to do than keep it on our kitchen shelf for 15 years.  That will not be traveling to South Carolina.  The junk drawers got tossed as well.   

The kids each have a sleepover to close out the weekend.  Caroline is currently at a friend's house for the night.  Henry has a few friends over at our house, and Josiah's turn is tomorrow.  We're eking out every bit of time.  Henry's friends have VR, so he's been enjoying that.  

Benson has been finding different spots to sleep now that the summer heat is peaking.  He hangs out on the tile and cool wooden areas.  

 

VBS: Take Two

Caroline had VBS this week at our home church.  She was excited to go and spend the week with her friend Savannah.  They had special afternoons for the 5th graders since this is their last year to participate in VBS.  On Tuesday, they got pizza and then played games up in the KSM (where the boys go on Sundays).  On Thursday, they got Chick-fil-a.  After eating it, several kids ran to the waterslides, which was their fun activity that afternoon.  As quickly as they ran to the waterslides, then ran from them screaming.  Tropical Storm Alberto had brought a lot of rain the day before.  All that water brought the fire ants to the surface, so the kids who were running back from the slides had their feet covered in fire ants.  It was horrible.  That afternoon was a bust.  The last day of VBS, Caroline was given a rock to paint.  She drew a face and named it, Fred.  

While Caroline had VBS in the mornings, Josiah went to Bobby's church in the evenings and helped out with their VBS.  It was the same theme as our church's, so Josiah liked to ask Caroline what she learned each day (since he did the same lessons with his kids).  He worked with Kinder/1st graders and did their lessons, crafts, and games.  He had a lot of fun with them.  

Tuesday morning, I woke up and it felt like a Mack Truck hit me.  It was instant sickness - high fever (103.4), bad headache, inability to stay upright.  The kids knew it was more than just a cold and let me stay in bed.  They did not ask for anything, but did check on me often.  Because they knew no meals were headed their way, Henry thought it was the best time to make his homemade pasta for the first time.  He had been watching Italian Nonnas on YouTube and wanted to make pasta just like them.  I encouraged him to watch the full videos from start to finish to see what making homemade pasta really entailed.  He was all-in.  He got his flour volcano and cracked the eggs inside.

He incorporated the dough.  He had no idea what it was going to be like to knead pasta dough.  Needless to say, his palms got quite the workout.  After getting it to a consistency that satisfied him, he let it rest.  

I had to go back to bed, but for the next step, he had me on speaker phone.  I could hear him rolling out the dough with the speed of a Nascar driver.  Slow down, push the dough.  He rolled until fatigue set in and then said he was more than happy to eat thick dough.  He'd just boil it a little longer.  

He got it cooked and finished it off in a sauce.  No photos of the finished product, but he and Caroline enjoyed the pasta dinner.  Next we want to to try the semolina flour because that dough is easier to make into shapes - no rolling pin required.  

Wednesday was another rough day for me.  The temperature rose to 103.8.  There was an added cough which made my throat on fire.  I was barely getting out of bed.  Henry took over dish duty and general kitchen maintenance.  I have no idea what the kids ate for any of their meals.  Henry remarked that he now understood why I tell the kids it is not necessary to use so many dishes all the time.  Yep.  Do the dishes and you understand that one cup a day is good.  Not five cups a day.  All the kids helped out.  They were always checking on me.  Josiah would have felt a pulse if I let him get closer.  When I still woke up with a high fever on Thursday, I headed to the Urgent Care that afternoon and discovered I had Flu A.  It was good to have a name for death warmed over.  By Friday I had turned a corner and things are (slowly) getting better every day.  The kids could tell I was feeling better because on Friday I was asked What's for dinner?  Now I'm left with a cough that sounds like I've been smoking for 30 years.  

It's been a weekend of playing catch-up at a snail's pace.  

VBS: Take One

This week, Caroline had VBS at the church where she does Awana.  She was very happy that she got the same leader as last year.  Vivian is 17, energetic, kind, and overall very fun.  Caroline prefers teenage leaders because they are more fun and more lenient.  She says the older lady leaders are really strict.  Her good friend from Awana was put on another team, which was sad for Caroline.  They still did all the same things at the same time (craft time, snack time, game time), but they were at different tables.  During game time, however, whenever possible, they put themselves three apart in line so they were put on the same team.  The kids were told not to do that, but Caroline and Kelechi 'randomly' got put together once or twice.  Caroline was not a fan of the boys on her game time teams.  She played to win and she wanted others on her team to have the same ambition.  Those who did not take the games seriously were a daily source of frustration.  On Friday we drove away from that church for the last time.  It was a little sad.  We started Awana there when Josiah was in 1st grade and Henry was in pre-K.    

The kids and I have been playing cards or games in the evenings.  We brought back the game of Bull.  You have to lie in Bull.  That's part of the game.  When Josiah got 'bulled' and had to pick up a giant stack of cards, he had such a large portion of the deck, that he was able to call everyone's bluff.  By doing this, another child, who shall remain nameless, got quite frustrated.  The frustration was expressed in rude and snide remarks, so I shut down the game.  I told said child we would not play games with them if they could not be kind.  The next night, this same child introduced the rest of us to "Buffalo," a game eerily similar to Bull, except you say Buffalo when you think someone is lying.  We made it through Buffalo without too many mean words.  So now we play Buffalo, not Bull, to keep the peace and still have fun.  

We played Pictionary one evening.  We modernized it and drew on the computer, duplicating it on the TV so everyone could see the picture and guess while it was being drawn.  To close out the week, the kids played Blind Karaoke.  One child would sit with their back to the TV while the other two picked out a song.  It was karaoke style songs - instrumental with the words on the screen behind them.  They had to figure out the song.  Caroline was very much on cue for a few of her songs.  Josiah knew Let It Be and others.  Henry knew many of his songs, but was a quieter singer.    

This weekend Henry suggested we have a drawing contest.  We used the Random Country Generator and then he instructed us to draw something that represented that country.  Henry wanted us to fold our paper into four sections and use each for a different country.  Josiah drew his on a phone app instead.  Caroline used her white board, but no pictures were taken.  Henry got: Gabon, Jamaica, Cuba, & San Marino.  

Todd sent us a gift card to celebrate the end of the school year.  We finally got around to using it and enjoyed Tex-Mex at our favorite restaurant, Gringo's.  This is a local chain and we are going to miss it a lot.  They have excellent Tex-Mex.   Despite the hoodies, it is full summer weather around here with a feels-like temperature of 105° nearly every day.  The jackets sure look cool, though.  

Todd has had more adventures with wildlife.  While in the house, he heard a commotion outside.  He looked out on the screened-in porch only to discover a hawk walking across the floor.  He had busted through the screen.  Todd was able to shoo him to the door and once out, he flew off.  The screens kept the bugs out, but not the birds.  He also says the deer just shows up during the day with no fear.  

Henry has been working on headshots for his future modeling career.  

This week, Caroline is off doing VBS at our home church.  Kingsland lets you request a friend to be in your group, so hopefully her church friend will be with her all week.  

Kamp

The boys were at Kamp all week.  It is called Kamp because our church is Kingsland and they do everything with a 'K'.  They divided the kids up into the 12 tribes of Israel.  Josiah was on Issachar, whose assigned color was grey.  Henry was on Reuben, which was red.  Both boys had a friend of their respective Rec Team, which made it nice.  When they reached camp that first day, the tribes got together to decorate their flags and come up with a slogan or chant to define their team.  I gave excellent suggestions before the boys left.  Reuben, better than the sandwich.  Henry nixed it.  The chant they came up with was more creative anyway.  Reuben, Reuben, Reuben...  They chose waves for their flag.  

Josiah's team enlisted him to draw the picture on the flag - a donkey driving a car.  There were no clear shots of it, but a few pictures captured it from different angles.  They came up with, Is it a plane? Is it a train? It's a car (Issachar).  Hence the donkey driving a car.  

The photographer for the week was Henry's friend's dad, so I knew we would get some good pictures of Henry.  It pays to know people.  Another friend's mom was there in the refreshment station, so she took a few pictures, too.  

Henry and his MARCH friends: Mason, Adam, Ryder, Cooper, Henry

Josiah (far right) and his friends

The tribes competed in games each day with points tallied over the course of the week.  They divided the teams up further - junior high and high school, girls and boys.  By week's end, Josiah's Issachar came in 3rd place.  Henry couldn't remember his team's ranking, but he said they did better than he thought.  

Each morning of camp, they had TAWG - Time Alone With God.  They have a camp booklet that gives them some guidance and it is just a quiet time praying and reading Scripture. 

They also had a neon dance party.  We found Josiah in the high school party.  

They had worship every evening.  Henry said they set the temperature in that room to 60° so it was quite cold.  He and his friends stayed in their seats in the back.  He was not the type to rush the stage and hang out there.   Plus he said he didn't want to get stuck standing the whole time.  Practical, that one.

The last day they always have a candlelight service for the graduating seniors.  The seniors' candles are lit and then they go grade by grade and light all the candles of the younger kids.  They captured a very cool picture of this.  Caroline said it looked fake with the stars, but no, we just have too much light pollution here to see that many.  

When we picked the boys up on Friday, they were tired, but still talkative.  They seemed to have had a good time overall.  They had good weather, too, and it didn't get too hot until the last day.  

Josiah at the blue arrow, Henry at the red.

While the boys were gone, the ladies did play.  We played Battleship, Outburst, Chinese Checkers, and many challenges on Caroline's whiteboard.  We drew a lot of collab pictures, chatted a lot, and chilled.  It felt like the calm before the storm because we have to ramp up the packing with time dwindling.  

We stopped at the store after we dropped off the boys on Monday, and got a big bag of broccoli.  Caroline loves broccoli, so when I asked her what she wanted for dinner each night, it always revolved around broccoli.  We ate out just once. We tried Freddy's.  Great fries.  The rest was a bit meh, which is nice because it was a one-and-done sort of place.  

Caroline also got sealants on her teeth.  The worst part for her was when they put those giant pieces of gauze in her mouth to keep it dry.  She later said her tongue got curious during the process, and reached out to taste the sealant.  It was a quickly regretted decision as the taste was horrible.  Plastic coating did not sound like a good flavor.  

I spent much of the week getting together the kids' transcripts and report cards, as well as samples of their school work to send to the school in SC.  I dusted off my own resume and discovered it hadn't been updated in 10+ years.  I also filled out a job application that asked for my GPAs.  I wanted to write my age in the blank and say I have no idea, but I did alright.  Instead, I ordered my transcripts, which were fun to see again.  I didn't remember taking badminton in college.  I passed.  

Todd had a busy week of his own and he closed on a new house on Friday.  The house came with some woodland creatures.  The previous owners told us they fed some ducks and that a deer would come and finish the duck food.  We saw the tray they left out when we visited the house last week.  After Todd closed, he saw they had dumped the rest of the food in the tray.  A little later, there was the deer in our driveway.  He's had goose and ducks in the yard as well as a turtle.  I don't know how it'll all go when Benson arrives, but they can enjoy the calm for now.  

Tomorrow Caroline has her first VBS at the church where she does Awana.  She is super excited to go.