First Day of School

Caroline has one whole week of potty-training in the bag now.  She's done pretty well, all things considered.  She still cries when she goes #2.  We're hoping that this emotion tied to this behavior does not have staying power, though.  She insisted on going to church today.  I told her she had to try to go potty first.  So we had a stand-off.  The boys all left for church and I sat on the step-stool in the bathroom reading a magazine for 10 minutes waiting for her to decide to "try."  She finally went.  I have realized that with this little one, we cannot give in to her.  She is stubborn and will hold out if she thinks she'll win.  I checked on her after the church service (before Sunday School) and the little old nursery worker lady assured me that she was fine and she kept reminding her.  She told me not to worry.  :)  I wasn't worried about as much as I just didn't want them to have a mess on their hands.  She did well, though.  (And I didn't worry.)

She has got a mind of her own.  Many times this week when I've asked her to do something, she'll reply with a loud, "One Minute!" with some attitude in her tone.  Now, I know I say, "just a minute" or "one minute" to the kids a lot.  But I do not think I say it with the teenage-esque attitude with which she says it.  She is going to keep us busy.

Monday we started school.  The boys were basically begging to start because they desperately wanted to do their Star Wars workbooks.  We do not start our CC group for another week, which made it kind of nice to use these two weeks as a slow start to our year.  We did do more than Star Wars workbooks, too, of course.

First Day of School Excitement

I was trying to only have them do a couple of pages in each book per day, but they are having a hard time putting them away.  Josiah has complained that Henry's books are more fun than his.  Welcome to first grade son.  It's not all coloring and counting light sabers.  Now I do have a book arriving in the mail soon that will give me craft ideas for all of our Ancient History lessons.  Arts and crafts are big in this house, so that should help ease him into his elementary school years.

Josiah has spent much of the week in the homeschool room even in the "off" hours.  He is drawing constantly at his desk.  Wednesday night he watched an art show (for kids) with Todd in which the man taught how to draw a dinosaur and scenery.  Josiah soaked it up and the next morning drew the same dinosaur scene from memory.

He's also taught himself a "shading" technique.  He drew a lot of Snoopy pictures and would use his finger to rub the pencil markings to make it more detailed, as he called it.  His love for art runs deep.  At the library this week I noticed a "How to Draw" section of books and he kept pulling them off the shelves.

We have also had a resurgence of Uncle Wiggily.  The Uncle Wiggily book is part of Henry's pre-K curriculum.  Henry is not a fan due to the long stories, but Josiah is a super fan.  He has dressed up like him and talked in his fake British accent.  I get to talk in my fake British accent as well since I am Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, his muskrat lady housekeeper.  (And, really, everything sounds better in fake British accents.)  I often wondered where Josiah got this fake British accent from.  Where did he learn it?  And then it became crystal clear during Bible time one night this week.  Todd was reading the Bible story to the kids and all of a sudden, while speaking as Samson, (an Israelite, mind you), he broke out his best Scottish brogue.  Ahhhh.

Uncle Wiggily and his picture

Uncle Wiggily drinking hot chocolate and eating a donut.

We have a busy week coming up.  Lots of orientation and back-to-school events (for CC as well as HBU).

Diaper-Free Household

Caroline has been the source of all the little "tidbits of life" that I wrote down this week.  She has gotten very good at recognizing her letter "C" everywhere.  Whenever we read a book and she saw a "C," she'd say, "Me!!" and hug that page of the book.  I quizzed her with the puzzle we have of her name.  She could tell me the names of: C-A-R-O-I-N.  I didn't know she knew all of those!  :)  The poor third child.  I'm sure if it were Josiah, I would most definitely have known that and it would already be written in his baby book.  She also has taken to writing her name.  This is an example of her name:

She will repeatedly say, "I wrote my name." until it is acknowledged with praise and admiration.  

She still feels that she is the second (and bossier) mother to the boys.  Upon walking down the stairs the other morning, Henry was walking behind us.  We could hear him actually hopping down the stairs.  She stopped, turned around and said quite loudly, "Don't jump down stairs Ren-ry! You fall hurt you-self."  This girl is the law enforcement arm of the house.  She knows the rules.  Of course, she also bends them for herself.  When I try to remind her of a rule, she'll pull out the coy smile, "Aren't I cute? How can you possibly discipline such a cute little girl?"  She has also started giving us really goofy faces a la Henry.  I have yet to get a picture of them, but they are pretty cute.

And the other thing I have noticed with her all week long, is that she has been working on a future goal of entering the Nathan's hot dog eating contest.  Whenever I give her food, she requests a cup of water to go with it.  She will dip whatever food I give her into the water before eating it.  It started with her (fake)Cheerios of all things, but has moved into most all foods given.  This is not the neatest method of eating either.

Despite most of the house not feeling great, we bit the bullet and started potty-training Caroline this weekend.  I dread potty-training.  The boys both did really well with it, but after the first three days of "getting it" I spend the next six months always on edge that I need to have her near a bathroom, constantly on guard that she doesn't have an accident, wondering if she'll make it through the night dry.  The end result is absolutely wonderful, but the process is not that much fun.  Of course, that being said, she did great the first day.  The method we use has her go through the house and she throws away any diapers we might have.  This was fairly easy since all the diapers were in one location.  Then she tossed the bag outside.  (I never really throw them away for good until I'm sure it's taken.)  Then we use the phrase, "Tell me when you need to go potty." all day long.  This is supposed to serve as a constant reminder to her since toddlers have short attention spans.  Plus, it is a lot less frustrating to simply say this statement as a reminder than to constantly ask, "Do you have to go potty?" (which requires an answer).  It worked like a charm with Henry (and we were unaware of this method with Josiah).

She "got it" pretty quickly going #1.  She really only had one true accident and it was in the evening after not taking a nap for the day.  We did try to do nap time.  It turned into a 2 hour marathon of her laying in bed for 5 minutes, then jumping up saying, "I have to go potty." Followed by 5 seconds of sitting on her potty (sans action), washing her hands, back to bed for another 5 minutes, back up.  Needless to say, the nap didn't happen.

What!?! Potty Training?!! I didn't sign up for this.

Going #2 seemed to scare her a little.  She kept saying her bum hurt, so in the afternoon I gave her a small amount of Miralax to make sure it'd be easy for her.  Well, a few hours later, it was easy for her.  It easily went in her underwear, on the floor, on my pants, my bare toes, and all over her potty.  She really freaked out at seeing it.  I kind of freaked out, too.  Did I mention I'm not a big fan of potty-training?  Last night I was really praying that today would go better in that department.  (So far no action, if that already isn't too much information.)

Her schedule is totally off, though.  Last night she fell asleep near her normal bedtime, but then greeted us at 1:00 a.m. with wet underwear.  Not a big deal for her first night.  I thought we could clean up the mess and get right back to bed.  She had other plans.  She was up literally every 5 minutes to "go potty."  She had action only one of those times in the two and a half HOURS that she constantly got up.  It was a rough night.

At least we got this ball rolling.  She loves her Hello Kitty underwear, too.  That and her "Frosty" underwear, which is really Olaf from Frozen, but she's never seen it.  So, hopefully this whole potty-training thing will stick!

And these guys have been troopers through it, too.  They've gotten a lot less attention from us and a lot more computer time, so they're probably happier in some ways.  This is Wolverine and Cyclops (if it wasn't obvious).  Although earlier they were Batman and Robin so the clothing matches those characters more.

They got some artwork in as well. I always love it when Josiah draws Marvin the Martian because this is the furrowed brow face he gives us all the time. He is a pro at making this face.  Even the fists out in front come with his face.  It usually comes with a "Grrrr" sound as well.

Henry Had A Good Week

On Monday we went back to the library to get Henry's trophy for completing the requirements for their summer reading program.  Upon exiting the car, Henry mentioned to me that Josiah would now have two trophies.  I told him that, no, Josiah already got his trophy and he wouldn't be getting anything that day.  Henry said, "No, I'm giving my trophy to Josiah."  He is such the younger brother.  He has always been very generous with Josiah, quick to share and deferring to Josiah's requests and interests (for the most part).  Inside, Henry stood at the desk and spoke to the librarian himself.  When she asked him if he knew what he was getting, he smiled and said, "A trophy."  When she handed it to him, he was beaming.  And I noticed that he did not hand it over to Josiah.  :)

The best part was after all of this, we checked-out books, exited the library, and Henry proceded to scream and yell at Josiah the entire drive home because Josiah was reading a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle book and would not give it to Henry to read when he was finished.  It was a full blown tantrum as best he could in his carseat - kicking feet, screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs.  It did not seem to influence Josiah at all into handing the book over any quicker.  Which, of course, is probably for the better to not give into the tantrum.  So, he's a generous younger brother who still acts like the 4-year old that he is.  :)

The next day the boys went back to Half-Priced Books and redeemed their $5 gift certificates for reading 300 minutes (each) in July.  These summer reading programs have been the best.  They both were on the prowl for Bugs Bunny books.  Every few months the Looney Tunes make a comeback in our house and this was the week they came back.  The Bugs Bunny books prompted a lot of artwork for the remainder of the week as well as lots of "whole" carrots eaten.  The boys love the carrots at the grocery store that still have the stems attached.  So we endured little Bugs Bunny voices since it meant that they ate a bunch of carrots.

Josiah's drawings:


Henry's creations - a Ninjago Ninja and a Ninja Turtle:



Artwork seemed to be prolific this week.  I think in part it had to do with the Classical Conversations Practicum we attended.  I went and learned more about the CC homeschool program we participate in, while the kids went to "camp."  Caroline technically went to the "nursery camp" which consisted of just playing, but she loved her "class" as she called it.  After the first day she kept saying, "I go my class?"  Henry went to "Play Camp" and had a lot of fun.  He went in willingly, without hesitation, and even said he did not want to go to Josiah's class, but his own.  It helped that his class had two CC kids that he knew from our campus.  Josiah was enrolled in the "GeoDraw Camp" in which he drew art and learned about the world (countries, north/south/east/west, islands, oceans, continents, etc.).

Josiah traced this!

He traced this, too, even the fancy compass rose.

 One of the best parts was on the second day at lunch Josiah told me he made a friend, Zachary.  When he initially told me, I wasn't sure if HE made a friend and Zachary was unaware of this friendship or if it was mutual.  (Last year at CC Josiah always said one boy in the class was his best friend, yet he barely spoke two words to him.) But then on Day 3, I met Zachary and it looked like they really were friendly with each other.  Unfortunately this boy is not a part of our campus and it is unlikely we will see him again since I never saw his mother.

We have been praying that the kids all make good, strong, solid friendships here.  Upon picking Henry up from church today, he told me that he had made a friend that day.
"What's your friend's name?" I asked.
Henry said, "I don't know, but it isn't Zachary.  If it was Zachary then there would be three Zacharys."
"Was it the boy you were playing with when I came to pick you up?"
"No," he said. "It was the boy I was playing with on the floor." (which was the boy he was playing with when we came to pick him up)
It was quite the conversation.  I'm hoping next week to get a peek of this "not-Zachary" kid.

We love to pick Henry up from his Sunday School class at church.  He seemingly always gets a good report.  Today they told us that they loved having him back and they really missed him when we were gone.  It always brings up loving feelings towards him which helps because he has been somewhat difficult lately at home.  He just moves at his own (quite slow) pace, which can be incredibly frustrating for me who wants quick and efficient transitions from house to car, from car to store/church/etc.  Even getting dressed, getting teeth brushed, using the facilities.  These can all take really long times.  And yet, he has such a sweet spirit. He is always teaching Caroline new things.  He is constantly teaching her to say big words.  He breaks them down into syllables for her.  "Caw-wo-wine, say, 'Captain America. Cap. Tain. A. Mer. I. Ca.' "  He teaches her all the important words.  He helps her with the hidden picture puzzles in the Highlights magazines.  At dinner tonight, he saved a Whopper candy for Josiah.  He tried to give it to him, but we wouldn't let him since Josiah had not eaten much dinner (and was frequently saying how bad it smelled and how awful it was).  Then he goes next to Josiah and says, "Just eat some more chicken and you can have it."  He's a very good encourager which we are grateful for in this house.  

Henry is the boy whom I discipline, but then after the discipline is over I turn to Todd and mouth, "He is so cute!"  He's got our hearts this little guy.

I couldn't leave these out.  Josiah did some amazing Ninja Turtle (with skateboard) drawings this week, as well.

Injuries Abound

We just cannot seem to stay away from injuries around here.  Monday began as any other day until Josiah came running from the play room crying.  This was odd to begin with, because it is usually Henry crying and running from the play room.  For whatever reason, Henry felt it wise to volley a tupperware container (with a hard headed baby doll inside) at Josiah which left a hole in the bridge of his nose.  My first thought was, 'oh no, he's going to need it glued back together.'  My second thought was, 'I do NOT want to go back to another urgent care/emergency room.'  Currently, I am fighting Henry's ER charges of "dental surgery."  The hospital billed out $3000 to put Henry's teeth back in at the first ER and $5200 to take his teeth back out at the second.  This doesn't even include all the other charges totaling over $15,000 for what amounts to two stitches in his lip and one x-ray of his mouth.  But I digress.
So, Josiah had a hole on his nose, not huge, but still an open wound.  I basically held it shut for 30 minutes and then put on some gauze and tape to keep it together.  So he walked around with a pointed -up nose for 24 hours, but the wound closed nicely and we saved a couple hundred dollars.

After this, you can imagine my dismay when on Thursday Josiah walked into the kitchen with a bloody mouth and a tooth in his hand.  He said Henry punched him in the face and knocked out his (thankfully) already loose tooth.  Sympathy is not my best quality on a good day, but it's definitely not functioning well as of late.  "Josiah, why did Henry punch you in the face?"
"Well, (much hemming and hawing) I kicked him in the stomach."
Some days it seems easier to just throw up my hands in defeat.

It is now my goal to get our homeschool room put together and functioning next week so that we can start our school year lickety-split.  We need to get on a schedule and not have so much free time for injuries.  We spend three days next week at our Classical Conversations Practicum learning about the CC curriculum and how to teach it well.  So, that should get us all in the mindset to get the school year started right.  Plus, we got some Star Wars 1st Grade and Preschool Math/Reading/Writing books so the boys are ready to break those open.

Josiah did keep me laughing at the beginning of the week.  He had asked for a box of Whoppers from the grocery store and since they were on sale, I got them.  Plus, he doesn't understand that people eat a whole box at a time.  I give him 2-4 at a time and he thinks it's great.  :)  Well, he could never remember the name and kept calling them "whippers" and "waffles."  I laughed for several days until one day I didn't laugh and he said, "Why didn't you laugh at me?" at which point I realized he was saying it wrong on purpose.

Caroline is two going on thirty-seven.  Every time I tell the boys to do anything, she is right behind me repeating it to them.  Sometimes she even remembers the rules (imagine that) and regulates the boys before I've said anything.  Henry has a tendency to kick the cabinets when sitting at the bar in the kitchen.  If Caroline should hear him kicking, she shouts, "Enry, stop kicking! STOP KICKING!!!"  Of course, Henry finds this funny and in no way is going to listen to her so the matter only escalates.
Caroline also is fiercely independent.  This is what comes out of her mouth All. Day. Long:
"I do it.  I do it.  I DO IT! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.  I DO IT!"

Despite the quite hot temperatures here, we have been blessed with a shady backyard.  It seems to be shady most of the day, so we have played out in it several days this week.  It is a great backyard.  Josiah decided he was Tarzan one day and swung from the branches.  Caroline thought it looked fun and went up to the branch from which he was hanging.  "I do it.  I do it.  I DO IT! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.  I DO IT!"  Josiah, kindly, helped her swing.  He played like that for half an hour or so until one branch snapped.  Josiah is at best 34 lbs, so these branches are not super strong.  Clearly our Tarzan and Jane days are over.


The previous owners had planted two fruit trees in the backyard.  Last month, Todd and I tried to guess what they were, then this past week we talked about it some more.  We finally got the brilliant idea to take some fruit off and cut it open to see.  Figs and limes.  (Although, by this time the limes were a little obvious even though they were still quite small.  And one of us did guess figs.)  Figs.  Hmmmm.  We weren't sure about that one.  But we picked some and they're actually pretty good.  I don't know if we need an entire tree of them, but it is cheap fruit.

In all our unpacking we are finding all sorts of things.  We found a firefighter costume that hadn't been opened yet, so now both boys have one.  That prompted lots of fire fighter pictures drawn.  I thought they boys did really good pictures.

Josiah's

Henry's

The boys (and Caroline)  received a package from a favorite Sunday School teacher back in Virginia.  They are happy with all things new, so they have been enjoying everything.  This afternoon they flew their airplanes outside and Josiah really got into it.  :)

this guy got his airplane to fly really well

That's some intense launching face.

And finally, Todd had a major accomplishment today.  He took apart the elliptical in the garage and brought it upstairs to our bedroom AND reassembled it.  So, now I'm on the hook to get back on it.  I never thought we'd get the giant dresser or this upstairs, so he has proven me wrong twice now.  Twice in ten years.

Oh, as just in case you're wondering what our new house looks like, Henry took a few pictures today.  Enjoy.

stairwell

windowsill (side view)

view from said windowsill

Clearly we know where his career path lies.

VBS

I have to start out with an apology for the blurry pictures.  I think every picture I have this time is slightly blurry.  It is because my cell phone gets handled by too many little ones and the camera lens gets smudged and I forget to clean it before snapping the pictures...

We did VBS (Vacation Bible School) this week.  It was a first for all of us and after a little hesitation from the boys, they had a great time all week.  It helped that the theme was superheroes.  I volunteered in Josiah's class, so I got to go to all the events that the boys did.  The church that held the VBS does everything BIG, so they went to two shows each day - one that was similar to what they do on Sunday mornings and another "Big Show" (as it was dubbed) that had to do with the VBS theme and Jesus.  I would try to spot Henry in the big rooms when all the kids were together.  Whenever the kids would stand up to sing and do hand motions, (following the teenagers and adults on the stage), Henry would remain seated through it all.  Josiah would stand, but did not attempt any hand movements or even singing that I noticed (although he often mentioned that he couldn't see when they stood up because of his height).  So, it was to our shock when we went to the "Big Show" Thursday night as a family, to find out the conclusion of the story, that Henry and Josiah stood up at their seats and danced around to all the songs.  They yelled and cheered when appropriate and were very much into it.

The whole drive home from VBS that night, Josiah and Henry were telling each other jokes that they found hilarious.  For some reason they thought it was funny to guess what God eats and where He eats, etc.  Henry kept opening his jokes with, "I have a good one," which was the funniest part for Todd and I.  He definitely has a really good sense of humor.

Sir Chomps

"Digit"

We would also suggest that you don't challenge Henry to a staring contest any time soon.  He beat me almost every time this weekend.  We'd say, "1, 2, 3, go," look up and see Henry with this face.  Somehow by keeping his mouth wide open, it kept his eyelids from blinking.

Henry showed us just how mature he is getting at Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a.  If you dress like a cow from head to hoof, you get a free meal.  So, these were our kids.

Last year when we went, Henry was very scared of the big cow that walked around.  This year, he went right up to it, touched it, and posed for pictures.  I told him I was really proud of him for not being scared anymore.  He brushed it off and said it was because he's 4 now.  Caroline, on the other hand, took his spot in the "quite scared" section.

Todd took a 4-day weekend, so we were able to get the house a bit more put together.  We finally have all of our furniture in place, including a 250 lb dresser that Todd  and I got upstairs.  This piece has always been the worst piece in all our moves because of its size and weight.  Also, because I was convinced that the drawers did not come out.  But then Todd was talking to a coworker who mentioned the locks on the drawers.  So, Todd figured out how to take the drawers out for the very first time.  Then we got it up the stairs without too much trouble.  Now I can get all of Princess Caroline's many boxes of clothes put away.  I think she may have more clothes than anyone at this point.  (Although she does have many clothes still to grow into.)

We have another week of unpacking to do.  Josiah wants me to figure out how to join our neighborhood pool, so I may muster up the strength to figure that out as well.  It's too hot to do anything else outside.  We made it to a playground for about 20 minutes the other morning before heading in for the A/C.  I have no idea how people lived here before A/C was invented.

4000 Miles Later

Well a lot has happened in a month.  We now have a new house and an extra 4000 miles on our car.

We thought we had the move to our new house all planned out.  The truck was rented, the closing date was set, and Aunt Claire was coming into town to help take care of the kids for us.  Aunt Claire came and she was a godsend to us.  She is the only reason we were able to move our whole house in one weekend.  She took care of the kids by day and helped me clean the new house by night.  The kids were super excited to have her back again and they have been planning a trip to go see her ever since she left.  Although Henry has decided to postpone his travels a few years until his teeth grow back.  Apparently where she lives is so posh they require all teeth to be in place.  She was put to work even more than we had anticipated because we had to use a smaller moving van than expected.  I had rented a 24' truck weeks prior.  Upon going to pick up the keys, they said the 26' truck had a flat and to just come back in a few hours while they changed it.  Uh....no.  So I left with a 16' truck.  Todd and I filled it up (fully) three times and we could really have done a fourth trip, but I was sort of over the whole moving van thing.  So we took an additional 3 car loads (each).  But we are in and we love the house.  

A little over a week after moving, the kids and I took off for Virginia.  Instead of traveling the usual southern route, we headed north and visited family and friends along the way.  Our first stop was in Arkansas.  I hadn't realized it at the time, but google maps gave us two routes to take.  I chose the one that skipped Dallas thinking I could avoid big city traffic.  What I did not realize was I had chosen the scenic route.  It was very beautiful, no doubt, but definitely not the route I would have chosen with three small children and a tropical storm to contend with.  We left a day late thinking we could stay behind the tropical storm, but we only stayed behind it for the first 90 minutes of our drive, then we drove with it for two days.  So I was driving up and down mountains in Oklahoma with sheets of rain coming down.  Not the wisest move.  And who knew Oklahoma had mountains?  I always thought it was flat.  Not so.  The kids, however, did excellent.  Josiah was super helpful in the car.  He could open up food packets for Henry.  He drew pictures and Henry would color them in.  They worked very well together and it was a very pleasant drive from that stand point (and Caroline took two naps).  We spent the night at my aunt's house in Arkansas.  The kids were bonkers for her cats.  They cannot wait to go back and visit "Ticket" and "Mystery Cat" as Henry dubbed the second one that wisely hid during the entirety of our visit.  During the next stage of our trip both boys drew many pictures of the cats.  

The next leg was to Tennessee.  I had never been through Arkansas or Tennessee before, but they are both very beautiful states - lush, green, and mountainous.  We spent the next night with some friends I hadn't seen in nine years.  It was great to catch up and Josiah loved their two small dogs.  Henry and Caroline, not so much.  We are super grateful for all the family and friends who put us up this trip.  It made it so much nicer to travel knowing our destination was not some random hotel in a random city.

Day three had us traveling to Virginia.  The wee travelers were growing a little weary on this leg of the drive, but they still did well.  In the mountains of Virginia we hit a massive storm.  The lightning was so close I thought it would hit the road.  The rain was coming down so hard I could only see three of the dashed white lane lines on the road at a time.  Of course, this was the time that Henry told me he had to go pee.  Really?  I asked him to wait a little bit for the storm to let up because the last thing I wanted to do was take all three kids out in this downpour.  This was totally against my M.O., to ask any of them to wait for the bathroom.  But when the storm was not letting up, I finally decided that the next overpass we went under I would just stop the car on the side of the road and let him go from the car.  This was not usually something I would consider doing either, so that was how hard it was raining.  But then I saw a sign for Chick-fil-a and decided that we could try that.  They have the cleanest bathrooms by far.  While approaching the exit, I asked Henry if he still had to go.  "No," he said.  "Really?" I asked.  "Yes. I don't have to pee."  he said.  I did not totally believe him, but let it go and planned on stopping at an exit further down and hopefully with better weather.  So we passed the exit when Henry piped up, "But I really have to go poop."  Oh child.  A little while later, we exited the storm and found a rest stop.  We were all relieved.  

We finally made it to Grandad & Nana's house late that night.  The boys decided to tell them everything they missed for the past 6 months all in one night.  The next day we drove to the beach, but only after I decided to keep things interesting by locking my keys in the car.  AAA to the rescue.
This was Father's Day, so a shout out to a great dad right here.  We all missed him a lot on the trip (we won't leave without him again).  He was a beast in moving the house, too.

It was really great to see Grandma and Grandpa again at the beach.  They were brave and took the boys to the bookstore to pick out two books each (up from the one book each that was set at the beach house).  Of course Josiah's "book" was a 5-book boxed set.  He knows how to work the grandparents.
  

A snippet of a day at the beach: 

Josiah loved the water still.  He loved pretending to surf in/on it.  He is a beach lover.  

Henry loved to sit under the umbrella, in the shade, on a chair, eating goldfish, and sipping on a Gatorade.

Caroline loved to get a bucket of water from the ocean, bring it up to the beach, dump it out; hit repeat x50.  She also enjoyed flattening any sand castle the boys attempted to make.  

The boys loved the putt-putt golf place.  On our first visit, I spent the first four holes attempting to show them how to hold their golf club properly and how to hit the ball so that it went in the hole with the least amount of shots.  Then I realized it was fruitless and just let them play.  Henry got a par 2 on every hole.  He would hit his ball initially, then he would pick it up and move it to within an inch of the hole and push it in.  Josiah averaged 10 shots per hole.  He at least showed improvement from hole 1 to hole 18.   

Aye, Matey.

From there we traveled to see Great Grandma and got to catch up with her.  Josiah told her that when they woke up in the mornings that he would teach her to draw.  And so he did.  They drew the Cat in the Hat the first morning and then Pete the Cat the second.  What made this humorous is that Great Grandma is an artist and has been painting for many, many years.  But she was a very good sport.  

We even got to spend a day with their cousins who traveled all the way from Africa.  They played really well together, too, until Caroline used a golf club to clonk one cousin in the head.  It was an  uplifting day - we really enjoyed being around family.  

Finally we made it back to Nana and Grandad's and spent a week with them.  The weather was perfect for the first four days or so and the boys loved playing baseball & frisbee outside.  They climbed their "climbing tree" a lot, and even Caroline fought them to get up it.  They got to eat pancakes and bacon for breakfast every morning and their favorite pork chops for dinner.  Nana got a lot of praise for her cooking.  (I make some pretty skimpy meals in comparison down here.)     

We even got to spend time with friends playing at Blue Bird Gap Farm.  Josiah always calls it "Blueberry Gap Farm," so of course, Henry calls it that as well.  Upon arriving Josiah could read the sign with it's actual name and noted that they had printed the wrong name on it.  He was so excited to see friends again, he probably scared them a little jumping up and down while making giddy sounds.  He saw friends at church as well and later we got to spend time at a friend's house.  They were thrilled to spend time with everyone (as was I).  

Finally, we got some pictures made with the wonderful Ms. Ginny.  I don't know what got into Henry, but he all of a sudden decided that he wanted to streak across the grass.  He's never been a streaker at home and I don't know where he got the idea, but there he went trying to pull all his clothes off, laughing his head off.  It was funny in a confusing sort of way, at least for a moment.  

We drove back the southern route.  Not quite as pretty as Tennessee and Arkansas, but we could do it in two days instead of three.  All-in-all the kids did super well on the drive.  I used to complain about a three hour drive to the beach every summer when I was a kid.  It felt like forever.  Now when I tell the boys we have three hours of driving left, they get excited that it's almost done.  They have a totally different perspective.  We even did it without electronics in the car which was an achievement for me.  I'm holding off as long as possible for them.  We are very, very blessed that the boys like to draw because it keeps them entertained for a long time in the car.  Caroline will look out the window and suck her thumb for a lot of it, too.  We are blessed she has that thumb.  :)  That and a children's CD set on repeat.

We are glad to finally be home.  Let the unpacking begin!