Firemen, Miss Frank, and a Fancy Gala

Monday morning we headed out to CC for Henry's tutor proof.  He typically likes to proof with new tutors because, as he says, they don't know the process as well and are usually not sticklers.  There was one tutor he was hoping not to get because he thought she would be pretty strict.  Only two tutors were on hand that day. Henry got the "strict one."  She was very nice and passed him even when he said "Floyd George of England" instead of "Lloyd George of England."  He has one more proof this coming week before he closes the door of memory master forever!  

After the proofing was done, we headed to a friend's house.  Caroline got to play there all morning during the proofs and Henry joined in after lunch.  They played, we ate, and then we headed to a park to play some more.  It was a park we had been to before, so the kids wanted to recreate their 'tree' picture.  

The following day, Henry earned his first stripe on his solid grey belt.  

All three kids got haircuts this week.  We looked up hairstyles for the boys because they both like it long on top.  For Henry, we showed the stylist a picture of Ryan Gosling.  Josiah wanted the 'mop top' look of the Beatles, but I may have made it less appealing when I mentioned that when I was in kindergarten, the bowl hairstyle was all the rage.  We always lean towards Tom Holland styles for Josiah anyway.  They have the same face shape.  Both boys look a lot better - cleaned up for sure. Caroline was debating how much to cut off.  She walked off with the hairstylist telling me it would be a surprise.  She disappeared behind the barrier, and 15 minutes later walked out 6 inches lighter!  She looked very cute, but at bedtime, she had cutter's remorse.  She cannot put it in braids anymore.  Despite the tears that evening, by morning she was back to liking the cut.  It's always fun to try new styles.  It'll always grow back.  

Midweek was full of Latin tutoring and dentist appointments.  Three out of four of us left the dentist with smiles on our faces.  The lone ranger blamed their less than stellar report on their maternally inherited 'deep grooves,' not their subpar dental hygiene.  The kids had their last Wednesday night at church as well.  In the student ministry, they celebrated the graduating seniors with pizza and ice cream.  Henry very kindly saved his ice cream sandwich and handed it to Caroline when we picked her up.  

We had our last day of CC (for the younger two) this week as well.  It was jammed packed.  Throughout the morning, the classes got to go outside and test their egg protectors.  A local firetruck came and dropped them from their ladder truck starting at 24 feet.  In Caroline's class, only two survived the first drop - Caroline's and another boy's.  The firemen were very accommodating and each time an egg survived, they were like, "Let's go higher!"  Caroline's cracked at the 36 foot drop.  The boy in Caroline's class survived the 36 and the 48 foot drops, finally cracking on the 60 foot drop!  Poor Henry cracked his egg while he put it into the protector, but they dropped it anyway.  

Loading the eggs:

Caroline's two drops:

In the afternoon, Caroline's class did their Faces of History presentations.  When she got on stage, she looked out at the very large crowd assembled and got a hint of stage fright.  She looked at me like she didn't want to do it, so I mouthed "You're good.  Just start."  As soon as she started, she did an amazing job.  She remembered everything that she had practiced for the past three weeks.  She was Anne Frank.  

In her class, they had: (L-->R) Anne Frank, William Herschel, Corrie ten Boom, Empress Theodora, the Bubonic Plague, (their tutor), Perpetua, Alfred the Great, Leonardo DaVinci, Beethoven, and Harriet Tubman.  

In between the Faces of History presentations, Josiah's Challenge B class did commercials.  They each picked an element from the Periodic Table and they had to sell it to us.  Josiah chose Copernicium because it was named after Copernicus and he loves Copernicus.  It's symbol is "Cn," not Cartoon Network, he told the kids.  He had a lot of fun with it.  Since there is no price, it's priceless!    

After all the presentations, there was an ice cream party for the Essentials kids.  There were leftovers, so the Challenge kids made their way to the tables as well.  

It was a very full and fun day and we were all totally exhausted when we got home.  

The following day we kept things light.  That evening, Josiah had his Gala.  He couldn't sleep the night before because he was excited about it.  It was held at Texas Safari Ranch.  They have peacocks roaming the grounds and, while beautiful, the grounds were also their bathroom and we had to watch where we stepped!  We arrived early for pictures.  Most of Josiah's class came as well as other students from our campus.  The sunglasses picture was my favorite.  

During the evening, we got updates on Facebook about what they were doing.  It was fun to get a glimpse of the food and fun.  We noticed Josiah waiting to put in his song requests with the DJ.  Throughout the evening, he requested A Hard Day's Night, Don't Let Me Down, and New Kids' on the Block's The Right Stuff.  All were played.  We were also able to download all the photobooth pictures, which was a really nice keepsake for the kids.  To prepare for the dance, he had learned The Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  I asked if he did it there and he said he did.  All his friends knew he was going to do it.  Then he had to step up his game when the line dancing came on - he hadn't practiced those.   

 He was completely exhausted at pick-up.  He has always been an early bird, and once the clock passes 11, he gets really tired.  There was no rest for the weary, however.  The next morning, Todd took Josiah and Caroline to the grand opening of the Lego Bricks and Figs store.  The first 100 customers got a free minifigure and Josiah wanted to be part of that group.  His poor friend Bobby had to work 10 hours that day after having stayed up late at the Gala himself.  

The store had a lady making balloon animals.  Caroline asked for a cactus.  She had never made a cactus before, but it turned out really well.  

The boys finished their weekend at their own respective pool parties.  Their Life Groups ended for the year so they had parties to celebrate.  The weather turned cold and rainy today (66°), so I wasn't sure the pool parties would happen, but both houses said the pools were heated.  Food was eaten.  Fun was had.  

Josiah has a busy week ahead of him.  He has meetings every day to prepare for his mock trial, with the actual trial happening Friday morning.

    

Wildlife Begone

For memory master, Henry's Peer Proof was due this past Monday.  Since last weekend was Easter, we just didn't get around to it.  We couldn't do it in the evening with Todd because Henry is very much a morning/mid-day tester.  He does not like testing in the evenings.  So we had to make do and Josiah became Henry's peer.  I did sit in the room to supervise, making sure all was kosher.  He passed the second hurdle.  Tomorrow he goes in for his Tutor Proof which is the big one.  All 7 subjects, all 24 weeks of information.  

All week, Josiah and I edited his short story.  For his exposition strand, they have been working on a short story all semester.  By short, it has to be between three and ten pages.  He had his story written, but it required a lot of editing to make sure the reader could follow the whole story that was in his head.  He really wanted to withhold a lot of information so that there could be a big surprise at the end, but I told him the reader still needed to be engaged by understanding the characters and plot.  So in the editing process, he added a lot to the story.  No doubt he got tired of me saying, Can you explain this further?  The basic premise is a cactus father who is trying to buy his son a balloon for his birthday.  The balloons keep popping, so they had to come up with an unpoppable balloon.  Spoiler alert.  Mylar.  

Mid-week, Josiah spent an entire day at the library.  He had a yearbook meeting for 3 hours.  He is in charge of the Faces of History pages as well as another class page.  He spent the time getting all the pictures laid out.  They had a half-hour break before having a mock trial meeting for another two hours.  Caroline and I went to a nearby park to play with a friend for a few hours.  In the afternoon, we went back to the library and hung out for what felt like hours.  Caroline read an entire book.  We were so ready to go by the end.  We live an hour from this library, so the day was a long one!  It was a very cool library though.  

Henry did not want to spend the day with the ladies, and staying home all day by himself was not appealing either, so he went to work with Todd.  When making the decision about what to do that day, Henry asked Todd what they would have for lunch.  When he heard they would eat out, he was ready to be an Institutional Researcher.  

The following day, Josiah had another mock trial meeting online.  All the meetings have been initiated by his teammates, so it is exciting to see all the effort they have put into it.  They are constantly coming up with questions that the lawyers on his team will ask as well as trying to have answers prepared when they're cross-examined.  They've gone down a few rabbit holes and thrown out a few conspiracy theories about what might happen, but if anything they should be prepared!  The teams are quite secretive, too.  Josiah's friend Bobby is on the other team, so anytime we drive in the car together, they both keep their lips sealed.  How's your team doing?  No comment.  How's yours?  No comment.  End of discussion.    

Spring has sprung in our backyard with all the wildlife.  One day we looked up at the trees in our backyard and there were ducks in it.  Just two ducks hanging out.  One flew to the shed and Henry tried to snap its picture.  We've never had ducks before!

When we opened our back door Friday morning, we saw gartner snakes staring up at us.  There were two heads at that time and they were in between the foundation of the house and the concrete slab of the patio.  Every time we opened the door that morning, they were there peeking out.  The following day we noticed them at the corner of the house.  I got a video of the big, long one, but I saw a tiny head peak out of the hole as well.  So we have an entire snake family.  Josiah said they could bite dogs and cause air bubbles in their bloodstream and cause tumors.  Todd looked them up and discovered they are mildly venomous (to dogs).  Time to trim our overgrown garden area.  

Then, early Saturday morning, Todd let Benson out back.  It was his typical time to go in the backyard.  He sniffed around for a minute before tearing into the side yard.  His intense barking led Todd to investigate and, in the dim light, he spotted a skunk.  We had our regular wooden fence, the skunk, a portable wire fence, then Benson.  Josiah heard the commotion and tapped a Milkbone against the door - a common way we get Benson inside.  Fortunately, the dog desired the bone more than getting sprayed by a skunk.  That'll get your heart moving early in the morning.  We've seen plenty of skunks around here, but never in our backyard!  

Saturday was spent spending money on Josiah!  This coming week he has a Gala to attend.  The following week, he has mock trial at a real courthouse.  Both have pretty strict dress codes.  We started out at the suit store.  He found black pants, a jacket, and a belt.  As we were checking out, Caroline gasped at the total.  The sales lady mentioned that would just be the price of alterations for prom dresses.  And the dresses themselves are around $300.  (In my head, I said, Not any dress I'm buying!)  Josiah stored this tidbit of information in his head.  We had to go to a different store to find a dress shirt that would fit him.  Then a shoe store...  As we left the shoe store, Josiah said he should get a $300 budget since prom dresses are $300.  Um, buddy, the only words I should hear from you at the moment are: thank you.  His desire was to get a black dress shirt as well.  For Gala, he wanted to wear a black shirt with his black suit and have a white tie.  But he wasn't paying for it and white shirts are more versatile.  After swiping the credit card all day for him, he shopped at Todd's Tie Rack for a little bling around the neck.  

Monday morning starts with Henry's Tutor Proof followed by the last week of CC for both he and Caroline. 

Easter Week

Josiah was inspired by his own Rat Town Beatles picture, so he drew the real Beatles for his bedroom door.  Note the rules for his room on the left  - No comments (about the mess!).  

Josiah's class went to see the new Mario movie on opening day this week.  They are of the Mario Kart generation and have been looking forward to it for a long time.  Josiah caught a ride with a friend and I asked him if any adults stayed to watch the movie with them.  He said, No, we made decisions on our own.  According to him, all behaved.  A mom did snap a few pictures before leaving.  Josiah got a large popcorn because it came with a collectible Mario tin.  

At CC this week, we made egg protectors.  Next time we meet we have a fire truck scheduled to come and we're going to drop our eggs from the top of the ladder.  It'll be the last day of CC for the younger kids, so it should be a good one.  We have been doing orchestra this quarter, and this week we had a clarinet player come in.  He was quite good and I asked him afterwards if he played professionally.  He said he had the chops (and the confidence), but did not play professionally.  He talked about the clarinet, its history and its place in the orchestra.  Then he played snippets of 8 pieces for the kids - classical, hymns, patriotic, and jazz bits.  

After lunch, Henry's Essentials class presented on their Faces of History.  Henry had his typical presentation style - relaxed, conversational, and humorous.  The kids speak in first person and at the end ask the audience, Who am I?  He was Nicolaus Copernicus and joked about the length of the titles of his writings.  Copernicus was the first to publish that the sun was at the center of our solar system - the heliocentric model.  Before that, Earth was thought to be at the center.  And it was because of this, Henry's opening line was, "Have you ever thought why the world does not revolve around you?" Henry said it was fun to do and he's sad that CC is coming to a close.  This is his last year in Foundations and Essentials - he's moving up to Challenge A! 

There was Beethoven, Magellan, Akbar the Great, Copernicus, Marie Curie, Claudette Colvin, Catherine the Great, balloonist Sophie Blanchard, King Arthur, and Oda Nobunaga.  They all did a really good job.  

The day after CC, Caroline had an old friend come back to town.  This friend moved to Louisiana last year and they really miss each other.  They talk on the phone quite often and are always texting each other or sending each other funny videos they made.  We got to see them at a trampoline park where they played and talked the whole time.  We splurged on the rides.  First was the Frog Hopper which looks like a drop-type ride, but it only dropped them a few feet at a time.  Up 5 ft, down 3, up 2, down 4.  Then they tried the bumper cars and wished they had done that first.  Much more fun!  Caroline was quite the aggressive bumper car driver.  My neck hurt a little just watching them. 

Caroline had a good start to her week as well - another stripe in jiu-jitsu, another Crumbl Cookie run.  They were Easter themed this week, so she was happy to get her Robin Egg sugar cookie.  

Mid-week, our church did not have their usual activities, so Henry decided to do jiu-jitsu.  Caroline decided to come along and watch, so she wore her usual street clothes.  Once we arrived, however, she changed her mind and wanted to join the class.  A gi was borrowed.  All borrowed gis come with white belts, so she was a noob for the day.  The dark blue gi looked good on her though.  

Our church was closed midweek because they were getting ready for all of their Easter activities.  Friday night we went to Journey of the Cross where we walked from station to station.  They had a real donkey, which Jesus rode into Jerusalem.  They had a real crown of thorns to touch, myrrh to smell, weight to carry (half the weight of the cross bar).  At one station towards the beginning, we each picked up a piece of white cloth.  We were supposed to write a sin we struggle with on it.  Then we had to carry it around the whole time.  At the very last station, they had areas with water tubs.  We would dip our cloth in the water, scrub it a bit, and the sin we struggled with would be washed clean.  All of us did fine with it, but Todd's sin had trouble washing away.  He had to put in some elbow grease to scrub that sin away! 

We hurried home from church to make sure Caroline got to Awana on time.  At Awana, they also celebrated Easter with their He Is Risen lesson.  Typically they have an Easter egg hunt, but it has been raining cats and dogs all week, so they changed it up.  Caroline said they had all the eggs in little kiddie pools.  Each egg had a letter on it.  They were on teams and the leader would call out a letter, then a kid from each team would search for it in the pools.  Caroline said it was lame.  I thought it was clever.  On the drive home, she was counting out the candy she got, announcing the number of the different candies she had.  After it was sorted, she was a little quiet and then the distinct scent of chocolate filled the air of the car.  How many Kit Kats do you have now?    

We went to Saturday service since Sunday would be so packed.  We found our picture tree and documented the kids in their Easter best.  

At home today, we had our Easter egg hunt.  Josiah found his 18 eggs in record speed.  Henry doubled his time, which left all the harder hiding spots for Caroline.  Only certain candies would fit in the small eggs we had, so we had a candy exchange bar where they could swap out their Yorks and Almond Joys for Hershey bars, Reese's, and Kit Kats.  After our egg hunt, the kids wanted to do the same for Benson.  They sent him outside with Henry so he wouldn't see what they were doing.  Then Josiah and Caroline broke up a few of his treats and placed them around the downstairs.  They invited Benson (and Henry) back in and excitedly told him to go find his treats.  Benson was immediately excited, but had no idea what was going on until he found the first treat.  Then he started to get the hang of it.  All six spots were found.  

We did not have the traditional ham or lamb for Easter, opting for steak.  Henry and Todd did go out to a Mediterranean restaurant this week and Henry tried lamb shank for the first time.  He really liked it, so maybe next year we'll be brave enough to cook lamb.  

We have a break from CC this week, but it is always designed this way to give the kids time to catch up and for the memory master kids to finish their proofs.  It'll be a working week for sure.

Not Eating at the Outhouse

At the start of our week, we had a crew come out to trim our trees.  For years now, we have tried to take care of the trimming ourselves, but the trees have grown too tall.  We really needed them trimmed away from the house and thinned out especially as we near the summer.  I was expecting it to be thousands of dollars (six trees!), but we got a very reasonable quote.  The crew arrived at lunchtime, having finished a morning project.  They said they would eat lunch and get started afterwards.  They plugged in their microwave, ate, siesta'd and at 1:00p.m. they were up in the trees.  It was a big crew.  Half went to the backyard, half stayed in the front.  They were fascinating to watch.  We kept walking from window to window to see their progress.  The guy in the front yard was climbing around the tree, just one-handing his chainsaw like it was nothing.  They did a great job and were very nice.  They raked up the remnants, blew what was in the street, and used a chipper to take care of all the big pieces.  They even took some old pieces of branches that we've had lying in our backyard for a while now.  When they left, they said we'd be good for several years.  It took them 75 minutes from start to finish.  Crazy!  

Josiah has added to his Rat Town.  He stayed up past 11 p.m. one night working on his Beatles rats.  They were the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Rat Clan.  His mind is always creating.  

This week, Henry and Caroline both finished writing their Faces of History papers.  After it is written, they have to put it into first person so they can BE the person they are presenting on.  (More in an outline format - just key words of what to say.)  This is Henry's third time through, so he knew the drill.  When Caroline and I sat down to put her paper into first person, she paused and asked, "When am I going to read the whole paper?"  

You're not.

Absolutely horrified, "WHAT?!!??  Why did I even write it?!"

So you could learn how to write a research paper.  

"What?!!  How am I supposed to say the whole thing from memory?"

You practice!  That's why you read three books about the person and wrote a big paper, so you would KNOW their story really well.

Sneak Peek of Caroline as...

Not happy!  She was not happy!  However, we ordered her a costume (dress) and wig and they both came this week.  She practiced her presentation (a lot!) and very quickly memorized the first third of it.  She has two weeks until she presents, so it's plenty of time.

Meanwhile, Henry's class presents this week.  His first proof for Memory Master is due this week as well, so it's all coming to a head for him.  

Henry was complimented and commissioned by his tutor at CC this week.  She had a conversation with him at lunch and told him that he was a leader in the class and often sets the tone.  She wanted him to know of his importance both in class and to the class.  We were proud of him and had to pull out a little Spiderman philosophy, With great power comes great responsibility.  You will never regret being kind and respectful.  

At CC this week we made popsicle stick catapults.  We launched pom poms and marshmallows.  This is always a fun one to do.  The launch:

Josiah took over April Fool's Day jokes this year.  The kids (apparently) had a secret meeting and planned on getting up at 4 a.m. to get some tricks ready.  They didn't actually wake up until 6 a.m. so they did not do all that was planned.  I was awakened to the sensation of someone taping my forehead.  Looking in a mirror revealed what I already knew, I love my kids.  

There was Saran Wrap over Caroline's door and the playroom door (at Benson's height).  Rats in the refrigerator.  Mustaches on the mirror.  

Todd and I never did any April-foolin', but we did make cookies the evening of the 1st.  I messed with the kids at bedtime.  How were those cookies?  Did they taste like they normally do?  Were they good?  Always important to keep their suspicions up.  

Henry has been deciding where to go out for his jiu jitsu belt meal for a while now.  His siblings have reminded him repeatedly, offering up suggestions of their own.  Finally this weekend, Henry announced where we would be going, Texas Outhouse.  I told him I was a firm NO for Texas Outhouse.  We did, however, enjoy a meal at Texas Roadhouse.  Ironically, we sat close to the bathrooms which were labeled "Outhouse."  

This weekend, Josiah came up with short games for us to play outside.  The first was how long you could keep the bricks in the air.  The kids pulled in numbers like 30 seconds, 1 minute 20 seconds. It was only two bricks, so it looked fairly simple.  Todd went third and made it to 5 minutes even.  I wasn't going to be defeated, so I held it up for 5 minutes 3 seconds.  Today, the bruise on my shoulder has reminded me of my lack of wisdom.  It was far harder than expected.

The second game was to chase Benson around the backyard.  The kids put in a solid effort, but Benson was not compliant on his end with the running bit.  So we moved onto the third challenge.  Josiah had Henry wrap him around a tree and he had to escape.  Fortunately, the sun was setting so once Josiah made his way out, the games were over.  

At church this morning, Caroline sang with all the WAM kids for the congregation.  WAM = Worship Arts Ministry.  She got her coveted spot - top step, at the end.  She said she really enjoyed singing.  She's not a fan of all the hand motions, but she does like to sing.  

At one point, Henry asked to take a picture of Caroline.  

🠈 It should come as no surprise this was the picture he took.

Also, he wore a white shirt to church today.  He always, always wears a red Izod shirt to church.  Always.  I have thought about purposefully not washing it so he would wear something different.  This morning we convinced him to wear a different color.  He came downstairs wearing white.  As soon as we sat in our seats in church, Henry spotted his friend who immediately gestured that Henry was not wearing a red shirt.  He was not the only one to notice the change.  Henry has informed us he will go back to wearing red next week.