Halloween

The kids had a great start to the week.  Monday they completed their school work in a timely manner and then spent the afternoon at their friend's house celebrating his birthday.  Since their friend couldn't have a party this year, he had different friends over on different days.  Our kids got to play Super Mario and Minecraft and eat cake and pizza and they rode bikes and had Nerf gun battles.  They had a ton of fun.  I, too, had an amazingly quiet afternoon.  Those are few and far between, so I relished it.  

This week we signed the kids up for free art lessons online.  The Creativity School that puts it on has a sampler week where they show all the different types of classes you could take, so in addition to drawing and painting, they had a baking and singing class.  The kids did the first class and drew zoo animals.  The second class Henry opted out of and the other two made a collage.  No one had any interest in singing or baking, but Josiah and Caroline really liked the animation class.  Essentially they made a flip book.  Though they enjoyed the classes they took, overall they were not very challenging for them.  However, a few days later, Todd was flipping through channels and found Bob Ross.  The kids sat enamored.  The next day, Josiah tried to paint trees à la Bob Ross.  

The kids used their creativity skills to enter a t-shirt contest for Chuy's, a Tex-Mex restaurant.  Josiah had a lot of ideas.  In one he drew John Lennon and captioned it, "Imagine...going to Chuy's."  He settled on his Rocketman design from Elton John's song.  Henry had a runaway taco and Caroline chose her staple rainbow.  She loves her rainbows.  This restaurant chain has funny t-shirts for sale at the front of the restaurant, so the winner gets their t-shirt made into an actual selling shirt.  The winner also gets some free food, which was why Todd really encouraged them to enter.

Josiah has been into Harry Potter lately.  He finished the second book this week.  We actually found him reading in his bed at 9:50 p.m. one night, which is pretty unusual.  He's working his way through book three now and already put the fourth on hold.  So, when it came time to dress up for CC this week, Josiah chose to be Harry Potter.  He walked up to Todd and I in the morning and showed us the little zig zag scar he had drawn on his forehead.  Caroline chose to be Cinderella.  She was Cinderella for the pictures at home.  She was Cinderella in the car driving to CC.  Then when we arrived at CC she stripped off the costume.  She said it was too hard to wear all day.  Henry, clever boy that he is, came downstairs and when we asked him who he was dressed as, he quipped, "a regular citizen from New York."  After getting a picture, Caroline wanted to do a funny one.  Henry walked away.  No silliness from that citizen.  

And then there was Halloween.  The day prior was not a good day of school.  It was rough in many, many ways.  So, out of anger, I had decided they didn't need to go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.  We could just do the thing we always do at the house (which they love - where they trick-or-treat upstairs and Todd and I are in separate bedrooms pretending to be different characters every time they knock on the door).  But then Halloween day came and there were many neighbor kids out and about playing all afternoon.  Our kids were out with them.  So I caved and said they could go trick-or-treating.  One of the neighbor dad's had told our kids that it would be safe.  He would walk with the kids and Todd or me.  At 7 p.m., Todd and I walked over to said neighbor's house.  There was a big group of kids that were going to go together.  The neighbor father said, "You both going?" to Todd and I and gave us a thumb's up.  So, Todd and I (and no other adults) ended up circling a (BIG LONG) block with 10 kids.  10.  I didn't even know three of them.  Two of them were wearing all black, even black coverings over their entire heads.  Two had roller blades and wanted to go super fast, cutting back and forth across the street.  Meanwhile, Josiah, a T-Rex, couldn't walk very quickly nor could a little five-year-old girl who was with us.  I quickly yelled ahead that we needed to stay as a group.  A mantra I repeated often.  Stay as a group!! Stay! As! A! Group!  It was a bit baffling to Todd and I that parents just let us walk away with their kids having never met before.  We'll be making different plans next year.  I'm not keen to do that again.    (In second picture, we tried to capture the full moon, but we didn't do a very good job of it.)

Sifting through the spoils and trading candy.

Josiah is currently on an all soft food diet.  He has lost a fifth and sixth bracket this week.  I've gone from being angry about the sheer number of lost brackets to disbelief and am questioning the strength of the orthodontist's glue.  I feel we've reached the ridiculous level of braces mishaps.  I'm not looking forward to my weekly Monday phone call to the orthodontist.  Hi.  Us again.  

Great Wolf Lodge

We headed out to Great Wolf Lodge mid-week.  It was a super foggy drive up to Grapevine, TX.  The kids had forgotten their phones with their games on them, so they read a lot on the trip up.  I was happy for that.  Josiah borrowed the first Harry Potter book from a neighbor and ended up reading half of it on the way up and half on the way back home.  He now has a new obsession.  Google rerouted us when we reached Dallas because of an accident, so we ended up going straight through downtown with the big skyscrapers on each side.  The particular street we were on looked very much like driving through New York City, so that was fun.  I even got to drive aggressively when I found myself in the wrong lanes.  ;)  City driving.  

At Great Wolf Lodge, the kids got to see their 'cabin.'  We had kept it a surprise. It was a small room within the hotel room that had a bunk bed and a single.  They thought that was cool, but their favorite part was that they had their own TV.  They love their Cartoon Network in hotel rooms.  We also had a balcony, which was very cool.  In the early morning, while things were still quiet, we went out onto the balcony and inhaled the smell of jet fuel.  DFW Airport was literally next to Great Wolf Lodge.  We saw planes quite close landing and taking off all day long.  (But because there was so much noise from all the water slides and water features and piped in music, it was hard to hear the planes.)

(I attempted a panorama, but the kids kept walking through the picture, so here's a very rotund Josiah.)

View from our balcony

That first day we did the inside pools.  We started off in the wave pool, then ventured over to the water slides.  They had three slides that were single/double riders and two slides that were 4-5 riders.  We did the bigger slides first.  These slides were no joke.  They popped us up and bounced us all around.  I grabbed Caroline's arm on the way down the first one because she kept popping up in the innertube.  Todd did three slides and then he was done.  When he did the family style ones, he always ended up backwards because he weighed more than the kids.  Then he wiped out on the third one which formally completed his time on the slides.  I tried all five inside slides and then called it quits.  They were too much like roller coasters for my body and I cannot handle roller coasters.  The kids, meanwhile, kept going and going and going.  I stared at Caroline before she climbed the stairs to the slides and mouthed 'hold on tight!!'  She always gave me a thumbs up.

There was also a playground sort of area in the waterpark.  Part of it had a giant bucket over top of it that would fill with water and periodically dump out.  Todd was keen to do this feature.  He always got a kid to do it with him, but he enjoyed the deluge of water hitting him.  

We finished the day riding the lazy river.  We were all pretty hungry and tired by the end, so we had pizza for dinner.  The kids watched their Cartoon Network.  I tried to stay awake past 7:30 p.m.  

The following day was our one full day there.  We started off by finding a little doughnut shop in town.  It was a tiny little shop that had a 6'x2' area to stand and order.  One lady ran the front, while a man behind her kneaded giant mounds of dough.  The doughnuts were good and fresh.  Then we waited til 10 a.m. so we could try out the ropes course.  Todd sat out and acted as photographer, while the kids and I got suited up.  We climbed to the first landing and there were lots of obstacles to walk across and each side had three ziplines - one on top of the other so that the top one was very high up.  We were all excited about the ziplines, so we headed to those first.  Henry, who wanted to be first on the course, sped ahead of us.  Josiah was ahead of Caroline and I for the zipline but when it was his turn to go, he froze.  He didn't know what to do or even if he wanted to do it.  The lady who worked the course showed him what to do and was encouraging him.  While she was talking to Josiah, Henry was yelling, "Look at me."  He was high up on the third landing dancing on the zipline platform.  He jumped off and yelled, "Let's goooooo!!!!!" while shooting fake pistols in the air as he ziplined across.  Not an ounce of fear.  Josiah, staring at his own zipline platform, ended up walking off the platform giving only a very weak push.  That got him only halfway across so he had to bounce his body back and forth to reach the other platform.  After that he was willing to give a stronger push-off and he had a lot of fun flying across all the ziplines.  Caroline, too, was nervous at first, but she warmed up quickly.  She did all the ziplines and even let go for most of them. When we first started the course it felt really challenging, but once we figured out how to use the rope that tethered us, we were all moving through it fairly easily.  We climbed and ziplined for an hour.  As we were walking away from it, Henry said that he wanted to be a soldier when he grew up.  He's been wanting to be a police officer for quite a while, but he really likes to wear a lot of gear like the soldiers do.  He had pretended he was a soldier on the ropes course.  A pistol shooting, Dude Perfect-yelling soldier.

Caroline:

Josiah:

Henry:

After the ropes course we moved on to the outside pool.  It was actually a very cool morning, so the pool had to have been chilly, but that didn't stop the waterslide loving kids.  There were two outside slides as well as Caroline's favorite lily pads.  We spent time inside as well.  One area had a bunch of basketball hoops, so Henry and I shot a lot of baskets while Josiah and Caroline hung out on the playground water area.  They did more of the big waterslides.  It was very nice that the kids were big enough to slide by themselves.  We were always relieved to count all three of them as they emerged from the tunnel.  No one bounced out.  

That evening we found a deli in town to eat dinner.  It was a tiny little corner deli and Todd was sorry we only had one meal there.  They had a great menu and we all enjoyed our sandwiches.  Josiah, especially, liked their sign on how to eat their Italian beef sandwich. Particularly the P.P.S.S.

We spent that evening at the arcade.  Caroline was interested in this skipping rope game.  Basically the light went all around the circle and when it came to the bottom, you had to jump up to 'jump' over the light.  The game started.  She was successful on her first three jumps, but the lights got her on the fourth.  She really enjoyed the driving games.  Apparently you cannot die on these because she hit every wall and obstacle that came her way.  The boys played shooting games and driving games, too.  Most of the games spit out tickets, so we ended the night with 225 tickets.  And so began the excruciating process of how to spend the tickets on cheap plastic toys.  Henry, fortunately, found two army men and he was done with his share.  Josiah and Caroline just stared and thought and stared and thought.  Twenty minutes later, they both ended up with tiny squishy animals, one army man, and one hamburger candy.

🢤Caroline got her face on the video game - a masked face.

For souvenirs, Josiah chose a wand from the MagicQuest game.  The wands were in the $15 range.  The wand toppers were in the $18 range (!!!) and the game was another $15.  Josiah got a wand.  At one point we passed a father walking around the hotel with his daughter playing the MagicQuest game.  He said they had been at it for three hours and hadn't finished yet.  He didn't look too thrilled.  So we dodged a bullet by not purchasing the game.  Caroline got Slush, a big, soft wolf.  Henry chose a baseball cap.  

Friday morning we drove home.  It rained for most of the trip home and we noted that the temperature outside was between 64 and 68 degrees.  When we finally drove out of the rain into sunny skies, we watched the temperature creep up to 88° in 15 minutes time.  Welcome back to Houston.  We unpacked the car and then picked up a very excited Benson.  He had spent his first two nights away from us in a kennel.  We let him run like crazy in the backyard and then gave him a bath.  We didn't want him bringing home any little pests in his fur.  

It was a busy three days.  Todd and I emerged from it far more exhausted than the kids.  We were happy they enjoyed it all.  Now we have a regular school week ahead.  We also get to call the orthodontist Monday morning.  Josiah lost three brackets this week.  One on the drive to GWL (eating small pretzels he didn't have permission to eat), one on the drive home (eating Goldfish), and one Saturday morning (eating a granola bar he didn't have permission to eat - because they're on the no list for braces).  Argh!

A Week In The Life

Henry has been typing up a story all week long.  Whenever he finishes his school work for the day, he's been going to the computer to continue working on it instead of playing video games.  It's been a nice change.  His story, called 'Caleb's Life,' centers around a boy aptly named Caleb, which is Henry's favorite name.  Caleb's life mirrors Henry's life in many ways - he has two siblings and a dog, he swims a lot, plays outside to get Vitamin D, he likes to watch football and baseball on TV, he eats many elaborately described meals, and he plays board games. Right now the story is more of a day-in-the-life account, but we'll see if he encounters any problems in the future.  He's up to 1400 words.  Henry also has been having fun experimenting out Microsoft Word.  He tries to add pictures and charts (schedules).  He even put Microsoft Word for Dummies on hold at the library.

While Henry typed, Josiah spent a few days writing a Catman comic book.  It was a full length comic book with lots of illustrations and held together by yarn.  Besides comic books, he and I have been muddling our way through Washington Irving's books.  We read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow together and then we started Rip Van Winkle.  The vocabulary and style of writing is a bit out of our league.  We've had to keep a dictionary close by and refer to it often.  I read Sleepy Hollow aloud to Josiah and every few pages, I'd ask, "Do you understand what's going on?"  He caught on to more than I expected, but it was still a tough book.  

Meanwhile, Caroline was rocking math this week.  Tuesday morning, 6:00 a.m., she walked downstairs, walked into the school room, walked back out and asked, "Where's my math test?"  Good morning?  Breakfast?  Can you eat breakfast first?  She crushed it getting a 100%.  She said that her favorite parts of school are math tests and CC review. 

 

We also had a cool morning one day this week.  Below 75° kind of cool.  Josiah went upstairs to get his winter cap and thick gloves.  Caroline also wore a hat, though not quite as thick.  As she read to me that day, she looked like a 12-year old skater girl.  

For CC this week, we had to do it over Zoom.  There was a child on our campus who had a family member test positive for COVID, so we had to take a two week break from meeting.  Fortunately, one of those weeks was already a planned break week, so we only had to do one day over Zoom.  (And the child on our campus has been testing negative.)  We did it family style, so all the kids (and me) were crowded around our iPad and all the tutors took turns teaching different parts.  Besides the "his elbow's in my way/she's not giving me any room/that's my seat/I can't see/etc. etc.," they did well.  

After CC was over, I headed to the polls to vote.  I stood in line for a little over two hours.  The line was so long, that when I first got in it, we were very close to the campaigners handing out pamphlets.  The same people who typically have to stand a certain distance from the voters, but with the lines so long, we ended up next to each other. In the past, my stance has always been to avoid, avoid, avoid the gauntlet of campaigners that try to make conversation.  It didn't work like it was supposed to this time.  Knowing the lines would be long, I had brought a magazine with me and intensely stared at it to avoid all eye contact.  And then there was a fight.  Right next to me.  One campaigner, a man, was telling people about the new ballots and polling machines.  A female campaigner was getting mad at him because she felt he was telling people how to vote.  They started arguing and yelling and really getting mad at each other.  He told her to shut up.  She took out her camera and started taking a video of his illegal influence over the voters.  It was so incredibly uncomfortable.  There was some intense praying for the line to move forward.  After that I had two people behind me that talked the entire time.  I learned a lot about the country of Columbia and the foods eaten there...while I stared at my magazine. 

Awana started back in person this week.  We were all masked up.  The kids had a good time.  Henry really gets into the game time portion.  He got picked to be a shark in Sharks and Minnows and he took out as many kids as he possibly could.  (Basically a group of kids run from one side of a basketball court to the other.  Henry was a shark that had to tag them out as they ran.)  

Yesterday I made plans to get together with another mom that isn't doing CC this year.  We were going to get coffee and just catch up - see how the school year was going for each of us.  Commiserate.  Encourage.  That sort of thing.  I told Todd I'd probably be gone about an hour.  Well.  We ended up having a great conversation and I got home a little over five hours later.  Upon walking in the door, Caroline looked at me, and with much conviction, said, "You better not ask for a quiet time tomorrow."  Todd didn't believe I could talk that much.    

I saw this meme and it may or may not reflect our household...

Extractions

Monday afternoon Josiah went to the dentist to get two teeth pulled.  His initial worry was that they were going to take his canines and those were his favorite teeth.  He was relieved they were the teeth after the canines, but still he was apprehensive about the whole procedure.  Honestly, Todd and I felt horrible for him and wondered if we were doing the right thing.  His whole life, every dentist he's been to has mentioned he has a lot of teeth for his mouth, so getting a few pulled wasn't hugely surprising.  However, it was such a final decision.  We made it to the dentist office and I had warned him that the numbing needles were going to hurt.  He confirmed that they did indeed hurt...a lot...after we got home.  The first tooth took a while and when the dentist showed me the roots, they were facing outward like a fancy U so the tooth was really hooked into his mouth.  The second tooth came out smoothly.  In talking to Josiah later, he said he felt no pain.  Even after we were home for a while, he said his nose was still numb.  I think the dentist gave him a good bit of the numbing medication to ensure he felt no pain.  His bleeding stopped nicely and he enjoyed a week of soft foods and salt water rinses.  His favorite part was that the dentist told him he could have ice cream for dinner the evening of the extraction.  Todd and I felt really bad for him and his holey mouth.  The 'tooth fairy' owl was quite generous in it's compensation.  A little parental guilt paid out in cash.  Now that he's nearly a week out from the procedure, his mouth is looking a lot better.  He's healing nicely and, hopefully, in two years' time we'll look at his beautiful teeth with no gaps up top and see the benefit to all of this.  

Henry had a very good week at CC.  Last week he had forgotten his Essentials paper at home and he was so disappointed.  He loves reading his papers to his class.  So, this week he was able to read his older paper in his morning class as his presentation, then he read his newer paper in his afternoon class.  The afternoon class also had a title contest.  The tutor put all the students' titles on the board and they did a blind vote for the best one (you couldn't vote for your own).  There were six titles.  Two titles got two votes each and Henry's title got five votes (parents were allowed to vote as well).  He was so happy.  The winning title was Patriots Step Up.  His paper was loosely based on the Boston Massacre, however we are currently in the creative writing section, so as long as the conflict remained the same, the kids had freedom to change the characters, setting, etc.  Henry told the story of the Boston Massacre using New England Patriot's players names.  He was sooooo excited to read his paper.  He was stifling a laugh every time he read a new Patriot's name.  

For Caroline's CC presentation, she told jokes.  She had written out ten jokes from a book we have at the house.  She did a good job telling them and by the last joke she was really getting into it.  Her peers were laughing, too, which was encouraging to her.  What we didn't plan on was the timing.  The presentations are supposed to be around 2-3 minutes.  It took a long time to tell ten jokes because after she asked the joke, she'd pause, wait for someone to say, "I don't know.  What?" then finish the joke.  Including laughter, she was up there for a good ten minutes.  This is one of our favorite things about the whole CC program - the fact that the kids have to give a presentation every week which teaches them public speaking skills.  It has become normal to them and they often look forward to it.  They have no idea the skills the are gaining by this activity.  
A sampling of her jokes: 

What do pandas fight with?             Their bear hands.

What plays music in your hair?        A headband.

(Caroline's favorite) What goes ho-ho-ho, scratch-scratch-scratch?        Santa Claws

Why couldn't the beaver work on his computer?        He forgot to log in.

Knock, knock.    

    Who's there?

Yah.

    Yah who?

What are you so excited about?

Caroline also learned how to play the game Sorry! at lunch.  

The church we use for CC also has a pumpkin patch, so after classes were over we headed outside for some pictures. 

Henry refused to be Linus because he didn't want to appear to be sucking his thumb or holding a blanky.

Caroline and Henry made an obstacle course in the backyard.

 

It started off with jumping over tree branches on the ground, then they had to throw a ball to hit another branch balancing in the neck of our tree, then they picked up a victory stick and ran to the finish line.  While they were making the course, Benson proved non-cooperative.  Especially at the throwing the ball part.  In fact, for much of the weekend, while the kids played out back, he often made a beeline for any dropped ball.  He mistook their playing for the game of keep-away and he gripped Henry's football or baseball in his mouth for dear life.  He crushed the game of keep-away, and because of those skills he was detained inside.  But he's a dog who loves his human friends, so he just stood in the window watching them with a big grin on his face.  Barking and whining at times because he wanted to be a part of their fun.  

Also, Todd and I both seriously regret not naming Benson, Rooster.  He has the perfect image of a rooster in his white fur.  

Josiah should have a much better week ahead.  Not so much the doing school part, but the eating more solid foods part.