Chickens, Field Day, & Prom

Caroline had a good start to her week.  After school on Monday, she went to a birthday party for a school friend at a roller skating rink.  As we drove there, I talked about how every roller skating rink must have been built within a five year period back in the late 70s/early 80s because they all have the same carpeting.  She sent me a picture of the carpet.  She was really looking forward to roller skating again.  Our skates did not make it from Texas because they were either too small or in too rough shape.  

The following day all of Caroline's dreams came true.  She has been asking for braces forever.  She finally got her consult.  She left that visit with spacers between her back molars in anticipation of the metal band that will go around them (on Tuesday!).  And then she realized the pain associated with moving teeth.  She's not a big medicine person, but she popped a few Tylenol after that visit.  I am unauthorized to share her "before" photos that the orthodontist took, but she looked super cute.  

On Wednesday, Josiah's biology teacher drove the whole class to a working farm.  The farm is one of the good ones where the chickens live in the grassy areas, not in giant warehouses.  The students learned more about the chickens.  Then, standing among them, they had to pick one and kill it.  This farm cuts the jugular, which they say stuns the chicken before it dies so that it does not feel anything.  I bet it felt the knife go in...  Two of Josiah's classmates didn't hit the jugular the first time.  One boy took eight tries before he got it.  I bet the chicken felt that!  Josiah couldn't do it.  He had the farm worker kill his, but Josiah did have to clean it out.  He stuck his hand up there and took out all the guts.  Josiah also cut the head off, but it came home with quite a bit of neck left.  He also cut off the feet and watched as the tendons relaxed from a closed foot to open.  He thought that was pretty neat since he had learned about tendons.  We were told to keep it in the refrigerator for two days while rigor mortis completed.  Today we cooked it.  And despite all my failures at cooking it, it came out really tasty.  Even if my stomach turned a little thinking about it running in the grass Tuesday morning.  (I cooked it upside down.  I checked the temperature in Celsius again, so I thought after an hour and a half of cooking, it was only 88°F and kept it in the oven for another half hour.  Took it out.  Still 88°.  Celsius.)  

After a day at the farm, Josiah came home with more than a chicken.  He got a little farmer's tan, too.  More of a burn.  A slightly painful one.  He said he remembered to put suntan lotion on a few hours after they had arrived.  

On Friday, our school had their Field Day.  Events were all over the school, so despite being outside with the preschool most of the day, I only saw Henry and Caroline briefly, and Josiah not at all.  Until the last event - the tug of war.  My class was sitting front row to watch the big kids pull.  

My boss shared photos she took, which were a whole lot better!

Yesterday morning, we ran an errand and came home to a horrible burning metal/plastic smell.  It was not good.  Josiah denied burning anything in the microwave, so we set out on a quest to touch and smell every outlet, every appliance, everywhere we could think of.  Todd decided to change the air filters.  He got the one in the attic.  We reminded Josiah how God had gifted him with a spry and nimble body that could fit under the house to change that filter.  The smell continued.  Josiah took a shower after going under the house, came back downstairs, and said there was no hot water.  And that's how we figured out it must have been the hot water heater, which resides under our house.  We opened the crawl space door again and a big burst of the smell flowed out.  At that point we were thankful our breaker box was properly labeled and we shut that down real fast.  Todd is calling the plumber first thing in the morning.  The menfolk have expressed how cold showers are invigorating.  Caroline said a cold shower made her hair really nice.  I appreciate their positivity.  

Both boys had to take cold showers because Saturday night was Prom.  Josiah went to a dinner at a classmate's house.  Henry did not want to participate in his class's doings, so he ate at home.  They said they had fun, but neither shared a lot of information.  The venue was very pretty. Henry hit up Sonic with a friend before coming home, so it was a late night for all.  

Tomorrow's play rehearsal is at the theater at Anderson University.  I'm very excited to sit in on it.  Now, I have the opportunity to take some pictures of Josiah while he's performing without getting in trouble because I'm not doing it during the actual performance.  Volunteering has its benefits.  

Only five more weeks of school.  It does not seem possible.  

Easter Break

Caroline uploaded an app on her phone so she could keep a record of all the books she's read.  When she was entering her profile, they asked her how many books she wanted to read in a year.  She mistakenly hit 1100 and she cannot change it.  The other day, her app gave her an encouraging message.  Press on! Read 285 books this week to get back on track!  

April Fools Day always seems to spring up on us.  It is always my intention to plan ahead so I can truly fool the kids.  I need to start a month ahead of time and condition them to certain items in their lunch or treats after school.  But alas, at midnight, I was Saran wrapping their doors.  Caroline called out as I was doing hers.  I figured she was talking in her sleep and would not remember any noises.  I sat hidden on the stairs early the next morning.  0 for 3.  All ducked.  Actually, Josiah walked through his while looking at me.  

I gave each of them a Kinder Egg in their lunches.  I had scraped out the chocolate and cream, inserting a hard-boiled egg.  I used Elmer's glue to reattach the two halves and prayed it would work.  Elmer's came through for me.  Nary a kid ate the egg.  Caroline thought about it, but wasn't sure it was hard-boiled.  Henry saved his for after school.  That's no longer safely edible...  Josiah's got passed around to a few kids.  Next year, the games begin March 1st.  

On our last day of school before Easter Break, we had an All School Easter Chapel.  The 4th-7th graders were formed into a choir this year, Caroline being a part of it.  They had practiced their song for several weeks, but decided to add sign language to it a little last minute.  They had a few lessons, but Caroline wasn't sure how it would all look during the performance.  They did quite well.  The music instructor, who was playing piano, told all the kids to look out into the audience - don't just look at the girl on the front row giving them the ASL signs.  Every eye was locked in on Lucy, the sign giver.  But they did very, very well.  

And then Spring Break was upon us.  That first evening, Josiah told me the dinner I made was too tomatoey.  It was stuffed peppers.  Which calls for a can of diced tomatoes. Guess who was tasked making dinner the following evening?  Smashburgers are his specialty and he does them well.  I watched him make them - he seasoned the meat before making the patties, then seasoned them some more while they were cooking.  He can make a burger.  

We had a rainy Easter Day, so we had a carport picture.  We have a great pastor and he preached on the empty tomb.  Caroline had to wait for her brothers to take the picture (as if she would actually put her arms around them).

Somehow we have accumulated a ridiculous amount of Easter eggs.  Todd and I hid 141 eggs.  141!  That was a lot of hiding spots!  They each got to find 47 eggs.  All was going well until Josiah and Caroline both had about 8 left to find.  We got to say the iconic parent statements, I can see 3 from here.  There are five left in this room.  When all were found, the kids dumped their eggs and sorted.  Well, two sorted.  One, not so much.  Each picture was a direct reflection of the state of their bedroom.  

Baseball has made a comeback this spring.  

Over break we did a little pickleball until the courts started filling up and we felt crowded out.  I am not the best at keeping the ball IN our court.  That's why Henry's often on my team.  He does all the running.

The girls in Caroline's class got together for another movie night.  While she was out, we decided to work on Henry's parking.  Todd and Josiah came along as human cars.  We made him practice parking from the right and left.  No persons were injured during this exercise, however, several invisible cars had some damage to their side bumpers.  He's still doing really well and he got much better at the parking bit as he went along.   

Towards the end of the week, Todd took the kids to see Grandad and Nana.  I put Benson on his leash so we could go outside and wave goodbye.  Benson completely misinterpreted my intentions and hopped in the back of Todd's car.  His tail was wagging so hard.  He thought he was going somewhere.  He was visibly sad after they left and kept looking out the window.  He and I have had a good break - hanging out in the backyard sniffing (him) and reading (me).  I worked hard to spring clean the house.  I wrote down every little thing I wanted to do so I could get that satisfactory crossing it off the list feeling.  

Josiah did ask for a picture of Benson every hour.  I complied to the best of my ability...

Meanwhile, the kids and Todd enjoyed their visit.  There was the customary frisbee and horseshoes, pool and Bingo.  Henry even drove them to Dunkin Donuts one morning to get a little Virginia driving time in.  Caroline sent me a picture of his parking job - he made sure to give everyone a wide berth.  They had a very nice visit with Grandad and Nana, but apparently did not get a picture all together...

Upon their return, Benson and I camped out in my trunk to see them pull up.  He was very happy to have his people back.  

We are down to the final six weeks of school.  Caroline says I only have 3 weeks left because I work half days.  Either way, we're getting down to it.  The play opens in 3 weeks so it is going to be a crazy time until then.  

Mustard's Medals

The basketball hoop has been one of our best purchases.  It has gotten so much use.  This weekend we've been playing Around the World.  Benson likes to stand at his spot and watch us shoot hoops as well as look down the driveway for any potential dog walkers that may pass by.  When I was playing with the kids one day, I did not get my rebound and my ball bounced down the driveway.  Josiah ran after it and the ball stopped at the curb next to the pond.  A gaggle of Canadian geese was on the other side of the pond (nowhere near the ball) and as Josiah came bounding after it, they all expressed their displeasure and honked. A lot.  It was pretty funny.  

Josiah has been busy this weekend creating medals for Col Mustard for the play.  He's done a good job sculpting, but the student who plays Col Mustard is a stickler for accuracy, so he may or may not accept the medals.  Play rehearsals go to 8:00 p.m. now, so Josiah's days are incredibly long.  I am still enjoying being the adult helper on Mondays.  It's been a lot of fun watching the play come to life.  Caroline will not let me disclose anything, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the final production. 

In Henry driving news....  He wants to go out every evening.  One particular evening, we came to an intersection where we have only ever taken a left turn.  Henry decided to go straight.  And we went straight for what felt like forever.  It turned in to a 50 mph country road and when I pulled up the GPS, it was only going towards more country.  Fortunately, we could always count on a Dollar Store to show up, so we could turn around.  He got 45 minutes of driving in, so he was happy for that.  He's gotten a lot smoother overall.  We still have a little friction with my comments.  We have a lot of hills so I say, Speed up....slow down... a lot.  Sometimes I say, SLOW DOWN!  He's not shy with the gas pedal.  But he's doing really well.  

March Gladness

We had March Gladness week at school.  Part of that meant the students cheered for the teachers as they came to work.  So, our objective was to get to school as early as possible every day.  Avoid, avoid, avoid!  

Mid-week, the kids were tasked to dress up like a New Covenant Professional.  Caroline's class chose their Latin/Bible teacher.  She had his look down.  He recognized himself in her attire.  

Josiah's class dressed like their Humanities teacher.  One mom bought the whole class beards, which completed the look.  Josiah brought a mason jar to drink from all day as well.  Henry dressed as the same teacher as Josiah, but "on a dress down day," which was a roundabout way for Henry to wear jeans and his House t-shirt.  

On Friday, the PTO gave all the teachers basketballs - March Gladness/Madness.  That was a welcome gift for our household.  

Josiah was in Columbia all day Friday.  He competed in the SCACS art competition.  He submitted his autumn tree under Mixed Media.  He also combed his hair because, "they'll never see me again."  He texted a few times throughout the day and said he hadn't won anything.  Then when I heard from him after the award ceremony was over, he had won third place.  Not shabby for a first time entry.  

The driver training continues.  Henry's classmate, who got her permit 2 days after Henry, already has 5 hours under her belt.  Henry had 3 at the start of the week.  I told him it was not a competition.  His reply? Yes, it is.  So now we're driving in 30 minute stints.  I've noticed as we drive the two lane country roads, which are absolutely everywhere here, especially as we're avoiding one main road, I push my arm against the passenger door in hopes that he'll move just a little further from the ditch which is always on our right shoulder.  My right bicep is getting built.  I also lean my whole torso towards the center of the car as if that will guide it more towards the center.  He's doing well, though.  Sometimes he doesn't like all the directions I give him, but then I remind him that he has 4 hours of driving experience and I have 30 years.  I'm going to talk as much as I feel necessary.  

On Friday evening, Henry drove the backroads to our school.  When he got in the parking lot, he tried to park, which he hasn't practiced since his first two days of driving.  He parked like those annoying sports cars who make sure no one hits their car.  

On Saturday morning, Henry and I drove the main roads.  It was early enough that there was not a lot of traffic.  He only got honked at once, which was more a factor of an impatient driver than Henry.  Later that morning, we were going to go to Krispy Kreme.  Henry wanted to drive.  His siblings were not too crazy about it and comments were said in the car.  When we got to the parking lot, Henry wanted to find a spot where he could make it in the lines and it wouldn't be near any other cars.  We needed to get our steps in before eating those sugar bombs anyway.  When we made it home, Josiah & Caroline told him it was better than last time, which in sibling-speak is a big complement.  

We had gone to Krispy Kreme because their third quarter report cards had come out and they wanted their Donut for an A.  We celebrated with a dinner out on Sunday, too.  Henry would like it be said that he had already downed a donut before I took a picture.  He had all As.