Giosia & Enrico's Italianish Cuisine

The kids wanted to celebrate our anniversary this year.  Josiah was gung-ho on cooking.  On Memorial Day, they were making preparations.  By 2:30 pm, Josiah could wait no longer and requested we be downstairs to dine at 2:50.  We were seated on the patio by the lovely Caroline.  She gave us our menus.  Unbeknownst to us, we had entered an Italianish establishment.  She started us out with a bowl of tortilla chips and two homemade dips.  Later she brought out a third bean dip.  A nice South Carolina touch.  She took our orders as if she had been waitressing for years.  She didn't even write it down.  

The first course was a bowl of spaghetti.  Chef Henry served it and Caroline sprinkled the cheese.  I knew we did not have green onions, so it took a little investigating to realize Henry had cut up green beans "green onion" style.  They were quite good.  After enjoying the spaghetti, our dishes were cleared and we had time for conversation before the next course.  

In the meantime, I asked the waitress if she could sneak a picture of the kitchen for me.  For posterity's sake.  

Josiah cooked our second course of smashed cheeseburgers.  He does not like the preformed patties that we usually get, so he took raw meat and added what he described as a "butt-ton of salt and pepper and something red, maybe chili powder?"  They were quite good and not too salty.  He added cheese, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. 

The dessert listed on the menu were Drumsticks, the ice cream variety.  I knew we did not have Drumsticks, so when it came time for dessert, the waitress said I could order the "surprise."  That I did.  We had even more time for conversation while we waited for the delectable surprise.  When it came, we tried to figure out all the additions.  There were chocolate chip cookies, crushed Whoppers, and what looked like both a smear and a dollop of frosting, but it did not taste like frosting.  I guessed melted chocolate chips.  Chef Enrico later told me that he heated up chocolate chips with butter to make the concoction. 

Caroline and Henry entertained us with an Italian song.  Caroline said it was about an Italian kid who had a lot of siblings and it was his job to cook for everyone and to make it fun, he would make up songs.  Henry accompanied on air guitar.  Sometimes acoustic, sometimes electric.  

Chef Josiah then came out with after-dinner drinks.  Strawberry ginger ale on the rocks.  Before handing them to us, he blew out the candle, so we knew our dining time was coming to a close.   

By the end of the afternoon I was quite full.  The chefs assured me they had already gotten the Lysol wipes out and cleaned the kitchen.  That they did.  Only thing they forgot was to hire a dishwasher.  

Because of the deep interest in earning money for their PS5, the meal was not free.  Fortunately, when they totaled it, tax was only $0.54.  Thank goodness they did not know about restaurant tax.  

It was an incredibly fun and sweet gesture by all three.  

They had time with friends before the week was over.  The following day, Henry's friends stopped by and invited him swimming.  It was 61° outside with no real chance of getting warmer.  Henry went.  I don't know how long they lasted because I had to run to the store.  When I was driving back, I saw one friend at the front of the neighborhood clearly playing some sort of hide and seek/tag game.  I guess the consensus was 61° was too cold to be swimming.  

Josiah has hung out with his friend Eli nearly every day.  Eli wants to be an actor and shares Josiah's enthusiasm of making movies and having lightsaber battles.  I'm so happy he found a friend with common interests.

Midweek all three kids got to spend some final hours with their friends who are moving.  They had a really good time playing all the sports - pickle ball, volleyball, basketball.  The boys were driving around on the ATV again and Caroline's friend took her on a ride as well.  She loved it.  After they move and set out a new four-wheeling course on their new property, they're going to invite the kids up to enjoy a day.  

Henry is still on a mission to earn money.  I needed time to finish organizing my cabinet/papers at work and he came with me to clean toys.  He chose to wash in the small sink in the classroom as opposed to the big kitchen sink.  It's been great because he's been doing a bunch of stuff that was originally on my list of things to do over the summer.  I've been checking them off right and left. 

Over the summer, the kids are taking Life Skills courses.  It's an homage to our homeschooling days.  :)  They have taken over washing their own laundry.  In addition, they are going to cook dinner one day a week.  We started right away.  Caroline cooked potato soup the first night.  That was the day it was 61° so warm soup was quite nice.  The following day, Josiah whipped up his smashed burgers again.  Excellent.

Henry went for his favorite food - orange chicken and rice.  I want them to do all the things for it (find the pans, do all the measuring, etc.), so I sit back and yell at direct them like a less crass Gordon Ramsey.  

Tomorrow morning, 4 a.m., the kids and I are off to Texas!

Exams Over, Parties Enjoyed

With the first year of traditional school completed, the kids had a few thoughts about it:

Caroline said that when we did homeschool, she remembered a lot of her days. Each day was its own day with its own memories.  But, going to school every day, they are all the same, her classes are the same, the order is the same, and she cannot remember individual days.  She does like her classmates a lot and has felt like she's been with them for more than a year, which is a great thing.  She would actually prefer to go to school through the summer so she could see her friends.  

Henry said the school year went very fast and he did not like that.  He wants the time to move a little slower like it did with homeschooling.  He is concerned that the summer will go equally as fast.  He did like school, however, and really enjoyed his teachers.

Josiah was not a fan of redoing 9th grade (understood) and made it his mission to show his teachers that they made the wrong decision.  He was capable of the 10th grade work and it's been a hard pill to swallow to have another year of high school.  He did very well this year and I think in 5 year's time this will just be a mild inconvenience.  He liked the majority of his teachers and the majority of his classes.  He has made a good friend, too, dubbed "SC Bobby."  

As for new uniforms for next year:

Caroline is not happy that the girls have to wear skirts.  They have no option for pants.  She was not amused when I told her we wore leg warmers in the 80s.  

Henry would prefer dress code instead of uniform.  He does not want to have to tuck in his shirt or wear a belt.

Josiah said that if they are going to do uniforms, they should go all the way and wear suits.  He's upset that they are wearing Polo style shirts instead of button-down dress shirts with jackets.  He would thrive in the British schools with the fancy uniforms.  

All three say the administration did not take their suggestions into consideration as none of their suggestions were part of the new uniform.  Personally, the uniforms are very clean and classic looking.  I like them.  I say that now before they show us the price tags.

Exam week went fairly well.  The kids have gotten many of their scores back and there were many As and a few Bs, so those are very successful exams in my book.  On Monday, Caroline had just one exam so one mom took the 6th grade girls to Corner Bagel for brunch.  Later that day, the girls got together again to have a party for their friend Elly who is moving to NC this summer.  From all accounts, they stayed in the pool the whole time and just enjoyed each other's company.  Elly has been an amazing friend to Caroline.  Caroline has said she is the nicest person she's ever met.  She's also been the "smartest" in class and Caroline always compares her scores to Elly's as a gauge on whether she did well or not.  

On Tuesday, Elly's family threw their annual End of School Party at their house.  It was a water party - water balloons, water guns, etc.  Josiah got in the mix, but my other two made it their mission to stay dry.  Caroline hung out with her friends the whole time soaking up their last days with Elly.  Towards the end of the party when the crowds dissipated (there were 90+ people there!), Elly's brother Clay took our boys on an ATV ride around their 11 acres.  Henry says it was the most fun he's ever had.  

On Wednesday, the kids had their last exams.  Relief.  The boys went over to a friend's house that night for a sleepover.  They ended up going to his church for their Wednesday night activities.  Basketball was played.  

On Thursday, we met the boys back at school for their final day.  This was an easy day - they had time to eat breakfast together, they signed yearbooks, they cleaned up their classrooms and turned in their books.  Last, they had a Senior Share time, which was one teacher asking the graduating seniors questions.  I was in my classroom down the hallway and, though I could not hear their words, I heard a lot of laughter.  They finished they day with a trivia game.  I got a lot of cleaning and organizing done in my classroom.  

When we got home from school that day, the boys, one most emphatically, were not cranky and not tired.  Really? Huh.  They both slept all afternoon.  (thank goodness)

On Friday, we had our first day of vacation.  This time it is a true vacation since we always did math throughout the summer with homeschooling.  We headed up to Greenville to take care of a few errands and the boys needed shoes.  Josiah found a new pair, but Henry was not keen on the styles and left emptyhanded.  Henry liked the "lifestyle" shoes but those did not come in wide.  He let it be known that he was not happy with me for passing down my wide feet.  Genetics, buddy.  Sorry.  We are also limited to white, grey, or navy blue due to the new uniform.  They were thrilled for that.  We celebrated the school year at Red Robin.  Josiah had been before back in Virginia when he was quite young, but he had no memories of it.  All enjoyed their burgers and bottomless fries.  

Josiah spent his Saturday evening on the lake.  One friend from class had another end of year party and Josiah sat on a pool float on Lake Hartwell.  He enjoyed the cookout and the smores.  It's hard to get pictures these days....

Henry has decided he wants a PS5.  He wants it for the summer.  We decided he needs to earn the money for it.  Henry wants to earn all the money as quickly as possible.  Due to his constant, relentless persistence, I came up with a list of jobs he could do to earn money.  Saturday morning, he was on them.  He did the entire list except weeding the backyard.  Very Henry.  He cleaned all the windows he could reach (inside and outside if he could reach them).  He swept the front steps, edged the front yard, cleaned the patio table, and swept its floor.  Josiah wanted in on the action because if Henry bought it outright, he'd control who could play.  That would be no-bueno.  Josiah cleaned the patio cushions and vacuumed out my car.  At the end of every job, they asked, How much did I earn?  So, this is going to be a job for me, too.  

Our first full week of vacation will end in Texas as we travel for camp, a mission trip, and time with friends.  

Pangolins, Pottery, & Parties

It has been a week - many projects were completed to finish out the school year.  In Caroline's science class, they had to present on an animal.  Caroline did a Slides presentation on the Pangolin.  It was a good animal because most people know very little about it, so all the information she gave was new.  It had to be 3-5 minutes long and when she was timing herself, she was at 3:05 or 3:08, so she told me that she was going to count "1, 2" before switching to the next slide to get a little extra time in there. 

Practicing

Josiah has been learning about weather in his science class, so his final project was to see if the weather forecasts were accurate.  For the most part they were, except for the days they were 6° off.  To finish up his Bible class, Henry had to memorize 23 verses.  He could speak them back to me with amazing speed.  My eyes would literally scan over his flashcards because he was speaking faster than I could read.  The test itself was written, which was a lot, but he says he did well.  All three have had a number of review quizzes in anticipation of exams next week.  

Josiah surprised me with my Mother's Day gift early in the week.  His pottery projects came back and he gave me a pencil holder with my initials on it.  He also made a shallow bowl.  It is amazing that he was given a glob of clay and he created both on his very first try.  The pencil holder is already out on display.  He is hoping to go back with some or all of us to try his hand at it again.

It has been a very rainy week.  I love the sound of the rain.  I love sitting on the porch with the rain.  I do not love the next-to-last-week-of-school with 'stuck indoors' preschoolers.  Ideas have been running thin.  We have done all the things.  

Midweek the boys were able to celebrate at their cast and crew party.  They had a nacho bar and an ice cream bar.  We brought the taco meat because I was late to sign up.  They had fun and when I went to get my crockpot, they were playing Party Quirks.

That same day, Caroline tried out volleyball during an open gym time after school.  She said that one closet in the gym has the soft volleyballs, but they opened the other closet with the hard, official volleyballs.  It hurt her arms and hands a lot, but she was able to get the ball over the net.  She has practiced a lot at home over the past year and she's considering playing next year.  

Henry finished out his week with a Hobbit party eating hobbit food. Henry asked his teacher if she was going to bring the beer and cigarettes so they could blow smoke rings and drink like the hobbits.  He was disappointed to only have fruit and nuts, soups and meat, and pastries.  We are going to encourage Henry not to join the frats in college.  

This weekend, Josiah asked to go to Home Depot to pick up four foot dowels.  He's making light sabers for his next video.  He spent Saturday painting them and adding hilts with duct tape and electrical tape.  He spent some time at a friend's house while that friend 'taped' their hilt.  Josiah has watched a lot of Forged in Fire, so he was all about creating a comfortable, practical hilt.

This weekend I set up my mobile hair cutting studio on the back patio.  Caroline wanted a two inch trim.  Her stylist, yours truly, took a few liberties and cut off a wee bit more to give it a fresher look.  Henry wanted to shape up his hair, too.  Less liberties were taken with him.  

On our way out of the neighborhood, we pass this fallen tree in the water that always has a line of turtles sitting on it sunning themselves.  I've always wanted a picture of it, and this weekend, when I was driving Josiah home, there was nary a car in sight, so we sat on the bridge for a minute and Josiah got a few shots.  

A few kids have been diligently studying for their exams next week.  Another we are encouraging to study.  They have three days of exams and then a fun day the last day of school.  The preschool finishes up on Wednesday, so the end is quite near!

Trees Down, Mulch Spread

The week started off with a fun day for the kids.  They had One Day House Camp at Look-Up Lodge.  It was both a fun and competitive day.  Josiah is not a fan of the house system at school.  He says it causes division instead of unity.  They had interesting games - in one there was a rope fairly high and they had to get all their team members over it without touching it.  They played ultimate frisbee but within the game they had to gather letters and make words.  My three were quick to say that, though their house did not win any of the games, they were at least honest and did not cheat (like that one house who always cheats!).  In their free time they did a lot.  Caroline said she swam in the lake, rode a paddleboat, went down a big slide, rode the zipline a few times, and the "swing" which is a loose term because there was nothing to sit on.  She said they were strapped into a harness and just 'swung'.  They came home tired and sunburnt.  We had one box of toiletries that never made it to SC.  I swear it had all our essentials because every time I think I have something, we don't.  Monday morning, it was the suntan lotion that we didn't have.  Josiah has been enjoying the aloe ever since.  He somehow burned his knees and the tops of his feet the most.

Caroline's science and math teacher started a Pickle Ball and Bible study group through the month of May.  They play first and then Bible study after.  She missed the first week because she was sick, but she had a good time this week.  She said her teacher was very good at pickle ball.  They have been learning about Daniel in Bible study.

Mid-week, we had lambs visit us in the preschool.  We have one grandmother who has a ton of animals and she periodically brings them by to show to the kids.  This time she brought three lambs and they were so much fun.  They ran around the playground and we were able to catch quick pets of their incredibly soft wool coats as they walked by.  

That evening we celebrated Josiah's play performance and Henry's set contributions.  We told the boys they could pick a real restaurant, but instead they chose Culver's.  Caroline chose to stay home with the agreement that we would bring food back.  

At the end of the week, there was an Awards Chapel and Josiah got a pin for drama.  It was a happy surprise.  Josiah says he wants to buy a "jock jacket" next year so he can put his pin on it.  

We were back at school in the evening to watch the Senior Thesis Presentation.  I wanted to go this year because the senior class has only 7 students.  Next year's class has 14.  The 7 students took almost 3 hours to present, but it was very good.  Henry and Caroline came along as well.  They said they only understood a few of the presentations.  Henry got bonus points in his English class for coming, so that was his motivation.  At the back of the room, they had a display of the art projects.  We finally got to see Josiah's artwork.  His inspiration was a street corner near our house in Texas before they leveled it for commercial use, when it was still filled with cows and horses.  Josiah Cockerel, just how my students pronounce our name.

On Thursday, I took one last picture of our trees because on Friday, they were finally taken down.  When the hurricane hit last fall, our big tree fell into these two, which left the pine tree leaning ever since.  If it fell, it was headed in the direction of our neighbor's house, which we did not want to happen.  It is a big relief to have it down.  That was always my biggest concern whenever we had storms.  We had a few other limbs taken down as well - we did not want any to hit our house or block our street.  As part of the process, they mulched the trees and dumped it before they left.  And then Saturday came.  It was supposed to rain in the late morning, so we all got out there and tried to move as much mulch as we could.  We were out there for hours.  It did not take long for the wheelbarrow to loose its luster and the complaining to commence.  But with the rain coming, we pushed through.  I think when we felt the first drops around 11 a.m., it was the most welcome rain ever.  Quitting time.  We still have a slight pile, but it's going to be a rainy week ahead.  

Caroline helped, too, but she purposefully stayed out of frame...

For Mother's Day I got a funny mug - Jael driving a nail into the head of Sisera from the book of Judges.  It was during the time of Deborah, the judge, who Caroline had to present on not too long ago.  Caroline also made me a bookmark in school.  It was very fitting.  We got Chinese food for dinner because not having to cook is one of the best gifts of all.  

Anne of Green Gables

It was the week of the play.  Josiah's rehearsals went late each night.  He got out at 9:30 pm on Monday, 10:00pm on Tuesday, and 10:45 pm on Wednesday.  These were some tired kids throughout the week.  Thursday night was their opening day.  It was so, so good.  We laughed a lot throughout the entire first act.  Josiah started out the entire show as the son of the train station operator.  Later, in a scene where they were waiting on their exam scores, he threw a tantrum on stage that he wouldn't pass and he was a disappointment to his parents.  He garnered some laughs with that one.  Later, he played the part of Dean Harcum.  His director told him to come up with a voice for the Dean.  Josiah sounded like  an old movie detective from the 1930s or so.  It was so good.  He had several fathers tell him that he was their favorite character.  One father cracked us up, though, because he had two children of his own in the play.  They had to work with a very shallow stage, so there were many transitions from inside Anne's house to outside.  The stage crew were just as fun to watch as they ran around and set and reset the house over and over again.  We were very impressed with that first performance.  The second performance was the understudy show and they did very well, too.  The third show was the leads again.  Caroline decided to come to the last two shows.  Henry was made to come to the last show.  At the end, they were giving away some of the set and Josiah let it be known that he wanted a bench.  There were six benches that Henry's set crew made and we now have one to keep for posterity.  

Opening Night

We were not allowed to take any video or pictures during their performances and I abided by the rules.  I was going to break the rules the third show, except that one of the administrators at the school had her big camera and sat taking pictures the whole time.  Hopefully she'll share them with everyone soon.  The cast shared a few of the other pictures.  

For the second show, I signed up to chaperone hair and make-up.  It was amazing to watch because the students did everything.  All the fancy updo's and buns and wigs, they did it all really well.  

We did not let Henry and Caroline come to the first show because the following morning they had to take the CLT - a standardized test.  Henry walked away saying it was easy and he aced it.  Caroline said hers was hard because they had not learned some of the material.  We shall see when the results come back.  Caroline has a tendency to say she doesn't do well on certain tests and quizzes and then comes back with pretty high scores.  

Caroline had a rough start to her week.  She went to school on Tuesday just long enough to take a science test.  She promptly fell asleep after the test - deep enough to dream - and then she asked to go home early.  She stayed home Wednesday with a wicked wet cough, but was back at it on Thursday.  We did follow-up with her doctor this week and the protein in her urine went from 300+ last week to 0 this week.  She still has a bit of a cough, but she is finally doing much, much better.  

Henry had a bit of a painful week himself.  He went to the orthodontist who put in new wires and rubber bands to close the gap where his teeth were taken out.  He felt it.  He typically avoids the pain medications, but he took it for a few days after that visit.  He should see big changes right now.  

Cake #1

To celebrate Josiah's play, we got him a cake from Costco.  It seemed to be more his speed than congratulatory flowers.  Little did we know that we would end the weekend with triple the cakes.  This evening, the student ministry held a dessert auction to raise money.  Josiah and I attended.  The best part was the sample table.  For each dessert to be auctioned, they had a second cake/dessert for everyone to sample.  There were 28 desserts.  Josiah and I tried a handful each.  We noted the numbers of the ones we liked and sat down for the auction.  Our original plan was to bid on some cookies, but we had no idea what was to come.  The first item, a cheesecake, started at $10.  Very reasonable.  Then, it quickly sold for $120.  Things were going for $70, $90, $150.  It was very much 'for the kids.'  Josiah leaned over and said he'll go up to $500.  Uh, no.  Even if it is 'for the kids.'  We made it to #17, the cookies we wanted.  I had Josiah bid and we got up to $150 but bowed out when the person we were bidding against went up to $160.  Next we set our eyes on #21, a chocolate cake.  In the meantime, we watched a pound cake sell for $350.  #21 came up for auction and Josiah liked to wait til the early bidding finished and he jumped in at $90.  We won the cake for $160.  We were done.  We had helped the kids.  We got a good chocolate cake.  But then #23 came up for auction.  A lemon cake.  It looked fancy up there, but neither he nor I had taste-tested this one.  The bidding was a little slower, so Josiah got in the mix and we scored that one for $90.  Caroline is a fan of lemon and Henry's our chocolate kid, so we knew they'd enjoy them.  When we got home, we tried our winnings and the lemon cake was quite good.  Better than the other two we sampled ahead of time.  Josiah said that when he gets a job, he's going to go back and start the bid at $500 because it was for a good cause.  He said that it will help the next generation of Christ followers.  I admire his thinking and I hope he gets a very good job. 

Todd rescued a turtle from our backyard.  It had somehow wedged himself in-between the two fences.  After Todd got him out, he set him in the grass and pointed him towards the pond.  I went out maybe 10 minutes later to see if the turtle had moved.  If he hadn't we were going to carry him to the pond, but he was nowhere to be seen.  We looked all up and down our driveway, but he was gone.  He was a big turtle, too.  There is a much bigger pond near the entrance to our neighborhood and there is a fallen tree that sticks out in the water.  Everyday there is a line of turtles on it sunning themselves.  

This week we'll actually eat dinner together as a family.  It's been a long, long while.