The Eye Opener

Caroline has spent her Labor Day weekend doing a lot of school work.  She has her white board with her neatly written list of things to do and then she gets at it.  She had a very fun Geography class this past week.  They traveled to Venezuela.  Her teacher's sister (Stephi) was in the room and only spoke in Spanish.  They pretended they were at customs in a Venezuelan airport.  Each of the students were given $300.  While her teacher was going through their backpacks, Stephi was rattling off questions in Spanish.  Rapid fire edition.  The kids were expected to say Si or No, whether they understood the questions or not.  When asked if she had drugs in her luggage, Caroline said, No.  Then Stephi held out her hand.  Caroline handed over all $300 and was let through.  Others who said Si to the drugs, were put up against a wall.  One student who had a Bible in her backpack was put up against the wall with the druggies.  Caroline said it was very fun.  

On Friday, we all were looking forward to our first dress down day.  We were wearing jeans and a New Covenant-issued t-shirt.  As we drove to school that morning, the kids kept asking me if it was really a dress down day.  With all the confidence I could express, I reiterated once again, Yes, I looked it up last night.  I know it is.  But just to calm their questioning, I said they could look it up themselves.  They did.  Our first dress down day is September 5th.  And that's when I turned the car around.  It was a very quiet, very quick drive back home.  I apologized before informing them they had exactly one minute to change into their uniforms.  Uniforms they had worn the day before and I had no idea what state they were left in overnight.  I made it to my classroom with two minutes to spare.  

That Friday, Josiah was asked to read some Scripture in Chapel.  It was a Read & Response and Josiah said he had the easy part.  Our school does things in a very liturgical way, which is different from the churches we've attended.  Today, Josiah watched a few of his teacher's church services online.  Not the whole thing, but just the beginnings to see what they were like.  A compare and contrast sort of thing.  He did witness a baby baptism.  The pastor said they hoped the children would grow up to have faith in Jesus Christ.  All instances of baptism (=immersion) in the Bible are after one expresses faith, not before, so we are not baby baptizers in the Baptist tradition.  Our school is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, which does baptize babies, so Josiah has had a few conversations with his one teacher in particular about it.  This teacher encourages debate, so it is a good environment in which to discuss things.  Josiah also tried to watch Joel Osteen to help with the compare and contrast, but he had a lady preaching today, so there was no Joel, no prosperity gospel.  

Henry has had some meetings with "the higher-ups" several times this week.  I think he likes coming home and saying he met with the higher-ups.  It is the leadership of the Houses that are preparing for House Camp.  He's enjoying his role as Shepherd, but he keeps mum about their activities.

Todd left this weekend for Hampton to help set up a new computer for Grandad and Nana.  But before he left, Henry and I were back at school at 5:45 Saturday morning.  It was the Eye Opener cross country race.  This is the big one.  The one where every school from the whole state comes to race.  The weather was at least 10° cooler than last year, which made it very nice.  Henry is running with varsity boys this year.  His goal this race was to get a sub-30.  He ran hard and passed the finish line at 28:30.  Goal reached.  He was not the only one to run hard.  As I was waiting for Henry near the finish, I watched other runners give it their all at the end.  One guy ran across the line, immediately started projectile vomiting, wiped his mouth, and kept walking.  That's an image that sticks with you.  

Varsity boys lined up to start

Henry's moon project has been going much better lately.  The moon is where we want it to be - right outside our door.  He has been getting incredible pictures with his phone.  

Benson likes to sit at his windows and defend the house.  Ducks dared to walk across our yard the other day.  The tailless cat is a frequent visitor.  It likes to torture Benson and just lie down in our front yard.  This cat.  Zero fear.   

Josiah wanted to make homemade fries this afternoon.  Once he gets an idea, he runs with it, so before I knew it, he was soaking his fries in cold water.  They cooked for a long time, much longer than anticipated, but they turned out well.  He added quite a few spices and they had good flavor.  

Tomorrow the little lady and I have each written quite the lists of things to accomplish.  I do not think either boy has even remotely thought of writing a list.  To Labor Day!

Volleyball

Writing these updates with teenagers has become challenging.  When I take pictures now, the kids are quick to follow it up with, Don't put that in the blog! Benson, thank goodness, is happy to share all his photos.  

I was able to see the cross country team run mid-week on my way to pick up Henry.  The picture does not do it justice, but to get back to the school, they have this long uphill climb.  Tough way to end their practices.  

On Friday, Henry wanted to go to our school's varsity volleyball game.  Not to watch the game, but to hang out with his friends.  Caroline, too, wanted to go and watch her friends play in the earlier games.  Josiah was game to go as well.  I took Caroline first and her classmates played very well.  They won their JV game (2 sets out of 3).  Todd dropped off the boys for the 6pm game.  I watched them walk to the student section on the opposite side of the court.  Then I watched Henry's eyes.  He was right.  He came to hang out with his friends, not to watch the game.  Josiah sat with friends and he cheered so hard, his hands were beet red by the end.  Caroline cheered with her friends, but with a lot less intensity.  The varsity girls lost (3 sets out of 5).  We had not even reached the car before all three mentioned how much they enjoyed it and wanted to go again next week.  The home games are played five minutes from our house, so they are very doable.  

Classes are already in full swing.  All three kids have had quizzes in nearly all their subjects this week.  When asked how they did, Henry stated he didn't care how he did on the first quizzes because he's getting to know how his teachers test.  Yeah. I don't know if that counts when you had the same teachers as last year.  Our school's not that big.  

Henry has started the moon project for science class.  It's been an interesting start.  He's supposed to take a picture of the moon at the same time each day.  But the moon is not cooperating with the project.  He got the first two days.  Then it was a new moon for two days.  Today the moon is rising at 8:15 a.m. and setting at 8:56p.m.  We looked all over for it when we drove to church, but never found the moon.  Henry says he can draw pictures, so he may have to go that route.  For Josiah's moon project last year, we literally walked out our door, looked up, and there it was.  Very easy.  

Every morning, Todd walks Benson in the front yard.  Every morning, he has to look up and see which side of the carport walkway our friendly spider has built his web - the right or the left.  Then he moves a big box under the side of the spider, so we all avoid the web.  It is a huge spider and a massive web.   He clearly found a good eating spot.

Todd completed a project this weekend.  Our carport was growing mold on the underside, so he sprayed vinegar all over it before wiping it down.  It did not completely come off, so he went back over it with peroxide.  It looks a ton better.  Henry saw him on the ladder and went out asking if he needed help.  Henry did a two foot section before punching out on his timeclock.  Todd learned after the first spray that what goes up must come down.  After a face full of vinegar, he aimed his sprays a little more strategically. 

We are already on the countdown to Labor Day weekend and the kick off to the cross country races.  

Midnight Flight

Monday morning, our new shed was delivered.  This house does not have a garage, so we had a junky carport and a junky laundry room. Now both have been cleaned up a bit.  The delivery driver had a remote control for the trailer it was on, and he could move the shed in all directions.  It was pretty neat to watch.  It is always fun to watch delivery drivers navigate up our driveway.  Always an impressive feat.  

Monday evening was Back to School night.  We were supposed to have pizza and games and bouncy houses, but the weather was not cooperating, so it was reduced down to Meet the Teacher.  I had a very full classroom of 9 boys and their parents.  The majority of us were sweating, but it was good to let them see the room.  Caroline and Josiah went to 'meet' their teachers, which really meant they went to find their lockers and chat with their friends.  Henry opted out of the evening.  Meeting them last year was good enough for him.  

As the kids got their backpacks ready for the first day, we had a lively discussion on what color spiral notebook goes with which subject.  I put in my two cents and told them the correct color assignments: Math is blue, because blue is the best color and math is the best subject;  History is red (lots of blood throughout history); Science is green (living things);  English is yellow, because I was not a fan of either in my younger years.  There is no deviation from this standard.

Backpacks were ready, lunch bags were out.  We thought we were all set.  I casually asked Josiah, "Hey, do you have a brown belt for tomorrow?"  Nope.  So, at 8:00 p.m., Todd and Josiah were at Walmart buying a brown belt for his uniform.  

There was less excitement this year than last.  Less enthusiasm.  However, they do like their teachers.  Caroline thinks science will be her favorite subject.  The science teacher really is an amazing man.  All the kids at the school just love him.  She is also taking geography this year, which she was not excited about at all.  Nevertheless, she's been drawing and labeling maps on her own all weekend.  They learn the states of the U.S. first before moving on to the countries of the world, but Caroline just taught herself South America.  

The boys liked the new Latin teacher a lot.  I met him during the in-services and knew he was going to be one the kids enjoyed.  Josiah had a bit of correspondence going with him before school even began.  Mr. Evans was most likely trying out the new grading software and Josiah received notifications that he was given two grades: 100 & 44.  Josiah sent him an email inquiring about the failing grade.  That first day, they were told they could only speak Latin in class, with points deducted for any English.  To help them out, he has a number of phrases at the front of the classroom for them to use.  Josiah already used, "I'm confused."  This Latin is less of a grammatical lesson.  Their textbook is more literature style - one long story about a Roman family.  

Their Latin teacher is also a marathon runner and we saw him at the Midnight Flight on Friday evening.  When he ran passed by us, Josiah yelled, "Optimae!"  It was dark, but I saw the side of his lips curl up into a smile before he was off to the finish line.  He may also have smiled because that's the feminine version of the word...

We enjoyed Chinese takeout that first day of school.  That was my request.  Good food.  No cooking.  

On Friday morning, the school had their Convocation.  During that time, they inducted the new students into different houses.  They started by announcing the leadership team for each house.  And that's when Henry went forward because he was asked to be the Shepherd for Rountree House.  The Shepherd is the Hype Man, so basically Henry needs bandanas and green paint and a lot of energy.  It was a big deal to be asked, so that was special for him.

We closed out our school week with the Midnight Flight.  This is an annual race down the streets of Anderson.  Henry's cross country team was running the 5k.  Josiah decided at the last minute to run the mile.  It absolutely stormed that evening before the races began.  Josiah's started at 8:15 p.m.  Once his race started, the crowd meandered towards the finish line.  We hadn't even reached it before the officials were yelling, "Off the course!"  We looked and the first runner was coming around to the finish line.  He's a local legend and we were told he tried out for the Olympics.  He finished the mile in 4:18.  This man ran the 5k later on and won that as well. Josiah did well.  He made it in 10:35.  The cross country team spotted him and cheered him on towards the end.  

The 5k was set to begin at 9p.m., but it started to rain very close to that time.  The runners were already lined up when they announced they would be doing the fireworks before the race so they did not get ruined.  It felt like they were setting those fireworks off as quickly as possible.  As soon as they ended, we heard a deep rumble and then lightning struck in a long horizontal line with one vertical line right in the path of the race course.  Any other sporting event would have cancelled, but the announcer said, "On the siren sound, begin."  They were off.  It rained pretty hard their entire race.  

And so begins our first full week of school.  

Ready or Not

I spent the week in in-services for the better part of the day.  When not in meetings, I was able to work in my classroom.  I think the purpose of this week was to load us up with information so that we could have empathy for the students that first week of school.  It was all good information, great information actually, but my brain was fried by the end of the week.  I also picked up a bug, so Saturday was spent recuperating in bed all day.  Four hour nap?  Yes, please.  I did get my class roster.  Last year I had 7 girls, 1 boy.  This year, 9 boys, 1 girl.  

While I was gone during the day, the kids started off strong with the list of 'house activities' they were given.  They also did a drawing competition where they would start a picture, pass it to their sibling, draw some on their sibling's paper, switch again, etc.  They turned out pretty cool.  

Henry had his cross country night at the running store.  With it came pizza and a 20% discount on shoes.  Henry did not feel like going, but we were not going to squander 20% off new running shoes.  Sometimes you just have to suck it up and go.  He stuck with his Hoka brand.  This year, he'll be like the other runners and use them for practice and races only.  No wearing them to school all day long.  His first race is already next week.  

The running store had not only pizza, but drinks as well.  They had fancy salt replenishers and drinks I've never seen before.  They also had a classic.  Yoohoo.  Henry wanted to try it so he brought one home and the boys tried it together.  I tried it once before (35 years ago?) and concluded it tasted like watered-down chocolate milk.  Josiah, however, was a fan.  

Josiah tried his hand at making American biscuits.  After baking, he presented them as British biscuits.  A bit flat and crunchy.  Biscuits are hard to master, but knowing Josiah he'll keep at it.  

Henry finished two more puzzles this week.  Claire's wooden Santa puzzle looked very difficult, but Henry just sat there and knocked it out. He also decided that he should clean out his backpack from last May.  He was impressed with his pile of papers to toss.  His binders now have fresh, clean paper and he is ready to go on Wednesday.  

Two cuties.  

Back to School Night is tomorrow and classes begin on Wednesday.  Ready or not!

Vacation Ending

We have enjoyed many a home-cooked dinner and dessert these past two weeks.  None of my doing.  Josiah has been a pizza dough making machine.  One night we made individual pizzas with his dough.  The following day, we tried to make calzones.  When Henry, Caroline, and I went out of town, Josiah surprised Todd with pizza dough when he got home from work and they made themselves a big pizza. 

The desserts have been piling up, too.  Peanut butter cookies (Caroline), chocolate chip cookies (Josiah), more peanut butter cookies (Caroline).  At the rate of their production, we're all going to grow in the wrong direction.  But they've done very well.  They told me that when they get older, they want to make everything from scratch.  I remember making that goal for myself....

Who have grown are the baby deer.  One baby has gotten big enough to jump the fence into our backyard to graze with its mother.  The other baby stays on the other side of the fence, so it's been fun to watch them keep an eye on each other.  Our neighbors like to call for the deer and then toss them vegetables.  One day, they must have heard the siren call because they ran around the pond, across our yard, up the driveway to the neighbor's backyard.  

Josiah saw the Fantastic Four movie with his friend Eli on opening weekend.  I gave him enough money and dropped him off with the parting words, Have fun.  I want my change.  At pick up, he quickly explained how there was a meal deal with a special Superman cup.  I got $3 back.  He did enjoy the movie, though.  

I've been trying to finish unpacking the house before school starts.  The boxes and bins left are not exactly the unpacking type.  "Childhood memories"  "Josiah - school work Preschool-7th grade"  Three boxes of picture frames that just don't work for this house.  The pile for Salvation Army grows.  

Caroline has helped with the organizing side of unpacking.  Organization is her gift and I am very grateful.  One day I was out with Josiah for what she thought was too long and to pass the time she cleaned the kitchen, organized the pantry, cleaned another pantry, and organized the laundry room.  With all that, I have no motivation to hurry home!  She cleaned Benson's windows and asked if she could clean the outside of them as well.  Uh, 100% yes.  Benson was so appreciative of his new clean view, that he put his nose right up to the window to see out.  

Last weekend, Henry, Caroline, and I traveled to Staunton.  We are usually morning drivers, but we left Saturday afternoon and the views were especially beautiful.  

We enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa's company.  

We visited their new Buc-ees.  

We weeded a little - we have the same vine weeds here in SC, so it was good practice for when we tackle our own backyard.  

Henry reignited his friendship with Maggie.  

The kids were super excited to finally meet Aunt Claire's dogs, Rocky & Moose.  All we really knew about them was that they were huge.  They did not disappoint.  Moose was more on the big-normal side of things and super sweet.  Rocky was truly huge, super soft, incredibly cute, and a very messy drinker!  

While we were in Virginia, Todd and Josiah tried out a new diner in town.  Chicken and waffles for the win.  When they hire more staff, we shall go back.  When the hostess comes by to take your drink order, and later again to get your food order, it's time to hire more waiters.  

When we arrived back to SC, Josiah greeted us with a homemade Black Forest Cake.  He had made all the components from scratch.  The sponges, the whipped cream, and the cherry filling stuff.  It tasted just like Black Forest cake.  The whipped cream was so, so good.  Days later I found a forgotten container of the extra whipped cream in the refrigerator.  Delightful.  

This summer, we have done a ton of puzzles.  So many.  If they are 500 pieces, we finish them in a day typically.  1000 pieces, 2-3 days.  Henry has a lot of stamina when it comes to puzzles and I enjoy them as well.  Grandma and Grandpa gave Henry a Mars puzzle for his birthday.  It was only 500 pieces, but this puzzle took us a good two weeks to finish.  It was so hard.  We got home from Staunton determined to complete it.  Once finished, I was ready to put it in the donate pile, but Henry wants to hang on to it.  He says he may try it again some day. 

Vacation time is quickly coming to an end.  I start work again tomorrow.  The kids have another week off of school, but if I'm at work, they can work.  They'll be pleasantly surprised with the list of 'house activities' they can complete each day.  I hope I can get out the door before they wake up...