No Ifs, Ands, or Buts

In Geography, Caroline's class had to give a presentation on a state of their choosing.  She naturally chose Texas.  After giving all the fun facts about the state - the bluebells, the armadillos, the Alamo -  she had a game at the end, Name That City.  There are a bunch of cities in Texas that are not pronounced like they're spelled.  (Boerne = Bur-knee; Bexar = Bear; Gruene = Green)  She had her classmates guess and then she revealed the correct pronunciation.  She said it went well and no one guessed the correct pronunciation.  Josiah is our resident Power Point Master, so he helped make it look more like a game show.

She also drew her country's map.  Karcoa, in the shape of a car.  It was a lot of work, and even though she worked on it every day, she was still up late the night before finishing up.  Caroline wanted all the colors to be just right.  The symbol for the grassy plains was not just green, it was two shades of green.  Same with the tree trunks - two shades of brown.  Each color of her terrain was very carefully executed. She got in the grassy plains, the forest, and the berry section, the cliffs and waterfalls, the sheep and chicken.  Next up, she has to create a flag.  

Picking up acorns has become our daily past time.  We went out together one evening and picked up hundreds.  I stopped counting my bucket at 200.  They're everywhere.  Benson still has the capacity to find the ones we miss, so he's spent more time on the leash than usual.  We keep telling him, if you would leave the acorns alone, you could have some freedom, but the temptation is too great and he always goes for the nuts.  He is so cute, though.

We have a contest going in the house.  An idiom contest.  We used a random idiom generator to each get a unique idiom for the week.  It must be used in conversation with at least one family member at some point without getting caught (called out).  If you got caught, you had to pick a new one and say it before the end of the week.  4 out of 5 of us had success last week.  Mine was in a pickle.  Mid-week, I heard Todd ask Caroline why she had a chip on her shoulder and I thought it was an odd thing to say but didn't call him on it.  But I got him today.  He told Henry to put his laundry away no ifs, ands, or buts.  Is that your idiom?!  It's been a fun game.  This week several of us gave ourselves two idioms to work into conversations.  

Henry had a race mid-week.  It was an evening race and the weather was perfect - cloudy and cooler.  He kept pace with his friend Chase and had a new PR. 

Henry had another cross country meet this weekend.  This was a hot one.  It was a high school up in Greenville.  A high school that had two trees on the course for shade.  We stood up on a hill to watch the start of the race, moved quickly to the bottom of the hill to watch them, and then we all headed for the shade of one of the two trees.  It was a very hot day.  When Henry was coming towards the finish, the kid behind him was trying to get the lead, but Henry held him off.  The other kid's name was Josiah which made it a little funny.  

Josiah made dinner for us this evening - his smashed burgers.  I watched him put the spices in the meat and he did not skimp, but the end result was quite good.  He's got a meal in his back pocket for sure.  (Not my idiom.)