For Wake-Up Wednesday, we were allowed to wear pajamas to school. Typically, when this happens, we're all wearing our pajama pants and an appropriate, clean looking top. Henry, however, wore his actual pajama shirt - an old hand-me-down gymnastics shirt from Bobby in Texas. I asked him, Did people ask if you did gymnastics? Yep. Thursday was Country vs Country Club and we all wore flannels and jeans that day. More 90s grunge than country, but we were comfortable. Friday was Reformation Day. Only Josiah dressed up for this one. You could go as a king/queen, prince/princess, peasant, monk, knight, etc. 
Reformation Day is also Halloween and we handed out candy this year. Josiah went to a Halloween party at a friend's house in the neighborhood. Henry and Caroline were not interested in passing out candy, so Todd and I sat at the end of our driveway. Our neighborhood is a mecca for trick-or-treaters. People drive in and huge groups of people walk around. We prepared ahead of time so we wouldn't run out, but we had at minimum 160 people pass by. Our very first trick-or-treater was driven around in a golf cart by her parents. Todd noted the open can of Miller Lite in a koozie in the driver's seat. So that's fun. One of our last groups included a family who parked their car in front of the house. The parents and two kids got out. All four of them said, trick-or-treat, and all four opened their bags for candy. Next year, we may just go as a family of five and see what we can get. We had one truck pull up and the driver got out, introduced himself, and told us his parents built our house and he grew up in it. That was when the neighborhood was three houses and a giant pasture. Later another lady said her grandmother used to live in our house. That's the way it is around here. Lots of hometown folk.
Mid-week, Caroline and I made it to the pumpkin patch. She was very methodical in both size, shape, and color. The following day, the Rountree House got together to have a pumpkin carving party at a friend's house. Caroline did quite well on her ghost. Henry did the Texans logo. Josiah started to carve the Rountree symbol - a tree - but changed it into Snoopy. 
Josiah made rock candy. A ton of it. We still have a ton of it. Because it's just hard sugar and that's pretty much it. It's a cavity in the making. 
Henry made me a blanket using ancient weaving techniques. He said he chose Christmas colors. It is quite cozy and warm.
Josiah spent Saturday morning serving with the youth ministry. They went shopping for toiletries and snack items and packed up blessing bags. Then they went to a ministry in town that houses the homeless from October to April. They were given a tour and shown what the ministry does, which is so much better than just dropping off the bags. He had a good time. He wasn't home for long before it was time to get ready for Saturday night. The boys had the Barn Dance. Each class got together for dinner and pictures before heading to the dance. They are close knit groups here and it is so nice that they enjoy hanging out with each other. 
After picking them up they shared snippets of their night. Both had a very good time. Henry said he and another boy hurdled each other. Apparently, grown man's leap frog. Josiah played football with a few friends and he did his dance when Bye, Bye, Bye was played. There was dancing. No details were given there.
Before they left that evening, I had Caroline put on a flannel so I could get a picture of the three of them together. Caroline knew I wanted the picture by the little lake in our neighborhood. It is a quick walk. We pass one house to get there. We knew one boy would be annoyed, but still say, Let's go and get it over with. The other boy would be annoyed, resist, and ask why we weren't doing the picture in our own yard. We were not wrong. But I still got my picture.
Meanwhile, Caroline wanted me to make a cheesecake that Saturday night, so we stopped at the store for ingredients. We passed the British Foods section and Caroline found a Turkish Delight candy. This was the very same candy that Edmund was ready to give up his siblings for in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, so we brought it home to try. When Caroline read about the White Witch offering Turkish Delight to Edmund, she thought he was eating a turkey sandwich. She was not a fan of the Delight. Josiah tried it the next day and he was not a fan either. He said he wouldn't sell out his siblings for that.
Now that we're in November, we're officially on the countdown to Thanksgiving (break).
No comments:
Post a Comment