And Another Thing...

Snippets from our day

This morning:

Ben - Grandma was here!

Me - Yeah (?)

Ben - I knew she was here because Cattie smells like Grandma.

 

This afternoon:

Olivia - Why didn't you name me Caroline?!?! (imagine a very dramatic, exasperated voice)

 

This evening: 

Saragh - This will be your 26th anniversary?

Me - No, this will be our 10th anniversary

Saragh - That's 3 and 7, right?

Me - Ummm...  (she's five and we've never done math)

 

And a bonus:

We hear Saragh run outside and a few mintues later, the doorbell rings.  When Oliver goes to see whose there, he finds Saragh hiding under a box giggling.  Yeah, she's awesome :o)

Please don't wash your own plate...

So, the other night, the boys had a friend spend the night.  They had pizza, watched movies, played video games, you know, the whole teenage boy shebang.  After they got done eating, the friend brought his plate to me to ask what he should do with it.  I tols him to just put it in the sink and I would take care of it later when I loaded the dishwasher.  He informed me that he had already washed it.  This took me completely by surprise and it really annoyed me.  Now, I know that I should have been grateful that the boy had such good manners, but I really do not consider it good manners, and I'll tell you why.  

First, when you are a guest in someone's home, especially a first time guest, you don't know what the rules and routines are and you shouldn't assume that you do.  Now, in his home, it may have been the rule that you wash your own plate, but it is not here.  Good manners dictate that you ask what the procedures are before you act.  

Second, both of my boys had put their plates in the sink (as had Oliver and I), as per the routine of our house.  I found it to be quite presumptuous and a little up-staging-ish for this boy to wash his plate when he could clearly see that the rest of us had put our plates in the sink.  I might not have thought that if he hadn't also done similar things throughout the evening.  Like when the boys burst out of the house and bellowed that they were going off to a bike ride to the jumps and the friend turned to me and said, "I guess the plan is that we're going on a bike ride, is that okay with you?"  This was after I had already bellowed "Whatever, dude!" back to the boys (which is code in our house for, "Sure, that's great, don't kill yourselves because I don't have time for the drama!").  I just found it a little irksome.

Third, I now have this compulsion to make the boys wash their own dishes whenever they are at someone else's house.  I hate that this has me second guessing myself, even if it is just a tweeny-tiny bit.  Now, this is totally my problem and I own it, but it still pisses me off a bit.  I normally have great confidence in my children's social graces.  Most of the time, I feel quite at ease sending them off to a friend's house because we have made manners and  niceties a priority so that they do not offend people.  But now there is a little eensy part of me that thinks maybe I haven't been quite diligent enough.  Should they be washing their own dishes at other people's houses???  

Yes.  This is when the crazy starts to come out.  You'll have to excuse me now, I have to go shove it back in.

The Minotaur By Ben

 

The Minotaur

By Ben Stanley

One of the kings of Crete was named Minos.  One day, there was a storm at sea and  Minos asked the god Poseidon to bring his fleet home safely.  In exchange Minos would sacrifice his best bull.  Poseidon agreed, however, when the fleet came home Minos sacrificed the smallest bull.  Poseidon was furious so he decided to take revenge.     

 

Minos wife was expecting a baby, when it was born it was half man half bull. The Minotaur, meaning Bull of Minos, was very ugly to look at and the people were afraid of it.  It had a nasty habit of eating people!  

 

Minos told Daedalus, who would be called an engineer today, to build a labyrinth that was big, treacherous and so complicated that no one could find their way out.  It took many year to complete.   When it was completed, Minos put the beast in the labyrinth so it could not find its way out.  Minos then demanded tribute from islands and cities, including Athens, in the form of young men and maidens.  

 

The king of Athens was named Aegeus.  He had a secret son, named Theseus who grew up on an island called Troezen.  Even as baby he was fearless, when Heracles came to their town he laid his lion skin over a chair.  Theseus thought it was a real lion so he attacked it with and axe.  Heracles said Theseus would be a hero just like him when he’s older.  

 

When Theseus was 21 he left his mother to see his father, Aegeus in Athens.  When Theseus heard about the Minotaur he wanted to kill it so he went to Crete.  The princess of Crete, Ariadne wanted the Minotaur dead too, because she thought it was cruel. So she gave him a ball of gold thread and a magic sword because it is the only sword that can kill the Minotaur.  Theseus went in to the maze, tying the rope to the door knob and unwound it as he walked through the maze.  When Theseus got closer, the Minotaur smelled him and attacked him.  Theseus grabbed its horn and cut off it’s head.  

                The next morning Minos went to get the prisoners to put them in the labyrinth and he found their beds empty and a boat missing.  During the night Theseus and Ariande had helped them escape and get back to Athens.  

The Trojan War by Braidon

After watching this video, Braidon wrote a short paper about the Trojan War (thanks for the idea Jenn M.!).  I'm hoping that this will be a weekly project for both boys for the next couple of months.  The boys have not really done a lot of formal writing, so I'm also hoping that their style will improve as we go.

 

The Trojan War

by Braidon Eikenberry

   The Trojan war was between the Trojans and the Greeks.  The war was ten years long.  Zeus called on Paris of Troy to decide who was the fairest between Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. He chose Aphrodite because she promised him the most beautiful woman on Earth to be his wife. He  took Helen  of Sparta from her husband Menelaus king of Sparta.

Helen daughter of Zeus and Queen of Sparta was known as the most beautiful young lady in the world. Her stepfather saw how many men wanted to marry his daughter so he held a competition to see who should marry her.  The one who won the competition was Menelaus.    

                There was an epic battle between Hektor of Troy and Achilles of Sparta.  Achilles the son of Zeus was made invincible by putting him in a river called Styx,  except for his heels.  Achilles won that battle because of his invincibility.  Then after the battle Achilles dragged Hektors body around the city of Troy three times to show that he had killed him.  

Troy withstood the siege  for ten long years.  The final Greek victory came when the Greeks made a huge wooden horse that could hold twelve soldiers.  One night all the Greek ships sailed off so the Trojans thought they had won the war.   The  Greeks put the horse outside the gates and the Trojans thought it was a gift, so they took it in the gates.   The Trojans had been celebrating and became very drunk.  While they were asleep the Greeks came out of the horse, down the the ladder, and killed the Trojans in their sleep.  Then they got Helen and went home after ten long years. 

Sickness and Superbowl Sunday

So, Oliver is sick today.  He came home from shuttling Braidon to a writing class yesterday and could not stop shivering.  So, up to bed he went and that's where I found him when I got home.  With a fever of 101, he surely felt miserable and I am stil trying valiently to be sympathetic and take care of him.  Yes, trying.  You see, I can't quite shake the feeling that I will get this too and he will be at work.  What do you think are the chances that he'll be able to stay home?  It always works out this way.  He gets sick on a weekend, when he's supposed to be running the Nut House, so I end up ditching all the things I had planned because I have to run the Nut House AND take care of him.  Then I get sick on a weekday, inevitably on his busiest day of the week, and he can't take time off of work to run the Nut House and take care of me.  Not that I begrudge him the time he needs to recover or that I refuse to take care of him.  I just get caught up in the injustice of it all.  I know this is a feeling that most moms share, so I think I'm probably in good company.  I do care very much that my husband is sick and I am hoping fervently that he feels better very soon because I know he's miserable.  I just think  that if he could get sick from 7-6 on a Wednesday, it would be way more convenient for me and would not at all disrupt the routine. 

Also, it's, apparently, Superbowl Sunday.  Who knew?  I have a feeling that the men in my life are going to be tuned to the game later today and that will leave me with plenty of knitting time tonight.  Maybe I'll go downstairs and watch something on Netflix.  Maybe I'll watch the commercials.  Who are you rooting for?  I usually choose by color, and I don't like either this year.  Horrible, really.  And we're probably equi-distant from both teams, so that's not helpful.  I know some people from both places, so that's also not going to hlep.  I just can't decide and I have to admit that I'm not that willing to spend much more time on the decision.  Ah well, hopefully the commercials are entertaining!

Instead of school...

Olivia started writing her first book entitled "The Missing Tiara".  She is currently working on the first chapter after creating a rockin' front cover.

Anna drew illustrations for her own book, most likely a graphic novel. 

Benjamin created another HUGE LEGO vehicle.  It's so awesome, he looks up pictures and videos online to get an idea of construction and then he disappears for several hours and comes back down with a perfect replica.  Amazing.

Braidon continued working on his snow structure, which is beginning to resemble a small city and he also cleaned up the yard without being asked.  He's my favorite today ;o)

Saragh did all the things that Saragh does best, no one is quite sure what that is, but she was quiet and engaged and the house is still standing, so I'll take it!

They always come up with activities that are WAY better than anything I could have dreamed up.  I love our life and I'm so glad we chose this path!

A serious portrait session with Benjamin

Smile for the camera please, Ben.

No, smile.

Stop that, just smile would ya!

Sigh.

Okay, ha-ha mister.

Not exactly what I had in mind, but I guess I'll take it considering the alternatives...

FO :: Ezra's Ella Funt

Such a fun knit!  And Ez looks so handsome in his new sweater!

Raveled here

Sunday Dinner

What could be better then homemade waffles, scrambled eggs and watermelon for Sunday dinner outside in the cool evening breeze?  Maybe the massive watermelon fight started by a certain Mama and ending with one boy up in a tree while his Dad waits on the ground, hose in hand.  Yup, that's how we roll here at the Eikenberry Nuthouse.

Boy Scout Camp

The boys went to Camp Frontier at the Pioneer Scout Reservation in Ohio last week.  Wednesday was Parent Night, so we went down with another scout parent to check things out.  This was the first experience either of them has had away at camp.  Although they were very excited to have this adventure and were having a tremendous amount of fun, they were both very glad to see us on Wednesday.  I'm very happy to say that Ben hugged me so hard, it hurt!

Ben was dubbed "The Kid With the Hair" by his fellow scouts.  You can see why they'd think that.

We got to eat dinner with the boys and after they consumed enormous amounts of food we had a lovely conversation.  As I watched nearly every boy go back for seconds and thirds, I deduced that 90% of the cost of camp was for the food.

Braidon participated in the Root Beer Cantina which I gather involved drinking an unhealthy amount of root beer in a very short period of time.

This is where the boys learned all kinds of stuff like lashings, rope tying, survival skills, first aid, etc.  The fenced in area on the right side is a human foosball table.

This is the tent where Braidon did some of the work on his fishing merit badge.

I may be biased, but I think these were the two best looking boys at the whole camp.

On a serious note, the boys had great time all week long.  This is including, but not limited to: each of them earning 3 merit badges, passing the swim test on the first try, learning a bunch of new things, eating as much food as they wanted at meal time and  surviving a tornado by hiding out in an unfinished latrine.  All in all, a very good week.  They're already talking about next year's camp.