Monday: gymnastics and halloween

The day started out with gymnastics, and Mondays do lately.  Both classes had fewer people than normal.  Gymnastics seems to be one of the highlights of Isaac's week.

This evening we went trick or treating at a nearby church.  It was a nice night out, but I love doing it there because the amount of candy is just right.  Joshua wouldn't put a costume on until Ben told him he had to in order to get treats, so there aren't any great pictures of them together.  Isaac and I both told him he had to put it on, but I wasn't about to put it on a screaming toddler.

Isaac's costume worked pretty well, although I wish I had made a mouth hole and the eyes a bit bigger.  He ended up with a damp spot by his mouth.

Isaac had a great time; Joshua seemed a bit wary the whole time.  He especially wasn't a fan of the marshmallow man.

Sunday: a busy, but fun, weekend

Ben got home Friday night with Zach.  He stayed until Sunday.  We didn't really do anything all that special, but had fun hanging out.  Then Life Group (aka Bible Study) was at our house Sunday lunch time.  The kids played quite well and the adults enjoyed some time together too.

Saturday: parenting key

I think one key to parenting is moving toys around.  Often this is putting toys away (although that could be done by kids too).  Putting some toys away and bringing them out later is good.  Yesterday I found that moving the Duplo table from one room to another made it awesome again.  The proceeded to play with it for 45 minutes.

Thursday: Ben's still gone

Ben's still gone, so Dad and Pat invited us over to their house for dinner.  It was a lovely way to break up the evening, and the kids were so excited!

Wednesday: Ben's gone

Ben's on a road trip for the next few days.  Isaac has been asking to go to the Play Place at McDonald's for about six months.  So we went today.  We got there and he was so confused.  I think he was thinking about something else, but I'm not really sure what.  The only other play place that he's been to (that I know of) was on the way to Virginia while I was pregnant with Joshua, 2.5 years ago.

We ate, and then the kids played.  Isaac was a social butterfly, playing with many of the kids that were there.  Joshua was very disappointed because he wasn't big enough to get up the "steps" to the fun part.  I agreed with him that it was rather sad, but I also wasn't going to go in there and help him out.  He played in the toddler area for a bit and then ate some more french fries on my lap.

Monday: picture

I have a quilt over the banister right now.  It needed to finish drying and I need to check it for threads.  Isaac saw it and wanted to take pictures in front of it.  He really wanted to.  So every three seconds I took a picture.  (Only a few of the ones that look empty are actually empty.  He was adding toys one at a time.)

 

Delayed - Disney

Cheryl, Allison, Jamie, and I went to Disney last weekend.  It was a packed weekend full of fun!  (Warning - picture overload ahead.)

Friday during the day we did Epcot.  One of the main reasons we were there was to do the Food and Wine festival, so we did lots of eating (and some drinking).  We stayed at the Beach resort which was just a short walk into Epcot.  (Short if you go the correct way.  Jamie and I had a hard time following arrows this trip.  But...I think it could have been marked better.)

We did some of the rides and saw Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie.  The weather was warm, but there were often clouds so it felt nice.

 We picked out oysters to get pearls.  I got a blue pearl and it was perfect.  It is now a necklace.

In the evening we went to the Not-so-scary Halloween Party.  We dressed up as the emotions from Inside Out.  Joy and Sadness were the most recognized and we kept hearing, "Sadness" or "Joy and Sadness" from everyone around us.  We first stopped by Mickey.  It was a bit scary at first.

Then we watched the parade.  It was probably one of my favorite parades ever.  It was probably due to all the choreographed dancing.

We went trick-or-treating.  (They gave out handfuls of candy at each stop and it was awesome.)  We went on a few rides, including the mine ride.  I think that is one of my favorites, although it feels just a bit short.

Saturday Allison had to leave. :(  The rest of us went to Hollywood Studios for a few rides.

After a short stop at Disney Springs, Jamie and I headed to Animal Kingdom.  We mainly went to do the roller coaster, but decided we had enough time for the Safari too.  It was rather dark by the time we finally got to the safari, but since they hadn't closed yet we went for it anyway.  The weather was perfect so the least that would happen would be a nice ride.  We saw bunches of animals though!  Hippos, elephant, assorted grazing beasts, alligators, and, best of all, the lions.  The male lion was pacing and growling as we went by.

Sunday we had a quick stop at the pool, did one last ride at Epcot, ate some more food, and sadly said goodbye.  My favorite drink was the limoncello, my favorite food was Schinkennudeln from Germany, and all the desserts were delicious.

It was wonderful to have a vacation...I've been needing one.  Near the end I wished the boys were with me as we were doing something fun, but then I would remember that I waited 30 minutes to do this fun thing and was glad they weren't there. :)

Friday: a good day...except for about 15 minutes

Let's start with the 15 minutes.  It was late afternoon and almost bath time.  Isaac had just discovered that sticky stuff that comes on the back of credit cards and wanted to keep it.  I told him he could play with it for a bit, but that it would then have to be thrown away.  He played with it, he threw it away.  And he promptly started crying.  "I'm going to cry forever if you don't let me have it back."  "Ok."  A few minutes later the screaming started.  I sent him to his room and told him he could come out when he had calmed down.  A minute later he gagged and threw up.  We got in the bathroom and he threw up again, mostly missing the toilet.  I was annoyed, but at least he stopped his tantrum and got in the tub.

This morning we went to a bounce house at a semi-local greenhouse.  The boys loved it.  There were a few tears and a few hugs through the mess with Joshua, but mostly just fun.  (It turns out that if you make a noise while hugging kids don't really think you need arms to hug.  It sometimes works out very nicely.)  Isaac did a great job protecting his little brother on the slide.  Everyone else in the party had to leave for assorted reasons, but I think we stayed there almost two hours.

Bath time went really well too.  The boys played for a long while and when Joshua finally decided he was done his toes were blue.  I added some hot water for Isaac and got a space heater out for Joshua.  I think Joshua was having too much fun with his brother to worry about the temperature.

Thursday: acting

Today I made my students stand up and act out a nested if function.  As a play it would be short and boring, but for an excel function it was rather wild.

Curious about the function?  =IF([gender]="M", IF([eye color]="blue", "stand by the green paper", "stand by the yellow paper"), IF([eye color]="blue", "stand by the blue paper", "stand by the purple paper"))

Wednesday: merman

Tuesday: a new recipe

Isaac chose pasta with white sauce for dinner tonight.  So I was getting everything together and found the jar with some sauce in the fridge.  There was also a container with sauce and I found that a bit odd - why didn't last time's left overs go in the jar - but who knows.  I've been gone for a few days so maybe that's how it got there.

I ran out of sauce and had to open a new can for my noodles.  After a few bites Ben says, "This tastes really weird.  Kind of sweet."  Hmm.  Well, after a few more bites he has me try it.  It does not taste like my sauce.  There's some leftover noodles though, so he goes to change out his dinner.  While in the kitchen he sees all the containers.  "Did you use this?"  "Yes."  "It had pumpkin yogurt in it."

Well, that explains it.  I don't put leftover yogurt in containers, so that is why I was confused. They look exactly the same...the same off-white color, the same color flecks and everything. But it turns out that pumpkin yogurt mixed with Alfredo sauce is not a good combination.  Just so you know.

Thursday: travel

We've almost made it!  Jamie and I are on the bus headed to the hotel.  It's a bit late, but not too bad.

I really enjoy flying without kids.  It's gotten a bit better now that they can iPad, but there's still a lot of waiting.

Wednesday: change of plans

We went to the library today to get some new books.  I thought there might be a story time at the same time as we were going, but was kind of hoping to avoid it.  Or at least most of it.  Isaac really wanted to make fish biscuits, and I wanted to have time for that.  Well, it turns out it was a special story time on fire safety and it involved seeing a fire truck.  Isaac was patient while we got our books but then mentioned that he wanted to see the fire truck.  I told him we might not have time for fish biscuits in that case, and he seemed sort of ok with it. 

So of course we walk in late - like 20 minutes late - just as the fireman had all his gear on.  Joshua took one look and freaked out.  So much for our sneaky entrance.  He was clingy the rest of the time, but finally would be put down on the fire truck if Isaac held his hand.

They were letting the kids spray the hose.  This was Isaac's favorite part.

I didn't think Joshua would want to do it too, but he did.  I let Isaac take the pictures...he took about 30.  Twenty of Joshua, nine of the water spray, and one with the spray off.  But they were good pictures. :)

We did have time to make fish biscuits (out of sugar cookies, from Octonauts).  They turned out a bit brown, but we only used half the roll so we'll be able to try again.  (Dad and Pat, Isaac is really excited to give you some.)

Tuesday: mowing

I "had the day off" today due to fall break.  I had my eye appointment and found I have a slight astigmatism  (side note: I always thought it was "a stigmatism"), had lunch with Ben, and then mowed the lawn.  At least, that was my plan.

The lawn had other ideas...it was like May with plenty of water and fresh fertilizer.  I usually have to empty the bag about twice for the front lawn.  I think I emptied the bag six or seven times.  

I decided not to do the back yard.  'Cause, you know, the bin was filling up and I didn't want a partially mowed back yard.  And this way I'll be able to mow up more leaves.

And I was really sick of emptying the bag.

Monday: shenanigans

Joshua had just gone to the bathroom, so Isaac was giving him his treats.  Suddenly Isaac runs out of the bathroom, grabs the shape sorter toy, and bringing it back to the bathroom.  A few minutes later Isaac told me that Joshua had taken a test and sort of passed.  I have no clue what was going on.

Then Isaac figured out how Joshua could turn off lights by himself.  Of course, it usually takes about four times for Joshua to grab both sides of the yarn, but both were pretty excited about it.  I expected some tape to come out next and for every light switch to have some yarn taped to it, but Isaac hasn't figured that part out yet. 

As for Joshua, he's happy to do anything with Isaac.

Sunday: debate

I started to watch the debate (ten minutes after it started).  Ten minutes later I turned it off as I didn't need to hear two people talk about how bad the other was.

I did turn it back on here and there but am really interested to see the response over the next few days.

Saturday: Joshua

Joshua made this tower last night and tonight.  Sure, I helped stabilize it while he put the pieces on and put the segments together, but he put all the little pieces on.  He did not want to smile for the picture.

Ben and Joshua do this every night...


Amanda: can you give Dad a bear hug?
Joshua: grrr.
Joshua: grrr.
Ben: grrr.
Joshua, with a smile: I'm scared.

Friday: today

Today I had the morning off!  I got a hot chocolate and did some computer stuff.  I tried to give blood, but due to a cold earlier this week it was decided that I should wait.  I was bummed because donation schedules and my availability don't line up very often, but also don't want to give dangerous blood.  So I read for a while and working on some quilting.

By then it was lunch time.  I ate rather quickly and started getting dinner in the crock pot.  While I was doing this Isaac decided that Joshua needed to eat his crunchy beans and started feeding them to Joshua.  Joshua loved it.

Around this time Isaac also made a bunch of balls for Flurry.  The tape one was her favorite because her tail is closest to it.  She looks thrilled, don't you think?

And finally, Joshua was perturbed that the wall was stuck.   He kept saying "Wall.  Stuck.  Turtle."  Maybe he thought his turtle was on the other side?  He was trying to dig it away.  I showed him the closet and that you could see the other side of the wall from it, but it didn't seem to help much.

Thursday: conversations

Isaac: Mom, what number should I put in [this toy remote] for your movie?
Amanda: 34
Isaac: how about one more?
Amanda: No!  Don't change the channel!
Isaac: what's a channel?
Amanda:...

Amanda: when there's actually TV on TV.  Um, when you have to watch what's on that channel.  Um...when I was a kid I could only watch my show at 4pm and if I missed it that day then I didn't get to see it.
Isaac: oh.

In other news, Joshua had his first accident free day!!

Wednesday: playing

I'm not sure how it happened, but Isaac and Joshua played together a ton today...and it was awesome.  They played in Isaac's room (and normally Joshua gets kicked out right away if an adult isn't in there too), they ran and jumped on their chairs, and they played with soapy water outside, and they did more running and...I'm not really sure what was going on, to be honest.  But I was able to get a ton of work done for once and it was good.


Since it was a beautiful day out, we also went to the Nature Center for a while.  It was the first time Joshua walked instead of strollered, and it was nice to go on some of the smaller trails.  I also heard Joshua more or less count from five to thirteen.  Most of the time was just six to nine, but I was rather impressed.  There tended to be a "run!" after the sequence was done, so he may have been imitating Isaac.

The small trails had traps, but we managed to disarm them.

Tuesday: that bleachy smell

I got to Joshua's room this afternoon and it smelled like bleach.  Oh boy, that's never a good sign.

Apparently, there's a good chance that one of the kids has lice.  (The story was a bit hard to understand...the workers were a bit frazzled.  Her sister did (or might have) had it over the weekend without realizing it so the girl in the class probably had it and they didn't find out until the afternoon so all the kids could have it.)

So we made an emergency stop at Meijer to get some lice treatment.  We also picked up some buns because dinner would "need" to be fast (at Joshua's insistence) and some donuts (because what's a Meijer run without donuts?)

I didn't see anything in Joshua's hair, but we applied the treatment as directed.  He was rather grumpy all night...except when eating crunchy beans or watching TV, so he also got an early bedtime.

Several days ago: 57 months, 26 months

Isaac turned 57 months several days ago.

He is becoming quite the "project" maker.  Some tape, some paper, and assorted other things and he's a happy camper.  He's started saving bit of this and that for his projects.

His real name is Puppy Dog and his last name is Isaac.

Oh, I feel like I had all sorts of things I wanted to talk about this month, and now can't remember any.  He is able to get in and out of the car and do his seat belt all by himself.  It might take a bit, but he can get it.

This month is marked by an increase in tears.  Ben was talking to him about stuff and he started crying and remarked, "I'm crying and I'm not even trying to!"  It was actually an appropriate time to cry; having to walk over the grass in my flipflops is not a good time.

He's becoming more independent but still loves to have us around.  He and Joshua have started playing together a lot more too, so that's been nice.

Joshua turned 26 months.

He didn't really want to pose for pictures today.  The mark on his forehead is from a marker; he enjoys coloring still.

It's been a rough month for Joshua.  Sleeping issues were more or less solved by leaving the door open, but he still confirms with me all the time that I'll leave it open.  (So I guess the wall really was the problem.)  He just seems a bit grumpier than normal.  He is still happy often, but not as often as normal.

We started potty training more and it's been going very well.  Daycare said he could be in underwear, and Thursday went very well.  (Of course, once he got home it didn't go so well.)  Some days are better than others.  He still likes to get his treats from Isaac, who is inventive in what he calls them and in the delivery of them.

Joshua cares a lot about his food, especially the lack of food near dinner time, but still doesn't eat all that much.  Bother - I feel like I had a lot to say for Joshua too, but have forgotten it.  I'll try to put in little bits at a time instead of all at once.