Thursday: water

I had been planning on doing the monthly updates today, but then after I took the pictures I convinced Joshua to comb my hair.  (It's a new thing they like to do.  I rather like it too.)  Joshua decided it needed water, since I often use water with combs on their hair.  It rapidly got out of hand.

After my hair, my hands got cleaned.
After my hands, Joshua's hands were cleaned.
After Joshua's hands, Joshua's feet were cleaned.

I took a quick break at this point, and came back to a wet Joshua.

Wednesday: can you play with me?

While "can you play with me?" is cute and lovely, I heard it too much today.    

Joshua was also in a mood.  Maybe that was part of the problem today, or maybe it was because I would often play for a short time and then stop.  In either case, it just wasn't working.

"I DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING!"

This came after I told him I couldn't help with the Legos any more because I was in the middle of making dinner.  I probably suggested that he go see Ben.  Then he said that he didn't want to go to his bedroom.  ...ok, well, I hadn't suggested it but I guess it's good to know.  (To be fair, if they're loud or crying unreasonably they do sometimes have to go to their bedroom until they're ready to come out.  It wasn't completely out of the blue.)  Then he said he didn't want to do anything.  That was fine with me too; that way I didn't need to help him with anything either and could say yes for once.

Tuesday: fruit flies

We've been battling against fruit flies for almost a month now.  Almost every day I think it has gotten better and then the following day it is always bad again.  I've been killing them in droves, but there are always more.

I finally put a cover over the kitchen sink drain.  I kept clearing it out, but maybe there was something stuck in it.  Or the dampness was enough.  Anyway, I once again think I'm slowly starting to win over the dumb fireflies.

However, I think they move more in the light.  They're probably just sleeping now.  I half expect to change my mind about the war progress in the morning.

Monday: exercise

This evening I went to a workout class with Betsy.  I've realized that I need to start exercising again.  While I'm still not sure exactly what that will look like, it was at least a start.

The boys, on the other hand, have plenty of extra energy and movement.  Joshua wanted me to watch his dance party.  I cut it off because he had started to be a bit boring, but then he suddenly said, "Beep beep go to sleep!" and fell to the ground and pretended to sleep. Isaac saw I was taping and wanted his dance taped too.

Sunday: Happy Birthday!

It was Ben's birthday today.

He got some presents, went out to eat with family, and played games.  I thought it was a nice day.  (I think he thought the same.)

It was a nice end to a very nice weekend.

Saturday: minecraft

Isaac fully enjoyed more Minecraft today.  He made his own house.  It has a main room, two other random rooms, a treasure chest room, a running room, and a trap hallway.  He's also figured out how to use all his tools: axe, pick axe, how, sword, sheep sword.  Ben can tell where Isaac has explored because there are no sheep left.

We also got the last of the Christmas decorations put up.  There are a lot of lights in our house. :D  Someone (whose name might start with a J) keeps changing the current time of one of the timers though.

Friday: Minecraft, run, quilt

After waiting somewhat patiently for a while to get to play Minecraft, Isaac and Ben finally started today.  Isaac loved it.  We weren't really sure how well he'd do since you need to use the keyboard and mouse, but he did really well.  (I did hear a lot of "w, w, w, w" though.)  Joshua watched on Ben's lap and was rather concerned that wolves would get them in the caves.  They were playing on 'nice' mode though, so there were no wolves and we weren't really sure where it came from.

At one point Ben was on a cliff edge and Joshua said, "According to my research, you shouldn't go down there."  Apparently Magic School Bus has impacted his speech patterns.

I made the boys go on a run with me around the lake today since the weather was surprisingly nice out.  They both did really well.  I had told Isaac at the beginning of the summer that if he ran around the lake with only one stop he could get a big treat, and of course he remembered today.  Well, he easily ran around the lake.  He had several small stops waiting for Joshua and I to catch up and two big stops that Joshua and I called, but he didn't use his stop.  I'll be honest; I'm not sure I could have kept up with him.  So they got some ice cream with sprinkles.

Joshua received his quilt that Cheryl made.  He was much more excited about it than he appears in the picture.

Thursday: Thanksgiving

Leader: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Congregation: His love endures forever.
Joshua: That's my verse!

This summarizes so many of the things that I'm thankful for.  God's faithfulness is shown in my life and my children's.

Wednesday: before Thanksgiving

Today Isaac had a half day of school.  I changed Joshua's day to be today too.  One the way we had the following conversation:

J: Mom, smoke is stinky.

A: Yeah, smoke can be stinky.

J: Smoke and skunks!  Skunks are really stinky.

A: For sure!

J: Skunks should go poop.

 The first thing he said to a teacher when he got to school was, "No nap today!"  The second thing he said to a different teacher was, "I don't have to sleep today!"  The third thing was to the third teacher, "No sleep today!"  Apparently that was the theme for most of the morning as he told them over and over again.

I had three hours and eight things on my to-do list.  I got them all done with 15 minutes to spare.  I wouldn't say that I worked hard the whole three hours, but I did work steadily.

I picked Isaac up and we had lunch with Ben before getting Joshua.

We started to put up Christmas decorations this afternoon.  It felt a bit weird since I think I've always waited until after Thanksgiving, but we had some good time for it.

Isaac put up most of the ornaments and did a good job spreading them out.  Joshua did a good job clustering them together.

Isaac seems to also enjoy the lights, and so we put up several strands.  I ordered some hooks to put them up in more places.  Here Isaac is adding some wall tape to the wires so that when it touches (rubs) against the shelf it doesn't fray.  The logic is almost there; he's just missing the fact that these wires won't move that much.

I have no idea what Joshua is doing here, but it was cute.

Sunday: school

This evening we started a new church group.  The church is calling it a Core Group, because it is focused on a Core Mission statement rather than people who are (usually) in the same stage of life as you.

Anyway, Isaac was going downstairs to play with the kids and he saw one of the other women.

"You live in my school!"  he exclaimed.

We all got a chuckle out of that. :D

Saturday: dinosaurs

Saturday we went to a specially themed dinosaur time at the library.  There was a dinosaur story time (songs and books) and then they could hatch their own eggs.  The eggs were toy dinos in a baking soda paste, and they squirted them with vinegar.  It took a bit longer than I was expecting, but the boys were so excited about the toys inside.  We also walked the length of several dinosaurs, including the ones they had hatched.

Friday: Isaac and minecraft

Isaac has been saving his allowance for quite a while.  Not because he was saving up for something, but because he was content with what he had.  However, a few weeks ago someone brought in a Lego Minecraft set to school for show and tell.  This past weekend he mentioned it, and it wasn't too expensive so he bought it.

He was working on it this evening and mentioned, "I wish we had Minecraft." 
Ben: We do. 
Isaac: Huh?!?!
Ben: First go look downstairs on the new table.

Isaac rushed downstairs and for the first time all week noticed there was a monitor on the table.  (To be fair, we've had some unused monitors on the shelf right by it for quite some time, so it might not have looked too different.)

Ben: That's a computer for you and Joshua.  I still need to finish setting it up, but then you can use it.  And we can get Minecraft on it.
Isaac: Yay!!

Isaac: Joshua, we get a computer!
Joshua: Can I watch stuff on it?
Ben: Sure...
Joshua: like Paw Patrol?
Ben: yes.
Joshua: Yay!!!

Wednesday: more Joshua

We're traveling along and we see a police car.  Joshua asks if it was the same one that we saw yesterday and I responded with a no.  That prompted a whole string of questions, including, "what do the police officers do at bed time?"  I told Joshua they put on their pajamas and go to sleep.  "PAJAMAS!?!?!" Joshua asked incredulously.  "That's silly."

Later on we were traveling and I asked, "What do you think is in that [non-descript, white] truck?"  "Lettuce," he responded without hesitation.

Tuesday: Joshua

Today after school we went to the library to make light-up robot LED cards.  For some reason Joshua got it in his head that he really wanted to give his card to Mr. Rob, one of the librarians.  Ok, that's fine.

Joshua was so excited to give it to him.  We wrote a letter inside: "Mr. Rob, S. T. I.  Joshua"  Ok, we wrote several letters inside.  Those are the ones Joshua chose. :D

This evening after bed time I was called back upstairs.  "Mom!  I need help with my zipper.  I can't get it up to my shirt."  (He was wearing footy pajamas.  An odd description, but understandable.)  "Why is it down?" I asked.  "I needed to feel the tag," he responded.

This kid loves his sateen tags.  They are the substitute lovey.  He finds them in every shirt he wears, sometimes in his pants, and he was very excited to find one in his coat pocket.  I guess it makes sense to unzip your pjs to verify that it's there.

Sunday: matching

The pictures are terrible, but Joshua wasn't into it.  Anyway, they were both wearing green pants and the same jacket.

Friday: long day

Today was a long day.  The Joshua was good and nothing went poorly, but it was just long.  I was ready for the kids' bedtime at about 9am. 

Thursday: snow

Today was the first official day of snow.  We had a lot of hail a few weeks ago and I wondered if some of it was snow, but I think the temperature was too high.  Today it was quite a bit colder.  It was at the same time as I was picking Isaac up, and so we got to enjoy it together.

Wednesday: raking

We raked today after Isaac got home.  The kids enjoyed playing in the leaves for quite a while.  

...I hope that the yard waste people are still picking up yard waste for a while.  Our leaves just started dropping, which is a bit late, and our neighbors have some maples that always seem to drop about a month after everything else is done. 

Tuesday: tired

I'm tired.

I do have this cute picture from yesterday.  It was the first time I let Joshua ride in the back of the cart and he was rather thrilled.

Sunday: a first

Joshua put his socks on for the first time.

Saturday: does it eat people?

During dinner, we watched a show about the ocean.  It's a multi-episode show and we were on the second part...animals that live at the sea floor.

Every time we saw a new species Joshua would ask the following: "does it eat people?"

No where has the show said that sharks eat people, and we even have said several times that sharks usually don't eat people.  Yet no matter how big or small the creature was, Joshua wanted to know if it ate people.

Let's be honest.  They would probably all eat dead people.  But I wasn't going to bring that point up to a three year old.

39 & 70 months

Joshua turned 39 months old.

He has some interesting vocabulary.  School (as in daycare) is always school days.  "I learned the letter R at school days."  Conveyor belt is convader belt (as in Darth Vader).  Suction cups are construction cups.  Any vehicle with lights is a construction worker.

He likes to read "cool books" and "silly books."  (This request through the librarian for a bit of a loop. :D)  His current favorites are Mr. Wuffles and Mother Bruce, but I'm sure they'll change once those two go back to the library.

When Joshua grows up, he wants to work by Ben.  (There were almost tears one day when he thought he wouldn't be able to do that due to a miscommunication.)

Isaac is 70 months old.

He is starting to sound out words.

When Isaac grows up he wants to help people.  Like being a policeman, doctor, or fireman.  But mostly a fireman right now.

Thursday: robot quilt

Wednesday: overheard

Joshua and I were in the indoor playground after music class.  I overheard the following conversation between a mother and son...

"There are too many kids in here for you to kick."

Of course, she meant to finish the sentence with "the ball," but she didn't actually say it.

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Joshua and I had to pick up some stuff from Isaac's school today.  I was a bit sad that I wouldn't actually get to see him, but it isn't a big deal.  But then his teacher was suddenly saying, "Isaac!  Where is he?  Look who's here!"  They were going to music class and we happened to pass in the hallway.  Isaac came up to me and said hi, and I felt a bit like a celebrity as all the kids that passed us said hi.