Sunday: Birthday

Isaac turned seven today!  We didn't do much, but he did have a couple of presents and we went out for Froyo.  He really likes the 'peachy peachy' balls filled with juice.

Saturday: Bouncin' - Christmas version

To the tune of  "Bouncing up and down in my little red wagon".  (Like this version, but significantly bouncier and crazier.)

Bouncing up and down in Santa Claus' sleigh,
Bouncing up and down in Santa Claus' sleigh,
Bouncing up and down in Santa Claus' sleigh,
Won't you be my darlin'

The harness is broken and the reind'r are going crazy,
The harness is broken and the reind'r are going crazy,
The harness is broken and the reind'r are going crazy,
Won't you be my darlin'

Summon the elves and they will fix it,
Summon the elves and they will fix it,
Summon the elves and they will fix it,
Won't you be my darlin'

Bouncing up and down in Santa Claus' sleigh,
Bouncing up and down in Santa Claus' sleigh,
Bouncing up and down in Santa Claus' sleigh,
Won't you be my darlin'

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We let the cats stay in Isaac's room while he went to sleep tonight.  When we went upstairs to get them they had settled in by his feet and seemed pretty comfortable to be there as they didn't shoot out of the bedroom.

Friday: forgotten things

I forgot a few things from Wednesday...

We decorated some cookies.

Also, Grey Bear and Puppy the Mouse got to open their presents.

Puppy the Mouse got a red power up.

Grey Bear got a teddy bear.

Today one of Isaac's friends from school also came over to play for just a little bit.  They seemed to have fun...they disappeared into the basement and we didn't hear from them until it was time to go.

Wednesday: croup?

Last night Isaac woke up barely able to breathe and with the barking cough that signals croup.  I had just had a bad dream and so was somewhat awake.  I heard a sound and thought it was Joshua, but since I was already awake I got out of bed to see what was wrong.  Then Isaac came out of his room and I realized what was going on.

Surprisingly, I didn't even need to think about what I was doing.  I got out the nebulizer, put it all together (a bit of a trick in the dark without glasses), and put in the abulteral.  It helped, but not as much as I wanted.  So we did some saline too.  I had Isaac stick his head out the back door, but he didn't stay there for long.

We watched a show.  We rested together in his bed.  We moved to the couch, because I wasn't even close to sleeping.  Isaac fell asleep on the couch, I didn't.  A (long) while after this whole thing started I felt comfortable enough to leave Isaac and get some sleep.

Happily, Aunt C was willing to come over this morning so I could take an uninterrupted nap.

Isaac was doing much better today, but he is still sleeping on the couch to help him stay upright.  I'm not convinced that everything is back to normal for him yet.

In other news, both cats took a nap on Ben's lap this evening.

Tuesday: Christmas (part 2)

Around lunch time we went over to Larry and Cheryl's for brunch and presents.  While we were waiting for everyone to arrive Joshua gave everyone ice cream.  Eventually he started giving everyone SnowMan ice cream, which had poisonous leaves in it.  He got a kick out of trying to (pretend) kill everyone...

We had a lovely time opening presents.

...and chasing Grey Bear.

Joshua was excited about his Bad Guys puzzle and got right to work on it.  I didn't realize that it was a hologram, which I actually found to be rather annoying.

And all the grandkids...

Tuesday: Christmas (part 1)

Merry Christmas!

The animals found Jesus after days of searching.

By the time I woke up, the people had found Jesus too.

The sermon on Sunday was about how bad things were for the Jews around the years that Jesus was born.  It parallels to the world today; there is so much evil and hurting and wrongness.  Jesus kept his promise then and showed up to save the people.  We can wait with the hope that Jesus will again return and make everything right.

Monday: Christmas Eve

First things first: everyone had to do some cleaning.  I did the kitchen and kitchen table.  The boys did their rooms.  (We tried the mountain method, which is putting everything that needs to be taken care of in the middle of the room.  The boys could then see what still needed to be dealt with.  It worked well.)  Ben cleaned up some of his stuff too.

Finally, everyone was done and it was time for some presents.

I got a Lego carousal.  I always try to get it for Ben, but then something else gets chosen.  So I finally put it on my list.

Joshua made Ben a penguin pillow.  While I helped with the execution, Joshua was the one with the idea and helped with the sewing.

Isaac got some gloves/mittens that he was super excited about.

Joshua got a bunch of candy, including some candy bones.  Puppy was rather excited.

The boys also both got new pajamas.  Joshua was especially excited about them.

During the afternoon, Joshua started his puzzle again.  I separated out the edge from non-edge pieces, but besides that he did it all himself.  I'm not sure I've seen such concentration from him before.  He's had a few shorter spurts of an hourish on things, but this was by far the longest.

In the evening Dad and Pat came over for dinner.  Joshua started his puzzle again and got some help from them.  They met the kitties.  They gave Isaac a gift certificate for IHop and he was properly excited. :D

Sunday: Christmas party #2

Tonight was our second Christmas party.  I actually took some pictures this time.

Joshua got a puzzle and showed it to everyone.

They did the grab a cool new way.  There were 10 questions, and if you answered 'yes' to the question you got to pick (or steal) a present.  Then everyone unwrapped it.  Then there were 10 more questions and you could steal a present.  (However, I once again had one of the last wrapped presents picked.  If I wrap them normally no one picks them.  If I wrap them funny no one picks them.  I don't understand how people can not chose the presents we bring until the very end!)  Ben ended up with a hat that Isaac loved.

Cheryl with her cheese smile.

Laughing about the cheese smile.

Trying to figure out Isaac's brain teaser gift, which ended up being a bit harder than expected.

On the way home the boys tried to get us to say "choo choo train."  For a year or so now I have refused to say it.  (I think it started on one of those days were the kids just kept wanting me to say something and I finally said no and then never started again.)  They thought we were hilarious, saying "choo choo plane" or "shoe shoe train" or "choo choo plop" or whatever.  There was laughter the whole way home.

Saturday: Christmas party number 1

This evening was Christmas party number 1, with Ben's Mom's side.  It was nice to see everyone again.

The kids played well together, especially enjoying getting to go exploring on their own. 

Besides this, it was really only an ok day.  I woke up in a grumpy mood.  I finally got rid of it only around lunch time only to have Joshua come down with a really bad stomach ache.  I was about fifteen minutes away from deciding to go to urgent care when it started to get a little better.  I had forgotten to get shredded chicken at the store.  I had gotten chicken breasts though, so I put that in the crock pot to make my own rather than brave the crazy grocery store right before Christmas.

Friday: responsible

Yesterday I was thinking of all the animals that I'm actively responsible for...

1.5 adult humans
2 small humans
2 cats
1 adult fish
9 small fish
1 bird feeder
2 totes of worms

Now, many of the animals don't really take much effort.  However, I saw a woodpecker at our bird feeder yesterday and immediately thought, "we should get a suet feeder!"  So yeah, I did.  Hopefully the woodpecker comes back.  What's one more bird feeder to take care of?

As for the day in pictures...

We got Christmas ice cream for Joshua as a Christmas present from Aunt C.  He loved it and told me every time he got a piece of candy cane.  (Side note: I don't like peppermint ice cream and so this somewhat mystified me.)

We went to a sing-a-long at Isaac's school.  We didn't get to sit with Isaac, as expected, but we did get to wave to him quite a bit and take him home a few minutes early.  His class all had elf hats, so it was easy to spot them in the crowded gym.

Joshua and Horizon cuddled on Ben's lap.

Thursday: gifts and parties

I finished wrapping presents today, although they still need nice name tags and there are a few extra small ones to do but the "hard" part is done.  I had some helpers.

This afternoon I helped out in Isaac's classroom for his Christmas party.  It was rather chaotic and you could tell the teacher was a bit overwhelmed because there were a few things that weren't quite working and the kids were extra ...excited.  However, everybody did all the fun things and the kids had fun, so I'd call it a win.

Tuesday: brothers

We let the cats into Joshua room for a short time tonight.  Both boys really wanted both cats to be on the loft at the same time, and they finally obliged.

I also got the last of my grades in this morning.  Woo-hoo! 

Monday

Well, Joshua stayed in his loft all night.  He wasn't very happy about it several times, but fell back asleep within a few minutes.  He was up about a half hour early though.

Joshua went to gymnastics today with complaint.  I'm not sure what changed over the last few weeks, but he doesn't want to go.  This time he said he didn't want to do the beginning song, and I said that was ok.  So he just stood there while others walked around.  After that he started participating again.

Annual picture

Isaac came home with this in his folder.  I found it a bit...absurd.

Sunday: kitties and loft

The kitties did a much better job of behaving themselves in the office tonight.  They are slowly learning the few rules that we have.  Tornado 

I also got Joshua's loft all put together and Joshua is sleeping in it tonight.  I had some pictures, but they didn't get automatically uploaded yet.  We talked about how he should try really hard to stay in it all night.  We'll see what happens.

Saturday: still more kitties

There was some playing and some cuddling.  Joshua and I took a nap with the cats today after Isaac and Joshua wore the cats out.

In other news, the boys were gone for the morning and part of the afternoon, so I got a bunch of stuff done.  The loft frame is finally put together but we still need to move some things before Joshua can sleep in it.

On Friday Isaac's class did a STEM activity that was building a marshmallow and toothpick chimney.  Whoever had the tallest chimney and could hold a Santa chocolate won.  As Isaac's teacher wrote: "Isaac clearly knew what he was doing."  When I picked him up from class he said that he won because he used triangles, and those are the strongest shape (knowledge courtesy Hope College Science Camp!)

Friday: more kitties

First of all: names.  We're tentatively going with Tornado (grey) and Horizon (black).  (Both are disasters if you get caught in them, with Horizon being the event horizon of a Black Hole.)

Joshua had a great time playing with the cats, but didn't really like it when they got close to him.  In some ways this makes sense; Flurry pretty much ignored the kids and now they need to learn how cats act.  They also have their claws, and Joshua is deathly afraid of getting scratched.  Isaac had some good play time too, just not as much.

Ben and I both got quite a few cuddles and head-butts.  These cats really seem to like to butt your head with theirs.  A bit odd, but rather cute too.  Which one is more cuddly at a given time seems to go back and forth.

We cleaned up the office this evening to give them a larger area when we're around.  They lasted for about ten minutes before trying to go up somewhere we didn't want.  I really expected them to chew cords and have that be the reason they had to go back in the bathroom.  It's been a while since we've cleaned up, so it's nice to have at least one place in the house look decent.

Isaac and Joshua are at a sleepover tonight.  While we didn't go out (kitties!), we did order food, watch a movie, and weren't interrupted a gazillion times while trying to talk.  We also didn't have to deal with Joshua and his problems getting to sleep.  (Hopefully he didn't have problems today anyway because there wasn't a nap, but still.)

Thursday: grading, gingerbread, kitties

Today was a grading day.  I didn't finish grading.  :(  It was close, but I didn't quite make it.

We went to an event at the library that was building graham cracker houses.  It went pretty well.  We only had about fifty minutes, which was more than enough for Joshua and a tad bit short for Isaac.  We also used icing instead of frosting.  It was nice how quickly it hardened up...but I'll probably stick with frosting at home because I like frosting with graham crackers.

Surprise number 2 of the day was bringing home some new kitties.  Ben, Joshua, and I had visited some last night.  They were a bit younger (7 months) than we wanted, but they are brothers and handled being around Joshua's loudness well.  The name suggestions from the boys so far have been Tornado (for the Grey one) and Lightbulb (from Joshua).  I keep expecting him to want to call one Puppy since that's what he names everything, but that hasn't come up.

They get to hang out in the downstairs bathroom for a while.  It turns out this is a really good space for cats as there are lots of levels and it is big but not too big.