Good Friday

Today started out...ok.  I was tired and in a mood.  Luckily, Ben was home and let me have an early nap.

Isaac had a half day today and then started spring break.

We went to the Good Friday service this evening.  I wasn't sure how well it would go, since Isaac hasn't done so well in church in the past.  But it is also an important day in the church calendar, so we went.  Isaac led us to our seats, in the second row.  'oh boy," I thought...this could go poorly.  However, I think it actually helped things go better because it was easier to see the front.

Joshua fell asleep about half way through. 

Isaac did some of the things I brought and then colored a little bit.  "I love Jesus more."  It makes my heart happy.

Wednesday: Joshua

We were reading a Star Wars book...sort of...and I found out that Joshua thinks Yoda is a turtle. :D

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Yesterday Ben came home and Joshua immediately asked if [Ben] had gone by the Bear Castle.  Ben said no, but asked what would have happened if he did.  To which Joshua responded that bears would have been chasing him.  (Note: this is what normally happens after we pass the Bear Castle.)

image from here

Today we went by the Bear Castle. 
Ben: Joshua, do you see what we're going by?
Joshua, in an ominous voice: Bear Castle
Joshua: Isaac, how many bears are chasing us?
Isaac: One thousand.

This is a fairly regular conversation too.  Joshua gets to decide what is in the castle (he always chooses bears) and Isaac gets to decide how many are chasing us.  We tend to throw bombs at them to get rid of them.

Tuesday: oats peas beans and barley grow

On the day we left for vacation, Isaac kept singing, "Oats, peas, beans and barley grow!"  It was a bit odd, because he doesn't sing all that often.  It was a song that they sang in music class and it was stuck in my head.

I then remembered the song from growing up and it got stuck in my head.

Sunday: Hosanna

Happy Palm Sunday!  The kids waved palm branches to the front of church during one of the songs as a reminder of Jesus' entry.

Well...Isaac waved a branch.  Joshua freaked out a bit and so was carried by the teacher and didn't wave a branch.  Grey Bear also heralded in Jesus, because no celebration would be complete without him.

(Isaac is in the middle left in a green and white striped Tee.  Joshua and Grey Bear are in the lower right.)

We also had a going away lunch for some friends.  They are moving to California in two weeks, but due to Spring Break this was the best day.  It was sad, but it's also been a bit since we've sat down with this group of friends, so that was nice.

Saturday: life

Joshua managed to clean his bedroom again today, although it was again a bit of a struggle.  I thought we had it this morning as he cleaned about half of it, but then stalled out.

We got our mail today.  There was a sad amount of junk.  We had one bill and it was almost exciting as it was actually something relevant.  But still a bill.

Isaac got a good amount of homework done today.  He's right on track for finishing tomorrow.

I got everything unpacked today.  This is quite the achievement for me, as normally it takes a week or two to get the last things unpacked.

Friday: home again

We're home again.

Isaac went to school.  He has quite a bit of work to do this weekend to 'catch up', but we knew it would happen.

Joshua went to school.  He had a hard time in the morning, as normal, but I felt a bit more sorry for him than normal because he's a bit low on sleep.  He played very well after school (and the library) making duplo and lego houses.

Ben didn't go to work.  It was nice to have a day without kids.  He made a few phone calls that I needed him to make.  Since I don't like to do it.

I worked in the morning to get caught up on grading.  Ah...grading.  I've encountered some funny things while grading this semester.

Everyone was content this early evening so we ended up having a late dinner.  It's rather nice because then we finish and it's already time for bed!

vacation

We're home.

Here's a bit about the last few days...

We went to a playground with a splash pad.  Isaac had a great time.  Joshua had an ok time, and then he slipped in the splash pad.  That was the end for him and he sat with Ben or me the rest of the time.  There was an excellent cafe near the playground and we enjoyed lunch there.

We finally got Joshua in the pool again.  It turns out that he thought the hot tub was too hot and the pool too cold.  Since we had adjusted it since the first day he was willing to try again.  He sort of pulled Ben all around the pool.  Ben helped by giving a bunch of super boosts.

We continued work on the castle.

The boys decided that they really just liked playing with the pieces and made an assortment of things.  (Also, I think that this might have been the last vacation with Duplos.  I think I can bring Legos in the future...and they'll be smaller.)

The last few bags of the set went together a bit faster than expected.

We also visited the small playground down the road.  Joshua pushed everyone, but often stepped in a bit to close.  Luckily, he also couldn't push very hard.

He put his shirt on backwards, which is rather normal for him.  But the saying on it worked so well.

This one might be the best though...He rolls with his shirt backwards, sunglasses, and Grey Bear.

We went on a boat ride to the Bubble Room, which has excellent desserts.  And Gorillas.

Isaac did a really good job steering the boat for a while on the way home.

The castle was completed!

I think this is the only one we have of the completed castle, but it was pretty cool.

And then we came home.  The trip home was rather uneventful, for the most part.  We hit some rough air and I wasn't feeling great, but managed.

Vacation

Isaac has been playing a lot in the pool.  One day we sunk all the ducks... Or tried to.  Several folks don't sink.  It turns out they are also more bouyant than three beach towels.

Joshua has also enjoyed the ducks, but seems to not want his swimsuit on.

Joshua has enjoyed playing with Legos and duplos

There's also been some ice cream.

The castle is progressing.  The boys aren't as into t as we expected, but Ben and I have enjoyed working on it in the evenings.

Traveling/day 1

After an antsy day, we finally left for vacation.  Travel went very well...a few small things, as normal, but we got into Florida only a few minutes later than scheduled.  The boys stayed awake (and happy) until we got to the taxi at midnight.  They promptly feel asleep... Deeply.  They barely stirred when we took them out of the car, which is a bit abnormal.

The first thing Isaac wanted upon waking was magnets.  I had no idea what he was talking about.  He was adement though, and told me to get down an unmarked white box.  Sure enough, magnets.

We also have them, and Cheryl, their surprise...Legos!  Of course.  But we don't have any plans while we're down here, so it seemed like a good thing to do.

Joshua fell asleep right before dinner.  However, once he woke up he was super cute and told Ben and me that he would come help us with his spinning tornado if a dragon was attacking because he's good at attacking dragons.

Wednesday: memory

The memory of toddlers is so weird.

We had to go to church for something and as we were leaving Pastor Paul was coming in.  Besides being a pastor and therefore around church a lot, Pastor Paul was also in our Bible Study for a while.

We got out to the car and what does Joshua say, "that guy worked with the owl!" 

A: "What?"
J: "the owl."
A: "oh, from VBS last summer?"
J: "Yeah.  Did you know that the owl worked on the rocket?"
J: "Do you remember the owl's blue pajamas?"

Tuesday: a new low

Today the kitchen was so messy that while making dinner I put the left over pizza box on a pulled out drawer to open it instead of clearing counter space for it.

In my defense, I was cooking TWO dinners at once.  One dinner for the following day.

(However, I didn't do the equivalent of cleaning up for two dinners by tonight.  There is at least some counter space now.)

Monday: reading month

Since March is reading month, Isaac's school had a reading thing tonight.  There was an author that was going to be there and the teachers were going to read some books, along with a craft and snack.

I expected the author, a paleontologist, to read part of his book.  I've been to some author readings before and enjoyed them.  Instead it was a talk about where you can find fossils in Michigan.  While not bad, it also didn't quite hold my interest as expected.  Joshua started to fall asleep, especially since it was dark.  I asked Isaac if he wanted to come out with us and he said no, so even though he was a bit wiggly he must have been enjoying it.

The teachers reading is a bit more what I expected.  Some where better than others, but it had more of a story time feel.

The craft was fine; the kids enjoyed running in the gym and the popcorn that was there too.

That being said, I kind of wish we hadn't gone.  Not due to content, but I felt like I was herding cats.  "You need to keep eating."  "You need to hurry and get your coat on."  "You need to get your pajamas on quickly as it's almost bedtime."  and on and on.  The boys just wanted to work on the houses for their animals.  Oh well.  Perhaps I'll make a different choice next time; perhaps I won't.

Sunday: play

The boys did a good job of playing together again today.  They worked on cardboard houses for their favorite stuffed animals.  They pretended they were in a video game and had to fight dragons and golems.  (They got to level three.)

It was also daylight savings time today...spring forward.  As a parent of kids who wake up at the same time no matter what, I actually prefer spring forward.  We let the boys stay up a little bit late, but not they still went to sleep easily.  We just took an hour out of the middle of the day.

Saturday: Maple Syrup

Today Pat came over and we went to see maple syrup being made.  I wasn't really sure what to expect...and it wasn't quite what I had expected.  It was too cold for the sap to actually be flowing, so the taps were just frozen.  There was still some things to see that was interesting, but I don't think the boys got much out of it.  Except for a maple candy...they loved that.

 

 We also got some maple syrup, and it was delicious.  We had it with some Mickey Waffles for dinner.

Friday: carnival

This evening was a carnival at Isaac's school.  It was a fun night.  I think Isaac had a ton of fun, while Joshua had fun.  Joshua didn't want to try all the games.  (This ended up being fine, since I didn't realize all the games would cost more than one ticket.  We probably still came out even over buying the 'unlimited' pass.)

There were a lot of throwing games.

And several games where you just ended up with candy no matter what.

Their favorite game was fishing.  You threw the hook over the board and then got some candy.

There was also a bounce house that they both had a blast with.  And dinner.  And balloon animals.  Isaac got a giraffe and Joshua got a red monkey to be friends with Monkey.

What was especially fun was to see Isaac find the kids in his class.  Sometimes he said hi first, sometimes they did.  He knew everyone's name and was always happy to see them.

Thursday: almost break

Spring break starts the end of next week.  It means that the lab schedule changes a bit and I don't have quite as tight deadlines as normal.  It's nice.

This semester has been a lot better than last semester though.  I added a half day to my work schedule and the graders that I have are much more on top of it.  I'm able to plan better which makes a huge difference.

Wednesday: milestones

Today was Grey Bear's birthday.  He turned 5.

I had my first email from a parent asking to talk about their student's performance in class.  I'm not allowed to talk to parents though, so it was easy to write a nice email back.

Isaac had a super, super, super, super, super, super,  super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super good day.

He lost his tooth.  The adult tooth is actually quite visible.

Tuesday: baskets

So, Joshua does a pretty good job of actually telling me what he did in a day.  (At least big picture stuff.)  Several times now he's said, "and we have circle time and then we put our baskets away."  I thought there were basket pictures on the rug, but today I realized there weren't.  Then I saw laundry baskets by the teacher's chair.  I quickly realized Joshua meant real baskets.

Isaac: 72, 73, and 74 months

And now for the last three months with Isaac... Like before, any text is recent observations.

72 months:

Playing: Isaac has been much more willing to play with Joshua lately.  They've been doing a lot of bouncing, running, and other random things.  Today they were putting 'poison' on a lego plate to keep the bad snakes away.  Isaac has also really enjoyed playing games, and he's gotten to the point where the games he enjoys I also enjoy.

 

Math: I had gotten a cheapo calculator from Lockheed and it ended up in the toy room.  Isaac found it the other day and was fascinated by it.  He used it so much that he wore out the screen and we had to order another.  He is understanding math concepts very well, and will often tell us stuff I didn't realize that he knew.  Today he said "Five times five is...twenty-five."  Ben and I are both rather excited by this. :D

Reading: His reading keeps surprising me too.  He can do the consonant-vowel-consonant as long as they follow normal words, words that end in e, and a few other miscellaneous.  Then today he read 'woods' and 'keep'.  This has also been lots of fun.

73 months:

School: School is going well.  He doesn't really have a 'best' friend, but after talking with people that doesn't seem to be abnormal.  I have heard the name of one person several times lately, so that is encouraging.  There have been a few minor incidents with other kids, but nothing that makes me worry...at least, not worry for more than the day it's taken to get it resolved.  His favorite specials are gym and technology.

Health: His super annoying cough disappeared after getting the flu like thing that the whole family got.  It is like throwing up got rid of whatever was tickling his throat.  He also has a loose tooth.  I find loose teeth disgusting and so always send him over to Ben whenever he says anything about it.  Isaac asked how the tooth fairy gets into houses the other day.  I said she can go through walls, although I wish I had said she has a magic key.

74 months:

He was much more willing to do his pictures standing up, so my guess is that's what we'll do in the future.  (Not that he was unwilling to do them laying down, but this just worked better.)

Chores: he's been voluntarily doing more chores around the house for more money.  He's trying to get up to $50, because I think he wants to see a $50 bill.  He is also making his lunch sometimes...today he made a strawberry jelly and nutella sandwich.  I told him that is probably a one time thing since most of the health comes from the peanut butter.

Growing up: While still very silly and crazy, Isaac has also grown up a ton in the last few months.  I'm not sure if it's something listed above or just a general feeling.  I sure do like the kid he's becoming.