Wednesday: Happy Halloween

This year we had a ghost and a wizard.  I didn't realize the wizard had sunglasses on until too late.

Grey Bear also got a costume...he's a flying crocodile with a belt.

A Grey Bear photo bomb.

My fish are still all there!  I managed to count all nine babies.  I often only count seven or eight, but usually the last ones are just hiding.

Tuesday: parent teacher conferences

We had our parent-teacher conference for Isaac today.  Really, it's too bad that Isaac doesn't get to hear all of the good things that were said about him!  He's a good listener, participates and is engaged, follows the rules, etc.  (We tell him some of the good things, but not all.  Nor have we told him any of the standardize testing results.)

He is understanding the story problem of the day...I guess today's was something like, "If there were 7 cherries on the tree and I ate some.  Then there were 3 cherries on the tree.  How many did I eat?"  Apparently he was one of the only people that realized what the correct formula was.  Also, I was glad to be able to write a real note to him and not try to write him a note using the four sight words that he knew like last year.

He also did very well on the standardized testing, coming out in the 99% in math and 97% in reading.

All is not perfect.  He's a slow writer and his penmanship isn't great.  He's a bit of a loner.  Nothing worrisome at all though. 

Germ day:

Reading time:

GR Public Museum:

Recess:

Monday: cold

I think Joshua has a bit of a cold.  He fell asleep on the way to pick up Isaac (which isn't that uncommon), but then he didn't wake up when I brought him inside.  He was just a little snuggle puppy.

Isaac was feeling goofy and also got in on the picture action.

Sunday: singing

I heard Isaac singing in church today.  I know he doesn't like to sing, so I was very happy to hear him worshiping.  (It was also rather tone-deaf, but I'm attributing that to trying to sing and read at the same time.  I've heard him singing not-off-key previously.)

Saturday: school picture

We got Isaac's school picture the other day.

They captured his smile perfectly.

Friday: no school

Isaac didn't have school today, which was really rather nice.

I let them have pop-tarts and two shows in the morning so that I could sleep in.  (Side note: I'm pretty sure that Joshua's favorite day is Saturday because he gets Pop-Tarts for breakfast.  He's mentioned them several times recently.)  We went to the Central Westlyan playground.  It was much busier than I had hoped for, but the boys did fine. 

We volunteered at Kids' Food Basket.  Neither boy was really that interested in helping, but they were content to color the bags.

We went to the library.

We came home for screen time and rest time, and some clean up time.  Joshua was not dealing with life all that well by clean up time.  Isaac got his room mostly clean for the first time in several weeks.  In the past he's cleaned his room when our cleaning helper is here, but they're here during the week and it just hasn't been working as well.

Thursday: apparently productive

Today was surprisingly productive.  At work I got all of the items checked off my "do this soon" list and all of the "check this grading" list.  I even did some of the "do this when we get to it" list.

Isaac went in for a PT consult on his running and the PT didn't see anything worrisome at this point.  He noticed the same things we have but said it wasn't too bad and that gross motor skills don't really start taking off until seven or eight years old.  So while we need to keep an eye on it, we don't need to do anything else about it now.

The boys are jumping, even though it's a bit hard to tell.

This was Joshua's look most of the time.  It was chilly and he was not really that excited to be there.

It was also quite windy, which is why my hair is often in a ponytail and Ben's is going a bit crazy.

Wednesday: Family pictures

We had some family pictures taken last week.  There are several cute ones, but here is one of the ones I like the best.  More will be coming...at some point.

Tuesday: fish

I'm sure you're curious as to how the fish are going.  Well, I haven't killed any.  I put them all in one tank yesterday as I decided the little ones weren't going to be eaten anymore.  I also put a screen over the hole that the fish kept getting stuck in and tiring themselves completely out.

The little ones are obviously bigger.  They are rather hard to count.  The one large one, Sunset, seems a bit spastic but otherwise seems ok.

In three to four weeks I'll try to separate the boys and girls.  It's easy to tell on the large fish, but it might be rather hard on baby fish.  We'll see.

Monday: random stuff

Today we accomplished a lot of random stuff.  It was nice...I got a several things checked off my list.  I feel like some of them were ones that have been on the list for a long time.  Unfortunately, I also added many things to the list.

Saturday: out and about

This morning we went to Hudsonville to play a game with Judd and Lisa.  It was a game that could have five people, so Isaac joined us.  He did a very good job and it was nice to see them again.

This evening we went out to eat with Larry and Cheryl.  The '20 minutes until a table' was more like 40 minutes.  Joshua slept through quite a bit of it and Isaac did a good job waiting too.  The food was great, but Joshua was in a mood.  Isaac ate all of his food though, and got some ice cream.  It had a cherry on top (literally) and he was over the moon about it.

Friday: in pictures

I got a new phone yesterday.  I tried out the camera on Isaac this morning.

Flurry had a vet appointment that she didn't enjoy.  Joshua attempted to take good care of her, but she really just wanted to be in her carrier.

Isaac was holding Ms. Taylor's hand coming out of school.  He gave her a hug too, "to last her for two extra days."

We painted pumpkins and heard 'spooky' stories at the library this evening.  The best one was a scary telling of The Itsy, Bitsy Spider.  I'm not sure I'll ever listen to that the same way again.  (It was going to be outside and around a campfire but it was wet out.  I was actually quite happy to be inside.)

Thursday: head high five

Joshua likes giving head high-fives.  It throws a lot of people off as they weren't expecting it.

Tuesday: no fish killed

Well, today was a success because I haven't killed any fish.  We only have one big one now...I was having a hard time figuring out all the ways the fish could kill themselves in the new tank.  I'm hoping it's stable now.  We still have a lot of babies though.

Sunday: baby surprise

Last night Yellow died, and this morning I-Don't-Know died.  I think that the flow at the top of the aquarium was too strong and they weren't smart enough to go to the bottom.

After church we went to get more fish.  With the bigger tank and the filters, I figured we could get four fish, one for each of us.  We got them and I put the little bag in the tank to get the water to match temperatures while we ate lunch.  (I'm claiming the fancy tailed one and naming him Pumpkin.)

After lunch Isaac said, "Mom, there are baby fish!"  To which I replied, "They're just small, not babies."  Well, when I went over to the tank sure enough, there were baby fish.  Apparently I-Don't-Know (version 2) is a female.  I am pretty sure that I only requested males, but either the wrong type of fish was chosen or I can't read or there was a female in with the males.

I took out all the baby fish after an internet search because apparently the bigger fish sometimes eat them and they need to be fed more often.  I ended up with nine.  (There are also two more hiding in the big tank that are either really good at hiding or came later.)  Ok, baby fish are cool.  It could be cool to see them grow.  After a week or two I'll stick them back with the adults and let them fend for themselves.

Then I read something a bit more distressing...females are on a continuous child-birth cycle, having children about once a month, and can store sperm for several months.  I'm a bit unsure what to do now.  If it was my fish or Ben's fish, we would probably not keep it for every long.  I could keep my eye out for a similar colored male fish and switch them when Joshua isn't paying attention.  I could run two tanks with I-Don't-Know in her own and just getting rid of the babies.  I also don't really know what to do with the babies as they get bigger, assuming all these fish live.  The tank I got isn't really good for more than four fish.  So stay tuned...I could see this saga going several different directions.  (Also, does anyone want some fish?)

In other news, I was drying some large quilts/mattress covers on the chairs last night and woke up to a fort made under the table.  It came complete with a pretend fire.  I added a heater and yogurt smores.

Of course, they're sleeping under the table tonight.  It doesn't seem like a good idea, but it also didn't seem like a bad enough of an idea to say no.  I think it would be terribly uncomfortable, but they're also much younger and don't seem to care about such things.

Saturday: Joshua

Joshua: I want ranch!
Amanda: You can get the ranch for your fries.  It's in the fridge.
Joshua can't seem to find it.
Amanda: it's in the door.
Joshua: what door?
Amanda: the one that you're looking at

****
Joshua, crying: the chair ran into me!
(We won't count how many times Joshua bonked his head today, because it was absurdly high.)

Friday: Great-grandma's house

Today Joshua and I went to visit Great-Grandma for a little bit.  We read some books and Joshua was sort of all over the place.  Not in a too crazy way, but in an entertaining way.  Anyway, it was a nice visit.

Thursday: getting colder

Today was significantly colder than yesterday.  I've been warning the kids that they'll need to wear shoes and coats and such, but it seems like such a fight when the time actually comes around.

Today Joshua had some new tennis shoes.  He's been wearing some crocs that are really just a bit to big for him, and so he was not happy about these shoes.  I then told him he had to get a coat on.  (Or a sweatshirt, I don't really care at this point.)  He loudly refused.  He would only wear a hat.  Well, ok, we're in the car so it isn't too bad, but I took all his stuff in his bag for when they went outside at school.  Once we got to school I started to take it out of his bag so the teacher would know Joshua had warm clothing and I'm not a terrible parent.  That is when Joshua decided to put his sweatshirt on.  I rolled my eyes a bit.

We got a new, slightly larger fish tank today with a filter.  (Side note: I-Don't-Know managed to jump out of the fish tank yesterday while I was doing a partial change of the water.  I couldn't believe it.)  The boys were both very interested in putting the bottom stuff in the new tank and managed to cram together on one step stool and share.  I was impressed; I'm not sure I would have been able to handle such tight quarters.  (Speaking of quarters, the latest game that they're playing together is called "HQ."  I once again don't know the rules, but it involves getting all the pillows out.)

Wednesday: taxi driver

Today I felt like a taxi driver.  I know it's a common complaint of parents, but today was worse than normal and included five circuits.  (Where a circuit is, at the minimum, leave the house, go somewhere, come back to the house.)  With that many even the in between times weren't all that restful as I needed to be aware of the time most of the day.  I have found that setting alarms on the phone often helps me relax in between, but I didn't do that for all of the trips.

In other news, I managed to clean the garage and mentored a mostly successful Lego League meeting.  (Actually, my group at Lego League seemed very successful.  We made a robot, added additional parts, and got it to do something semi-functional.  This is more than we've done in the past.)

Tuesday: break

Yesterday Joshua convinced me to buy another fish and a castle.  Joshua named his new fish "I don't know."  I-don't-know hasn't eaten very much today; Yellow has been hogging all the food.

It was Fall Break today so I got the kids to school and then came back home to sleep in.  I stayed in bed until 11!  (Although I was up for an hour and a half in the middle, but still.)  I then got several things crossed off my list.  I also had 'clean the garage' so that some of the summer stuff can come in.  However, it was a very warm day so I decided to work on the loft project, which is taking infinitely longer than I was hoping.  However, when it is a warm day the paint comes off more easily.  As of tonight, I'm over half way done with this last piece.

Monday: as things change, they stay the same

Last night I continued reading letters that my grandma wrote to her children in 1969-70.  Have many things changed since then?  Yes.  But at the same time, so many things have stayed the same...

...women were still dealing with morning sickness
...vacation days were much appreciated
...house projects always took a while
...weather is interesting
...people stay up too late reading

Sunday: normal day

Today was a pretty normal Sunday, as Sundays go.  We went to church in the morning, had screen time, rest time, Lego time, and eating time.  I made chocolate blueberry pancakes for dinner and they were delicious.

Saturday: marble painting

As part of his homework due on Monday, Isaac needs to come up with ideas to write about.  (They're calling it a 'Heart Map.')  Anyway, we've been putting it off because no one has really wanted to do it.  We finally got all the ideas on it today.

The most surprising one that he came up with was Marble Painting.  I guess having an idea and seeing it come to fruition really made an impression on him. 

After we filled up about half the spaces we started using the blog to look for ideas.  Isaac seemed rather surprised at all the content and probably would have spent a long time looking.  I made him go quickly and only look at the pictures because I wanted to be done with this homework assignment.

Friday: a new style of shorts

This morning I updated the closets.  For Isaac this didn't mean much, but for Joshua he got all of the 4t clothing put in his closet and a reorganization since there are a lot of long sleeve shirts right now.  (I think he's almost out of a lot of the 3t stuff, but I like to see it too short and take it out after the next wash.)

Anyway, I explained the new system to him and let him get dressed.  A few minutes later he comes into my bedroom and says, "Mom, these shorts don't fit."

After a very fast inspection the reason was obvious - he was wearing a sweater.  One leg through an arm hole and one leg through the torso hole.

Thursday: greenhouse, cars, raspberries

We went to the Hope College Greenhouse today since we couldn't go with Lego League last week.  From the bit that we heard yesterday, the GVSU one was probably bigger (and cooler).  It also was quite an adventure to get to the Hope Greenhouse.  While it's open to the public, you need to go down small hallways and through closed doors.  There are no signs marking it's location.  We didn't stay long, but our objective was fulfilled; we saw a greenhouse.

On the way home, out of nowhere, Joshua says, "Mom, sometimes I get confused because toilet paper is white and cars are white and sometimes I think white cars are made of toilet paper."  Well, that hit Isaac's funny bone and he proceeded to ask Joshua what the other color cars are made of...
red = apples
yellow = broken stop lights and honey
blue = water
brown = crayons
tan = tan Legos
green = leaves

We got home and I picked the raspberries.  It's been a bit longer than usual since I last picked, but I think I also got the largest amount of the summer.