Friday: snowmen

In March, just after the last snow had melted, Joshua announced that he wanted to make a snowman.  It came up a few times this summer.  On Tuesday the snow wasn't good for packing.  But today the snow was melting a bit and it was perfect!  All of the snow packed onto the snowball while rolling and it was probably some of the easiest snowmen I've ever made.  

Sunglasses on both. :)

Joshua wasn't quite finished when we took the picture above.  He continued to add a few more ice chunks around the bottom as clothing.

I had Joshua take my picture with the snowmen.  I didn't see that he took this one...

 ...I only saw this one.  He tried hard to get a sideways one with my head, but couldn't get the right angle.

Thursday: turning into spiders

Today Puppy the Mouse turned into Light-switch the Spider.  (It could go back and forth between the forms.)  Then, much to Haroldena the Mouse's dismay, she got the same power.  She really likes being a mouse, but apparently to fight the Rainbow dragon you need Spider powers.

Here are Light-switch the Spider (holding a sword) and Hip the Spider.

A few months ago we ordered the green Duplos with mice.  Since we had been playing mice with the Duplos so much we thought Joshua would love them!  Well, while he was very surprised it took him a while to warm up to them and they just got used as normal bricks for a while.  Then they were pictures of Haroldena's family.  They've now been promoted to guards.  (They're standing next to water guards, by the way.)

Wednesday: a bit different

I didn't have a lab due yesterday, so once again I got to stay home this morning.  I did a pretty good job of doing things that were on my to-do list.  None of them were all that important, but checking a few things off feels nice.

Since school was canceled on Monday I rescheduled gymnastics for this afternoon.  Joshua didn't want to go.  This surprised since usually he seems to enjoy going; perhaps it was that Isaac got to be on the Ipad while he had to do his stuff.

Tuesday: confusion and snow mountians

My alarm goes off.  I turn it off and start getting out of bed.
Joshua, crying: But I didn't get to tell you!
Amanda: tell me what?
Joshua: when it happened.
Amanda: when what happened?
Joshua: I didn't get to tell you that I couldn't get to sleep.
Amanda: you didn't go to sleep?
Joshua: No!  I didn't sleep at all
Amanda: Yes, you slept last night.
Joshua: No!  I didn't get to tell you.
Joshua leaves the bedroom, but doesn't stop crying for the next five minutes.

***
Amanda is cleaning up breakfast, Joshua is still at the table.
Joshua: I get to go to school today.
Amanda: Right.  It's a school day for you.
Joshua: no, I get to go to school with you.
Amanda: No.  You'll go to your own school.
Joshua: I don't get to go with you?
Amanda: No.
Joshua: But why are there Duplos in your bag?
Amanda: they're to help the students learn.
Joshua: They're not for me?
Amanda: No.
Joshua: But...but...will I get them back?
Amanda: Yes. I'll bring them back tonight.
Joshua: ok.

***
After school we played outside for a bit.  The boys wanted to make snow and ice mountains, which worked well with my shoveling the driveway (a bit) and helping them out.  They especially liked the ice chunks from the end of the driveway.  My plan had been to let it melt this weekend, but it's always a bit scary to do that at the beginning of the winter...what if it doesn't actually melt??  This way I figure it'll be easier for it to melt, even if I didn't get all of it.

Isaac also stayed outside to do some sledding.  He was having a grand time!  Joshua came in just a little bit after I did; he had been wearing shoes because his boots are too small and his toes got cold.

Monday: snow day! Birthday!

Today was a snow day!  I had been wondering if that would be the case.  It was rainy last night and turned into snow.  

We decorated the box for Ben's present.

Played Skip-Bo.

Joshua led me through a gymnastics lesson since his was canceled.

In the afternoon we went to help out at Kids' Food Basket.  We took puddings out of big boxes and put them in crates so that they can be easily packaged into lunches.  Joshua lasted about 45 minutes while Isaac helped until the job was done.  (They both did really well though.  Isaac was able to do a few more things and that helped make it more interesting.)

We got Joshua's school pictures last week.  He has such a nice smile.  He also has a hole in his pants, as I didn't realize that the pants would be included in the picture.

Here's the final box decor.  On the left you'll notice a J and an O... that was the start of Joshua's name.  He also put a 3 (with four arms) and a 7 for Ben's age.

Sliding the box to Ben.

Sunday: Catan

This evening Aunt C came over.  First she played with Joshua while Ben and I played Catan with Isaac and then she played with both boys while we went out for dinner.

Isaac did an excellent job with Settlers of Catan.  He's played the junior version a lot and he played the "adult" version with me once.  Playing with only two people doesn't work very well though because trading doesn't work great.  He did a really good job though and got right into the trading.  We helped out a little bit, but he made most of the decisions on his own.  Catan Jr. really is a great stepping stone to the full version.

Oh, it was great except for the time Ben played a monopoly on brick, of which Isaac had just gotten six.  There were some tears as he realized that he had to give away his newly acquired brick and he didn't get anything in return.

Saturday: wishbone

Isaac got the wishbone from the turkey this year.  He's been so excited to pull it and has been telling everyone his wish will be to go to IHop (within a day or two...the time frame changed a few times.)

Ben and I decided Ben's wish would be to go to IHop too. :D  Anyway, they pulled the wishbone apart and it broke off both sides.  Isaac was rather confused.  However, it broke off Ben's side first.  We then went to IHop for lunch.

We finished the Christmas decorating.  We have a ton of light strands up, and none of them match.  I love the lights, but it's a bit crazy.  I think I'll buy a bunch of lights at the end of the season sales and only use those next year.

Isaac also made some puppy ears.

Friday: getting ready for Christmas

This morning was an official "take apart Lego sets" time.  I needed the Lego shelf for the nativity and I expect (and know) several new Lego sets will be coming into the house and we were out of room.  So I got a Christmas movie and we all took apart sets while watching.

We did much better than I expected.  Not only did we completely clean up the upstairs shelves, but we got some of the downstairs shelves cleaned up too.  It was mainly castles...Joshua plays with them very hard and they've been coming apart for a while.  We bagged the pieces that were still together to make it easier to put them together next time.

We also put up some more Christmas decorations.  The boys are making all sorts of homemade decorations and putting them up.  It's kind of cute, but at the same time I wish they wouldn't put so many 'treasures' on my walls.  Maybe after Christmas we can take everything down, including the ones that have been there for a while.

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  We started to take apart Legos yesterday so we'd have enough space for Christmas decor.  Isaac was very amused by the cantilever that he made during destruction.  Joshua was very worried about the lack of a star on our tree and started cutting out his own.

We went to church.  We were running late and so ended up sitting in the foyer.  The boys probably were happy about it as they can move around a bit more.  We also got to write on the windows what we were thankful for.  Isaac wrote food (and drew a carrot), people, and shelter.  It seemed like things they may have talked about in school.  Joshua drew a person and I wrote Grey Bear for him too, even though he didn't ask for it.  I'm thankful for Grey Bear.  I'm also thankful that while we do have some medical issues in the family the other areas of life are stress-free.

We had a little bit of time between church and going to dinner and the boys were crazy!!  But it was finally time.  We had a delicious meal.

Some Wii games were played and Isaac was so glad to have some screen time.

Joshua's star.  We'll see if it stays up for the rest of the season.

Wednesday: pre-Thanksgiving

Yesterday Isaac made a roll-a-monster for me.  You roll two dice to figure out how to draw your monster.  I rolled high numbers for everything - 11 legs, 6 heads, 7 spikes, (1 body by default), 8 mouths, and 10 eyes.

I tried separating the fish by gender again today.   I pretty much switched all most of the fish from the last time I tried to separate.  However, I just read that the ratio should be about 2/3 female to 1/3 male and I have more males than females.

We put up the Christmas tree.

Joshua wore his Indian hat from school.  He and Isaac were going to play pilgrims and Indians at one point, but I'm not sure that they ever really figured out how to do that...but Joshua kept the hat on the rest of the day.

We went to Wild Chef for Jacob's birthday.  Isaac made sure to have his sunglasses on hand for the fire part.

Monday: shopping trip

Joshua and I were at the grocery store, and we were trying to find some mittens since we lost one of his.  I saw some sunglasses on sale and paused...they were advertised at $4 but were actually only $1.  They only ended up fitting Joshua, but it's still a great deal.

While we were there, Joshua saw some Minecraft pajamas and thought Isaac would love them.  I took a look at the price tag and decided they were a bit more than I really wanted to spend.  We left to continue our search for mittens and Joshua brought them up again.  So Joshua is getting them for Isaac for Christmas...we'll see if they stay a surprise or not.

On the same rack were some Pickachu pajamas on the same rack that Joshua really wanted.  So I told him that we could get them for him, but he shouldn't look so it could be a surprise.  So he put his face down in the cart and closed his eyes.  He hasn't mentioned them again.

Sunday: shenanigans

#1:
Last night Ben put in color changing light bulb that is controlled through the phone in one of the lamps.  We both woke up around the same time, after the kids, and proceeded to turn it on and have it change colors.  They were stunned.  There was a lot of screaming, "what??!!"  Ben turned it off.  He turned it on again, only to more screaming.  He turned it off.  I went out to see what was going on, but didn't believe them after waiting a bit for it to turn back on.  I went back into the bedroom, only to have it turn back on...and off before I came out.  Then Ben and I were in the kitchen, but we were conveniently getting things from the fridge/behind the counter when it turned on, and by the time we looked it was off.

Ben finally had pity on them and showed them what was going on.

#2:
During rest time (i.e., rest time for Ben and me, play time for kids) the boys seemed to be having more fun than normal.  I was in the basement and heard almost continuous laughter, Ben was trying to take a nap but the fan wasn't drowning out their laughter well.  They had been playing some game that, once again, involved taking all the pillows and blankets and sheets that they could find to make a path.

However, that is not the game they ended up playing with all the laughter.  Apparently, they were getting their socks wet and throwing them on the floor, making puddles.  Which made the floor really slippery and Joshua fell a lot.  ("But it was so fun!" he said.)  Ben got up and told them to clean up, which they did without complaint.

I might have let it go longer, but then it probably would have ended in tears and that is never a fun ending.  It doesn't seem like the safest activity, but it sure was fun to listen to.

Saturday: Lego League

Today was our big Lego League Jr. Expo.  While I didn't know completely what to expect, what did happen was pretty much along my expectations.  It also ended up being a good ending to the season.

We got there and put some finishing touches on the poster and the moon base.  (The kids kept touching it all morning...I kept telling them to stop, but they just couldn't help themselves.)

This was our poster.  I was rather afraid it was lacking in content, but it was about the same as most of the other groups' posters.  Under it is our moon base.  It is mostly a greenhouse, with a workroom and kitchen/sleeping/game room.  There is a close up of a hydroponic system and a bunch of solar panels.  While the adults did do a significant amount of the poster, the kids did the moon base...they really all of it themselves with a bit of adult directing.  I think that might be a bit odd, as one of the leaders was asked how long they were up the previous night finishing the model.

Therefore, the kids really could talk about the model well.  They did have note cards, but if asked questions they could answer them easily.  And they were able to point out the different parts...they knew the model well.

 The group.  (Sidebar: I think we were the only school to have a racially diverse group.  I was a bit surprised, but perhaps it is reflective of the student populations??  It was one reason we chose Eagle Crest though.)

We brought some extra Legos in case of emergency.  The emergency ended up being bored kids, and we were so glad to have brought them!  It entertained them many times.

Isaac presenting.

Isaac was in charge of one of the solar panels.  It was motorized, so he was also in charge of the program that motorized it.  We had made a nice and simple program...it did two small jogs and then rotated around to the beginning to symbolize one day/night cycle and then it did it again.  He could tell all about the program and how it worked.  I was proud of him.

It was very loud in here.  I guess two years ago there were only four teams in a carpeted room...hopefully next year they can change some things up so that only the team(s) presenting are in the room.

Ben and Joshua came to look for a bit and then looked at the robots for the older Lego League.

After presenting (three times) they made a moon craft.

And they had a team building activity.  Here they're just playing with a ball, waiting to get in.  But the activity was that they had to do a 34 pc puzzle, and once they touched a piece no one else could touch it.  The moderator said that we were the biggest group (you're supposed to have a max of six kids), but our group was one of the best listeners, obeyed the rules, had a leader and co-leader but the leaders didn't take control, laughed/made jokes while working to lighten the mood, and did a good job of including everyone.  I was very proud of them.

Isaac is sad that Lego League is finished and wants to do it again next year!  (I was on the fence.  Some of the lessons were good, but there were a few at the end that weren't so good.  If I'm a head coach again next year I might try to spread things out a bit so that we're not just making a poster on the last day.  However, this was a nice ending.)