Thursday: Snow day #5 moving into #6

Well, they called it.  We have another snow day tomorrow.  Apparently the roads are still pretty bad in areas because the salt can't touch them.

Today we did get out of the house though.  We went to a church that had some bounce houses.  We might go again tomorrow; we'll have to see how the roads are.  Then we went to Hope College.  Dad brought them to the dining hall for lunch and then they didn't have to wait in the office as long.  We also got to karate this afternoon.

The snow days at Hope College that didn't affect me...have now affected me.  Since my lab students missed two days of lecture they haven't learned about free body diagrams yet, which is what the next prelab covers.  Anyway, I decided the prelab could be more of a postlab and made it due in a week and half.  Trying to teach students about FBDs via YouTube videos and/or a brief email did not seem appropriate.

Tuesday: snow day #3 moving into #4

Today was another snow day for Isaac.  It was a good call; it wasn't great out.  They also canceled school for tomorrow at the same time.  That one was expected...it's supposed to feel like -25deg F for most of the day. 

While I was teaching at 2:30 Hope College canceled all classes for 3pm and after, including tomorrow.  It was a bit odd...suddenly half the students were glancing at their phones and whispering.  Well, if all the students got something at the same time it can only mean that, today at least, classes were canceled.  Sure enough!

Some students didn't read the notification and so I got to give them the news that classes are canceled tomorrow too.  But then I told them that classes weren't canceled until 3pm, so I got to keep them for another 20 minutes (unless that felt as though the needed to leave for safety reasons).

I then sent an email to my on-line lab saying that their lab report is still due tomorrow!  However, I did note that if they needed to drive to use a lab computer or walk too far to meet with their partners to let me know and I could grant an extension. 

I told Joshua he could have a snow day tomorrow, but he'd have to play by himself and do some cleaning because I still have labs to grade.  Luckily he agreed to that contract, because his daycare canceled for tomorrow too...along with what seems like most of Holland.

Monday: snow day

Today Isaac had a snow day.  I thought it was pretty bad, but it wasn't too bad.  (Although I didn't have to drive any where.)  The odd thing was that pretty much everything in town closed down.  The doctor's office, the library, and karate.  It meant that all of the places I was thinking of going today were closed.  It was mostly nice.  :D

Isaac decided that Tornado was looking very cute and so we took a bunch of pictures while people and cats were looking cute.

Sunday: snow day!

School's been canceled for tomorrow!!  They canceled around 9:00 this evening and it looks like most of the schools canceled at the same time.  Tomorrow is a good day for a snow day, although we have a few places to go in the afternoon.  Hopefully by that time our street will have been plowed at least once.

In other news, Ben made an H out of Legos.

Saturday: sleeping in

Today Ben came into the bedroom at 11:15am.  I woke up for the morning and was crazy surprised that I slept the whole morning.  Usually I wake up and go back to sleep several times throughout the morning, and then by 10ish I'm up.  This morning I only heard Ben get up and Joshua cry once.

But I guess I am getting over being sick, so maybe it makes sense.

The boys also got some Lego belts.  Isaac wanted me to tell you that his seven spikes.

Friday: snow day

Isaac had a snow day today!  There wasn't a ton of snow, but maybe it was really cold?

Anyway, I was rather glad about it because 1) I don't have to work Fridays and 2) Isaac could help entertain Joshua while I wasn't feeling good.  It turns out that I'm definitely on the mend.  I was still more tired than normal, but no fever and found myself doing things instead of just sitting.  That tends to be my clue on how well I'm actually doing...if I just can't make myself move I'm usually sick.

Anyway, snow days are good for running around boxes.

I played Duplos for the first time in a while.  We watched "Cars" since it matches the puzzle we are currently putting together.  After that I snow blowed.  Luckily, Ben had discovered that the augur was a chunk of ice before leaving for work, so I had a space heater thaw it during the morning.  That wet snow from a few days ago had come back to haunt us.  Anyway, by the time I had finished that and done some computer work "rest" time was almost done for the boys.  I decided to take a nap anyway, since they still had their screen time to go.  Well, they continued to play together for the next two hours.  I took my nap and read some of my book before I heard the voices start to get frustrated and so I came out and we had ice cream.

After screen time we had a brief clean up time since during their three hours of playing together they put enough toys in all the walk ways that it was pretty much impossible to walk anywhere without stepping on something.  The cats had tipped over their treats, so they had to help during clean up time too.

Yay for snow!!  There is a bunch more in the forecast and it looks like there will easily be one or two more snow days next week. :D

Thursday: sick

Well, after an ok morning the fever came back and I was glad that I had canceled classes.  The cats enjoyed watching the birds and squirrels in the morning as I finished grading some labs.

On the upside though, it turns out I'm not pregnant or nursing and so I can have some of the good medicine.  (It was so long that I couldn't have "good" meds that I don't always remember that I can have them.)  The DayQuil works pretty well...well enough that I could move kids around and get home before feeling sick again.

Wednesday: well, I made it

Ugh.  Well, I made it through the day.

The morning wasn't too bad, although Isaac had an annoying two-hour delay.  I had some meetings at work and so couldn't just stay home, so Isaac came with me.  He did fine, but bringing him back to school ate up a half hour of my precious grading time.

I picked up Joshua and we did a quick stop at the fabric store.  We were supposed to go to the grocery store too, but I only had one errand in me.

I felt rather rotten at home, but luckily Joshua was happy to work on the puzzle we have out for a while.  After I woke up from my nap I had a fever.  Not too high, but still there.  So due to illness coupled with the fact that I can barely talk I canceled my classes for tomorrow.  I felt weird doing that, but there is an extra Tuesday/Thursday in the spring semester and so I have the time.  It just means that the day before spring break will be an actual learning day instead of a 'come for extra credit' day.

Oh, I also snow-blowed the driveway.  Neither the snow blower nor I was happy about it though.  I just didn't want to be doing it, and the snow was very wet and very heavy and so the snow blower complained too.  The plow had come through though, and I really, really didn't want it to freeze at the end of the driveway.  We need to wait until the end of winter to get a big bump there.

Tuesday: sick

I went to bed with a headache last night.  I woke up feeling pretty good this morning, and throughout the day felt worse and worse.  The cough plus headache is what really did me in.

I came home, took some medicine and a rest.  (Not a nap because I kept coughing.)  I felt better after that.

Monday: Puppy

Last time we were in PetSmart, Joshua told me that he looked like this puppy.  (It is pretty in much in line with other times.  Usually though there are two dogs and the smaller one looks more like him and the bigger one looks more like Isaac.  This seemed so definite..."This is what I look like.")

So that you can tell how similar they appear...

Sunday: a pretty normal day

We had a pretty normal day today.  Ben was under the weather with this cold that won't go away.  I snow-blowed the driveway for the first time this season.  We went to church.  The boys made another fort and are sleeping under it.  Sometimes I wonder why we bothered finding a house so that they could each have a bedroom.  For that matter, why did we even get them beds?  They seem to like the sleeping bags better.  (I know, I know.  It's special because we don't always let them do it.  But still...)

Saturday: a chore

Sometimes one of Joshua's chores is to exercise the kitties.  It worked especially well today and he had quite the system.

He lured one cat into a bedroom and shut the door.  He then ran and ran and ran around the couch with a long piece of scrap fabric and the other cat would case it.  When Joshua got tired he ran into a different bedroom, with the cat following, and trapped the cat in that bedroom.  He'd take a quite break and then open up the first bedroom, allowing that cat to follow the fabric around and around and around the couch.  Repeat until it was time to be done - probably about twenty minutes or so.

It seemed like a rather effective way of tiring out Joshua too.

Friday: brothers

After being fever free in the morning, Isaac had a low grade fever in the afternoon.  I gave him some meds, but he seemed to mostly be doing fine.  Joshua, on the other hand, lost his control around 2:30pm.  Every little thing was a huge tragedy.  We're working on not crying right away when things don't go his way, but it was especially bad today.  I'm slightly wondering if he is coming down with something that Isaac or Ben has.  Anyway, they both went to bed early since no one took a nap.  Also, I finally started tracking when he went to the bathroom.  He went 31 times today.

Thursday: classes, doctor, animals, Isaac

It was Thursday, and so I taught today.  We started out with a short exam, and there were two people that just didn't show up.  I found this very odd, since in the (I think) 10 semesters of teaching the class times eight short exams this has happened less than five times.  They finally got a hold of me and both had the flu.  Yeah, the flu's rough...but it still seems as though they should have been with it enough for a short email.

I also got this quote in a summary of a video they needed to watch:

"I am starting to really see the benefits of excel. It has a lot more applicable functions to real life than I assumed it would."

It surprised me a little bit since Excel is so widely used for so many things.  But at the same time I'm glad to hear that the class is making a difference.

After teaching Joshua and I went back to the doctor due to his frequent urination.  Nothing abnormal was found in the urine, so we're being referred to DeVos for some testing.  There's an odd picture in the waiting room and Grey Bear wanted his picture next to the bear that looked like him.  (Because they both have the same mouth.)

Isaac still had a fever all day.  Most of the day it was controlled through Ibuprofen, but at dinner time he looked miserable and shivery.  He didn't have a temp, but we gave him some Tylenol anyway because I think it was the cold before the hot.  We're not trying to do anything in the next 48 hours, so giving him the medicine whether or not we see an increased temperature doesn't really matter.

While Isaac was feeling good he took a bunch of pictures of the cats with their puzzle box.  I'm not really sure which set of brothers likes it more.  I keep putting it away to save for a boring day for the cats, but the human brothers keep finding things they want to put in it.  :D

The snail, who I keep wondering if it's dead, was suddenly on top of the plants.  It even came 'all' the way out of it's shell.

Wednesday: sick

This morning Isaac wasn't feeling great and he was complaining of a headache.  He never acted completely normal, but got a little bit close and chose to go to school.  We told him he could call if things got worse.

Fast forward to when I picked him up.  He said he was tired.  I think he fell asleep in the car before we left the parking lot...and this is the kid that really only naps when "forced" to or if he's sick.  Joshua managed to fall asleep in the two minutes I was picking up Isaac.  He was chattering away right before I got out of the car, so I was a bit surprised.

I let them sleep.  I should also note that I got a ton done in the hour that they were sleeping.  Anyway, they woke up and Isaac stumbled to the couch.  After a show (because when you're sick you get extra screen time) we took Isaac's temp and he had a fever.  The ibuprofen perked him up shortly though.

Anyway, Ben's been under the weather with a nasty cold and so is going to stay home with Isaac tomorrow.

Tuesday: puffy puffs

Today was a pretty normal day.  Except that Joshua talked about 'puffy-puffs' for pretty much the entire ride home.  (Including after we picked up Isaac.)  All these puffy-puffs are are a small flavored rice cake in a special shape.  They apparently made a large impression on him today.

Monday Monday

Today was a pretty normal day today.

We got groceries, went to gymnastics, and built a fire plane.

We went to karate and had dinner.

The kitties enjoyed watching some birds and hugging Ben's arm.

Saturday: relaxing

Today was a good day.

The kids played together well and a lot.  This meant that I got a bit more work done than normal. 

Tornado tried to help.

Friday: today

This morning Joshua and I went to a ...playgroup?... that included bounce houses.  It was really nice.  I got to see Amie again and there weren't many people there.  It was a lovely way to spend the morning.

This afternoon Ben was taking a nap, so I left Joshua with him while I went to get Isaac.  I told him that Ben was taking a nap, but apparently that didn't mean much to Joshua and he interrupted Ben two times in the fifteen minutes I was gone.  The second time the kitties escaped.

Now, we had been planning on starting to let the cats out this weekend.  We talked about it yesterday; how we wanted to clean up a little more and would watch over them carefully.  So imagine my surprise when I saw Tornado in the middle of the floor.  "Dad said I could pet them." says Joshua, working on a puzzle.  However, they behaved themselves quite well during this exploring stage.

Joshua has been loving the puzzles we got on a whim on Monday.  We finished the hardest one and are now working on a Monsters University one.  I was making dinner while he was doing it for a bit and thought he looked mature.

Some other pictures...

Over winter break, "Evin came to are haws and we had loos uv fun."

Isaac finished his Christmas catapult.  He has been enjoying throwing clay balls.  (He did most of it by himself with just a bit of help from us.)

Tuesday: school

School started again for Joshua and me.  My day was busy, but it didn't feel quite as crazy as some first days.  Joshua wasn't thrilled with going to school, but did ok.

Monday: Joshua

Joshua and I were on our own again for the first time in two weeks.  We started with a visit to a different day care...their pre-K room is still for four year olds instead of being more of a young 5s.  While I didn't dislike the place I'm also not sure that I loved it.  It's still in the running but I need to do some more looking.

I also got two videos out of Joshua.  Sorry about the video on the second.  We were doing them in the car and I didn't realize my mitten was in front until the end.  He wasn't willing to do it again.





We hit Meijer for a few groceries.  On the way out, he lost one of his coloring pages from gymnastics due to wind.  This ended up being a tragedy.  A big one.  Never mind the fact that he rarely uses the coloring pages or that this one had been stepped on several times and was probably gross or whatnot.  It probably took him a good fifteen minutes to recover from the loss.

I also brought Joshua to the doctor today for frequent bathroom trips.  It got a little ridiculous as we were doing our errands and he had to go to the bathroom six times in 2.5 hours.  Nothing was found in his urine though...sugar levels were normal and no sign of a UTI.  The plan is to wait a week and see if it resolves itself.

Weekend: DeYoung Christmas

Nathan and his family came up for the weekend.  To say that Isaac and Joshua were excited about it would be an understatement.  I was asked several times a day all week if it was Evelyn's day.  Finally...it was!

We had a low key Thursday afternoon while the kids played.  They did a lot of playing and usually did a really nice job playing together. 

Isaac had reminded me a few days earlier that we didn't do "Happy New Year", so I got some sparkling grape juice and we did Happy New Year for him.

Friday we went to Hope.  We were waiting for Dad, so the kids played with rings in the hallway...just like Nathan and I used to do.

The kids made some card holders.  Then we did some die cuts.  Everyone made a cutout for Dad, like normal.

In the afternoon we opened presents.  My favorite was when Jamison opened a pack of books and immediately said, "I'm not going to share these!  I'm going to put them in my room!"  He took a step or two before being redirected.

Isaac was super excited about the ship in the bottle.  He hadn't mentioned it since it had been put on his list, but his face lit up!  Joshua was also excited about his Red Mech Lego set (which was the present he had been waiting for) and the blue dragon.  He'd usually say the cursory "Thank you" and continue to look at the box.  Then he'd say 'thank you' for real, but the giver didn't always hear it as the show had moved on.

Joshua got 'bugs in the kitchen', a game.  It was a pretty good game.  One that doesn't need strategy but can have it.  Isaac played this game for hours.

I helped Joshua with the outside of his puppy puzzle and then he and Evelyn filled in the inside.

Saturday morning we went to 'CC's playground.'  It was pretty busy, but Aunt C joined us for a bit.  The kids bolted off and we barely saw them until it was time to go.  Well, except for JJ as he liked to be helped into the slide.

In the afternoon we went for a walk.  Joshua didn't let go of Pat's hand until the last five minutes.  He had to be sure she didn't get lost.

The kids were a bit crazy for the adults in the evening so they got a show.

Sunday morning Isaac read some books to everyone.  Then they packed up and were off.  A successful visit!  (Although Joshua lost it pretty much right after that.  I was trying to get him set up on a Lego set and he couldn't decided what he wanted to start with and it was very confusing.  Later on Ben told him to go rest and he finally took a nap.  When he woke up from the nap he was upset because he "didn't sleep at all!")

Wednesday: Isaac

This morning Isaac and I went to a nearby karate school to see it.  He loved it.  (To be fair, half of it was an obstacle course and not something that is done every time.)  Anyway, I signed him up.  And since I'll be there for most of the lessons anyway, I signed myself up too.

Later in the day he said that he really wanted to use the screwdriver that he had gotten for Christmas.  So I pulled out some scrap wood and he went to town using his tools.

We went back in the evening for our first official karate lessons.  Isaac actually had two - there is a class for younger students first and then a class for lower belts.  He said he liked the first one better.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the second one though.  I was the only adult for this class, and the kids kept slowly drifting over my way...it was a bit funny.  Anyway, it was a bit tricky but not too tricky.

It turns out I only got a picture of Isaac being a shark...

Tuesday: relaxing day

Today we relaxed.

And the kitties relaxed.

Monday: New Year's Eve

This morning we went to Crazy Bounce.  The boys loved it and talked about it all day.  It isn't my favorite place to go, but it isn't too bad either.  It was rather busy.

The aquarium has been having a small algae problem, so I got a snail.  Also, I realized that the little fish in the tank with Sunset was a female and there was a baby male in with the baby females.  This is the first time that I feel mostly confident about the gender separation.  Now I need to wait a little bit and make sure no babies show up before trying to give the females away.

We went to a NYE party this evening but only stayed until about 9:30.  We still had a good time though.