Tuesday: learning

Today I graded.  Almost all day...well, all of my working day.  I was pleasantly surprised that more students got the hard part of the exam correct.  It makes it much easier to grade.

I took one break to visit the curriculum library and check out a fraction game.  The game itself wasn't super fun, but Isaac played with the game, moving fractions around, for quite a while.  Math homework = done.

Monday: perfect

I gave an exam today.  The class sits in two circles (at computers) and I usually give out four stacks of exams...two stacks to each circle, with each stack going in opposite directions.  Then I pick up the extras.

Today, for the first time ever, I gave the exact amount needed to BOTH circles.

Sunday: shower

I wrote something on the shower a bit ago, and Isaac took it to heart.

(What it looks like in the mirror)

What we actually wrote

Saturday: bear castle

We dropped off food at Dutch Village to get tickets for later in the summer.  This meant that we had to go under the bear castle.

Amanda: oh no, we're going to be pooped on by the bears!
Joshua: no, the bears are going to chase us!
Amanda: Would you rather be pooped on by bears or chased by bears?
Boys: ...
Joshua: chased!!
Isaac: pooped!!

Friday: mini-carnival

Isaac's school canceled its yearly carnival due to lack of donations and volunteers.  It was pretty fun last year, so we were pretty disappointed.

So we had a mini-carnival at home.

There was a "bouncy ball your dinner drink."

Isaac took a bunch of tries because he really wanted the Squirt.  Joshua got his on the first try (each time) and then proceeded to have milk for dinner.  This is especially odd since Joshua doesn't like milk.

Then, while we were waiting for the pizza, we playing "fishing for candy."  The boys tossed some fabric with a clothes pin over the banister and then they waited for the fish to bite.  The got some candy that was supposed to be a donation for the carnival.  They also got some other non-candy.  Joshua was always so disappointed when he got the "junk".  It was pretty funny.

Our last activity was a cake walk.  This one was the most absurd of all our mini-carnival activities.  We walked around the table, and when the music stopped the person next on the carpet square got a little cake.  We walked around the table a lot.

Thursday: last day

Today was the last day of classes.  This tends to be my last day.  Review day is not really all that fun and while important, no one likes it.  Several people neglected to show up; I figure that that just means they don't get all the hints about what will be on the exam. 

In other news, Joshua was super excited to show me this this morning.  He got dressed and was half way through eating breakfast when he 'had something in his sock.'  He had put a googly eye there while getting dressed. :D

Wednesday: bad streak

Joshua likes pretend bad guys.  He often plays the bad guy in his pretend play, and often wins.  (That being said, the other day he came downstairs after bedtime almost in tears because he was worried that robbers would come in and steal his money.)

We were finishing up The Hunchback of Notre Dame a few days ago, and near the end the good guy is holding the bad guy over a big drop...pretty standard movie stuff.  Joshua lets out a cheer, "Yeah!  Do it!"  It was not the reaction Ben and I were expecting, but at the same time it's pretty typical for Joshua.

Monday: wet socks

It was a pretty normal day today, but it was also the nicest day we've had so far this spring.  (Tomorrow it'll get cool again.)  The boys entertained themselves for a while on the deck with squirters.  I have no idea what they were doing, but I did hear a lot of laughter and Isaac say, "That water is so wet I can't stand the wetness." 

They were winding down when Isaac remembered playing with a wet sock last year.  He wanted to do that again.  Joshua joined him, and they entertained themselves for quite a while longer, until it was time for karate.

Joshua managed to lose one of his socks in the process...

Sunday: Happy Resurrection Day!

Happy Resurrection Day!  He is risen!

Before church we updated the fort.  It had been rather unstable.  Isaac wanted to be able to stand up in it.  We have a small part that he can stand up in and there are more supports and triangles.

After church (He is risen indeed!) we had an Easter Egg hunt at Ben's parents'.

Jamie and Ashlyn had kindly color coded the eggs and hid them with an appropriate difficulty for the kids' age.

Saturday: rugs

Pat came over for a visit this morning.  While she was here, the boys were running the couch/table course.  Isaac decided that turning was too hard, so he moved all the rugs from around the house and put them in the corners that were hardest to turn for more traction.

Then they all ended up by the front door.  I'm not sure why.

Just a normal day at our house.

Friday: breakfast and visit

Yesterday I was making breakfast.  It was a bit out of order because Isaac was moving a bit slowly.  Then this happened.  Isaac's oatmeal in my Cheerios.  Luckily it was before I put my milk in, so I at least saved my Cheerios.

Today we went to visit Ben's Grandma.  Joshua was entertaining as normal. :D

Thursday: cirimeter

Ben and I are currently in charge of Isaac's math homework.  Last week in school they talked about shapes.  So this week we talked about area and perimeter.  He figured it out pretty quickly with squarish shapes, so the last homework included some circles.  He started it yesterday and we were reviewing it today...I asked him what the C in Pi*d = C stood for and he said "Cirimeter".  While not correct, it sure is a good description.

(While a minor point, we rounded Pi to 3.  It's just an approximation not matter how many decimals are used, so why not use zero decimals.)

Wednesday: Easter Egg hunt

Today at karate there was an Easter egg hunt.  Blindfolded, because there's no where to hide the eggs out on the mat.

But first some practice...

Spreading out the eggs...

They let Joshua come join us.  I'm not sure if it's because I also attend or if all other kids could come out and Joshua was the only other kid.  Nice of them either way.

Finding eggs...

And getting candy.  Joshua was so excited after opening every single egg.  (And Isaac had the foresight of trading his gum, knowing I'd take most of it away.)

Tuesday: warm clothes

Warm clothes in the dryer: enjoyed by people and kitties.

Monday: a pretty good day

Today was a pretty good day.  I actually got some housework done.  (And it was house cleaning day, so the house is relatively clean too!)

Joshua knocked his head very hard on the table though.  He has a good bruise and proceeded to take a nap for about an hour.  It worked out ok though, because then he didn't have to come to karate with me.

Sunday: Palm Sunday

Happy Palm Sunday!

Isaac and Joshua went into church waving palm branches today.  They held hands down the aisle for the first half...Joshua might have been a bit nervous.

Joshua also took his first communion today.  There is no rule on when a child can start taking it and Joshua was interested.  We talked about it yesterday and he loved God and said that he believed that Jesus died on the cross for him.

Saturday: slide

This afternoon, the boys were working on assorted projects.  Isaac was building a house for the cats and Joshua was building a slide.  At first he put a large piece of cardboard on the stairs and I thought he'd be sliding stuff down it.  Anyway, I quickly put a stop to that because we don't play on the stairs.

So Joshua decided to make the slide upstairs.  I left him to it.  About ten minutes later Joshua was crying (with real tears).  I went upstairs and Joshua was upset because his slide broke when he tried to slide down it.  Keep in mind that it was made with five pillows and a piece of flat cardboard.

Oh, Joshua and I had a good talk because he cried about this for longer than I expected.  We talked about the different aspects of slides and why his didn't work.  We talked about Ms. Frizzle and how it's good to make mistakes.  I told him I was proud of him for trying to make a slide.

In other news: can you find the cats?

Last weekend: Fort Wayne

I didn't post at all last weekend for some reason, but Aunt C, Isaac, Joshua, and I went to Fort Wayne for a visit.  It was an excellent time.  You can tell that the kids are growing up as they play together better and better.

Friday we went for a walk in a marsh.  It has the eastern continental divide, separating water that flows east and west.  (Which is currently very important due to Asian carp).  Anyway, most of the trail was nice and firm, except for a small patch that was very muddy.  We all had boots on, so we continued on.  However, Joshua's boot sunk down rather deep in the mud and the mud held the boot as his foot came out.  Instead of stopping though, Joshua took a step into the mud and freaked out because his foot got wet and cold.  He took one more step and clung to Aunt C.  I saw the whole thing (in slow motion) and was there a heartbeat later.  I stripped off the muddy sock and stuck his boot back on as fast as possible and we continued on.  Joshua did talk about that step for the next fifteen minutes though. :)

By the end of the walk (a bit over a mile) all the kids could barely continue because their legs hurt so much.  So we went to an indoor playground and they ran around for another hour.

We went to a cider mill after dinner for drinks.

The next day we went on a chocolate factory tour.  It was a great length for the kids and had lots of delicious samples.  We couldn't take pictures and so as we were leaving Nathan took a driveby picture of the outside.   

It was a gorgeous day, so we went to another park.  It had a great playground and a fun hill to run down and the kids played hard.

We hit one more playground on Sunday before heading home.  It was a lovely weekend catching up with Nathan and his family.

Friday: treat

The car was getting it's tires changed and there was a new bakery nearby, so Joshua and I walked over for a treat.

It was quite delicious.

He chose that particular cupcake because it had a raccoon ring.  We don't currently know where the ring is, but I'm hoping it's in the car.

Wednesday: new fort

Since the old fort kept falling down and we've had a fort for over a month, we invested in some better fort construction materials.  Isaac and I made the fort yesterday, and then today we added some extra (longer) dowels for extra strength.  The whole thing still comes apart a little bit at some joints, but it doesn't fall down and Isaac can help put it back together.

Really, the thing is like a fort-mansion now.

Monday: progress

The kids made progress on important things today.

*Isaac remembered to try and go quickly during writing time and finished what he was supposed to do.

*Joshua got the bottom buckle of the seat belt buckled by himself 1.5x today.

*Isaac's other front tooth finally fell out.  I've been expecting it anytime, as it was almost in the middle of his mouth for the last few days.

Wednesday: kids

Isaac was told to get dressed and start cleaning his room once I left for work.  He went into our room as Ben was getting ready and told this to Ben.

Surprise!  He was dressed!

And then he went under the covers in order to be attacked by the kitties.

Joshua fell asleep during rest time.

After rest time I had some plans of things to do with the kids.  However, they were playing so well together that I just did the stuff by myself and let them do their thing.  It seemed like they were hiding from me and collecting shiny things with a home base in Isaac's room.  I was a bit sad they chose Isaac's room because he had finally finished cleaning it with Aunt C this morning, but when I went in a bit later it wasn't too badly destroyed.