Friday: surprise

Joshua and Isaac have enjoyed some wands and they are hidden.  I don't know where they all are.  I thought that two of them were in our bedroom, so I conned Joshua into helping me clean our bedroom under the pretense of looking for the wands.

(Side note: If I give my wand to the boys I can become a good guy.  I've decided to join the cats' team so that I can still be on Ben's team because apparently Ben hasn't earned his spot on the boys' team yet.  I'm 100% going to take up that offer.)

The other part of the plan to help look for the wands was to move all the furniture.  Ben and I had jokingly discussed this a few nights ago, as we were wondering why our quilt has been sliding down the foot of the bed.  Ben mentioned that we should flip the bed around so that the quilt slides up instead.  I took that as approval that I could move the furniture.

Is it completely clean?  No.  But I did move quite a bit of stuff that didn't belong in our bedroom to a different place.  The easy to clean stuff has been taken care of.  As with all clean rooms, it feels better than it did.  Oh, and we found one of the two missing wands.

In other news, I got Joshua to do the penguin dance that he does at school.  It's like 'Father Abraham' in that you keep adding different body parts...so Joshua did the last part when all of the body parts have been added.  (There's also a real possibility that I should have cleaned the kitchen instead of the bedroom, but the kitchen always needs to be cleaned.)

Thursday: breakfast

It was a pretty normal day today, but since I needed to drop Ben off at his car in the morning we first went out to breakfast.

Well, first we dropped off the boys.  Ben got to enjoy being loved "infinity carrot infinity" and got to see the 'I love you moose' dance.  When we were walking Joshua in Joshua ran up to take Ben's hand and gave him the largest smile ever.  Joshua was so happy that his dad was dropping him off too.

And we had a rather nice breakfast.

update: success!  The cats have slept with Joshua a few times (much to his chagrin), but they've never stayed with Isaac (who really wants it).  Ben's been on a campaign to get Tornado to stay with Isaac and it finally worked.

Wednesday: busy day

Today started with plans to get many small chores done, go to karate, go to lunch, and take a nap. 

I did get my many small chores done.  There were a lot of really short things on my list that were taking a while to actually finish.  Tornado followed me around and it was fun.

I went to karate (11-11:45m), and then got a call from Ben that his appointment got moved up to 12:30 and I needed to be there.  (Well, there were some other options but they weren't as ideal.)  I scrambled to get there and, as normal, they were running late.  Well, we did that, picked up a very late lunch, ate it while waiting for a train, was at home for five minutes, and went to pick up the kids.

I was rather tired so I gave the boys extra screen time and took a nap.

I had a hard time waking up.  I fed them dinner though.  I felt oddly proud of myself for feeding them.

Then Dad came over to change out the garbage disposal.  It went pretty well.

I picked up Isaac from cadets and got the kids down.  A successful day, although rather crazy.

Tuesday: 5.5

Today was Joshua's 5 1/2 birthday and I think he enjoyed it.  We brought in some (store-bought) cookies to school and he said that everyone got 5, along with a larger oatmeal raisin cookie (that they were going to have for snack anyway).  I thought there was going to be a hat, but I guess that didn't happen.

After picking up Isaac we got our Valentines.  They both chose Sour Patch Kids.  Maybe because they've been talked about recently on the podcast that we're listening to?  Or maybe they just like them.  Isaac also got some more perler beads...it surprised me a bit, but he was fine with buying them himself.

And Joshua got his cake.  It took him about one breath per candle to get them all blown out.

Monday: with Joshua

It's Joshua's 5 1/2 birthday tomorrow and he is so excited.  I hope it doesn't disappoint.

We got some cookie packs for his class.  It was a large shopping trip today.

We got a little cake for us at home tomorrow.  He wanted to bring it in from the car, so we dug through the grocery bags in order to find it so he could bring that single item in the house.  Once I got the cold stuff put away, making the cake was the highest priority.

Sunday: stuffed animals

Why do you need so many stuffed animals in your house?  So you can use them for obstacle courses.  Today they made an obstacle course down the stairs, in our bed (i.e., a huge pile), and around the living room.

After dinner some video games were played.  Joshua had a lot to say about what he thought was happening and what should be done.  And he always sits on Ben's lap when the games are being played.  It's as though it's a requirement...one that Ben doesn't complain about at all.

Saturday: play

Isaac and Joshua were playing some game with Rhino hero.  Suddenly Joshua was in 'prison' and said that he was hungry.  What does Isaac feed him?  Gruel.  Where did that word come from?  I guess it must be a fairy tale thing, but I was so surprised to hear it coming out of his mouth.

We went to a thing at the library called 'edible science.'  There was an egg thing (video) and we made our own butter.  The butter thing was really quite cool...it took a lot of shaking but it was interesting how it suddenly changed phases.

Friday: sled walk

Aunt C joined Joshua and I for a sled walk.  I had been thinking it might be an option for today, but then Joshua independently came up with the idea for a walk too.  It wasn't raining and Aunt C was available at the last minute to join us, so off we went!

One reason I wanted to go was to make sure to get a picture on the bridge in the winter.  I now have summer-ish, fall-ish (the leaves in the area turned color so late and then it was just cold and rainy), and winter.

The snow was great for pulling a sled...it also makes Joshua happier through the whole time.  The snow was good for packing, so a few snow balls were thrown.  A lot of snowballs and ice chunks were thrown into water.

The weather was cool but not cold and there was no wind.  It was an excellent activity for today.

In other news, Tornado has found a new perch.

I've also given Isaac and Joshua a life goal: learn how to spit toothpaste effectively.  I'm not sure what they really do, but half of it dribbles down their chin.  I don't really know how to teach this life skill to them or if it is something that I really even want to do.  I'm hoping they just figure it out.

Thursday: warmer

I bought a drink warmer for by my computer.  It works rather well.

Wednesday: pretty good

It was a pretty good day today. I didn't get a ton done, but I helped Ben with some stuff.

The first thing Joshua said when I picked him up from school was that he was going to make a rain cloud and a normal cloud.  After snack, that is exactly what he did.

..I then got attacked by said clouds, assorted monsters, and several other things.  Have I mentioned I'm sick of getting attacked yet?

Isaac went sledding tonight with Cadets.  It's the first time he's been on a big hill, mainly because I'm too lazy to actually go to a good hill.  The hill right next to the house has been exciting enough...at least until today.  It was a pretty good day for it.  There was no wind, and there had been a bunch of people so the snow was packed and slippery.  (And bumpy, I heard from a few people.)  Anyway, he had a good first big hill experience.

Tuesday: yesterday

So it turns out I took several pictures yesterday that I forgot about...

...sledding...

...and digging up snow chunks.

Joshua followed some instructions to make the penguin below for Ben, and then made a polar bear for me, a cat for Isaac, and a white puppy for himself.  The polar bear and puppy almost look the same, but his has a tail.  It cheered me up a bit last night because he had put it on my nightstand.

The boys had icicles for lunch.

Today was rather normal.  Teaching went fine.  Home went fine.  I don't think anyone said anything funny. Or mean.  I got attacked by Legos several times.  You know, the normal.

Monday: made it

I made it through the day.  I took some medicine last night and it made me sleepy all day.  The boys keep wanting to do boss battles.  I suppose the fact that they keep wanting to do them with me means I've been gentle enough when turning them down.  Isaac made a new Robot Turtles game...it turned out better than I was expecting.  Joshua finished his Ghost School...not only does it have a hidden ghost, but it has hidden stinky smell.  We've been pretending that he'll go to that school soon, but then suddenly it turns into a ghost.

Sunday: boots

Yesterday. after I stepped in a puddle due to melting snow, I remembered that my boots were falling apart.  I remember thinking this last year, but obviously didn't do anything about it.  They've been good boots...I got them as a Christmas present about 10 years ago.  They're still fine boots in the snow, but the water leaks right in through some cracks.

Anyway, yesterday I ordered new boots.  They'll be here soon.  Today's problem was that I left them in the garage last night and they were still damp this morning.  It was too bad because we got a lot of snow this morning and it would have been ideal to wear them.

They were better by the evening when I went out to snow blow.  Still slightly damp, but I didn't feel the need to change my socks afterwards.

Good story, I know.  It was otherwise a rather normal day so I don't have much to talk about.

Saturday: Ghost School

Joshua bought the Lego ghost school last night.  (I think it is the biggest purchase either boy has made to date.  It was a set that Joshua really wanted for Christmas and didn't get.  Ben found a deal and we bought it and put it in the closet.  We weren't sure when we were going to give it to him, but this worked well.  We did give him a slight discount, but he still paid a lot for it.)

Anyway, Joshua woke up before 6am ready to work on it.  I let him get up at 6:30 and he promptly started.  He worked hard on it all day, with the exception of the 45 minutes that we went outside.  The snow was perfect, and we enjoyed snowballs and a snowman.

There was so much excitement and jumping whenever he showed us something about the set.  He still has the upper story to do, but he showed us several times how the claws work and we had to be scared every time.

Friday: this and that

'Twas a pretty normal Friday.

I defeated an underwater boss with the help of Puppy the Mouse.
I worked on a Lego set.
I did some errands.
I did the laundry.  (Surprisingly, I did all the laundry.  I even got most of it folded.  It was a bit sad though, because my banister was only laundry free for about 14 hours.  I even took a picture of it it was so nice.)

I went to the library.  Joshua built a place for Haroldina.

I attacked the boys.  I was attacked by the boys.  Boys were thrown on the bed, told to stay there, but didn't.

I got frustrated over things that I shouldn't have been frustrated over.

I took a nap.

I played Dominion with some friends.

 

Thursday: demographics

Usually my classes are around 2/3 male, 1/3 female.  It (obviously) varies a little bit, but that's about the norm.

My classes this semester are much different.  In my first class there are 3 females and 22 males.  In my second class the females outnumber the males by just a bit.  My second class is also much chattier...it hasn't been too much of a problem, but I do feel like I'm talking over people more often.  It isn't always the females talking, but I've wondered if the increase is due to having so many.


Joshua's school snack was a snowman.  They were starting it just as I picked him up, so he made it at home.

Isaac and I had sparring tonight at karate and he looked great.  And old.  And handsome.

Wednesday: it was supposed to be relaxing?

Wednesday is the day I don't have kids and I don't have to work.  I'll admit, I wasn't really expecting a relaxing day per se.  Nor was my day...anti-relaxing.  But at the end of it (er, at the boys' bedtime) I was done and a bit surprised about it.

Let's see.  I did get several things crossed off my to-do list today.  Ten, to be exact.  Several of them were short, and several were put on about an hour before I did them.  But they were on the list and I crossed them off!

Ben wasn't feeling great so I brought the boys to church dinner on my own.  It started out ok.  We talked about things the boys would like to do over the summer.  (I'm starting to get into vacation and activity planning mode.)  That lasted most of the meal and was interesting.  Then.  Then!  Then they started singing the ABCs.  Then they sang the ABCs wrong.  Then they sang it wrong a different way.  Then they sang it correctly on accident.  So they had to sing it wrong again.  Enough!  But for some reason putting a stop to it didn't work as well as normal.  (I'll admit, trying to stop someone from saying letters is pretty funny as you suddenly can't say "I see a bee."  But even that didn't stop.)

For some reason that somewhat snapped the rest of the night for me.  I made it.  Ben put the boys to bed, which I was thankful for.  I was done, even though most of the day was good. 

Tuesday: spaces

A student from a few semesters ago stopped by my office today.  She was having trouble doing something in excel...the person before her had it working, but had since then graduated.

I took a look at the previous person's equation and the new equation she wrote: they looked the same.  I tried out a similar equation, but different, and came up with the same wrong results.  Well, hmm.  Before getting to much farther into it, I checked for spaces.  ...those spaces at the end of words in an Excel cell that you can't see but that make all your formulas wrong?  There they were.  Remove the invisible spaces and ta-da!  It worked!  Fixed in under 10 minutes.

I apparently saved her from having to work from 2am to 5am coming up here in a few days.  Now, she spent two hours trying to trouble shoot the problem so I'm not sure I was a huge net help, but it would have been boring work and she appreciated it a ton.

I've noticed the invisible spaces tripping people up a lot more lately.  They've always been on my radar, but I check for them a lot faster these days. 

Monday: kids

Joshua's been building some rather creative Lego creations lately.  They've certainly taken a turn from the 'let's put a lot of tiles on a board.'  Below is his lookout tower.

Isaac brought back his New Year's Wish paper from school.  I guess exponents are in our future again.  (We did them a few months back, but I guess he wants more.)

Sunday: the storm

The storm went pretty much as predicted.  By the time I went to bed things were calming down.  We did have lots of icicles though!

The boys briefly played outside today.  Isaac collected all the icicles and was eating them throughout the day.  Joshua tried out his new snowball maker and was so excited when it made a perfect snowball!

Saturday: normal day

It was a rather normal day today.  We could say that we didn't go anywhere because of the ice storm that hit this afternoon, but really we rarely go anywhere on Saturdays.

Legos were done.  Things were cleaned.  Screen time was had.  Grey Bear and Pokeball had some sort of competition and I heard Joshua say, "Pokeball is getting toasted!"  The expression doesn't quite transform like that, but it's still cute.  Isaac and I played a few games.  Joshua and I played a game...he won after I had a great lead but the dice hated me.  (I needed to get a red on 1 of 6 dice.  The red is on one side of each die.  I rolled four times without getting a red.  (The internet tells me there is a 1.2% chance of this happening.  Low, but not as low as I thought.))

Last Sunday: good bye

We had a relaxing morning.  The kids continued to play well together.  Isaac beat more people with laser chess.  Then everyone left right after lunch.  I crashed...it had been a busy week and the cold was coming on in full force.

(Notice the balloon sword in the bottom of the picture.  It was nice to refresh my balloon animal skills.)

Last Saturday: helicopters

Today the boys and Evelyn went to Hope to make helicopters.  Pat, Liz, and I went to the mall.  (We had a rather productive shopping trip, finding items for both ourselves and our husbands.)

(Snack time is important.)

The rest of the day was playing, talking, and eating.

Last Friday: DeYoung Christmas

We met Nathan and his family at The Good Earth.  The cousins got right down to business, catching up and figuring out who is the silliest.

Dad and Pat came over later in the afternoon and we opened presents.

Then we played with the presents and had Thai food.  Isaac was at an interesting stage of life; he was young enough to play with the other kids and enjoy it, but he also did his own thing several times so that he could play with his older toys.