Sunday: walking on water

 We walked on the lake today.  It's been several years since we've done this and it always feels weird.  It also felt windy, so we didn't stay on it for too long.  The boys enjoyed sledding for a bit afterwards.

Friday: recycling

It's a good thing our house is on the "second" side of the street for garbage and recycling pickup.  The recycling only comes every other week, and I've lost count of how many times I've heard it on the street and rushed the recycling container out, hoping that I heard it on the other side and not going past our house.

Wednesday: life

 Joshua made a den for a bear to hibernate in.  He did a really nice job on it with minimal instructions.

We getting more birds now, although the squirrel hasn't really come back yet.  The birds really like Isaac's bird feeder, even though it has the cheaper bird food.  Maybe they like the stability?

Isaac: 96 -108 months

 I'm behind on Isaac's pictures too.

96 months:

97 months: missed

98 months: 

99 months: ...it looks like he grew three inches!  This was also the start of quarantine and pajamas 24/7.

100 months: The hair gets messier in quarantine, apparently.

101 months:

102 months: 

103 months: 

104 months:

105 months:

106 months: 

107 months: 

108 months: 

Tuesday: school? or no school?

Well, I had school today.  Day 1 went pretty well.  The worst part was that I forgot my water, so 2/3 of the way through the first class I was thirsty.  There's always a few oddball things that need dealing with, but overall it went well.

The boys would have had a snow day, had it been a normal year.  I was a bit surprised as there wasn't much snow on the ground, but I'm (very obviously) not privy to the decision-making criteria.  However, the boys did have an easy day!  Joshua had about half of his work.  Isaac had less than half of his work and it was more optional.  I feel like the state might be getting cheated out of a school day, because the students still had to join a meeting so they'd be counted as present.  But at the same time, there are some snow days built into the calendar so I'm not that concerned.

The boys apparently played outside for at least two hours with the babysitter this afternoon and had a great time sledding.

Monday: headache

I had a small headache that I couldn't quite shake until about 4pm.  I still got quite a bit done, but felt more distracted than normal.

Teaching starts tomorrow.  There were a ton of emails to deal with today.  I expect this is how it'll be until the end of the semester.  It's been very nice not having to work.  I expect that once I get past the first week it'll be nice working again though too.

Yesterday a squirrel finally found the corn.

There was no snow during the day, but we're supposed to get some/quite a bit/a lot over night.  We got an email from the school saying that if there would have normally been a snow day it will just be a remote learning day.  Burn.  I started wondering if they were going to do that in future years too, but decided probably not  There are a lot of technology things that need to be figured out, and it probably wouldn't make sense to do it if students hadn't already figured it all out.

Sunday: tropical storm Ben

I was looking through the tropical storm names here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone_naming).  I found Joshua's, who belongs to Australia.  I kept looking and suddenly let out and "Oh!" of surprise.  Ben asked me what was up.  I mentioned that I found his name in the tropical storm list!  He was not as excited as I was, to say the least.

His name is actually in the queue for Southern Pacific Storms (Fiji and New Zealand), so next time there's a B storm that causes significant damage his name will go in that spot.  Then we can all be in rotation at the same time.  (Although Isaac and Amanda can never happen in the same year.  Ben and Joshua are on different types of lists that go through all the names in four or five lists and then just start over, so they could come at any point depending on how many storms there are.)

Saturday: I missed it

 I missed Joshua's tropical storm.  :(  I didn't even realize they had English named storms in the Indian Ocean.  I don't know when his storm will come around again.  It makes me wonder about Benjamin, who is now the only one missing.  We're also in different oceans, so that really only leaves the Arctic Ocean for Ben too. :D  I'll need to see what I can find out about the Indian Ocean hurricanes.

Friday: absurd morning

 At 6:45 this morning Joshua yelled something at Isaac.  It wasn't the "I'm a little frustrated", but it was the "I'm really mad!"  I got up to figure out what was going on, and Isaac turned on a light that Joshua wanted off.  So we talked about it and everyone apologized.  Then they immediately went into their rooms to get dressed...and left the room with the light.  So I don't understand why either of them cared.

At 7:45 this morning I gave the boys a muffin.  Of course, they brought it to the table and then got up and did something.  Isaac came back and started eating Joshua's muffin.  I noticed, and decided that I'd move Isaac along with Joshua's old muffin to the place were Isaac had been sitting.  Joshua didn't notice that there was a bite out of his muffin, but Isaac was so sad because the muffin he had already been eating didn't taste as good.  There were tears.

Later in the morning I retired Ben's old shirt.  It's lasted about almost 25 years, but it now has too many holes.

I was late to Joshua eye appointment.  It was at three and at three I realized we were supposed to be there.  They still let us come, but it meant everything took a bit longer.  Joshua is a bit far sighted, but that's actually pretty normal with little kids.  On the plus side, kids muscles are really strong, so they can usually compensate.  So no glasses this year, but definitely going back in a year.

Thursday: all's well that ends well

Isaac woke me up from my nap saying Joshua was hurt.  They were rough-housing and Joshua had bonked his head on the floor.  He didn't just shake it off like normal, and eventually went to take a nap.  When he got up he was still a bit out of it, resting on the couch.  I called the doctor's office.  I didn't expect a concussion, but at the same time Joshua wasn't acting normal.  We went in after dinner, by the time he was acting normal, and he doesn't have a concussion.   I've looked up the symptoms for them many times, but this is the first time we've made it to the doctor's office.

Also, Ben got some new socks.  Can I tell you how much I hate sock packaging?  It's almost worse then the anti-theft shrink plastic.  These socks were especially bad.  The plastic thing that holds them in place was so tight against the socks I really thought I was going to cut the socks.  It probably took me a good ten minutes to get all the socks (two packages worth) out and the dumb plastic pieces out of the socks.  Some of them had managed to get an end inside the sock even.  I really feel like there could be a better package...or at least a slightly longer plastic thing.  I think I got them out without damage though.

Wednesday

 Isaac had to write his spelling words out of items.  The suggestion was Legos - the 2xn bricks.  When I came down he had decided to write most of his words out of assorted pieces.  I like the one out of people the best, but there are several that I really like.

We watched some of the inauguration.  I'm not sure I explained things all that well, but we watched it!

We also played outside for a bit.  The boys were not excited to go out, but they had an excellent time in the end.

Tueday: hero of the day

I was reading my book during rest time, about to fall asleep, and Isaac comes into the bedroom, tears just streaming down his face.  Now, they were having screen time, so I didn't expect that it was a physical problem.  (Let's face it, the cry was also not an "I'm in pain" cry.)

After a bit I got him to tell me the problem - he had broken Minecraft.  He's been really into command blocks lately, and managed to make one that somehow made one player stuck in place and the other player not able to get down to the command block... it kept transporting player 2 back to an undesired location.

I gave it my best shot.  I've been hearing the stuff they've been doing, so I thought we could do a substitution...command blocks for air.  But it's been a long time since I've done any Minecraft, and I couldn't easily get it to work.  I couldn't even tell if what I was doing did anything.  I told the boys we'd have to wait for the expert.  There were still some tears, but I think they were more or less controlled.

Ben worked on it this evening.  He had the same idea that I did (!!) but was able to actually execute it in a better way.  It took him a little bit, but not too long.  The relief on Isaac's face was almost palatable and he was able to go to bed with one less worry.

I know the feeling.  I understand crying about this.  The boys have poured hours into the world, making towers and fireworks and I have no idea what else.  I know it's just a game, but I also understand that huge relief that comes when Ben is able to fix a computer issue.

Monday: the morning

Dad came over this morning to help declog a drain.  The boys were willing to help because they were bribed with screen time, but Isaac seemed much more interested in the whole process than he was required to be.  Dad stayed around for a bit for a drink...it was nice since it's been a bit since I've seen him.

Tornado really, really wanted to get in the cabinet under the sink today.  It is way to full for a cat to be in though, so I kept taking him out.  I finally put a rubberband around the knobs, like we did with toddlers.

We watched some videos about MLK and discussed how it relates to current events (BLM).  The boys lead very sheltered lives, and so didn't know about the violence at the Capitol or the election fraud allegations.  But there is some overlap between the two, so they ended up with a huge civics lesson.  I'm not sure how much they understood though.  It turns out they also don't understand the concept of social media, because they don't have any accounts.  It's a bit hard to explain the impacts of losing your social media accounts when the concept of social media is foreign to you.

Sunday: twins

 When the boys wear the same outfit Ben and I have taken to calling them the wrong name and they think it's hilarious.  They always have to find the other and they line up to show who is taller (Isaac) and shorter (Joshua) and only then do Ben and I figure out that we were calling them by the wrong name.

Joshua also finished his dragon today.  It was a big purchase that he decided to make, but he had saved up for just such an occasion.

Saturday: screen time day

 Today was a screen time day.  It's been a while, we don't have anything else to do, and it's sometimes nice to more-or-less take a day off parenting.

The boys played Minecraft the whole time.  Joshua didn't stop talking the whole time.  There were a surprising amount of giggles as the boys did silly things.

Joshua: 62 to 77 months

Ha!  I bet you thought I wasn't taking monthly quilt pictures every month, but I still am!  It's pretty much down to a science, so while the boys don't love it they also know it'll only take about 30 seconds.  Oh wow, I just looked at his height in the first one first the last one.  He grew a lot in a year and a half.

62 months:

63 months:

64 months:

65 months:

66 months: oh, I missed this one.  I remember missing it and thinking that life was just too busy and missing one month would be ok.

67 months:

68 months: first one in quarantine

69 months:

70 months:

71 months:

72 months: 6 years old!

73 months:

 74 months:

75 months:

 76 months:

 77 months: