Tuesday: start 2

 I started classes today.  They went well.  The classes need to change slightly because I need to add 20 minutes to each class.  (It's a four credit class that in the past has only met for three hours.  It's always felt a bit weird to me but I wasn't going to complain!)  Most of that extra 20 minutes will be practice, but there are also a few things that have been skipped that I want to add.

Anyway, the extra material that I added was just about the right amount.  We finished a bit early, but it was also the first day.

We were also back in the "normal" classroom and it was wonderful!  I can see most of the student's screens, so I have a better idea if they're keeping up or not.  It's easier to walk around and see if there are any questions.  The students actually talked to each other.  In my second class they were even introducing themselves to each other before class; that doesn't happen a ton anymore.  (People that know each other will talk, but people that don't know each other tend to be on their phones.)

Monday: food

Ah ha!  Since it was the first day of school it seems like today's title should be "first day of school".  But the details are all about food.

We'll start with the first day of school pictures.

They got off to school perfectly fine.  I was a bit nervous for them throughout the day, but it was a normal nervous, not a freaking-out nervous.

I headed off to the grocery store.  The aisle that I needed the most from was completely empty.

I know in this weird COVID time there are random runs on things, but I really think they must be fixing/updating the cooler.  The rest of the store was normal.  It was just a bit annoying though.

I did get all the things on my "must do" list finished today: groceries, exercising, Hope-work, emails, cleaning the kitchen.  The other thing was to work on Operation: Clean the house, starting with the guest room.  The goal for today was to clean it enough to get an initial vacuum.  I not only did that, but did some additional cleaning in it and moved some of the furniture back to its original place.

I'm really surprised at how many pieces of crayon I keep finding.  I have a much better appreciation for why teachers ask for two boxes of crayons now...we were having a hard time at the end finding the colors we needed.

The cats at least joined me for a little bit.

Overall, the house wasn't as quiet as I was afraid of.  There was plenty to do and they quiet was nice.  However...expect a lot more cat pictures.

Both boys reported fine days.  Joshua said the best part was tech and the worst part was a leaking water bottle.  Isaac was excited because he got a cookie.  They didn't really have a good day because they didn't do anything...first days are a bit annoying like that.  Joshua did say that he had to write a lot.  Joshua also got home and ate two oreos and two small bowls of Rice Krispies.  I'm not sure I've seen him that hungry before.

Sunday: carnival

Isaac wanted to have a carnival today.  It wasn't high on my list of things I wanted to do, so I made the boys do most of the leg work and then it turned out a lot more fun. :)

There was fishing for treats.

And drink ring toss.  It was harder than expected, but that was rather nice.  It took them a while to finish it.

Saturday: exciting conclusion to summer

Since we didn't do anything exciting yesterday, we did something "exciting" today.  We went to the blueberry store.  They played on the playground and then we had some ice cream.

Joshua: 9 (It would have been a 10 but they took a few things away)

Isaac: 7

Amanda: 4

Friday: last day of summer

As the last official day of summer vacation, we didn't do anything all that special.  (I asked the boys in the morning if there was anything they wanted to do, and it was only play Joshua's game.  Then there were tears at night because they didn't get to do anything special.)

Anyway, we played Joshua's game.  The balance was pretty good, but it was a bit boring.

Then they played some game of their own that involved a lot of laughing.

We went for a walk in their new Minecraft shoes.  Isaac did a lot of explosions and Joshua filled in the holes with lava.  The park we went to was finally not flooded so we were able to explore some new places.

Then we had a brief visit with Grandma Hilldore.

Thursday: dark

 I went to put something away in the laundry room and found more eyes in the washing machine.  I don't think I've seen Tornado in there before.

Joshua suddenly decided to play the sleeping game.  All the lovies came to sleep with me.  I'm sure Joshua was angling for some extra screen time, because that's what normally happens when I want to play the sleeping game, so I gave in and let him have a bit.

It was also "Meet the teacher" night.  It was nice to see the teachers and the classrooms.  The teachers seem nice, although it was also rather hard to get a feel for them.  In the past it's been a short presentation to the families and this time it was just come and go as desired.  There's pros and cons to both.

Wednesday: outside

The boys scootered and I biked to the nearby stores...Lowes, Joanns, and Shoe Carnival.  Going on the bike with them on scooters was a good idea; it wasn't a fast bike ride by any means, but I wouldn't have been able to keep up walking.  As a whole it was a bit awkward dealing with everything in and between stores, but it worked ok.

We got some switch plates and installed the upstairs sensor in the bathroom.

Joshua developed a game that we played.  The balance ended up being ok, but only because of who chose what role.  Joshua, as the police, wasn't as strategic as Isaac, the bad guy.  Mom, the citizens, could only away and I laughed at the absurdity of my role.  Joshua, though, was very proud of the game and another one is in progress.  

We finally met up with a neighborhood kid and they played for a while.

I picked so many raspberries today.  They were picked yesterday mid-morning, so I was expecting about a container.   The container was full after about half the patch.

Tuesday: improvements

I finally got another hanging deck stick put up.  I had tried a thin metal stick with hangers from amazon, but it couldn't handle anything slightly heavy.

We also ended up going to the doctor for Isaac...his eyelid is slightly swollen due to a sty.  I feel like it's in a weird place, because otherwise I could have diagnosed it.  Oh well.  Isaac has been using a lot of warm compresses to try and help.

Then we did another home improvement project - putting in a sensor light in the downstairs bathroom.  I am so sick of turning off that light and it was nice in Tulsa knowing that lights would turn off.  It was a little weird getting it to work, but then it suddenly did!  It still needs a faceplate, but we'll get that within a day or two.  I'm also planning on putting one in the upstairs bathroom.  The light switches are in a weird place for guests and the boys always forget to turn that one off too.

Monday: playground tour 2x

Well, as an update to last night the boys made it until about midnight.  Around 11:50pm everyone was crying: Joshua was crying because he wanted to go to bed but without Isaac he'd be lonely.  Isaac was crying because he wanted to stay up but without anyone else he'd be lonely.  (Then he cried because he couldn't find Giraffe.  After quite the giraffe hunt we finally found him.)  Anyway, since everyone was crying I decided it was time for bed.

This morning we went a bit farther for our playground, Imagination Station.  I've seen one in Grand Haven on social media a few times this summer, so we decided to try it.

Isaac: 10

Joshua: 10

Amanda: 4.5 (It's rather far away)

It was a bit smaller than I was hoping for, but it had a lot of structure climbing which is what the boys really like.  Isaac is at the top of a rope climb in the back, but it's hard to see him below.

Since we were close to the beach, we went there next.  The boys weren't that excited, but enjoyed it in the end.  We walked out to the lighthouse.

We stopped briefly by the Grand Haven State Park playground too.  

Isaac - 5: small, hot, normal things

Joshua - 5: small, hot

Amanda: 3: sandy

The ratings probably would have been higher if it was the only playground and we had gone earlier in the day, like normal.

Sunday: stay up night

When we were in Tulsa I promised the boys a stay-up late night if they'd go to bed late but not as late as might have otherwise.  Since school is a week away we decided for tonight.

The things to do in between screen time included tin foil boats.  This is what happened last year for the stay-up-late night, so apparently it's a thing now.  There was a ton of laughter during it.

Joshua is barely holding it together at 10:45.  He's having one last screen time session and then will hopefully go to bed.  I expect Isaac will go for a while yet though.

Friday/Saturday

 The boys were with Cheryl today, so they set up a "surprise" birthday party for me.  The secret was spilled before it was going to be a surprise, but it turned into a surprise because the boys were so excited.  There were balloons!  streamers!  decorations!  children yelling surprise! And children just being really excited to do something for my birthday.

Then we watched the Tulip Time fireworks.  They apparently didn't get the permit in time, so couldn't have them during Tulip Time.

Saturday was a pretty normal day.  We did some chores and Legos.  Tornado found his lovey again.  It definitely is his favorite toy.  I went to the store for school supplies and groceries.  I think I'm going to admit it: it would be nice if I could just give some money to the teacher for supplies and she could just get what is needed.  I know there are several problems with that and it might add to the workload.  (Although taking apart one twenty pack of glue sticks must be easier than ten two packs, right?)  But then I don't have to guess if thick black markers are needed or thin ones.  What size the sketchbook should be.  There were many specifics on the list, but they don't get all the specifics.

In other news, I was walking from school supplies to groceries and passed a rack of masks.  I've been looking for more masks but they're hard to buy.  Anyway, I glanced at the sign and it said $.50.  I looked again.  Yup, fifty cents.  Normally $10, $9.50 off.  I grabbed a pack.  Then I grabbed another pack, because at fifty cents even if they don't work it isn't a big deal.  It turns out they fit Joshua well, but are too small for Isaac.  It was actually just the kind I wanted for Joshua, although I'm not sure he needs ten.

Thursday: birthday

Happy birthday to me!  I'll admit, I was expecting a rather normal day.  It ended up better than normal.

It started with a big dentist appointment to fix Joshua's tooth.  The tooth had some serious problems, so they ended up pulling it instead of putting a crown on it.  So it was a good thing that Joshua chose the "extra sleepy" medicine.  There were some whale sounds while they were pulling it out, but it was not a traumatic experience.  And since it is a baby tooth, it really isn't a big deal.  He chilled for the rest of the morning watching a show on Netflix.

Joshua and I then met Cheryl and Isaac at the pool.  We didn't stay super long, but it was nice.

When I got home from the pool there were flowers!  Ben and I also went out to eat at another new restaurant, Seventy Six.  It was also delicious.

Wednesday: playground tour

We went to another new playground: Pinecreek Elementary 

Isaac: 8 - it was fun to climb

Joshua: 3 - the climbing ropes hurt his hands

Amanda: 4 - nice and shady

It was nice and peaceful.  And it made my heart ache for those in Afghanistan who are experiencing an absence of peace.

Cleaning

Now that I almost have regularly scheduled time without children, my goal is to clean and declutter the house.

But where to start?  Every place needs so much work.

Guest room - this is actually where I'll probably start, because that second bed needs to be functional again.  It's also a disaster.

Main area - this is where any guests see.  It doesn't need a ton of work, but some.

Master bath - this is where I always think about what I'm going to clean first, so it would be good because of that.

Master bedroom - it has some big pieces of clutter that need to be dealt with.  As I've been looking at it more closely it has a lot of little clutter too.

Upstairs closets - slightly lower priority, but they need to be gone through

Laundry room - should be fast, which could be nice

Upstairs bathroom - slightly lower priority, but it has stuff that can disappear

Joshua's bedroom - I'm going to take down the loft frame.  I know he should be responsible for his own room, but it really needs an adult.

Isaac's bedroom - it needs an adult, even though I feel like he should be able to do most of it himself.  This will probably be near the end, in case he grows up enough by the time I get to his room to do it himself. :D

Office - this is a disaster and is higher on the list.  We're hopefully getting it painted this fall, so do I clean it ahead of time or right before?

Downstairs bathroom - this will probably be the fastest room, but needs a little work.

Large basement room - Stuff has been piling up on the edges that I'd like to deal with

Small basement room - not too bad, but needs some TLC

Small storage room - Just needs a little bit of work, but will probably happen near the end.  I'll figure out what needs to be in it by cleaning the other places.

Large storage room - This needs a lot of work.  The question is do I clean it near the beginning and end (so there's actually room to put stuff while cleaning) or just wait until the end?

Garage - this needs to be done around October

Comments?  So where do you think I should clean second?

Monday: instructions for care

Joshua finished his bad guy Lego set today.  He also made instructions for Ben and I on care for it while he's gone later this week.

 

Check: High places that cats can't reach
X: Do not let the cats chew on the banners
X: Do not let the cats knock over it.

We went to Captain Sundae's for some ice cream.  Joshua especially enjoyed his chocolate monster ice cream cone.

This evening was day one of exercise without karate.  They did a few karate exercises and then ran the cul-de-sac and back for 17 minutes.  Isaac got an extra lap done, but also walked the last one.  Then I poured cold water on them. :D