Tuesday: parent teacher conference

We finally had Joshua's parent teacher conference today.  Joshua's doing great!  He's come out of his shell and plays with other kids, does well in class, and is doing well in academics, especially reading.  His reading score was 92 WPM and the goal for the end of first grade is 65 WPM.  It seems to have jumped up during this last testing cycle, but even so it was in the sixties.

It was almost a boring conference, but at the same time hearing good things about your child isn't that boring.

Monday: Tornado

Tornado followed me around a lot today.  It was nice to have a friend while doing chores.  I had a ton on my list and I almost finished everything!  A lot of them were short, but still important.  I also got some O:CtH done...it's been a while and I was "excited" to get back to it.

Isaac came home from school with a terrible headache.  He said it had just exploded right before the end of school.  He got to the car and crashed.  He made it inside, took some medicine, and then took a nap.  I expect it was a reaction to the vaccine.

Sunday: second shot

Isaac and Joshua got their second COVID shot today!  We were there for longer than I was hoping, and there were all these signs saying "expect a long wait" and "Vaccines after 4:30 canceled due to staffing".  I don't think the wait was as bad as they were advertising, but I was glad the boys had screens along.

To celebrate I let them pick out a treat.  They were rather excited...about the treat.

Saturday: box

 Boxes are so fun.

Friday: birthday

 Ben had a birthday!  It was pretty low-key, but still a lovely day.

Wednesday: Christmas decorating

Today we started decorating for Christmas.  There's really way too much Christmas stuff up now (and we still have one bin to go), but the boys are at a perfect age.  They want to help put the stuff up and they can do some of it themselves.  So...we go a bit overboard.

It's an old tree and some branches are falling off.  We gave them to the cats, hoping, rather fruitlessly, that they'd choose on those instead of the actual tree.

We did have to take down a lot of the Halloween/fall decorations.  While I made a few of these, the boys are getting very good at making things that you can tell what they are.

Also, the last two weeks saw a significant decline in O:CtH work due to a busy week and now no school.  Therefore, I'm initiating O:CtH - Christmas edition, in which we get rid of some of the decorations that we never put up anymore.  A bit sad, but we also keep getting new things and it's time. 

Monday: life

I finally remembered to move Mom's turtle inside for the winter.  Look at how happy it is to not be in the cold anymore.

 
Joshua decided to make an Easter Egg hunt.  Some of the eggs had candy, but some of them had exercises.  It was actually a rather fun mix.

Ben has been hanging up a piece of yellow yarn in our bathroom, so I took it to an extreme and had Isaac make a spider web.  He also made some spiders.

Sunday: overheard

Between yesterday and today, the kids said some surprising things.

1. Joshua made a tiny fort out of his small soft chair and a blanket.  Then the fort collapsed on him.  Instead of tossing these light things aside to escape or calling for help, he cried silently.  (Seriously, real tears.)  Afterwards, when I happened to find him, he said it was too heavy and his voice wasn't working.

2. I overheard Joshua singing a song.  The only lyrics were "They will perish" over and over and over again.  The tune was rather upbeat though.  I asked him about it a bit later, and he said that the bad guys are bring the ultimate bad guy to destroy the good guys.  The ultimate bad guy was pretty much undefeatable, although there was a chance that Mouse might be able to defeat it. 

3. We were talking about airlines and Isaac asked where we go when we fly southwest.  I said to Florida.  He countered with, "I thought that was south."  I responded with the fact that the airplanes can fly in multiple directions, although in hindsight maybe he didn't realize Southwest was the name of the company.

Saturday: crafts

Isaac made a snowman.  The top is a bit blurry because he used a lot of tape.

Joshua worked really hard to set up a jellyfish craft for the two of us to make.  We got it started, but are gluing on tentacles one at a time so they're taking a bit longer.

Friday: COVID

It was a good day today...I went to a Mom's group at church, had lunch with Betsy, and got my COVID booster.  

For posterity, I'd like to note there was a lot of COVID talk that happened today.  Several schools in the area are canceling school for next week, which works well since it's Thanksgiving week.  But they're closing school due to too many staff and students being sick.  Michigan is the worst state in the country, again, and Ottawa county is one of the highest counties in Michigan right now.  The hospitals are full and they're begging people to get vaccinated.  (I just saw the numbers of new COVID cases in Michigan and they either broke the record or are in second place.)

And yet it seems like many people ignore this.  While the CDC does recommend masking for all people in public right now, some vaccinated people choose not to mask.  While I don't agree with this, I can also understand it as the risk is significantly lower and everyone chooses a different risk level.  I think I'll get off my soap box right now, as I also doubt that anything I say here would change anyone's mind.  For that matter, most of the people that read this I think are vaccinated, so then it's like preaching to the choir.

As for my COVID booster, I'm feeling surprisingly well right now.  My arm is just a tiny bit sore, but otherwise I feel ok.  I'll make sure to have some medicine by my bed tonight just in case though.  I can never convince myself to get up and take it once I'm in bed.

Thursday: socks and cats

I put my boots on today at the last minute because my shoes were still wet from yesterday.  I quickly realized while walking into work that I had a problem: my sock were falling down.  It's that annoying thing when they scrunch near the front of your foot instead of staying in place.

After thinking about it a bit, I decided to take off my socks.  It was definitely the right choice, but it felt weird.  I was happy to get home and put on my socks and slippers again.  I think the problem is that the boots are slightly loose.  Next time I'll try either two pairs of socks or my tall socks.

When we got home, while I was thinking mainly about my socks, I noticed one of our cupboard doors open.  I found it strange, because it is the high one going into the kitchen.  I try to close all the cupboard doors if I leave the kitchen and Ben is really good about closing them.  It's also in the way, so it gets closed faster than many of the other cupboards.

Fast forward a few minutes, as my feet were warming up, and I find Isaac looking in all the low cupboards for a cat.  Tornado likes to go into the cupboards, so he was looking for him.  Yeah, it turns out that Tornado had opened the cupboard and climbed into it.  I'm not sure if he was stuck, but maybe.  We opened it up all the way and he jumped out.  Silly cat.

Wednesday: tires

My tires were changed in 15 minutes this morning.  It usually takes at least 45minutes if things go well.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I had been planning on getting caught up on some work, but ended up going to Hope finish the work instead of trying to do it on the laptop.

After that Aunt C and I packed some sack suppers with Kids' Food Basket.

Tuesday: new database

We started the Microsoft Access portion of class today.  It's not my favorite portion, but when the queries work it is satisfying.

Anyway, we're using a new database this semester.  It's based on imdb, and it's nice because everyone understands how the relationships between movies/actors/roles/etc work.

The last database was also based on imdb.  However, it was made in 2000, it is was getting obvious that it was dated.  Even when I tried to use actors that are still well known or movies that are classics, I would get a lot of puzzled expressions.  Hopefully, now that the database isn't older than most of my students, that will be resolved.

(Also, it means we're getting close to the end of the semester!  This is always a nice milestone because it means there are only six more classes to go, which doesn't sound too bad at all.)

Monday: polar bears

 Joshua was making a Lego polar bear today, so Snowfoot joined him.

Last night Snowfoot was called into duty since Grey Bear was lost overnight.  (He was found before bed tonight though!)  I'm not sure why one of Joshua's other four special animals can't help him out, but at the same time I'm happy to lend out Snowfoot for such a vital role.

Sunday: Isaac

 Giraffe joined us for church today.  He seems to enjoy sitting on heads.

I was taking apart Legos and sorting them during our dinner show, as normal.  I got to one that, after I took a few pieces off of it, had a piece of paper in it.  Isaac had hidden a sweet note inside, and it was probably the highlight of my day.

Saturday: Happy Birthday

Grandma Hilldore had an open house celebrating her 90th birthday today!  There was a delicious brunch.  It was nice to see some family that we haven't seen for a (long) while.

Friday: hail

 We had more hail today than I think I've ever seen in one day.  It woke us up twice in the early morning with the largest pieces, about .25" in diamater.  Big enough to be loud, but not that big.  We then had some more shortly after the boys went to school.  And some more around 4pm.  It was a bit crazy.

I also finished the closet and little hallway in the office for O:CtH!  There's a lot more room for fabric now. :D

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Thursday: little things

Joshua usually has to wait about seven minutes between getting outside to leave after school and actually getting to leave because Isaac has a later dismissal time.  Today it was supposed to be raining so I left work 10 minutes earlier since I had forgotten to give him an umbrella.  It was also rather cold and windy.  Anyway, getting to wait in the car for those seven minutes was apparently one of the best parts of his day. :)

My phone updated and suddenly all the text was a ghostly green.  It matched the green of all the ghost stuff of the Lego sets.  Between Ben and I we figured it out, but it was a bit annoying.  It's now a blue/grey and much nice to look at.

Both cats joined me at nap time.

We had Isaac's parent teacher conference today.  (Joshua's teacher was out sick, so that one has been rescheduled.)  Anyway, things are going about as expected.  Writing is going a bit better than expected, but he needs to work on reading all the little words for reading.  (Ben and I think it's a bit odd, but at the same time you need to follow the rules I guess.)  Things are going better socially than they have in past years.  The math set-up is going well.

Wednesday: O:CtH - still in the office

Well, I'm still cleaning the office.  I was hoping to finish the closet and the little hallway by it.  But then the organizers I ordered showed up too late.  I was annoyed, but what can you do.  A bunch of things have been late lately, so there must be some shipping back-ups.

Instead I cleaned the area near Isaac's desk.  There's a shelf that we've just been putting stuff on and it looks bare now that I've cleaned it off.

Tuesday: made it

I wouldn't call today a bad day, but it also wasn't the most enjoyable of days.  Teaching was just ok.  The boys had a half day so right afterwards I went to pick them up from Cheryl's house.  Isaac proceeded to mope for the next hour because I wouldn't give him any screen time.  (I did finish my work in less time than I expected, so that was nice.  However, I expect I'll need to do some extra Friday or Monday as some new stuff rolls out.)  

After snack time Isaac proceeded to mope some more but at least got his chores done.  Then the busy evening - piano, karate, dinner, karate.  Both karate classes were good, but the juggling of classes and dinner is a bit tricky...and the classes are still on zoom, which makes it easier.  It's also an odd mix of really busy and waiting during this time that really threw me off.

Monday: rice cooker

I remembered to turn on the rice cooker today and really felt a sense of accomplishment.

Aha!  Take that rice cooker!

Sunday: vaccines and leaves

The boys got their first COVID vaccine shot today!  I was so excited.  I don't think the boys were, but whatever.

I took a picture afterwards.  Joshua wasn't in a great mood, so I just told him he had to stand there.  It worked and really, ended up being a rather funny picture.

During Bible Study the boys played in the leaves for a while and had a great time.

At the end of the day Isaac was still feeling pretty good.  Joshua was rather out of it.  I did give him some medicine because he wasn't acting right and I want him to sleep well.  It's hard to tell if it was the vaccine or if it was due to time change.

Saturday: the day

 "My name is Joshu-ow-ow-ow".  

I'm not sure what Joshua was doing, but my guess is that he was crazily moving around while saying this and then bumped into something.

We also played games online with Brian and Amy tonight, and that was very nice.  We haven't talked for a while, so the little bit of catch-up we did was fun.

Friday: how to draw a penguin

Joshua came home yesterday excited about a penguin he had drawn in class.  So he had to make instructions on how to make it.

Thursday: cat

 

(I took another look at the vaccine appointments.  Walgreens is mainly scheduling out for about nine days from now, so I'm glad it's gotten busier.  You could get one a bit earlier, but it'd involve taking a kid out of school and going about 30 min.)

Wednesday: appointments

Well, with the CDC granting emergency approval for kids 5-11yrs to get the COVID vaccine, it was a race to get an appointment!  Well, only kind of.  At 10:30am when I looked the Saturday appointments at Walgreens were all gone, but there were plenty on Sunday.  At 11:30 all the Sunday appointments were gone.  Earlier this evening there were still a bunch of appointments for Monday.  So that's ...good and bad.  

I also finally got the bathroom vent fixed after a year.  It fell out.  But it is in the ceiling, so it made it a bit more complicated.

We had our first snow last night.  I wasn't really expecting it, and it stayed around longer than I expected.  It hasn't been that cold, but it was just starting to melt at 10:30.

Isaac's sandwich bread had some gigantic holes in it.  So I made it interesting.

Tuesday: rice cooker

Seriously, after forgetting to start the rice cooker so many times you'd think I'd double check and make sure it's on.  But no.  I continue to forget to start the rice cooker time after time.

Monday: Operation: Clean the House - office closet

I know I haven't talked about O:CtH much lately.  It's still been going, it's just at a slow stage.  There's been a lot of fabric sorting.  I've also had a bit of a hard time figuring out what to work on next...but it all needs to be looked at, so I guess that hasn't been too much of a problem.

Anyway, today I started the office closet.  I had been planning on working on this near the end, but I suddenly changed.  I'm not really sure why I chose to work on the closet today, but does feel like it was a good idea.  There was a lot of minky that was overflowing and has been organized into bins.  I also found some big pieces of minky, so that's good for future quilts.  I've also ordered some closet organizers, although they won't show up until next week.  I'll continue emptying the closet this week and move on to something else if I need to.