Wednesday: people and cats

I had to do a lot of errands today.  It was a bit annoying leaving the house so many times.  But I did get several things done - and there are several to go.

Tornado was rather clingy today and wanted to be held and carried around a lot.

Tuesday: back to normal

Well, everyone went back to school and work today.  Sort of.  Ben took an extra day off, but we were all back home.

For the most part it was a normal day.  However, at school pickup there were three of us wearing black pants with the exact same color (burnt orange) top.  It was a bit surprising.

Friday: mini golf

Today's main activity was mini golf, along with relaxing.

The mini golf place was really nice.  It had several interesting holes, along with multiple paths to take to get to the holes.  I won the game.  I had a few good holes, mostly normal holes, and no bad holes.  There was also one hole where if you hit it through the feature you were able to deduct one from your score.  Joshua hit it through AND got a hole in one.  Isaac and I both didn't hit it through but did get a hole in one.  This was also the first time using an electronic score card and I'm never going back.

The world's longest hole was also here.  You could either putt it all the way around (like Ben) and it would take about 5 strokes.  Or you could put it in the water feature (like everyone else) and it would take about two.

Joshua was happy to join me for several walks, and so one time we went across the marina and got a treat.  It's a bit of a secret, since Isaac didn't know there would be a treat and therefore didn't join us.

We may have purchased a bunch of extra ducks to be sent to the house for Larry.  I was looking on amazon for the original ducks, because they could really use a refresh, but they don't exist anymore.  By this time we were invested enough and so just got some new ones.  Joshua hid his inside the house and Isaac hid his outside the house and Larry found them all with record speed.

Joshua was actually in rare form all afternoon.  Between the treat and the ducks and just generally enjoying himself he was high-spirited and talkative.

Thursday: relaxing

 Today was a relaxing day.  Joshua was happy to go on a few short walks with me, we played with ducks in the hot tub, and played a few games.

Joshua's school activity was to find a duck that started with every letter and put them in a row.  He was trying not to get his clothes wet, but after one step where he forgot he completely gave up.

Astronaut, Blue, Cheese, Donald, Elephant, Fun, Giant, Hot, Icky, Jeep, Killing, Liberty, Mom, New, Octopus, Pirate, Quacking, Rudolph, Super, Tunes, Unclear, Vacation, Witch, teXting, Yummy, Zebra

Ben went on a few Vespa rides.  Joshua loved going with him.  I...tolerated it.  I'm not in control and while I trust Ben (a lot!) it is still hard.

Isaac was not excited about being thrown in the pool, but bounced back quickly when Ben wrapped him in two towels.  He's getting big.

We looked for lizards on both of our walks, but really only managed to find one.

Wednesday: travel

Today we went traveled to Florida!  We got up early to get to the airport on time, but it did relieve my anxiety a lot.  (Although really, by the time we parked and ate breakfast there wasn't a ton of extra time before boarding started.)  We recently got TSAPre check and it was nice to not have to take shoes off or stuff out of the bag.

The flight went really fast and we arrived an hour earlier than expected!  But then there wasn't a gate for us so we sat waiting for an hour, so we really arrived right on time.  It was a little annoying, but I'd rather wait in Florida than wait in Michigan.

Once we got to the house Joshua was in the pool within about ten minutes.  He knew what he wanted!

Isaac and Joshua were also working on some logic puzzles that had a Minecraft theme.  Joshua has had this game for a while, but he's really taken to it right now.

Tuesday: now nouns

The conversation in the car today, while going to school, was slightly absurd.  The question was, "what would not-nouns look like if they were a thing?"

I.e., what would 'cold' look like if it was a thing?

What would 'however' look like?

What would 'so far so good' look like?

Monday: busy day

It was a rather busy day.  I set reasonable expectations for myself though, so I'm coming out the other end having accomplished what I needed to do.

I stayed up way too late last night reading my book.  Usually I just fall asleep, even if I don't want to, but that didn't happen this time.  A cliff-hanger was coming for the last hour, and I 1) really wanted to know the outcome and 2) didn't realize it would take so long to get there.

Saturday: Lego challenge

Today's Lego challenge theme was Minecraft, but the scale was rather large.

Ben worked on a spider.  It took him a little longer than the hour, and the finished product looks more complete.

I worked on a Creeper...and only managed to get the head done.

Isaac made a redstone piston that moved.

Joshua made a Drowned, or a water zombie.  To be fair, he had about an extra half hour because we were interrupted in the middle.  But it looks amazing.

Friday: waiting

On the days that I'm not working, I've been napping on the couch.  Creeper and Grey Bear are always waiting there for me, and I find it super sweet that Joshua puts them there for me.

 

In other news...I met someone at church today that took the class I'm teaching before I took it over.  Before I said that that was my class she said it was the most useful class that she had taken.  It was a fun connection.

We had a tune-up on the furnace today because there was an intermittent minor issue.  I pulled all the stuff away from the furnace so the technician would have room to work, but now I need to unclean the area and put it all back.  It was a weird item to put on my to-do list.  The kids tried telling me that I should properly clean it, but I told them that would take too long and I'm not on O:CtH - storage room yet.

Thursday: band concert

Tonight was Isaac's band concert.  They worked really hard on it.  Isaac had two pieces and played set for both of them.

Joshua gave a speech on his favorite snack, Cheetos, during school.

Wednesday: groceries

Do you know what I hate about groceries?  After getting groceries I make food and inevitably find something to add to the grocery list.  I know it's the normal cycle of things, but at the same time I get frustratingly annoyed when I have to add groceries after just getting groceries.

Tuesday: rock climbing

After school we went rock climbing, as normal.  What was not as normal is that one of Isaac's team members climbed at the same time.  I won't say that we went together, but at the same time he came because he knew Isaac would be there at that time.  There were also a bunch of new routes and Isaac had a great time.

Joshua had a good time too, as the kids' wall had new routes and his favorite coach was there.  He was ready to go at the end, but we did stay longer than normal too.

Monday: cleaning

Today was a pretty productive day - although it didn't feel overly productive.  So I was a bit surprised when Isaac came upstairs and mentioned that I had gotten a lot down today!  Apparently there were a lot of visible things finished today.

I did find a part of a game that has been missing for a while!  The game hasn't been unplayable, but with the missing part it will be a lot easier.  Operation: Clean the House proves useful again.  The basement bathroom is getting closer to finished - I just have a little bit to do a normal clean on, some hardware to fix, and some paint to touch up.

Saturday: graham cracker creations

 Today we made our equivalent of gingerbread houses.  I know that's sort of a Christmas thing, but there's already so many sweets at Christmas and not enough time, so we do ours a little later.  Instead of all making houses though, we made assorted things.

Joshua did make a house, but it's a cool triangle house.

Isaac made trees for Giraffe.  That being said, the trees are basically storage areas for candy.  He put a bunch of candy in and then covered them up.

Ben made a cave for Grey Bear.  Note the sign.  

And I made an explosion for Creeper.  It's kind of supposed to be like this meme.

Wednesday: chores

The day started out productively.  I didn't put too much on my chore list for the day, so I got to Operation: Clean the House.  I scrubbed some of the floor and worked on the sink cabinet.  The front of sink cabinet was really dirty so that felt good to clean.  I'm about half way through the room I think, but it also needs a bit of paint work.

Around 11:30 I got a call from the school saying Joshua's stomach was hurting.  This didn't surprise me a bunch, as Joshua hasn't been eating well this week.  He rested, ate a tiny bit, and took a nap.  He naps more than Isaac but still not a ton, so coming home was probably the right choice.  However, I wasn't able to get groceries and it's messed up my plans a bit.

Tuesday

Joshua went to school today!  He's still whispering and a bit under-the-weather, but well enough to go to school.

I didn't have to teach today, so I was able to get several errands done that have been hanging out.  They weren't long, but I wanted to be in the area to do them and not go out of my way.  I took it a little easy today, but got things done too.

Hmm, I was trying to think of something interesting.  I have some extra pepperoni that I want to use up, but it turns out there aren't many recipes with pepperoni that aren't pizza-y.  I think we're going to try Italian subs.

Monday: in the kitchen

Let's start with Joshua.  Last night was rough and he was having a hard time breathing.  The nebulizer didn't help much, so then he sat in the cold air for a while.  It wasn't really helping so we were about to go to the hospital.  I got everything ready but by then he was starting to feel a little bit better.  So we sat in the car for a bit longer and then moved inside.

Today he wasn't super active, but also not really sick.  Other than whispering the whole day.  So maybe school tomorrow??

I took two naps today.  Joshua started having problems around 4am, I was up for the next two hours, and just dozed the last hour.  It reminded me of when the kids were babies.

There were still a few things I had to do today though, including cook the turkey.  I did it!  However, I did cook it upside-down.  Not really a big deal, other than it was a bit harder to cut.  We had open face turkey sandwiches for dinner, so I also made mashed potatoes.  Everyone likes applesauce, so I made that.  Lastly, I made some healthy oatmeal raisin cookies so that Isaac can have a different option for lunch.

Look how clean it looks too!  The other side isn't as clean, but it isn't as bad as normal after cooking.

I still need to finish dealing with the turkey, but I packed it up and it's in the fridge for the night.  Dealing with it took longer than expected and I had other things to do.

Sunday: still sick

Joshua is still sick.  He doesn't like taking medicine, which is a bit of a problem.

After lunch is usually screen time.  Joshua didn't take the medicine I had given him at the beginning of lunch.  His fever wasn't really high enough to require it (100.4), but high enough that it would help him feel better.  Anyway, Joshua really didn't want to skip screen time, even if we told him he could do it after a nap.  His eyes were closing as he refused.  So we elected to all wait for screen time until after the nap and he proceeded to fall asleep a minute later right where he was sitting.

He finally took some medicine after his nap, but it still took him a while to perk up.

In other news, the theme of the weekend of Lego puzzles.

Saturday: unexpected

The day started out mostly normally.  Joshua made a cat out of Legos that we named Storm.  We relaxed, finished up last weekend's game, and worked on some Lego sets.  

However, Joshua started acting a little funny during the game and slowly declined.  By 4pm he had a fever and was "finally" as sick as he had been acting.

However, it meant that we had to postpone graham cracker houses until next weekend.

Friday: blood drive

 I donated blood today.  I drank my water and took my iron.  I got to the beds and the nurse was deciding which arm to draw from.  I mentioned I have small veins and got the same "drink a lot of water" speech I get every time and almost decided not to come back.  But then it was the smoothest donation I've had in a really long time.  Getting the donation started went really smoothly and the blood came out really quickly.

Thursday: went better

Today seemed to go better for everyone.

I had my second PT appointment today and she keeps finding things that are slightly wrong.  Nothing major, but apparently I'm using all my back muscles incorrectly.  And I forget to breathe, which means I'm using my abs wrong.  I forget to breathe a lot.

Fast forward to karate, which ended up being a core workout day.  I thought about my PT person a lot as I tried to remember to breathe the whole class.  I have no idea if I did anything correctly, but I did breathe.