belated Mother's Day

 

Wednesday: to do list

Well, I was on-track with getting the to-do list under control before camping, but now it exploded a bit again.  It isn't really surprising since camping does take a lot of time on either end, but it's still a bit annoying.

I'm also doing a really good job at growing these plants.  I know some are thistles, but what are the others?  Any chance they're something interesting?

Tuesday-ish

 I got Ben's photos from the weekend:

Yesterday I worked more on my puzzle.  It was at a really weird stage where there were only three (out of about one hundred) pieces that wouldn't fit in, but I still only had a success rate of 20% in the afternoon.  I worked on it a bit more with Isaac after dinner and we had better luck, so I should be able to finish it tomorrow. (Spoiler: I did)

weekend: camping

 Oh, it was a good weekend camping.  Ben got in Saturday morning after being gone all week, so it was nice to have him back.  The kids were significantly less excited to see him than I was expecting.

Joshua palled around with his friend all weekend.  We saw him, but not nearly as much as last year.  I don't know too much about what they did, but there was laser tag, playground, and scooters.  At one point they went to the beach and talked.  What did they talk about?  Minecraft.  Do they talk about anything besides Minecraft?  Umm...sometimes?

We also picked up a friend for Isaac to spend Saturday with.  She ended up leaving a little bit before supper, but it sounds like she had a great time and it was nice to see Isaac out and about with a friend.  He played ball tag and laser tag with the other friends in our group throughout the weekend too.  

The weather throughout the weekend was weird.  Friday was hot.  Saturday was cool.  Sunday started out cool, warmed up nicely, and then rained.  The rain left sooner than I was anticipating, so we ended up with a camp fire at night.  Monday, which I thought would be dry and cool, was a very light rain and cold.  People were packing up sooner than normal because it just wasn't all that nice out.

I took a walk on the beach Sunday afternoon and then Isaac joined me for a short walk to where I had seen some good rocks.  There was another rockhound there, and she told us all the types of the rocks that Isaac had found.  I let him keep five.

Monday morning we just kind of hung out.  We read.  We played a game.  Joshua hung out with his friend and both boys did some scootering.  We had lunch on the early side.  Isaac asked for a water bottle, so Ben gave him one with barely any water in it.  Haha.  Then Ben gave him the red one, but I think someone filled that one up with water from the campground and the water did not taste good.  So Ben grabbed a third bottle from the counter.  By this time I was up and asked him if he'd prefer cold water.  I grabbed the one that had been in the freezer until Saturday night.  So it was cold, it had water, but it still wasn't an ideal case.  It was very funny though, and it had enough water.

Everyone helped pack up and clean out the trailer and it went nice and fast.  The kids decided that they did want to play mini golf - it's pretty much an annual tradition to play it right before we leave.  It was cold, but the mist had stopped so the weather wasn't too bad.  After getting a hole in one on the first hole, Joshua decided he wanted to keep score.  (Usually Ben and I just keep a running tally between the two of us.)  Unfortunately, Isaac won, Joshua came in second, and Ben and I tied for third.  (I had one hole where the ball kept coming all the way back to me!  One time I hit it against a tree to return it, one time it hit the edging, one time it made it past the tree but then rebounded on the rock!  It was a bad hole for me.)

On the way to our last pie/ice cream of the weekend we stopped by the rock for the annual pictures.  Apparently there are a lot of traditions associated with this trip.

Friday: odd things

 I can't get away from the "mom mom mom" even when they're at school. 

I kept sitting down at my puzzle and staying there longer than expected. I made great progress on it though,  and figured that time to work on it was also part of my present. 

I didn't finish putting the laundry away because Tornado was sleeping in the basket... for at least four hours. He barely even shifted when i would walk by. 

My male mallards were back! And all sitting in the same direction. 

June bugs (probably) came out while we were sitting at the fire camping.  First it was just An oddity.   Look at this large beattle!  But then within 10 minutes we are up to 9

Thursday

While I was taking in the laundry I saw this group of male mallards under the tree.  I tried to take a video because they were so talkative!  But just a low buzz - it was like a party where everyone was calmly chatting.

 

Joshua decided to try this route today - it was a 5.10+ and 5.11-.  (He rainbow climbed, which meant he used both routes.  It tends to make climbing much easier.)  However, those values are still really hard.  Isaac has done a 5.10 before but that's his current max.  Anyway, the nice thing about the rope is that I can actively belay.  There were a few times I pulled Joshua up a few inches so that he could reach the next hand-hold...I think we both had fun with it.

Wednesday: times tables

This weekend Joshua asked me if he could play a computer math game, and we settled on multiplication 1-12.  That made me wonder...why do we learn through 12 by heart?  That's a weird number.  Why not 10?  Or 15?

My guess was clocks.

The internet was helpful!  Well, mostly helpful.  The first result helpfully reminded me that multiplication tables don't stop at 12 but go through infinity.  It went on to say that there used to be 12 pence in a shilling in England, so to do any shopping you needed to know through your x12 well.

As I'm thinking about this, I realize I use my x12 fairly often.  Sometimes converting between hours and days, sometimes between inches and feet.  So I guess it's still important to have them memorized.

Tuesday: life

 

Ben is gone for work this week, so I've had this cutie sleep next to me.  He sleeps over on his side pretty well, although I had gotten all ready for bed, moved some things around, and whatnot while he stayed asleep.  When I finally got into bed he turned over and said, "I can't get to sleep!"  I told him he was sleeping and to just go back to sleep.

There was another box sighting in the morning.

Isaac finished his belay test at rock climbing today!  Since Joshua was with us he helped with the official test this time.

And then he belayed me, all by himself.  I promised you a picture of the sandbags.  Oh shoot.  We forgot to put them away.

I also completed the route that I've been working on for a while!  It's only rated a VB+, but is in a rainbow shape and I was having a really hard time going down.  Isaac had coached me through it a lot on previous days, and I got it the first time I tried it this time!  Of course, no one was watching.

We talked with Ben a bit in the evening.  It wouldn't be a family talk without all the lovies too.

Monday: box

Who needs toys when you have a box?

Sunday: nursery

Today we (Isaac, Joshua, and myself) helped out in nursery at church.  I remember when I was required to help out in nursery and not loving it at all.  I just wanted to get away from little kids for an hour but instead was with additional little kids.  I told myself that I should help out (when my kids were older) to help give the moms a break.  Up until this point, I had no desire to do so.  But now Isaac is old enough to be an official helper and I thought it would be good to expose both kids to small children.

Both of them did a really good job.  Isaac ended up by the kitchen area of the room and stayed there for almost the whole hour.  Joshua floated around a little more, but played with the kids well.  There were quite a few kids, but only one that had any trouble separating from their parent; it was a rather calm session overall.

You could tell the kids were thinking about it a fair amount, because they had assorted comments and questions over the next few hours.

Saturday: out

 This morning Isaac (and I) took a belay class.  So now he can belay me!!  He was weighed down with a ton of sandbags though...it looked pretty funny.  I'll get a picture soon.

This evening we went over to a friend's house for dinner.  The kids had a great time playing, especially on the trampoline, and the adults enjoyed talking.

Friday: life

I got stuff done today.  I finished cleaning the baseboards and the closets in the bedroom.  I was already half way done with the closets but still managed to take a lot out.  It felt good.  I also did a quick clean by my desk and it was needed.

Joshua and I went to Captain Sundae tonight.  He had a gift certificate and we both had good ice creams.  However, we didn't have a ton of things to talk about. 

A month ago: Mom

I promise, I didn't forget to remember Mom's death day.  I will admit, it wasn't commemorated like normal though.  It was the day after the eclipse, and the first day back to normal things after spring break and so I didn't have time to do it normally.  It also took a while to get her flowers; I tried adding them to the grocery order and they didn't get in the order for some reason.

But I did eventually get the flowers, and they filled the kitchen with a beautiful aroma, reminding me of her.

There's also been a song stuck in my head, Untitled Hymn by Chris Rice.  It probably helps that I've played it often this past month.  It's the last verse that gets me though:

With your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side

And fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live

Wednesday: Happy Anniversary!

Ben sent flowers for our anniversary.  Horizon was very interested in them.

We went to Red Rock for dinner.  Just as we were about to leave Jamie and Ashlyn showed up!  It is her birthday and they decided to come to the same place.  Jamie was kind enough to take a few pictures.

Tuesday: rock climbing

I started rock climbing with a membership today.  I'm quite bad - there's a VB+ that I just couldn't finish.  Isaac kept trying to help me with it but I kept forgetting it or running into other problems.  Luckily, it'll be there for the next few times and I can try it again.  (I can usually get the V0s though, so I think this one is an especially hard one for me.  It's in a rainbow shape and I have a really hard time going back down.)

Joshua and I joined some friends at his school for math night.  It was a lot more fun than I was expecting: the hour and a half went by very quickly.  (His friend had several good pictures, but this was the only one Joshua decided to smile for.)

 

Monday

 Ben captured a good picture of Horizon yesterday in a cave Joshua had made.

Today was a pretty normal day - I knocked out a lot of little things on the to do list, but not quite as many as I was hoping.  Part of that is that Isaac offered to work on the puzzle together instead of screen time, and there was no way I was going to turn that offer down.  Joshua joined us when his screen time was done.

Sunday: Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day today.  Joshua hung up some cute hearts.  They gave me a puzzle, chocolate, and a small Lego set.  Isaac made a scavenger hunt.  We played Space Base.

We went to brunch with Ben's family, and it was delicious.  It was also nice to see them again; it's been a bit.  We took pictures afterwards and I included all the ones of our family.  The boys were trying to hard to smile nicely, but they're vampires and can't keep their eyes open and smile.  Some of the results are pretty silly.

Joshua suggested we do puzzles together this afternoon, and it was perfect.  I had recently been thinking it was about time for a puzzle!  We also finished our movie and played some Poyo-poyo-tetris.

Saturday: birthday

It is Tornado and Horizon's 6th birthday!

Joshua chose a treat ball and Isaac chose a crinkly stick to 'give' to them.

Friday: less busy

While it's been a great week full of seeing people and doing things, I was also exceptionally glad to have nothing on the calendar today.  As normal, I got my chores started.  I worked on putting away laundry for 30 minutes, only to still have the non-bedroom stuff to still put away.  (To be fair, I didn't put away any laundry last week so there was more than normal.)  I decided to take a nap instead.  Sure, it was a morning nap.  But things were just not quite working.

Luckily, all my friends were waiting for nap time.

I rested and slept for a bit and eventually got up to finish the laundry.  I was pleasantly surprised to get a lot of work done after lunch, so the morning nap had been a good idea.  I got through my whole "must do" list and was able to work on 'Operation: Clean the House - master bedroom edition' for a while.

I had gotten a thin crust frozen pizza on accident at the store.  I know several other people in the family like thin crust but they're not my favorite so I was a little disappointed.  I was also hungry later in the evening.

Thursday: parade

Today was the big day!  The weather had been looking cold and rainy earlier in the week, but it was getting slightly warmer and less rainy as the week went on.  By this morning it was 62deg and 40% rain.  However, two hours later it was 61deg and 100% rain for the whole time.  Needless to say, it changed several of my plans.

My plan ended up working quite well.  I picked up Isaac and we quickly ate lunch at home.  I dropped Isaac off at Hope College, putting him in my office, while I parked the car closer to the end of the parade.  The parade isn't really all that long, about 1.5 miles, but I expected Isaac would be rather tired at the end and didn't want to make him walk a loop.  

The rain was drizzly at this point and it continued this way through the rest of the afternoon.  However, it wasn't windy so my umbrella worked well.

I dropped Isaac off and he exchanged the umbrella for a poncho.  I then walked down the parade route a bit and found a place to sit.  It was rather nice to be by myself.  It made it easy to navigate and I didn't need to watch kids and make sure they weren't bored or wet.  I saw a ton of people that I knew, although I didn't say hi to all of them since some were far away.  (I also saw one friend three times!  One while they were heading to street scrubbing, one during scrubbing, and one while they were coming back.)  If I get to do it this way again next year I might consider doing the street sweeping.  (Joshua had a full day of school since I didn't take him out for the parade.  They watched a movie and I think it was the best choice for everyone.)

Isaac is the bass drum on the inside...so two people in from the edge.

After they went by my spot I got to walk the rest of the parade on the sidewalk with them.  Usually this went fine, but there was one place that I went in front instead of behind and ended up walking in front of a few people.  It wasn't obvious were I was supposed to go though!  Luckily, a lot of it was empty chairs.

Afterwards we went back to the ice cream sandwich wagon from yesterday and both got ice cream.  Isaac was pretty cold by this point...the poncho kept him warm enough during the parade, but he had wet hair (from before putting his hood up) and cooled down quickly.  We decided to eat near my office which luckily had a blanket.

Wednesday: tulips

Cheryl and I went on a walk this morning.  The weather was lovely and there were a ton of turtles out sunning themselves.

After school, we met Cheryl by Centennial Park for some treats and tulips.

There weren't many tulips left.  There was some wind and rain this weekend and not many survived.