Sunday: family

Nathan and family came up today!  Yay!

They arrived mid-afternoon and the kids immediately started playing in the basement.  They played down there a lot - in the evening there was some game they were playing that may have involved a ball and definitely involved a lot of laughter.

I attempted to make dinner in the instapot but it was not loving me.  I prepped the chicken yesterday and put it in the bowl and I think that was a mistake.  The bottom kept burning.  The chicken eventually cooked because the liquid got hot and that cooks the chicken...it was just a bit annoying.

The adults also got caught up with life.  It sounds boring but is lovely.

Saturday 2: funeral

I went to another funeral today.  Ms. Anne, from karate, passed away last Saturday.  Although it was sudden, it was also expected.  About a month ago she got a horrible diagnosis and was given 10 days to live.  She did really well, health-wise, for about the next ten days and then slowly got worse.

As far as I knew, she wasn't a Christian.  I wondered how the funeral would go - I haven't been to many funerals but they have all been for people whose faith is in Jesus.  There was a minister officiating and he frequently used Bible passages.  Maybe I didn't read the situation correctly, maybe she chose God at the end of her life, maybe the family/minister just decided this was the way to conduct the funeral.  While the whole situation is very sad, I find myself not as sad as I think I should be.  However, I'm also going to give myself permission to feel how I feel and that's ok.  (I brought tissues this time but didn't need them.  A friend did, so I was glad to have them.)

At the same time, I want my funeral to point so clearly to God that there is no doubt at all that I loved God, He loves me, and he loves everyone there.

So, here are my current suggestions for items in the ceremony. They're only suggestions and can be skipped as appropriate.

1) Heidelberg Q&A #1: 

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

2) Westminster Catechism #1:
What is the chief and highest end of man?
Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.

3) This is my Father's World, but only verse 3:

This is my Father's world:
O let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!

4) Goodness of God (song)

5) Untitled Hymn by Chris Rice.  I like all of it, but this verse gets sung a lot:

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

6) Great is thy Faithfulness

I still need some Bible verses.  There are just so many good ones - I'll need to think on those some more.

I'll also expect some stories.  I've been writing them all down for years now, so there are no excuses.  Well, maybe I have too many stories.  If that's the case, search for rice cooker...but I expect you can come up with something better.

Saturday: the fun parts

I've decided to split today's blog post into two parts - they just really don't belong together.  We'll start with the fun stuff.

The morning, while doing Legos, I asked everyone if they saw words, picture/word combos, or pictures in their brains as they were talking.  I think it was a mix for everyone, although the kids leaned toward only pictures.  I am firmly in words, and I've known this for a while.  It's not that I don't see pictures as conversations are going on, but there are always words.  They don't have to be spelled correctly but it's like reading a book.  There have been several times I've been surprised on how a word is spelled after hearing it because there was a spelling assigned to it in my head.

This led Ben to look up weird spellings.  Most of them were weird, for sure.  The funny part for me was Wednesday and mortgage.  In both cases, after Ben said the word, I said, "oh, I just sound that word out.  Wed-nes-day or mort-gage."  Only after I said them did I realize that isn't actually how you say the word.  Oddly enough, I need to sound out these two words almost every time I write them.

Ben found the kids wrestling after nap time.  

Isaac and Joshua both tried to pick up Ben.  Isaac succeeded easily; Joshua is getting close.

Friday: finishing things

It was not a snow day, probably because the roads didn't get bad until 6:30 and by then it was too late to cancel.  Isaac was sad, Joshua was happy.

I felt like I finally was getting things fully done today.  I finished things in the past few days, but it would be step 1 of 3.  (I.e., hard boil all the eggs for the deviled eggs or wrap the presents that I have, knowing that they weren't all there).  I only have a few more kitchen things that I need to do: hurray!

I picked Isaac up early from school.  They have a sing-along at the end of the day that Isaac really, really doesn't like.  I picked him up early last year because he had homework over break.  This year he doesn't, but I picked him up early anyway.  He helped me put up a little search-and-find at the dojang and then did some work at home.  (That was the deal.  I'd pick him up early, but it wasn't fun time.)

Joshua had too much screen and sugar at school so he voluntarily skipped screen time after school and didn't have a snack.  Instead he worked on all the cleaning chores that we have before Nathan comes up and honestly, it was amazing.

Last Saturday: Chicago Day 1

We went to Chicago with some friends for the weekend!  Fifteen people with nine boys in 4th-10th grade.

We went to the Field Museum first.  I think I've been there before, but don't really remember.  I loved it!  I was nice to go with a large group.  Joshua went pretty quickly with most of the kids, I went at a medium speed but somewhat close to Joshua, and Isaac and Ben went a bit more slowly.  They skipped a few things that weren't quite as interesting to stay with the group.  It worked well.

We all showed up at the back entrance, so we went through the "shrink yourself and go underground" first.  The kids really, really liked the shrinking machine.

There was a giraffe for which you had to pump blood from it's heart to it's head.  It was pretty hard but all the kids were rather entranced by it.

I enjoyed the animals and birds.  In the bird exhibit I tried to find two birds that matched a game we recently got.  We've been calling them Cu-bird and Vanilla Wafer bird, but those are obviously wrong.  Joshua didn't take Grey Bear, so we at least got a picture with him and bears.

The boys.  They didn't have to smile, but they did have to look at me.

With Sue.  (Although I think Isaac at least enjoyed the rocks and gems more.)

After a stop at the hotel and a very short nap, we got ready to go to ZooLights.  It was super cold out - I think around 9F, not counting the wind chill.  There wasn't a lot of wind, but it probably made it a bit colder.

We dressed warmly, but the bus was also warm so we were advised to not to wear too much at the beginning and we'd find a place to finish up.  It actually worked pretty well, although it took a bit longer than expected to find a building.  Everyone was happily warm after that, although taking pictures was cold because I had to remove my gloves.

Joshua didn't get his picture with any lights, but said it was his favorite part.  There were great light tunnels and a little light show.  The light show had good lights and terrible songs....only one of the three was actually a Christmas song.  As we were leaving a forth started, but it was just a different version of one of the other three.  

There were also several building that were open so we could see a few animals.  It was a nice way to warm up too.  I felt proud of myself for keeping track of Meredith's glove: she dropped it once in a dark hallway and I saw it and she dropped it once while walking behind me and I saw it.

We got pizza delivered to the hotel afterwards.  It was supposed to show up at 7:15 but didn't show up until 7:45, somewhat reminiscent of experience two years ago.  This time we at least had comfortable seats.  I thought the pizza was delicious, but I think I was getting a bit hangry too.  The kids finished and went to the room by themselves; it is wonderful letting them do this.  They got ready for bed but didn't put themselves to bed like I had been hoping.  We didn't give them any instructions though, so I was pretty happy that they at least did that.

Thursday:

I made so much sourdough starter that it -almost- overflowed.  It didn't though.  Also, it wasn't enough to make two loaves of bread so it was an odd amount of too much and too little all at the same time.

The Christmas Ruiners are trying to get their babies out of jail.  It took me an extra day to find it, so it turns out the jail is really secure.

Other than that, it was a normal pre-Christmas day.  Spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen.  Wrap some presents.  Take a nap.  Finish the laundry.  Pick up the kids.  Wonder where the day went.  I finished two new routes at rock climbing, so that was fun.  One was a V0 but it was really interesting (and close to the ground).  The other was a 5.9 on the inverse incline.  I need to do a small, controlled jump near the top and I missed the hold the first time I tried tonight.  I decided to give it one more try before going home and got it!  ...although that meant I had to keep going up the wall.  It was not the easiest route I've ever climbed.

Wednesday: Christmas magic

 The sheep was found in the flour this morning.

I'm not really sure where the day went.  By the time I started laundry, got groceries, went to the library, and came home it was already 10am.  I started the potatoes for dinner and the eggs for potlucks on Friday.  I attempted to clean the kitchen, but half of it needed to come back out within a few hours so there was no reason to put it away.

I forgot to halve the twice-baked potato recipe, with the exception of the potatoes themselves.  I added some instant potatoes into the soupy mixture and they turned out fine.  Now we have lots of the yummy part for left overs.

Luckily, I don't have to work tomorrow so maybe I'll actually get some things finished.  Or maybe not.  We'll see.

Tuesday: grades

I finished the last of my grading this morning and put in grades!  I'm done for the semester!

I wrapped a bunch of presents.  I cleaned the kitchen.  And I took a nap.

Kristen and I met up for rock climbing.  However, there are now two routes that we couldn't really start; two weeks ago there was only one.  We watch someone else do it and they just go up-up-up.  I go up-pause-down.  It was still fun overall though.

Friday: the stuff

Once again, it was a rather busy day.

Cheryl and I went for a walk at Lowes.  However, by walk, I mean we did a bunch of errands in that strip mall.  Christmas is coming and the pets need food.  But we walked to all the stores.

I had lunch with the CS department and then, luckily, was able to pick up Joshua's coat from piano.  The building doesn't open until 2pm, but someone was going to be there until 1pm and I was able to stop by.  Joshua was not very happy that he didn't have a coat today (he had to use one that was too big and too thin), but it was his fault so there was only minor complaining.

After I picked up the kids we stopped at Target to get long underwear.  I also looked for mittens, but apparently that isn't a thing that adult women wear...Old Navy didn't have any either.  I have other options for tomorrow but will keep my eyes out for what I want.  Ideally they would be fleece-ish.

Ben and Isaac went to Magic in the evening.  Joshua had some extra screen time and then we played a game.  It went a bit longer than we were expecting, but we both had fun with it.

blast from the past: songs

I was singing our life this morning and Isaac told me it was one of my worse songs.  He wasn't wrong.  I don't remember what I was singing about, but probably something like, " Josh-u-a!  Don't forget your gloves."  (I don't know how to type notes.  Put any notes you want with it, but make sure to sing it in your head.)

That lead us to the donut song, that stayed around for a while.  I tried looking for the lyrics, but couldn't find them on the blog.  The tune, this one at least has a tune, is to head-shoulders-knees-and-toes.

Donuts go in mouths not toes,
mouths not toes,
mouths not toes.
Donuts go in mouths not toes,
but you smell them with your nose.

I don't remember the context of why we needed to make up such a song, but we did workshop it a bit before getting to the final version.

Thursday: the day

Tornado was cute this morning.

Christmas Ruiners were trying to steal Ben's present.

Christmas Ruiner babies teleported to a different container.  Joke's on them though; it is my backup jail.

This morning Cheryl and I volunteered at Kids' Food Basket.  I cut everything close...we go there just in time with just enough gas.  (ok, I still had 14 miles left.  I was going to get gas yesterday when I got groceries, but then there was a snow day and I forgot that I needed to leave early enough to do it today.)  I got home just in time to start an on-line exam.

Horizon wouldn't stop eating the Christmas tree, so he went in jail.  It was the place in the house with the easiest to clean floors in case he threw up again.  He doesn't really get along with the Christmas tree, or any greenery for that matter, but he is addicted to it.

I wrapped a bunch of presents.  They're not under the tree because they aren't for our first Christmas.

We got a surprise gift tonight from some friends!  We've been looking for an expansion to one of our favorite games, Space Base.  It's out of print and pretty much impossible to find.  Well, we were talking about it to our gaming friends and they just happened to have an unopened copy sitting on their shelf.  Since it had been sitting there for a few years, they sent it over to us.  It was probably the best part of the day.

 

Wednesday: snow day!

It was a lovely snow day.  While I'm not sure that it was needed in the end, I was still glad it was called.  Overnight we had a bunch of melting and it was supposed to freeze mid-day, so the roads could have been really bad during pick-up.

On top of that, it felt like a productive snow day.  The kids slowly worked through some chores.  I got quite a bit done, including shoveling the end of the driveway twice.  I also played games with both kids, they played outside for a bit, and I took a nap.  I decided not to go to karate.  The roads probably would have been fine, but sometimes it's ok not to go too.  We were all putting together some Lego sets by the fire, so it was a lovely family time.

Monday/Tuesday

Aunt C dropped by to get some boxes.  Horizon ran right up to her and meowed so loudly and so much.  She brings out something special in him.

 

The Christmas Ruiners escaped this morning.  Who knows how they found TNT...Isaac thinks it was Ruiners that hadn't been put in jail.  I found one in my rock climbing shoe tonight.

All the exams have been taken!  I have five more individual tests to grade (as in 10% of an assignment) and about 60% of the finals.  I had several graders that sounded interested in grading this week, so I'm going to pause on the finals and see if they happen to all get done.  At least, that is my goal.  I know myself and if they aren't very far by Thursday or Friday I might start grading some.  It's amazing how much time I have when I have exams early in the week instead of at the end of the week!

Sunday-ish: in pictures

Friday: Isaac has been wearing this hat, named Flippy-Floppy, since kindergarten.  We'll all a bit surprised that it still fits and that it hasn't been permanently lost.

Friday: A new SMTWRFS showed up and it was too big for jail, so it is under the jail.  It seems like it shouldn't be able to escape.

...all the SMTWRFS escaped Sunday morning.

One was trying to shoot themselves into the Christmas tree.

Two were trying to climb into the Christmas village.

The Christmas ruiners are also coming out.  They have a TV in their jail.

...oh, just kidding.  It's a portal to the basement.  I put this portal in the SMTWRFS's jail, so they can portal between the two areas.

I left the SMTWRFS jail open while snow blowing, thinking they only moved at night.  This was a false assumption and they started to escape again!

We're also working on putting arms and hands back on mini-figs that have lost them.  No one wants to play with an armless or handless mini-fig unless it is really, really the piece they need.  Isaac arranged the ones that have received arms and hands so that they are cheering.  (It really makes me so relieved to finish up a torso with all it's parts.  It's just so sad when parts are missing.)

Friday: lovie tower.

Wednesday: it's that time of year again...I just buy butter because I think I might need it and end up with way too much butter.

Saturday: funeral

I went to Uncle Dave's funeral today.  It's been a while since I've seen a lot of the Fremont crew - I think 2016.  I missed one family reunion and a wedding since then because I had other plans before hearing the date.

Anyway, it was nice to see people, but the funeral itself was unexpectedly hard.  It wasn't hard because Uncle Dave died; it was hard because Mom died.  

It is sad that Uncle Dave died.  He was a fun uncle, a kid at heart, and loved God so much.  But at the same time he was recently moved to a memory unit and was dealing with macular degeneration...things were not going well and he was not the person he used to be.  He lived a good life and the funeral was truly a celebration of his life.  Two things can be true at the same time.  We can be sad he's no longer with us and happy that he is in heaven with Jesus.

Oh, the funeral reminded me so much of Mom.  I went into the sanctuary fully expecting to be ok: I hadn't even brought tissues.  But as we were sitting there all the memories and the grief came back before the service even started.  The grief isn't less, life has just grown around it.  But the flowers, the front row, and Mom's family just brought back too much.  Honestly, I felt a little silly about that.  This was not a funeral for Mom and my tears were not for Uncle Dave or his family.  They were just an overflow of my own grief and it sometimes hits unexpectedly.  Then as Dean was sharing a personal reflection he highlighted the fact that Uncle Dave "was in heaven and could see his parents, his sister Julie, and his nephew Bryan.  And, best of all, he could see Jesus."  I pretty much lost it again.  (Although it was also one of the first things I thought when I heard he died.)

But that's ok.  I know that I will be ok again.  They are tears of grief and loss, but they're also tears that show love.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Friday: busy

It was a busy day!

I had breakfast with Betsy.  I tried a new item and it was good.  I'm always a bit worried trying new things because I like my standard options so much.

I donated blood.  There was a small hiccup, but overall it went well.

I proctored an exam.  No issues.

I took a nap.  Horizon joined me just as I needed to get up.

I worked on a puzzle with a friend.

I picked up the kids and made food.

We played Saboteur 2.  Isaac has wanted to play all week.

I sent some emails that I should have sent earlier in the day.

I joined a video chat with friends.

Thursday: classes

Today was the last day of classes.  Yay!  My graders have been really on top of grading this semester and several expressed interest in grading the final, so I'm hopeful there won't be a ton of grading over the next two weeks.

That being said, there are still several late assignments to catch up on and I did quite a bit of grading today from assignments due this week.  We'll see how everything pans out.  I also managed to send the instructions for the final to the printer.

Tomorrow is busy.  I have lots to do - some fun, a blood donation, and a lot of work.  Don't worry: I'll be annoyed at how few chores I got done but will enjoy time with people and take a nap anyway.

I still need to do one fold of the bread and put the laundry in the drier.  Oh, the tragedy of it all.  The biggest problem is that I don't want to get out of my chair.  I just want to be in bed.

Wednesday: meh

Today was just meh.  It wasn't really bad, but when I was giving my good part to Joshua it took me a while to find one.  (It snowed out today.  Although I could have also said the cheap donuts I found at the store.)

I did a few chores.  They felt like they took a long time.  I woke up from my nap so, so sad.  I can't completely remember why, but I think I was lonely.  Karate was self-defense the whole time and that isn't my favorite.  My partner, while really nice, didn't challenge me a ton.  In some ways that's nice because I don't feel old for doing all the moves slowly, but after a few times it would be nice to be able to make it a bit harder.

Tuesday: snow on the driveway

 I set my alarm 20 minutes early in case I needed to snow blow this morning.  About a hour ahead of the alarm, I started to  go in and out of sleep as I waited for the alarm to go off.  However, at one point I had 100% convinced myself that I could see that there was no snow on the driveway because I could see there was no new snow through our glass floor.  Therefore I didn't have to get out of bed!  Yay!

It was surprisingly hard to convince myself it was a dream.  

The alarm went off and there was only about an inch, so I went back to bed for twenty minutes.  I did end up snow blowing because I had time and it was fast.

Monday: Christmas decorations

Joshua has been the mastermind of Christmas decorations this year and it has been wonderful.  Other people have stepped in here and there, but he has done a majority of them.  I like the decorations, but I was not very excited to put them up this year.  I'm so glad he did it for me!

I didn't put many of my ornaments on the tree, but Jaq was not only put on the tree but also had his picture taken.  I rather wish Mom was around so that Nathan and I could include her on the text message we send every year to each other to confirm the silly mouse is on the tree.  She would be dismayed, but in a happy way.

Sunday: snow

We got a lot of snow overnight!  On the deck there was probably about 14"...most of that had fallen after 6pm when it got dark.

I snow blowed the driveway.  The snow blower worked well, but it was so slow.  I could only remove about 5 linear inches at a time, otherwise I'd overwhelm the auger.

Then the rest of the family came out and we played outside for close to two hours.  We started with a snowman and then made a fort with the snowman as a corner.  The snow was odd.  It was wet and packed well, but it didn't stick to itself well.  So when we were rolling snowballs for the snowman it mostly just compressed the snow under the snowball.  For the fort, I was in charge of making the bricks.  It was really satisfying to take them out of the mold.  (I did learn that I needed to pack the snow tightly but not too tightly, otherwise they wouldn't come out.)

The plow came through about ten minutes before the fort was finished, but after I had finished making bricks.  Luckily, I had snow blown extra in front of the mailbox and so barely any snow was put into our driveway!  Unluckily, our neighbors weren't so lucky.  It was also really wet snow and about to get colder.  The neighbors across from us had a huge pile so I shoveled enough that they could get out in the morning.  The neighbors diagonal from us didn't have a massive pile, but I shoveled a bit for them anyway.  There is no warm-up in the forecast, and dealing with icy snow on the driveway is not pleasant.

(This was after the plow came through!  I was so excited.)