Saturday, April 18, 2026

Saturday: storms

We've had a lot of storms recently and Horizon doesn't like them.  He usually hides behind a toilet.  Last night we found him under the sink, but he did seem rather relaxed there when I checked on him.


We also had Lego group tonight, although I'm not sure much was done with Legos tonight.  The kids played outside quite a bit on the trampoline and ghost in the graveyard and the food was delicious.  It was just a really nice night.

Friday, April 17, 2026

Friday: Vox Machina

I've been watching Critical Role's first season, Vox Machina, in which "a bunch of nerdy voice actors get together and play Dungeons and Dragons."  

It is hilarious.  A bit crass sometimes, language I don't love sometimes, but besides that I find myself laughing regularly.  I don't laugh at shows very often, so this has been an interesting experiance.

Today's funny was when the giant couldn't remember if the group was going to "at dawn we fight" or "at dawn we plan".  Everyone else immediately jumped on this with the fact that no one would say "at dawn we plan".  They also suggested a whole bunch of other options: "at dawn we quorum", "at dawn we rise and make a plan", and it continued throughout the rest of the episode.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Wednesday: vindicated

I don't use AI very often.  What tends to happen is I'll try something I think is rather straightforward and it will fail completely.  This leads me to not use it as often.

There are some things I've asked of it that work.

The other day though, I asked it to do something that I thought was very simple.  It needed to look through a table on Wikipedia and return the image URL.  It would not work.  It just made up links that looked very realistic.  

Ben uses AI on a more regular basis, so he gave it a try.  Not because I needed the information anymore, but because I wanted to know what I was doing wrong.  Well, Ben tried pretty hard and couldn't get it.  It turns out that part of the reason was that Wikipedia was blocking the AI generator.

I was rather relieved.  I was glad that it actually didn't work and it wasn't just me.

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Tuesday: tired

I've been staying up too late.  Then today was a busy day - I didn't really stop until 9pm and I am exhausted.  I should go to bed but that involves getting ready for bed.

Monday, April 13, 2026

Monday: ready player 1

I finished Ready Player 1 (for the second time) last night.  Ready Player 2 is out and the library hold just became available. It has been several years since I read the first one, so I wanted to read it again and refresh my memory.  Again, it was an excellent book. 

However. 

I found my excitement to start reading it a bit lower than normal each time I picked it up.  Their world is having problems due to an energy crisis that kicked off a cascade of bad things.  It feels just a little too close to home with recent current events and caused the book to be depressing in an unexpected way.

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Sunday: Vanilla Wafer Birds

We play a card game called CuBirds and one of the cards looks like a vanilla wafer to me.  So I finally got some vanilla wafers to eat while we play the game.

They reminded me of Sunday after church while growing up.  Joshua did not enjoy them.  Ben and Isaac didn't say much.

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Wednesday: normal

It was a pretty normal day...Joshua and I dropped Isaac off for rock climbing and went to get groceries and to the library.  It was nice to have company while shopping.

We came home, had lunch, then screen time/rest time.  Afterwards the kids set up an obstacle course in the basement for a little bit while I prepped some chicken.  I had gotten two family packs because they were on sale and we didn't have chicken, but it did take a while to do everything I wanted to do with it.

The washing machine stopped working today too.  I got two loads done with no problem and went to do my third load and it just wouldn't start.  There are still a few more items to look at to try and troubleshoot. This washer is 18 years old and I'm rather attached to it, so I hope we can figure it out - it's worked really well for us.

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Tuesday: a first

After dinner I went rock climbing all by myself.  I think it's the first time I've gone without kids.  

The climbing session was nice, but I didn't really climb well.   There were several routes that I've topped in the past that I was unable to get today.  It was a bit disappointing, but I tried really hard.  Talking with people was nice.



Monday, April 6, 2026

Monday: up and down

Oh my goodness, the kids' emotions went up and down today.

1. Down: Isaac accidently took apart part of a LEGO contraption while we were cleaning the basement.  Joshua kept it together but it was close.
2. Up: I had both of the kids work on putting the contraption back together while I continued to clean the basement and Joshua was very grateful for the time.
3. Up: the basement got very clean!
4. Up: I had a coupon from Isaac and I used it to have Isaac make an easy lunch for Joshua Tuesday and Thursday.  Joshua hates making his lunch and was again very grateful.
5. Up: we went rock climbing with some friends and then they came to our house to play
6: Down: Joshua took Isaac's spot in the basement and apparently that was not ok
7: Down: Apparently Joshua didn't have fun rock climbing.  I know it isn't his favorite activity, but it seemed like he was mostly enjoying himself
8: Down: Apparently the kids get really bored for the last twenty minutes of playing.  Really bored.  (They didn't sound really bored.)
9: Up: we did forms in karate tonight

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Sunday: He is Risen!

He is Risen indeed!  Happy Easter!

It was a nice day.  We watched church from home today, partially because church was going to be crowded and partially to be with Ben.

The boys and I went on a walk/scooter ride after nap time because they haven't been out of the house in a few days.  However, Joshua hit a pothole about 1/3 of the way around the lake and faceplanted.  Really, the fall wasn't too bad.  A small scratch on his knee, a very small scratch near his hip, and a small patch of skin on his hand was peeled off.  There was blood, but not too much.  Ben came and picked up all up.

Luckily, we were decorating our graham cracker creations after that and so the injuries were mostly forgotten.

Amanda - an Easter basket with a book and grass around the outside.  The book reads "Once upon a time there was a sea serpent.  The sea serpent was flung a land preserver, so that it could go up on the land and smell the flowers."

Ben - a skyscraper with a King Bear attacking it:

Joshua - a castle with a draw bridge:

Isaac - a climbing gym with a path around it and a bear arch:



Saturday, April 4, 2026

Saturday: Holy Saturday

 As always, Holy Saturday is a weird liminal day.  Jesus has died but has not yet risen but we know he will!  We did our secular Easter activities.

Isaac and Joshua dyed Easter eggs.  I didn't get a picture of the results yet, but they had fun.  Isaac had been planning on only doing a few eggs, but he did his whole allotment.  They also got out some pipettes and dotted a few of the eggs with mixed results.



We also started our graham cracker houses!  Hmm, I guess this is usually Christmas thing, but Isaac gave up candy and store-bought baked goods for Lent so by the time we found a free weekend after Christmas he wouldn't have been able to eat the house.  We did the structure today and will decorate tomorrow.  Joshua made a classic mansion, Ben a skyscraper, Isaac a sculpture, and I an Easter basket (with a book).  We went through more graham crackers than I expected and I had to go get some more frosting today so that we could have enough colors tomorrow.



Thursday, April 2, 2026

Thursday: stuff

It was still spring break for me, but I didn't really do anything special.  I got a few chores done (or at least started) that have been hanging around for a while, so that was nice.  There was very rainy today, which was excellent.  I also joined a friend for rock climbing during Isaac's last team practice - there are several good routes right now and several routes that we need to work on.

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Wednesday: sweet potato hash

Tonight I attempted to make a dish that we had in Disney - a sweet potato hash with chicken and a creamy herb sauce.

I found it delicious.  Ben said it was ok, Isaac started out ok and decreased it over time, and Joshua didn't like it at all.  (Although he did like the mango boba that is part of the recipe.)  I also spent a bit of effort to velvet the chicken well so that it was nice and tender.

I'll probably make it again - although I might try with pasta for other people in the family.

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Tuesday: Science Fair

Isaac had his science fair tonight.  The project as a whole was pretty nice - most of the work was done at school.  The last few days he did a lot of work at home, but not really too much.

Isaac did an experiment to see if changing the height between the starting and ending reservoirs in a siphon changed how quickly an amount of water moved to the ending reservoir.

With his friend Edward

Explaining to everyone



Monday, March 30, 2026

Monday: new house

I finally got to see Dad and Pat's new house.  It is a very nice place and I got a lovely tour.

It was also a beautiful day today.  I had hoped to clean two windows in the basement, but only managed to clean one.  I'm sure there is plenty to do though, so I'll just wait for the other one until it gets nice again...it might be about two weeks.

We just got Joshua's derby picture on Sunday too.





Sunday: game

It's been a rather uneventful weekend, so not much to say.  We played FlameCraft as our family game and it was fun.  Isaac "complained" the whole game that he was losing, only to win by two points in an end-of-the-game surge.

We went to a friends' house yesterday and they were having an epic dart war with forts and everything.



Friday, March 27, 2026

Thursday: wax museum

 Joshua had his wax museum tonight!  He was Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Nintendo Switch.

The night started with a parade of heroes.


Joshua was in the first group, so he went over to his station.  It was in the end of a hallway, which was a bit less busy.  I got his video and went to see the other students too.  It was so fun.  They did an amazing job.  





I thought we would hang out together during the second session, but he wanted to hang out with his friends and I wanted to see different heroes than he did.  So I gave him some quarters, remembered to set a meeting place, and we went our separate ways.  There were a lot of athletes, but they were still interesting.

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Wednesday: Pinewood Derby

Joshua made it to Pinewood Derby at church tonight.  He raced a cheese shaped car called Monsta-rolla.

He had three heats, as normal, and had a track record all three times.




Unsurprisingly, he got first place in 5th grade boys.


Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Tuesday: no flu

Joshua was fever-free all day!  As long as he can make it through the night he can go to school...and he's ready.  It has been a boring few days for him.  Today was especially boring as I was gone working.  Ben was working in the basement but just did a few very brief checks to make sure he was still ok.

I flashed two 5.10- routes while rock climbing today.  That was rather amazing, but we'll also remember that I can barely start most 5.10+ routes.

Monday, March 23, 2026

Monday: flu

After two days of a fever in the morning, I brought Joshua to the doctor.  Turns out he has Influenza A.  His fever has been hard to get under control the last two mornings, but by lunch time things seem to turn a corner and by late afternoon he's doing ok.  He's lost his voice completely though.  This flu is supposed to run 5-7 days, which would be sad because Joshua has a lot of fun things to do in the evenings this week.

Besides that, it was a pretty normal day.  I got several chores done, did a few things with Joshua, and went to karate in the evening.