It is still (barely) too cool for some of our flowers in the evening, so we have often been bringing them in and out. Joshua and I finally put them in the stroller for easier moving. We could probably plant a few of them, but it would be easier to do them all at once.
Do you know what I'm supposed to like but don't? Counted breathing. Like "Breathe in -2-3-4. Breathe out -2-3-4" and pretty much any similar thing. I know it's supposed to calm me down, but then I feel like I haven't had a a good breath the whole time and I'm more stressed* because my breathing is all wrong.
*Honestly, the more stressed and the calming from the breathing probably cancel each other out.
Craig's Cruisers invited the school over this evening. Joshua and his friends went, while Isaac elected not to go. They both chose correctly.
Lines were pretty long and we really don't have a large Craig's Cruisers. Also, the number of times Joshua and company got in a line and then left the line was stressful to me. They had a really hard time executing a plan - it was somewhat understandable, but it was driving me nuts. I think Joshua still had a pretty good time because he was with friends and got to make decisions. He also got some arcade tokens and enjoyed that quite a bit.
It was so loud. I had to leave a bit early and after leaving the building I was amazed at the decibel change.
Saturday tends to be the fun day of camping. There are activities for the kids, the ice cream and candy store is open, and everything is still new.
Once again, we went camping over Memorial Day weekend. This was probably one of the least stressful preps I've had. (Not that all the others were stressful, but this one was especially not.) I did change a few things... 1) I split up the packing list and gave each boy a checklist of what they needed to find. Usually they get their own clothes and then together, and on the fly, I try to figure out what else they need to find and they're always waiting on me and I'm always trying to do three things at once. This was so much easier.
2) I pre-cut everything. I've done this somewhat in the past, but this weekend I even precut the apples. It makes meals so much easier.
We arrived Friday around 4:30, got set up, and the kids went to explore. Ben showed up and we went to dinner. The other people we were camping with slowly rolled in. Unfortunately, we didn't have a fire. I think it was too windy, but I'm not in charge of the fire so all I know is that there wasn't a fire.
I got an axolotl book at the library today, after I got groceries. On the way home I decided to set up Snaxalotl so that it looked like he was reading it when Joshua got home.
This lead to setting up the other lovies too: Catnana with the bananas, Catcachino with iced tea mix, Creeper with the flour, and Grey Bear with the frosting (because he's so sweet).
After I got home from karate I commented to Isaac that there was a sock that kept falling out of the laundry basket - it was about the third time that I had put it back in the basket. Later this evening the sock "had fallen" out of the basket again. I haven't confirmed that he's the culprit, but I'm pretty sure he is.
Today I went to the orthodontist to get my permanent retainer removed and get a removable retainer instead. I've liked the permanent retainer, but I don't floss those teeth and decided it was not the right fit for me.
Afterwards I went out for lunch with a friend and we were rather chatty! We had a nice lunch and covered a lot of topics.
For the last 24 hours, there have been a lot of fish flopping around near the drain to the river. They periodically flop over the rocks and swim away.
Anyway, when I went to actually investigate I see 7-10 fish in this small area and they're flopping around a lot. I moved a few rocks so it was easier for them to get out and encouraged several to move towards the exit, but there were a few that refused to leave. I left them because at least it wasn't overly crowded now.
I remembered what I wanted to post about.
A few nights ago I was awoken from sleep by a crazy sound. It sounded like one of the cats was dying. I waited a minute and it didn't stop, so I got up and found both cats by the downstairs slider, perfectly ok. I went to the furnace, because we get a lot of strange noises from that, but the sound got quieter. I decided it was outside.
The next night, thankfully before I went to sleep, I heard it again. I had the presence of mind to search around for it, and I'm pretty sure it was a fox. It sounded just like the first sound in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtmiL2fffY
Lego Group was at our house today! We had baked potato bar and it went better than expected. Joshua was especially helpful today during cleaning time - he did a lot of cleaning without being prompted.
The kids decided to go in the lake. All the adults were a bit surprised as the water is still cold. I'm pretty sure that all the kids fell in the lake at some point. They also played car tag with Lego cars in the basement.
The weather was nice, so we also sat outside for a while. (Also because we try to monitor the kids while they're on the lake.) It was just a lovely time.
There was something interesting to talk about today, but I've forgotten it. I thought the interesting thought while I was at the kitchen sink. Hmm. I guess next time I should write it down.
I did a lot of running around today. It did mean that I had a lot of time to read my book, which was excellent. I'm really enjoying the series (Dungeon Crawler Carl) I'm reading right now, and it makes it so much easier to pick up the book instead of playing a game.
Besides that I did a lot of normal chores. I'm hoping to get a bit more on top of chores before the end of school, but I don't know if that will happen.
Once again, I attempted to save my flowers over the winter. It went better than previous years, but still not amazing:
The strawberry plant lasted until about February.
The succulent bucket lasted until early April, with the exception of one that is still alive
The big succulent lasted until early May, when I think I left it outside on a cold (but not freezing) night. It might survive, but it is not looking good.
Anyway, we went to the greenhouse today to get some flowers. The kids always enjoy this more than I expect. I got some dragon leaf begonia because they are a hardy flower that can take some abuse. We got some marigolds, snap dragons, two succulents, and a few small miscellaneous things. I gave both kids about $20, and ended up with unexpected plants. Isaac got something that is hopefully a pineapple plant and Joshua got a tall spiky cactus. We'll see how it plays out!
Grades are in! It took a bit longer to finish up than expected, but they're done.
Most of my graders are seniors (which is too bad), but two of them wanted more work during exam week so they graded almost all of the final exams. It was lovely.
Today was Horizon and Tornado's eighth birthday.
We got a screwdriver for Tornado. He is always stealing Ben's.
Horizon just got some normal toys.
I had the kids bike to Lowes with me again today. We needed to get a screwdriver, but I also wanted to look at curtain rods. The hardware to mount the curtain rods was surprising expensive, so we just got a new one instead. I thought this might happen, so I brought velcro to mount it to Isaac's bike. He was a bit scared it would fall off, but I mounted it well.
Today was Catnana's birthday! Joshua got him out of a claw machine exactly one year ago and Joshua was so happy after getting him.
We also got this one of Horizon a few days ago.
