Friday: getting ready for Christmas

This morning was an official "take apart Lego sets" time.  I needed the Lego shelf for the nativity and I expect (and know) several new Lego sets will be coming into the house and we were out of room.  So I got a Christmas movie and we all took apart sets while watching.

We did much better than I expected.  Not only did we completely clean up the upstairs shelves, but we got some of the downstairs shelves cleaned up too.  It was mainly castles...Joshua plays with them very hard and they've been coming apart for a while.  We bagged the pieces that were still together to make it easier to put them together next time.

We also put up some more Christmas decorations.  The boys are making all sorts of homemade decorations and putting them up.  It's kind of cute, but at the same time I wish they wouldn't put so many 'treasures' on my walls.  Maybe after Christmas we can take everything down, including the ones that have been there for a while.

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  We started to take apart Legos yesterday so we'd have enough space for Christmas decor.  Isaac was very amused by the cantilever that he made during destruction.  Joshua was very worried about the lack of a star on our tree and started cutting out his own.

We went to church.  We were running late and so ended up sitting in the foyer.  The boys probably were happy about it as they can move around a bit more.  We also got to write on the windows what we were thankful for.  Isaac wrote food (and drew a carrot), people, and shelter.  It seemed like things they may have talked about in school.  Joshua drew a person and I wrote Grey Bear for him too, even though he didn't ask for it.  I'm thankful for Grey Bear.  I'm also thankful that while we do have some medical issues in the family the other areas of life are stress-free.

We had a little bit of time between church and going to dinner and the boys were crazy!!  But it was finally time.  We had a delicious meal.

Some Wii games were played and Isaac was so glad to have some screen time.

Joshua's star.  We'll see if it stays up for the rest of the season.

Wednesday: pre-Thanksgiving

Yesterday Isaac made a roll-a-monster for me.  You roll two dice to figure out how to draw your monster.  I rolled high numbers for everything - 11 legs, 6 heads, 7 spikes, (1 body by default), 8 mouths, and 10 eyes.

I tried separating the fish by gender again today.   I pretty much switched all most of the fish from the last time I tried to separate.  However, I just read that the ratio should be about 2/3 female to 1/3 male and I have more males than females.

We put up the Christmas tree.

Joshua wore his Indian hat from school.  He and Isaac were going to play pilgrims and Indians at one point, but I'm not sure that they ever really figured out how to do that...but Joshua kept the hat on the rest of the day.

We went to Wild Chef for Jacob's birthday.  Isaac made sure to have his sunglasses on hand for the fire part.

Monday: shopping trip

Joshua and I were at the grocery store, and we were trying to find some mittens since we lost one of his.  I saw some sunglasses on sale and paused...they were advertised at $4 but were actually only $1.  They only ended up fitting Joshua, but it's still a great deal.

While we were there, Joshua saw some Minecraft pajamas and thought Isaac would love them.  I took a look at the price tag and decided they were a bit more than I really wanted to spend.  We left to continue our search for mittens and Joshua brought them up again.  So Joshua is getting them for Isaac for Christmas...we'll see if they stay a surprise or not.

On the same rack were some Pickachu pajamas on the same rack that Joshua really wanted.  So I told him that we could get them for him, but he shouldn't look so it could be a surprise.  So he put his face down in the cart and closed his eyes.  He hasn't mentioned them again.

Sunday: shenanigans

#1:
Last night Ben put in color changing light bulb that is controlled through the phone in one of the lamps.  We both woke up around the same time, after the kids, and proceeded to turn it on and have it change colors.  They were stunned.  There was a lot of screaming, "what??!!"  Ben turned it off.  He turned it on again, only to more screaming.  He turned it off.  I went out to see what was going on, but didn't believe them after waiting a bit for it to turn back on.  I went back into the bedroom, only to have it turn back on...and off before I came out.  Then Ben and I were in the kitchen, but we were conveniently getting things from the fridge/behind the counter when it turned on, and by the time we looked it was off.

Ben finally had pity on them and showed them what was going on.

#2:
During rest time (i.e., rest time for Ben and me, play time for kids) the boys seemed to be having more fun than normal.  I was in the basement and heard almost continuous laughter, Ben was trying to take a nap but the fan wasn't drowning out their laughter well.  They had been playing some game that, once again, involved taking all the pillows and blankets and sheets that they could find to make a path.

However, that is not the game they ended up playing with all the laughter.  Apparently, they were getting their socks wet and throwing them on the floor, making puddles.  Which made the floor really slippery and Joshua fell a lot.  ("But it was so fun!" he said.)  Ben got up and told them to clean up, which they did without complaint.

I might have let it go longer, but then it probably would have ended in tears and that is never a fun ending.  It doesn't seem like the safest activity, but it sure was fun to listen to.

Saturday: Lego League

Today was our big Lego League Jr. Expo.  While I didn't know completely what to expect, what did happen was pretty much along my expectations.  It also ended up being a good ending to the season.

We got there and put some finishing touches on the poster and the moon base.  (The kids kept touching it all morning...I kept telling them to stop, but they just couldn't help themselves.)

This was our poster.  I was rather afraid it was lacking in content, but it was about the same as most of the other groups' posters.  Under it is our moon base.  It is mostly a greenhouse, with a workroom and kitchen/sleeping/game room.  There is a close up of a hydroponic system and a bunch of solar panels.  While the adults did do a significant amount of the poster, the kids did the moon base...they really all of it themselves with a bit of adult directing.  I think that might be a bit odd, as one of the leaders was asked how long they were up the previous night finishing the model.

Therefore, the kids really could talk about the model well.  They did have note cards, but if asked questions they could answer them easily.  And they were able to point out the different parts...they knew the model well.

 The group.  (Sidebar: I think we were the only school to have a racially diverse group.  I was a bit surprised, but perhaps it is reflective of the student populations??  It was one reason we chose Eagle Crest though.)

We brought some extra Legos in case of emergency.  The emergency ended up being bored kids, and we were so glad to have brought them!  It entertained them many times.

Isaac presenting.

Isaac was in charge of one of the solar panels.  It was motorized, so he was also in charge of the program that motorized it.  We had made a nice and simple program...it did two small jogs and then rotated around to the beginning to symbolize one day/night cycle and then it did it again.  He could tell all about the program and how it worked.  I was proud of him.

It was very loud in here.  I guess two years ago there were only four teams in a carpeted room...hopefully next year they can change some things up so that only the team(s) presenting are in the room.

Ben and Joshua came to look for a bit and then looked at the robots for the older Lego League.

After presenting (three times) they made a moon craft.

And they had a team building activity.  Here they're just playing with a ball, waiting to get in.  But the activity was that they had to do a 34 pc puzzle, and once they touched a piece no one else could touch it.  The moderator said that we were the biggest group (you're supposed to have a max of six kids), but our group was one of the best listeners, obeyed the rules, had a leader and co-leader but the leaders didn't take control, laughed/made jokes while working to lighten the mood, and did a good job of including everyone.  I was very proud of them.

Isaac is sad that Lego League is finished and wants to do it again next year!  (I was on the fence.  Some of the lessons were good, but there were a few at the end that weren't so good.  If I'm a head coach again next year I might try to spread things out a bit so that we're not just making a poster on the last day.  However, this was a nice ending.)

Friday: Thanksgiving feast

I went to Isaac's school to help out with their Thanksgiving feast.  They dress up as pilgrims, the 2nd graders dress up as Native Americans, and they eat together from food that was sent in.

It was a little crazy, but I think most things are with that many students.  We had plenty of food and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Thursday: a conversation

I finally put the batteries in the alphaberry again and Joshua's been enjoying it.

Joshua: How do you spell monkey?
Amanda: M
alphaberry: N R P O S W A M
Amanda: O
alphaberry: O
Amanda: N
alphaberry: Z V B D G H K L G F W A I B C X R W M Q I P E F X L N
Amanda: K
alphaberry: B H I W E K Y T M W F E X Z K
Amanda: E
alphaberry: W T B D E
Amanda: Y
alphaberry: Z Y
Amanda: Yay!  You spelled monkey!

Wednesday: typo

I was grading this morning (yawn, yawn) and I found this typo...

"For the potential energy of the spring the x0Pos had to be sued  for position..."

Oh dear!!  X0Pos had to be sued!!  I thought this was a physics lab.  (They meant to say 'used'.)

Tuesday: laughing

We watched some funny cat videos at dinner today.

Sunday: home

Ben came home today!

He had gone with his Dad and brother for a long weekend.  He had a great time but I'm also very glad that he's back.

Saturday: Spark!Lab

Today we visited the Spark Lab at the Holland Museum.  I thought it was a pretty good place overall...which is good, because I bought the yearly membership.  It wasn't an expensive yearly membership, and it could be a nice place to stop even for an hour.

We tried making creations that would hover in a wind tunnel.  No one succeeded by the time the music marbles were free, but we all made several attempts and refined our designs.

Then we went to the sound scapes...It's pretty much a marble run with some percussion.  Since the boys love marbles, it was a hit.  Isaac even did something that the assistant had never seen before, by putting the marble into the chime circle.

They also made some vehicles...although Isaac's might have been a sink.  We didn't spend much time there as Joshua was getting tired.

Friday: in pictures

We had our first snow, and it stayed around for a bit.  (It then melted, and came back.)  Joshua was excited to get out in it ASAP.  Last year we never made a snowman because he didn't want to when there was good snow, and he's been looking forward to it for most of the summer now.  He has big plans.

We brought in the loft stairs to paint.  I was going to wait to paint them until the loft was all ready, but it ended up being a good day for it.

Joshua made a dance floor for the bad guys.  Isaac's been making one for the good guys.  We then made furniture to go around Ninjago City, but I think he meant furnaces because they were about that size and you used them to warm up.

Then we went to the Duplo area.  There's a bad dragon and the animals were guarding him and he still got away.  Luckily, the traffic cones stopped the bad dragon since you can't go past those.

Puppy the mouse was flying a plane for one of the horses to get the bad dragon.  (Haroldena is photo-bombing.)  The horse was then sad because it didn't have a name.  It finally decided on Book.

Isaac had a half day of school, so we went to IHOP, his favorite restaurant.  He had sugar for lunch.

We started painting!

The boys did better than I expected, but didn't stick with it quite as long as I had hoped.  I did another 10 minutes after they finished and it probably needs one more quick coat.  Joshua's painting style left a lot to be desired, but he did do a good job of getting a first coat down.  It also kept him occupied.  :D

In the middle the couches came back!  They're a bit blacker, but no longer leave black stuff all over the house.

We finished Aladdin tonight.  Joshua's main concern was that Abu, the monkey, remained as an elephant for so long.  Jafar turned into a super evil bad guy and that was still Joshua's main concern.  Jafar finally turned him back into a monkey which almost made him a good guy in Joshua's book.  Joshua also wasn't sure that the good guys were going to win, but thankfully they did.

Thursday: surprise

After teaching today, I had a long list of things to remember to do.  Some of them sort of overlapped, and I found myself going over and over them, making sure I didn't forget anything.

1. Go to the bathroom (hey, it was important.)
2. Go the long way to pick up Joshua due to construction
3. Pick up Joshua.
4. Pick up Isaac
4.5.  Hand off something for Lego League
4.75. Pick up fund raiser things
5. Go to Meijer to turn in pop cans
6. Go to the library

When we got home, there were no couches.  We're finally getting them reupholstered, and the company was able to pick them up today instead of in two weeks.  Isaac and Joshua both looked around the whole house, trying to figure out where they were.  Isaac wanted to play the hot and cold game, which I refused to do.  Joshua finally asked me straight out where they were and so I had to tell them.

Tuesday: voting

I voted today!  I was #531 at 3:30pm.  The room was full, but there wasn't a line...which was nice, as I had two boys and it was raining.

Earlier in the week I went to isidewith.com to figure out how agrees with my views the most.  Most of them were not surprising.  However, at the end it gave some possible candidates for 2020.  Again, not many surprises.  However, I was rather surprised at how much I agreed with President Trump (45%).  (That put him about in the middle of the Republican group.)

Monday: Joshua

Oh, Joshua was not in a happy mood this morning.  We needed to bring Isaac to school and then we were going to go grocery shopping.

As it was time to put his shoes on, he suddenly got "too sleepy" and was crying all over the place.  He's pulled this before, but usually he'll come get his shoes on.  Today my threat of 'putting his coat and shoes on him myself and having neither of us happy about it' didn't work, so I had to do it.  Of course, I put the wrong shoes on.  (They're the shoes that he prefers, so that was obviously a stalling tactic.)  I was right...neither of us enjoyed it.  I felt most bad for Isaac, who had to deal with a screaming brother and no other recourse.  Once in the car he calmed down and was downright happy by the time we got to the grocery store.

I did want to mention a cute quote from Joshua on Thursday though.  He was putting Grey Bear in his backpack for school and said that Grey Bear was going to sleep because, "he's a sleepy little guy."  He said it in his little voice and it was just so cute.

Sunday: DST

Oh, today was Fall-back day.  Before kids, I loved fall-back day.  As a parent, it is so hard - spring forward day seems to be easier.  I know, it's only one extra hour...but somehow, that extra hour makes the day long.

It didn't help that the kids only sort of got along today.  They got along in bursts, and then didn't get along in bursts.  Isaac really wants to play Settlers of Catan.  I played it with him as a two person game to teach him the rules and he caught on very quickly.  However, it really needs to be a three person game.  But spending that much time 'ignoring' Joshua doesn't have a great chance of succeeding.  The plan is to get someone to spend an hour with Joshua, but Isaac can't seem to get all of that through his head.

Saturday: shadow puppets

Today we went to an event at the library for shadow puppets.  I was hoping it would be more of a presentation with someone very knowledgeable in making shadow puppets showing us the coolest stuff you can do with them.  Instead it was a make-your-own-shadow-puppet.  And while it was well put together, it wasn't really what I had been hoping for.  (It wasn't what Joshua was hoping for either; he wanted froyo.)


I made several monsters for Joshua; they all look about the same.

Isaac made this monster, that can fly...

 ...and a bush.