Thursday: grading, gingerbread, kitties

Today was a grading day.  I didn't finish grading.  :(  It was close, but I didn't quite make it.

We went to an event at the library that was building graham cracker houses.  It went pretty well.  We only had about fifty minutes, which was more than enough for Joshua and a tad bit short for Isaac.  We also used icing instead of frosting.  It was nice how quickly it hardened up...but I'll probably stick with frosting at home because I like frosting with graham crackers.

Surprise number 2 of the day was bringing home some new kitties.  Ben, Joshua, and I had visited some last night.  They were a bit younger (7 months) than we wanted, but they are brothers and handled being around Joshua's loudness well.  The name suggestions from the boys so far have been Tornado (for the Grey one) and Lightbulb (from Joshua).  I keep expecting him to want to call one Puppy since that's what he names everything, but that hasn't come up.

They get to hang out in the downstairs bathroom for a while.  It turns out this is a really good space for cats as there are lots of levels and it is big but not too big.

Tuesday: exam

I gave my second exam today.  I also got more grading done than I expected.  I had a really slow start with about two graded in 1.5 hours, but that was mainly due to interruptions and such.  After that I buckled down and it went more quickly.

I also took a nap.  I just turned the lights out and put my head on my desk.  It reminded me of grad school.  I probably could have finished the five exams that I was still able to grade at the time, but I think overall it was a good choice. :D  The exam will be there waiting for me on Thursday.

Monday: forgot to post

Well, I forgot to post over the weekend.  We had a good time with Dusty here. Lots of games were played and serious matters were discussed, like where old Warcraft players are now.

On Saturday we (the boys and I) went for a walk at DeGraaf.  We needed more Maple syrup, so I made an outing of it.  The boys were complaining so much you'd think I was about to make them live outside for the next day.  Then when we got home Joshua said he had super fun.

Although it might have been because we accidently discovered a new play place.  We went to Burger King and lo and behold, there was something to play on.  We probably don't more time here than at any of of the other activities I had planned for the day, but I'm ok with that.

Thursday: Puppy and present

Puppy wore his puppy tag all day today, even at school.  (It's hard to see, but it's a balloon held on by a small clothes pin.

For Ben's birthday I told him to take two days off of work.  Last night Dusty showed up and they have three-ish days to hang out and play video games.

Tuesday: Flurry

It is with great sadness that we decided to put Flurry to sleep today.  The lab results came back with stage 4 kidney disease and a severe urinary tract infection.  While we could have tried a few things to keep her with us a bit longer, they were really just stop gap measures as stage 4 is really to far advanced to be treatable.

Ben and I were expecting this since yesterday evening, but it still feels so fast.  I was expecting to have a bit more time with her at the end, but she wasn't feeling good.  Ben stayed home with her today and said that she couldn't lie down.  She wasn't eating or drinking anything except milk, so she got quite a bit of that today.

Isaac took the news as expected, with quite a few tears.  Joshua also took the news as expected and said good bye to Flurry but didn't give her a good-bye pet.  Isaac bounced back medium quickly thanks to Grandma Cheryl, but Flurry was on his mind throughout the night.

Flurry, who was with us for 13 years, was a wonderful pet.  She had some quirks and a few habits that we didn't like, but we were happy to have her around.  She will be missed.  A lot.

She kept us laughing even at the very end.  She was exploring the vet's office, found a hole in a cabinet door, and went right in.  There was a trash can behind the door, but luckily there was also a shelf.  I freed her, but she really wanted to go back in for the next minute.

Monday: Flurry

Flurry hasn't been eating.  We brought her to the vet this morning.  We'll find out the results of the testing tomorrow, but they sent her home with some "appetite inducer" medicine and some extra yummy food.

She ate some of the food right away and was grumpy when I didn't give her all the food.  But this evening she wouldn't eat the food.

Sunday: headphones

This afternoon I gave both boys some headphones with phones.  Joshua was listening to Disney songs and Isaac was listening to a book and it kept them both content for quite a while.  Isaac has suddenly really been enjoying podcasts in the car, which has been wonderful.  Joshua, on the other hand, is still not a fan of them.  Anyway, for Isaac's first audiobook he is listening to "How to train your dragon" and is really into it.

Saturday: lawyered

Ben and I were playing Tetris after dinner.  Joshua always roots for Ben.  EXCEPT one time, when he rooted for me.  So now I'm always trying to get him to root for me.

A: Joshua, I'm the silly person.  Will you vote for me?
J: Well...are you a boy or a girl?
A: Um, it's hard to tell.
J: Well, I'll vote for both of you!
A: Yes!!!
J: I'll vote that Dad wins and I'll vote that you lose.
A: Oohhh...

Joshua has also been working really hard on Lord Garmadon's force field.  It has a force field, a bomb plate, poison field (purple), lava field, and ...ice cream.  And if you steal Lord Garmadon's ice cream you are in deep, deep trouble. 

Friday: snowmen

In March, just after the last snow had melted, Joshua announced that he wanted to make a snowman.  It came up a few times this summer.  On Tuesday the snow wasn't good for packing.  But today the snow was melting a bit and it was perfect!  All of the snow packed onto the snowball while rolling and it was probably some of the easiest snowmen I've ever made.  

Sunglasses on both. :)

Joshua wasn't quite finished when we took the picture above.  He continued to add a few more ice chunks around the bottom as clothing.

I had Joshua take my picture with the snowmen.  I didn't see that he took this one...

 ...I only saw this one.  He tried hard to get a sideways one with my head, but couldn't get the right angle.

Thursday: turning into spiders

Today Puppy the Mouse turned into Light-switch the Spider.  (It could go back and forth between the forms.)  Then, much to Haroldena the Mouse's dismay, she got the same power.  She really likes being a mouse, but apparently to fight the Rainbow dragon you need Spider powers.

Here are Light-switch the Spider (holding a sword) and Hip the Spider.

A few months ago we ordered the green Duplos with mice.  Since we had been playing mice with the Duplos so much we thought Joshua would love them!  Well, while he was very surprised it took him a while to warm up to them and they just got used as normal bricks for a while.  Then they were pictures of Haroldena's family.  They've now been promoted to guards.  (They're standing next to water guards, by the way.)

Wednesday: a bit different

I didn't have a lab due yesterday, so once again I got to stay home this morning.  I did a pretty good job of doing things that were on my to-do list.  None of them were all that important, but checking a few things off feels nice.

Since school was canceled on Monday I rescheduled gymnastics for this afternoon.  Joshua didn't want to go.  This surprised since usually he seems to enjoy going; perhaps it was that Isaac got to be on the Ipad while he had to do his stuff.

Tuesday: confusion and snow mountians

My alarm goes off.  I turn it off and start getting out of bed.
Joshua, crying: But I didn't get to tell you!
Amanda: tell me what?
Joshua: when it happened.
Amanda: when what happened?
Joshua: I didn't get to tell you that I couldn't get to sleep.
Amanda: you didn't go to sleep?
Joshua: No!  I didn't sleep at all
Amanda: Yes, you slept last night.
Joshua: No!  I didn't get to tell you.
Joshua leaves the bedroom, but doesn't stop crying for the next five minutes.

***
Amanda is cleaning up breakfast, Joshua is still at the table.
Joshua: I get to go to school today.
Amanda: Right.  It's a school day for you.
Joshua: no, I get to go to school with you.
Amanda: No.  You'll go to your own school.
Joshua: I don't get to go with you?
Amanda: No.
Joshua: But why are there Duplos in your bag?
Amanda: they're to help the students learn.
Joshua: They're not for me?
Amanda: No.
Joshua: But...but...will I get them back?
Amanda: Yes. I'll bring them back tonight.
Joshua: ok.

***
After school we played outside for a bit.  The boys wanted to make snow and ice mountains, which worked well with my shoveling the driveway (a bit) and helping them out.  They especially liked the ice chunks from the end of the driveway.  My plan had been to let it melt this weekend, but it's always a bit scary to do that at the beginning of the winter...what if it doesn't actually melt??  This way I figure it'll be easier for it to melt, even if I didn't get all of it.

Isaac also stayed outside to do some sledding.  He was having a grand time!  Joshua came in just a little bit after I did; he had been wearing shoes because his boots are too small and his toes got cold.

Monday: snow day! Birthday!

Today was a snow day!  I had been wondering if that would be the case.  It was rainy last night and turned into snow.  

We decorated the box for Ben's present.

Played Skip-Bo.

Joshua led me through a gymnastics lesson since his was canceled.

In the afternoon we went to help out at Kids' Food Basket.  We took puddings out of big boxes and put them in crates so that they can be easily packaged into lunches.  Joshua lasted about 45 minutes while Isaac helped until the job was done.  (They both did really well though.  Isaac was able to do a few more things and that helped make it more interesting.)

We got Joshua's school pictures last week.  He has such a nice smile.  He also has a hole in his pants, as I didn't realize that the pants would be included in the picture.

Here's the final box decor.  On the left you'll notice a J and an O... that was the start of Joshua's name.  He also put a 3 (with four arms) and a 7 for Ben's age.

Sliding the box to Ben.

Sunday: Catan

This evening Aunt C came over.  First she played with Joshua while Ben and I played Catan with Isaac and then she played with both boys while we went out for dinner.

Isaac did an excellent job with Settlers of Catan.  He's played the junior version a lot and he played the "adult" version with me once.  Playing with only two people doesn't work very well though because trading doesn't work great.  He did a really good job though and got right into the trading.  We helped out a little bit, but he made most of the decisions on his own.  Catan Jr. really is a great stepping stone to the full version.

Oh, it was great except for the time Ben played a monopoly on brick, of which Isaac had just gotten six.  There were some tears as he realized that he had to give away his newly acquired brick and he didn't get anything in return.

Saturday: wishbone

Isaac got the wishbone from the turkey this year.  He's been so excited to pull it and has been telling everyone his wish will be to go to IHop (within a day or two...the time frame changed a few times.)

Ben and I decided Ben's wish would be to go to IHop too. :D  Anyway, they pulled the wishbone apart and it broke off both sides.  Isaac was rather confused.  However, it broke off Ben's side first.  We then went to IHop for lunch.

We finished the Christmas decorating.  We have a ton of light strands up, and none of them match.  I love the lights, but it's a bit crazy.  I think I'll buy a bunch of lights at the end of the season sales and only use those next year.

Isaac also made some puppy ears.