Sunday: real or fantasy? Apparently our kids can't tell.

(note from Ben: spoilers ahead)

This weekend we slowly watched the movie "Bolt".  (We're slowly working our way through a bunch of the Disney movies now that Joshua is old enough.)  Anyway, the movie is about this dog, Bolt, that thinks he has super powers, but really he is the star of a TV show and so it's all special effects.  The dog ends up away from the studio and while finding his way back realizes he doesn't actually have super powers.

We're at the end of the movie when Bolt his saving his person from a fire.  Joshua chimes in with, "he's going to use his laser eyes!"  Ben and I wonder exactly what movie he was watching the whole time.  Then after the fire it cuts to a scene in the hospital (where the person had been brought after the fire) but the bad guy is there and Bolt saves her with his laser eyes.  Isaac says, "I wonder why they brought her to the hospital with the bad guy."  Now, it was one of those odd transitions where you think you're in one place but then you need to realize you're in another...and we thought Isaac at least would have been old enough to tell.

Then at bed time Isaac pulled out one of his front teeth and was bleeding all over the place.  It took Ben and I a bit to get to him, but he did a good thing and was rinsing with water.  I put the tooth in a bag for him to put under his pillow.  He was worried the tooth fairy wouldn't find him in the fort, so put it under the pillow in his bedroom.

Saturday: cold and cats

It was Maple Sugar Days at VanRaalte Hill today.  We went last year and while it was interesting once, I didn't feel as though we needed to go again.  Well, Ben mentioned wanting some maple candy last week.  I had gone to my local supplier a few months ago and they were out, so the boys and I went.  We had ice cream with maple syrup (quite delicious, although it sounds weird) and I got the maple candy.  We were all cold after the ice cream (surprise surprise) so we just went home.

Horizon did a lot of sleeping in Ben's lap today, with a bunch of funny poses.

Friday: library

Today I went on a field trip to the library with the 1st graders.  I was hoping for a behind-the-scenes look at the library, but instead it was a story time and tour of the children's section.  Oh well.  It was nice to be there with Isaac.

laundry

The non-matching sock problem has gotten especially bad.

Tuesday: windows, parent-teacher conferences

After school we drove home with the windows open and the boys were thrilled.  Joshua was excited to finally be able to reach the buttons.  Then he was excited to stick his hand out the window.

(I had pictures of this, but blogger is being dumb and not grabbing the pictures.)

(I had more pictures but blogger is having issues and I was lucky to get even one tonight.)

We had parent-teacher conferences with Isaac's teacher this evening.  Like last time, Isaac does what he's supposed to be doing and, while quiet, participates appropriately.  (Apparently it's a loud class so she was wondering if he's overwhelmed a bit.  We don't see it, but I'll ask leading questions.)  His math testing score is still very high and he's doing well in reading too.  Writing on the other hand...he takes his time.  This seems to be a common theme with stuff he doesn't really enjoy, both at school and at home.  Sometimes it's excessive, sometimes it's just long.  We're not sure why, since at school he is working the whole time.  Is he thinking?  Is he daydreaming?  Is he distracted by the loud kids?  Is he bored?

Tuesday: pictures

Isaac brought this home as part of the character building curriculum they have..."I showed courage by getting up to a yellow belt."

There is a rule: no toys in the kitchen.  Well, a few toys had gotten on the stove (I know).  So it became a joke.  Then suddenly there were a ton of toys in the kitchen.  Joshua was so proud of himself.

Horizon didn't want to get out of the dryer.

Joshua likes taking pictures of the decorations at karate.

Tornado voluntarily slept on my lap for a while.  It was perfect...one cat for me, one for Ben.

Sunday: winner

The driveway and I faced off this week.  Three days ago the driveway took a lead as the plow came through and made a gigantic pile at the end of the driveway.

But I persevered in the fight (by not doing anything) and won!  The rain has melted all the snow away. 

I suppose that really I've only won the battle.  I'm in the war for the long-haul.

Saturday: home day

Today was a pretty normal Saturday for us, but apparently we've spoiled the boys the last few weekends because Isaac commented on the fact that we didn't go anywhere.

We did get a lot done on our to-do list though, including making a computer for Snap Circuits that is controlled by the Magic wands.

Isaac has been super excited about building the computers that control components for the wands.  He got a show and tell pass for school so that he can bring it in and show everyone.

Thursday: yellow stripe

Tonight Isaac and I officially moved up to yellow stripe in karate.  There was a ...ceremony?...for everyone as they were moving up.  The first 15 minutes were rather interesting as the black belts performed some of their forms and weapons.  After that it was rather boring...as expected.  Isaac did ok, but it was a lot of people to get through.

Wednesday: doctor, occupation, Ash Wednesday

I took Joshua to his "big" doctor's appointment for going to the bathroom all the time.  I'll admit, it has gotten much better.  There are still times he goes to the bathroom a lot, but it is reduced.

Anyway, we went to the appointment because it took us a month and a half to get in.  The doctor was really nice and said that this is pretty normal.  It lasts a few weeks and then goes away.  If it comes back, which it may, we can get an ultrasound done but unless that happens we can continue as normal (and make sure he eats enough fiber).

On the way home from school Isaac told me that currently, when he grows up, he wants to be a scientist.  I asked him a few more questions...he wants to mix liquids that are "very movey" and "medium movey".  We talked about viscosity after that, but I'm not sure he understood it.

Isaac and I went to the Ash Wednesday service at church.  It is not what Isaac was expected, but they gave us a chunk of clay at the beginning as part of the message.  So he was content because he could play with the clay.  (I started by making a marshmellow out of my clay.  I was actually quite proud of it.  Then we had to squeeze and destroy our creation in our hands (i.e., sin).  God can remake us, either very differently or about the same but with some new cracks.)

Tuesday: Snow day 5618

Isaac had a snow day today.  I had mixed feelings...it messed up my morning, but he only had a half day anyway and that would have messed up my morning quite a bit too.  Parent teacher conferences were also canceled...I wanted to do the conference, but it did make the day more manageable.  I even cooked an actual dinner. (Cashew chicken)

Isaac and I went to karate in the evening.  We ended up testing for the next level up, yellow stripe.  We weren't really ready for it, but they wanted to move us into the next group because a lot of the moves are very similar.  Anyway, I think we did a really good job for only having been yellow belts for a few weeks.  Our basic actions were pretty good because we've had quite a bit of practice with those, and our form was ok.  The instructor said our turns were good, and they're rather confusing.

Monday: Monday Monday

It was a rather normal Monday, although cold and snowy.  I refilled the bird feeder and just like that birds were back.

Isaac elected to only do one class of karate today instead of his normal two.  That meant we were around for more house cleaning time and I made him clean his room.  We haven't gotten into a good rhythm for room cleaning this year.  Anyway, after about ten minutes he regretted his choice.  (Joshua, on the other hand, cleaned his room at 7:30am this morning so that he wouldn't have to do it later.)

Joshua got a balloon stuck on Isaac's ceiling and was super excited about it.

Sunday: lost and found

At the beginning of the day, we had a pretty long list of things we were "keeping our eyes out for."  (This is what we say when someone wants something but we can't easily find it.)

It included:
*Grey Bear
*Giraffe
*Foot warmer
*Book with pipes
*Book with Super Rabbit Boy

Well, I managed to find three of them today.  The lovies were in their suitcases from a game...luckily I didn't just put the luggage down in storage to be found in a month.  The book with pipes was found in the book shelf, but kind of hiding and not on a shelf with books.

However, we lost another lovie, Pokeball.  It has (sadly) taken over for Grey Bear since Great Wolf Lodge.  Such things have happened in the past, but usually within a week Joshua's back to Grey Bear.

If Joshua were here and we were talking about lost lovies, he'd also bring up Spike.  Spike was a happy meal toy that was rather small but had sparkly eyes.  Spike was tossed up into the air in the office and hasn't been seen since.  We put a medium amount of effort into looking too.  Did I mention that we lost Spike about two years ago?  I'm always surprised by the things they remember.  I expect that we'll find it when we're moving out of the house and we'll make sure to get it to Joshua.

Saturday: Lego Movie

This morning we made a short stop at the Dojang for a welcome breakfast.  Mainly so that Ben could see it and meet the teachers.

Then we went to see the Lego Movie.  It was pretty good...and managed to trick me.

Oh, I forgot to show Ben's latest addition...a walking cast.  It's been annoying but not too bad.

Friday: in a box

There's a box!  It needed a cat.

Thursday: Isaac can go fast

Ben is working on getting the wands from Great Wolf Lodge working with one of our smart lightbulbs.  The blue wand turned the light blue and the red wand turned it red.  The boys were rather excited.

Ben told Isaac he could help do some programming and stuff once his chores were done.  I don't think I've ever see Isaac do his chores so fast.  He did a whole bunch of laundry in 10 minutes.  He did the dishwasher in five.  I was expecting all of those to take about 45 minutes, and so was amazed.

Wednesday: midterms

Yesterday I mentioned that I was productive, but didn't get as much done as I needed to.

Today's odd thing was midterms.  And finishing some of the things I didn't do yesterday.  Wednesdays are supposed to be set aside for lab grading, but I didn't start until about 10:15...after putting in midterms and dealing with handouts for tomorrow.

Luckily, lab grading, the little that I did, was going faster than normal.

In other news, we got some more fish.  We now have Golden, Big Tail, Sunset, and Rainbow.

Ben filled the closet with balloons.  Joshua wasn't expecting it.

So we filled it back up for Isaac.

Tuesday: work

I was rather excited to go to work today.  I didn't have...

...any emergencies to deal with
...any sick kids with me
...any kids with me due to snow days

I was going to be so productive!  Well, I was productive, but there is still a lot of the list to do.  Oh well.

We finally finished all the Disney puzzles.  Joshua did a great job with the smaller two (300 and 500 pc), but lost interest with the last one.  I don't know if it because we had been doing them for a while or because it was too big.

Monday: flashback

A few weeks ago the boys and I were talking about...something...in the car.  I mentioned that Isaac had once put an apple slice on his head and left it there.  The boys thought it was hilarious.

After a bit I finally found the picture.  Even after several days waiting for the picture the boys still thought it was funny.

Friday: balloons

Isaac went to a cadet lock-in tonight.  He was *so* excited.  I heard him tell his karate teacher, the teacher that brings them out at the end of school, and the doctor.  Who knows how many other people he told.  Ben went with him for the first two hours because dads were invited.  (Moms weren't, because we would make the kids go to bed.)  Not many people showed up, but in some ways that might make it even more fun.  The bounce house wouldn't be busy!

Joshua and I needed something special to do too, so we put a bunch of balloons in Isaac's room.  Joshua played hard with them.  We might add a few more tomorrow; it depends on what time Joshua wakes me up.

Thursday: rough week

It's been a bit of a rough week.  I think the problem is mostly taken care of, but there's still some fallout that needs to be dealt with.  Besides some stress I don't think there will be any lasting repercussions.  Hopefully.  I've learned a lot this week.

I know it's a vague post, but it's a public blog.  I want it to be recorded, but...not for all the world to see.

In other news, I killed the female fish.  No one wanted them.  I feel a bit bad for the femicide, but then I remember they're only fish.

In other other news, I was on the computer today after school/work dealing with good news for once, and Joshua came into the office.  He climbed up on a step stool near me and asked, "How are you doing?"  I ask the kids that all the time, but it was almost like he came down just to check on me and it was sweet.

Monday: home

We spent all morning at the resort before heading home today.

It started with a delicious breakfast.  When we were waiting for Isaac Joshua decided he needed to sit on my lap.  I'm cool with that.

We did some more MagiQuest.  The boys finished everything but the silver dragon.  We found a time when there was a one-person line (to our astonishment) and tried a few times.  It was harder than we wanted to deal with.  So the silver dragon won the day and we were left a bit disappointed.  We're fine with a hard game, but then the lines need to be short enough that we can actually do it.

I packed up the room while the boys (and Ben) finished the arcade points.

We took a stop at the water park because the boys really wanted to go.  We had a good time.  Isaac was super sad when we said it was time to leave.

We got the glitter tattoos before lunch and leaving.

Here is Pikachu-Puppy with his Pokeball that he got from the arcade.  I was voting for an inflatable sword or hammer, but instead we ended up with another stuffie.  Joshua is pretty excited about it though.

Sunday: vacation, continued

Twas another (mostly) fun filled day!

After a delicious breakfast and some mage training, the boys filled up their cups-o-candy.

Then we went to the arcade.  Joshua managed to do an amazing job on the "get the ping pong ball into a cup" and scored 1300 points.  (To put it in perspective, the super awesome jackpot was at  1500.)  They both played several fun games though.

We then defeated a goblin to get the princess' jewels back.

We went bowling with small balls.

Surprise!  Grey Bear got to go on a magic quest!  Air decided to come too.

Then came the sad part of the night.  I finally convinced Joshua to go down a water slide.  He was going to go down by himself and then I went down with him.  Well, I was too big for the slide and we crash hard at the end.  We both ended up with skinned knees and I felt so bad.  They patched up us and we rode the lazy river for a while.  Isaac and Ben did all the slides and Isaac did the lily pads.

We did a bit more magic questing because the line for the portal wasn't *too* long.  But then it wasn't working well and was being rather sensitive.  Both kids (+parent) failed it once and then Isaac and I failed again.  It is annoying to have to wait in line for something that doesn't work well.  (The portal has three different quests go to it and each person takes a total of about three minutes if things go well.  We hit the line when there were only two or three people ahead of us, but it was often seven to ten kids throughout the day.  That's a long wait.)  Oh well.  Isaac did ok.  I might have been more annoyed than he was.  I decided it's a good character building experience for him...and it sounds like for me too.