Isaac: 109 to 123 months

 109 months - Jan 30, 2021

110 months - missed

111 months - March 21

112 months - April 21

113 months - May 21

114 months - June 21

115 months - July 21

116 months - Aug 21

117 months - Sep 21

118 months - Oct 21

119 month - Nov 21

120 month - Dec 21 - 10 years!!

121 months - Jan 22 - COVID

122 months - Feb 22

123 months - March 22

Joshua: 78 to 92 months

Hah!  A year and a half ago I wasn't going to wait so long in between posting these.  So much for that...

78 months - January 28, 2021

79- missed

80 months  

81 months

82 months - May '21

83 months - June 21

84 months - July '21

85 months - Aug 21

86 months  - Sep 21

87 months - Oct 21

88 months - Nov 21

 89 months - Dec 21 (Self-hair cut month)

90 months  - Jan 22 - with COVID

91 months - Feb 22

92 months - Mar 22

Thursday: grocery adventures and promotions

I actually got groceries yesterday, but I was shocked at how many things on the "well, let's check but they haven't been there since Christmas" list were actually in stock!  I found orange cinnamon rolls, frozen hash browns, and canned lemonade.  Peanut satay was not in stock, but I've only been looking for that for a month.  Even the donut selection was more varied than normal.

Tonight was promotions at karate.  It always starts fun with seeing the upper level belts do cool things, and then it gets boring as everyone gets promoted.  We've skipped several and it was on our normal Thursday, so we needed to go.  Even with a late start they were done pretty much on-time, so that was nice.

Wednesday: egg hunt

It was a lovely day today.  The weather was perfect (warm and rainy/cloudy).  I had a yummy breakfast with a friend.  The house is halfway put back together after getting the carpets cleaned...the boys' rooms are clean because they put all the messy stuff in a box and the Legos are again available to be played with.  It was only a few days without them, but I could tell they weren't around.

At karate they had the annual blindfolded Easter egg hunt.  (There's no where to actually hide the eggs, so they use a blindfold instead.)  The kids enjoyed it, as always.

Monday: carpets

The carpets got cleaned today!  The boys were surprised at how wet they still were when they got home.

I got quite a bit done today, but I also took it a bit easy.  After all, I could only do work in a few rooms.

Weekend: sleeping in the living room

Yesterday Joshua tucked in all his stuffies.  There's apparently an order.  Start with the smallest, then put Square on top of them.  Then continue in smallest to largest order, because the smallest ones get coldest the fastest.  His slippers are included in this because they have characters on them.  After everything is tucked in, add the other baby blankets. 

I like this picture because Isaac's all covered and Joshua is all out of the covers.

Saturday: April 9

This wasn't going to be a depressing post.  It was going to be a post about how it's Mom's death day, but it wasn't a bad day.  There are still bad times, and there are often times I wonder what it would be like if she was still around, but most of the time is just ...normal.

And then, as I was writing this, I realized that it is the 20 year anniversary.  It means I've now been alive longer without her than with her.  

update: I was looking through past blog posts on this day, and a few years ago I put a few pictures of when Nathan and I were the same age as Isaac and Joshua.  It was in 1992.  Apparently we got two new trees that year.

A redbud tree to replace an ornamental cherry tree.

And a tulip tree.  I think they decided to just put one in the yard; I don't recall anything being there before.  This poor tree almost didn't make it.  If I recall correctly, the first year it just sat there without leaves.  Then it sprouted the next year, so it was kept.  The tree is gigantic now.  I periodically go by the house and can't believe it used to be a scrawny little thing.  We also had the neighbor boy join us (closest to the tree).

Friday: library

Today wasn't really that exciting, but it was at least interesting.

We're having the carpets cleaned on Monday.  I feel unprepared to move and clean everything on the weekend, so we started today.  The boys knew this and already had their mattresses in the living room by the time I woke up.  I think they just wanted to bounce.  The rest of the clean-up in their rooms went well.

Then we picked up groceries and went to the library.  We didn't get much at the library, but Miss Adrienne and Mr. Rob were there so we said hi.  Joshua asked to see the book drop, so we got our own special VIP tour of the back staff area.  I'll admit, I found it very interesting.

Back at home I did some boring house work and we started emptying out the basement.  This too went better than I expected and we got everything that I wanted into the storage room quickly and with time to spare.  Last time we did this we had a bunch of baby toys and the storage room as filled to the brim.  We're not done putting stuff back there yet, but there should be plenty of room.

Two days ago we did an at-home escape room, which led Joshua to make one himself.  It was more of a hide-and-seek the Lego piece, but he gave rather specific clues so it went quickly.  He forgot where the last piece was, so it ended on a bit of a downer.

There was pizza for Pizza Friday.  It's one of my favorite dinners of the week because I don't have to think too much about it and it's always delicious.

Thursday: today

 Nothing much to talk about today.  Classes went fine.  We're done with the material that I find the most interesting, so that is a bit of a let down.  There's only three weeks left though, so we're on the home stretch.

I'm slowly feeling better.  Still a bit tired and with a runny nose, but it's lessening.

Tuesday: particle accelerator

Today Isaac got to participate in an experiment to see if he Gadolinium was actually Gadolinium.  (I'm not sure if I've relayed the saga.  Gd changes magnetic properties at 68F.  Except that it's actually a curve, so it's not like flipping a switch at 68F.  So doing the experiments in winter was a poor choice, because the house wasn't warm enough.  We finally boiled it for a few minutes and got a few seconds of non-magnetism.  I think experiments in the summer will be more fun.)

Anyway, during the time that we weren't sure if it was actually Gd Dad offered to check with the particle accelerator.  So Isaac joined me at Hope for a few hours while they did some tests (of Gd and a few other elements.)  It seemed to be mostly fun, but had some boring times too.  Isaac's wanted to see the accelerator in use, so this was a fun way to do it.

Long story short, it is gadolinium.

Sunday: donuts

 Sunday morning we went to a donut bar.  You could choose your type of donut, a flavor for the chocolate or vanilla frosting, and toppings.

The kids were all excited about their selections, but honestly they all sounded a bit disgusting.  The adults all got "normal" donuts, and I was very happy with my decision.

Saturday: Fort Wayne

Yesterday we went down to visit Nathan and family for the weekend.  The cousins immediately started running around together, which is wonderful.  There's a lot of laughter and pattering feet.

We had been thinking about going to a state park, but it was a bit more of a day trip and it was rather cold.  So instead we went to a nearby park for a little bit in the afternoon.

I thought this part of the forest was really pretty; many of the leaves hadn't dropped in the fall.

We got home and I took a nap on the couch.  I really did crash...the kids were loud and although I woke up a few times to do a quick check I also went right back to sleep.  

The children are being put to bed a little early.  They woke up at 5:15 and ran around a ton.  Isaac, Nathan, and I are going to play a game of Catan after bedtime because Isaac's been asking for a while and there's never been enough time.

Thursday: rain

Since talking about how we're all a bit sick but slowly getting better, I wanted to share a story from yesterday.

It was raining out when I picked up the boys after school, but luckily I had remembered to pack umbrellas.  I was approaching Joshua from behind and there he was with his little umbrella and three other kids crammed under it, and he was saying, "huddle up!" in his cute little voice.  I felt a bit bad for taking him away.

Wednesday: still under the weather

I didn't have a fever still today, but this has transformed into a bad cold.  I was able to get several things done this morning before I crashed.

The boys also had eye appointments today.  Isaac's eyes are great, while Joshua is slightly far-sighted.  I think the plan is to get him some cheap glasses to use when he's going to be doing a lot of close up work and see if he notices a difference.  

Tuesday: hmm

After waking up from a restless night, I took my temperature.  It was high for me, but not really considered a fever.  As the heat felt like it was rolling off my body I decided it was wrong.  It might not be a high fever, but I had a fever.  In a winter morning it's supposed to be cold to get out of bed, not a relief.

So I taught remotely.  It's not my favorite thing to do because there's no feedback on whether the students are understanding something or following along, but it isn't too hard either since everything is on a computer.  I think we all survived.  I was really tired during the second class though, and found myself yawning several times.

The fever hasn't returned, although I do seem to have some more cold symptoms now.  They're annoying, but easier to deal with.