Thursday: Tulip Immersion

 We went to the Tulip Immersion this afternoon with Cheryl.  The boys enjoy it more if they can take pictures, so we all took a bunch of them.

Wednesday: nap & O:CtH & tulips

I'm sure you're all curious: who joined me for my nap today?

Only Giraffe.  I only get two naps with Grey Bear every week and used them up already.

I finally had some time to work on the kitchen again.  I worked on the cabinet under the sink.  I cleaned the garbage cans.  I cleaned a lot of yuck up so I guess it was important to do, but I'm glad it's almost done.  I just want to put a cabinet protector down because the bottom of the cabinet is in rough shape.

After rock climbing we went downtown for some treats and to see the tulips.  They were beautiful.

Monday: this and that

 I brought Ben to his doctor's appointment today.  Usually this appointment is crazy long because they're so slow.  I got at text after an hour and assumed that it meant he was about to go to the room for the shot.  But actually, he was already done!  It was rather impressive.

Grading is finished!  Tornado attempted to help for a bit.  I still need to put grades in, but that doesn't take that long.

Helping out at karate classes is finished!  We had to do 15 classes.  It ended on a slightly crazy note, but it's one more thing checked off.

Sunday: done

Today had its ups and downs.  I didn't sleep well last night.  Joshua had several "it was an accident" issues that weren't done on purpose, but were completely avoidable.  The kitchen didn't get cleaned.  I was a bit grumpy.

But there were good things too.  We played Dominion.  The weather was lovely.  I actually got some time in on the quilter.  (Karate practice has often taken over my normal quilting time and I often forget or am tired in the late evening.)

Saturday: flowers and rice krispies

This afternoon we planted some of the flowers.  The boys are always so excited about them...but don't want to get their hands dirty.  It's a hard balance.  I still have my flowers to plant, but I'll do that another day.

After that Joshua was insistent that we make special rice krispie treats.  This is not really what I wanted to do, but he didn't ask me. He wanted to put all sorts of stuff in them: chocolate chips, strawberries, graham crackers, pretty much anything he could think of.  We ended up with chocolate chips and smarties.  In a circle pan.  They tasted pretty good.

Friday: progress? take 2

Today was another day that I made progress, but it doesn't really feel like it.

I graded, but still have half the final exams to go.

I took a nap, but Tornado meowed a lot and woke me up.  

I had black belt boot camp.  We did self-defense the whole time.  I already get self-defense mixed up really easily, and so by the last part my brain felt like mush.  And my wrists are sore.  I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow when I make a child do it with me.  I am a bit overwhelmed with the whole thing though, as we apparently have only one more practice before testing.  (Note: I've heard rumors that they'll be pushing back the testing, but thought they'd say something tonight if that was the case.  Since I didn't hear anything, I need to assume we're still going with the posted schedule.)

Thursday: progress?

 Today felt rather unproductive...at least with the metrics that are easy to measure.

I sorted last week's laundry so that the kids could easily find their clothes.  (They ended up putting them away as a chore too.)  I started the dishwasher.  I worked on my next black belt form.

Then I went into Hope to grade.  While I had hoping to knock out a whole bunch of exams, they went really slowly.  I'm not really sure why for most of them.  There were a few that were poorly done and so hard to grade and there was one that involved a quick trip to the computer lab.  Anyway, hopefully they get faster.

I had lunch with the department and did take a nap.  The nap went well.

We bought our summer flowers after school.  It was a fun time as always.  The boys got into it too.  We're going to try watermelons (again) and Joshua found his snap dragons.  Isaac also picked out a sunflower and Joshua picked out an orange flower.

I graded a few more exams and emptied the dishwasher before karate.  There was at least room on the counter to put the dinner dishes, but the process is rather backed up.

Wednesday: rice cooker

We all know I have a problem with the rice cooker.  I frequently remember to get it all ready and then forget to actually turn it on.  It's a bit of a joke in our house now.

Anyway, we were having curry today and I was a bit tired.  So I got the rice cooker going, remembering to actually start it, and put the curry in the microwave to thaw.  I then sat down on the couch for 20 minutes.  I had been hoping for a short rest but the kids kept asking reasonable questions.

I finally got up and looked at the rice cooker.  I had forgotten the rice!  This was the first time I messed up this way.  I told everyone, but Isaac got the best laugh out of it.

Tuesday: busy day

It ended up being a much busier day than I was expecting.  Groceries, small chores, karate, and grading and suddenly it was time for lunch.  I graded at the library today, partially because I needed to pick up some books anyway and partially to see if the environment would encourage me to grade without distraction.  I think it did, but I'm not sure it helped all that much.

For nap time today I got to nap with Grey Bear and Giraffe.  Giraffe really likes to be on heads, but today I learned that he doesn't really like to be on hair for long periods of time.  So I put him on my head with a blanket.

In the afternoon I took Tornado to the vet.  Did I mention yesterday that he's been meowing more than normal?  There was a sudden change Saturday night.  It isn't constant, but everyone has noticed it.  So I ended up taking him in.  He has tapeworms.  This is a bit surprising since he just had his well-cat check and he's an indoor cat, but that was a result.  The vet didn't really think this would be the meowing cause; it just happened it be something that was caught at the right time.  So we also got some blood work done and will see what the results of that are in a day or two.  

That appointment took slightly longer than I was hoping, so right afterwards I needed to go pick up the kids.  I told them on the way back to the car that we had a guest in the car!  Joshua guessed Aunt C, but Isaac guessed Tornado right away.  Since it was a piano day and I didn't really want to go home in between school and piano we just brought Tornado with us.  I'm not sure that he enjoyed the car, but he didn't seem too distraught either.

We gave Tornado his medicine today.  The packaging says to keep children away for 24 hours (but has nothing to say about adults).  So we're going to do Tornado first and then we'll get Horizon tomorrow and they'll have to stay in the downstairs bathroom during their 24 hours.  (Although when we're in the office at night they can also join us in the office.)

Monday: work

It was a rather boring day overall.  I had an exam during the first slot of exam week, and it went fine.  I proceeded to grade until I had to pick up the kids.

I got quite a bit done, but there's still a lot to do.

In random news, Tornado has been meowing a lot more lately.  Enough that I'm going to call the vet tomorrow because it is so out of character for him.

In other random news, I'm sorting the miscellaneous Lego bins into more bins.  We currently have large and small miscellaneous.  After this the small miscellaneous will be small, small/medium, and medium.  I had the small and small/medium bins on the table, and suddenly a bunch of the pieces were out of the bins because people were playing with them.  This is pretty normal because now all the similar pieces are together and easier to find.  It'll be interesting to see what the final builds are like.

Sunday: meh

 It wasn't a super exciting day today.

We did church at home.  Isaac and Joshua tried to steal Ben's seat; it didn't go over well for them.

We continued our Stuffed Fables game; we seem to be getting through this story pretty well.  We've had some really good luck.  It's been fun.

And...I graded.  I really thought my graders were going to come through for me a bit more after some emails/conversations I had with them this past week, but several of them completely flaked in April.  I feel like something needs to change because it happens to some extent every semester, but I'm not sure what that is without micromanaging.  (Oh, I know.  They need to communicate with me better.)  I got most of the stuff graded for the students taking the exam tomorrow morning.  I didn't finish the homework that was due this past Thursday, but I feel ok with that.  

However, there's still a lot of grading in my future.

I also had a bit of a headache this afternoon.  Nothing too bad, but at the same time bad enough to take some medicine.

Saturday: window take two and Giraffe's birthday

I forgot to tell you the funny window story from yesterday!  While I was cleaning the windows they were open and the screen was off, so it was open to the outside.  Horizon was curious and sticking his head out the window.  Then he put his front paws out.  He usually isn't very adventurous, so after trying to move him back inside I just thought I'd see what would happen.  He slowly put more and more of his body outside and then he jumped!  Silly cat.  I went to the front door and he was still on the porch.  Once I opened the door though he came right in; I didn't even have to go outside.

Five minutes later he comes back and again jumps through the window.  By the time I got to the front door he was right there waiting for me though!  I laughed, feeling like a butler.  Luckily, that was the last time.

I am still enjoying my clean windows.  I should probably do it more often, but there are so many things to clean.

On to Giraffe's birthday.  A few weeks ago Isaac decided today would be a great day for Giraffe's birthday.  It's now on the calendar with a recurring notice.  Isaac planned the 'whole' day.

We played Stuffed Fables because it had stuffed animals in it.

We made giraffes out of Lego.  Isaac started over near the end, so his isn't shown (yet).  Joshua, on the right, ran out of time before the picture.  He was trying to make a big giraffe.  Ben had the nicest body and shaped it really well (on the left).  Mine was the middle.  It is a bit blocky, but I used some slopes.  Giraffe gave my giraffe first place, mainly because of the head.  Ben's head looked a little weird.  Well, my head looked weird too but not quite as much.

And we had a birthday dinner.  Isaac made a lemonade pie and we had a yellow curry chicken, pineapple, and yellow pepper.

Friday: window and belt testing #2

Today I spent quite a bit of time on the kitchen.  Unfortunately, I mostly only finished the windows.  The window screen is inside instead of outside and so the screen just gets dirty and not cleaned by the rain.  I cleaned the windows too, but there are still a few streaks.  I also cleaned the windowsill really well and I'm so happy looking out the window now.

I also had black belt test #2.  It was a different crash and burn than the last test.  Basic actions went well, combos went fine.  Forms went ok as a whole.  I had a few issues, but did ok overall.  Then we moved on to self-defense.  I've been making the kids help me practice the self-defense as part of their chores.  So I knew what I was doing.  Apparently there were only about three-ish (out of twenty) people that knew the self-defense and it was so bad that they stopped half way through.  They started by just giving us the name of what we were supposed to be doing.  Then they added on the short description of what we should be doing.  Then they stopped us because it was so bad.  Apparently I'll get to finish up my defense at some point and everyone else will need to finish up next week.  (The official plan was a little confusing.)  But...it means I need to remember my stuff for a little bit longer.  I was able to give them my mile time from yesterday, so I was excited about that.  We finished up with some sparring, and I enjoyed it this time.  I often don't enjoy sparring, but this time was fun.  We got out about 20 minutes later than expected, but that is about what I was expecting.  I did get a special thank you from one of the instructors for knowing my stuff and that was appreciated...and then I knew that I at least did well enough.

Thursday: last day of classes

We finally reached the last day of classes.  I'm always ready to be done every spring, and this year was no exception.  Especially since there was a 7:30am class.  I shouldn't have to do this again, and so I'm rather excited about that too!

I received my first physical gift and thank you card.  It was from the sweetest student; I had been hoping that she'd want to TA next year, but she's graduating.  

Isaac was super excited about rock climbing today.  He did several new routes on his first try.  (The correct terminology would be that he flashed them.)  He had a new move too that involved letting go with both hands too.

Wednesday: Operation: Clean the House

My to-do list has somewhat gotten under control.  So today I started out with one or two random things from it along with the normal things, like cleaning the kitchen.  Then I moved on to Operation: Clean the House fairly quickly.

In so doing, I put up a bunch of shelves near the TV.  The weight limit lied and so I need to get two more sturdier shelves (hence the blue tape still there).  But this is uncluttering the kitchen counter.  I haven't removed all of them yet and the counter already feels better.

I still want to better secure them to the shelves for safety, but we're happy with how it's looking.

Tuesday: another normal day

It was another rather normal day.  There's only one more day of classes which is pretty exciting, but my graders are a bit behind.  I think they'll get most of the stuff graded this coming week, but I'm expecting to have to do more grading than I was hoping.

At karate they helped us with our forms.  There are people that know them well, people that know them well enough, and people that don't know them.  This isn't unexpected, but we'll see how the test goes Friday.

Monday: life

It was a normal Monday.

I got groceries.  There seemed to be a lot of things out of stock.  I now can't remember if it used to be like this before the pandemic or if it's gotten worse.

I did my exercises.  I finished my mile at exactly 12:30 which is my goal for Friday.  I'm not sure I'll make it after everything else that needs to be done, but we'll deal with it then I guess.  My forms were feeling pretty good so I didn't spend much time on them.

I did my other chores.  There were a bunch of short ones so I felt like I made good progress.  

I ate lunch, read my book, and took my nap.  Grey Bear joined me.

I worked on O:CtH.  I put up a shelf for one of my Lego flower sets and cleaned the door by the trash can.  It was rather yucky.

I picked up the kids.

I made dinner, a blueberry almond oatmeal bake.  I gave instructions to Isaac to put it in the oven.  I've been doing this a bit more and love it.  Having Isaac put dinner in the oven adds a lot more meal options.

I helped out at karate.  The little kids are cute but there's a lot of them.

We ate dinner.  The oatmeal bake turned out pretty good.

I did a few more chores/stuff for kids/miscellaneous stuff.

I worked on my quilting and watched TV.

And now it's almost bed time!  I'll read a bit again and probably fall asleep while reading.

Weekend: this and that

Today at church I doodled this...

 
Then Joshua (tried) to copy it and added some colors.  It was interesting to see the differences between the two.

Yesterday Ben made pick-a-brick cups for us out of Legos that have been waiting to be used.  Ben made a temple and then Joshua added to it.

I made a wall.  Well, first I made a dragon-plane, but that wasn't amazing.  I had a bunch of the arches, so I made a wall that I rather liked.

Friday: could have skipped this morning

 It felt like all the small things were going wrong this morning.  I missed picking up a library book.  I forgot to pay a bill, some measurements for a quilt block were wrong (and the pieces were already cut), and the rumba kept thinking it was stuck.

So I put the library book back on hold.  I paid the bill.  I figured out the new piece sizes.  I didn't really fix the rumba, but I put it back on the charger to hopefully reset.

And then I took a nap.  I was pretty annoyed with myself and knew that a nap would help reset my perspective.  It helped that Grey Bear was waiting for me.

Poor Grey Bear.  He rarely gets the respect he deserves.

It did.

I got a few more things done before it was time to pick up the kids.  Karate boot camp was this evening.  It went well...enough.  The second test is next week.  We didn't have a ton of time with self-defense, but we at least got through all of them.  I messed up a little bit on most of the forms, and one of the forms I messed up a bit more on.  That form I realized I was doing a few things wrong, and trying to fix them and keep pace is hard for me.

Wednesday: life

I got more chores done today than I was expecting.  Not by a ton, and there's still a lot to do, but it was still a good feeling.  I also packed lunches at Kids' Food Basket.

At nap time I finally remembered to nap with Grey Bear; I forgot last week and so I get two naps with him this week.  He was happy.

 Rock climbing was today after school.  Isaac climbed yesterday's V2 several times (see video below) and then found another V2.  After a few tries, he got that one too!  It was a good day for him.  In the video he's climbing the black route.  It's hard to see some of the holds and he uses the volumes a lot too.

When we got home Joshua picked a bunch of dandelions from the neighbors' yard and then was excited to find the cats sleeping together.  

Tuesday: Isaac

 Isaac took the ELA M-step today.  It was an all-day affair.  He has a little bit left to go tomorrow, but he doesn't think it should be very long.  But it's a long time of sitting and concentrating and writing, and ELA is by far his least favorite subject.

So when he asked to go rock climbing after school, I really wanted to make it happen for him.  We weren't able to go until later in the evening, but that ended up working out really well.  The gym was pretty empty, but his teacher, who is the nicest guy ever, was climbing there too.

Isaac was working on a V2 route, which is rather hard.  At the top was the tricky part, and it's scary to have the tricky part at the top.  Furthermore, the teacher suggested a new move for Isaac which basically put him horizontal for a short time.  I didn't see any holds up there so I was a bit nervous for him.  But, well, there are soft mats if he falls.  Anyway, he made it.  The whole gym was excited for him.

(This picture was a little bit after the scary part.  I may have been exaggerating when I said horizontal, but that's what my Mom brain thought.)

Monday: the things that tickled my funnybone

1) I bought three different types of toothpaste today.  Three of us were almost out.  I find this funny because it seems like toothpaste never runs out, yet there we were.

2) It snowed today.  After a beautiful week last week it was cold today.  That being said, I was surprisingly warm in the morning after getting groceries and took my sweatshirt off for a bit.  The weather should return to spring-like temperatures soon.

3) Tornado followed me all over quite a bit this morning.  When I was working on my sit-ups he flipped over as though he was going to do his sit-ups too.  Instead he was only able to roll back and forth from side to side.  The thought was appreciated though.

That was all the funny stuff.  I got several chores done today.  I cleaned another cabinet in the kitchen.  I didn't get rid of anything in the cabinet, but I did rearrange it slightly.  The area around the sink, which is next, has some involved spots that I'm not looking forward to doing.

Sunday: a normal Sunday

It was a pretty normal Sunday for us.

Although we did start with empty tomb rolls.  It worked well because church then told us how the church calendar actually celebrates Easter for the 50 days after Easter, so I was completely within the time frame.  They also kept saying that "It changes everything."  However, after watching all of the "How to train your dragon" series, where Hiccup says that all the time, anytime anyone says that we think of Hiccup.  So of course Joshua kept saying "Hiccup" after "It changes everything" was said, once slightly loudly when everything else was quiet.  Oh well.

We came home from church, had lunch, took a nap.  We had basement clean-up time.  Joshua's been working hard to keep the basement under control so we don't need to have as many basement clean-ups, but it was time.  It didn't take too long, so we also played our new game, Space Base.  Everyone enjoys this game which is super exciting.  The games everyone likes are somewhat few and far between.

We also played games online with Brian and Amy this evening.  They usually teach up a new game and today was no different.  It was Sea Salt & Paper.  I really enjoyed it and the pictures on the cards were really pretty.

Friday: cat box

 It's been really nice out, so I put the cat box out Friday morning.  The cats were immediately interested in it and Horizon got in first.  Tornado went in a few minutes later and Horizon gave me a look like, "really?!?  there's not enough room for both of us."

I am planning on taking it out when the weather cools next week.  They also don't seem to use it much in the summer, and since we don't have good insulation for it we'll probably take it out once the A/C turns on.  

Thursday: this and that

It was a pretty normal day.  Teaching went fine, although the first class had a lot of students out sick.  There are only four more classes, and as always I'm ready for the semester to be finished.  Spring fever hits everyone.  It's been a pretty good semester though; no major issues and the normal amount of minor issues.  With the change from four credits to three credits per class next semester I'm having a bit of a hard time finding student help for next semester.  Students need to take five classes for a full load next semester and while each class *should* be less work I think everyone is expecting about the same amount of work.  So students are a bit hesitant about adding extra work into their schedules (and with the extra class for a full load it's harder to find a student that has an opening at the correct time).

I took a nap this afternoon.  Tornado was overly affectionate and really wanted to break my nose with his head-butts.  He finally settled though and we both fell asleep.

The weather has been beautiful.  It'll cool off again next week, but it is enjoyable for now.

Wednesday: pictures

Last night I went to turn off Isaac's light and found Horizon on the bed with him.  Horizon does like beds, especially lately.  We have to keep bringing him out of Joshua's room at night because he plays with Joshua's feet when they move and Joshua doesn't like that.

I made curry today.  A lot of it.  It was a bit annoying, but at the same time I'm all set now for about four months and that is really exciting.  I made a double batch last time too and it was wonderful because I kept finding more containers in the freezer.  I did forget to start the rice at the right time tonight, but that's pretty normal.  I just can't remember it.

 

Reading

On Easter, before the kids' bedtime Ben was reading on the couch.  A bit later I joined him.  Isaac was bored, so we convinced him to join us.  Then Joshua finished his chores and joined us.  I think it was the first time we've all been reading our own books all together, and it was wonderful.

Last Sunday: Fort Wayne

Joshua managed to finagle a French toast stick and waffle sandwich from Aunt Liz.  Good thing she was making breakfast and not me.

The kids played some game with their stuffed animals all weekend.  There were very specific rules, although I'm not sure what they were.  Something about hitting people with your stuffed animals.  Sometimes they got thrown back up, sometimes they were brought back up.

Joshua was taking pictures with the phone.  This is (probably) the adults having breakfast.

We helped clean up the sticks from the storm.  There were a ton of sticks and even with six of us it took quite a bit of time.  I want to say an hour but that seems excessive.  The three younger kids won the "who can get the bigger pile of sticks" competition so they got to choose their post-stick hunt cookie first.  Below Joshua is turning into a stick.

After lunch we went to the wooden playground.  We've gone several of the past years as it is apparently the place to go and Joshua requested it.  It's always a bit cold for the adults.  We lasted about an hour and then said it was time to go.  Since it was a bit north of their house, we left for home right from the playground.  The trip home was uneventful and it was nice to see Ben.

Sunday: a juxtaposition

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

As we celebrated Easter today, I also remembered the Mom's death.  This is the first time (that I recall) that the two have fallen on the same day.

And really, it brings deeper meaning to the celebration of the resurrection.  Jesus conquered death, which means Mom is in heaven, praising God with all the believers.  What more could we want? 

Saturday: booby traps and scavenger hunts

It was Joshua's turn to choose the family time activity, and so he chose Lego Challenge: make a booby trap for Indiana Jones.

Amanda: half way down the hallway there's a stone that when you step on it missiles come flying out.  The other missiles are there as decoys.

Ben: When you step near the treasure the floor moves and the bolder comes crashing down.

Isaac: when you pull the diamond away from the stand the steps turn into a ramp and you slide down

Joshua: two with when you step on a piece missiles fly and one fake floor that sends you into a pit.  (Two of these he made yesterday.)

Here's the video of them in action:

Joshua and I also finished his scavenger hunt (and went to the Peanut store).  None of the pictures are amazing, but I did have a very nice time.

Friday: car

We sold the Ford Focus today.  It was bittersweet.  But the car change was also a good choice.  Anyway, Ben found a third-party seller to sell it to and the whole process ended up being so much easier than I was expecting.

So hurray!  We're back to two cars.

Black belt boot camp was this evening.  As previously, I did enjoy it.  We have five forms for the upcoming test (in the end of April) and I'm currently really bad at #5 and not great at #2.  However, we spent a ton of time on #1 because apparently some people were still not getting it.  I think it's a hard balance of having to study by yourself and polishing up the form in the class, but it also seems like something needs to change.  We did spend quite a bit of time on #2 and that was helpful for me, as I'm currently polishing up the form and still making small mistakes.

Thursday: home

I worked today.  Aunt C came over for a bit to break up the day for the kids, but they were still home several hours by themselves.  I found this on my camera roll...