Tuesday: Goldbug

Last night I went to bed a bit nervous; there were no activities planned for today.  It turned out that wasn't a problem as we went out to lunch with Dad and Pat and then to a friend's house after nap time.  My other plan had been to grab an activity from the jar.  We drew Goldbug.  Isaac said that hiding Goldbug would be more fun than making one, so we made one out of Duplos.

I agree...it doesn't look anything like Goldbug.  But we made it together.  We hid it around the house a few times.  Then I made his brother and tricked him with it (note the red eyes...I didn't have much time to find all the pieces though).  Then Isaac made Goldbug's sister...the other creation.

On our way home from lunch Isaac and I "talked" on the phone.  I got him to answer a lot of questions...

Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Popsicles and donuts

Q: What is your favorite thing to watch on TV?
A: Magic School Bus.  [This surprised me as he doesn't choose it very often.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do?
A: Play
Q: Play what?
A: Bucky.  But I don't choose it very often.  We play Castle more.

Q: Who is your favorite person?
A: Grandma Cheryl, Grandma Pat, and the Grandpa that goes with Grandma Pat. [I was a bit sad not to be mentioned.]

Q: What is your favorite book?
A: The pig one and dirty one and the monkey that gets trapped.  [Hogwash and Monkey with a Toolbelt]

Monday: activities

We started out the day by cleaning the car.  Isaac is always asking to go to Quality so that we can vacuum the car; he really likes to push the button to start the vacuum.  We followed it up by a visit to Hope College.  The main reason was to walk around the campus and play Pokemon Go.  We needed more Pokeballs and there are a ton of places to easily get them within a small area.

Isaac kept saying "NO!" to assorted Duplos today and putting them in time out.

Isaac's sport of the day was weightlifting.

We made some bread at the end of the day.  Joshua did a great job blending the zucchini.

I also asked Isaac if he wanted to crack the eggs and he declined.  Joshua wanted to hand me the eggs and then decided he wanted to crack them.  It surprised me on the first one, but for the second I was happy to let him do a single crack before taking it over.

Sunday: fencing

Isaac's latest favorite sport seems to be fencing.  (I.e., swords)

Joshua's seems to be falling.  He took about five spills within a hour; we finally went for a walk because he wasn't handling life well.

Also, I'm looking forward to a time when the kids can eat cleanly enough that I don't have to worry about ants so much.  Seriously.  I miss cleaning up for one meal and they find anything that was left.  Also, it would be nice to be able to put out traps without having to worry about Joshua getting into them...that's half the problem.  Although I guess behind the little couch would be safe.  Maybe I'll do that tonight.

Saturday: Joshua

Joshua had his two year well child check up this past week.  He is 24.25 lb, about the 21st percentile, and 33.25", about the 18th percentile.  He's right on track with his growth curves and it was really a rather boring appointment.  (Although the doctor did say that children at two years old don't understand consequences.  I'm not sure I agree, at least not completely.  He completely understands that if he uses the toilet correctly he gets a treat.)

Joshua also did some cute things today.  He put together the circut below, pressed the button, and then said, "oh no!"  The fan didn't start!  The thought process is there, but he neglected to put the elements together (or have batteries.)

He also did some gymnastics while eating.  He was watching the women's floor routine and really got into it.

Friday: lunch

I met up with some old friends for lunch today.  It was a very nice time and went by way too quickly.

Afterwards I went to B&N to have a hot chocolate and read and just enjoy a bit more time without the kids. :)

Thursday: tired

Today I was rather tired.  I'm not really sure why; besides not taking a nap (and some extra walking) yesterday I didn't do anything differently.  But I could not wake up and put the boys in front of the TV for a while...it works well with Isaac, but only for a short while with Joshua.

Swimming lessons were the same; I feel as though the instructors should push Isaac more.  He says he doesn't want to do something and they don't push really hard.  I know they're trying to make them comfortable in the water, but it isn't what I was hoping for.  (I think these are better than the ones he took last year, but next year might be looking for a different place.  Although I expect when he's ready he'll do it, regardless of where he is.)

The rest of the day went fine.  Joshua seemed extra tired.  Isaac is still enjoying gymnastics and diving in the Olympics, but especially the rings.  It's a bit too bad as the rings are not one of the more popular events in the gymnastics and aren't shown a ton.  We has a huge mess in the living room as assorted toys are brought out during viewing.

Wednesday: quilt show

This afternoon I went to the big quilt show in Grand Rapids.  I went last year and didn't have enough time before I had to leave; this time I had plenty of time.  I was trying to figure out why...and I think there are two main reasons.  I didn't have as many things that I was looking to buy, so I didn't really spend much time in the vendor area.  I felt as though there were a lot of art/applique quilts, and while they are amazing they just don't interest me that much.

I did feel as though some of the quilts I've made were of similar quality to the ones shown...I always think that I should enter, but never have a quilt ready at the right time that isn't waiting to go somewhere else.  One of these years I probably will though, just to see if I even get in.

There was a lot of matchstick/straight line quilting in the modern quilts, and that surprised me a bit.  It actually made it a little boring.  There was some amazing quilting in the quilts as a whole...my ability is quite a ways away from many of those quilts.  I did notice that many quilts had microquilting (very dense) quilting so that other areas seemed to puff up in comparison.  I really liked it, and always have, but haven't done it much.  That's something I would like to do more.

I also enjoyed looking at the challenge pieces - challenge pieces are where quilters in a group all make a small quilt based on a theme.  They are (usually) not judged, but I find it so interesting how many people can take one or two sentences and come up with such different quilts.  I am actually working on a challenge piece at the moment, and since this post has no other pictures I'll show you were I was at the beginning of the month.  It has since then doubled in size and quilting just started this evening.