Friday: Minecraft, run, quilt

After waiting somewhat patiently for a while to get to play Minecraft, Isaac and Ben finally started today.  Isaac loved it.  We weren't really sure how well he'd do since you need to use the keyboard and mouse, but he did really well.  (I did hear a lot of "w, w, w, w" though.)  Joshua watched on Ben's lap and was rather concerned that wolves would get them in the caves.  They were playing on 'nice' mode though, so there were no wolves and we weren't really sure where it came from.

At one point Ben was on a cliff edge and Joshua said, "According to my research, you shouldn't go down there."  Apparently Magic School Bus has impacted his speech patterns.

I made the boys go on a run with me around the lake today since the weather was surprisingly nice out.  They both did really well.  I had told Isaac at the beginning of the summer that if he ran around the lake with only one stop he could get a big treat, and of course he remembered today.  Well, he easily ran around the lake.  He had several small stops waiting for Joshua and I to catch up and two big stops that Joshua and I called, but he didn't use his stop.  I'll be honest; I'm not sure I could have kept up with him.  So they got some ice cream with sprinkles.

Joshua received his quilt that Cheryl made.  He was much more excited about it than he appears in the picture.

Thursday: Thanksgiving

Leader: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Congregation: His love endures forever.
Joshua: That's my verse!

This summarizes so many of the things that I'm thankful for.  God's faithfulness is shown in my life and my children's.

Wednesday: before Thanksgiving

Today Isaac had a half day of school.  I changed Joshua's day to be today too.  One the way we had the following conversation:

J: Mom, smoke is stinky.

A: Yeah, smoke can be stinky.

J: Smoke and skunks!  Skunks are really stinky.

A: For sure!

J: Skunks should go poop.

 The first thing he said to a teacher when he got to school was, "No nap today!"  The second thing he said to a different teacher was, "I don't have to sleep today!"  The third thing was to the third teacher, "No sleep today!"  Apparently that was the theme for most of the morning as he told them over and over again.

I had three hours and eight things on my to-do list.  I got them all done with 15 minutes to spare.  I wouldn't say that I worked hard the whole three hours, but I did work steadily.

I picked Isaac up and we had lunch with Ben before getting Joshua.

We started to put up Christmas decorations this afternoon.  It felt a bit weird since I think I've always waited until after Thanksgiving, but we had some good time for it.

Isaac put up most of the ornaments and did a good job spreading them out.  Joshua did a good job clustering them together.

Isaac seems to also enjoy the lights, and so we put up several strands.  I ordered some hooks to put them up in more places.  Here Isaac is adding some wall tape to the wires so that when it touches (rubs) against the shelf it doesn't fray.  The logic is almost there; he's just missing the fact that these wires won't move that much.

I have no idea what Joshua is doing here, but it was cute.

Sunday: school

This evening we started a new church group.  The church is calling it a Core Group, because it is focused on a Core Mission statement rather than people who are (usually) in the same stage of life as you.

Anyway, Isaac was going downstairs to play with the kids and he saw one of the other women.

"You live in my school!"  he exclaimed.

We all got a chuckle out of that. :D

Saturday: dinosaurs

Saturday we went to a specially themed dinosaur time at the library.  There was a dinosaur story time (songs and books) and then they could hatch their own eggs.  The eggs were toy dinos in a baking soda paste, and they squirted them with vinegar.  It took a bit longer than I was expecting, but the boys were so excited about the toys inside.  We also walked the length of several dinosaurs, including the ones they had hatched.

Friday: Isaac and minecraft

Isaac has been saving his allowance for quite a while.  Not because he was saving up for something, but because he was content with what he had.  However, a few weeks ago someone brought in a Lego Minecraft set to school for show and tell.  This past weekend he mentioned it, and it wasn't too expensive so he bought it.

He was working on it this evening and mentioned, "I wish we had Minecraft." 
Ben: We do. 
Isaac: Huh?!?!
Ben: First go look downstairs on the new table.

Isaac rushed downstairs and for the first time all week noticed there was a monitor on the table.  (To be fair, we've had some unused monitors on the shelf right by it for quite some time, so it might not have looked too different.)

Ben: That's a computer for you and Joshua.  I still need to finish setting it up, but then you can use it.  And we can get Minecraft on it.
Isaac: Yay!!

Isaac: Joshua, we get a computer!
Joshua: Can I watch stuff on it?
Ben: Sure...
Joshua: like Paw Patrol?
Ben: yes.
Joshua: Yay!!!

Wednesday: more Joshua

We're traveling along and we see a police car.  Joshua asks if it was the same one that we saw yesterday and I responded with a no.  That prompted a whole string of questions, including, "what do the police officers do at bed time?"  I told Joshua they put on their pajamas and go to sleep.  "PAJAMAS!?!?!" Joshua asked incredulously.  "That's silly."

Later on we were traveling and I asked, "What do you think is in that [non-descript, white] truck?"  "Lettuce," he responded without hesitation.