Friday: today

This morning Joshua and I went to a ...playgroup?... that included bounce houses.  It was really nice.  I got to see Amie again and there weren't many people there.  It was a lovely way to spend the morning.

This afternoon Ben was taking a nap, so I left Joshua with him while I went to get Isaac.  I told him that Ben was taking a nap, but apparently that didn't mean much to Joshua and he interrupted Ben two times in the fifteen minutes I was gone.  The second time the kitties escaped.

Now, we had been planning on starting to let the cats out this weekend.  We talked about it yesterday; how we wanted to clean up a little more and would watch over them carefully.  So imagine my surprise when I saw Tornado in the middle of the floor.  "Dad said I could pet them." says Joshua, working on a puzzle.  However, they behaved themselves quite well during this exploring stage.

Joshua has been loving the puzzles we got on a whim on Monday.  We finished the hardest one and are now working on a Monsters University one.  I was making dinner while he was doing it for a bit and thought he looked mature.

Some other pictures...

Over winter break, "Evin came to are haws and we had loos uv fun."

Isaac finished his Christmas catapult.  He has been enjoying throwing clay balls.  (He did most of it by himself with just a bit of help from us.)

Tuesday: school

School started again for Joshua and me.  My day was busy, but it didn't feel quite as crazy as some first days.  Joshua wasn't thrilled with going to school, but did ok.

Monday: Joshua

Joshua and I were on our own again for the first time in two weeks.  We started with a visit to a different day care...their pre-K room is still for four year olds instead of being more of a young 5s.  While I didn't dislike the place I'm also not sure that I loved it.  It's still in the running but I need to do some more looking.

I also got two videos out of Joshua.  Sorry about the video on the second.  We were doing them in the car and I didn't realize my mitten was in front until the end.  He wasn't willing to do it again.





We hit Meijer for a few groceries.  On the way out, he lost one of his coloring pages from gymnastics due to wind.  This ended up being a tragedy.  A big one.  Never mind the fact that he rarely uses the coloring pages or that this one had been stepped on several times and was probably gross or whatnot.  It probably took him a good fifteen minutes to recover from the loss.

I also brought Joshua to the doctor today for frequent bathroom trips.  It got a little ridiculous as we were doing our errands and he had to go to the bathroom six times in 2.5 hours.  Nothing was found in his urine though...sugar levels were normal and no sign of a UTI.  The plan is to wait a week and see if it resolves itself.

Weekend: DeYoung Christmas

Nathan and his family came up for the weekend.  To say that Isaac and Joshua were excited about it would be an understatement.  I was asked several times a day all week if it was Evelyn's day.  Finally...it was!

We had a low key Thursday afternoon while the kids played.  They did a lot of playing and usually did a really nice job playing together. 

Isaac had reminded me a few days earlier that we didn't do "Happy New Year", so I got some sparkling grape juice and we did Happy New Year for him.

Friday we went to Hope.  We were waiting for Dad, so the kids played with rings in the hallway...just like Nathan and I used to do.

The kids made some card holders.  Then we did some die cuts.  Everyone made a cutout for Dad, like normal.

In the afternoon we opened presents.  My favorite was when Jamison opened a pack of books and immediately said, "I'm not going to share these!  I'm going to put them in my room!"  He took a step or two before being redirected.

Isaac was super excited about the ship in the bottle.  He hadn't mentioned it since it had been put on his list, but his face lit up!  Joshua was also excited about his Red Mech Lego set (which was the present he had been waiting for) and the blue dragon.  He'd usually say the cursory "Thank you" and continue to look at the box.  Then he'd say 'thank you' for real, but the giver didn't always hear it as the show had moved on.

Joshua got 'bugs in the kitchen', a game.  It was a pretty good game.  One that doesn't need strategy but can have it.  Isaac played this game for hours.

I helped Joshua with the outside of his puppy puzzle and then he and Evelyn filled in the inside.

Saturday morning we went to 'CC's playground.'  It was pretty busy, but Aunt C joined us for a bit.  The kids bolted off and we barely saw them until it was time to go.  Well, except for JJ as he liked to be helped into the slide.

In the afternoon we went for a walk.  Joshua didn't let go of Pat's hand until the last five minutes.  He had to be sure she didn't get lost.

The kids were a bit crazy for the adults in the evening so they got a show.

Sunday morning Isaac read some books to everyone.  Then they packed up and were off.  A successful visit!  (Although Joshua lost it pretty much right after that.  I was trying to get him set up on a Lego set and he couldn't decided what he wanted to start with and it was very confusing.  Later on Ben told him to go rest and he finally took a nap.  When he woke up from the nap he was upset because he "didn't sleep at all!")

Wednesday: Isaac

This morning Isaac and I went to a nearby karate school to see it.  He loved it.  (To be fair, half of it was an obstacle course and not something that is done every time.)  Anyway, I signed him up.  And since I'll be there for most of the lessons anyway, I signed myself up too.

Later in the day he said that he really wanted to use the screwdriver that he had gotten for Christmas.  So I pulled out some scrap wood and he went to town using his tools.

We went back in the evening for our first official karate lessons.  Isaac actually had two - there is a class for younger students first and then a class for lower belts.  He said he liked the first one better.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the second one though.  I was the only adult for this class, and the kids kept slowly drifting over my way...it was a bit funny.  Anyway, it was a bit tricky but not too tricky.

It turns out I only got a picture of Isaac being a shark...

Tuesday: relaxing day

Today we relaxed.

And the kitties relaxed.

Monday: New Year's Eve

This morning we went to Crazy Bounce.  The boys loved it and talked about it all day.  It isn't my favorite place to go, but it isn't too bad either.  It was rather busy.

The aquarium has been having a small algae problem, so I got a snail.  Also, I realized that the little fish in the tank with Sunset was a female and there was a baby male in with the baby females.  This is the first time that I feel mostly confident about the gender separation.  Now I need to wait a little bit and make sure no babies show up before trying to give the females away.

We went to a NYE party this evening but only stayed until about 9:30.  We still had a good time though.