Last week: pictures I missed

Science camp involved a balance.  It was interesting for a while, but they didn't come back to it at all the rest of the week.  Joshua learned "water is heavy."

We had a mini-birthday party for Isaac.  (His first of two.)

Friday Joshua brought up that he wanted to go back to a garage sale and pick up an item that he had seen.  I was hoping that he'd forget about it, but I suppose that holding off on a purchase is a good life skill too.  Anyway, we had Mr. Ears (left) and now we have Baby Ears (right).  Baby Ears also spins, which filled Joshua will delight.  They're loud, but the boys have been enjoying them.

Joshua made an elaborate battle the Ben, Big Puppy, and me to do.  At the end we got badges that he had made.

Friday: on masks

The power went out for a bit this evening and I left my phone upstairs.  It annoyingly doesn't backup the photos unless I open the app.  So I thought I'd talk about masks a bit.  It has been such a divisive topic in this country and worthy of documentation.

Yesterday we went to garage sales.  A few people wore masks, but most did not.  Now yes, we were outside.  Most of the time we were at least 6 feet from people, but not all the time.  Isaac and I wore a mask but Joshua didn't because the mask I brought for him was too large.

On Wednesday I went to Meijer.  All of the people were masked.

Today I picked up groceries from Family Fare.  Now we stayed in the car so I only saw people that were already outside, but it seemed like less than half the people were wearing or holding masks. 

People do seem to be masking more, but it is not as much as I'm hoping yet.

Thursday: in pictures

Joshua made a ton of Lego things today, but my favorite was the stethoscope.

Today was neighborhood garage sales.  I gave them each $5 and it didn't completely burn a hole in their pocket.  They ended up splitting the cost of some foam stairs to use in their obstacle courses.

Our microwave finally died.  It's reset itself a few times lately, so I was wondering.  I replaced the fuse, but that didn't fix it.  So meal plans quickly changed because we had limited time.  (Although by the time I got back with Chick-Fil-A the food had thawed in the pan and it would have been fine.)  Speaking of Chick-Fil-A, their drive through process is simply amazing.

It also seems as though I bruised my thumb during bo-staff practice at karate today.  I don't remember doing it, but it's an annoying place to have a bruise.

Squirrel!

A few weeks ago we watched this very interesting squirrel obstacle course video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg

Joshua was inspired and made a squirrel with a walnut and some of the obstacles.  I thought they turned out really well.

If you ended up watching the video, here's a follow-up picture: https://www.youtube.com/post/UgweYZ5AYil6iEcqYfR4AaABCQ

Tuesday: Lego

There were a lot of Lego creations made in the house today.

Joshua's first bad robot with a captured mini-fig.  The mini-fig isn't comfortable because he's laying on rocks.

Time out for a cold beach play.  It's surprising how it was rather cold today, but perhaps because of the huge dust storm from Africa?  The boys buried a bunch of beach toys are were so excited about it.

Isaac made a 3D marble maze.  It was quite good.

Joshua made a house to welcome Ben home.

Isaac made a house that had a sign and treats inside to welcome Ben.

Joshua made a skyscraper.

Bonus: on why our sons are crying

Ah, just to keep it real.  And because I find myself with a little bit of extra time.

Yesterday afternoon we cleaned up the basement.  I asked Joshua to walk instead of roll while doing it and he refused.  blah blah blah we eventually had a conversation.

A: Do you know why you lost screen time?

J: because my legs wouldn't work.

A: no.  Two seconds after I told you that you lost screen time you ran up the stairs

J: but my legs weren't working!

Last night Joshua came into the office:

J: next chore?

A: what's in your mouth?

J: nothing.

A: ...what's in your mouth?

J: nothing

A: come here

Joshua takes out a magnetic marble and stick.

A: what did you do wrong?

J: something I can't remember but was funny

A: no, the problem is that you lied.  There need to be consequences for that.  

This morning we told the boys they had to go to Larry and Cheryl's for a while.  There were a few questions about screen time and breakfast and a few minutes later I hear Isaac crying in the basement.

A: what's wrong?

I: I'm going to be apart from Tornado.

A: what? really?  Well, you can spend some time with him right now.

a few minutes later Isaac is crying on the couch

A: what's up?

I: Tornado kept leaving me!

Isaac and Tornado were reunited this evening.  Isaac said he didn't miss Tornado too much.

Saturday: stu visser, ladder skills

This morning Joshua and I took Isaac to Stu Visser trails.  It was even more flooded than it has been in the past.  We waded through one mini-stream, but the rest looked too deep or too yucky.

Here we are in our normal picture place.  The first one was early September last year, so I think we've hit all the seasons.  (Fall might have missed the colors though, because the colors went fast and it was rainy and cold so much.)

Horizon is still getting himself stuck in the rafters.  I put a ladder for him to come down because he hates having us help him down.  Remember, the cats know how to use the ladder due to ladder skills week?  Yeah, it didn't work.  But it did get us higher up so we could grab him better.