Wednesday: annoyed

We got an automated phone call today from the school.  I think it was the principal, although the person never gave her name.  She said that we need to respond to the in-person or virtual learning options by Friday, and then on Monday they can give us more information.

While I understand that it's hard to give information without knowing how many students will fall in either category, I am unimpressed.  Is this the additional information that she said I'd get by the end of the week now moved out to after the deadline?  Many school districts have been given more information along with optional town-hall meetings.  Do they need to have all the answers right now?  No.  Do they need to try harder to get us some answers?  Yes.  Exactly what were they expecting?  That parents wouldn't have questions?  Even if we were given a lot of material parents would still probably have a lot of questions.  They must have some answers, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get us the additional information by Monday.  Can we at least know what you do know??

In other news, a lot of Lego creations were made yesterday and today:

Isaac's blue Lego block that is actually a monster:

Joshua with wings

A control room for Ben and me.  Unfortunately, it only controls electrical things/machines, not people.

We went on a hike at a new place today.

And Joshua, unprompted, put together a food box for the black community (following Black Lives Matter).  I'll drop it off with our other donation box.

Tuesday: well, there's some good news

The good news: I fixed the microwave.  It was still on demo mode from the factory.  (I decided to look at the troubleshooting guide.)  I felt silly for not looking at that first, but I also feel as though the installers should have tested it.

The other news: late Sunday night we finally got some info about the boys' school stuff in the fall.  There was a reasonable amount of information about virtual school.  There was almost no information about in-person schooling, other than your standard procedures (social distancing, masks).  K-5 are not required to wear masks in the classroom, which I find kind of a big deal because there is not enough room to stay 6ft apart, even if they want to.  There was no other information about what the classrooms would look like.  We are supposed to decide by Friday.

I emailed the principal today to ask some questions.  (I'm sure she's overwhelmed.  I get it.)  I got a response back around dinner time saying that later this week more information would be coming out.  However, do the math...later this week probably means Thursday at the earliest.  We are suppose to decide by Friday.  Hopefully the date is modified or they actually get the information to us Wednesday or Thursday.  (Now, there is some flexibility to change before school starts so I need to keep that in mind too.  I'm just not sure it would be super easy to change after Friday.)

This decision is keeping me awake too much.  I think we should do one option, only to think about it and decide it's a dumb option.  So I think we should do the other option, only to think about it and decide it's a dumb option.  So I go back to the original option...

Saturday: puzzle, microwave

I finished a puzzle that I started earlier this week.  It was a good puzzle, but I realized about an hour after I got it out that I didn't really want to use up that much floor/counter space.  I tried to do it quickly.  I also couldn't stop thinking about how much work it was going to be to pack everything back up in the car (and unload afterwards).  Why do they need so much stuff at the beach?

Our new microwave finally was installed today.  It doesn't work.  Apparently they didn't actually test the heating/defrosting function before they left.  It'll probably be two weeks before the maintenance can get out to take a look at it.  (But maybe we'll be lucky.)

Friday: shenanigans

We went for a walk to get some pet food today.  Since we had a lot of pet food to bring back, we brought the stroller.  I was teasing the boys that they should push me, so Isaac finally said, "sure."  I got in and they ran away.

A little bit later Isaac said that he'd actually push me.  So he turned the stroller around and started pushing me back the way we came...until he pushed me into the grass.

On the way home the boys yelled one of the following at the top of their lungs almost the whole time: "wet hei-hei" or "volcano lava monster living chicken nuggets".  I think they were trying to get it stuck in my head.  It didn't really work, but I was rather annoyed by the time we got home.  I didn't stop them though, since it wasn't really hurting anything and they were laughing.

Joshua made a cage for his new dragon.  It has a fire bed, fire to eat, and lava to drink.

He also melted his Popsicle.  I don't know why.

 

Tuesday: 6 years old

Joshua turned six on Tuesday.  (I'm just a little bit behind in posting.)

He was so excited for his birthday.  Hopefully it lived up to his expectations.  His meal of choice was Froot Loops and pineapple.  We also had a chocolate cake.

At his well child appointment he's in the 15th percentile for weight and 36th percentile for height.  Small, but I'm also surprised lately at how old he's looking lately.

Thursday: butterflies

It was a pretty normal day.  We took a walk around the lake today instead of a hike.  It wasn't really what I wanted to do, but the boys were happy and I got some exercise in.

There were three butterflies around our pink flowers.  I've been watching one butterfly on them on a regular basis, but it was fun to see three.

We got some new blinds today.  They're motorized and have an app so we can schedule them going up and down and it will be so much easier to open and close them for the TV.  The old ones were hard to open.

Wednesday: eventually worked

We went on a hike this morning.  The boys complained the whole time.

We did a puzzle this afternoon.  Everyone was happy.