Sunday: cooking and phone

 My phone had an update yesterday and now the camera seems to be working!!  I can see the pictures without waiting three minutes and they upload without me having to open the camera app.  Woot woot!!

We did some food stuff today.  Isaac finally made Ben's parfait.  He's wanted to make chex mix for a long time and Joshua's been loving Rice Krispie bars.  We had some extra Rice Krispies, so it worked.

Friday: raspberries

 It was school material pick up day, and so the boys picked some raspberries to give to their teachers.  (Not only is it a healthy gift, we have too many.)  We saw Joshua's teacher and she did a lovely job of thanking him and even showing him the classroom.  She also said that raspberries are her favorites, but her raspberry patch stopped around July.  So I could see some more raspberries in her future.

We didn't see Isaac's teacher, but she recorded a lovely video thanking Isaac for the raspberries and the maze that he had drawn for her.  He worked quite hard on the letter and maze and insisted on picking the raspberries himself, so the video was very much appreciated.

Thursday: book

 I'm reading a book right now that has a spell book as a minor character.  I don't think I've laughed out loud from reading a book this much in a long time.  There is just something about this spell book that tickles my funny bone.  The series is Mage Errant by John Bierce.  I'm on book 4.

Spoiler ahead. (I tried making it disappear like a nice spoiler, but it didn't work easily.  So I just put it far away.)

First, the book is found eating some coals because it wants to spit them out at children.  It thinks this would make it into a dragon.

Later the book is found trying to become a parrot.  The nearby parrots tolerate it.

It doesn't know how to apologize, so it keeps dumping slimy fish on someone.

Wednesday: Happy Pretend Birthday!

This morning Joshua made me rest on the couch while he made my breakfast.  It was perfect.

Isaac's been wanting to do a Pretend Happy Birthday for Ben for a while now.  Ben had a bad day yesterday and Isaac finished school pretty early again today, so I thought that today would be a good option.

There were several decorations and a little moving of furniture so that they could yell "Surprise!"

He even got some birthday presents (tissue paper and a small Lego set).  They gave him a few options of a birthday thing to eat, including a parfait, granola bar, popcorn, or mug cake.  (Joshua went through the whole pantry trying to find something that Ben would like and that is a little healthy.)  Ben picked parfait, but we'll see if the boys remember in the morning.

Tuesday: school

 Joshua has his picture taken with several collections yesterday.

Today he had to retell a story, and could tell it to a lovie, so he chose Spark and to do it in bed.

My classes also went well today.  It was a pivot table practice day, and one of the few days I actually suggest partner work.  Most students chose to partner up, and there was a lovely hum of voices in the room for once.  In the past, there is usually a hum as students work together and talk and try to figure things out together (with the exception of a very notable, very silent class a few years ago).  This year they're not sitting close together and it is really hard to see another's screen, so it just doesn't happen nearly as much.

Sunday: shorts

 I really like summer wear because it takes so long for the boys to grow out of it.

My six year old is still wearing 24m shorts...with darts in them.

To be fair, there have been some shorts lately that have looked too short.  Mostly on Isaac or pajamas on Joshua though.

Friday: in pictures

 Tornado was cute.

Isaac put a bunch of pencil spots on his leg.

The cats sat in the clean laundry.

Grey Bear joined up for a walk "in case something scary" happened.  I'm not sure what was going through his mind, but I'm always happy to have Grey Bear join us.