Friday: thoughts

I did errands today.  Errands have changed in these pandemic times, and it pretty much looks like driving around in the car and barely getting out.  Ben was working from home today, so I didn't have to bring the kids.  I had six places to stop and did it all in just over an hour.  Google estimated 45 minutes of driving, and all the stops had my stuff out promptly!

The thoughts while driving included the blog as a time capsule.  It would be a great primary resource!  I know there are a lot of blogs and digital information out there though, so I don't know if it would actually be useful.  It's updated very regularly, but it's only about an upper middle class white family...I'm not sure any future people would be interested unless they're family.  I'll probably never know and that's ok.  I mainly write so that I remember what's happened.

Usually I don't post about current events, unless it directly impacts us (i.e., the pandemic), and even then you might not see all the impacts.  How we're still doing karate from home, how Ben is working from home every other week, how the kids barely get out of the house anymore, and how we've barely seen any friends lately.

The blog doesn't show I watched the election results roll in Wednesday morning every half hour and was so relieved when Michigan went for Biden.  It doesn't show my disgust with how President Trump has been handling most things, but especially the post election.  While I also fully believe that he thinks he won the election, I don't understand how he can brain-wash so many other people.  The blog doesn't show how I watched with horror last night when I finally realized what was going on at the capital as it was invaded by a mob, and how I was saddened at the Facebook posts that said, "If these were people of color, they would be dead" and how true that was.  The blog doesn't show how I hope they remove Trump from office because he can do some serious damage on his way out, even though there's just a few days left.  The blog doesn't show that I'm disappointed that he won't be going to the inauguration, although I also am glad; he is the guest that no one really wants around.

Maybe once the boys get older I'll write about a larger array of topics because I won't be with them all the time and I'll need something to write about.

Tuesday: new things

I got a new flour container for Christmas.  Normally this would be nothing to comment about, but it is replacing some that I took that were Mom's.  (Dad moved out the same time Ben and I needed stuff, so we got a lot of stuff from the pantry.)   It's a bit sad since they've been around for a very long time and were reminders of her, but not really that sad.  The plastic top cracked and I felt that it had been well used.  I also have a few other containers from growing up, so there's that.

I also got a new hairbrush!  I decided that mine had finally died.  All of my hairbrushes lose their handles after a year or two, but the bristles are still good so I just use it without a handle for a while.  This handle ended up in the play-doh box because it has a neat handle, so maybe four years ago? The bristle tops are now mostly gone, so it's time for a new one.  (But really, I'm curious if anyone else has this persistent problem.) (I'm also documenting it so I know how long this brush handle lasts.)

Monday: "back" to school

 I came to Monday with mixed feelings.  It'd be really nice to keep the boys occupied a bit more with school and have more routine.  But...it's been rather nice not having a routine too.  Since I can't stop time though, school came without really giving me a choice.

As expected, it went fine.  It was nice to be able to do some of my chores while they were doing school work instead of pretending to fit them in here and there.

Then the boys had dentist appointments in the afternoon.  We went to a new, closer dentist.  The closeness was nice and everything went fine.  Isaac needs to go back to get some fillings fixed and they had time tomorrow.  Tomorrow!  I'm not sure I've ever had a dentist be able to do the work so quickly, so that was nice.  The old dentist was months out.

Thursday: NYE

 I know I haven't posted lately, but it's mainly because I wanted to post about New Year's Eve and kept not doing it.  Now I only remember what I have in pictures.

The kids had a fun time in a zoom party, and it involved a lot of minute-to-win-it games.

Keep a balloon in the air with one hand.  Isaac's plan was a bunch of little small taps, Joshua's plan was few huge taps.  Isaac did better, but it could be due to the age difference.

Stack the cups and take them down

Use a straw to transfer things to a plate:

Wrap your friend with streamers or toilet paper:

Dance party.  But our boys don't dance, so balloon party.  This picture was right before Joshua almost crashed and we went to the ER, but he controlled it in time that he wasn't hurt.

Cheers!  Happy New Year!

After the kids went to bed the adults got back together for some games and to ring in the New Year.  We used our computer clock, which was rather boring.  But, we got to do it twice since we spanned two time zones.

Wednesday: snow, Christmas, and Birthday oh my!

 We got a little bit of snow before some rain this morning.  I shoveled some of the driveway and mentioned to the boys that it was good snowman snow.  Isaac was out immediately, because he was prepared for this!

He had made all the snowman accessories out of Legos ahead of time and was itching to actually use them!

A little bit later there was a science program that involved making some snow.  We saw Evelyn and JJ on too, which was a happy surprise!

After the show the kids continued to play with baking soda and vinegar, making a small mess.  I drew the line when they asked if they could use all my vinegar though.

While they were doing that, I kicked the cats off my puzzle and finished it.  Horizon has been rather unhappy with the puzzle, so it's had to be covered up a lot. :(  I might do one more puzzle before the table gets too messy again though.

Dad and Pat came over for a Christmas celebration and to watch us open presents.

It's also Isaac's 9th birthday today!  We didn't do much, although he had a few presents to open and we sang Happy Birthday to him.

Tuesday

We ran a few errands today.  These were the "you have to go inside" errands.  The boys prefer staying in the car, but they enjoyed getting out in the end.  Isaac was our leader (and only did an ok job) and Joshua was the pusher (and did a lot of jumping to see better) but it worked.

We started our winter cookies this afternoon.

 

Monday

 Isaac made a creation, took a picture, printed it out, and put it in his creation.  Repeat a few times...

While I was making dinner tonight Isaac talked my ear off about "the most rare fruit" that he made out of Lego.  Oh my goodness, he wouldn't stop talking about it.  To my credit though, when we were talking about it right before dinner I was able to give a really, really good review of everything he had said and could show that I was listening.  Phew.