Tuesday: explosion

My email exploded today.  I dealt with a bunch in the morning, and then while I was teaching a bunch more came in.  I dealt with the important ones when I got home (and sent some additional ones).  A hour later there were a bunch more.  It's been a while since it's been this bad.  I'm hoping it's mostly 'beginning of the semester' details.  There seem to be more details to deal with this semester than normal, and I'm not really sure why.

Isaac and Joshua went to the sledding hill with the babysitter today.  Isaac's been before and was really looking forward to it, while Joshua was nervous.  I think Joshua overheard me talking to Carly a bit because apparently they got to the hill and Joshua went down the big one right away by himself.  It's as though he wanted to show me that he was completely capable.  (Although after that it sounded like he usually went down with someone.)  They enjoyed it, but walking up the hill was a lot of work.

Monday: snow

This morning I was finishing up the driveway and heard a rumbling noise.  I was hoping it was the snow plow, because the timing would be good.  It was!  It turned the opposite way from our house first, but came back around.  Yes!

I shoveled until the spot where I estimated the snow from the plow would be thrown, because there's no reason to shovel it twice.  I waited about thirty seconds.  The plow came back around, almost exactly to where I estimated.  Score!  Both in location and in timing!  I was oddly ecstatic.

Joshua made this Lego creation today, entitled, "A memory of yesterday."  He makes cool things, but this is one of my favorites.  Ben is the person on the hill, with a sled in front of him to push down.  The tree is the obstacle that the boys apparently couldn't avoid yesterday.  There's also a green sled, since the boys were using two different ones.

Sunday: walking on water

 We walked on the lake today.  It's been several years since we've done this and it always feels weird.  It also felt windy, so we didn't stay on it for too long.  The boys enjoyed sledding for a bit afterwards.

Friday: recycling

It's a good thing our house is on the "second" side of the street for garbage and recycling pickup.  The recycling only comes every other week, and I've lost count of how many times I've heard it on the street and rushed the recycling container out, hoping that I heard it on the other side and not going past our house.

Wednesday: life

 Joshua made a den for a bear to hibernate in.  He did a really nice job on it with minimal instructions.

We getting more birds now, although the squirrel hasn't really come back yet.  The birds really like Isaac's bird feeder, even though it has the cheaper bird food.  Maybe they like the stability?

Isaac: 96 -108 months

 I'm behind on Isaac's pictures too.

96 months:

97 months: missed

98 months: 

99 months: ...it looks like he grew three inches!  This was also the start of quarantine and pajamas 24/7.

100 months: The hair gets messier in quarantine, apparently.

101 months:

102 months: 

103 months: 

104 months:

105 months:

106 months: 

107 months: 

108 months: 

Tuesday: school? or no school?

Well, I had school today.  Day 1 went pretty well.  The worst part was that I forgot my water, so 2/3 of the way through the first class I was thirsty.  There's always a few oddball things that need dealing with, but overall it went well.

The boys would have had a snow day, had it been a normal year.  I was a bit surprised as there wasn't much snow on the ground, but I'm (very obviously) not privy to the decision-making criteria.  However, the boys did have an easy day!  Joshua had about half of his work.  Isaac had less than half of his work and it was more optional.  I feel like the state might be getting cheated out of a school day, because the students still had to join a meeting so they'd be counted as present.  But at the same time, there are some snow days built into the calendar so I'm not that concerned.

The boys apparently played outside for at least two hours with the babysitter this afternoon and had a great time sledding.