Sunday: RIP

The green alarm clock died.  We put new batteries in it and within about 5 seconds the numbers would disappear.  It's been a good clock to us, going on many vacations and being incredibly helpful.

Since the boys are now sleeping in the same room we moved Joshua's clock into Isaac's room.  I don't like it quite as much, but I do like that it doesn't use batteries.

Saturday: outside

The plan was to rent some cross country skis and give it a try.  We got there right when they opened.  However, you apparently have to get in line before they opened.  When we got there they were at number 91 and we would have been 16.  It was our first time trying it out, and I didn't feel like waiting more than 15 minutes.  The plan pivoted right away and we went down the sledding hill a few times instead.

It was a good choice.  When we left, 30-45 minutes later, they were on number 3.  They were making decent time since each group was more than one person, but it was still going to be a long wait.  Since the boys aren't actually at school we can try some school day instead.

When we got home the boys entertained themselves, but in a slightly different way than normal.  Joshua was working on a Lego set.  (Ok, that's not all that different.)  Isaac was devouring a Minecraft book.  It's a tutorial Minecraft book with lots of pictures, but there are still plenty of words to read.  He usually doesn't sit down with a book (sadly), so I was a bit surprised.

Thursday: today

Today was better than yesterday.  The days haven't been bad, but they've been annoying.  I feel ready for a break, but I'm not sure what I need a break from.  I also feel rather bad complaining since there are a lot of things going well and they can be easy to overlook when a few bad things happen.

The only thing the boys want to do is play Minecraft and we're giving in more and more.  It does mean that they're pro-active in getting their chores done though, so there is also some time management skills being learned.  Yeah.  That's what we're teaching. 100% legit.  (Also note that they only got the normal amount of screen time today.  We still say no a lot.)

Horizon tried to learn to read today.

Isaac wrote some of his spelling words in the snow.  He's been surprisingly willing to go outside now that there's snow, and is rather happy to work on the end of the driveway as one of his chores.

Tuesday: half fail, half win

We failed half the day.  Ben's (work) car had a dead battery.  Ben had a not fun appointment.  The babysitter was late.  (Although she did notify me and she must have scrambled to only be here 10 minutes late.)  I made it on time to class, but it took a few minutes to get everything set up.  Not really a problem, but a bit flustering. I had a student meeting and he showed up about 30 seconds before I was going to leave.

On the other hand, it was a snow day.  The boys made a barricade while I was teaching, but thankfully Carly made them take it down.  One of the chores was to shovel the end of the driveway if the plow came through, and it did.  The end of the driveway was just being finished as I came home.  Ben had a good appointment this evening.

I also figured out how to take a video of my phone screen.  (It's super easy.)  Photos is always making these nice collections of photos, but there's no way to save them anymore.  It's not quite as nice as just being able to save it, but not too bad.

Monday: quilt pictures

I was taking quilt pictures this morning.  Immediately after I put it down Tornado came and sat on it.  I took a few pictures while asking him to get off.  Then Horizon came and flopped down upside-down on it.  I asked both of them to get off to no avail.

 I gave them some treats to get off it, but Horizon was unimpressed and just as I was ready to take another picture he went back on the quilt.  I locked him in the bathroom, just in time for Tornado to finish his treat and come back on the quilt.  Joshua finally helped and chased Tornado downstairs.

Sunday2: Valentine's Day

As always, we didn't do much for Valentine's day.

The cats loved each other and snuggled. 

We needed more pillowcases and I found these two weeks ago.  It is nice because we needed them and I could use them for Valentine's Day.

I spent some time changing the Lego bonsai tree into a spiderweb crystal tree for a challenge.  It's not great, but it isn't too shabby either.  Especially for the amount of time I put into it.

Joshua did a Valentine's bingo at school and really wanted to do one with the family too.  We almost copied his Bingo card for all of us, but I remembered just in time that would mean we all got a bingo at the same time. :)  We found an acceptable substitute.

Sunday1: decisions

Well, we made a decision about the last trimester for the boys' schooling.  We've decided to keep them home for another semester.

It was a bit of a hard decision again, but it wasn't hard for the same reason as it was in the fall.  In the fall it felt like we were choosing between two bad options.  Now it feels like we're choosing between two good options.

The main reason(s) we're staying home is because it seems like it would be a hard transition to go back to school at this point.  It's one thing to have that transition in the fall when everyone's in the same boat, but I think right now it would be harder.  Furthermore, the boys have been doing a good job being self-motivated and getting their work done and they want to stay home.  It's also been nice sleeping in and not having to go to after school pickup.  There are still slight concerns about health issues if many students go back to school and the new variants coming through, but those played less of a role in our decision this time than in the past.

Isaac's teacher also gave us some feedback, pretty much saying that either option would be fine.  It was reassuring.