Sunday: table

Today I'd like to show you a clean table.  It's a rare sight in this house, as the children seem to think they can just put things on the table and leave them there.  We had a discussion about how they should start taking something as they walk by and putting it away.  I don't know if it'll stick.  

I suppose it's better than having toys all over the floor as we used to have with small children.  

(Oh, I oddly stopped cleaning it in the middle, did some other stuff, then took the picture.  Don't worry, the whole table's been cleaned now.)

Saturday: normal day

It was a rather normal Saturday for us.  We worked on some Lego sets and played some games.  All the laundry is finally washed and dried and some of it is even put away.

The raspberries are getting close to showing up...I'm just starting to see the first green berries.  Hopefully I'll only need to wait a week or two now!

The random picture of the day showed up as Isaac and I were finishing our Dominion game.  It was a 'trash' game, in which there was a lot of trashing cards.  Isaac choose a few cards that worked really well together, but they almost worked too well together.  I managed to win for the first time in a while, but we weren't really sure why.

Friday: vaccines

The boys got their booster vaccines today.  They were quite unexcited about them, but at the same time there weren't any problems getting them.  I did get some new cards because 1) the first person to write on the card did it pretty much illegibly and 2) the first person wrote that they received Moderna.  I mentioned this to the provider who at first was just like, "yeah, I changed mine too" and I followed up with "well, Moderna wasn't authorized for them".  Now, I wasn't all that worried because the lot number seemed similar to their second Pfizer shot and I'm pretty sure I confirmed with the provider that they were getting Pfizer.  Anyway, today she was able to quickly look it up and it actually was Pfizer.  So now I have correct and legible cards.

The peonies are also in bloom!  I feel like I usually miss the blooms because it thunderstorms right after they open and are done in a day.  There is also a ton of cotton from the cottonwood all over the place.  It seems to have snowed.  It makes it a bit hard to hang up the laundry, but if I don't hang it up I'm not going to have enough time to get it all through the dryer!  I usually put it in the dryer for 10-30 minutes anyway to get rid of the crunchiness and anything else that might have ended up on the clothes, and the seeds have all come off the clothes during that time.

Today's random picture is of masks.  We barely use these anymore since Omicron since we switched to KN95 masks and I really should move most of them to a different (but still accessible) location.  They don't need to be so prominent anymore.

Thursday: school

It feels like everyone in the area is getting out of school this week and we still have a week left.  While I enjoy having the kids in school, it also is nice to have them home for the summer.  (Have I mentioned it's going to be a busy summer?)

Today's random picture comes from right before nap time.  I often eat on the couch and don't make it to the bed before falling asleep.  The cats are also more likely to nap with me on the couch.

Tuesday: zoo

Joshua had a field trip to the zoo today!  It was a bit sad that it was right after Memorial Day, but we managed just fine.

We went via bus.  This was so much nicer than driving.

I had three boys in my group; here they are being meerkats.  The zoo was busy, although not as busy as some of the stories I've heard lately.  (The meerkat bubble was pretty crowded.)

We found a zookeeper waiting to put back some tortoises and willing to answer lots of questions.  It turns out that this tortoise is named Joshua!

We finished with about an hour to spare, so we went to the playground.  By this time it was hot and the playground was hot, so they only lasted about fifteen minutes.  It worked out perfectly though, because they were just starting to board the bus when we walked up!

Joshua still held my hand many times throughout our visit...it's pretty nice that he's still willing to do that.  Isaac did not hold my hand in Lansing.  (As is appropriate.  He doesn't hold my hand much any more, but it's still a bit sad.)

Weekend: Memorial Day Camping

 We went camping at the conference grounds again this year!  The weather was pretty nice...a bit cool on Saturday and Sunday morning, but warm after that.  We also rented a different RV and it was huge!  The boys had a little room of their own in the back with a door and it was nice.  I didn't hear them as much when they woke up.

There is a beach again, so we went on Sunday to play a bit.

Scooters were a hit!  Unfortunately, Joshua broke his three-wheeled one Saturday night.  Well, maybe not unfortunately, because Ben and I would really like to get him on the two-wheeled one he got for Christmas.  It's a bit more wobbly though, so he wasn't as excited.  He practiced on it a few times, but the excitement wasn't there yet.  We'll need to put that on the to-do list for the summer.

The playground changed and while Joshua still enjoyed it, Isaac was less than thrilled.  Apparently they took away a train that was fun to climb on top of and added a boat and some swings.

Joshua took several walks with me and we found all four swinging benches, a few other sitting places, and the recycling dumpster.  It was fun to have a walking buddy.

We also played family trivia and came in 5th place out of 16.  This surprised everyone, especially since Sports and Music were two of the categories.  We did have some help as two of our friends' kids were part of our family, but there was a lot of guessing.

As always, we had way too much sugar (but it was all delicious).  It was nice to catch up with our friends and just have some time away from everything.

Tuesday: Random picture of the day

 There's an app that, once a day at a random time, prompts you to take a picture of where ever you are or whatever you're doing.  However, I couldn't get my user name to be accepted.  It wouldn't tell me why and I tried a few iterations, so I eventually gave up.

But I still liked the idea.  And honestly, putting the random picture in the blog is a better place for me anyway...then I only have one place to document everything.  So I found a random alert that can do the same thing.  I don't know that I'll post all the pictures, but it's still a fun idea.

Today we ended up in the laundry room.  I didn't do laundry last week (Friday) because of camping and then there is always a ton of laundry from camping.  Honestly, it doesn't get done very quickly even on good days.  I'm 2.5 loads in and still have several left.  (I did a small load when we got home from camping so everyone would have enough clothes on Tuesday.)

I also went grocery shopping today.  I returned a bunch of pop cans, but forgot all of my reusable bags.  The store had everything that I needed though!  Even the things on my list that had been out of stock for several weeks were back.  While I know it had to happen at some point, with all the dire grocery shortage warnings I thought it would be worse.  I did stock up on some bread and threw it in the freezer.  Now I just need to remember to change it out once in a while until the wheat shortage actually hits.  (If?  I just looked it up instead of just listening to gossip and it doesn't sound dire for the US as we export a lot of wheat.  There are, of course, other issues at hand...supply chain, worker shortages, and gas prices that could affect things.)