Weekend

 It's been a busy weekend and we've seen people, but at the same time nothing all that noteworthy has happened.

My amaryllis finally bloomed.  It was a bit late, but I'm still enjoying it.

We did some rock climbing.  Isaac is on the Rockwall of the Week, which tends to have large pieces and is currently above his level.  But you get to sign your name on a piece of paper if you make it to the finish point and they are different than the normal routes so he's been spending a lot of time on them.  I know Joshua looks bored here but I think I just got him at a bad time.  On Saturday Isaac's friend Isis joined us and that was nice.

Thursday: star student

Apparently the latest popular question for the Star Student in Joshua's class is "If you could do anything, what would you do?"  Now, Joshua has already been star student, but he's been thinking about it.  He told me that if he could do anything he'd like to meet God.

And my heart melted a bit.  One of my biggest prayers is that the kids have a relationship with God, so it's nice to know that they think about God outside the adult-led times.

Wednesday: tired

After going to bed early last night I was still tired all day.  It was a poor day to be tired, because it was also busy.

I've had a friend come over some days night before school pick-up and we've been working on a puzzle.  The top edge was surprisingly hard; we ended up taking it apart and working our way up.

Not wanting to do anything else, I worked on a small section of the kitchen.

I didn't change much, but cleaned up the wall and under the cabinets well.  I straightened up some stuff so that it just looks nice too.  I was hoping to avoid any paint, but there are a few spots that really would look better with some touch up.

I only had one girl in my GEMS class this evening, but it was relaxed and pretty nice.

Tuesday: good till the end

Today was a pretty good day.  Mostly normal.  My second class asked more questions during practice time and that made the time go faster.

I did soak my shoes and socks when picking up the kids from school.  There are just too many puddles to avoid.  Then it was piano day.  I took my shoes and socks off during piano, but everything was still wet and blah.

I was doing ok until 8pm.  Something snapped.  I made it through books, but I was done.  'Don't talk to me I need to be alone' done.  (We are reading a fan fiction of Harry Potter where he gets sorted into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor.  I haven't enjoyed reading to the kids this much in a long time.  Not that the kids' books aren't usually good, but this one is holding my attention much better.)

I'm going to bed slightly early because I'm also rather tired.  Things will look up in the morning.

Monday: a hike

 The kids were off today because of MLK day.

I bribed them into a long hike with extra screen time.  They are also both doing something on the switch right now, so it felt like the TV was on especially more than normal today, even if they only had a little more screen time than normal.

Anyway, I think they enjoyed the hike.  Joshua especially enjoyed climbing all over this tree.

Sunday: graham cracker houses

 Last night Joshua slept in his castle.  It's cute.  I also left the door open to see if the cats would behave.  Horizon joined me at some point in the evening and nicely slept curled up by my legs.  (He does an excellent job sleeping with me.  However, he does not do an excellent job with Ben.)  After Joshua woke up the cats were chasing each other all over the room and I kicked them out, but happily fell back to sleep for a bit.

We finished our graham cracker houses in the afternoon.

Saturday: by ourselves

Ben left this morning for a work trip and will be gone several days.  I have a few things planned for the long weekend, but nothing special.  After the first half hour I was lamenting the lack of plans.

But then we fell into a rhythm.  Isaac and I played a game while Joshua set up his bed for a sleepover tonight.  It turned into a castle, with a gate, draw bridge, and separate rooms for him and Grey Bear.  

In good brotherly fashion Isaac went to check it out and before I knew it they were playing some imaginary game.  It went for a long time!  So I cleaned out another drawer.  Before you couldn't find anything but I could fit a lot of stuff in, now you can find everything but I couldn't fit everything in.  So something moved to a different drawer for the time-being.  I did get rid of some stuff, but not in the amazing way that some of the other drawers have changed.  I probably don't need all the pens/pencils/markers, but there's no real reason to get rid of them right now either.  They'll stay around until the next round of decluttering.

The planned activity of the day was graham cracker houses.  While usually a Christmas activity, it just didn't happen this Christmas.  (Also, there were plenty of treats during Christmas and we didn't need more.)  Both boys are getting much better in their creating skills.  Tomorrow is candy day.

Mine.  Small, like normal, to maximize the candy:graham cracker ratio.

Isaac's.  A modern take this year.  He lamented that a half graham cracker isn't a square, which makes building a bit harder.  He also has a non-modern well.

Joshua's.  The main person to try and cut the crackers this year.  (Ben often does something elaborate, but was ok not joining us this year.)  While his roof will be a bit leaky, I was excited to see how he put everything together.  Although you can't see it yet, there's also a fireplace inside.