Monday: a cabinet

There was a lot of normal stuff today, but I made some time to work on cleaning a cabinet.  The kitchen is taking so long to get through.  There are a lot of little victories and it's easy to do a little bit at a time, but there's still quite a bit to go.  I almost feel as though by the time I'm done it'll be time to start all over.

The exciting part was that when I took the drawers out of the cabinet I realized the rails could move, just like normal shelves in a cabinet.  I ended up not moving them because I was happy with where they are, but it was an interesting discovery.

I got rid of a medium amount.  Enough to make the cleaning very worth while, but not so much that I'm awed at how different the shelves look now.

Sunday: family time

Today we had official family time.  It's not much different from most of Saturday other than it's mandatory.  Usually we do a game, but Joshua has never been a fan of that and it was his turn to choose.  So we opened up the options for him today and he chose a Lego challenge: everyone had to make a boat.

Due to time restraints, we had about 35 minutes before dinner.  Ben said we'd try to finish in 15 and then maybe do another challenge.  

At the 15 minute mark Isaac was done and no one else was close.  So, as I expected, we extended the time.  Isaac made a second boat.

Ben made the black boat.  I missed most of the story behind it.  I made the Christmas raft in the front.  It has presents!  It also has holes in the bottom of the boat as it turns out making the sides and then trying to backfill the bottom doesn't work all that well.  Joshua has a boat bathhouse on the right.  He has a tiny boat in a bathtub in a house.  There's also a red towel that you can barely see.  Isaac first made the back right boat: I think it's supposed to be underwater with a bunch of animals on it.  Then he made the top left boat.  The boat that you can see above water is a decoy; the actual boat is a submarine underneath.

Saturday: yesterday

Well, yesterday we finally got the schedule and some of the extra requirements for receiving our black belts.  I'll admit...it was a bit much.  I know they have a tight schedule with everything that they're trying to do at the school, but they put one test on the first Friday of spring break and one on Memorial day weekend.  There's a note that says no retests, although I'm not really sure that they'll be able to accommodate that.  There also feels like a ton of extra things to do on top of the extra practices.  I understand the reasons for almost everything, but this commitment has added about 2.5 hours/week that I need to be at the school.  (For some weeks.  Some weeks won't be as bad.)

There's also a requirement for "Empathy Training" because they want us to understand how to put yourself in others' shoes.  So I'm not supposed to talk for eight hours and supposed to be blind-folded for a different eight hours (although that can be broken up).  Again, I understand the logic behind it.  But being blind-folded will be boring.  If I was actually blind I'd have a system in place, technology to help me, and hobbies to fill the time.   This one requirement is annoying me the most out of everything.  I think I'll give it a good try and then possibly write my paragraph(s) on why I stopped.

The family talked today because I'll obviously need a bit more support - if nothing else than being gone more.  They were all on board.  The kids really stepped it up and are helping me with training too.  Joshua "made" me do my exercises this afternoon and Isaac set up a ticket system to help reward me for what I do.

Thursday: conferences

We had parent-teacher conferences tonight.

They both went very well.  Joshua seems to be harder on himself than I realized.  He's working hard, doing well, and participating appropriately.  A very normal conference for Joshua.

Isaac's conference seemed a little different than normal as we looked at his grade report, saw it was good, and moved on to other things.  In the past teachers have always had examples of work to show us.  (This wasn't good or bad, just different.)  The teacher has been keeping him sitting together with one other student because they're getting along well and they balance each other out: Isaac is quiet, the other kid is loud.  But apparently the other kid is also funny, and Isaac self-reported that he has to work on not laughing at inappropriate times.  Anyway, for the first time we heard that he's becoming more social which is amazing.  

One of the most interesting things of the night was as we were leaving the teacher across the hall was standing outside and mentioned that she loves Isaac too.  It's one thing for your own teacher to enjoy you, but it was surprising to have another teacher say it.

Wednesday: plugging away

I didn't get all my "I hope to finish" tasks finished today, but I was honestly kind of expecting that.  There was a lot more computer work than normal and that usually isn't quite as fun.

But a friend came over and we started a new puzzle, so that was nice.

vacation Wednesday: leaving

We had an evening flight so we had most of the day to enjoy.

We had a delicious breakfast first.  And saw some friends.

Afterwards we went back to the room and I took a nap.  I wasn't feeling terrible, but I also wasn't feeling normal.  The kids had some reading and screen time.

Around the time I woke up it was getting close to lunch.  We went to the pool for a while and ate there.  I came back about 20 minutes before everyone else and finished packing.  Packing to go home is so much easier because everything is close and all I have to do is find everything, not decide I need it and find it.

We flew out of the small Orlando airport and it definitely was a small regional airport!  There was no line for security.  There also weren't many food options, so we ended up getting a bunch of snacks.  The kids were excited about it.  This airport also had the coolest faucets I've ever seen.  They were wide, and on the left was the soap dispenser, then in the middle was the water, and the on the right was a blower.  The blower blew right into the sink which seemed so smart.

The flight was about 40 minutes late, but we didn't have a connection so it worked out.  I had pjs and toothbrushes in the carry ons, so the kids got ready before we left the airport.  They fell asleep in the car and only needed to move themselves to their beds once we got home.  It was around midnight when I crawled into bed.  I had been hoping for closer to 11pm, but it at least wasn't too far off.

Tuesday: students

Today I had a funny story about one student and a sad story about another student.  I don't really feel it's appropriate to write the funny story down (and especially not the sad story) so you'll just have to ask me when you see me.