Sunday: homework

Joshua had some homework this weekend: to learn about a family member that emigrated to the US.  We think that my grandpa, Glenn DeKryger, was the most recent emigrant within the family and so we chose him.

And then we proceeded to make a few phone calls to actually figure out the information.  I knew the name (phew) and the origin country (Netherlands), but we didn't know the rest.  Aunt C helped us with the year: he emigrated in 1909, when he was one year old.  Aunt Susan helpfully pointed out that the reason for emigrating was because his parents brought him over.  Uncle Lee gave a more applicable reason: there was no more farm land for purchase in the Netherlands.

Saturday: LEGO challenge

It was Joshua's week to choose the family activity, so as normal he chose a Lego challenge.  He and Ben have been building a lot of castles lately, so Joshua had us all build a micro-castle (in an hour)

I made a blue castle.  It had a name that I've now forgotten.  After all was said and done I said it was supposed to be in the water.  It's a blue ombre, but it was rather surprising how hard it was to find enough of the different colors in shapes that would work.

Ben made a cloud castle.

Isaac also made a cloud castle.  His middle portion wobbled a bit which was pretty funny.

Joshua made a lightning castle.  It was pretty amazing how much he was able to build in an hour.

Friday: prayer room

Our church is doing a 24/7 prayer week as we start a series on prayer.  I signed up for an hour today.

It went faster than expected, but the church also did a nice job of setting it up so that you could move between several different options of prayer practices.  I found myself spending a significant amount of time with the liturgy books.   While the liturgies themselves were helpful, I also found just looking through the table of contents a worthwhile practice.  For every event in life: large, small, and everything in between there is a place for God and a place to connect with God.

Thursday: better

 The kids seemed to have a better day today.  Phew.

I had a fine day.  There was a small exam, so those days tend to be easier.  (Sometimes more boring, but not too bad this time.)

All the after school activities got done.  There was a slight conflict between a dentist appointment and rock climbing, so I dropped Isaac off at rock climbing right after school.  He did some homework for a while before climbing.

And now it is time for bed.

Wednesday: the kids

 I feel like I kept consoling the children today.  I don't have good solutions, especially for Joshua, so it's a bit annoying.

The first thing I heard upon walking out of the bedroom was Joshua complaining about the evening activities (Cadets at church).

Isaac then complained about not having enough time to play with Legos.  I told him that he would probably have enough time tonight.

I proceeded on with my day.  A bunch of little stuff, along with getting another little shelf up.  One more shelf and I can move on with the organizing.

I picked up the kids and Isaac was almost in tears.  Not quite, but almost.  He had more homework than expected and was so sad that he wasn't going to get his Lego time.  So we talked through it...what he had to do and what wasn't really due tomorrow.  He ended up getting an hour of Lego time before homework, which he was not expecting.  Tomorrow might be a little rough, but we'll deal with that tomorrow.

At bedtime Joshua was sad about all the extra activities and chores and how he didn't have any time to play.  Is he busier than last year?  A little bit.  Are some days busier than others?  Yes.  I haven't felt as though he has a lack of play time though.  School's been a bit...weird, so I don't think that is helping.

Tuesday: running around

This morning didn't really go as planned.  The first class...just made some mistakes during lecture and it took both me and the TA quite a while to get everyone on track.  Then my laptop (with the notes and zoom) died.  I rushed through the last part of class, but phew, it was a rough one.  (The second class was about 15 minutes faster, which considering the whole class is only 80 minutes is quite a bit!)

I knocked my water bottle off my desk during lunch.  It broke.  But it wasn't really keeping my hot water hot nor was it easy to drink from, so maybe it's for the best.

It was a driving day.  I did a lot of shuttling people around.  Isaac did mention that he's not getting all of his lunch eaten because he's talking at lunch.  I think he talks to people more than I realize and is just a quiet social person.  After years of him playing by himself on the playground this seems perfect to me.  He can be by himself but he can still interacts well.  At least, I hope that's what is happening.

Joshua had a slightly bad day again.  Not as bad as yesterday, but there are just somethings he doesn't enjoy at school and he seems to fixate on those a bit.

We took a short bike ride after school because Isaac had finished most of his homework (yay!).  Isaac tried out his new bike and it worked well.  It's probably slightly too big for him, but not unsafe.  You can see Joshua way up in front; he worked really hard to go fast on his tiny bike.

And I'm exhausted.  Perhaps because it was a busy day, perhaps because I haven't slept super well the last few nights.  I'm contemplating going to bed early, but it takes effort to get out of the chair and move.  I could also just sit here a little longer.

Monday: success

I got up the shelves in the storage room and man-handled the filing cabinet into position.

We've decided to put some small shelves above the filing cabinet while we're at it, because why not.  Otherwise it's really a waste of space.  I also finished sorting out all the decluttering stuff from this summer that the boys gave me from their bedrooms.  I threw out, recycled, and donated a ton of stuff, but I still have quite a few things that still need to be dealt with.  Some of them will be returned to their original locations or correct homes, some will be regrouped with their other pieces, and some...will be dealt with.  Those are the ones that scare me the most.

Joshua had a rough day today.  Nothing all that big went wrong, but a lot of little things.  Therefore, I didn't make him (and Isaac) eat the dinner that I had planned on for tonight.  It's a small thing, but I really felt like "one more thing" might make him lose it.  He didn't fight me on the chores at least.