Wednesday: food

I'm not sure when I'm going to get groceries this week.  I probably should have dealt with it earlier, but here I am.  I've been ordering them lately, especially while I'm in between house cleaners, but I still haven't figured out when to do it this week.  I could get them after picking up the kids tomorrow, but then I'd have to order them soon and I don't want to order them tonight.  I could pick them up after karate, but then I have the same ordering problem.  I could get them Friday, but would prefer to get them before picking up the kids after school and that's the first thing on my calendar.

Oh, such problems I have.

Monday: life

Today was a slightly odd day.  Joshua came home from school.  He's had a pretty bad cough and was laying on the couch when I came out this morning, so I picked him up.  He probably could have stayed, but at the same time the kids try really hard to push through on days I'm working so I give them one or two days per school year that are on the edge.

Joshua took the cold and cough medicine and proceeded to throw it up.  Like normal.  We went out to get some of the orange cough syrup and he held that down better.  I did make the day pretty boring though.

I finished putting shelves up in the storage room.  I've started moving stuff around and you can actually walk in the room now.  Next I get to keep decluttering and putting stuff back in, both of which I'm excited about.

This afternoon I had a massage as part of a "black belt congratulations" from Ben.  It was lovely.

At karate Mr. Galli was explaining how, when preforming a low block, both arms should move with the same power.  The next time we were supposed to do a low block I was super slow.  I feel like I was thinking about something else and my movements were a bit off.  He commented that I did use the same amount of power with both arms and we laughed about it.

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.