Monday: doing the stuff

 I just kept at my to-do list today.  I got a lot done, but there's always a lot to do.  I haven't worked on Operation: Clean the House for several weeks and I'd like to.  But between normal things and Hope work needing a bit of extra time, O:CtH hasn't gotten any time.

Saturday: Chicago

We came down to Chicago for the weekend with some friends.

We all left on our own from the Holland/Zeeland area.  Two of them found each other about four miles from the Museum of Science and Industry and we found the other two cars about a mile away.  It was a bit crazy and a great start to the weekend.

We got to ride escalators up.  The kids love escalators.

We did the U-boat 505 tour first.  I haven't been here that many times, but I'm not sure I've done it before.  The boat was crazy small for the number of sailors on it.

The jolly ball was a hit as normal.

And the mirror maze was probably the star of the museum.

We went to the space area, saw the volcano movie, and then spent some time in weather and storms.  Each family was pretty much done by that point.  We were going to just leave but each family ended up going to another small exhibit and then leaving.  Time-wise it did work out pretty well 

After arriving to the hotel we walked to the LEGO store.  Oh, the pick-a-brick wall had some really good pieces!

We ended the night by going to a Greek restaurant.  The problem was that the people that had the table ahead of us didn't leave.  They paid the bill and then sat there for over a half hour.  Our group was doing mostly ok.  The kids got some screen time and the adults held it together.  They were finally able to seat us over an hour after we had arrived at a different table.  Chris ordered for us and it was amazing.  The food was amazing and not having to figure out what to order was amazing.  For the most part he just got a lot of the same and we spread it around.  It started with bread, which we ravenously tore apart.  Then some flaming cheese, a creamy rice and chicken soup, and some gyros.  He got Ben some pasta which was ideal for him and Isaac.  By the time we were done eating it was about 10 EST and our kids were done.  We left a bit before the other families because the kids were dropping fast.  

Friday: Grey Bear

Every day that I don't work Grey Bear waits for me in the lamp for nap time.  He's there, ready and waiting, when I come out of the bedroom in the morning.  He always has a smile on his face while waiting.

Thursday: kicks

 I was at karate and we were practicing assorted double kicks.  (Roundhouse --> spinning hook, roundhouse - hook).  I wasn't doing great, but my partner was nice.  Then we got to "start as a front kick but after the chamber change to a roundhouse".  I did it a few times and then my right leg felt weird.  We switched and she did it several times while I was wondering about my leg.  We switched back.  I did it one more time and it was a mistake.  My whole leg went slightly numb.  Not as bad as when a leg falls asleep, but enough that I needed to stop.  Within about fifteen minutes there was just a ghost numbness - it might have been my brain over-feeling by that point.

In any case, it was rather weird.  I've never had my leg suddenly go numb like that.  It was a bad night for injuries - real and imagined.  There were only 12 students and three went off the floor at some point for assorted reasons.  Usually we can go weeks without any injuries.

Wednesday: work

I didn't really get a lot of housework done today.  At least not nearly as much as I was hoping for.  However, I did create a homework and I needed to get that done soon and so that was a good feeling.

I had a hard time waking up from my nap.  That didn't help with getting stuff done.

The boys and I did a lot of traps after school.  I know the kids always love them, but there were more than I expected today.

We had grilled cheese for dinner - it was delicious.

Monday: grocery adventures

It felt like I got a lot done today.

I started at the grocery store.  I didn't go last week, which turned into a problem as we had less and less fresh food.  Well, baby carrots were on sale and they were the small size, so I got five bags.  (I also try to stock up when they're smaller.  I don't know why they aren't always a uniform size, but some weeks the baby carrots are noticeably larger than other weeks.)

I also stocked up on 100 grand for Isaac.  It turned out they were classified as Halloween candy and were on sale for more than advertised: $.53/bag.  I almost went to get more, but we still have some from last year because he was rationing them well.

There was no iced tea for spice tea, so I ended up making a walmart order for 7 jars of the stuff to get the free shipping.  It'll take me a little bit to get through that much, but not as long as one might expect.

Grocery shopping with the new phone was annoying.  I'm pretty sure there were many things that I missed and will realize in the coming weeks.

At home several things got done too.  Several little things, but the Christmas lists are almost finished.  Adding a few more things for the kids took longer than I expected, but we also have a nice assortment of ideas.

Joshua won the moral focus award for Respect this month.  (Isaac did too, but he couldn't even remember what the award was for when asked.)

And a nice photo from the field trip came through:

Sunday: normal

Today was back to being a pretty normal day - other than falling back to standard time.  The kids woke up early, as expected, but before our fan was on to drown out the noise.  Since I don't have the app on my phone to turn it on, I had to (horror of horrors) actually get up and turn it on.  I never fully got back to sleep after that.

As normal, we went to church.  After nap time we didn't get family together time in today, but three of us finished up a game from last night, I finally got all the laundry washed and dried, and the kitchen isn't a complete disaster.  Everyone worked on Christmas lists too, so those are coming along well.  Ben and I also looked through some paperwork that has needed to be reviewed for several weeks.

This picture was from a few days ago, but I don't have anything more recent.  Joshua was in the middle of eating, but I took it anyway.