Sunday: Happy Birthday

Today was Ben's birthday.  I had a good day - hopefully he did too.

I had some unique present ideas and I was rather excited about one of them.  It was just a cutting board with Ben's name on it for building Lego sets on.  It actually took me longer than expected to find the right size in the right price range.

We also went out for lunch, had a special cheesecake, watched it snow, and played Space Base. 

...and I didn't manage to get any pictures. 

Saturday: another good day

 Today was just a nice day.  We finished up most of the Christmas decorations, I brought Isaac rock climbing, and did some work.

Let's see...I needed to do some grading because I was rather behind.  However, one of my graders had already graded about half of what I thought I needed to do (because it had been turned in late) and it was amazing.  I did it while Isaac was rock climbing, but was also able to belay him on a few courses and help out with some take-aways.

We mostly finished putting up the Christmas decorations.  I think there's still a few stragglers, but just a few small items.  Everything also needs to be put away.  Between empty boxes and taking apart Legos the main area has been a bit of a disaster lately, but it is starting to get better.  The house is fun.  I ordered some new lights this year so that all the house lights matched.  And I splurged and got special white/color LED lights and it has been so much fun.  First of all, there's are different colors and they can fade in and out and we've been having a fun time trying out the different schemes.  Secondly, the lights are about five times as long as the old light strings and so the whole house is covered with lights!  I knew they'd be longer, but I was expecting about twice as long.  Thirdly, the kids can do some of the stuff themselves.  Joshua put up some outdoor lights and Isaac did the downstairs lights and they both look great.  I'll get some pictures within a few days.

Wednesday: a good day

Today was a nice day.  All the males worked together on a Lego project.  Ben and I had a banking errand that went quickly and smoothly.  (That's what I was expecting, but sometimes these things take longer than expected.)  We started putting up Christmas decorations.  Joshua joined the game of Dominion that the rest of us were playing.  It isn't his favorite game, but he tends to do pretty well.  (Isaac won this time though.)  I didn't do a lot of house work, but still managed to cross a few things off my to-do list.

Tuesday: hmm

Hmmm...Joshua didn't have a fever today.  He was still complaining a bit about a sore throat, but is happy that he could go to school tomorrow.  He's especially happy that there is no school tomorrow!

I'm a bit grumpy tonight, but the things making me grumpy are all very small.  There were a lot of good things today too, and they're even-ing out the grump.  But nothing all that noteworthy.

Oh, a detail.  (I always make the kids give me two details in the car ride home after school.  It's interesting to see what they find noteworthy in the day...or, at the very least, what they can remember of the day.)  We got some large candy cane light up decorations a few years ago and this year the lights went out on one of them.  Joshua and I struggled to pull a new string of lights through and had really good team work.  In the end, the lights are a bit dimmer and Joshua didn't like the new look. :(  (I like the darker red, but we'll see if we can find something different.)

Monday: drugs, inverse Christmas

So, a majority of the family was on drugs today.

Ben had his back injection and took some medicine to relax.  It didn't kick in quite early enough but did kick in later in the day.

Joshua still has a fever.  It was pretty low this morning, but peaked again around dinner time.  It didn't surprise me; this is how fevers always seem to go.  He was feeling fine for most of the day, so that was nice at least.

Isaac had a tooth extraction and had laughing gas and a numbed jaw.  He doesn't think the laughing gas did much, but on the way home he was saying

"I know the first four..."

"...letters."  

30 second pause

"of my ZYXs."

So I think it got him just a bit.  He was happy that it was much easier than expected - the adult tooth was helping it come out but wasn't coming up quite fast enough.

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Since Christmas is coming up soon we're starting to take down all the Lego sets that have been up for a while to make room for Christmas decorations.  It means we currently have an inverse Christmas going on in the family area - choose a bag and then take it apart.  What it really means is that we'll need to watch a movie this weekend so that everyone can help.

Sunday: Fever, more Chicago pictures

 Joshua has a fever.  When I woke up this morning he was laying still on the couch and had an elevated but not unreasonable temperature.  I gave him some meds and he perked up.  Then, about seven hours later he was back on the couch, this time with an actual fever.  Plans for tomorrow had to be suddenly altered since he'll be home from school.

We also got some more pictures from Chicago!

Saturday

 Joshua had a friend sleep over last night and they had a great time.  He's been here over night before, but this time schedules worked out so that he could stay a little longer in the morning.  They played Minecraft last night (and were SO excited).  I'm pretty sure that's all they've talked about for the last week at recess.  All three boys played some game with the Legos this morning.

This afternoon for family activity time we got out our pick-a-bricks from Chicago.  The pick-a-brick wall had some really nice pieces, so we all got our own cups.

I made some flowers.  I had a really good time making them.  The big purple one was really heavy and required a double stem to support it.  And my favorite...I'm not really sure.  The pink one turned out a lot cooler than I was expecting.

Ben made a seaside mansion with several different types of architectural styles.

Joshua made a house with floating islands.  He used a large door as part of the roof, and it was a really neat use of that piece.

Isaac made a bunch of hidden eyes - some more hidden than others.

This one was my favorite.  The clear pieces in front of the eyes made it look like there were a lot of eyes.