last Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was a nice day.  We did church at home and then the kids helped with the fruit for Thanksgiving dinner while I made the corn pudding.  We already had the pomegranates done and were just using canned pineapple, so food prep on our side was rather easy.

The Box was brought over and proved to be a hit.

Dinner was delicious, as always.  I claimed the right to carve the turkey.  I'm not a great turkey carver, but I'm willing!

 

Afterwards we talked, played some games, and I took a quick nap.  We snacked a bit near dinner time.  And by snacked, I made a plate of food for myself and told the boys they had to eat something healthy before more dessert.  I think Joshua listened to me, but I think Isaac just didn't eat.

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!