Sunday: Moodle and Christmas Ruiners

There were two surprises today.  First is that Moodle, the website for organizing class stuff, was down today.  It's been down since at least noon, and it is still down.  Normally this would be a minor problem, but it is exam week this coming week and students can't access material they need.  I have the first exam slot tomorrow!  I had been all excited because that's the best time slot, but my excitement has been dampened.

Now, I have been somewhat proactive.  I sent out some of the study guides and class recordings this afternoon.  I've sent out links for the homework instructions too, because it was all in google drive.  However, I did remind students that I have a firm policy that no late homework is accepted after the exam, even if there is an emergency.  This isn't the emergency I envisioned, but I'm holding the policy firm anyway - the homework was already late and they were warned multiple times.

The Dean's Council also sent out an email with some suggestions.  I'm letting students have a bit more time and will double check the grades between the two classes to make sure there isn't a huge difference.  I don't expect there will be.  Most students seem to have the material down.

It will be annoying, but just annoying, if Moodle is still down in the morning.  They'll have to email me the files instead of submitting them to Moodle, so it'll take a bit more time organizing everything.

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Secondly, the Christmas Ruiners were out in force today!  Yesterday one just had a few babies, but today there were a ton baby Ruiners!  They were trying to steal my coat.  And just like all babies, they are super cute.

One of them also left me a poorly spelled and written letter saying their dad was trapped in the top of the microwave, so the first thing I got to do was save a Ruiner.

Honestly, it's been so much fun.  The little guys hide everywhere so I'm finding them throughout the day.  There was one in the carrots, one in a stocking, and several just around.

Saturday: helpful

It was a good day today.  It had been a bit of a week, so we all just stayed home and enjoyed that.  It also felt like we were especially helpful today.  Joshua was willing to find me a Lego piece and bring down a tray, I was willing to go help him wrap a present, we cooperatively helped each other win a game.  I'll admit, it also seemed like a loud day, but for the most part it was a happy loud and so Ben and I don't ask for quiet too much.  Some.  No stomping.  But some of it we let go too.

However, the Christmas Ruiners were not helpful.  I opened another one of my advent calendar doors to find a note that said to open a second door.  No Christmas Ruiners in either door!  I think they all left during the night.

Friday: ahhh

I got to stay home most of the day today.  It was nice - it's been a while.  I did take longer than I hoped writing the final exam, but it's done now.

The Christmas Ruiners and SMTWRFSs didn't do anything last night, but I nailed two of the SMTWRFSs to the wall because they are the ones that always cause the jail breaks.  When I told that to the kids you could tell that Joshua thought I actually nailed them to the wall.

I also finally got some work done on O:CtH - basement bathroom edition.  I only got through one cabinet, but it felt good.  I threw out several items, including an old kid tunnel that we let the cats play with a few times.  They enjoyed it one last time.

Here are some of the pictures of the decorated house.  We spread things out a bit more this year and I really like how it feels slightly less cluttered than normal.

Thursday: more Christmas Ruiners and SMTWRFSs

This morning the SMTWRFSs were stealing presents, again.  They got them to the table and were taking them away.

I then got a box from Isaac who said it seemed like an Advent calendar from the Christmas Ruiners...so each day I get a new Ruiner.

Today was the last day of classes.  It's been a long semester.  I still need to finish writing the exam tomorrow...it won't really be fun, but I think I have the base files all set.  That's often the hardest part, so that's a relief.

Wednesday: fun!

 It was rather good day today.

The Christmas Ruiners and the SMTWRFSs were up to a ton of mischief when I woke up this morning.  Some of the Christmas Ruiners were trying to steal an empty box (jokes on them!) and the SMTWRFSs were sending presents from our Lego display up a conveyor belt into a pool of lava.  I sent them all to jail and taped the instigators to the wall.

I had lunch with a friend.  A friend came over for a brief puzzle time before picking up our kids from school.  I had lunch with a friend yesterday.  I know I complain about not getting all my work done sometimes, but I realized there is a good reason for it, that I wouldn't change.

Our raid in WoW killed the last boss on normal difficulty today.  We only worked on him 1.5 nights, so that was rather amazing.  

Monday: 5 minute dungeon

Last night at the Christmas party we gave Joshua a game called 5-minute-dungeon.  He has taken to the game more than I was even hoping, and got Ben and Isaac to play it this evening even though it meant foregoing screen time.

I got about the amount of work done today that I was hoping to.  Sort of.  There's still a lot on the list, but since the kids had screen time after school I was able to finish some of the things that I really wanted to get done.

Sunday: Advent candle

The third grade Sunday school lit the Advent candle this week.  I was going to grab a screenshot from the streaming video, but it started too late so I only got a far away picture.  Joshua didn't want to say anything, so he just stood up there with his friends.