life: an assortment of things

I have a bunch of pictures and whatnot in my email that I've forgotten to share...

Joshua got his first trophy at piano.  About every quarter they have a little test and usually achieve a bracelet, but it's been about a year and he got a trophy.  He's really been looking forward to this.

Last blood donation I achieve 3 gallons donated and received this official .gif.  (I could also order a pin, but I don't really need that.)

Isaac received a behavior report:

Encouraged Behavior

Observed Behavior: Working Hard

Behavior Date: 2024-02-13

Notes: Way to go on your ELA quiz! You always work so hard and do your best! So proud of you! Keep up the hard work!

Joshua during reading groups.  Joshua's teacher does a great job sending pictures.

A nice day outside

Math bowl (around super bowl time)

Multiplication practice:

Playing in the snow:

vacation Monday: travel home

Today we traveled home.  Everything went really smoothly.  Well, I guess Isaac and I had the traveling grumps on the way home, but we all survived that.  I was so tired again when we got home.  I usually don't have the same stress coming home from vacation that I do leaving for vacation, but oh, I was so tired.  I think I went to bed 2.5 hours early and was asleep two hours early.

We had a few hours in the morning before we had to leave.

Isaac jumped in the pool so Creeper could see a water explosion. 

Joshua played Tic-Tac-Toe with Grandpa.  They also took another Vespa ride.

I was a Mom-pillow on the way to the airport.  Turns out that the kids really like using me for a pillow and were a bit sad when there were only four of us in the car and I sat in the front.

vacation Sunday: beach?

On Sunday we went to Fort Myers beach.  Oddly enough, we went to a pool near the beach.  Isaac joined me for one walk on the beach itself to get some shells and I went for a second walk by myself, but most people stayed by the pool.  Oh, I should add a side note.  Joshua tried to join us for a walk on the beach but it turns out he had scraped up his toes pretty badly on the pool and it hurt to walk.  Ben did it a little bit too.

The pool was heated to a lovely temperature and Joshua was in it most of the time.  We had brought a few tiny beach balls and he played a lot of catch with different people as we rotated in and out.   Again, a lovely and relaxing day.

vacation Saturday: boat ride

 Oh, I'm doing this rather late and didn't take pictures of the whole day.  I'm sure Isaac was in the pool and that both kids played with ducks.  I think Joshua went on a Vespa ride with Grandpa and that Ben let Isaac drive the Vespa (while having his hands very close and ready to take over).

We also went on a boat ride.  Not really to anywhere though, because many marinas are still recovering from the hurricane two years ago and haven't rebuilt.  The others were all full.  It was still a very nice boat ride though!  In the sun was a nice temperature, especially when we were going fast.

Sunday: a nice day

The weather today was beautiful and Joshua said he wanted to go to a playground.  Isaac didn't want to go, and since he had a rather busy weekend I didn't want to push it.  I ended up making a call to one of Joshua's friend as we were pretty much putting our shoes on and he was interested in going.  We picked him up and the boys were able to hang out together.  The kid doesn't go to Joshua's school anymore, so it's nice to be able to get them together once in a while still.  It also turns out that he lives quite close, which is an added bonus.

I realized I've missed several days of blogging.  It's just been normal busy over here.  The kids didn't have school on Friday and I'm still finishing the last of the unpacking and catching up from vacation.  The to-do has exploded, but I'm hopeful it will be back to normal levels after tomorrow.

Wednesday: people and cats

I had to do a lot of errands today.  It was a bit annoying leaving the house so many times.  But I did get several things done - and there are several to go.

Tornado was rather clingy today and wanted to be held and carried around a lot.

Tuesday: back to normal

Well, everyone went back to school and work today.  Sort of.  Ben took an extra day off, but we were all back home.

For the most part it was a normal day.  However, at school pickup there were three of us wearing black pants with the exact same color (burnt orange) top.  It was a bit surprising.