Thursday: blog

Isaac's math class at Hope lets them stay for up to 45 minutes after the class to make homework corrections, get more help, or just hang out.  It's super nice for me because Joshua gets out a few minutes later than last year and it gives him a place to be until I get there.  I think I showed up about 10 minutes after class ended, and I was able to drop Joshua off at home.  It only adds a minute or two to the drive to go get Isaac, but let's Joshua not be in the car for at least 20 minutes.

Anyway, he had some minor homework corrections so he had time for those, and then he made a puzzle for his teacher.  It was a good one.

After rock climbing he asked me if I remembered that other puzzle that we worked on earlier in the summer, that a and b...  I immediately said yes!  I even blogged about it so we can read that to help remember.  Isaac seemed pretty happy about that.

Wednesday: lecture

 Stuff got done today.  Today is my boring weekly chore day, so I was happy that I was able to get a few other things done too - that doesn't always happen.

My arms are sore from rock climbing yesterday.  It's probably the first time I've actually been sore; Joshua worked me hard.

This evening Ben and I went to the Gentile lecture at Hope College.  It was given by one of the guys that he lived with senior year in Reese, Dr. Chris Avery.  It was interesting and not too long...no one fell asleep. :D  But really, it was pretty interesting.  Afterwards we went to dinner with Andy and Natalie and that was really nice too.  It's nice to be able to leave the kids for a while, but Joshua was also really happy that we were back in time for books before bed.

Tuesday: rock climbing

Joshua and I climbed while Isaac was practicing with his team.  This was probably the best climbing session I've had with Joshua.  I felt like he helped me more than normal...

*We worked on the rock wall of the week - apparently it's a pretty easy one.  Well, neither of us got it but Joshua climbed the middle part really well and give me a bunch of tips.  I got zone and several times got farther than the last time.

*There was an auto belay that I could only get half way up.  I watched Joshua do it and got an idea for how to get a little farther.  I didn't get much farther because my arms were tired.

*Joshua convinced me to try a new route in the cave.  I flashed it!

*Joshua tried a few new routes on the auto-belay based on my recommendation and enjoyed them.

It's a slight running joke that Isaac and Joshua enjoy bouldering more than the belays and I enjoy the belays more and neither of us can understand the other.  We talked it out in the car and I like belays more because it isn't as scary to fall.  They don't like dealing with the harness and safety checks that come with the belays; they just want to climb.

Monday: we'll make it

Today felt odd, but I'm not really sure why.  Grading went a bit faster than expected today and I had coffee with Pat this morning.  I was just sitting down after that to finish the last two lab reports when I got a call saying Joshua wasn't feeling very good.  

So I went back out to get him.  He didn't look amazing, but he wasn't all that sick either.  We both had lunch and took a nap; it seemed to help him out.  I feel like he always has one of these days in the first few weeks of school and I'm not really sure why.

I finished grading along with a few other small random things after nap time.  I don't feel like I got a ton of stuff done today, but it really was pretty productive in the end.  I am not winding down like I normally do at night, which might be a problem.  We'll see I guess.

Sunday: D&D

So, in our last D&D round Joshua had managed to get a potion of acid resistance.  (Not at all ominous, right?)  Today's fight was against some puddings that dealt acid damage.  A lot of acid damage.  What does Joshua do?  Drink the potion?  Oh no.  He throws the potion at one of the puddings.  (Isaac and I did not really agree with this action, but not too vehemently.  He gets to decide his own actions.)

Our fearless dungeon master was not expecting that.  The internet was not expecting that and had no guidance on what happens when an acid monster drinks an acid resistance potion.  So Ben made it up.  The pudding globbed over it, eroded the container, and reacted very poorly to the potion.  It didn't quite kill it, but almost.

Was this the best choice?  Still unclear.  There were two other puddings to deal with and they rolled well, so a lot of damage was given by them.  However, they were also very strong, so getting one out of the way quickly was helpful.  Either way, it was a fun choice.

Thursday: busy day

 Thursdays will be our busy day.  The other days all of have aspect of busy, but Thursday is the day I have extra help sessions and in the evening we're all going in different directions.  (However, I did make all my appointments today!  On time without reminders even.)

And so we finally reached 8pm and time for books.  I did fine with the prayer and the Bible reading and then started reading our story book...and also falling asleep.  There were a few words that I stretched out a lot, but then the kids would start laughing at me and I'd wake up.  I could tell the whole thing was a bit rough...normally I read a few words ahead to help with context and voice and whatnot, but tonight that wasn't working.  I was reading one word at a time and it was not going well.  

It's been a while since I've read out loud and fallen asleep, but there were a few times when the kids were so small that it happened.  I always felt bad about it because I love to read, but sitting down, snuggling with warm bodies on not quite enough sleep just did me in.

Wednesday: chores

I was able to work on chores today.  It's amazing how it can sometimes feel like a luxury to have time time to do them.  For the most part though, they were boring chores.  I did make some raspberry jam, although it didn't seem to be setting very well.  Oh well, I'll use it like jam anyway.  My to do list has gotten slightly smaller, but there are still a lot of things on the "this is important to do soon" list.

I put the baby gate back up today.  After asking people multiple times to please take stuff downstairs and put it away and everyone, including myself, 95% ignoring me, I put it up as a reminder barrier.  It has an aggressive sign that says "BRING SOMETHING DOWNSTAIRS."  It's been amazing in the four hours it's been up - about a third of the stuff has been brought down.

I also got a jury summons for next month.  Of course.  It's been a crazy week so let's just add that on top of it.  I asked for a deferral until December and they granted it.  I know December is often busy too, but teaching wise it's easier to hand off to someone else.  Don't worry - I'll complain if I get called on a week I didn't want to be called on.  (The first week of December would actually work really well.)