Thursday: the day

Tornado was cute this morning.

Christmas Ruiners were trying to steal Ben's present.

Christmas Ruiner babies teleported to a different container.  Joke's on them though; it is my backup jail.

This morning Cheryl and I volunteered at Kids' Food Basket.  I cut everything close...we go there just in time with just enough gas.  (ok, I still had 14 miles left.  I was going to get gas yesterday when I got groceries, but then there was a snow day and I forgot that I needed to leave early enough to do it today.)  I got home just in time to start an on-line exam.

Horizon wouldn't stop eating the Christmas tree, so he went in jail.  It was the place in the house with the easiest to clean floors in case he threw up again.  He doesn't really get along with the Christmas tree, or any greenery for that matter, but he is addicted to it.

I wrapped a bunch of presents.  They're not under the tree because they aren't for our first Christmas.

We got a surprise gift tonight from some friends!  We've been looking for an expansion to one of our favorite games, Space Base.  It's out of print and pretty much impossible to find.  Well, we were talking about it to our gaming friends and they just happened to have an unopened copy sitting on their shelf.  Since it had been sitting there for a few years, they sent it over to us.  It was probably the best part of the day.

 

Wednesday: snow day!

It was a lovely snow day.  While I'm not sure that it was needed in the end, I was still glad it was called.  Overnight we had a bunch of melting and it was supposed to freeze mid-day, so the roads could have been really bad during pick-up.

On top of that, it felt like a productive snow day.  The kids slowly worked through some chores.  I got quite a bit done, including shoveling the end of the driveway twice.  I also played games with both kids, they played outside for a bit, and I took a nap.  I decided not to go to karate.  The roads probably would have been fine, but sometimes it's ok not to go too.  We were all putting together some Lego sets by the fire, so it was a lovely family time.

Monday/Tuesday

Aunt C dropped by to get some boxes.  Horizon ran right up to her and meowed so loudly and so much.  She brings out something special in him.

 

The Christmas Ruiners escaped this morning.  Who knows how they found TNT...Isaac thinks it was Ruiners that hadn't been put in jail.  I found one in my rock climbing shoe tonight.

All the exams have been taken!  I have five more individual tests to grade (as in 10% of an assignment) and about 60% of the finals.  I had several graders that sounded interested in grading this week, so I'm going to pause on the finals and see if they happen to all get done.  At least, that is my goal.  I know myself and if they aren't very far by Thursday or Friday I might start grading some.  It's amazing how much time I have when I have exams early in the week instead of at the end of the week!

Sunday-ish: in pictures

Friday: Isaac has been wearing this hat, named Flippy-Floppy, since kindergarten.  We'll all a bit surprised that it still fits and that it hasn't been permanently lost.

Friday: A new SMTWRFS showed up and it was too big for jail, so it is under the jail.  It seems like it shouldn't be able to escape.

...all the SMTWRFS escaped Sunday morning.

One was trying to shoot themselves into the Christmas tree.

Two were trying to climb into the Christmas village.

The Christmas ruiners are also coming out.  They have a TV in their jail.

...oh, just kidding.  It's a portal to the basement.  I put this portal in the SMTWRFS's jail, so they can portal between the two areas.

I left the SMTWRFS jail open while snow blowing, thinking they only moved at night.  This was a false assumption and they started to escape again!

We're also working on putting arms and hands back on mini-figs that have lost them.  No one wants to play with an armless or handless mini-fig unless it is really, really the piece they need.  Isaac arranged the ones that have received arms and hands so that they are cheering.  (It really makes me so relieved to finish up a torso with all it's parts.  It's just so sad when parts are missing.)

Friday: lovie tower.

Wednesday: it's that time of year again...I just buy butter because I think I might need it and end up with way too much butter.

Saturday: funeral

I went to Uncle Dave's funeral today.  It's been a while since I've seen a lot of the Fremont crew - I think 2016.  I missed one family reunion and a wedding since then because I had other plans before hearing the date.

Anyway, it was nice to see people, but the funeral itself was unexpectedly hard.  It wasn't hard because Uncle Dave died; it was hard because Mom died.  

It is sad that Uncle Dave died.  He was a fun uncle, a kid at heart, and loved God so much.  But at the same time he was recently moved to a memory unit and was dealing with macular degeneration...things were not going well and he was not the person he used to be.  He lived a good life and the funeral was truly a celebration of his life.  Two things can be true at the same time.  We can be sad he's no longer with us and happy that he is in heaven with Jesus.

Oh, the funeral reminded me so much of Mom.  I went into the sanctuary fully expecting to be ok: I hadn't even brought tissues.  But as we were sitting there all the memories and the grief came back before the service even started.  The grief isn't less, life has just grown around it.  But the flowers, the front row, and Mom's family just brought back too much.  Honestly, I felt a little silly about that.  This was not a funeral for Mom and my tears were not for Uncle Dave or his family.  They were just an overflow of my own grief and it sometimes hits unexpectedly.  Then as Dean was sharing a personal reflection he highlighted the fact that Uncle Dave "was in heaven and could see his parents, his sister Julie, and his nephew Bryan.  And, best of all, he could see Jesus."  I pretty much lost it again.  (Although it was also one of the first things I thought when I heard he died.)

But that's ok.  I know that I will be ok again.  They are tears of grief and loss, but they're also tears that show love.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Friday: busy

It was a busy day!

I had breakfast with Betsy.  I tried a new item and it was good.  I'm always a bit worried trying new things because I like my standard options so much.

I donated blood.  There was a small hiccup, but overall it went well.

I proctored an exam.  No issues.

I took a nap.  Horizon joined me just as I needed to get up.

I worked on a puzzle with a friend.

I picked up the kids and made food.

We played Saboteur 2.  Isaac has wanted to play all week.

I sent some emails that I should have sent earlier in the day.

I joined a video chat with friends.

Thursday: classes

Today was the last day of classes.  Yay!  My graders have been really on top of grading this semester and several expressed interest in grading the final, so I'm hopeful there won't be a ton of grading over the next two weeks.

That being said, there are still several late assignments to catch up on and I did quite a bit of grading today from assignments due this week.  We'll see how everything pans out.  I also managed to send the instructions for the final to the printer.

Tomorrow is busy.  I have lots to do - some fun, a blood donation, and a lot of work.  Don't worry: I'll be annoyed at how few chores I got done but will enjoy time with people and take a nap anyway.

I still need to do one fold of the bread and put the laundry in the drier.  Oh, the tragedy of it all.  The biggest problem is that I don't want to get out of my chair.  I just want to be in bed.