Wednesday: cute overload

Ethan and Isaac have the same shirt, so obviously we needed to take a picture of them both wearing it.  Just continuing the tradition.

Joshua and Leah also got their picture taken.  Joshua was not happy about it.

Also cute: Isaac putting chap stick on Joshua.
Also cute: Joshua standing on a step stool trying to get the tasty for tasty water.  He was jumping trying to get it, but wasn't even close.  "Can't!"  Jumped again.  "Can't"

Tuesday: school pictures

School pictures came back today.  They turned out very nice.  I do wish that Joshua's sleeves had been rolled back down though.

(Sunday)/Monday: snow in Joshua's eyes

"Messy mittens" as he plays in the snow.

"Messy house, messy house, messy house, messy house, " as we drive through the snow covered neighborhood.

59 months

Isaac turned 59 months last week.  I took the pictures on time but then didn't post because other things have been interesting.

When he grows up, he wants to be a big puppy dog.  When I asked him how far he thinks he could run, he thought he could get to church.  (This might be just a bit ambitious, but not much.  It was a well thought out answer.)

He loves being silly and playing and running.  He likes to give out treats, "just because I love you."  He likes school, can read some words (although I'm not sure he realizes he's reading them), and sometimes remembers 20 and 30 when counting.  He knows the prefixes for many big numbers (like sixty).

I've blown his mind by telling him there weren't cars 100 years ago.  I shocked him into silence when I told him he wouldn't have to take naps in kindergarten. 

He comes up with the craziest things.  Above his is Duploface.  He has asked what we would do if Joshua made his bedroom so messy that we couldn't get in it.  What if milk was pouring from the ceiling?  What if there was only one car in the city?  I still also love to see his bedroom after quiet time...I'm never sure what I'm going to find.

We're still working on not crying over every little thing, but for the most part he's been doing a pretty good job.

He is a very easy kid to make happy.  He loves going places, especially CC's house, Grandma's house, Ethan's house, to the playground, or any other fun spot.  If those fail, you can give him treats.  He has a mailbox in his bedroom that he put there a while ago, but he still loves getting stuff.  Candy is the easiest thing to give him.

Saturday: graham cracker houses

We made graham cracker houses today.

Joshua barely got through making his base.  He just wanted to eat graham crackers.  His is on the right.  I did a pretty easy structure next to Joshua.  Ben did a house with a corner and a slanted roof, and Isaac did "the biggest".  There are some spools inside his to support the roof. Isaac did about half of his by himself, but needed some help with the sides and top.

Joshua did much better with decorating. :)  I slabbed some frosting on the sides and he put candy on.

I put a lot of candy on like Joshua, but was slightly more controlled and methodical.  I mainly put on the things I want to eat later.

Ben decorated his like a house.

And Isaac had a story with his.  The candy corns are people going up on the roof.  (Once they're on the roof, they need to lie on their bellies, either so they don't fall off or through the roof.)  The door is on the roof.  There is a snow pile with a light pole, like I have.  There is a ladder to the roof and a barrel on the side of the house.  (Literally.  He frostinged it to the side.)

Friday: screaming toddler

There's always that one mom with a screaming child in the store, right?  Today was my day.  I've been pretty lucky, actually...I think this is the first time it's been bad.

It started when Isaac wanted to get out of the cart, which prompted Joshua to say that he wanted to get out too.  Ok.  Then he freaked out every time he wasn't holding my hand.  It makes steering a bit hard, but we made it through.

We got to the checkout and things started going downhill.  Joshua threw a little fit and when I picked him up he said, "I'm grumpy."  Yeah...I had noticed.  At least he noticed too.  It was our turn and he started entertaining himself with a chain.  Ok, no problem.  Isaac and I hurried to scan the groceries, but we can only scan so fast.  Joshua had mini-melt downs because the chain was tangled and because I wouldn't let him put it behind Isaac's knees, which created a trip hazard.  Then Joshua bonked himself on the face, so I picked him up.  We were just about done, so I did a dance of picking him up and putting him down to scan the large items.  I quickly moved all the groceries to the end of the checkout so the next person could at least start and Isaac and I started bagging.  Joshua was so sad now that he was crying even while I was holding him, so putting him down wasn't an option.  We skipped the pony ride and tried to make a quick get away.  At least Isaac was super-good.  I should have done one of the cashier check lanes, but didn't think about it until it was too late.  Next time.

Joshua fell asleep in the car.  He reluctantly woke up for lunch...Isaac helped him wake up and I wish he had waited five more minutes so I could get the groceries in, but at least Joshua was awake.  He took a long nap and then was still weird.  I finally gave him some medicine because he obviously wasn't himself, although there wasn't a fever, and it seemed to help.

Aunt C babysat while Ben and I went out to dinner.  It was a good day for it.

Thursday: alarm

The classroom in which I teach has a keypad lock on it.  So usually we end up propping the door open because it is just easier.

A few weeks ago I noticed that the door wasn't always closing all the way...there is so much air blowing into the room that the door can't shut.  (Yes, it is crazy weather in the room.  Usually way too cold and I'm almost an ice cube at the end.)  I thought about saying something about it but didn't.

Someone else must have said something.  Today there was an alarm on the door...if it was open for about a minute it started beeping.  It was annoying that we couldn't leave the door open, but that's not really a huge deal.  The big deal was that the door still doesn't close automatically, so any time anyone went in or out of the room we tended to get an alarm.  It only takes a few people doing it in the middle of class to become really annoying.  The other annoying thing is that the alarm doesn't happen "right away", which is good, but after a minute the person that didn't get the door all the way closed is long gone.  So then someone else has to deal with it.

But I did get a big pile of free stickers today!  The boys were so excited.