Witch Doctor

(9/23) Since Sarah and I don't walk on Thursday mornings, I got to sleep in a glorious  hour this morning before coming down to have coffee with the pups and see that C got off to the bus on time. I had a busy day at work and the boys had school, which Dad got to monitor a bit so I could get some stuff done. 

(9/24) Sarah cancelled on our dark-thirty walk this morning so I went out and read my book on the treadmill since I was already up and dressed when I got her message. Today was a work and school day, and thankfully Dad was off to help wrangle the twins during school time. 

(9/25) I slept in this morning until I got a message from Sarah that she'd like to go for a walk. I got up and we headed out. It was a beautiful morning! Dad went up to work on cars at Rob's and I spent the rest of my day hangin' with the kiddos at home. Dad and I watched a comedy show from our living room and declared it date night which meant the kiddos had to get themselves to bed. They did pretty well with the not bugging us part. 

(9/26) Dad has to work the early shift this week, so was up and gone by 6am. I tried to sleep in, but still ended getting up at 7 when the twinadoes did. The boys and I had a pretty lazy day. I finished up a book and started the next in the series and the boys got some outside time before the weather turned. I made apple cake this evening in an effort to get through all the apples from our tree and it was a winner! 

(9/27) Oy vey, today was a hot mess. I had several meetings which thankfully were off camera because someone gave my children crazy pills and I was constantly muting myself to holler at them. I learned that one of my dear darlings is doing hardly any work, so now I get to babysit him through it in addition to doing my own work. Hooray. Much excitement. 

(9/28) Meeting Tuesday was a challenge since Dad is working while the twins are schooling, so I am trying to juggle work in and around their classes. D had a particularly rough day and I made have made a bee-line upstairs the minute Dad walked in.

(9/29) I had the day off today. I went walking with Sarah at dark-thirty and then came home to have coffee with the pups while the twinadoes swirled around. It's not exactly peaceful around here in the mornings--or really anytime, lol! We learned tonight that J's teacher had accepted another position, so I requested that he be moved into D's class. I was willing to give it a go with them in separate classes, but it's highly distracting to have one always on break and the other jealous of his brother (and not focusing on his work). 

(9/30) School and work for us all today. J learned about his teacher leaving and will start in D's class tomorrow. He's bummed--totally understandable! The boys have been sharing the dog at night time, but J ended up sleeping in D's room on the floor because they just didn't want to share last night. It was pretty sweet.  

(10/1) Work and school for the boys and me today and Dad had the day off. C, Dad & I went to the pre-season Kraken game at our local arena. Everyone had to be vaccinated to go, but it was still a little nerve-wracking to be out with so many people. It was a great game! The Kraken tied it up with a minute left in regulation and then scored in over time. Nanan came to stay with the twins and said they did great. 

(10/2) The twins were predictably up at regular early-birdie time but were mostly quiet and let the rest of us sleep. Nanan stayed over and hung out with the kids today. We sadly lost our pet ferret Minion this evening. He lived in J's room, and J particularly has been devastated. He was such a sweet ol' boy.

(10/3) We had a pretty quiet day. J has been very in to making camouflage vests and "rope" out of weeds and grass bits. He showed me the rope he was working on for his sling shot and I helped him twist it to be more rope-like. I ended up dragging out the Halloween bin today so we set up the lasers and decorated the door. It's early, so we'll add to it throughout the month. J loved the disco happening in his room since he's right above the lasers. 

(10/4) Monday-Monday. Work and school for all of us today. I was in editing mode all day for a project so was going cross-eyed. Dad is working swings now, so he minds the twins in the morning so I can try to get as much done as possible without distraction.

(10/5) Fortunately today was a lighter meeting day. I'm finishing up a bigger project for work, and that took all of my focus today. D had some assessments at school (in person) today so I ran him over for that. I asked him if he missed being there and he doesn't, lol. We hope to get them back after they've been vaccinated though! 

(10/6) I was off today and kicked it off with a walk with Sarah. I had coffee with the puppers and then bummed around until the kiddos had to log in for school. We collectively grumbled our way through school and I was happy when the kids were done and could finally go out and burn off some energy. 

(10/7) Work and school for us all today. Dad minded the twinadoes for the morning so I could get some work done. He had to head to work after lunch and I moved back downstairs. We trudged through the rest of the school day and the boys hightailed it out to play as soon as it was over. 

(10/8) Busy work day for me, school for the boys, and Dad had the day off. We had tickets to the Silvertips game tonight. The boys haven't been to a game since before the first lockdown in 2020 so that was a treat! They were so well behaved. We won in a shutout 4-0. 

(10/9) We celebrated the twins' birthday today since their day falls on a work and school day. They requested Dutch babies for breakfast, Panda Express for dinner, and Polar Pizzas for dessert. We got them a Switch and it looked a little like Christmas morning with all the packaging everywhere! Nanan popped by to visit with the twins and drop off gifts this afternoon. The boys played ALLLL day on the Switch. J wanted to know if we were still celebrating their birthday tomorrow too.  Ha! 

(10/10) Lazyish day for all of us today. Dad and I haven't had weekends off together in years so this is a foreign concept. We mostly stayed in today but told the twins they actually needed to get dressed so the grands could drop by. The grands brought the twins mousse and a graham cracker crust for them to inhale (their fave!) straightaway. We had a fun visit and the twins filled Granddad's ears with all things MarioKart. He'll be playing it in his sleep, I'm sure.   

(10/11) Happy Birthday twins! I let them have mousse for breakfast and they had a normal day of school online while I worked. As the day wore on, Dad, J and I started feeling a little stuffed up. Hope it's nothing.

(10/12) C felt totally fine so went to school as normal today. I'm still working from home and the twins are schooling online so we stayed home and kept our sniffles to ourselves. Dad called out though and we had a quiet evening at home.

(10/13) Dad was feeling pretty miserable this morning so went and got a test. Sure enough, covid has entered the building. So now we're all home. Weeee.

(10/14) I woke up and thought about working but didn't have the energy and called out. I called the twins out too even though they have classes over Zoom and not in-person. We had a quiet day. I lost my sense of smell tonight--it's so weird to hold a freshly pressed clove of garlic up to your nose and smell nothing. This sucks.

(10/15) The kiddos didn't have school due to a teacher workday so we were all home. I worked (remotely) for most of the day, but took the last few hours off when my brain was done.

(10/16) I slept in this morning and woke up feeling pretty good. I just have a lingering cough, and still no smell, but am feeling about 80% better. The twins seem to be back to normal. We took C in for a test and he tested negative but will still be out all of next week per protocol.

(10/17) Losing taste/smell is depressing. I can faintly distinguish that something is sweet but that's it. I read that it takes most people about 21 days to regain their sense of smell. So I'll be moping until then, probably.

(10/18) Work and school for the twins and me today. C will be out of school all week, and Dad is free on Thursday. I could taste my breakfast (and most importantly coffee) this morning and that alone made my day so much better! D and I drove over to see the Halloween light show around the corner. We stayed in the car and listened to their playlist. They sure are creative ~ and we could say we actually went somewhere today, even if it was only around the corner.

(10/19) The twins and I had school and work today. School has been brutal lately for the twins; D especially since he thrives on routine and we've had anything but lately. And J has been hating being cooped up inside. 

(10/20) I was off from work today and we're on our last day of quarantine. Finally! This has been such a trying week on the kids. The twins have literally been bouncing off the walls. D lost all his screen time, but we did encourage him to play out back with the dogs and bubble machine. That helped a little. But not playing with friends and running around has been rough.

(10/21) We're free, we're free! It was good to shop for our own groceries and Dad got to go back into the building to work. The boys played outside til it got dark~ they were so happy.

(10/22) Happy FriYay! Sarah and I got to walk together this morning (it's been ages!), and I had to remember how to get up early. The poor puppy was very confused to see me so early. She'd gotten used to me wandering down mere minutes before I was due to log in for work. C is on his last day of quarantine and will return to school next week. It was pretty quiet work-wise for me today, so I got a fair amount done and joined the company chat this afternoon.

(10/23) We got in the spirit of Halloween today. Dad made apple cider muffins this morning. And I went out and picked up some pumpkins this morning. J was the only one interested in carving. We decided not to have the grands over after last week's Corona fest. We're out of quarantine and they've been boosted, but still. We did call them on Duo while J carved and visited for a bit. And tonight, Dad, C, and I all watched Dune. It was well done! I hope part two gets greenlit soon.

(10/24) It was a blustery day so we all hunkered down inside for the day. The power flickered and turned off for a short time but it came back on quickly. J and I watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown tonight. I will always watch it when it is on. 

(10/25) C headed back to school today. He rather enjoyed his time in quarantine. The rest of us had school and work. 

(10/26) School and work for everyone today. I had a couple of meetings and fortunately Dad was around in the morning so he could wrangle the twins. News today came down about the FDA advisory group approving the vaccine for ages 5-11 so I may already be counting the days til they're back in-person.

(10/27) I had the day off today and every else had work and school. C made shrimp fried rice tonight. It turned out delicious! He doesn't even need a recipe anymore. 

(10/28) It was soggy out this morning and Toffee was all "NOPE" to going out in it. Sarah's dog Henry whined at her so it was decided that I needed to grab my umbrella and get my rear in gear. The twins' school had a supply pickup tonight and they've finally figured out how to split the grades/locations and it went so smoothly compared to the previous ones. And I made a fam favorite tonight (hot beef & bean dip) so my picky child that barely eats any dinner ever was at the table long after the rest of us were done inhaling seconds.

(10/29) The twins had an early release from school today which meant I had a couple of solid hour of peace in which to work. So nice! 

(10/30) We got the treat pipe delivery system installed today and I have glow sticks and candy ready. I also ordered small Play-Dohs too, but ordered with no rush shipping and now they're still not here. So we'll see if those show or if I have 65 new tins of Play-Doh in November. 

(10/31) Happy Halloween! We hope to get a few trick or treaters tonight as opposed to the one we had last year. J wants to trick or treat and D wants to stay home and eat candy. Solid plan, D!