Dogs are good for snuggling on cold Saturday mornings…
Morning Snuggles
Category: Family
Friday Night Minecraft
The boys convinced Susanna to join them playing Minecraft. I helped them set up a small server so they can all wander around the same Minecraft world. I think Tucker is just along for the ride and warm space on the couch. Time to “kick” them so they will go brush their teeth and go to bed.
Lounging Around (A Lazy Start to Saturday)
Susanna is snuggling in bed. The boys are playing on their electronics, and I am playing on the computer. Targa and Tucker are sleeping. After breakfast we will put down the electronics, and enjoy what looks to be a beautiful day. I’ll just pretend that I’m outside when I’m sanding the ceiling in the hallway.
A Tucker Sort of Morning
There was nothing really special about this morning. We put Tucker out early. Targa was still sleeping in Will’s room.
The weather was cool and rainy, and Tucker was barking to get back inside not too much later. When Targa got up, he went out and Tucker followed. That was the start of the problem.
I brought Targa back in a few minutes later, but Tucker was nowhere to be found. He hadn’t returned 45 minutes later when it was time for the boys to head out to the bus stop and me to work.
We waited at the stop. I waited for my neighbor to arrive. The plan was to ask her to put Tucker back in the house if she saw him during the day. But before I could ask her, I saw a slightly overweight beagle mix wandering down our road. Just in time.
So, thank you Tucker for making the morning just a little bit more stressful than it needed to be.
Washington’s Birthday (or Presidents’ Day) – Playing in the Snow
It felt like a somewhat disorganized holiday. At least it did for me. The boys arrived this morning, so we took it easy for most of the day. Plus, I think I’ve been spending too much time playing on the computer – I was going to take a break today, but Will wanted to install Linux on his netbook and download games. And that took a little assistance. But the day wasn’t all wasted on the computer or chasing other shiny objects that my ADHD latches onto.
I did get the hall ceiling painted, and the light installed. The light is flush to the ceiling, and the raking light highlights the imperfections in my drywall work. The ceiling looked good before the light was installed, but I will need to try to smooth out the ceiling a little more this week, and repaint the ceiling. There is a huge difference in how smooth a surface looks with a raking light compared to the same surface with normal ambient light. That is life. A bit of a bummer, but not a huge pain.
This afternoon we went out to the Ledyard Middle School and went sledding. The sledding hill was perfect, and the weather was reasonably warm. I didn’t bring a good camera, so I only have pictures from the iPhone.
We also took a look at a mooring for the boat on the Niantic river. Last year we parked at the Submarine Base marina. The marina is reasonably priced, but a mooring is still cheaper. And the Niantic river looks much nicer than the Thames. Though it is covered in ice right now. It is just nicer looking ice. We will get the mooring for the season for about the same price as two months at the marina. The drawback of the mooring is that we will need to row out to our boat. I didn’t plug the boat into shore power once last summer – so I don’t think not having electricity will be much of a problem. Maybe I’ll get a solar panel to charge the battery.
Pictures from Today
Getting ready for soccer
Ben is enjoying the sunny day before heading to his game.
Waiting for Spring
Winter is dragging on. The cold keeps me from the workshop, and keeps the family inside more than we would like. The boys want to play on their electronics more than they should. The dogs don’t get the exercise that they want. The house is cold, and the oil bills are expensive.
But, winter isn’t all bad. It is a chance to try to find other projects to work on. Like writing in my blog. Unfortunately I don’t like writing when there isn’t much to write about. I like to think about spring and the summer. And plan. I like to plan. It is fun to talk about ideas. But I’m not sure it is as much fun to listen (just ask Susanna).
February brings Will’s birthday. Which means a birthday party. We get to have his birthday party every other year, and this year was our turn. Winter birthdays are difficult. The kids don’t want to spend as much time outside, and a large group of 5th graders is way too loud to keep inside for very long.
This year we held the party in the boys’ clubhouse above the garage. I moved the portable heater up there, and the room was warmer than the house. They can be as loud as they want, and jump on the furniture out there. I think everyone (mostly) had a good time; but if you get enough 5th graders together, you will eventually find a pair that don’t always get along.
I forgot to make pizza dough for Friday night, so pizza/movie night was moved to last night. The boys even helped clean up from dinner (and washed the dishes).
So, what are we all doing to keep occupied during the cold weather?
Ben and Susanna are working on a 1000-piece puzzle. Ben has been building Legos and practicing his trumpet.
Will has been writing a book. I have been trying to get him to take some of the creative ideas that are in his mind and put them down in words. It is difficult for him, he types much slower than he thinks. But he is making progress (as of this morning, he has a chapter and a half written). When he isn’t writing, he is reading or trying to earn time to play on his iPod.
Both boys are playing indoor soccer. Will and Ben are on one team together, and Ben is on a second team without his brother.
Susanna and I are trying to exercise more, and are trying to run a 5k race in March. It has been a long time since I have run much at all, and it is slow getting back into running.
I have been doing small house projects and on warmer days working in the workshop (a very little). We have a three-day weekend next weekend without the boys. Our plan is to finish the hallway and maybe some smaller projects (e.g. the last set of hinges on the kitchen doors, shelves in the storage loft, clean the basement).
Writing
Will is one of the most creative people I know. Sometimes it seems he lives in a fantasy world. Or many fantasy worlds. I have been trying to encourage him to put his thoughts down in writing.
Sometimes he can find the interest to write. But, mostly he writes in his blog because I force him to. Tonight, he decided to start writing a story. He wrote a page or so, and shared it with us. It is a ways from being a complete story. But it is a start. And since he normally hates writing, it is nice to see him spend a couple if hours focused on it.
Preston 5th Grade Winter Concert
I have never been much of a singer, or any sort of musician. I think much to Susanna’s disappointment, but if you ever heard me sing you would understand my reluctance. So it is nice to see Will and Ben at least try music. Ben has been playing trumpet all year; Will sang in the 5th grade chorus and put on a concert tonight.
One of the joys of parenting is the short notice events. I think the school is pretty good about sending notices home, but there is a disconnect between the school and the parents (of course life is much too exciting to pass on notes to parents). And I don’t make a huge effort to check updates on the school’s web page; but it is more fun to blame the kids than take responsibility for scheduling.
Typically Will or Ben will let us know Wednesday or Thursday night about an event planned on Friday night that they want to attend; after we have spent the evenings earlier in the week making our weekend plans. This time we got a little more heads-up. But not really. Two weeks ago Will mentioned that he had a concert coming up, but no details. At least not until yesterday.
We made the concert. But not without a little struggle. Will told me tonight that he needed black pants for the concert. Luckily we had his dress pants from the wedding. He also needed a white shirt, and we had his dress shirt from the wedding. But he chose to wear a white t-shirt instead. More like an under-shirt. But what can one do. It wasn’t worth a huge fight. I think he was more interested in getting five minutes in on his computer than he was in getting dressed nicely. I think it is time to cut down on electronics… again…
The concert was nice. It was crowded – lots of family and not quite enough seats. The 5th grade class sang 4 songs at the start of the concert and were followed by the middle school chorus and then middle school band. Next year we will get there a little earlier to make sure we get good seats. And will make Ben wear a nice shirt. But that shouldn’t be a problem. I thought about recording the concert. But I figured it wasn’t worth the effort to make a poor quality iPhone video mostly of the back of the woman’s head sitting in front of me. Anyway, I really wanted to just sit and enjoy the music.