danvers
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Post by danvers on Jan 20, 2021 19:23:31 GMT -6
We watched the kid friendly inauguration via YouTube at school today. I may stop watching the grown up news station versions if people keep putting out ones like this - so much more fun with trivia and interviews and tidbits to puncture the otherwise long moments of people walking, sitting, etc in stage for hours.
DD1 and I read the picture book “Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea” tonight and continued with reading a short story from “Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls”.
Today has been a good day.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Jan 21, 2021 7:55:17 GMT -6
CoachTsWife Heidi is so super cute!!!! I absolutely love dogs, and I hope she works out for you and your family. She looks so happy, soft, and friendly - I know my boys would love to pet her. They are so into animals and would love a dog, but the place where we live doesn’t allow them, unfortunately. Really happy to hear your family was able to spend time together with your mom too! I’ll be hoping for no more falls and for her to continue on the path to a full recovery. danvers The kid-friendly inauguration coverage sounds fun! I also would just rather watch kid-friendly news, lol. The regular stuff is too depressing and negative most of the time.
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Post by CoachTsWife on Jan 21, 2021 10:39:14 GMT -6
danvers I had no idea there was a kid-friendly inauguration video. I love that - I should let DS1 watch it. I didn't get to watch any of it yesterday so I'd probably enjoy this version as well. I agree with you on the kid-friendly versions of things. A recent NFL game was broadcast on Nickelodeon and it was funny - full of effects including slime. We didn't watch for long because DH had to watch the real game coverage, of course, but I like all these kid-friendly versions.
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Post by curmudgeon on Jan 23, 2021 12:07:52 GMT -6
We had our very first tball game today. He seemed so excited at home, but that all faded when we actually showed up. But he looked cute.
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Post by duskymonkey on Jan 24, 2021 22:06:02 GMT -6
August Blooms Glad to hear you just have some normal crud....nonetheless it sucks still but... Yes I heard things aren't great up north either. I hope your province can get it under control. We're past trying to control it, people here just unbelievably suck and don't have a care whatsoever. We're just keeping to ourselves and hoping the new administration can make some headway with the actual REAL PLANS they have. My word, we finally have a functioning government after 4 years. I am also so happy to hear that your sister is doing great and wishing her all the best in her journey. We had looked into DE too after failing all the protocols my RE threw at us. I joked with hubs that we should've bought a lottery ticket because of the dumb luck with the 2 boys. My RE couldn't believe it either and actually did the first US himself to see if my bloodwork numbers were actually real.
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Post by duskymonkey on Jan 24, 2021 22:18:43 GMT -6
CoachTsWife happy that you were finally able to see your mom! All of this has been so difficult for everyone. Hang in there, I feel hope now with the vaccine and the new admin making this a priority. I will sit with you on the bench of home decorating. I think I spend so much time making creative decisions at work that I am just too tired to make them at home plus I am particular and what I envision I can't find and can't afford custom made unless I do it myself lol! curmudgeon he's super duper cute! I really should get the boys into some sort of sports. I am waiting the safe return to school so we can do something and also join BSA. I am sad that DS couldn't start Cubs last year. Hubs was an Eagle scout and it would mean a lot to him if the boys could be scouts too. Taitai my gosh! those numbers are some kind of awful. I hope it's cleared up some now. Maybe good thing that the kids are doing virtual school during that time. That reminded me of when we had all the fires out here. I think there were some days it was over 400! and the worst part was I saw my neighbors kids were out playing and they were hot tubbing on those days!
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Post by duskymonkey on Jan 24, 2021 22:32:17 GMT -6
danvers Hah! yes...I see a lot of people have caught on Peter Reinhardt. There's a couple more you can check on. The Bread bible - Rose Levy Beranbaum. She has another book The Cake Bible which I highly recommend too if you want to get into other baked sweets. Artisan Bread in 5 minutes - Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg - my baking geek forum has lots of good things to say about it. I personally have not tried it but I trust them. We just aren't break consumers. Reminds me, I'll post my sweet potato buns recipe here for you to try. If mine turned out, I am sure you'll have success too...really, seriously I am a sucky bread baker. Also...do you think the link for the kid friendly inauguration still works? Maybe we could watch it one of the weekends with the boys. I did catch a part of Amanda ? reading her poem and what I heard was stunningly soulful and fitting. She was also so poised and confident and it gave me so much hope for all the young POC to see her accomplishing wonder and greatness. What a talent.
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Post by duskymonkey on Jan 24, 2021 22:42:51 GMT -6
So we've had such a busy busy start of school after the holidays. Mainly because the teacher switched up schedules and I wanna cry because DS has like 6 Webexs 2x a week, 5x the others and I had to update his calendars with alarms and such. Trying to get his schoolwork completed between the meetings are challenging with lil fella running about, interrupting and just general mayhem from both of them. Between MLK and some district off days, we haven't actually experienced a full week and I am scared to see how this week will pan out. Other than that, it's just groundhog day here. I still have a few Christmas decor left to put away lol! I finally took the wreath down today and replaced it with my "seasonal" winter wreath so there's that. I am also trying to figure out what to do for Lunar New year coming up in a couple of weeks! I know I will be cleaning the house from top to bottom in the mean time.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Jan 25, 2021 7:12:37 GMT -6
CoachTsWife How are things going with Heidi? I hope all is well - I love dogs. curmudgeon Your DS2 is super super cute in his little t-ball outfit!! Oooooh! I love it! Wish we had t-ball out here. I love that big bro is right there to cheer him on too! duskymonkey WTF to your neighbors hot tubbing and letting their kids run around outside in 400 AQI weather! Do they want to scar their lungs??? Sheeesh! Fortunately, the weather got hot again, which helps with the AQI. Starting on Sunday, it went down into the low orange and yellow range - we were SO HAPPY. The kids were outside from 10:30am-5pm straight on Sunday, with just a quick break for lunch. We played frisbee, did bikes/scooters, played on the playground, and went swimming. They needed it after being inside for over a week! August Blooms Hope you are recovered from being sick, and that things are going well for your sister. How are the cases by you guys? Our cases have been coming down in our city, but just today they found 900 new cases in the province next door, so I’m worried that means the schools will stay closed for another month. Ughhhhhhhh.
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Post by CoachTsWife on Jan 25, 2021 11:48:52 GMT -6
curmudgeon, what a cutie! Big bro is adorable as well. And we have that same tiny, green ball glove. Taitai Heidi is doing pretty good. The boys are getting used to having a dog in the house and what that entails. DS1 loves to sit and love on her. She's really a great dog - except she's having a little potty trouble. She didn't have any accidents in her foster home, but she's having some here. We're being extremely careful, and we thought we had it handled as she didn't have any for several days. But then she had one last night and another again this morning. IDK. She's been through a lot in the last month so we're trying to be patient in that regard. Any football fans here? GO CHIEFS!!!! ❤💛🏈🏈💛❤
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Jan 26, 2021 15:48:56 GMT -6
duskymonkey I bet the link still works - seriously, who doesn’t love presidential pet trivia and celebrity appearances (apparently a lot of the celebs were people from Nickelodeon and Disney Channel stuff and I was very “who” and “huh?” and my students found it hilarious I knew no one while I just felt very old 😂) curmudgeon so cute! DD1 and DD2 will actually be able to play in the same tball team and I can’t wait to see it this Spring.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Jan 26, 2021 16:40:06 GMT -6
I feel like I have nothing to contribute here because every day feels a bit like groundhogs day. Anyone else 🤷♀️
We are pulling DD2 out of swim lessons 😩 I love how cautious they are here with masks and classes of 1-2 kids and whatnot but she is becoming really defiant as they increase in level and skill. She hates putting her face in the water which makes learning anything about swimming really difficult and the other kid in her class isn’t getting the attention he needs too..
She is just so stubborn. I’m hoping a break will allow her to mature a bit.
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Post by curmudgeon on Jan 27, 2021 9:50:13 GMT -6
I’d normally be scheduling vacations for the year now. It’s so depressing. Each time I think maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to go somewhere, I’m brought back to the reality of how selfish people really are. And if so many people I know in my small area are continuing to be out in public and at work while sick, then I’m sure there are hundreds more around me.
I just feel whiny today. The weather has been yuck, too. And FedEx keeps losing my packages (4!!!).
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Post by curmudgeon on Jan 27, 2021 21:58:30 GMT -6
Does anyone have tips on getting the 3 year old to stay in bed? For the past week or so he has been getting up and rolling on the floor outside his room or doing something destructive like ripping books. We walk him back to bed over and over until he finally falls asleep (around 10pm). I don’t feel good about it, but we locked him in tonight because he was going into his brothers room and throwing toys at him while he slept. I’ve even let him put all his blankets and pillows on the floor and lay on that since he seems to like to sleep on the floor. Worked for one night and that’s it.
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Post by duskymonkey on Jan 28, 2021 0:34:06 GMT -6
danvers, curmudgeon count me in as I said above everyday is a replay of yesterday with some extra surprises sometimes which sadly is mostly unpleasant like last week when DS decided to jump into bed with us MOTN and ended up peeing in our bed. Of course we don't put a waterproof mattress pad down on our bed. Lucky for him I was quick to pushed everyone off the bed and snatched the sheets up and mattress pad and the mattress had just a quarter sized spot which I managed to spot wash. Needless to say he has since stopped coming into our room MOTN and we will enjoy that for however long or short that is. We weren't horribly mad because TBH it's time for a new mattress for us so.... danvers you are contributing...do you still have link to the kids version of the inauguration? Please post. TYVM. Taitai I know right! OMG! I really wanted to badly tell them they needed to get back into the house but I know they'd just ignore me anyways so why bother. I mean it was so bad that I could see ashes floating about. I really am so over all the stupidity in our neighborhood...it really makes me want to move. Between the pandemic and politics, people have shown their true colors. I know I shouldn't judge but it's hard not to when there are people blatantly not caring, ignorant and believe in lies, yes there are a few Q supporters. They are proud and display it on their trucks and some still fly Maga flags even though it's now a violation of our HOA covenants.
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Post by duskymonkey on Jan 28, 2021 0:56:03 GMT -6
curmudgeon OMG! lil fella is so naughty now. Hubs and I call him a destructobot! I have to keep reminding myself between 3-4ish is like the worst, at least it was with DS. So with both boys, we actually stay in bed with them until they fall asleep or else, they'd be up to no good. DS is good on his own now but we laid down with him for bedtime right up to a year ago. Does your little guy still nap? If he's ok maybe cut his nap and try to get him to bed an hour early? Naps are barely happening for us. Days he doesn't nap he falls asleep within 15 minutes so that's nice for us. Days he naps, it takes him about 45 minutes sometimes up to an hour for him to fall asleep at night. Can you and your H maybe take turns to lay down with him? I actually do like snuggling with him and gives me a break. I still sometimes snuggle with DS at bedtime. Anyways if we didn't stay and keep lil fella in bed, he would totally be up to mischief like your little guy. 100% guaranteed. Well that's working for us so we're sticking with it. Maybe someone else has other methods too.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Jan 28, 2021 7:08:51 GMT -6
curmudgeon DS1 was terrible about always getting out of bed to come find us or mess around, and it was really bad when he was in the 3-4 year age range. We finally got him a new bed that was more “cozy,” (the IKEA Sundvik kids bed) as well as a cute hedgehog nightlight and an “ok to wake” clock. The bed makes him feel secure, because it has edges that come up a bit on the sides. The highlight helps make him less afraid of the dark or random worries, and the ok to wake clock lets him know when he can leave his room. We got him to actually listen/pay attention to the ok to wake clock by giving him prizes immediately each morning that he actually stayed in his bed/room all night. It only took like 5 prizes, but it was enough to change his behavior. DS1 Also has an en-suite bathroom that he knows how to use by himself, and that cut down on wake ups once he was around 4 and didn’t need anyone’s help to pee in the middle of the night. For DS2, we are like duskymonkey and lay down next to his bed on the floor until he is asleep (it’s a really padded carpet, so not too uncomfortable). He doesn’t nap anymore, so DS2 falls asleep within 5-10 min of getting into bed. I do need to work on transitioning him to just getting in bed and falling asleep without anyone in the room. Will probably work on that after he turns 4.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Jan 28, 2021 7:16:16 GMT -6
danvers I think taking a break from swimming is a good idea if your DD and you aren’t enjoying it anymore. We decided to stop swimming lessons for DS1 this year, as he just didn’t really want to go anymore. It ended up being a good decision - when you force it, you can end up with negative associations. I am sure she will come around again in the future! curmudgeon I feel the same as you about vacation planning to the USA. We were hoping to come back for a visit this summer, but my worry is that some asshole in a Trader Joe’s without a mask (cuz ‘merica) will sneeze on my kids and get them sick with COVID. Even if I and H are vaccinated, there is no vaccine yet for kids. If our kids catch COVID while in America and it takes a while for them to stop testing positive, it could totally delay our ability to travel back home. Or worse, they catch it en route back here and then are put in a hospital isolation ward upon arrival. In this country, a positive COVID result = mandatory hospitalization until you test negative 2 times in 48 hours. I can’t imagine my kids (or myself) going through that. So, basically because so many selfish people in the world have allowed the virus to spread unchecked, we probably can’t go home until my entire family is vaccinated. Makes me so angry. We haven’t been back to the USA since July 2019, and it’s been really hard to be away for so long. CoachTsWife I am so glad to hear that things are going well with Heidi!! I will keep my fingers crossed for fewer accidents and for her to adjust/acclimate. She has been through a lot, and hopefully she just needs time to get used to her new home. Wish I could have a dog where we live! They are wonderful to have around.
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Post by curmudgeon on Jan 28, 2021 7:26:07 GMT -6
Thanks!! H was laying in the room with him until he fell asleep, but sometimes he’d be in there 2 hours and DS still wasn’t asleep. I guess we should try that again, along with the prize thing. He’s really into stickers so that could be something.
He is still napping at daycare for 1-2 hours. The days at home he doesn’t nap he’s a nightmare, so I think he still needs some amount of sleep to break up the day.
We never had this problem with DS1 so it’s nice to hear it’s common. I will be buying stickers and prizes for tonight.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Jan 28, 2021 8:42:30 GMT -6
Good news over here - the government just announced that schools are opening back up on Monday - yay!!! There are only like 6-20 cases per day in our entire city of 14 million people, so I feel confident sending the kids back. They shouldn’t have closed the schools in the first place, as cases in our city never even got about 100 per day....and they never closed malls or restaurants....but that’s another story. It will be soooooo awesome to not be worrying about zoom sessions and project activities and all this other stuff that comes with virtual school. I’m eager to get the kids out of the house on a regular basis too - they need it! duskymonkey - Also, I can’t not comment, but from how you describe your neighbors (Q supporters, hot tubbing in 400 AQI, flying MAGA flags, I don’t know if I could stand living there either...so much yuck to all of that. The ignorance and brain washing is really sad.)
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Post by August Blooms on Jan 28, 2021 17:33:56 GMT -6
Catching up in here, with lockdown it’s like Groundhog Day almost every day. I invested in GameStop and have been attached to Reddit and the stock market for the past 10 days. What a wild ride! CoachTsWife Congrats on the new addition, she’s so cute! Taitai That’s so good that schools are opening back up. Zoom class is the worst. Cases are finally going down, next week we will find out if they are low enough for DD1 to go back on February 8th. I am praying, even though lockdown 2.0 has been going a lot better than the first time. I just wish our government would get its shit together and get the vaccines rolling out. duskymonkey I know you guys had trouble TTC, but wow, your boys are a miracle. You should buy GME if you didn’t get that lottery ticket. (100% joking, seriously, don’t take my financial advice) curmudgeon We are in the same situation. She constantly gets out of bed if we don’t lay down with her until she falls asleep. And even if we do she still wakes and comes into our bed every night. I’m hoping she will grow out of it.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Jan 28, 2021 19:53:22 GMT -6
duskymonkey here’s the kid friendly inauguration version we watched in my class: Taitai that’s great about the numbers and kids getting to go back to school. DD1’s mental health and anxiety has improved tenfold since we started back in school, in-person in the fall. I don’t judge anyone for the choices they were forced to make for their kids schooling this year. As an adult, in-person schooling has felt like this crazy, mismanaged experiment but the students seem to love being back in-person... even if it’s masked and socially distant. I hope the boys are both excited to start back! August Blooms 👋 it’s groundhogs day over at my house too. Legitimately have trouble differentiating between days of the week sometimes.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on Jan 28, 2021 19:59:09 GMT -6
I have a student teacher this semester (someone in their final semester of college training to be a teacher). We’ve reached the point in the semester for her where she has basically taken over my job teaching the students and I’m just sitting around doing crowd control during lessons.
In a few weeks she will take over full time and I will just wander the school looking for things to do to fill my contract time. They usually put us “supervising” teachers to work subbing in other classrooms or working in the office. I’m super nosy about what goes on in the building so this kind of stuff suits me just fine 😂😂😂
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Post by curmudgeon on Jan 28, 2021 21:41:15 GMT -6
Tonight I told DS2 that sleep was a contest and whoever went to bed the best got a big boy sticker in the morning, thinking DS1 would play along. DS1 is equally excited about a sticker in the morning. I did not buy stickers. I hope they forget. I do have some boxes of cracker jacks with stickers inside if I have to come up with something.
PS it worked and he didn’t get up once
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on Jan 29, 2021 8:00:05 GMT -6
Tonight I told DS2 that sleep was a contest and whoever went to bed the best got a big boy sticker in the morning, thinking DS1 would play along. DS1 is equally excited about a sticker in the morning. I did not buy stickers. I hope they forget. I do have some boxes of cracker jacks with stickers inside if I have to come up with something. PS it worked and he didn’t get up once Wohoo! If I were you, I would give them the Cracker Jack boxes this morning (if you haven’t already). We’ve found if you don’t give the prize, the reward tactic won’t work, as the kids will doubt that you will actually deliver on your promise, and they won’t be as motivated to follow direction in the future. So, if you haven’t already (and if they stayed asleep all night) give them the prizes as close to possible when they wake up! ETA - you can will eventually wean them off the prizes, so they don’t get addicted to them, but H and I have found that the first few times, it’s really important to deliver immediately on the prize, if you want the reward tactic to work long term.
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Post by CoachTsWife on Jan 29, 2021 8:32:05 GMT -6
That's amazing curmudgeon. I wish I could play that bedtime game - I think I could win and I wouldn't require a reward, lol. Seems like I can't get enough sleep lately. DS2 goes to bed ok. We stay in there for around 10 minutes and he's asleep by then. But he still gets up MOTN and comes into our room requesting that we put him back to bed OR asking to watch TV. I can't remember the last time he STTN. We used to get days here and there were he'd sleep through, but not lately. He is one of the most stubborn people I've ever met and rewards do not work for him so I think he will just have to outgrow it. IDK. Taitai I'm so astonished by those numbers. In a good way. That's amazing. We live in one of the worst states as far as how they've handled covid and we are dead last for vaccine roll out. It is frustrating.
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Post by curmudgeon on Jan 29, 2021 17:14:02 GMT -6
They both opted for powdered sugar donuts instead of stickers. Wise choice. We will try the same tonight. See how it goes.
Any weekend plans? I plan to drink a white claw since it’s Friday. That’s about it.
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Post by August Blooms on Jan 29, 2021 18:30:46 GMT -6
They both opted for powdered sugar donuts instead of stickers. Wise choice. We will try the same tonight. See how it goes. Any weekend plans? I plan to drink a white claw since it’s Friday. That’s about it. I am going to steal this sticker idea from you. My kids got a ton for Christmas that need to be put to good use. I need less people in my bed. No plans for us lockdown and winter here. DH had a busy week a work wrapping up annual reviews so he is picking up Afghani and I’m about to open a bottle of red.
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Post by duskymonkey on Jan 30, 2021 0:19:18 GMT -6
curmudgeon that's brilliant and hoping the momentum keeps up and it becomes habitual. My boys will just scoff at us lol! They really are impossible and like CoachTsWife, rewards are short lived for us. In fact, we get talk backs from them now. I am at a loss as to how to incentivize them. It's like they just do only if it suits them. I had this big plan just before Covid to have a jar they can fill with tokens for whatever it is we wanted them to learn and when it gets full they get to earn a big prize like going to the zoo, aquarium, eating at a restaurant, picnic lunch etc. but that's all gone up in smoke for who knows how long. I was really hoping by now it would be safe to send the kids to school. My boys are really like the worst. danvers thank you for the link. Maybe next weekend. DS has a bunch of writing plus an extra assignment he needs to work on this weekend. Is she training with only you or does she train with other teachers? With all the craziness, enjoy any help you can get. Taitai that's such great news and again! Wow! proving that it can be curbed by taking immediate measures and precautions.
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Post by duskymonkey on Jan 30, 2021 1:02:49 GMT -6
Well...after typing out that above post, I guess our boys are actually pretty good about staying in bed and STTN most of the time so maybe they aren't the worst. The lunar new year is just 2 weeks away. Just for funsies, here's a link to checkout what 2021 looks like link It's the year of the Ox. Usually I've already looked into what the year predictions but I haven't had much time. Anyway speaking of the kiddos waking up MOTN. A few weeks ago, DS crawled into our bed and asked Mommy, where's your PJs? In my sleepy stupor I said, Daddy took them off. DS: Why did daddy take them off? Hubs ( also half aslleep): Mommy was hot. Me: Instant wake up! Luckily DS was satisfied with that answer and went to sleep. I found my PJs and stayed awake for a bit. Hubs of course didn't remember a thing when I asked him if he knew DS asked him a question. Since then we've been locking the door now if we remember. We have no plans this weekend other then the usual. We may go for a short hike around a lake if it's not too cold and windy after breakfast. Every Saturday we go return books and pick up from the Library and pick up grocery order which we already did last weekend then we get a car wash even if the car isn't even dirty. Our car has been so clean this whole year from lack of driving and weekly car wash. It's like the highlight for the kids lol! I do have good news! My BIL got his first vaccine at work today so that is great news for my sister. No word yet of when she would get hers but it will be a relief for my BIL because he is required to go into the office 2-3x a week and that will at least eliminate him potentially being patient 0 for the time being.
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