The Saturday 7

Oops. I have two weeks to catch up on! 

1. We finished Christmas break with lots of remote-controlled-vehicle driving, hoverboard riding, Lego building, reading, and even a little kitchen purging. I finally cleaned out the cupboards above the fridge that I haven't opened since we moved here almost 3 years ago. And I forced myself to throw away the tupperware containers with no lids even though that seems decidedly un-Dutch of me. Now to purge the rest of the house . . .

RC helicopter (hovering just above Justin's hand)

Legos

Eating lunch in the coat closet with electric tea lights. 🤷😂

Bad picture, but I was trying to be sneaky in documenting this rare moment of the girls reading quietly by themselves.

2. We had another lame New Year's Eve at home. I went to Family Fare around 5:00 to grab all the frozen appetizers I could find . . . which wasn't many. Then we tried them each in the air fryer for dinner. I'm really liking the air fryer. I've used it a ton in the past two weeks. I especially love how easy it is to clean! Anyway, we're all night owls in this house, so we had no problem staying up 'til midnight. (We did make Levi go to bed close to his normal time. #meanparents) We rang in the new year with sparkling grape juice, as per tradition. And Lena made a Lego creation to honor a new year.

3. Finally, it was back to school . . . for 2 days . . . and then snowmageddon hit. 

Day one of constant snowfall

Day 2.

By the time it was done, the picnic table had over 10 inches of snow on top of it. 

When seasons collide. Haha

The kids were home from school Wednesday and Thursday for weather, and then on Friday the school building had no running water, so they got another day off! It's the never ending Christmas break! I let the kids do too much screen time overall, but they did play nicely together once in a while, and we mostly maintained our sanity. I only had to lock myself in the bathroom once. 

4. On Friday, since all the other schools in our area finally had school, we figured the trampoline park wouldn't be very busy. So we met up with the cousin crew for a fun few hours of jumping and shenanigans. 

The best we could get. Lol

5. In other exciting news, I started my winter semester of college classes this week. Remember that math class I've been ferociously dreading? Well, it turns out I had good reason to be worried. Lol. I paid $100 for the special online access code, got all logged in, turned to the first lesson, and immediately started to worry . . .

Given the choice between algebra or geometry, I'd always choose algebra. But it's been a long time since I've solved equations or used the order of operations. At first, it wasn't too bad. Things started coming back to me as I re-learned how to do equations. But apparently that was just a refresher, and then we came to the real assignment:

Do you see the heading of this assignment? Basic concepts? These are just the basic concepts??

You guys. This was the first assignment of an 11 week course!! You mean, it's going to get harder than this??? 

The title of this class is Math in Society. In what kind of society am I ever going to be required to do that kind of math??? I can probably handle a simple algebraic equation. I can probably even deal with parentheses and the order of operations. But you lose me as soon as you start throwing in multiple variables, negative numbers, and fractions! 

Listen. I tried. I really made an effort. I went through many many pages of notebook paper attempting to solve equations. When I got stuck, I reached out to my college roommate who is now a high school math teacher. She immediately responded with video instructions on how to solve the problem. But as I sat there, watching that video over and over waiting for it to make sense to me, I had an epiphany. Actually, it's been an idea that's been percolating in my brain for a couple weeks . . . I'm almost done with my library-specific classes. But I will need to continue for a couple more semesters of math, science, and history before I can graduate with my AA. Niggling at the back of my mind was the reminder that when I started this degree pursuit, I was given the option to take the AA track or the AAS track. They're both considered two year associate's degrees, but the AAS is more career focused, while the AA is meant to get you on track to transfer to a 4 year college. I chose the AA because I already had so many credits from my previous college career. For some reason, when it became apparent that very few of my credits were going to transfer, I didn't think to switch to the AAS. At least not until faced with the prospect of doing that math. Lol. 

That very night, I started emailing my advisor about the plausibility of switching to the AAS track. Fortunately, she lives on the west coast, so she got right back to me. She said that I would still have to take math, but I could take a much easier course. And I wouldn't have to take any science or history classes - which means that I could finish in two semesters instead of three! 

Long story a little bit longer . . . I dropped that math class the same day I started it. Haha.

In its place, my advisor and I decided I should take the library practicum class, which is actually brilliant timing and something I should've planned on my own. The practicum class requires a large amount of "on-site experience" - basically an internship. Yes, I've been working in a library, but I only spend 3 hours of my one day a week on library-specific activities. 3 hours a week is not going to be enough to meet the practicum requirements. However, if you remember, I'm going to be filling in full-time for Mrs. Miller in mid February . . . which just so happens to be the middle of my college semester!

6. Whew! That was unnecessarily long! One more thing . . . At Altitude on Friday, Esther and I were talking about how we both wanted to go on dates with our husbands on Saturday, but my parents are sick and they're our babysitters. This morning, she texted me that she and Luke would watch our kids so we could go out, but I felt bad that they wouldn't get to have their date. So my genius brother suggested we do a kid swap. It worked out great! We brought our kids up to Luke and Esther's house around noon, drove up to Big Rapids for lunch and some shopping, then went back down to their house. They left for their date while Justin ice fished on their lake, and I hung out with the kids. Win/win for everyone! 

Yes, Levi desperately needs a haircut. I just never have time to take him!

7. A few more pics:

Justin's a good dad and took the kids sledding last Sunday. 

Lucy stayed home in the warm house with me. 

On one of our snow days this week, I took a shower at 3:00 and changed from my pajama pants to my yoga pants. When I got out, Levi said, "Are we going somewhere?" When I told him no, he responded "Then why did you take a shower and get all dressed up?" Lol. #lowstandards (P.S. That is a really flattering camera angle. I do not look that skinny in real life. Lol. #keepingitreal #honestycard)

Face mask fun with Lena.