random February

 Jason got glasses again.  He's worn glasses/contacts since he was a kid, but had lasik eye surgery done about 10 years ago and hasn't had to wear anything until now.  Kaiden and Connor usually take a shower together. Connor hasn't been into baths for years and Kaiden doesn't like to take a bath by himself.  This was the first bath he's taken in a long time, but he wanted to practice his swimming.  I received my second covid vaccine.  About 2 hours after the first vaccine I got a horrible headache that lasted about 24 hours.  It came and went and the intensity changed.  It took about 20 hours after the second vaccine before I saw any side effects.  I had a mild headache, fever of 101, chills and body aches. The body aches were the worst though. Even my joints ached.  But the side effects started around noon Friday and by the time I went to bed that night they were already fading away.  I was completely fine by morning.  So, it only lasted 12 hours.  The picture is me bundled up with my brown heating pad on to keep warm.  Kaiden loves ping pong.  He's actually getting pretty good too.  I'm still doing physical therapy and working light duty at my job.  I injured my shoulder back in July moving a patient.  After a cortisone injection my impingement is finally better and the tendonitis and bursitis is better, but I'm still working on fixing the adhesive capsulitis, which is improving.  They were debating on doing surgery for a while, but as long as it keeps improving they want to hold off on surgery.  In the mean time while I recover I'm working at employee health.  I call the caregivers who get tested for covid to tell them either their result is negative or if it's positive I do the investigation and notify infection prevention. I'm also inputting all the covid data into a redcap program to organize into charts and stats for the state. Below is a picture of my office and where I'm spending all my time.  I was also working at the vaccine clinic too.  It's been a total change of pace from working on the floor as a nurse, but it's nice to work daytime hours instead of evenings and way easier on my body.  Bottom picture is my goofy Kaiden.  He's such a funny character.

Connor's 1st day of school

 Today was Connor's 1st day of Middle school in person.  The school is on a quarter system. The first quarter we did Connect Plus on-line home school (1 of 2 school options due to Covid).  We didn't like this option because there is no interaction or teacher involvement at all.  He basically read text and took quizzes.  The second quarter we switched to the school based on-line program, which had scheduled times he would log into his computer and watch a live stream of his teacher.  We liked this option!  It worked out great.  He could still ask questions and get actual interaction. For the third quarter they opened the school building up and the kids are divided into 2 groups.  They attend school in person 2 days a week and on-line 3 days a week.  Connor's in person days are Monday and Wednesday.  They wear masks, stay 6 feet apart and eat lunch sitting in a chair spaced out in the cafeteria.  Connor likes it.  His favorite teacher is Mr. Powers, who is the science teacher and computer PLTW elective instructor.  Connor took both those classes in the second quarter and really enjoyed learning how to design and create objects on the computer and then send his creation to our 3D printer and make it.  He made a Hut for his toad Jabba.  Connor wasn't super thrilled when he woke up for school, but he was smiling by the time he left. Jason drives him to school and then he rides the bus home.  Piper was sad to see her boy leave.

Signs

 I made the boys each a sign for their room.  Everything is done from scratch- trim boards that I made the frame out of, plywood for the sign, etc.  They picked out the design and colors.  Kaiden's sign is a T-rex with words cut into it, colored green (his favorite color with a green frame), the background is a bright red-orange and below it says Kaidenosaurus Rex is gold lettering.  Then I made 4 fridge magnets to experiment with different techniques.  Connor's sign has a blue to white ombre background, black dragon, inlay stained frame and holographic letting for "Open your wings & fly."  Connor's sign was more difficult and took me way longer to complete, but he loves it.

reading

 January has been filled with family fun...  Kaiden and I playing the Headbands game together. His favorite games are the Headbands, Guess Who and Battle ship.  Every Sunday we race down stairs in the morning to watch the Brojects show.  It's 2 brothers from Canada that build some interesting projects around their cabin property.  All 4 of us are hooked on the show. We don't usually have the TV on except at night before bedtime, but for the Brojects we make an exception.  Usually at night the boys will watch a Netflix or Disney cartoon clip before bed, sometimes we'll watch a family movie or lately we've been into watching the Battle Bots (robot competition), Mythbuster (science experiments), Penn and Tellers Fool Me magic show or Forged in Fire (bladesmith show).

Second picture is Kaiden inventing a fort while watching the Brojects.  Both boys are currently still doing school virtually on-line, but that's about to change.  Connor starts hybrid school Monday.  He will be in school 2 days a week and on-line at home 3 days a week.  He's excited and nervous.  New school... this will be his first time in the middle school.  Kaiden will remain on-line 5 days a week until mid March and then he'll be in school 5 days a week.  Kaiden and I have been spending a lot of time working on his reading.  He confuses his B D and G.  Connor had the same issue.  But he's getting really good at knowing his sight words and being able to read more fluently.  I try to create new games to keep his interest and to distract him from knowing that the "game" we're playing is really all about him practicing his reading skills.  I think its working though.  Last night (1/29/2021) Kaiden asked if HE could read me a book before bed instead of me reading a book to him!  He chose Go Dog Go and read the entire book with very little help.  He reads books to me on a regular basis, but this was the first time it was his idea to read and he chose the book from his book shelf (not one of the practice books we work on).  Connor still loves to read.  He's currently working on his Spirit Animal series.  He usually reads quietly in his room for 30-45 minutes before he goes to sleep at night. I hope this is a habit that Kaiden decides to adopt too.

Ice Skating at the Ribbon, River Front Park