The week has been busy.  I drove up to Vancouver for meetings that were more stressful than useful.  The rest of the week I've been trying to deal with the crushing amount of work that's been put on my lap.  Evenings are spent on housework or helping Sam with homework.  At least I know a lot more about Greek philosophers than I did last week.  

Joanna and the kids have been generally doing well.  She and I have both had a touch of the cold, which I've managed to beat back with painkillers and mochas.  Tonight we've got a hot date somewhere.  I'm dressed in a suit and tie, so maybe we'll go somewhere nice. 

I spent a good chunk of time driving Emma around.  Friday night was activity night at her school - she played Magic with friends and cleaned their clock with some of my old decks.  Saturday I left her at Saturday Market with her out-of-town friend, picking her up at their hotel room which was filled with pre-teen girls.  Sunday was similar, off to a birthday party at eleven and returning home late afternoon.  Emma had a great time being social, though it was a little quiet without her around so much.

As for the rest of us, Friday night Joanna and I took Duncan, Berry, and our neighbor Flynn to the YMCA Halloween party.  It was completely insane with children.  I followed Berry around - she got her face painted yellow with sparkles.  Eventually we escaped home to the relative quiet.

Saturday morning I took Cecilia, Berry, and Duncan around Saturday Market for a little while, bringing home goodies for lunch.  Berry really wanted a knitted octopus, which led to tears when it wasn't made possible.  Ironically the glass sphere that Duncan absolutely had to have a month ago was far less interesting once he had all his cash with them.  Cecilia went along for the ride, unsuccessfully looking for a present for her cousin.  Joanna ran errands, kindly mailing the updated Canadian citizenship forms, this time with two forms of identification.

Sam arrived and we hung out - he invented a new sport that involves complicated balance moves on exercise balls.  I was exhausted that night, as the whole thing was surprisingly strenuous.  He moved on to showing Berry after she came back from her soccer game.  That night we watched a new BBC science show that was actually pretty good, along with tasty pizza and Joanna made for us.

Sunday morning I helped Emma and Berry carve pumpkins while watching Vin Diesel play D&D.  Emma thought it was pretty awesome.  Later Cecilia joined in the festivities, making a Cheshire Cat pumpkin.  I got Duncan and Joanna's pumpkin's ready to go, and roasted a ton of pumpkin seeds.  We should be relatively ready for Halloween.

As for the rest of the day, it was pretty low-key.  I worked on the endless laundry and dishes and played some computer games.  The piles of kitchen compost got wheelbarrowed out to the compost pile.  Joanna brewed more cider and a tasty stuffed pasta dish for dinner.

Sam got a 96% on his last pre-calculus test, bringing his C up to a B.  Tomorrow I'm off to Vancouver, which is always a long drive.  Life moves on.

The last few days have been pretty routine.  Joanna and I went out on a date night Wednesday, ending up at a vegetarian Chinese food place after discovering Off the Waffle is closed at nights now.  Duncan and Berry have been a little under the weather, though I think they're off to school today.  Sam and I have been studying for his math test - I gave him a "good luck" note and chocolate covered espresso beans this morning.

As for me, I just keep working away - at home and at work.  All is well.

Berry and Joanna had a bit of a bug, keeping Berry home and out of soccer for a day, though she seems to have mostly recovered.  Joanna informs me that I've received both a new Loot Crate as well as Sam and Emma's ID cards.  Theoretically that's the missing piece for getting their Canadian citizenship papers.  Hopefully that can get sorted out soon.

Sam has a math test this Friday, so we'll be studying the practice test the next couple days.  He pours a ton of effort into his European Literature class (where he's getting 110%), though we need to make sure he doesn't neglect the other subjects too badly.  He's also been going gangbusters with his computer class - he's currently designing websites.  I think the magic of how the internet works has faded now that he knows about the man behind the curtain.

I was also saddened to hear that Mythbusters' next season will be their last. Maybe we'll have to watch D&D with Vin Diesel instead.

Joanna and I are going out for dinner tonight, so that will have to be enough for now.

Sunday was relatively entertaining.  I took Emma and Berry to the park to ride bikes.  After some resistance they went along and had a pretty good time.  Later we fed everyone lunch and I took everyone but Sam and Joanna to the library for a lengthy trip.  Cecilia got a library card and a volunteer form, just in case.

Joanna took Berry to her soccer game where they lost to the best team in the league.  Cecilia, Sam, Emma, and I watched Mad Max: Fury Road to make our afternoon as exciting and intense as possible.  The day wrapped up with family dinner with my mom, delicious as always.

Sunday was pretty low-key.  After getting Berry bike riding a bit by herself, I took Cecilia and Berry to a walk by the river and past the secret hobo camp.  Sadly Sam bailed on us to work on an essay, though we still had a pretty good time.  There were a couple guys working on a dirt bike path in the "gray area" of land management.  They were pretty funny and warned us of some homeless campers down the way.  We instead walked onward and enjoyed the warm fall day.

Upon returning home we ate lunch and I coaxed a couple board games out of the kids.  Endless laundry was done.  Joanna worked in the garden some.  I helped Sam with his essay.  My mom came over for dinner.  Emma arrived and told us all about her trip with Kate.

Life is busy but good.

Cecilia continues to fret about her life.  Her parents are suggesting she stay in the US and go to school.  We'll see how it turns out.

Joanna has been doing her usual rushing around, taking Berry to practice and keeping an eye on the little kids when they're out of school tomorrow.  Joanna and Emma are both reading House of the Scorpion, chatting about the plot.

Berry is sick and a little grumpy, though has generally been cheerful.  Duncan was the only kid at dinner last night, so he endeavored to make up for the absence of the other kids.  He's generally pretty funny and politely laughs at my apocalypse jokes about alpaca lips. 

Friday night Joanna went off to be formally thanked as part of a church thing.  I took the little kids and dropped Cecilia off at a restaurant to meet up with  some of the other interns.  They had a great time, headed over to the arcade, and came back late.  The rest of us met up with Joanna at Dickie Jo's.  Berry and I watched the baseball game and I enjoyed my cider.

Saturday morning I had a touch of the cold that's been going around, successfully beaten back with Advil and espresso.  I fed waffles to all and Sam and Emma arrived late in the morning.  Emma was whisked away to Kate's house.  Sam and I walked down the hill to go to the Eugene Indie Game Con for a couple hours.

We had a great time and I got to see a couple interesting talks.  The first was by Chris Avellone, one of the writers for Fallout 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, and a bunch of other games.  The second talk was on virtual reality, which fascinated Sam.  We also wandered around the booths, checking out the semi-local indie game scene.  I'm glad I had the chance to take Sam, as I think exposing him to different industries is a good way for him to start thinking about long-term jobs.

I returned home to Joanna working in the garden, planting bulbs.  I made a store run for family dinner, picked up Emma, picked up pizza, and we wrapped up the day with an old Mythbuster episode.  Cecilia headed out with her friends to the haunted corn maze.  Apparently she likes scary things, and was suitably frightened.

Sunday was pretty crazy.  I made Dutch babies for breakfast.  Emma, Berry, and I went to the art supply store in the morning, picking up assorted goodies.  Later we did art and watched more Titan's Grave.  I was working on alchemy jars, putting shrunken heads in jars and the like.

I promised Sam some quality video game time, so we played Blood Bowl together.  I somehow managed to win.  Joanna dyed the hair of the little kids, with Duncan's hair turning an amazing shade of red.  Eventually I realized I had to get ready for guests, so I folded clothes and cleaned up the living room.

We had a good crew for dinner, with John, Yayoe, Jenny, and mom.  We ate great food that Joanna made, chatting away.  

Emma was sick this morning and is staying home from school.  I have a bunch of things going on, from getting together documentation for the kids to working on my mom's will.  It's certainly never boring around here.

Fortunately all the kids where home last night and it's hard to stay down with their crazy energy and general enthusiasm.  I arrived to Sam doing somersaults over an exercise ball in the basement (from experience, it's harder than it looks).  Joanna went to a writer's meeting after dinner, so I cycled kids through bedtime and chatted with Cecilia on trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.  We wrapped up the evening with a superhero show, which was perfect.

Life is full of little tidbits.  Joanna's weird job may continue for years to come.  Sam and Emma's citizenship paperwork was rejected because I needed another form of identification.  I probably need to call Canada.  In a pinch I can get them Oregon ID cards, though I'd like to save the $100 if I can.  I pulled a splinter from Duncan's foot after we recommended it's time to stop wearing sandals.

Hopefully we have a relatively quiet weekend. I'd like to go see the Martian.  There are endless house projects and chores.  Family dinner should be fun.  Life goes on.