Week 5- Loving Spring

What a blessing it has been to have this awesome weather and nowhere to go!  It has been just beautiful.  Well, except that morning we had the tornado come through our area.  :/  I was teaching and Matt was at work when I got the "take cover" warning on my phone.  I wasn't sure what to do, as it was 6:15 in the morning and I was smack in the middle of teaching a class.  I decided to keep an eye on the radar while teaching and try to finish the last 10 minutes, then got the kids up and into the closet.  They were in fairly good spirits at first (Allie was hyper!), but soon they descended into annoyance with each other over things like someone's stuffed animal touching their leg.  I continued to try to figure out what was going on and was WeChatting with my next student, letting her mom know that I might be late if the warning didn't end soon.  Then Matt surprised/scared us by coming home early.  Thankfully he made it safely here, as I found out later he was driving right near the dangerous area.  I was able to resume teaching and the rest of the morning was windy, but nothing crazy.  Reminded everyone of last year on Good Friday when the tornado came through.  

The kids are so not used to early mornings now and they were quite sleepy after all the excitement.  

At some point this week, various costumes emerged.  This was popular.  Later the kids put on a play of The Three Little Pigs...a British version that they quote all the time because the character voices are so funny.  It was quite a performance, particularly by the biggest boy who recited his heart out as the youngest pig and managed not to crack himself up, though it was quite funny.  Gray made a great wolf in a pug mask and the girls were very cute.

Monday we got a big delivery of mulch and each of the kids had to help me for a bit.  Julia was totally in her element.  She is clearly gifted at making things beautiful and attending to details.  I could just dump it and let her spread to her heart's content.  

Matt made a fire three nights in a row and we did dinner out there twice, letting the kids wrap up their choice of meat and vegetables in foil to cook over the fire.  They thought this was really fun.

One of our "enrichments" this week was a family game of Boochie Ball.  This is like Bocce Ball but with many twists to make it fun for all ages and skill levels.  Always a good time and we've had it for many years.

After the game, we went to a new farm very close to our house and enjoyed picking strawberries, eating ice cream, and buying some blueberry bushes.  It was a super nice place and the kids were happy to be out in public for the first time in a month!

More firepit dinner.  Helmet optional.

Found this scene when I went to wake the girls one morning.  Allie had climbed up and slept in Julia's bed.  I guess she is old enough and a skilled enough climber to be on the top bunk now.  We have had some late, late sleepers this week, though I do make them get up about 8:45.  The good thing is that I'm able to get my teaching in each morning without worrying about what's going on "out there". 

We finally got an amazon shipment that we placed about 3 weeks ago.  Gray was thrilled to get some things he picked out for his birthday (shirt he is wearing here and stuffed shark).  Yes, this teenager is still spending his money on stuffed animals.  And playing basketball one handed so he doesn't have to put the shark down.  

A man and his dog.  :)  We had a movie night Friday and watched Wonderpark, which reminded us of Inside Out and had some touching moments, fun characters, and a little adventure.  We also picked up dinner from a restaurant near us and made strawberry shortcake with our farm strawberries.  

We have been do a lot of yoga and exercise around here.  My friend introduced me to a kid yoga channel on youtube and Allie loves it.  Sometimes Gray or I join in.  Here they are finishing up a banana themed one with a "bananaste", instead of the usual "namaste".  The lady has a wonderful British accent, so it sounds like "buhnahnahstay" and they think it's hilarious.  

Things continue to be not as overwhelming for Matt at work and we are thankful for that.  This week we have felt more relaxed and more like the worst is behind us.  I don't know if that is reality or not.  We have certainly not had to experience the financial, health, or emotional difficulty that many have and I'm grateful for our blessings.  This week I'm reading a memoir "Walk to Beautiful" of a country singer who had a traumatic childhood and that has turned my focus in this pandemic to the children who are suffering right now and don't have a family who (for the most part) is loving having extra time with them and trying to use the time to help them learn and grow.  I know school is so needed for these children and I feel sad and worried for them.  We still await our state's decision on going back and still have no idea what the summer holds.  So we will keep trying to make the most of today  and pray for good to come out of this for everyone.  Here's to another week at home!

Week 4... Week 4?!

I really can't believe it's been a month, but yep-  Friday the 13th of March was our last day of normal.   Every day I have a moment of "Is this really happening?" but at the same time we really haven't had much hardship comparatively.  It just feels like many days of summer with no plans, for the most part.  This past week did pick up a bit because I had more responsibilities for preschool.  We started our twice weekly Zoom meetings on Monday.  But before that, there was the tail end of Spring Break and....

...a date!  I put on earrings for the first time in 3 weeks and Matt and I picked up dinner, leaving the kids to fend for themselves:)  We did have a little trouble finding a picnic place.  Not many places are open for this sort of thing, so we drove around a bit and ended up in our neighborhood at the big field.  Fun to be "out", even if we were 2 minutes from home.

Preschool Zoom!  Monday was my first one with my class and I was so surprised at how much it got me, seeing those little faces on the screen.  I missed them more than I realized.  When one sweet little girl got a turn to share something with me and said, "I miss you!", I nearly cried.  It went pretty well and I was again reminded what a great group of kids I have.  It was a busy morning because I start at 6 with VIPKID, then get finished at 9, get everyone up and we do a short Bible time, then get set up for Zoom, then do some school with Allie, then whew--it's already lunchtime.  Thankfully the oldest three are pretty independent with their schooling and rarely need my input.  It is verrrrrry challenging helping Julia with concepts she doesn't understand, so I am thankful that, with her schoolwork being review, she has mostly managed alone.  

On Tuesday, Allie did her first Zoom meeting with her class and loved it!  Above, she is showing her painting to her teacher.  Gray sat by her side so I could work out and he told us that the word "bachelor" came up in their fairy tale.  When her teacher asked if anyone knew the word, Gray whispered to Allie "It's a boy that doesn't have a wife."  Allie relayed to her teacher that a bachelor is "a boy that doesn't have a life."  :) 

Every day we do our enrichment and this is becoming a popular one.  My blood pressure rises when taking posed pictures of all of my kids, so I won't say this was that fun for me...you get one person right and another moves, like a game of Whack a Mole.  Other enrichments we did this week were learning about the ocean from a video, viewing more zoo animals from Cincinnati Zoo's live home safaris, toddler dance class (yes, even the boys have learned ballet dances to Moana and Frozen), and baking.

On Thursday, I made masks just about all day and only stopped to intervene in a couple arguments.  The middle two have been quite a challenge.  They have such a pattern of bickering.  When one says anything, the other MUST criticize, argue, make fun, etc.  Interesting that this week when I wanted to go on a walk alone to listen to an encouraging parenting podcast, these two insisted on coming along and heard the whole thing.  There's gotta be some fruit coming one of these days.

Beautiful weather has had us outside a ton.  Everyone's enjoying tree climbing and I have spent hours and hours pulling weeds, which is my happy place on a nice day.  I love being alone to sort out my thoughts and also see some progress when I'm done.

On Easter morning, Matt came home from work and we had "choose your own crepes" for breakfast. Kinda labor intensive, but really good.  

No one complained about getting dressed up and we got a few pictures.  Our church was having everyone make crosses from materials in the yard, which was a fun family effort.  

We did Zoom church on the porch.

Then we egg hunted. I hid 120 eggs and we're still finding them.  We have done multiple eggs hunts almost every day since Spring Break, but we have finally used all the Easter candy.  Then we had a traditional Easter dinner, that was untraditional in that I'm the only one who cooked it and it was only us 6 for eating it.  As far as I can remember, I think we have only had one Easter that wasn't spent with extended family...2006 in Dupont-- I think we had just moved out there at Easter.  

I miss our families, but it was also nice to not have anywhere to go.  Generally Sundays (and Sunday holidays) have not been my favorite because Matt often works, so after church, we may spend some short time with extended family but then Matt has to go sleep and I have to get ready for Monday morning, which is usually very early teaching, then getting kids ready for school, and going to work.  Sunday holidays always feel rushed and tainted with the dread of responsibilities and crazy Monday.  Today was better.  Not having to go anywhere relieves so much stress and enables me to start teaching a little later in the mornings too.  I think after a month on this new schedule, we've settled in enough that it would/will be a huge adjustment to go back to the school schedule.  I'm thankful that the virus continues to be less difficult in our area than anticipated, but still don't think we will go back to school this year.   Since we don't have the anxiety that some have because we do have our income and the virus isn't prevalent where we live, I feel like this situation is, for now, an opportunity for us and I hope we use it well!  Here's to learning, loving each other, and growing in many ways over the next month together.  :)

Week 3- Spring Break, Baby!

Oh yeah, we had a wild and crazy Spring Break this week.  Just packed with adventures and so different from our usual quarantine life.  Or something like that.  :)

Julia often begs me to dry her hair straight.  She was elated that we finally did it.  

Gray turned 13!!  He had Bojangles breakfast, then opened his gifts.  

 He had a box from Mimi to open and later got a properly distanced visit from Nanny and Pa.

A few good friends met for frisbee and tennis.  Staying apart of course.  I ran down to pass out packaged candy as "party food" and get a couple pictures.

Lemon meringue pie, by request.  Turned out weird because I had to use almond flavor instead of vanilla for the meringue, made too much meringue, burnt the meringue and had to scrape off and add another layer, and ended up with a layer of liquid between the meringue and filling.  Next time, we're going with cool whip.  Gray was too full from Subway lunch, hamburger and hotdog dinner to eat dessert anyway.  

Julia decided she liked basketball this week and loved giving us a running total of her "swishes" and "buckets".  :)

On a rainy Tuesday, we tried a social experiment in the midst of our social experiment life...unlimited screen time.  The girls holed away in the office to watch slime videos and figure skating.  By the end of the night, they had moved to the loft and were sharing the couch. The boys played mostly shooting games all day.  Joshua got a little restless at times and said if his friends were getting together he would definitely stop playing.  Gray made no such claim.  But by dinner, everyone agreed they were good to stop and play Gray's new board game.  Allie probably had the most fallout from this experiment, with a few meltdowns over stopping screen time for nap, etc. 

Someone got into some oily perfume and tried it on her hair.  Her crazy hair matched her crazy personality this day.  The girls were both just off the wall silly the day after screen time. 

They have fallen into mostly a good place of hanging out lots together and playing this week.

Thursday we broke out the Easter baskets and did a couple of egg hunts.  Besides the inevitable complaining of one who shall not be named, everyone enjoyed this a lot.

Trying to be so careful with our culdesac zumba class.  It is so much fun and always the highlight of my day.  This is how we walk there...keeping our distance the whole way.

Evening egg hunt.

Friday I let the kids each choose an "enrichment". We usually have one kid pick a random one each day.

Gray chose recreate a famous painting.  It was easy and fun.

Julia chose paint a canvas.  She and Joshua are still working on theirs and did a great job.  Gray was not a fan and gave up.  Allie just loved squeezing out too much paint and playing it in.  Joshua picked legos and it was fun to put together a Harry Potter set that Julia has had for over a year.  Allie chose a nature documentary, which was really cool.

Girls had been out taking a walk and I was on my way to pick up Raven from her playdate when I encountered the scene above.  Allie had to pee really bad, apparently, and Julia's solution was to push her in the doll stroller for speed.

Found these cuties in the backyard yesterday, swinging away.  What beautiful weather we have had!

The enrichment for today was to bake.  Julia and I made this cinnamon cake and this was her face upon realizing she should have controlled her impulses with the sprinkles a bit more.  

Happy Birthday to GrandGene!  So fun to see everyone's faces, sing Happy Birthday to GrandGene, and watch him blow out his candles (and eat his dessert).  We haven't seen each other in person since...Christmas I think?  :(

We are back to school this week and after a couple days off, Matt will work a lot.  I am so thankful he has a job that can (must) continue during this crisis.  I'm thankful I can teach VIPKID every day.  And I'm thankful to get to keep my BCP job for now too.  As of this week, will be preschool zooming Monday-Thursday at 10.  My class will go Mon/Wed and Allie's Tue/Thu.  Should be exciting.  It's funny the things you think are ridiculous at first...like having an online class with preschoolers...can seem so normal after living an abnormal life for awhile!  

My thoughts for the moment are that I don't miss all the running around.  I think it's been so cool to take time for all these family activities that we never have a moment for.  Some days the kids bicker, especially the middle two, and I have to send them for way too many laps around the house, but overall I think it's so good to take time to learn to get along and appreciate each other.  I think taking away the school stress from the kids is probably really good for their emotional health.  Not having to get ready to go anywhere with the kids takes away soooooooo much of our stress too.  I love hearing about the environmental positives of people slowing down.  So much good with this lifestyle.   I do miss watching the kids do what they love- lacrosse and skating.  I do miss sitting with my friends each week and talking for hours in person.  I am a little sad about  things we were really looking forward to getting canceled, the latest being the play Shrek, which we were going to for Mother's Day, and the boys' NC State basketball camp.  I do worry most about the financial implications of all this...for the out of work folks now and for everyone in the future.  We never really have control of life, but these days we are constantly reminded of that.  The only way to be okay with that is to remind myself that God is only good and brings good from brokenness and tragedy, should we experience that, because he loves us.  "It's God who sees beauty in everything", says Allie's song she's listening to right now.  Trying hard to keep seeing the beauty and positive in each one of these crazy days.