Week 8: Digging, Critters, and a Chickfila Rendevous

It's been a good week.  We've had some fun, we've worked hard, and we've been together a lot.  The highlights...

Saturday night we did Allie's long-anticipated sleepover.  We all ate dinner together, then Gray divvied up candy and popcorn and we split up the boys and girls.  The girls and I watched some 2014 Olympic figure skating and then Aladdin, did our nails, and went to bed in their room.  Allie thought it was so fun to sleep on a mattress on her floor while I slept in her bed.  The boys did darts, football, and video games.  They attempted to sleep outside in hammocks/on the trampoline, but Matt couldn't get to sleep and woke the boys in the night to come back inside.  The next morning Gray was up early asking why he wasn't still in the hammock!

Sunday we begin the great patio project.  We had all the kids help.  Allie was mainly a fetcher.  Julia did a great job shoveling but her working to asking complaining questions ratio was not too good.  Gray worked hard, his favorite part being chopping up roots with the pickaxe. We let him and Julia leave in the middle to ride bikes with their friends and they chose to stop early and make some food for dinner instead of continue to work.  Matt, Joshua, and I worked from right after church till evening and were pretty worn out...

After our hard work Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, we were left with a somewhat level, framed area that will be ready for concrete pouring Friday!!

This has been a week of critters...

Gray found some people he knew from frisbee in the neighborhood and used their net to catch a fish.  He immediately decided to use his money to buy a "casting net."

Allie has loved making worms and slugs her pet.  This is Ava in a leaf sleeping bag, whom she believes is still alive and just sleeping. Everyone else thinks she's long gone.

On a similar path were these bazillion tadpoles Julia caught at the creek and brought home.  They were dead by morning.

This week, catching crayfish has been popular with the middle two and friends.  

On this day, Allie was thrilled to be included.  She felt so big that I dropped her off with the big kids and walked while she played.  They had so much fun, I ended up walking 2 1/2 hours.  Every time I checked in, they were very busy and happy.  The sweet boys called me into the creek to help move a rock one time and it was cold!  By the end, Allie had finally had enough and was freezing, having gotten down to her bathing suit.  Julia, who remains in pants, jacket, backpack, and helmet the entire time, was kind enough to take care of her.

Matt and I took the oldest and youngest down to the creek another day.  Joshua spent every day there  for a time when he was in 5th and I think he wanted to relive it a little.  He didn't catch anything but we did see a little snake poking out its head!

And the last of the critters-  Addelyn the newt (or mudpuppy?).  

Making a comeback this week was the GeoSafari...that's right, Aunt Cheryl, it's still alive, kicking, and delighting another generation of kids.  This was the envy of my heart as a kid visiting my cousins:)  Allie can do some of the non-reading activities, it's perfect learning for Julia, and the boys like racing on some of the harder cards.

Oh Allie.  Boy does she love always having someone to give her attention.  Here Joshua graciously agreed to read her a book I have read too many times and she was quite amused with his voices.  

We finally found a way to get toilet paper.  The grandparents have found some for us, but we hadn't been able to buy any ourselves.  Then Matt found it on Walmart.com, but needed to order something else from free shipping...hence the huge bag of jelly beans above.  I made a taste-guessing test for the family and they really had fun with that.  

On Friday, we finally got to see my parents.  It had been since Christmas!  We got some Chickfila and ate in the parking lot.  So good to be together for a short time, though what is going on with this cold weather?!

These chilly girls had their own socially distanced snack break after a chilly day on the creek.  

This week, we have more of the same, with a couple of exception, like an outside Mother's Day dinner with Matt's parents and the pouring of the patio.  Looks like it's going to be hot so I'm predicting a lot more creek time but hopefully less critters accumulating in plastic dishes on our deck!!

Week 7- Routines...and what's working for us these days

After 7 weeks of this "extended break", we're in a pretty normal routine.  Usually the girls get up while I'm teaching VIPKID and they get their breakfast.  Julia starts working on her school work, which is slow and steady.  After VIPKID, I wake the boys and everyone reads their Bible for a little bit before starting the rest of the day.  Usually 2-4 of us have a zoom meeting and the rest of the morning is spent finishing schoolwork and exercising.  Everyone chooses different locations for working.

In the afternoon, the middle two almost always bike ride with a friend or two.  Joshua sometimes does something with a friend.  Allie either naps or hangs out with me while I pull weeds.  A few times a week I go to culdesac zumba.

This week we haven't done many "enrichments" because their days are pretty full.  After dinner there is more playing, usually outside, and the boys and I usually watch The Office before bed, with Matt if he's home.

So that's basically how life has continued.  Some out of the ordinary things this week:
-my CC # was stolen, but thankfully the charges didn't go through
-both the boys' laptops quit working so we'll have to exchange them next week
-Matt is tentatively planning to pour a concrete patio in the back so we are doing some thinking about those logistics
-three of Joshua's friends have the same birthday so he dropped off gifts to each one and joined a quick group, socially distanced birthday celebration in the field

-my Bible Study friends had our first in person Tuesday night meeting...socially distanced, outside of course
-I planted a few more flowers, which I just love to do
-the boys had their first lacrosse zoom with their Stanford coach
-it was Mimi's birthday so we did facetimes with her and made a video with everyone's help
-I visited a little "meat market" in Hillsborough that I've always wanted to try and it was a really cool little grocery store
-Allie got a special delivery- hand me down clothes from a friend at preschool.  She was thrilled to see some shirts she recognized that apparently she'd been a little envious of.  :)

Some things that we are loving these days:
-getting art supplies in the mail...this week we got tempera paint, paint sticks, and "paint by sticker" books
-picking up take out food for dinner...this week we got shrimp and grits from the Wooden Nickel
-the weather!!  Almost every day is so beautiful.
-The Chosen... We are loving this show about Jesus' life with the disciples.  It's not cheesy and it is very interesting.
-bikes...One of the few ways to be social these days.  Julia is getting so comfortable that she's trying out some tricks (legs on her handlebars...gasp) and even Allie has gotten really good on her little balance bike
-making cds...Gray loves this the most and his choices are very interesting.  Mostly remixes from theme songs or Weird Al.
-family outdoor games...this week we've done boochie ball and a lacrosse drill- see how many catches you can make off the rebounder in a minute

-getting the kids to clean up dinner...well the kids don't love this, but we've been getting much more serious about just leaving the kitchen after dinner and letting them handle the rest
-youtube exercise...Allie and I love finding new exercise videos to keep us moving.  She usually chooses yoga and I usually choose pilates.

Allie trying to get Raven to sit in her lap and do mindfulness exercises like her video

Week 6- So this is it, huh?

Yesterday we got the expected, but still impactful, news that schools would not meet in person the rest of the school year.  I'm not sure how to sort out my feelings about this.  I was telling a friend that I have seen many in my same situation (i.e. not really affected by the pandemic financially, haven't gotten sick or had anyone close to them get sick, can handle the kids at home ok) talk about this time being "traumatic".  I don't feel that.  I haven't really been afraid during this time and haven't felt like my world is caving in.  I feel like we have it pretty easy and though this isn't sustainable for many reasons, my family is relatively happy, healthy, and safe.  We've had some fun family time together.  We've had less stress.  We've exercised more and slept more.  Allie is getting tired of not seeing any friends, but thanks to our wonderful neighborhood, the rest of us have been able to have limited social times outside.  I miss my preschool kids and this isn't the way I thought my last year at BCP would end (though they haven't called the school year off yet).  We didn't even know the last day I was there that it would be the last day, as it was the Wednesday before they suddenly called for an extended break.  There have definitely been some disappointments, but most of them we've dealt with early on.  There may be more to come with summer plans canceled, but for now, I think I'm mostly sad for other people.  Many of my friends have kids who are finishing up their last year at our beloved elementary school and they do some really fun events to close out 5th grade.  They are missing the big 2 night field trip, the graduation ceremony, the 5th grade party...stuff they have looked forward to since they were little and remember for years to come.  Well this will certainly be a memorable school year.

I think I also feel relieved.  This year I have done okay managing the 3 jobs and kids' schooling and activities and housework and all.  I can definitely do it.  But I can breathe so much more in our current situation.  I was a little worried about being thrown back into the chaos again, though I know it will get crazy whenever we do go back (and add high school into the mix!).  Also I had thought I'd have such a short summer with the kids this year because of the new job.  Now I've gotten to have this time to be with them, do things like clean windows and clean out closets that I would normally do in summer, so I will feel more ready when the time comes to start again.

As for my kids, Joshua is most disappointed about not going back.  He hasn't been as social since we've been home and he says he is bored, though he's usually busy and does schoolwork most of the day.  Gray doesn't seem to care a bit.  Julia got a big smile when I told her the news.  I think she feels very capable with the current school situation.  She has some choice about what to do, she can lay on her bed and work, it's review so she isn't struggle, she can manage her own time, and she can work in a space where there are no distractions.  She does miss her friends and teacher, but overall she's living it up.  Regardless of our feelings, this is what we're doing.  Summer is still a big question mark.  I have signed my contract for the new job that should start end of July, but my start date is conditional on when the school meets in person and all that is so up in the air right now.  So I guess we just readjust our thinking a bit and get used to the idea of 6 or 7 more weeks of quarantine life.  And for us, it's really not a bad life.  Here's what we've been up to this week:

Julia finished Harry Potter #4 and we all watched the movie.  The kids have been waiting to watch it since before Allie came home.  :)

Togetherness.  No shortness of that with these two.

We have a new weightlifter!  Some days there are 4 of us using the garage gym throughout the day.

Still doing zumba and loving it!  This day our instructor brought out jingly skirts for us.  So fun!  Julia and her friend were on a bike ride and watched.  Her verdict was that the skirts were really cool and the dancing was weird.  

Our enrichment this night was a photo scavenger hunt.  Matt and I partnered up and had a nice walk.

We paired the middle two to force them to work through some of their problems.  They ran into some roadblocks just a few couple minutes in.  :/  This pic is after they recovered from a huge fight in the yard and were forced to carry on.  See how much fun they were having?  But they did it.  They made it through and back home.  Which was definitely up in the air at many points in the evening.

We had to have at least part of one team member in every picture.  Most of Gray/Julia's looked like this.  Can't you see his finger?

But these two had much more fun as partners.  We spotted them by the creek, Joshua jogging in order to win, and Allie huffing along behind him calling out a few concerns to us about not being able to keep up.  So Joshua grabbed her and carried her along.  They won by far.

Allie can sound out lots of words now and we have "school" a few times a week.  The glasses are essential, clearly.  

We met new friends in the neighborhood and Julia loved her social distancing bike ride.  

Matt and I had another date night.  We picked up some dinner and ate at the park.  And of course did lots of riding in his prized possession.  I think this was the part of our date where he had to speed up to 60 and slow completely down 10 times in a row to warm up some new brake part...or something like that. ;)

Joshua loves using Pa's bb gun in the yard to scare off squirrels.  Those boogers have eaten one of the wheels on our grill!

We had a pizza and movie night and watched the animated Ferdinand, which was so cute!  Allie was giving lots of snuggles and I was just watching her and holding her little hand when I noticed Matt was holding her foot.  She's precious.

We did a paper star enrichment the other day.  Most of us did an easier star but Gray got motivated to make a really complicated one.  Proud of him for pushing through his frustration and completing it!

Allie made this "home" for her animals after being inspired by her stuffed animal yoga.  She loves doing yoga every day and calls the British woman that leads the videos her "workout teacher".

Today Julia and Allie were playing hospital.  Allie was the sullen patient.  

Julia enjoyed getting to release one of the Baker kids' butterflies this week.

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!