Intentional Outdoor Hours: 18+ hours (of 1000)
Up over 5 hours this week with plenty of time to get outside. Kids were probably outside 10x as much as me, so yay for 'outside school.' Brandon and the big kids spent multiple days chopping wood, moving cinder blocks, chainsawing a fallen tree by the driveway, and moving bricks so that all of the spaces that have been previously piled high with random supplies - has been cleared and organized! Grey loves chopping wood (hah!) and Gemma was obsessed with driving the tractor - so they were actually huge helps and they didn't mind working for hours at a time. While we were at the bottom of the driveway, the kids took a break to climb trees and Grey found a nest with two mourning dove eggs in it! (we guessed they were mourning doves because we know they live down that way and then google images helped confirm!)Reading Nyxia by Scott Reingtgen and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson but not too much because working and homeschooling and the news is distracting me quite a bit. I got in a little reading at my two non-stress tests though.
Stocking up on groceries on Monday so we are all good for a few weeks (except for Milk - we need a cow I think). Brandon stopped by two different stores after work and we replenished all the necessary items we might need if everything gets shutdown. Some essential Studer items: frozen chicken, white rice, ketchup, breakfast sausage, crescent rolls, fruit snacks (!), cereal, and yogurt. We got some yummy produce too and if all else runs out - we have our chickens giving us eggs everyday!
Hunkering down in a big way. We go nowhere and see no one in person. Except Daddy who is working on modified hours for half a day. All this week 'pregnant women' have been declared high risk and not high risk (who knows!?) but we aren't taking any chances and plus I'm a little psychotic these days worrying about this kid getting out safely...so yeah, we are on self LOCKDOWN. We are really good at social distancing from others - but in this house, we still operate under the standard 'no personal space' boundaries. There are lots of snuggles, hugs, kids on laps, backs, and necks & so much wrestling.
Getting tricked by that sneaky leprechaun again on St. Patrick's day! The kids painted rocks gold and set up an elaborate trap, alas! He figured out that the rocks weren't gold, wrecked the trap, drew X's over the kids' faces on a photo, and stole some of our lucky charms from the cereal cupboard! He is such a pesky rascal!
Thankful for my handsome fella who agrees to be magical creatures with me at 5am throughout the year. i love you.
Smiling about nightly kid campouts in the living room or in one bedroom. I don't know how long this will last, but I love that they want to be all together every night.
Long distance visiting with family and friends via video chat, zoom, and phone calls.
Checking off the #boymom list that we had our first broken window from a ball thrown this week. Made it all the way to Grey being nearly 10 years old! Luckily it was a double pane, so we just taped up the outside window and moved on for now.
Overwhelmed by the generosity and thoughtfulness of our family friends. We received a surprise care package in our garage this week from my parents (thank you Abba & Chum!) Aunt Kitty bought us a baby bathtub for baby brother and Aunt Uch gave us a free trial with Hello Fresh that amped up our meals! I received a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book from my sweet friend Ashley from The Big White Farmhouse. I cried actual tears upon opening the kindest care package from a sweet college friend that included a beautiful bag, two of the softest onesies, diapers, a teether, and almond chocolates for me. Her daughters drew us pictures for their wishes for me when the baby arrives (having fun and ice cream!) and it was so kind (Haley, thank you so so much - I just can't believe you!) Our cousin Heather dropped off a grocery haul at our mailbox on Saturday that included all sorts of kid-friendly options for isolation like snacks, cutie oranges, and lunchmeat & cheese (and toilet paper & paper towels!) Just overwhelmed with the love, thank you guys so much, especially as I am locked up and trying to focus on a healthy and safe delivery for this little dude.
College'ing as normal as my class was already virtual. As long as I stay in contact with my mentors and college professors, I should still be on track to finishing my certification in May. I did some reading of articles for my research paper. Only two weeks until that sucker is due and then just a few more mini assignments, I should be in the clear!
Homeschooling loosely all week to keep the hours moving throughout the day. Our 'homeschool' plan includes one hour dedicated to practicing skills from school (thank goodness for free worksheets from TeachersPayTeachers!), and then lots of outdoor time and chores. It has been so helpful to keep tv/movies/screens off until after 3p because the kids have been pooped with the outdoor time and using their own brains/creativity to fight boredom. On Tuesday, we watched this video to learn how to dance the Irish Jig and this video about a family's vacation to Ireland to see if it looks like where we live. We got to talk about Spring themed things too like the life cycles of frogs, the parts of a caterpillar, and what we know and wonder about flowers. Technically the kids' school is not doing virtual learning - but we sent some pictures to their teachers to let them know we are still working at home!
Teaching virtually. We use Google classroom to post and collect assignments and I keep them updated on my teacher instagram account too. Basically I have to be available to them 10a-2p each day for questions but other than that - I have them working on a Spanish Choice board to immerse themselves in Spanish for at least 30 minutes a day. It was also the end of the third marking period this week - so it was grading and finalizing scores from home! We used Zoom to hold our Project Lit book club meeting on Friday and I loved seeing the students and chatting about our last book Scythe by Neal Shusterman and I had a Zoom staff meeting on Friday too!
Making all.the.meals. I have been marking out what we will be having for all three meals of the day to try to make sure I'm inventorying what gets used and what we still have to manage our supplies ( #lockdownlife) We had one special day to celebrate (St. Patrick's Day!) so I made potato soup and irish soda bread for dinner. For breakfasts this week we've had baked oatmeal bars, egg & sausage wraps, cereal, pb&j toast, honey ham & cheese biscuits, and breakfast sandwiches. For lunches we've had turkey & cheese crescent rolls, buffalo chicken dip, 2 days of leftovers, hot dogs over the fire, and frozen pizza. And for dinner we've enjoyed chili over noodles, pepperoni rolls (that I bought from a fundraiser), chicken Parmesan in the slow cooker, thai basil beef bowls (Hello Fresh), doctored up Potato soup left overs with shrimp and corn, and butter basted chicken breast with brussel sprouts (Hello Fresh).
Your sister is so cute!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love that you found a mourning dove nest! So neat!