Friday, May 8, 2020

Our Weird Spring

Here's a review of our last month and a half.  We have been at home for 8 weeks now.  Things have started to open up around us these last couple of weeks but we are still being cautious.  Of course we've gone out for groceries and to pick up food via to-go orders or drive-thru's... And Michael has run a few errands here and there, but the majority of our time has been spent at home.  Jackson's soccer was cancelled 3 games into the season and Rachel's swim team ended in March as well.  We are all ready to get out and go places again.

I've seen a meme on Facebook that fits me exactly.  "I'm a homebody but DANG...I did like going one or two places..."  Yes.  This.

We've played lots of video games, some of us more than others...



We've sat out on our deck more these last two months than we have in the entire 15 years we've lived here.  We've even eaten dinner outside on several evenings when the weather was nice.


Michael put up a screen so Lucy can't jump through the slats and she can enjoy the deck more now as well.  She loves to go outside and sit in the sun. 


Afternoon Bloody Mary's...


Trip out of the house for ice cream...


The kids drew all over the driveway with chalk. 



Our neighborhood did a bear hunt - asked everyone to put a bear (we did multiple) somewhere in a window and when families went on walks, they would search for the bears.  Lucy couldn't figure out why Pooh was in her spot in the window for a few days...


PE break during one of their school days.  The PE teachers would sent out a fun Zumba video and the kids would follow along. 


Sitting in our driveway after dinner.  We've played tennis, basketball, etc. 


Watching the rain one afternoon...


This was one of Jackson's Social Studies assignments - to make a model of a covered wagon...we went life size...



Burning wood with a magnifying glass and the sun.


We've gone on multiple walks...


This was the day they announced that school would be closed for the rest of the school year.  So, so crazy.


Of course all the hair salons have been shut down.  Jackson needed a haircut really bad (so did Michael!)... He's always wanted a buzz cut and I had told him he could get it done over the summer... Well, once we realized we weren't going back to school for the year, and since we couldn't get in to get him a haircut, we took it into our own hands.  Michael gave him a buzz cut.  It turned out pretty good. He likes it!




One evening brought a little excitement... Our neighbor across the street came over and said that a swarm of bees had landed in the tree across the street.  They heard them initially in their backyard - thousands of them swarming around looking for a place to land.  They had called a beekeeper to come and "catch" them so we waited outside across the street, drawing the attention of everyone that went by...and finally they came and cut out the branches and the bees all dropped into their box.  They went everywhere.  It was quite a scene!




Jackson and Rachel planned a game show night for us - we all had to prepare trivia questions.  This was his costume for the evening. 


The Saturday of Easter weekend was beautiful and we sat outside and visited with Barbara, Dawson and Nannette in the driveway for a couple of hours...six feet apart.  Ha.  Barbara made us these cute toilet paper bunnies because there has been a toilet paper shortage during this time as well! 












Her normal position...sleeping somewhere close to me.


Michael found a new way to enjoy the deck and the sun... ha.


We finally got rid of Michael's truck.  It wouldn't even start anymore and had a leak so we ended up giving it to one of those organizations that takes old vehicles.  This was right before they took it.  The kids are excited though because they can now play basketball in the driveway. 



One of our outings to the grocery store - with our masks...


Recently we went out one night to downtown Woodstock...since things have started to open up.  We were able to stay away from people for the most part. 



The administration at my school placed these signs in all the yards of the staff members... Very neat!



And today is our last day of school.  They managed to do the last eight weeks of school digitally.  They both did really well.  Some days were better than others but we managed.  They both would have rather been in school and get to do all of the end of year activities than come with it... Sadly, none of that happened... But they both kept up their grades and now they will move on to 5th and 8th grades... Hopefully at the school next year!




One of the things I've been doing a lot of is cooking... whether it be breakfast, snacks or dinner, I've tried a lot of new things recently.  Here's a grid of some of the items.  


And another trend going on right now is to have front porch pictures taken - to help represent this time in our lives.  A photographer in our neighborhood offered to do quick sessions for anyone that wanted to do them.  I'm so glad we did - they turned out great.  The first one was more humorous - kind of represented our days. 







Now that school is over, we are officially into summer break.  We are waiting to hear if summer swim team will happen at all or not.  We're doubting that it will.  We're really not sure how the pool will even work this summer.  I can't imagine our summers without the pool or swim team.  Both of the kids' church camps were cancelled already.  So, it may end up being a very boring summer... We'll just wait and see what happens!  

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Start of the Year

I really thought I posted for January already but I guess not...sorry.  We're always busy but I don't feel like I have a ton of pictures to show everything.  So this may be a little choppy.  

Michael went to Donuts with Dad at Jackson's school.


Jackson wanted to make blueberry pancakes for dinner one night so he did. 



He made his Pinewood Derby car into a Big Pink Eraser...he was so excited when he won first place for the design!  He worked hard on it.  His Den also earned their Webelos badge that evening.  





We found a new sushi place that we all loved.  It's called Revolving Sushi and you can grab individual pieces as they pass you on a conveyor belt.  It's a good place to try different kinds.  


Another cub scout event at a Canine Assistance place.  They raise dogs to be helper dogs.  It was a neat place and the puppies were so cute!!!



At the beginning of February, we had a few flurries one morning while at school - I thought that might be the only snow we got so I went out and took a picture... That day was crazy at school - two separate incidences of trees falling on power lines and causing the power to be out at our school.  The second time it lasted over 4 hours.  What a day!


Jackson and I at the Mother Son Bingo Night at his school.  



His last day with his braces on the top teeth.  And below a couple of days later - no braces and a haircut.  He'll have to get them again in a few years - waiting for the rest of his molars to come out now.



Rachel got 8 inches cut off her hair!  



And you can see by the background that we finally got a little bit more snow.  It was the following day - and it snowed for about 2 hours or so... Enough to cover the ground for a few hours, but it was all gone by later that afternoon.  At least we got to see it for a short time!






Sweet Lucy...



Rachel finally was able to compete in a swim meet a few weeks ago.  She's been limited for the last few months because of her back pain, but now that we got that under control, she's back to normal.  



Beautiful sunset at one of the first soccer practices for Jackson.  The season has started back and he's on a better team this year.  






Rachel had another band concert - this is her and one of her friends. 


We went to Bruster's in our pajamas to get a free ice cream cone.  Yum!


Jackson and the bottle rocket he made...that was fun!  Some of them went really high up into the air!


And the big story of the week/month/year is this Coronavirus.  Wow - how crazy is this.  Everything is shut down for the rest of the month - maybe longer.  Schools, work, sports, etc... So we're all at home with each other.  The kids have digital assignments to do for each class online each day.  We're on day four so far and it's going alright.  Rachel's has taken an average of 5-6 hours each day and Jackson's has taken 3-4... We have to do more hand-holding with him though.  Michael is working from home as well, so everyone is set up in their areas on their computers... Rachel is already ready to go back to school and Jackson seems bored half the time.  The novelty of being at home didn't last long! 

Lucy on the other hand wants me to hold her all day.  I need one of those baby carriers so I can just wear her.  This was her on the first day...just laying against me.  Sweet girl...