Sunday Fun with Dad!

 On Sunday (9/13) Brandon and the kids headed to a park in a nearby town for a couple hours.  I had big plans to blog and do laundry, but I ended up talking with a dear friend on the phone for pretty much the whole time.  It was good to catch up with her, and laundry was happily waiting for me that night. 

While at the park Brandon created an obstacle course for the kids.  All three of them had a very enjoyable time. 

T on the rings. 

M's turn. 

M: Another girl joined in our course too. 

So handsome. 

So beautiful. 

They sure are growing up. 

T:  This feels so good to me!

M: Watch me jump!

M: Look at that air!

Wow!

Heartmelting!

M: I reached the top!

M: Look at how high up I was!!

After a great time at the park they decided to stop for some ice cream!  

T: A great way to end the day! 

 

School year week one happenings

9/9 (Wednesday) - T did her first yoga on zoom.  It went OK, but wasn't her favorite. 

T: Yoga is OK.

They both crawled up on their own.  So sweet!

T: When I work up I couldn't believe they were on me. 

T sharpened LOTS (probably over 100) pencils and was so proud of her dirty hand!

T: Look at how dark it is.  

T: Take a picture of the other side too!

I delivered Sunday School packets for a couple of hours in the afternoon with T and a couple of hours in the evening on my own.  I took pictures of each family as I delivered packets so I needed one of our family too.  It turned out very well. 

Looking like best buds!

9/10 (Thursday)  Today the kids and I did a four hour delivery route all over the county.  We FINISHED delivering all the packets and celebrated with take out from one of our favorite places.  

9/11(Friday) 

I wanted to share a couple of pictures of my zucchini.  This plant looks so huge and lovely, but sadly has only yielded 2 zucchinis all summer.  It has had LOTS of flowers, but they just fall right off.  I learned that we had been overwatering it.  I was struck with some spiritual parallels between overwatering and bearing no fruit.  If all we do as Christians is take in more and more knowledge, but never put it to practice, we are overwatered but not producing fruit.  I know, that is a pretty deep thought about zucchini.  

A beautiful plant. 

So many flowers, but no plants!

T: I became a part of my art!

We were hoping for an early bedtime, but M's pants held us up.  He likes to tie them so tightly and sometimes ties them many times.  His knot was so tight that it took many tools and over 30 minutes to get it out.  The pants are new and favorites so we couldn't just cut the string... but we were getting tempted. 

M:  Maybe I won't tie it so tightly next time...

9/12 (Saturday) T had a major accomplishment!  She finished her 550 piece puzzle.  She had been working on it for months and I did end up helping her a little bit the last day.  I am so proud of her diligence.  

T: Take this silly pic mom!

T:  My first big puzzle!!!  It took me all summer, but I finished!

First Day of (Home/Virtual) School!!

September 8th 2020!  This first day was unlike any other.  We are doing our learning from home this year.  While our day started early in the morning, we forgot to take the traditional 1st day of school pictures in the morning.  We ended up taking them just before bed instead.  Oh well, it was still the first day.  

Our 3rd Grader! T wants to be a Hollywood Star!  Oh boy!!

Our 5th Grader is too old for declaring what he wants to be. 

Team Homeschool!  We made it through the first day!

I sure do love this guy. 

Our first day of homeschool and virtual school went so well.  I was quite nervous about M's virtual school.  He was nervous about all of the google meets and how things would go with the other kids.  I checked on him early in the day and he gave me a thumbs up under his desk to show me things were going OK.  I think I could actually hear my heart singing in that moment.  He really likes the virtual group.  There are 11 kids who are doing all virtual and they seem to get along quite well.  

T and I really enjoyed our time together.  One of our favorite parts of the day is read aloud time.  I love reading to her.  The first day I read a brand new to us Phil Vischer book.  It lead to lots of great discussions. 

T: Cuddling with mom is one of my favorite things!

Last year she was on the computer several hours a day.  This year she is still on the computer most days, but not in the same way.  She does typing once a week, she has mentor zoom and OT zoom once a week, science zoom twice a week, and we do watch videos relating to history topics each day.  Most of the videos are just a few minutes long and really help cement the concepts we are learning.  All of this might sound like a lot, but it is much less than last year and a much better fit for us. 

Typing Club 

I am not sure why I thought 100 fact worksheets would be a good idea.  We only did these for a few days and transitioned to much shorter ones.  

Math worksheet!

While taking a brain break T noticed a squirrel and was sure it was Teeny Tiny.  She need to take a picture. 

T: I KNOW that was Teeny Tiny!

M had a great set up in his room and sort of moves around the room to stretch his body and sit or lay in different positions. 

M: I like it more than I thought I would. 

Zoom Science!

M wanted to search pinterest for a cake and frosting recipe.  He made it all by himself and it tasted pretty good!  We are thankful for many opportunities to cook and bake together.  

M: I made it all by myself. 

There have been some tricky times in the first few weeks of learning from home, but many blessings too.  We are so thankful to have options. As the cases rise in our community and our schools, we are thankful to have a consistent plan for our kids. 

One last BONUS week of Summer Vacation! (Week 13)

 Tuesday 9/1 - Schools in our area began on the 1st, but we were able to enjoy an additional week of vacation.  It was such a bittersweet feeling for us to go on a bike ride and see children playing on the playground.  I knew we had made the only decision we could and what we felt was the best decision, but I still sort of longed for my kids to be in on the fun those kids were having.  M was a bit sad too.  T wasn't sad at all. She wanted to be homeschooled and she was actually very sad that she had to wait an additional week to begin.   Thankfully, she had Ashley (therapy) which made her day much brighter.  Ashley even stayed longer and played a game with both kids! 

M and T:  We really like Trouble!

Sunshine:  I love the drying rack.  Please don't put the clothes away.  Me:  OK, thanks!

During the kid's screen time I made my lesson plans for the first week of homeschool.  It was quite a time intensive process which I had been working on for many weeks, but I had not mapped it all out for daily activity.  It felt so good to know I had a plan.  

Wednesday 9/2 - 

I came home from my early morning walk to see this beauty on our porch. 

T: I just wanted to play a little game of Trouble.  I play multiple people and see who wins. 

After breakfast T made her own craft project.  She created several characters and taped them up above her desk.  

T: Some of the characters are heroes and others are villains. 

Our little garden is producing well and we are so thankful!

On Wednesday we felt the privilege of the homeschool life just a bit.  We went to a beach in the afternoon and we had the beach to ourselves.  The only other people there were T's preschool teacher and her fiancé.  After a while our good friends joined us.  They brought their boat and pulled M on the tube.  We didn't get to do tubing in MO this summer, so it was a HUGE blessing that M was still able to tube at least once.  T just wanted to ride in the boat.  After we were finished tubing we saw that another family had arrived at the beach and we knew them as well.  We talked a while and then headed home.  It was a lovely bonus summer vacation day!

M: I was getting tired out, but I tried to stay on as long as possible. 

Thursday 9/3 -  On Thursday morning M told me his teeth hurt.  I looked in his mouth and saw the photo below.  

I sent this pic to Grandpa Tom and he said we should start wiggling. 

M wiggled so much that he was able to pull out the tooth the next morning.  I am not sure how loose it was, but there was a lot of blood and a very big hole.  I am thankful that we didn't have to go to the dentist.  

M and I had an early morning appointment at Children's for Endocrine.  We love his Endocrine Dr.  She told us that M had grown almost 6 inches since his appointment before prescribing the growth hormone.  She gave M a printout of his growth and really pumped him up.  He even said, "I don't want to get too tall."  I don't think that is something we have to worry about, but it is amazing to see that the shots are working. 

On Thursday I created all of the packet one craft projects and embellished Sunday School coloring sheet samples.  The entire week was filled with late nights working on the first packet.  I was so thankful that I wasn't trying to do the first packet and teach T.   

God looks at the heart, David's stones, an Ark of the Covenant, and David's harp!

T and her bugs!  I do not share photos of most of the things she catches!

T: Check out this firefly closeup! 

M started fevers in late May.  September 3rd was day 100 for his fevers.  One of his afternoon checks registered 100 even so we figured it deserved a photo.  Poor T did not have a picture taken on her day 100... the life of a second born. 

100 days of fever!

Friday 9/4 - I worked A LOT on Friday and apparently T slept a lot.  I think she slept for me as I was up until past 12:00 every night. 

She still loves cozy nests. 

Look at Sunshine's paw!  He does such a good job helping with the bedtime routine. 

Saturday 9/5 - The time finally came for me to record my Sunday School classes.  I recorded 4 classes and 4 weeks of iGnite Bible verse videos.  It took quite a while, but I had so much fun doing it.  It actually felt like I was teaching again.  I even caught myself looking down at the rug in front of me to look for responses from the students. 

Ready to record. 

Waiting for Brandon to leave to actually start recording.  

After recording I finished all of my printing for the packet.  The first packet had more than future packets will, but the volume of paper was insane.  This go around I have been working more in advance and our amazing admin assistant has been making copies for me.  This is already saving me so much time. 

The stack was taller than my hand. 

After putting the kids to bed that night I made packets for 4 hours.  I learned so much in this process and the second installment of packets will be much easier.  I didn't even finish the packets when I went to bed at 2:00am, but I figured I would be good for nothing the following week if I didn't get to bed. 

Sunday 9/6 - We had indoor church for the first time this morning.  The kids and I continued to watch at home, but Brandon held two services.  It was fun to hear his reports after church.  After lunch I went back down to the basement and worked the rest of the afternoon finishing up packets.  In just a couple of days I will be creating the next round of packets.  This time I will set things up on tables so I don't have to bend down.  That will work SO much better!  My goal is to go from 6 hours making packets to just two hours.  We will see if I can do it! 

This is right before I put them in envelopes. 

Monday 9/7 -  Happy Labor Day.  I took most of the day off of church work so I could get things set up and ready for homeschool and virtual school the following day.  We were able to have some good family time too.  I am so thankful for this crew who flexed with me so much while I was working.  I didn't know what I was saying yes to when I took the position, but I think the most tricky time is behind me. 

We decided to end our summer vacation with a swim in our "Giant Family Pool." Actually, it was a little chilly so we just took a picture inside the pool.  This is the pool that we thought was going to be fun for the whole family to swim in.  We did technically fit in it while standing up!

Our pool! 

T: I am taller than the pool!

She makes a good model. 

This guy mowed our entire yard!!!! 

I was so proud of M and his hard work.  T wanted to work hard too.  She and I made a fajita spice mix together. She loves to help in the kitchen when she wants to ;).  

T: We made a big patch of tasty seasoning. 

Brandon grilled fajitas for dinner.  While he was grilling, he spotted T doing some multitasking.  She was dribbling and eating a banana!  

T: I usually like to do two things at once. 

We went to bed early with anticipation of a big day tomorrow for each family member!