Backyard Outdoor Fun

It was such a beautiful day today!  From this morning when Christian and I did our usual run - I got him to go 2 miles today at a 9 min/mile pace - to this evening as I cleaned up all the mess we'd made outside, I couldn't believe how perfect the weather was.  I wish it would never change.  Bella's scout troop had a virtual camp-out over zoom.  This means the scoutmaster drove around to everyone's house delivering supplies and then they participated in various activities together at scheduled times over zoom.  One was a mystery dinner - make a meal with the food she delivered and show pictures of it.  This was a bit of a bummer because Bella misunderstood when she was supposed to do it and ended up not getting it done in time.  However, we still ended up eating it and it was delicious.  Dandelion greens with great northern beans over sweet potatoes.  So yummy.  Well, most of us thought it was.  Benjamin thought it was awful.  They also had a virtual scavenger hunt - they emailed a list of items to find and the girls had to collect pictures of those items by a certain time.  She and I went on a walk with Peter around the neighborhood taking pictures - black car, red door, sign of an animal, winged bug, moss, etc.  It was wonderful to be outside and Peter had a great time too.  They also shared stories, jokes, and songs over zoom and did various other activities.  It was a very cute idea.  She was supposed to set up a tent in the backyard and sleep in it tonight, but she opted for the basement instead.  I'm not sure why, but I guess sleeping alone outside made her nervous.  I can't blame her.  So she's in a tent next to Christian in his bed. :)

Other things we did outside today were introducing Peter to soccer, playing on the trampoline, and designing an obstacle course.  Peter had a lot of fun with the soccer ball.  I'm excited for when he's able to stand and kick.  I think he'll love it.  He is becoming so much fun as he becomes less of an infant and more of a child.  He's clearly able to understand more language and responds when you ask him certain things.  If you ask him to point to his ear, he'll do it.  If you ask him if he's hungry, he'll look at the fridge and smile and laugh.  If you tell him you want to feed the fish, he'll look over at the fish tank.  If you say to go downstairs, he'll turn towards the stairs.  He can get up and down the stairs independently now.  He's crawling on hands and knees when the surface requires it, but he still prefers his "swiffer" style crawl, with two arms simultaneously for the hardwood floor.  Every day he tries new foods, both pureed and whole, and eats them all.  He is not picky at all.  Today he ate stuffed peppers (red pepper with a sausage/beef mixture), the dandelion greens and beans and sweet potato, bananas, rotisserie chicken, beets, cheerios, oatmeal, rice, pineapple, peaches, butternut squash, broccoli, carrots, and spinach. He's a champ.  He's also transitioned to only 1 nap/day most days.  I usually try to lay him down for a second nap in the later afternoon, but most days he refuses and I get him back up.  Soon I'll stop trying all together.  He seems fine most days until bed time.  During the night is a different story. He still wakes up and screams and cries 1-2 times a night.  Luckily, most nights it doesn't take too terribly long to calm him down.  Last week it was 60-90 minutes each time.  This week we're down to about 15 minutes.  Hopefully that continues to improve.

Christian and Benjamin's obstacle course was fun.  Run through the tires, push the wheelbarrow, climb over the ladder, walk the rain barrel, etc.   I timed them and as soon as Benjamin's time beat Christian's, he declared himself done and went inside.  At least he came out for a while.  The boys and Kelly also went out for a bike ride at Island Lake park again.  Bella didn't want to go.  She fell the last time she went and still has the roughed up elbow to prove it.  I also think she knows that she'd have a hard time keeping up with the boys.  Update: her pie from yesterday turned out great.  The crust was a bit drier and crumblier than she'd wanted but for a first attempt at homemade pie crust, it was a winner.  We'll definitely be doing it again.

A Beach to Ourselves

We've been wanting to go back to the beach for days and haven't been able to due to Benjamin's hand surgery and various other commitments, so we planned to go today.  Then it rained all morning and everyone was super bummed.  However, Christian and Benjamin insisted we go anyway, saying that it would be the perfect situation because the rain would keep everyone away and even though they couldn't swim, they would still play in the sand.  So, we packed up the car in the rain and went.  However, as we drove the weather went from cloudy, dreary, and cool to sunny and warm.  The kids were so excited.  We got there and it was warm and sunny and the beach was practically deserted!  There were some triathletes wearing wet suits and swimming back and forth across the lake, but otherwise, we had the whole beach to ourselves!  It was amazing.  Everyone's hoping for another rainy day to go again!

A day of loss

Benjamin lost his best lawn care client today and I lost a good friend.  Benjamin first.  He has been mowing for a woman in our neighborhood for about three years now and she pays more than any other client he has.  They have a standing agreement that he simply keeps an eye on her lawn and mows it when he thinks it needs it.  However, this year she has rented her place out to others and moved in with her father and the people who live there now don't agree about when the lawn needs mowing.  They feel it needs it more often than Benjamin and, in all honesty, Benjamin has been negligent and lazy about it.  He should have mowed more often but he wasn't being diligent about it.  They called her and asked what to do and she told them to wait.  She was sure he'd come.  Three days went by and he still didn't and so they called again.  They offered to do it for free because they wanted it to look nice.  So she agreed.  When he went over to mow today, he was told to not mow it anymore.  So he has been fired from his best job.  They will now mow the lawn this season and he's out $50/week.  However, it's not the money that bothers me most.  It's the negligence and the loss of trust.  I was really disappointed in the whole thing.  A bit frustrated that she gave up on Benjamin after just one flub, but I guess that's life.  Free vs. $50/week.  I know what I'd choose.  I'm not sure how sad he was.  He hides things like that.  He won't let me see if he's upset.  He always has an excuse and covers things with bravado.  Maybe he really didn't care or maybe he did, but I know I did.  It weighed heavily on me all day.  I was mad at him for putting video games and phone time first and not doing what he committed to do.  I was worried that this was a trend and worried about where it will lead. I finally called her and apologized on his behalf and she said that she'd still call him when the renters went on vacation or when she needed dog walking, which he also does for her, but otherwise, she'd let them mow.  Super sad.  I just hope he learns something from this.

Also today, well, yesterday actually, but it still weighed on me today, I lost a friend of mine to brain cancer.  He was diagnosed only about 9 months ago and he was seeming strong and well until just a few weeks ago.  However, chemo really took its toll and, of course, as it hardly ever does, it didn't help.  He passed away leaving his wife and two young sons.  I kept trying to wrap my head around the idea that he was gone.  It's so strange to wake up and think that someone you've known for years suddenly isn't in this world with you anymore.  That he's now in the next life when just recently he was alive and vibrant and full of ideas right here with you.  I always admired him and enjoyed being around him and I mourn for that but especially for his family.  I pray that they will be comforted in this time.  If it's hard on me, it must be terrible on them.  I think because we are eternal beings, death and the loss of someone, is so hard to conceptualize.  You have a hard time accepting that they're gone, probably because they aren't really, but for now they are and it takes so long to get used to.   So, a bummer day today, but the weekend is coming and hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Not As Planned

The kids and I had planned to go back to the beach today but I had to take Benjamin to the dermatologist this morning first.  He's had a sore on his thumb for a few months now and he called it a wart but it didn't look like a wart to me.  I told him to just keep an eye on it and let me know if it got worse.  I didn't want to take him to a doctor in the middle of a pandemic.  He didn't mention it again and I forgot all about it.  Then about 3 weeks ago he mentioned how the sore constantly bleeds and makes it hard for him to do anything. He still called it a wart, so I gave him some wart medicine and told him to use it, even though I wasn't sure that's what it was.  He used it all up and it was still there.  That's when I took a look at it again.  Upon seeing it again, after so many months, I saw that it truly was no wart.  It was a crazy looking thing that's hard to describe and I had no idea what to make of it.  It looked like the vessels inside his thumb were growing out of his skin.  So I made the appointment right away.  When the doctor looked at it, he gave us some long, complicated word for it, out of which I was only able to pick out the term "angioma" - an overabundance of blood vessels, a lot like what Peter has on his head.  This one, however, is extremely superficial and sensitive, thus is bled every time he bumped it.  The doctor said it needed to be removed and proceeded to do it right then and there.  He numbed it, cut it off, cauterized it and bandaged it all up.  It was fascinating to watch and wow, did it bleed! It was wonderful to have it taken care of so quickly, but it was kind of a bummer when he said not to get it wet for 24 hours.  Also, who wants to be in a lake with an open wound?  So, we stayed home today for the most part.  Benjamin mowed for one of his clients, Christian and I went biking with Peter and then played with him in the backyard, and Bella worked on her research project for the week, which is how to make pie crust.  We're looking forward to sampling her pie on Friday.

The funny part about today was Peter's eating habits.  He love sticking his hands in his mouth while he's eating and when he's a bit tired, he often rubs his hands over his face and head.  Combine these two things and you get quite a mess.  I tried to keep him clean but I finally just gave up and gave him a bath after lunch instead.  He didn't seem to mind being covered in beets and spinach and he loved the bath, of course!

 Mumbo joins us for scripture study every night and usually sits at Kelly's feet. (Much to his frustration) Tonight Christian was on the floor due to a conflict over couch space with Bella and so Mumbo laid with him.  Pretty soon he was up against him with his head on his arm like a pillow.  Christian loved it.  "Listening to scriptures and hugging a cat.  It's a pretty wonderful life," he said.  So sweet.

Uneventful Day

Today was sort of a recovery from the weekend day.  Didn't go anywhere or do much of anything.  Christian and I went on our usual morning run.  He struggled again this morning.  Only got in 1.5 miles.  I keep hoping to increase the distance but it's been a week now and he's still having a hard time.  It'll come, though, I know he'll improve.  It's hard without a race to train for.  I think that was key to his motivation last season.  Maybe we can find something to work towards.

After the run, we just stayed home.  It got up to 90 degrees and it was too hot for anyone to want to go outside other than to get wet.  Christian needed to mow our lawn, so he soaked his shirt and hair and mowed it in three stages throughout the day.  Otherwise, we enjoyed our cool basement and worked on the week's school work.  Christian has been assigned to design a Rube Goldberg machine.  He decided to design one which turns on a fan and cools him off.  It was fun to draw it out and design it with him.  Well, not entirely fun.  Sometimes it's hard to find the balance between helping and taking over.  I had so many ideas of how I wanted to do it and he had such a very different vision that I got frustrated and had to take a step away for a while and let him work on it alone.  Then I rejoined when he'd made significant progress and I could help him finish it up.  I didn't want it to be my project, after all.  I think he did a pretty great job.  He incorporated all 6 simple machines into his design and also has a water balloon breaking over his head to wet him in addition to the fan blowing.

Bella had to write about the Acts which the British congress passes prior to 1776 which enraged the colonists and led to the war, such as the stamp act, the tea act, the townsend act, etc.  I had fun going over all that with her, although I think she was bored stiff.  History is really only interesting when you're older, I think.  I was again reminded how it really is the small and simple things that all build up to make something grand.  Each of these little Acts and the Colonist's reactions slowly combined to make the Revolutionary war a reality.  The Stamp Act Congress showed the colonists they could meet together and find common ground and discuss common goals.  The French and Indian war provided the colonists with military experience.  The Acts led to enough unrest that they were willing to take the risk of rebellion.  Each little thing and many others led to the eventual call to war and the successful conclusion.  It's amazing how God leads each of us through a lifetime of "small and simple things" on the road to our eventual grand eternity.  We can't see it in the process, but sometimes you can look back and marvel and how he guided and sustained in each instance along the way, orchestrating something amazing, even if it felt awful at the time.

Happy Memorial Day

This Memorial Day was quite different from ones in the past.  Normally today we'd be at a large church-organized BBQ with our whole ward.  Thanks to the quarantine and COVID 19, we had no such event.  So, Kelly planned some one-on-one activities with the kids and I did a BBQ at home.  Kelly took Bella biking at Maybury park in the morning.  He wants to try to find something physcial that she can get interested in and excited about.  I don't think it's mountain biking. :)  She has a really hard time with sports and exercise and he and I both worry about her future weight and health as a result.  She said the whole thing was very tiring and she ended up falling and severely scraping up her elbow and needing to come home for treatment.  She was thankful for the time spent with her, though.  In the afternoon he took Benjamin motorbiking up by Flint.  They were gone until 7pm and had a wonderful time.  Benjamin was nervous at first that it would be very busy and he might really struggle with a new bike and new surroundings and didn't want to embarrass himself in front of so many people.  It turned out to be much more deserted than expected (thank you stay-at-home order) and was perfect for him.  Kelly has really wanted to find something he can do with Benjamin that will get him out of the house and away from his phone and give Kelly a chance to spend qaulity time with Benjamin.  He thought it would be mountain biking because Benjamin loves that, but then another thing came along.  Kelly wanted to sell his Mazda 3 and get a management lease car.  The Mazda was costing more to maintain than a lease would cost, so it made sense.  However, buyers were hard to find and the only one that panned out wasn't able to buy the car, but rather, wanted to trade his motorcycle for it.  Kelly agreed since the cost was comparable and he figured he'd just sell the motorcycle in the spring.  (This was last fall).  So the motorcycle sat in our shed all winter and just as he was going to sell it, he thought, what if this is the perfect thing to do with Benjamin?  Spiritual prompting?  So, rather than sell it, he bought a second one for Benjamin just last week.  Benjamin's is lighter and a little smaller and a really fun bike to ride.  Benjamin spent hours online taking lessons and tests to earn is ORV license so they could go together today and he came home all smiles.  He was excitedly telling me all about it.  In retrospect, I didn't pay as much attention to his stories as I wish I had because they came home just as I was busy dealing with Peter and getting the BBQ on the table.  I'm sad about that because there's no recovering that kind of moment.  However, the BBQ was a feat for me.  I had planned on Kelly running it but when he didn't come home, I knew I needed to take over.  So Bella and I made the burgers and I got all the other supplies and sides and got the grill going through a little bit of trial-and-error and a lot of God's grace.  It turned out really yummy and Kelly was very relieved to come home to a made dinner, rather than having to do it himself, as he thought he would.  I was really happy that things went so well with Benjamin (any time away from the phone is a heavenly gift and really proud of my accomplishment.  Who needs a man to have a BBQ? :)

Other than those activities, the younger kids and I spent the day watching our favorite youtube science guy, Mark Rober, and filming their piano recital songs.  Their teacher is doing the recital over zoom so they get to pre-record it.  It worked great.  They each did about 5 takes and it was so much nicer to just be able to delete the video and start over rather than agonize in the audience when they flubb a part of the song that you just know they nailed countless times at home.

Today Christian decided to write a book and Bella offered to be his illustrator so they spent hours discussing the plot and characters and their appearance.  They both had a wonderful time working on "Finding Peter" together.  They fight a lot, but for the most part those two play well together and these last few days, they've come up with a ton of things.  I love that they're close and work well together.

National Scavenger Hunt Day

Bella keeps track of random daily holidays and today was national scavenger hunt day so she wanted to do some.  I thought it was a great idea.  She set up a hunt in the house that culminated at the tv for some family Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch.  I set up a scavenger hunt in the woods behind Stevenson HS.  I gave them a list of things to find such as "something that makes you happy," "something beautiful,"  "something that smells good,"  etc.  We had a lot of fun walking around in the forest, observing and looking for things.  I let each kid use a phone and they took pictures of everything and we looked through them when we got home.  Benjamin took a picture of a jogger on the trail for "mammal."  Bella took a pictures of me and Peter for "something that makes you happy."  Christian took a picture of Benjamin for "something that smells good."  So, there was a bit of cheating, but overall they found good stuff. :)   They just did an awful lot of complaining about the heat.  It was 85 degrees and you'd think it was over 100.  They complained almost nonstop about "it's sooo hot!  I hate it!"   I have some real Eskimo children.   I was disappointed to see how few wild flowers remained.  It's amazing how quickly the ground cover comes and goes when the canopy comes in.

The sad part of today was how incredibly bitten up Peter became.  When we got home from the forest, I sat Peter in his high chair to feed him.  He started vigorously scratching his head.  That's when I noticed it was covered in bites.  He'd gotten about 7 bug bites on his head - the only place on him that hadn't been covered in clothes.  I felt so bad for him.  I laid a cool cloth over his head and wipes his hair and face.  That seemed to help a little.  After I fed him, I took him in the back yard to join the other kids who'd decided to turn on the hose on the trampoline and jump.  Peter and I sat down in the grass beside the trampoline to watch.  About two minutes later, he started to shriek and scream like he was being pinched.  I picked him up and looked but I didn't see anything.  I thought he'd stop screaming, but he didn't.  He kept shrieking intermittently, every few seconds, like he was still being pinched.  So I rushed him inside and stripped off his clothes.  He was covered in bug bites!!  He had 8 bites on his back and neck and two on his stomach.  I didn't see any bugs, but somehow they'd gotten him even through his clothes!  We'd only been our for a few minutes and I hadn't gotten anything!  I felt so bad for him.  He was very itchy, but his screaming stopped after I'd stripped his clothes.  It was just so disappointing that I couldn't even be outside with him.  Gorgeous weather, but Peter and I just watched from inside the house after that.  I don't know what it was that bit him, but I really hope he won't always be this sensitive.  I didn't see anything in the forest or get a single bite myself (usually I get tons) but they sure found him.  Poor little guy.

Day at the Beach

Kelly had planned to take Christian and Bella bike riding today at Island Lake State Park.  Our favorite swimming spot is in the same park.  I suggested to them that they swim after their ride to cool off.  They were thrilled about the idea.  However, as it always happens, things kept coming up and their departure kept getting delayed.  I could see the kids were getting increasingly anxious that their plans would be ruined.  So, I offered to take them swimming before their ride and Kelly could come join us and take them biking whenever he finally had the time.  They were so excited that they packed all their swim stuff, their biking stuff, and anything else they needed all by themselves long before I could get myself and Peter ready to go.

We ended up having a wonderful time at the lake.  It was Peter's first time at a beach and he did what he always does - cling to me.  However, he seemed to enjoy playing with the sand, occasionally taste testing the rocks (with the hand that wasn't firmly attached to my pants), and he allowed people to place his feet and hands into the water without too much complaint.  It'll be so fun when he's older and can really play in the sand and in the water.  Right now he's just so clingy.  He cried if I even switched positions on the towel and forced him to let go of me for a second.  It was (and is) exhausting.  I hope it passes.

Kelly joined us after about 1.5 hours and took Christian biking...not Bella.  When the kids had been loading their supplies for biking, they tried putting their shoes in Kelly's truck so they wouldn't get mixed with the swim stuff and would be available for riding, but it was locked.  Kelly had told them to set their shoes by the door and he would put them in.  Unfortunately, I knew nothing of this and so when I saw shoes in the kitchen, I pushed them back into the mudroom where I feel shoes belong.  When Kelly came to get the shoes, he saw Christian's laying by the door, but didn't notice Bella's right next to them.  So he took Christian's, but not Bella's shoes.  Consequently, after swimming, she had no shoes to wear biking and he wouldn't let her go in flip flops.  I tried to convince him to let her go, but he refused.  So I had to take a crying Bella back home.  I was 50% fuming at Kelly and his ridiculous insistence on letter-of-the-law obedience and 50% frustrated with me because I saw Bella's shoes and had the fleeting thought they should probably go in the truck with Christian's, but brushed it off figuring that the kids and Kelly had that part of things figured out.  I could have saved the day if I'd heeded that nudge.  Lesson learned again - follow those spiritual promptings.

Peter leaning on my leg.  I couldn't get him to back up any farther for a picture without crying.

We still have the ice cream sand toys we got in Berlin.  Peter was interested enough to leave me and investigate.

Brothers.  So sweet.

Weekly Misery

I've never loved shopping but since I've had to start wearing a mask every time I need to go to the store, it's become pure torture.  I shop for an elderly friend and I take another friend who doesn't have a car with me each week and between shopping for myself, my elderly friend, and picking up and dropping off the other friend, my weekly trip takes about 4 hours.  After 4 hours in a mask, I'm ready to cry.  I always have a headache, feel nauseous and am sooo grumpy.  Today, though, although I was emotionally miserable, as I always am shopping amid all the masked people, my nausea, eye irritation, and headache weren't quite as bad.  When I got home Bella asked, "Was the mask just as awful as always?''  She proceeded to tell me that she'd prayed for me that I wouldn't mind the mask as much and that I'd be better able to handle it while I shopped.  So sweet!  That really touched me. Such a sweet, thoughtful girl.  We were not without issues today and I was so tired from being up with Peter all night that I was grumpy all day, but that was such a sweet thing and I was so grateful. 

Not Homeschooling; Crisis Schooling

When the whole quarantine began, everyone just assumed it would be like an extended spring break.  The teachers didn't even plan to take home the classroom fish tanks!  They just put in some vacation feeders and figured they'd be fine.  I insisted on taking Mrs. Gezagehn's fish home on day one and I'm so glad I did!!  Since all the teachers figured it was just an extended break, no one made any plans to teach or prepare work for the kids.  I ran into Benjamin's science teacher at the library on the last day they were open and she had a stack of novels higher than she was tall in preparation for all her new-found free time.  I decided to immediately jump into summer school/home school mode.  I pulled up my files and calendars and curriculum that I've been using since the kids were tiny and started setting up a learning and chore schedule.  After a few days of working out the kinks, we had a system going and things were moving along great.  The kids had their work in the morning and mostly finished by around lunch and we had the rest of the day to play and enjoy.  This went on for 5 weeks.  Those were some really golden weeks.  Then Gov. Whitmer shut down the schools completely and required all the districts to come up with a plan to continue to educate the kids.  Suddenly the teachers were required to get back to teaching.  Suddenly there were zoom conferences, google classroom links and mountains of information to sort through.  Each child had online meetings at different times with different teachers, dozens of different websites that needed to be accessed and hundreds of different assignments that all needed to be completed at home and digitally submitted.  It made my head spin and I couldn't figure it all out.  We hit a major emotional wall.  Everyone was crabby that first week of crisis schooling.  Eventually, over the next couple weeks. we found ways to whittle down the meetings to essential ones, got good at navigating google classroom and zoom and the other most-used sites, and we figured out a new routine that worked best for us wherein we got the work done and still had time to play.  It also allowed us to continue some of our favorite elements from my home school system.  One of these is the weekly research project.  Rather than lecture the kids on my favorite topics -history and science - I decided to let them pick what interested them and each week present what they learned.  They had to chose their topic and state their focus on Monday, research T-Th, and then present it on Friday.  It alternated between being a paper, a slide presentation, an online trivia game, or a hands-on demonstration.  It has been a blast and so educational!  I grade them on a scale of 1-100 and anyone getting over a 90 gets an additional 20 minutes screentime on Saturday.  There have been projects on making croissants, caligraphy, how to write a good story, how is electricity generated, how are cheerios made, how does the body generate energy, how is lightning produced, does making a trampoline wet make it slipperier, how to make soap and how it kills germs, how to harmonize music, how to draw people better, how do the tides work, laminar flow, how to take a good photograph, how does an internal combustion engine work and who invented it, etc.  It's been impressive to see how their work has improved over the weeks, how much fun they're having researching, and how much we're all learning as a result.  I require credible sources, written articles in addition to video sources, correct grammar and spelling, clear, organized writing, and if presented orally, good enunciation and eye contact.

In addition to the research projects, I've actually really enjoyed working with the kids on their school work.  I hated sending them to school for 7 hours and having only a cursury knowledge of what they were studying and learning all that time.  Now I know everything their teachers are trying to teach and I get to have a hand in helping them learn it.  I've loved going over potential and kinetic energy with Christian and doing a project about roller coasters.  I've loved studying the French and Indian war and helping Bella write a paper about how that war led the to Revolutionary War.  I'm getting to study my favorite things and help my kids at the same time.  I'm able to be the fun, helpful parent while the teachers get the grumbles when an assignment isn't to their liking.  It's been harder than homeschooling in some ways because it's more like being a substiatute teacher trying to decipeher the real teacher's lesson plans and helping the kids through someting you didn't set up.  However, it's easier than homewshooling because I don't have to design the plan.  The teachers have been very hard working and understanding.  I ahve been really pleased by their efforts and dedication.  Mrs. Macek, Bella's teacher, even came by the house to drop off a gift and say hi (from a safe distance).  She did this for every student in her class - all 26 kids

We also have German lessons every lunch and I still assign dictations and supplementary math lessons most days.  The kids also have piano and chores.  Otherwise, we have plenty of time for play and outdoor fun.  Unless you're Benjamin.  He liked to "reward" himself frequently for doing his work by playing around on his phone and laptop and so his work takes nearly all day sometimes.  To be fair, he has a lot more to start with, but it's unclear to me how fast he could really get it done if he just did schoolwork exclusively.  I'm guessing hours earlier.  However, he always gets it all done in plenty of time and has been doing quite well.  I'm proud of him and his maturity on that front.  Christian's school load is so small that he finishes the whole week's worth on Monday each week and works exclusively on my assignments the rest of the week.

I think the only thing that worries me about all this is what school will look like in the fall.  All this time I'd just assumed this was s short-term thing.  But now that it's dragging on and on, I"m starting to get edgy and worried.  Benjamin got into the MSC program at Churchill High school.  It's a wonderful, exclusive advanced program and I really want him to be able to participate fully and enjoy it and learn a lot but I'm worried that the program will look very , very different next year than in previous years.  I hope he still gets to do all the things he was looking forward to, such as marching band.  Also, Bella was going to be starting middle school.  Will she be wearing a mask every day at her new school?  Will she have to try to make new friends while being socially distanced?  How will that work?  I'm worried for my cuties.  Also, I was really looking forward to starting library story times, mommy and me music classes, and lots of playground trips with Peter starting in the fall when he's walking and older.  Now I'm not sure any of that will be available!  All those wonderful things I so adored with my others may not be possible.  We may just be sitting at home just like we are now.  That would be so sad.  I feel like those were so beneficial to the kids.  Anyway, I guess as this business drags on, I'm becoming increasingly worried and upset.  I cannot continue to wear this awful mask every where I go!  I hate it!

Here's what it looks like when they kids take a break from school work and play their favorite game together, Zombs Royale.

More Time in the Forest

The kids all wanted to go back to the forest again today to explore the same area as yesterday, but this time spend more time in the river.  Peter stayed awake on the ride over, so this time I got to join them.  I convinced Bella to try to cross the river so she didn't get left behind and we all had a great time.   Being at the crossing myself, I saw why she was hesitant.  It was a deep, murky section and the only way across was a narrow tree that had fallen over, quite a ways above the water.  I told her I'd cross and she could follow.  Carrying Peter and navigating that crossing was a bit frightening, but I figured I could do it.  Before I began, Benjamin, who'd already crossed, called to me saying to wait and let him see if he could help.  He found another large log and with great effort, laid it in the water just so that he could stand on it farther out towards me.  He slipped at one point and got water in his boot, poor guy!  This position allowed him to grab Peter from me after I'd gone about 3/4 of the way so I could finish and get off the tree without having to hold him.  What a gentleman.  Bella followed by shimmying on her rear with her legs straddling the tree.  She was struggling much more than I did and Christian declared that he would help her.  He climbed onto the tree and tried to help but wasn't much assistance.  On his way back, he slipped and fell into the water.  Luckily he wasn't hurt and laughed it off.  I declared that we had some real gentlemen in our family - willing to risk injury to help us cross.  "Can I get screen time for that?" was Benjamin's immediate reply.  So typical.

We made it to the part of the river where they wanted to swim but they didn't want to ride home on their bikes in wet clothes, so I went back to the bikes with Peter and went home to get the car.  That took a lot longer than I anticipated and was gone an hour.  The trek back to the bike, the ride home, and then the discovery that sitting for 3 months has caused my van's battery to die all took their time.  Consequently, I had to clean out the Ford, attempt (and fail) to attach the bike rack, gather dry clothes since now they'd have to ride home after all since there's no room in the Ford for 3 bikes, and return.  When I arrived they all exclaimed that they thought I'd died and wished they'd just gone along with me when I left.  I would have liked that a lot better too.  Alas, live and learn.

Days like this would never have happened during school time.  There are a lot of down sides to the quarantine, but I sure love being able to spend entire days playing in the woods with my kids.  What a blessing it is to have this time.  I really hope that they remember this time fondly and don't focus too much on the fact that they can't see their friends and that all their spring break and summer plans were canceled.  That part of things is really depressing, actually.  It was going to be so much fun during scout camps and church camps and especially when Jill and her family were going to come visit - finally after 15 years of living here!  I'm really sad for my kids to have to miss all those things.  I'm counting it a blessing that I don't have to take Peter around to so many places and struggle with missed naps and screwed up schedules, though.  Having him on a 100% consistent nap and bedtime schedule is a wonderful thing.  He's such a terrible sleeper that keeping this solid is crucial.

The only other thing I really, really hate about the lock-down is wearing masks everywhere.  I hate walking through the store and not being able to smile at people or chat with people.  Everyone is in their masks, keeping their distance, ignoring others.  Plus, I'm so incredibly uncomfortable in mine that after about 15 minutes, I'm so miserable and grumpy that I wouldn't want to smile or talk to anyone anyway!  I absolutely HATE wearing that darn thing.  It leaves bruises on my face and pushes uncomfortably up into my eyes, leaving my eyes red and irritated.  Let's not even get me started on how hard it is to breathe and how hot it makes me!  It's a nightmare and I feel like I'm in some sort of dystopian horror film whenever I'm out and surrounded by sullen, distant people in masks.  The other day I left Costco and started to cry.  I felt so miserable about the whole thing.  I really enjoy interacting with people at the store - shoppers and employees.  I enjoy meeting new people and smiling at people.  Being shut off and covered up has been really hard.  However, I know that if that's the only thing I'm struggling with, I'm very blessed.  I had to say that last part (although it's true) because something else I've noticed about this quarantine, which I haven't liked, is that you can't talk about what you like about your current situation without people slamming you for not being sad enough about all the people that are suffering right now and you can't talk about how sad you are without people slamming you about how you should be grateful because so many people have it worse.  You just can't win.  So, I've said pretty much nothing to anyone.  Social media is a messed up place.

Loving the Forest

Today we went exploring in the forest behind Webster Elementary.  We love exploring in the forests around here.  I love going regularly from the time spring just begins until Summer is in full swing and seeing how much the forest changes from day to day.  The way the ground cover is first to spring up, then the wonderful wild flowers, then the rapid growth of the maple seedlings and then how quickly you can no longer look through the forest because the leaves have filled the trees.  It's a marvel I never tire of year after year.  I love the sounds of the birds and the skitter of little animals.  I love how many deer we have and how beautiful and majestic they are up close.  We are so lucky to live within biking distance of the 2 biggest forests for miles around.  The best part of any forest is when there's a river running through it.  My kids can never get enough of playing in the river, regardless of the temperature, depth of the water or, in my opinion, the visible nastiness of the water.  Unfortunately, Peter fell asleep in the bike trailer on the way there today, so I said I'd wait with him and follow when he woke up.  He never woke up!  He'd taken such a lousy first nap that he was really tired.  So, I didn't get any pictures of today's adventures, but I heard they were fabulous.  Except that the 2 days of rain had swollen the river so much that Bella didn't dare cross it and was left stranded for 30 minutes on one side while her brothers crossed and explored the other side.  Here are some pictures of previous adventures from earlier in the week in the forest behind Rotary Park and the forest at the end of our street.

Bath Time

Due to various reasons (eczema, cold weather, lack of desire on my part, poor ability to sit in the water, etc.) Peter has only had about 4 real baths in his life so far.  One in the tub and a few in the sink.  Mostly we've just washed him with a wash rag every day.  Today I decided his skin was cleared up enough and the weather was warm enough and he had good enough balance that I thought a bath would be great and he'd enjoy it.  It was right.  Almost as soon as I lowered him into the tub, he started splashing and laughing and having a wonderful time.  Christian joined me at the tub's edge and the two of us played with him and had a great time.  Mostly we played with stacking cups that had holes in the bottom so water could pour out and Peter happily splashed and chewed on the rubber frog and rubber sheep toys.  I was really glad we decided to do that today.  We'd had so many other fun plans today like going on a run and going bike riding, but it has been raining non-stop for over 24 hours and so we didn't do any of those things.  Christian and I are getting back into running training.  We've gone 2 days now and are loving it.  It's so fun to go running with Christian.  It won't be long before he'll be leaving me in the dust and I'll have to bike to keep up, but for now while his legs are still shorter than mine, he's a great partner and I love spending time with him that way.  Bella bikes along with us and takes my bike so Peter can ride in the carrier.  It's a fun experience and I'm glad the weather forecast for tomorrow shows an end to the rain.

Here I Go Again

I've decided to restart my blog.  We'll see how much I end up writing in here, but for now I have high hopes.  Reading through the old stories of when my kids were little makes me realize how much I loved recording their experiences and how much of that time I've forgotten!  I don't want to forget Peter's baby-hood and certainly the world of emerging teenagers is plenty of fodder for a blog.  So, here goes.

Right now we're still stuck in Covid-19 quarantine, as we have been for months.  We're doing pretty well, all things considered, but I think Christian is having the hardest time of it.  He misses school and his friends more than the others and it's hard to watch him mope around the house a lot.  I try to keep him active outside (going on runs and bike rides, jumping on the trampoline, etc.) but I know that some play-dates with friends would do a world of good.

Peter is growing so fast right now.  This week he finally solidified rolling.  For some reason he was just way behind with that skill.  He doesn't crawl yet either, but I don't think he ever will.  He has developed a skill we call "swiffering" because he slides along on his belly and picks up every little thing on the floor with his shirt, just like a swiffer.  Since he does this, his motivation to crawl is zero, despite our efforts to teach/encourage him.  He'll do whatever we are trying to get him to do and then immediately drop back onto his belly and drag himself around.  So, at 9 1/2 months, he just learned to roll, cannot crawl, but is definitely mobile.  He also pulls himself up to a stand so fast if you blink you'll miss it, but he hasn't started moving along the furniture yet.  He'll pull himself to a stand and then simply stand there.  When I try to get him to cruise along the couch to me, he won't do it. He'll drop back down and swiffer to me instead.

Well, that's all the time I have for now.