Springtime

This past week has been good with lots of time in the yard -- enjoying the beautiful backyard tree (climbing, slack-lining, and photo-shooting), making "baked mud" creations, building a "den" out of extra limbs, and reading in the front yard during the school day.  We are keeping our morning walk regiment on school days and often go on an additional walk, run, or bike ride in the afternoon. We still have a lot of time indoors as we have a few hours each day on video conferencing calls and weekends spent playing games virtually with Nana and Grandpa or concocting and playing endless Pokemon games.

While life is good and we are so grateful to have our health and the resources to weather a global pandemic, the stay-at-home order is getting a little tiring as our internet bandwidth is often a challenge, the cat seems to be on a steady decline, and the Chester Valley Trail is too crowded on the weekends.  We are looking forward to being able to venture away from home a bit further, see more people we love, and all move beyond this time.  Living in the midst of "history" sounds more exciting than it is in reality 😉

The Biggest Fans

Okay, so we are totally fans of this amazing actor, Emily Chisholm.  Not only is she on a hilarious show (Three Busy Debras) but also is a star of a movie that is coming out soon (Survival Skills).  The movie is described as "trippy horror" -- isn't that the best?! 

Upon seeing their auntie on Three Busy Debras (episode 4 of season 1), James and Alma agreed that she should have been made one of the main characters.  They are so right.  There has never been so much cheering for credits in our household.

Here are some stills from the movie trailer and the show:

[Be aware that the language on Three Busy Debras is delightfully full of swear words -- ha!]

Quote of the Day

"Dad, I learned long division!"  - James, as he burst out of his room with excitement after a Zoom math lesson

Quarantine School Environment on Day #18

Monday flow

James prepping and attending an online violin lesson while Alma completes her work at the dining room table... 

... And a chill afternoon of Lego building (James), reading (both children), preparing for the next day (Joshua), and doctoral paper-writing (Laura).  

Happy Easter/Birthday

Lego Tuesday

After their morning shows (Too Cute on Animal Planet and Teen Titans on the Cartoon Network), we had breakfast as a family, went on our usual 2-mile walk, went on a 4-mile bike ride while Joshua mowed the lawn, had lunch of leftovers, and then the kids spent the afternoon creating a battle between good guys and bad guys in James's room. 

While I snapped the first photo, I love the photos they took of the pre-battle setting, which took approximately four hours to set up.  Their perspective is so wonderful.

In the evening, we had dinner of crepes, turkey bacon, and mashed sweet potatoes, played Exploding Kittens, and then watched an episode of Chopped.  We are trying to keep a Spring Break energy in the house, with more tv time, small desserts every night, and plenty of time together during the day.  It's tough to miss out on a real vacation but they are, as always, rolling with the changes without complaints. 

Alma checks in daily about our plans regarding Pine Grove, which is scheduled for June, and our family trip to Oregon, scheduled for July.  She wants to ensure that the tradition of Pine Grove isn't ruined by COVID-19 and she is really excited to see Grandma Chisholm, Grandpa Henry, the Fuijimotos, and Emily during the summer.  Fingers crossed these plans can still happen.  We will see....

Sunday Sewing

Joshua has been busy seven days a week with schoolwork for the children at his school -- running Zoom meetings all week (over 25 hours of video conferencing in groups and for individual students), grading schoolwork that is dropped off on Friday for his entire Saturday, and assigning work all day Sunday.  I'm doubtful that parents realize how much goes into providing a Montessori education at the elementary level and Joshua is too modest to tell them.

Since it is Spring Break week for the kids, Joshua and I have both been trying to get our work done early in the week so that we have time to hang out as a family.  While he was at the school today, we had a Zoom call with their cousins, the kids and I went for a short 2 mile trip on the trail (I ran and they scootered), played a bunch of board games (UNO and OutFoxed are still favorites), and continued to sew their quilts.  It is so neat to see how quickly they learned how to use the sewing machine.  Alma also learned how to knit and is working on a pot holder for our house.

Third week of "quarantine school"

The weirdest thing about this whole stay-at-home order is the fact that the children have rolled with the changes so well.  At times, it seems that they think this is normal.  As if suddenly shutting down school and every other activity is completely normal. As if using the word "quarantine school" is normal.  As if we are going to do this on a regular basis.  It's odd but useful that they aren't fighting this temporary new normal.

James is fascinated by the red-tailed hawks who have nested behind our house.  The beautiful Magnolia tree is in the neighbor's front yard.

 Our bulbs have bloomed early so I've been cutting big bouquets of daffodils for the dining room table each week.

 We celebrated Auntie Amy's birthday with cookies, ice cream, and a Zoom meeting.  It was cute how Alma and James knew some of the other attendees. "Dad, is that the guy you climbed Mt Rainier with?"  "Dad, is that the lady who gave Auntie Amy macadamia nuts when you realized that you were allergic to them?"

James and Alma had more Zoom meetings with teachers this week, including calls for Spanish and violin.  There are times throughout the day when we are all on separate online conference calls.  It is a lot for Joshua to manage, but I'm so grateful that we have one parent who is (relatively) available to help coordinate the children's schooling.

We have continued to start every school day morning with a family meeting during breakfast followed by a half-hour family walk.  We realized that at the end of this week, we will have spent over seven hours walking together thus-far.  We all look forward to these moments of fresh air and checking in with each other.  I'm so blessed to be able to go through this with my lovely little family.