Covid-19: Quarantine Week One

For God has not given us a spirit of fear but one of power, love and sound judgement. 2 Timothy 1:7

I would say that has been the Baum family theme verse these past few weeks. Our first week being home full time was deemed a success by all. The kids are loving more time to play together and extra time with us. We are loving it too. We have Daddy working from the backyard, which is so fun too! 

 We have been out to pick up groceries and other essentials once and will continue doing that weekly. We have not been hoarding extra groceries, toilet paper or cleaning products. We have just been getting what we need for the week and its been fun to watch God provide. We've also been visiting some of our favorite local small businesses for takeout. 

We finally got around to doing a puzzle that we had planned to do over Christmas break. 

The Church at Station Hill provided an amazing online Sunday service. It was a fun experience to worship together in our family room. 

We've done a lot of baking.... cupcakes, cake, muffins. 

Proud of himself for not spilling any batter on the sides. 

The kids played a lot of games, dressed up in crazy outfits, built a fort, painted, played baseball and basketball, learned Cora's hip hop dance, watched movies and had nerf wars. 

The boys had a lot of fun doing this although they'll probably deny that. 

Roger has been surprisingly busy work wise so he spends most of the day in the backyard on calls. Thankful that its warming up so he can do that. 

Coco and I started a little bit of school early so that I could get the hang of her curriculum and materials because jumping in with the boys as well. 

Cora also started online dance classes via Zoom. This has gone surprisingly well. She's taken jazz, hip hop, ballet and tap with relatively little issue. 

She was so excited to see her sweet friends! 

Wednesday was the official start of GCA's distance learning program. The kids were pretty excited and I was excited for a bit of routine. We came up with a daily schedule that seems to be working well so far. We use a whiteboard and change the date each morning (mostly so I can remember) along with any other notes for the day. 

8:00: Wake Up/Morning Chores

8:30: Breakfast

9:15: School

11:15: Lunch. One kids is the assigned "lunch lady" each day responsible for planning and making lunch.

11:45- 12:30: Outside

12:40-1:40: Finish School/Quiet Time

1:40: Snack

2:00: Elective Time (Art, Music, Spanish)

3:00: (Zoom Dance, Brother Baseball)

3:30: Free Time

5:30: Dinner 

6:00: Family Time 

This is tentative and changes based on the day as some days Cora has more dance than others but it has at least given us a starting structure for the day. Here's lunch lady Coco with the Mac and Cheese & apples that she served for lunch. 

Rowan is VERY self sufficient in his distance learning. All of his classes are set up in google classroom. The teachers either post videos or written directions along with assignments. The assignments have due dates and the kids can submit them at any time by the due date. Fridays are quiz/assessment days. I'm really proud of the way that Rowan has taken the initiative to organize his learning and get his stuff done with minimal assistance. 

Cruz's teacher makes the day extremely easy for the kids. Each morning she sends a powerpoint type presentation via google drive. Each slide has the information for each class plus a video where she teachers the material. It's really easy and as close to a classroom scenario as possible. Cruz by nature, needs a little bit of help staying focused so a lot of my time is spent checking up on him. 

I LOVE how Mrs. Baker includes the kids' names in her prerecorded lessons. Cruz loved listening for his name and then 'responding'

Coco Bean's workspace is at a neat little built in desk in our office closet. She loves that she's away from everyone else in "her own room." Cora is not real self motivated and seems to be struggling the most with losing the social aspect of school. She and I do her work together in about an hour and a half or so.

Coco also got to virtually lead her class in the pledges to the American flag, Christian flag and Bible.

We've had a couple of beautiful days and have been able to get outside. Our neighborhood makes social distancing very easy as there aren't too many houses and the houses are spread apart. 

We've had a lot of gloomy days so I'm SO thankful for the sun. It makes such a difference.

Being inside so much has made us extra aware of all the beautiful signs of Spring. 

Our neighborhood has some great hills and beautiful views that are great for burning off energy! 

We also celebrated our Sweet Coco's Halfy 7th Birthday

Favorite Color: Turquoise

Favorite Sport: Dance and Gymnastics

Favorite Pro Sports Team: Cubs

Favorite Food: Pizza

Favorite Restaurant: Morton's

Favorite Movie: Frozen 2

Favorite Book: Fly Guy

Favorite Subject: Reading

Favorite Bible Verse: Genesis 9:11

Favorite Bible Character: Jesus

Favorite Animal: Panda

Favorite Friend in First Grade: Claire 

Favorite Person to Play With: Claire 

Favorite Fruit: Blackberries

Favorite Dessert: Ice cream sandwiches
Favorite Candy: Sweet Tarts

Favorite Place to Go: Costa Rica

Bedtime: 7:30/8

Favorite Thing About Yourself: That I'm a good friend and I asked Jesus into my heart this year.

On to Week #2! Stay healthy and safe! We're praying for you all!

Spring Break: FLL

Wow! Life changed quickly! Just last week I was feeling overwhelmed and looking forward to a break and I seem to have gotten more than I bargained for! Ha. Our original Spring Break plans were a Caribbean cruise, however, that quickly got cancelled with all of the Coronavirus stuff going on. 

With Roger's new position within Core (he's now the Senior VP of Development for all of Core's Southeast Region), he had to go to FL to wrap a few things up before the inevitable halt of business. The kids and I decided to join him.

Our visit was just a few days long and we took every precaution to be safe. The plane was half empty which made it easy to wipe down and stay a good distance away from anyone else. We ate early (before dining rooms were closed) so we didn't encounter many people. We washed and sanitized often and our hotel was constantly doing the same. But it was nice to take a brief moment to laugh together, eat too much ice cream and soak in some much needed sunshine. 

 

We sequestered ourselves away on a quiet corner of the beach with only jellyfish for company. The beaches were nothing like the media pictures spring break beaches in other parts of Florida. 

This one near our resort was very empty and easy to distance yourself from others. 

Our hotel, the JW Marriott Turnberry had an amazing waterpark. 

We went right as the opened and had it completely to ourselves! 

It did get busier in the afternoons.

We ate on the balcony in our room which we wiped down well upon arrival. We also requested no maid service while we were there to avoid unnecessary people in our room. 

We kicked off sweet Cruz's birthday with an early fancy dinner. We were the only ones in the restaurant for a while. 

We drove down to Key West one day. Its about a three hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale. It was the perfect way to enjoy the ocean and warm air without interacting with people. We have evidence that we visited the southernmost point in the US even if the sign was covered...

...we had some ice cream and made the drive back to Ft. Lauderdale.

Now we're home, staying away from people (just in case we brought anything back) and hunkering down for a different sort of life for the next few weeks. We have so many mixed emotions (as I'm sure everyone does). I can see this time being such a blessing though and Rog and I plan to be intentional in growing closer as a family. 

Kid Thoughts: 

Rowan: I'm excited to stay home and play some extra video games, spend more time with my mom and do school at home but I'm sad about missing our cruise and baseball and not getting to see my friends.

Cruz: I'm excited for no real school but I'm mad about missing my 10th birthday trip and our cruise. I also can't see my friends which is sad. 

Cora: I feel sad that I don't get to go to dance or go on our cruise and swim with dolphins. I'm excited that doing school at home might be fun. I'm also excited that my mom might teach me differently from my teacher. I'm also sad that I don't get to see my friends especially Claire and Sarah.

End of February/Early March

World Impact Month Festivities: 

 World Impact month at school is my favorite. I say this every year but I absolutely love the focus and love for missions at our school. 

Rowan:

For World Impact Month, the middle schoolers do something called Mini X. Mini X is basically a mini missions experience close to home along with a fun activity as well. The 6th through 8th graders got to rank their choices of experiences and then were put into small groups. Rowan's group got to do a STEM catapult challenge. They made their own catapults and competed against each other. They got to spend extra time playing in the gym, ordering in food and having fun together. The second portion of his Mini X was learning about a ministry that provides schooling in Belize. The sixth graders spent the afternoon grading papers and other miscellaneous work from students in those schools. The kids have had daily chapels this past week as each group shares at their experience and the ministries they served. 

I snagged this picture of Rowan from the school's instagram.

Cruz: 

The elementary school classes choose a country to learn about along with a mission to support. Cruz's class has been learning about Syria and the extreme need for Jesus found there. They've learned about the country, culture and government. Cruz's class has been selling aids for sharing the Gospel. They've sold little booklets called flipper flappers that help kids to tell the Gospel story to friends, neighbors or relatives who might not know Jesus. They also sold Gospel bracelets which have the same purpose. 

I had the blessing of getting to sub in Cruz's class last week when they were doing some of their learning about Syria. I really enjoyed learning with them!  

Coco: 

First Grade is supporting Red Road Ministries which focus on the Native American population. The ministry focuses on bringing Hope to Native communities, while honoring their culture. They also bring awareness to the public about the Native American culture hoping to end some misconceptions and stigmas of this people group.  Cora's class is continuing their fundraising efforts in to March. The first grade has a goal to put together 10 baskets which cost roughly $100 each. 

Dodgeball:

As well as reaching the world during World Impact Month, GCA chooses a family close to home to rally around and support through their annual dodgeball tournament. This year, one of the teachers has decided to start her family through adoption. All money raised from the dodgeball tournament went to support her and her husband. All three kids played and had SUCH a fun time.

These sweet "tough girls" had big plans for victory but unfortunately were eliminated in the first round. They still had fun cheering on all their siblings' teams though! 

Sis got out there and played hard. I was so proud of her. I was even more proud of the way I saw her trying to make sure all of her friends were included afterwards. Even going so far as to rotate her spot on the bleachers (subtly) to be sure she got to sit by everyone. 

This is the only picture I got of Cruz and I don't think anyone got a whole team picture. As the boys are getting older they're less interested in posing for their mom. ;) Cruz's team did the best of the three. They weren't eliminated until the third round. Cruz was so excited to have two victories but very disappointed to finally lose to another fourth grade boys team. 

Sweet Rowan and his friends were also eliminated in his first game but they all wanted to stay and cheer for their fellow sixth grade friends. One of the girl teams ended up doing pretty well. Rowan's class is such a sweet bunch. The boys and girls are all friends and I'm so thankful that Rowan is enjoying the social aspect of school. 

I love his face in this picture! 

Cruz Neuro:

Cruz's neurologist visit was quick and easy. We are continuing with the same medication. We started talking about transitioning from liquid medication to pills but Cruz decided he wasn't ready. We finished off the visit with ice cream. 

Cruz pointed out that he's been in a different exam room for each of his yearly visits starting in 2018. We are truly thankful that a yearly visit is all that he needs at this point.

O' Connor Visit: 

The O'Connor family made the eight hour trek to spend about thirty six hours with us!! It was the only weekend that we both had open so the O'Connors graciously drove all this way! The kids had a blast playing together, Amanda and I got to escape for dinner/dessert and Nate and Roger got to escape for some guy time. 

The weather was decent so we got outside to play..... 

and spend some time at the trampoline park. We are so thankful for such close family and close cousins! We can't wait to see you, soon O'Connor fam! 

Dance Comp #2: Nextstar

We had a crazy busy weekend and I got to do it as a single mom as Roger was in Florida with his college buddies for their annual guys weekend. We started out in Murfreesboro, TN at Nexstar with Cora. We had to wake up around 4:30 am, do hair & makeup, drop Rowan off at his coach's house and make the 45 minutes trek to the competition. Cora is an absolute champ at getting ready. You really haven't lived until you've put eyeliner and false eyelashes on a seven year old! Ha. Cora makes it as easy as possible to do her hair and make up and I'm so grateful for her. Diamoniques ended up winning first overall for their jazz dance, first in category for their hip hop and several other specialty awards.


Their studio won the Star Studio award for sportsmanship and behavior.


Our teachers were also recognized for Excellent Entertainment and Excellent Choreography. We love our dance school! I am going to come back add some videos from the competition later on once they've been uploaded.


Dance Pics: 


Ballet Recital Costume


Tap Recital Costume


Since I already have so many of her in her competition costumes I didn't get any pictures taken in those. We did grab a few of Claire and Cora together in their Song & Dance costumes though.

Baseball Tournament #1: Spring Training: 

After we watched Cora dance, Cruz and I headed down to Falkville, Alabama ( about a 2 hour drive) and made it just in time to catch game #2 of Rowan's tournament. We left Cora with her friend Claire so that she could stay for the awards ceremony. This tournament is very early in the season and basically designed to give the teams a "warm up" tournament and a chance to get out on the field together. Rowan's team took home one win and Rowan was also credited  with that win as he pitched the entire game. Cruz was the best cheerleader for his siblings. He encouraged both Rowan and Cora and was great company to me!


I am so proud of this big boy. 

Rowan also received Player of the Week from his team. 

Roger has pretty much been gone for the past ten days straight. I'm only putting that detail in here for my own memory. In his absence we've had some very grown up conversations with Rowan, a tornado, Coronvirus cases in our county, tests galore at school, practices, two tournaments and some other random stuff. I am NOT exaggerating when I say I am BEYOND ready for spring break!