Covid-19: Quarantine Week Five

Ahhh, week five! Week five was good and sunny! Getting outside and enjoying the beautiful Spring is good for everyone's soul. We enjoyed watching several new movies this week (we worked our way through the National Treasure movies). We enjoyed worshipping together while Roger played guitar, we participated in our third Zoom family dance jam with Cora's dance studio and we developed a love for a nearby restaurant that we previously hadn't tried. Another quarantine blessing has been for Cooper. Our poor old thirteen year old boy isn't used to having us around this much but he is absolutely loving the extra love, snuggles and people. 

The novelty of distance learning has worn off so it's started taking us longer to get through everything because the kids are requesting more outdoor breaks. All three enjoy their weekly Zoom meet ups with classmates and teachers and we are so thankful for all that our wonderful teachers are doing. 

Cora has had a great time learning cursive this year. Her teacher is very strict and I love how beautiful her handwriting has become. I'm proud of her hard work. 

She's pretty proud too! 

Online dance has also given Coco an opportunity to try some new styles of dance. She took her first ever Lyrical class the other day. I'm proud of her for persevering even though she couldn't do all the moves as perfectly as she might have liked. I'm honestly so proud of her in all of her online dance classes. They really require a lot of focus and discipline.. not always easy when you're 7! 

We celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week this past week. We did a fun drive by for Cruz's teacher Mrs. Baker. Cruz made a card and we picked her out a little thank you gift. It was so good to see her that we had to sneak in a quick hug. 

His highlight was riding on the sunroof!


We also did a drive by this week for Tye (Claire's little brother) who turned 4! He loves my boys and they love him. Pretty sure Rowan turned his sign upside down on purpose.

Roger and I have snuck out for ice cream alone a couple of times. 

Sweet Rowan asked to hold hands on a walk. 

On Saturday, we got take out from Buffalo Wild Wings and ate it tailgate style in the parking lot. They had the patio TVs on which we could see from the parking lot but the only sports on was old boxing replays. 

We've enjoyed all of the guitar playing that Roger has been able to do while home.


Rowan planted potatoes for extra credit in his Science unit on plant reproduction.


Love this big kid! I need to note that he's been so good at getting his school work done but Bible has been a huge growing experience for him. His teacher has the kids doing a lot of reading and journaling and Rowan doesn't like to write. It's been so fun to hear his very insightful thoughts and reactions though. He's such a special kid.

Covid-19: Quarantine Week Four

This week was full of ups and downs (emotionally), probably mostly for me. 

At first, this relaxed pace was really nice after a really busy winter. Now, we're all going a little bit crazy. As we looked at this week's calendar with the things we "should have" been doing it stung a little bit. The clink of a bat and long days at baseball tournaments are the fun pay off for the craziness of the winter practice schedule. We are all missing that. Cora is missing her last dance competition this weekend. She has worked so hard all year so not to be able to do the fun part of competition was definitely disappointing. Rowan made the Math Olympic team again this year but will miss out on competing this week as well.

On the bright side, we're all home, together, healthy and saved by Jesus and those things are definitely the most important. 

There were not a lot of pictures this week because we really didn't do anything too new or exciting. We watched a few new movies including Herbie the Love Bug and Trolls World Tour. The kids enjoyed extra time off of distanced learning on Friday and Monday for the long Easter weekend. We were down to our last few rolls of toilet paper this week so everyone was very excited when I was able to snag a pack at Publix.  School is officially canceled for the rest of the academic year. It's hard to believe that when the kids go back in August (hopefully), they'll have been off for five months! 

We've been going out for a lot of ice cream! 

Cora's friend Piper did an Easter egg hunt for her in our yard. It was so fun to see Piper's face even if it was just from a distance. One of my favorite Cora quotes from the week was, "Mom, I think you are obsessed with erasing." My kids do not fully erase when they make a mistake on schoolwork and it drives me batty. This is especially funny to me because I can remember my mom telling me the same thing as a kid. I even remember her erasing for me which I may or may not have done about fifty times this week. 

These two have been making up quite a few games together. This one included sniffing chapsticks.



My favorite Cruz quote for the week is, "Mom, I just realized that doing school at homework is almost as much work for you as it is for us." Cruz and his class are writing letters to President Trump. They had to draw the White House (using a step by step guide) to use as the front of their writing paper. I love how Cruz's turned out.



We've all, animals included, enjoyed watching a bird build a nest on our front door wreath.




Rowan had to dissect a flower for Science! He chose one of the pretty roses off our backyard bushes.




Just a little video so I can always remember the chaos!

Jesus is Risen!

This Easter, though different, was extra sweet! 

The kids received sweet treats from Grandma

and homemade cards and cash from Grammy & Grampy

We all really enjoyed the slow pace of this Holy Week.

Thursday:

While we were eating dinner on Thursday, we read about Passover from Exodus and then turned to John to hear about Jesus' last passover celebration with his disciples. This inspired some neat conversation about the part of the story when Jesus washed His disciples feet. 

Friday:

We watched Good Friday service at home. Cora was so moved she was in tears. She kept saying, "I can't believe Jesus did that for me." 

Saturday:

We dyed Easter eggs on Saturday

Claire and her family drove by to drop off some Easter treats! 

The weather forecast for Sunday was rainy and gloomy so the kids agreed (with very little persuasion needed) to dress up and take some pictures for me down by the barn in our neighborhood. 

The kids wanted to choose a few poses too! 

Easter Sunday: He is Risen Indeed! 

We started the morning with resurrection rolls. 

We had some indoor tech issues which led us to watch our Easter service on the back patio. It was chilly and rainy but a great memory! I honestly love doing church at home with the kids. They are all old enough to be engaged and I love hearing them singing and worshipping. 

We gave the kiddos their Easter baskets next. Some highlights included hair chalk, a new Bible for Rowan and Dr. Pepper.


Cruz & Row baked a cake.


Daddy was the resident hair chalk artist.





We grilled steak for dinner and ate the boys' delicious cake for dessert. Rowan prayed for breakfast and Cruz before dinner and both times they made me cry. I am so proud of them  (and Coco) and their love for Jesus and its such a privilege to watch them growing in their faith every day.

Covid-19: Quarantine Week Three

Well, here we are completing week three of the 'Rona lockdown. Here are some brief phrases from the fam as to where we're at:

Roger: Ready to get back to 'normal'

Alison: I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster

Rowan: Starting to get boring

Cruz: There's nothing bad about this 

Cora: Missing my friends

 Here's a glimpse into our week. We are thankful to be together, safe and able to slow down and take a real close look at this Holy Week! 

This weekend we were supposed to be on our annual "Meet in the Middle" trip with my side of the family. We were so sad to have to miss out on this but we had a fun family Zoom meeting!

This last week of weather reached almost 80 with sunshine every day. It was gorgeous to have a front row seat to watch Spring roll in! 

Our neighborhood is gorgeous with rolling hills perfect for fast rides on bikes or scooters. It's not huge though and I think we're all wishing we could walk/ride a little bit further. The road you see outside the neighborhood is windy, fast and has no shoulder... so not really an option. 

The boys have successfully learned how to ride with no hands.

We're still busy with projects! Cruz chose to do this research project on the Spotted Eagle Ray since we saw one while snorkeling off the Gulf of Mexico last year.

Every Wednesday, Mrs. Baker hosts a Bible study via Zoom with the boys in her class. After she logs off, the boys stay on and chat. It makes Cruz's heart so happy and mine too. 

Rowan is such a huge helper with Math. I caught him explaining two dimensional shapes, edges and vertices to Cora the other day.

Cora is never happier than when she's goofing and dancing with her friends via Zoom.

We don't bake fancy stuff but Miss Coco loves to bake from a box! 

Trampoline wrestling is a current favorite activity. They get pretty aggressive out there but its rare that anyone comes in upset. Its really great to burn their energy. 

We finished off Week #3 with a Zoom Family Dance Jam with Coco's dance studio. 

Some Extra Good Things:

Rowan comes in and hugs/snuggles with me every morning

Rowan has been a calmer kid in general

Cruz gets to take extra time with his schoolwork since he can work at his own pace and I've noticed an increase in his neatness and accuracy. 

Cora's empathetic spirit is shining.

We've had time to really praise Cora as words of affirmation are huge for her. We've seen better behavior because of this.

All three kids are a huge help.

All three kids have been intentional about thanking me for dinner.

All three kids are seeing what needs to be done and doing it without being asked... sometimes.