Fall Haiku

Staley's fall haiku:

The trees are painted.

Leaves fall like colorful rain.

Green no longer rules.

Siblings Make the Best Friends

I have often said that I feel very blessed with how well my kids play together and how much they enjoy each other.  There is no time I am more thankful for that than during this pandemic when our time as a family at home far outweighs anything else we are doing.  As Staley gets older, she spends more of her free time reading or writing alone in her room. Although they always LOVE when Staley joins in to play, Adelie and Briggs really have a good time playing together.  As I type this they are playing in the playroom with figurines, matchbox cars, and the dollhouse in a lively make-believe world.  Sometimes they build together.  Sometimes they craft together.  Sometimes they read together.  Sometimes they make up performances together.  Sometimes they play school or pet store or spy camp.  Whatever it is they find to do together, it fills my heart to hear them playing together and makes me so thankful that they have each other.

They made Halloween costumes for their stuffed animals.  Bear Bear is a banana and Fuzzington is a snowman.

They had a great time playing with the marble maze.

The play room is usually a disaster after an afternoon of crafting fun.

They spent a long time yesterday making puppets, writing a script, and performing their original puppet show.

Siblings truly make the best friends!

Mouse Tales

Zach and I saw a mouse in our house last night.  I was less than enthused and Zach went out right away to get some mouse traps.  This morning when the kids got up, I told them about the mouse and the traps so they knew not to touch the traps and why they were there.  I figured my kids might freak out a bit.  Instead they were all pretty excited.  Staley asked a bunch of questions, Briggs excitedly came up with a few ideas of how to lure or chase the mouse into the traps, and Adelie wanted to make a live trap so she could catch it and keep it as a pet.  Guess I'm the only one freaking out about a mouse in our house.  

He Says...

Briggs came into our room around 3:30 in the morning.  He woke me up and said, "Mom!  I just heard a train.  But I don't think it's a steam engine.  It's probably a diesel."  And then he went back to bed.  I guess there are just some things worth waking up for.  Trains might not make my list, but they definitely make Briggs'.

Zach made dinner tonight and Briggs started complaining about what Zach had made.  Staley scolded him and said, "If you worked hard to make dinner for someone, how would you feel if they complained about it?"  To which Briggs replied, "It will probably happen when I have kids and I'm a grown-up.  My kids will say, 'I don't like that' and I'll tell them, 'You haven't even tried it.'  #truth

Winning

We decided to have a challenge at dinner tonight.  I told the kids that if everyone could remember to only speak in a whisper for the entire meal, then we could all have dessert.  The kids rose to the occasion and everyone got dessert after dinner.  The kids might have thought that they were the winners, but we all know who really got what they wanted.

The Sound of Silence

One thing that this COVID pandemic has granted us over these past 7 months is family time.  Lots and lots of family time.  We have very few extra-curricular activities.  We rarely have any week-end plans.  We have limited our outings and trips and activities.  We have kept our social calendar relatively empty. When you add that all up, it means that we have way more time together at home than we have in the past.  There is something wonderful about family time and I do try to cherish it but sometimes it is just a lot.  A lot of noise.  A lot of singing.  A lot of talking.  A lot of stories to listen to.  A lot of needs.  A lot of tattling.  A lot of whining.  A lot of small people in my personal space.  A lot of hours together in a confined space.  A lot of togetherness.  So much togetherness.  

I do not want to complain.  I love my children.  I love my husband.  I love spending time with them and creating memories.  I know we are trying to make responsible decisions and follow appropriate guidelines, which means that life needs to look different right now.  I get that.  But somedays I have flashbacks to my at-home days with 3 kids under the age of 5.  I remember how I would count down the minutes until nap time and bed time just for some alone time, some quiet time.  Right now I find myself doing the same.  On our totally free and open week-ends, I look forward to a long run or a lengthy shower or those precious moments of quiet.  Movie night has become at least a weekly occurrence as it is a family activity that we can all enjoy together QUIETLY.  As much as I thought I cherished those 1-2 hours of quiet after the kids had gone to bed before all this, I appreciate them all the more now.

I know we are blessed.  We are healthy.  We have not been personally impacted by the financial hardships and job uncertainty that so many are facing.  Our kids are going to school in person 5 days/week.  Our kids can play well together and entertain themselves and find joy in all the home time that we are experiencing.  I have so much to be thankful for.  And right now, with the kids all tucked away in bed, I am thankful for silence.

Hope

When Staley was younger, she was the slowest child in the history of the world when it came to doing just about anything.  That is no longer the case.  She has improved by leaps and bounds and moves at a regular person pace now.  So when I'm pulling out my hair trying to get Adelie and Briggs to get ready for bed or to get out of the house for school in the morning, I keep reminding myself that Staley was the slowest of the slow and now she's not.  There is hope.

She's come a long way!

He Says...

Zach has spent the past 6 months working from our basement.  Our cat, Jake, spends all day either sitting on Zach's lap or sleeping in a box next to Zach's chair.  Zach often refers to Jake as his co-worker.  Now Briggs has started referring to Jake as Zach's "code worker."

Briggs likes to self-report when I pick him up from school if he did anything that was unkind or not good.  The other day he was telling me how he pushed another boy at recess.  He reported that a group of boys got in trouble with the recess monitor for pushing and he was one of them.  He announced that the recess monitor told them they would have to sit out for the first 5 minutes of their second recess.  Then, sounding pleased, Briggs added, "But I'm half day, so I'm not even there for second recess."  Guess he figured out a disciplinary loophole...and one more reason he likes being half day.

During these past 6 months, words like quarantine and social distancing have accompanied the changes like mask wearing and frequent hand washing.  Zach and Briggs were in a public restroom during our Chicago trip last week and the restroom had a touchless soap dispenser.  Excitedly Briggs announced, "Look, Daddy!  They have one of those social distancing soap things."

Briggs has had a fear of wind ever since he was eating outside and the wind blew away our deck umbrella while shattering our deck table.  Definitely traumatic for him since that was more than 3 years ago.  Now if he looks outside and sees trees blowing, he'll ask if it's windy.  As long as I assure him that it's just breezy and not windy, he's fine.  So the next time you hear me refer to hurricane force breezes or talk about Chicago being the 'Breezy City', you'll know why.

Love this boy!!

School Days

I am so thankful for the fact that my kids get to attend school in person this year.  As so many others are engaged in remote learning or hybrid learning plans, I am grateful that my kids are going to school each day with their teachers and their friends.  I'm happy that they get to experience some of the normalcy of the grade school experience.  I love that Staley is getting to engage in all those special 4th grade opportunities that she has been waiting for since she started at Davenport.  Nine weeks in, I am feeling blessed that the school is doing the best they can to keep my kids healthy and safe while providing them with the education, socialization, and experiences that they have so sorely missed during these past months.

I am especially happy that Briggs did not have to start off his Kindergarten experience with remote learning.  Kindergarten is so fun and so foundational for a love of school and learning.  We love Mrs. Doty, and he has also loved having Mrs. Davis as his student teacher.

The Kindergarteners did 26 days of ABC boot camp.  That meant 26 consecutive themed days.  It's a lot for a mom, but Briggs loved dressing up and doing special things every day at school.  He and Dava celebrated 'L' with Luau Day.

Briggs was killing it for Wacky Day.

And Army Day!

Although the second grade Monarch program had to happen virtually this year, Adelie still had the chance to be a part of this annual tradition.

She was extra excited that she had a butterfly to release during the virtual program.  The only downside...her teacher started the video too late and missed the actual release of the butterfly.

Staley has been loving 4th grade.  Although not having any close friends in her class has been a bummer, she has enjoyed all the "extras" that go into being the oldest in the school.  Staley was selected to be on the news team (The Hornet Buzz) that produces a weekly grade school news show.  Some of her closer friends were also selected which gives her the opportunity to spend time with them a few times a week at school.  She was also just selected to be on the Safety Patrol for this coming quarter, which she was also super excited about.

Having these past 9 weeks of school has been such a blessing for the kids.  My kids have always loved school and I'm so grateful that they get the chance to enjoy it during this crazy hard time.

Happy Belated Birthday, Adelie!

Adelie turned 7 back in March.  For her birthday, we had planned a train trip up to Chicago to visit the American Girl Store with grandmas and an aunt and cousins.  Then Covid happened and quarantine started and all those plans were squashed.  Adelie was crushed!  We promised that as soon as things opened back up, we would still celebrate her birthday with her special birthday trip.  And last week that's exactly what we did.

We had to tweak our plan a bit to meet our current comfort level.  We drove instead of taking the train.  We let Adelie choose an outdoor restaurant instead of eating in the cafe.  We went on a weekday to avoid crowds, making it more difficult for others to join us.  We had to wear our masks.  But it was still Adelie's special day and she loved it!

The kids all poured over the American Girl catalogs on the way up to Chicago...while listening to the Hamilton soundtrack, of course.

Although not everyone else was able to join us, Grammie came along for the day, making it a little extra-special for Adelie.

The kids were all excited about spending time at the American Girl store.  Adelie and Staley both had birthday money to spend, and Briggs had fun checking everything out.

Staley used her money to get Haley's ears pierced and still had enough to get a little jacket for her doll as well.

Adelie was so excited to have enough money to get the doll bubble bath, as well as a couple kittens, a chameleon set, and some glasses for her doll.

After spending a few hours at the American Girl store, we checked out the Lego store next door and then Adelie chose to eat at Potbellies for lunch.

Before driving home, we made a quick detour to see Uncle Ethan and check out a local toy store where he had given the kids gift cards for Christmas last year.  They had the best time picking out their gifts and spending time with Uncle Ethan.  Although the day was more than 6 months after her birthday and some things were not as originally planned, Adelie still had a great belated birthday celebration.

Another Month

I am usually better about blogging.  I like to post glimpses into our life every week or two as my way of documenting the on-going story of our daily family life.  I'm not sure why blogging has taken a back seat to my other 'free-time' activities, but almost a month has gone by since my last blog posts.  It's been a month of ups and downs as so much about this unprecedented Covid pandemic time has been.  We have enjoyed fun family activities and met for 3 very positive parent-teacher conferences and finally celebrated Adelie's very belated birthday and watched Staley's excitement about being chosen for the News Team at school and started 'family church' with my family and enjoyed some beautiful fall weather.  On the other hand, we have continued to face uncertainty in decisions.  We have walked alongside a neighbor as she placed her husband in the nursing home and experienced the tragedy of the sudden loss of a member of our previous small group.  There is still illness and division and isolation and so much brokenness, not just in our nation, but in our own community.  Some days it is hard to focus on the positives in our home when there are so many hardships in the world outside.  But each day gives me a new opportunity to focus on God's blessings and goodness, even in the midst of uncertainty.  And family remains a daily blessing that I am forever thankful for.

We tried out disc golf with the kids on one beautiful fall weekend.  They all enjoyed it and stuck with it longer than I thought they might.

Staley had a few friends over for an outdoor fall get-together. 

They played outside and talked and giggled and enjoyed some s'mores over a campfire.

Since Dava and Briggs are both doing half-day Kindergarten, they've enjoyed quite a few after school play dates.  I worry about the weather getting colder as our limiting our kids to outside play dates with friends might get a little trickier once winter approaches.

Adelie enjoyed going to a friend's house for a weiner roast and hayrack ride.  Although all 3 kids have had opportunities for social time with friends, it is definitely more limited than in the past.  Thankfully they enjoy playing together.  And when all else fails, they can just make new friends.

We have still filled most of our free time at home together as a family.  Lots of reading.  Lots of playing.  Lots of crafts.  Some reluctant homework completion.

Family movie night has also become a weekly week-end tradition.  We have definitely been enjoying Disney+ streaming service.

Being able to enjoy the outdoor fall weather has definitely helped.

This season of Covid can be trying.  It can be sad.  It can be uncertain.  It can make me lose focus on the blessings that surround me.  It's not always pretty, but we are hanging in there.