Time for our weekly check-in. How are we all doing? We had a few rainy days over here that didn’t bring out the best in us. Rain is no excuse for grumpiness though. We are determined to love each other a little better this week. I’m speaking to myself as well.
While we are being very diligent to shelter in place, we did have to go out for some groceries and we treated ourselves to our favorite Peet’s coffee. It had been a month and while this is a tiny extravagance, it was a much-needed one for me to regroup. Thank goodness coffee is considered essential!
I’ve found that even though we have extra time at home, we still aren’t using it wisely. I needed to find a way to keep us from wasting the days away. I want to come out on the other side of these times and feel like we all did something productive with our time. I love the quote:
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
― Benjamin Franklin ―
I have always wanted an Emily Ley planner, but couldn’t justify the price. I have some good news- they are affordable if you buy a 2019-2020 calendar in April. 🙂 I picked out this pretty little thing on Amazon and it’s helped me do better with planning our days. There’s a twinge of irony that I need a calendar when I’m marking BIG OLD X’s on our main calendar since we have no social plans, but we are finding our days are filling up with school. Look around Amazon for other designs and deals. I ordered mine “new” but in the used section and it was under $10.
Speaking of school, I know there are a lot of different scenarios. Jaime just posted they are doing ABC Mouse in their home. My husband is the administrator and principal of our private school. It’s been quite a month, but we have transitioned to online school.
We are busy with school 5 days a week for 4-5 hours each day. I’m very thankful for the structure and their continued education. Our kids have had remarkable attitudes. I’m pleasantly surprised on that front. My frame of mind wavers. Some days I feel like we’ve got this…other days I don’t. Any guesses what kind of a day is pictured above? It has taken us a few weeks to find our way with keeping on track, getting homework turned in, and learning this new way of education from home.
The teachers have been doing an amazing job making videos for the kids and posting them to Google Classroom. There have been Google Meets where they get to review for their tests, get help with math, and “see” their friends that they miss so dearly. Having the planner/calendar to keep it all straight has been very helpful.
Annabelle had a Facetime piano lesson one day with a minute to spare to get to her Google meet math class. Kind of funny she had such a “busy” day, but I’m thankful too. Idleness is not a good thing.
It’s not easy social distancing from grandparents, church family, and school friends; but we feel it’s the right thing to do. We’ve heard in the Bay Area that we will likely peak in May with the virus. Some days I’m very tempted to be sad, but I try to hide my disappointment because I don’t want to spread my attitude to the kids. Remember parents, we have little eyes watching us and learning how to react.
We are trying to add something different to each day that we can look forward to. Bike rides, playing catch, and walks are daily activities when school work is done. I’m not talking extravagant things, but here are a few ideas that mostly revolve around food and tv to mix up the week:
- make smore’s on the grill
- watch an episode of the newest season of Nailed It
- Friday and Saturday movie nights
- binge watch Mandalorian (we just got Disney +)
- ice-cream before bed
- decorate sugar cookies for Easter (our Friday plans)
- watch our wedding video with the kids
- manicure/pedicure with your daughter
- designate a meal for a fast food run
- board game night
- sleepovers in each other’s rooms
- facetime with cousins (pictured above – flute and violin duet)
- chalk and bubbles
I just saw a doozy of a post on our Nextdoor neighbor site from a lady on a huge rant that the teacher parade didn’t come down her street. Someone needed a virtual hug and I felt bad for her kids. They are likely learning her anger. Lots of neighbors kindly offered to let her come park her car on their street and enjoy the parade. I hope she simmered down and that her kids got to wave to their teachers. We don’t go to that school, but our spirits were lifted by the parade and we enjoyed getting out in the sunshine and waving to nice people. I will end with this bit of advice that grumpy lady on Wilbur Street needed to hear…don’t be grumpy lady on Wilbur Street. 🙂
