Well, its been almost two months since we have sheltered in place and stayed home. The last time the kids were inside the walls of their school was Friday, March 13th.
It's now May 9th.
We've cleaned and sorted, organized and discarded.
We've played and discovered, walked and biked.
Oh, and watched a lot of screens: because, well, we're bored.
Regan got so bored she asked if she could clean the grill.
Here's some soap, water and rags-go for it.
The girls have had their moments, but we're watching them bond a little more everyday. And sometimes, while on a walk, they purposely walk ahead or behind so we don't hear their top secret conversations.
Lincoln still hates online learning. His teacher sent me a note to let me know that distant learning just isn't designed for kinders. And I whole-heartedly agree. He needs his friends. He's spent 6 years interacting with playmates/school buddies. And now we're asking him to learn from a tablet.
The other day he laid upside down, half off the couch, kicking me with his flailing legs as he tried to get comfy. And did his homework in this position.
Whatever.
It got done before 8pm so I called it a win.
We taught Regan how to ride Ryan's scooter in a nearby empty parking lot. She was hesitant at the start, and by the end was going "full-rottle" (as Lincoln would say) and giggling as she cruised past us.
You can guess what she wants next year on her 15th birthday.
Without our weekends filled with sports and tournaments, we have checked off the boxes on so many house projects. Last weekend, Ryan put on his brave pants for me and climbed on the roof to paint the shutters above the garage.
Side note: he doesn't know how to paint. And really has never painted anything in our home.
I was thankful not to climb on the roof and happy he made it down safely.
Meanwhile, the kids and I got busy pulling back rock, adding dirt and pushing the rock back in place around the house. It was labor intensive and I was happy for their eager help.
Sidney and I painted the entire main floor (thankful for curbside pick up at Sherwin Williams so I could easily order paint without going into the store). She painted her name on the wall; we made Ryan move his work station for the afternoon and he loved us for it (can you tell?!). For the record, this work from home is not easy for us!
We ordered long boards for the girls which has proven to be super fun for them to learn and bring along on our walks. I managed to impress Ryan will my long board abilities as I zipped through the empty parking lot as well. I've had some good teachers.
Ryan can barely stay on it while sitting, so when he races the kids, they have to all sit. HA!
My mom bought Regan this bownet for her last birthday, and it might have been the best gift ever. Little did we know at the time just how much use we would be getting from it. We are constantly backing the cars out of the garage so she can hit into it doing tee-work. And after taking a hit directly to the face (I covered up but still took a hit), we now take it across the street regularly and hide behind it for hitting practice.
This line drive whizzed directly past Ryan as he jumped behind the net.
This isolation has not been easy on the kids. They miss their friends dearly, they see them on social media hanging out with other people, but ours know we need to take this seriously.
So when they ask us to do things like an impromptu fire in the back yard, we are quick to agree.
I continue to be so proud of them for holding strong and hanging in there.
One of Lincoln's optional assignments this week was to head to the pond next to his school and explore. He needed a break one night after I finished work so I took him on a date night bike ride and we rode to the school.
It was so peaceful and gorgeous. I had never been back there, and had no idea it was so big.
We explored all sorts of things, but the best was seeing TEN turtles sunning themselves on a log. His teacher's video had told us we would see 'something' if we were very quite. I seriously thought those turtles were fake, they were so still!
Lincoln decided to run up close and prove they were real, 8 of the 10 jumped right into the pond. He is such a boy :)
Zoom in close and you can see some of the turtles on the logs behind him before he scared them away.
Might as well take this opportunity and teach her how to drive a vehicle too! She (and the other two kiddos) have a bigger appreciation for how mom and dad drive now.
The most memorable part was when she tried to park between the lines and was so eager to get out and see how she had done that she forgot to put it into park before getting out. YIKES!
Needless to say, we need some more lessons :)
We will get through this, I'm confident. We're holding onto hope that soon we will be able to loosen the reigns a little, see family and friends, and start to define a new normal.
Until then, we will continue to explore and enjoy our time together.
