Missing friends

Lincoln asked me the other day “when is the virus going to be gone?”

We had a chat and I asked him what he was missing. Without skipping a beat...”my friends”. 

Ripped my heart out. 

He’s been a real trooper in all of this. Our super social boy has had FaceTime calls and zoom play dates, but I know he’s really missing seeing and playing with his buddies. 

I’m hoping soon we can start to see some friends, even just for a short period of time. 

He misses his friends, he needs his buddies. 

Love you buddy. 

Thanks for hanging in there. 

Two months in: COVID19

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. 

Spring sports seasons

I've decided that May is officially more challenging than the month of December. It's completely overscheduled with standardized testing, end of the year concerts, sports banquets and let's not forget work (where we are both supposed to put in a lot of time each week!).

If you haven't taken the time to read this blog post, do it. It puts May in perspective for our tribe of middle school (in a high school sport), elementary school and preschool. And it helped me to know that I'm not alone.

 

Regan has wrapped up her first season as part of the Jefferson High School fastpitch team. She was placed on the 9th grade team with some amazing coaches. She took part in pre-season "Captain's Practices" with the varsity/JV squads back in March, then trained during spring break with the coaches from all levels before finally falling into stride with her 9th grade team.

Boy did she develop over these few months. As a player and a teammate. She learned from some of the best coaches out there, young women who did what I like to call "coaching during practice" and letting the girls play during games. They ended the season 5-1 (or 7-1 if you count the double header where the other team forgot to show up and had to forfeit). Those coaches knew a thing or two about this sport and about coaching these early teenagers. And Regan learned a thing or two: calling pitches with complicated signs, throwing down to make outs and becoming explosive with her bat. We had so much fun watching her, that I shed a tear at the last game. Neither her nor I wanted to see it come to an end.  

 

Meanwhile, this little dude asked to try soccer. We were both a little dumbfounded at his request, seeing as though neither of us have ever played this sport. I obliged and the Easter bunny brought all sorts of soccer gear for him :)

Including a bright orange ball!

I could tell after the first practice just why he wanted to play soccer. They never stop moving! It's right up his alley. This boy would be bored on a ball field at age 5, but at soccer, he just runs and runs and runs. We giggle because those kiddos are so sweet, never wanting to "steal" the ball away from an opposing teammate, probably thinking the parents would all be upset that they weren't sharing. He's getting the hang of it now, and is finally starting to get aggressive and is having the time of his life! He is seriously all smiles during that one hour each week, and boy do I love to watch him!

 

 

Sidney branched out on a limb this spring and asked to play volleyball. Yet another new sport for her. This girl doesn't nothing partway.

Go big or go home.

And she was incredibly frustrated that her team had some of the most timid volleyball players I had ever seen. Some didn't pay attention, some didn't seem to care about scoring points. And then there's Sidney, who is fiercely competitive.

That girl wants to win!

 

So you can imagine her frustration when the team ended regular season play in 14th place. They headed into the league tournament playing the 3rd ranked team. I was so pessimistic about their ability to win that I had deleted the rest of the tournament from our calendars :)

And then they went and won! She played hard in night two of the tournament, while Ryan was out of state on a work trip, and I had kids in different parts of the city, one on a field practicing, the other on a court playing her heart out. Sadly they lost on night two, but not after a good fight, winning 1 of the matches.

Sid was sad to end the season, tears and all.

 

In the thick of all the spring activities, Regan was gearing up for the spring dance recitals. She danced almost 6 hours every week since September: pointe, jazz, tap, lyrical and two ballet classes. As luck would have it, she was slated to perform in 3 recitals the same weekend as a 5+ game softball tournament.

Let's just say: thank GOD for rain!

It might make a future weekend more challenging, seeing as both girls were slated for that tournament and will now likely be on opposite ends of the city sometime in the future. We'll figure that out when the time comes. Back to the recital...

Oh she was so cute out there! Just a beauty on stage. Every dance I would say "this is my favorite"! Even now, after watching three shows plus dress rehearsal, I still cannot pick a favorite. Lyrical, ballet (which one!?), jazz, tap, and oh watching her up on those pointe shoes! I simply cannot pick a favorite. Hoping to upload a video soon, but in the midst of this lovely month, my computer has died.

 



 

But the sheer joy on her face during this dance makes the chaos of spring all worth it. She shined on stage and for the first year ever, looked confident and was having FUN in every dance. It was amazing! Lincoln loved watching the show, and asked me if he would go on stage when he got big? Without answering his question, I first asked if he wanted to dance on stage?

His reply, a hesitant "sure....but I'm not very good at dancing"! 😄

We finished up several sports at the end of this week. Our weeks have slowed to one activity/day which may sound horribly busy to some, but gives us breathing room we haven't seen in months.

Easter 2019

Just a quick post on Easter 2019, I'll have to add more pictures when I have more time. 

We both laughed out loud when Lincoln's school sent us a picture of him wearing these bunny ears. In the middle of our work days, the photo on the right showed up on our phones. I immediately thought of my favorite Christmas movie "A Christmas Story" with the bunny suit. 

Lincoln looks just about as thrilled with those ears on. 

Easter morning we started with Easter baskets filled to the brim with useful gifts (toys and trinkets that get tossed in a bin are not welcome): soccer gear for Lincoln, make-up for Sidney (because...she's 10!) and a Valleyfair pass for Regan. After an egg hunt, we ventured to church, which ended up being quite an adventure.  

We sat only about 4 rows back, which sent Ryan into a little panic..."why are we sitting so close!?". For many reasons, it's been a while since we've been to church.  

Lincoln sat quietly through the first reading (where the name Peter was mentioned), listening like he would a story from a schoolteacher. She finished and a quick song began. Lincoln immediately pointed to the cross suspended from the ceiling and loudly asked "when are they going to take Peter down?" 

Oh buddy, we have a lot to catch up on!

We enjoyed the rest of Easter back at home with grandparents, a cousin and a pseudo Aunt with service dog. It was a beautiful day to spend basking in the sun and enjoying our company. 

"Confuser"

Sidney requested a diffuser and essential oils for her bedroom recently and since she had an Amazon gift card, it was a perfect time to place her order. She patiently waited for it to arrive and promptly set it up in her room (I had to admit my jealousy seeing as those her diffuser is pretty awesome compared to my dated diffuser in the kitchen).

Lincoln caught a glimpse of it all lit up before bed that night and quickly whined that he needed "a confuser" too. We have not stopped hearing him beg for a cool light up confuser too :)

 

Lake Life 2018

warning! heavy photo post follows

As we have nearly every Labor Day weekend for the past 15 years, we headed to a resort with my dad's brother and his family for the long weekend. 

We ventured to a new resort this year, one that had more water activities for the kids than even they could've dreamed! It was certainly the most entertained they have ever been at the lake (in the water)....and we all loved every second of it! 

One of Lincoln's (and Regan's) favorite parts of this annual event, is to go fishing. From the boat or from the dock, they just like to fish. 

Regan found a nice spot to perch on the pontoon and her/Hope laid there for over an hour one day just chatting the day away. 

One of the many fun water activities: a water bike! 

They looked mildly ridiculous pedaling around on this thing, but we could hear their giggles on shore and I loved hearing the memories being made. 

These kayaks were awesome. See that island out there in the distance? There's another one a bit further over on the left. Hope and Regan decided to go for a l-o-n-g excursion one day and ventured out around BOTH islands. Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell us just how far they planned to go.....We watched as they went further and further away from the resort. We watched as we assumed they were lost (it's a very long way and can be hard to remember exactly where you started from when you get so far away). Ben had to eventually drive the boat out to see if they needed to be rescued. Nope. They were just taking their time on the lake and enjoying the beautiful warm sunny day. 

Shhhh, don't tell anyone that Uncle Ben lets his nieces and nephews take the wheel and drive us around. By the end of the weekend, Lincoln was driving it solo (Ben was sitting beside him). We laughed as Lincoln would repeat over and over that we were "full rottle" (aka: Full Throttle).....keeping in mind it goes maybe 4 mph :) 

He liked to shift it from idle into gear. He channeled his inner Titanic movie self and hollered "Full Speed Ahead!" as he shifted into gear!
Love that boy. 

Huge Thanks to my brother for giving these kiddos this awesome memory. I remember being a little tyke sitting on my own dad's lap "driving" the boat.

I have no idea what type of lesson she was getting, but she adored driving the boat just as much as Lincoln. 

Regan was content at the front of the boat anytime we were anchored. I have to admit, it's a nice spot to catch some rays. 

More fishing. 

Bless my mom's heart (and Ben and my cousin's husband) for worming, re-worming and de-fishing all weekend long.
Ick, not my favorite part of lake life. 

Getting ready to go "Full Rottle!"

At one point, I looked over at Lincoln and honestly flashed back to my 4 year old self. I can actually remember leaning over the back of our boat growing up, watching the wake as we slowly made our way.
There's just something peaceful about seeing the water rush through the propeller as we sped away. 

Some of these most beautiful sunsets happened out over the lake that weekend. The colors were stunning and I probably have a total of 500 sunset pictures between my phone and my camera.

She enjoyed her lake life, and I suspect she would live on the water if it were possible. 

A trip to the lake isn't complete without several rounds of tubing. Lincoln joined in the fun this year, taking a turn sitting at the bottom of the tube. He was pretty apprehensive, not sure he wanted to go. Smart boy went his first round with Sidney and Olivia (neither who want a rough ride), but eventually jumped over to ride with the wild ones! 

We had to take him out at one point because these two were itching to be flipped...boy did they get close! 

I was spotter one afternoon and could not believe these two silly girls. I went tubing for probably 20 years of my life, and never once did I think to actually turn around!? They disliked the water spraying in their faces so they rode their entire ride backwards.
Goof balls. 

This crew makes my heart full. 

I have no fewer than 10 pictures on my camera of Lincoln making a tiger face. He cooperates for any picture, but then says "let me do a tiger" and proceeds to tell me to take his picture. 

The sandy beach area was well used by our group. The kids spent a good chunk of everyday jumping around from lillypads to water trampolines to slides to floating docks. None of them terribly bothered by the fact that it was a lake...with fish, and weeds underfoot. 

Regan was trying to do a handstand on the lilly pad and I snapped a picture at just the right right. She looks like she's levitating!

The fun moments and memories made were plentiful. 

We've moved through several lakes, experienced a lot of Labor Day fun, and I'm so glad to have these 4 by my side each year. 

More tiger Lincoln....

An extra special place for my mom who keeps this tradition going for us (and her) even though we're missing a key person in our lives. Miss having dad around at the lake, giving his brother grief, watching him venture out for early morning fishing and always knowing how to fix something like a boat or a circuit board or a heater. 

More tiger Lincoln. 

He had no clue his sisters were behind him making tiger faces too :) 

We all are counting down the days until next year, knowing it is always a favorite for all of us. 

It's always bittersweet, and Sidney picked up on that this year "I love going to the lake, but I don't like that it means summer is over". 

Got that right kiddo. 

Now, onto school....