Back to School

These guys are so great.

I woke up this morning at 6:30am to the sound of Lauren running on the treadmill. Upstairs, Grace and George were padding around, getting ready for their day. They were ready for breakfast at 7:30, and ready to begin their school day at 8:00am. They were actually a little disappointed that there wasn't more work posted today, but we took the opportunity to read outside. We are enjoying watching spring bloom a little more each day. 

Pixie

We have been spending more time than ever on our spacious deck. We play board games, read, and eat on the deck. Although we are praying for the pandemic to be over as quickly as possible, Pixie, for one, is enjoying the new schedule and having all of her people at home. 

Venturing Out

We are taking the social isolating seriously. Today we had a "no contact" errand where we had to deliver an item and leave it at someone's house. You would have thought we were going to Disney. Everyone was so excited to climb into the car and enjoy a little scenery, and they reminded me that they had not been in a car nor had they left our house in over two weeks. 

So maybe we needed a little drive.  

(Again, with no contact.)

Spring Break

We didn't make it to the beach this year. Although many, many people felt comfortable heading to the beach, we definitely did not feel right about traveling during a global pandemic. We miss seeing the beach, but we decided to spend the week doing some of our favorite things. 

First, Skip got the bikes out. Tires were inflated, and seats were adjusted. We absolutely love riding bikes at the beach so we dusted off our bikes and made afternoon bike rides a daily thing.  

We also made board games a daily occurrence. We have played Sorry!, Uno, Charades, and we are having a good time. 

A sad face when your mom draws a Sorry! card. 

Finally, we have instituted a daily outdoors reading time. Sometimes we read on the deck, and sometimes, we take lawn chairs out to the drive way and enjoy our lovely view -- the one that we're usually too busy to appreciate. The girls especially enjoyed reading for pleasure, without any schoolwork attached.  

Overall, we are enjoying our week and the beautiful weather. 

We hope you are able to get out and safely appreciate nature. 

He's Still Got It

We have so many pictures of Skip carrying both and then all three children on his back. They are muuuuuch bigger, but he can still carry them all. 

Annual 5K + Service Day

Today was supposed to be the sixth annual Bulldog 5K Run at George's school. The girls ran the 5K many times, and George has been looking forward to the run for a long time. We decided to proceed with a 5K at home. George was so excited, and Lauren and Grace were good sports to do it with him. We ran the 5K in our quiet neighborhood, practicing social distancing. This was just for fun, and we didn't keep times. Our "track" involved six uphill climbs, which tested their commitment, but they stuck it out.  

Today was also supposed to be "Service Day" at Lauren and Grace's school. The girls were scheduled to volunteer with the Cahaba River Keepers. They were going to canoe down the Cahaba to some remote locations and pick up debris. They had been very excited about the assignment and were disappointed with school was closed. 

The service day assignments shifted to finding a service project at home. Skip came through with them with a weeding project. They were charged with weeding the front and side flower beds. Since the girls helped George with his 5K recreation, he pitched in and helped them with their service project. 

After the 5K and some yard work, they were basically done for the day. So proud of their hard work. 

School, Day 4

We totally have the hang of remote learning now, and we are incredibly proud of our educators for being so creative and posting so many activities and resources. 

Those smiles are sincerely. When your world has been turned upside down, I encourage you to maintain a schedule. Get up early, do whatever it is you do to the best of your ability in these challenging times. Safely get some fresh air. 

Baking Craze

Today we jumped on the baking trend by making Southern Living's donut cake with glaze. If you're wondering why everyone is baking so much, I have to say this cake did cheer us up. It's so pretty and smells delicious!  

George's Schedule

George is used to sometimes getting an extra hour of sleep in the morning while the girls are getting ready and going to the bus stop. Today he reflexively went back to bed, thinking he had an extra hour before getting up.  

Online Learning, Day 2; Social Distancing, Day 4

These aren't optimal times, and we are truly praying for a cure and return to regular life. However, I would be lying if I said we missed our 5:30am wake up call and sitting at our table doing homework until 8-9pm each night.  

We are making lemonade.  

Grace and Lauren have some projects they are completing online, and George has some work to do as well. We are hanging on to normalcy and maintaining our schedule... well... a much friendlier schedule. 

Social Distancing, Day 3; Online Schooling, Day 1

So... a lot has been happening this month. Like everyone, we have been watching the Coronavirus outbreak and have been tentatively making responsible plans about how to proceed with life. 

For example, on the 6th, my mom and I went to Costco for supplies, and we got my mom further supplies on the 9th.  Then, we were cautious as activities became questionable. On the 13th, George's school canceled its sixth annual 5K that was scheduled for the 20th. Announcements were made that school would be canceled on 03-19/03-20-20, but then later schedule was canceled completely for this week. Then baseball canceled through 03-30-20. The spring book fair canceled, and then dance canceled. Going to the beach for spring break is obviously not going to happen. Like everyone we know, our entire calendar cleared. 

I texted the girls on the 13th and told them to bring home all of their journals and/or notebooks. Although nothing had been decided at that time, it appeared that our schedules were about to radically change, and they did.  

The girls already had worked scheduled so they simply got up today and resumed their work. A lot of their work is online and/or they can scan the work and submit it online so remote schooling is a seamless transition for them. George's teacher had some assignments for him as well that were posted online.   

All of that to say, like all of you... we started a whole new chapter today, with everyone home and everyone learning as much as they can with online resources. 

Band MPS

Today the girls had a band field trip to Vestavia Hills High School, where the band performed for MPS. We are new to band and are still in the learning curve so we don't really know what this means, but we know the girls worked for weeks on some music to play in a setting where their performance would be rated. 

Also, they know they had to wear black pants and white shirts, which they found... boring. In fairness, they do not march, as their school does not have a football team. They are more of a concert band at this point so they couldn't simply dress in their "uniform" because they do not have one.  

Any rate, they did great! I got to slip by the school to hear them, and they were wonderful. Afterward, they went to the Galleria for lunch and had a few minutes to walk around. I think today made up for the near total loss of field trips at the middle school level. 

Read Across America Week

Read Across America is one of my favorite weeks of the year. As a reader, I love seeing kiddos excited about reading, and Dr. Seuss is just a complete Rock Star in getting children enthusiastic about reading. 

George's school had:

Monday: Hat day

Tuesday: Sock day (no pic)

Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday

Thursday: (no pic)

Friday: Pajama day!

I also LOVE the craft George's teacher developed.  

"I would like to be a surgeon and I would like to be a youtube on weekends."

"I would like to learn to be a surgeon."

"I would want to meet the ceo of apple then I would want to meet bill gates."

"I would like to visit Sydney for a while and see what it's like. I think it would be super fun." 

George, we love your goals and know you are going to do great things!

Study Session

These ladies are always working hard. Tonight's study session was lengthy, but they managed to maintain their smiles.