Mother's Day (weeks 8 & 9)

Happy Mother's Day! 

We spent an awesome day on Mother's day Sunday. Scott was awesome in asking me what I wanted to eat and the result was a bunch of food no one else liked so I got leftovers! Chicken salad sandwiches, salad, fancy pizza. I should have thought of that earlier. hehe!

The kids surprised me with a really sweet scavenger hunt which resulted in finding lots of yummy chocolates. It was so sweet and just that Michael and Scott spent time thinking of me was such a precious gift. Michael was excited about it!

This photo is so accurate to us these days. Yes, I looked terrible and tired but...that is just how it goes. :) Hopefully, you can tell I look happy! 

After my Mother's Dad rest, we went to Brenton Arboretum for a walk. It was a cool day but we had fun anyway. Scott had never been so we enjoyed showing him around and we even found some apple trees still in bloom. We even snuck in some (illegal) play time on the natural playscape. Don't tell anyone! 

The second part of my Mother's Day was spending a morning going plant shopping. This is so fun to me and I love looking at all the lovely possibilities at the greenhouses. I am lucky that we have several right in a loop close to our home so I don't even have to go far. I got some filler perennials and stuff for my pots. I am planning on redoing the front landscaping so I was just looking and will wait to purchase those plants later. I still have some shuffling to do, it is never done!

Obligatory "I wore jeans!" post! 

Otherwise we have just been clicking away on our daily routine here. It seems like all I do is work and hang out with the kids. I am looking forward to summer where I can spend less time on my computer. 

We really enjoyed our trees this spring. We got so much work done outside in the first week of May. Normally that would be a week of the year where I would be gone every night and all weekend. I usually don't even start to *think* about the yard stuff until after school is out. I guess there is a silver lining to this- our yard is going to be rockin (and expensive!) 

We celebrated Star Wars Day on May 4th with an online escape room from the library, a star wars workout routine, blue milk for lunch, and then a Star Wars movie. It was actually a pretty fun way to celebrate and all easy, low key ideas. Sometimes I dread trying to make staying home "fun" but this was an easy way that hopefully created some memories for the kids. 

We headed north to Boone for teacher appreciation day so I could get my free lunch (so delicious) and the kids got school lunch. Yes, these are exciting these days! I also had to drop some stuff off for a student so it was good to get out of the house. We stopped at the Iowa Arboretum on the way home and enjoyed the trails. I had never been: they were beautiful and we were the only ones there! A kind soul had even left really nice walking sticks right by the trail sign. 

I have been a little discouraged this week as continuous learning wears on. I've gotten some nasty texts from parents who tell me what I'm doing isn't important and that hurts. I do think what I am doing as a teacher is important and I'm trying my best with what I've got. 

Thinking about it has realized that what I am doing with my own family is important too, and I am trying my best with what I've got there, too. The girls have been playing so nicely lately that sometimes I let them skip their school work. Play is learning for five-year-olds. I am so thankful they have each other and an awesome big brother and we have a safe home to be in. 

The kids have one more week of learning left and I got until June 2nd. We are looking forward to taking a little break from our workbooks and then we'll figure out our master summer plan. The kids keep bugging me to come up with our summer list so they are familiar with the drill around here. :) 

Take care!

Captain's Log Weeks 6 & 7

Oh Mylanta. I knew this would happen....I didn't post for a week and now the past two weeks have blended together. Gr! 

This is such a unique time and I am beyond thankful that we can live a life where the days can blend together. We have really found a good rhythm to our days and weeks and it feels good. I think we have accepted that this is what it is now and have made our peace with it. Like any grief, there are still moments that catch us by surprise and stab us in the gut but as I have learned we just have to keep forging ahead. The past is the past and we can't change it. We can remember it, honor it, cherish it, but we can not change it. It has happened and now we are on a new path. This goes for all the major heartaches I've had in my life: sweet baby Trace, Dad, miscarriage, and school. I feel I can't even put this period of social distancing in the same category as Trace and Dad but it is grief nonetheless. 

As we fall into our weeks, it seems that Thursdays are the hardest for me personally. It is a day filled with meetings on the computer and trying to wrap up the next week's online learning. It drains me in a new way that in-person teaching never has. Our solution? Head outdoors. The sky and grass remind us the world is bigger than the box we spend so many hours staring into. It's so good for the kids and especially me. 

We've been spending a ton of time outside as Scott and I work in the yard. It's fun for me to watch the kids use their imagination in the yard. What greater entertainer is there? 

We wrapped up our big music fundraiser in the midst of this global pandemic and the delivery went surprisingly well. It was awesome to see our families pull up and wave at students. Everyone has their butter braids! I am thankful for an awesome team of music educations (and friends) as well as our admin team and the fundraiser contact who quite frankly is a friend at this point also. 

Our rooms had to be cleaned out and students stuff picked up this last week in April and it was a busy week to get everything ready to go. It was a good push and felt good to get all that checked off my list. I went into school one evening and worked for hours, cleaning out students' cubbies, and getting what they left behind to their locker bags. I think it was a success and all things considered, this is the best kids have had things home for a break compared to most summers. 

The kids came up to school with me while I packed up my room and took stuff off the walls to paint over the break. I convinced them with Mcd's and we had a car picnic at Ledges afterward. 

Online teaching has been an adventure but I have embraced the challenge. My google meets have been mildly successful and it has been fun to connect with my students with a little bit of music and a little bit of fun. I will never again take for granted how my whole ensemble comes to my room at once and we can make music together in person! These are daily gifts. 

Students love to show off their pets. It is hilarious. We've tried to get them all in for a photo but some pets are more cooperative than others. :) 

Michael and the girls have been missing their teachers although they are doing a good job of staying connected too. 

Michael's teacher and associates sent some flat versions of themselves for photo ops and the girls' teacher surprised them with May Day baskets. So sweet! 

We've had a few warm days but the sprinkler and hose still feel a bit cool for spring. We hooked the sprinkler up to the hot water in the garage and the kids promptly emptied the hot water heater tank but it helped the chill a bit! 

We took a drive downtown with our picnic lunch to eat by the Capitol but it was a cool day. We had wanted to walk at the sculpture park but it was all roped off- it is hard to know what is appropriate to do these days or not. 

Finally, our trees are in bloom! My favorite time of year! 

Social Isolation: a self-portrait.

All the work outside with the farmers stirring up dirt has done a number on my poor eyeballs. I would never in a million years dream of putting a photo of me in my thick glasses out for the world to see but I guess that is a gift social distancing has given me.  I have bad eyesight: deal with it! hehe

Stay well, friends!