Captain's Log Week 3

Wow, week three in the books! 

I need to start updating my captain log more because the days have really started to run together this week. We have found our groove for sure and even though it seemed like the days went slowly...the week flew by! 

Last Sunday my friend Kylie came by to take some photos of us from our porch as a way to spread joy, not germs. I love them! It also gave us all an excuse to get showered, dressed, and hair did. 

It was really windy so we had to take them in this little corner of our porch. It was a fun project! Great idea, Kylie! 

I tried really hard to stay in my clothes and jewelry for a bit longer! I watched church and did some videos for school but then they came off when it was time for rest time and a walk at the park. At least I have the selfies that prove I looked nice for a few hours. :) 

I like these two photos because they show how much of a shadow has Brynn has come to me. She is always by my side! 

Anna.

On Saturday, I rounded up the troops and we cleaned our house top to bottom. They were all good helpers, especially with oiling the cabinets, washing windows, and disinfecting door handles/light switches. It felt great to have a clean house!  

The rest of the week is a blur! 

A big outing for the week was a trip to the grocery store for me. It was the first time I'd been since being out for spring break. I had a huge list and my cart was packed full full full. I couldn't have fit one more package of chicken nuggets into it if I tried. I'm talking front basket and the part underneath. I felt bad for the poor checkout girl and courtesy girl but they were good sports. It definitely put a dent in our day and I was thankful Scott was home working so I could go in the morning. 

We went on a hike on Jester Park, and we explored a new trail I found during my Sunday walk. It was a cloudy day and it not busy at all- yay! 

Kids have been busy with their school work. We do playtime in the morning while I do my exercising, then our workbooks (summer bridge activities) and then they get computer time. After that, we do our family exercise time choosing from either Just Dance videos on YouTube, Yoga, or Wii Ring Fit Adventure. So far, Just Dance videos are the most popular choice and we definitely have our favorites. 

Then we eat lunch, and it is reading time. I do the girls reading while Michael does his on his own. Sometimes we do Harry Potter as a read aloud, and then we watch a movie while everyone rests. It is a nice time to be all cozy downstairs in the basement. 

After rest, we go outside! Either on an adventure to a park or just in our yard. This week we spent quite a bit of time getting our yard cleaned up for spring and the kids did a good job playing while Scott and I worked. 

Heart in my coffee. :)

We did a family drawing activity on Friday night and it was fun! Everyone drew along with Dav Pilkey on his tutorials and then we followed some tutorials Michael showed us. Kids loved it. 

Girls are lucky big brother has such fun toys! The possibilities are endless with LEGO. 

On Wednesday, we had a birthday party for our stuffed animals. We made the cake, decorations, and came up with games. It was fun to plan and a cute diversion to the day. The kids were really good sports during our party games. Brynn couldn't quite understand why we weren't inviting other people (like Aunt Denise) and we had to explain to her how it was a pretend birthday party. I'll take any excuse to eat cake.  

I can wear this ensemble since I have degrees from both schools. :) 

Destination driveway. Kids usually do a good job of playing on their own while I can sit in my chair and enjoy a drink. 

This day we went to Raccoon River Park for a walk to enjoy the 60 degree weather. I had never been there before and it was pretty busy. We kept our distance and saw lots of dogs! 

We also went for a really nice family bike ride and the trail wasn't too busy. It was lovely riding at sundown, beautiful light everywhere. We were a little sad we didn't have beers and burgers as a reward but it was a nice night out of the house anyway. 

I had a hard week after a staff meeting on Wednesday where I got very panicky afterward. I have been literally taking this one day at a time, trying hard not to worry about things I can't control like school being canceled.  But then hearing the news about how we need to start preparing for online "continuous learning" since it is now closed the rest of this month...it sent me into a tailspin. 

Luckily a hot bath, audiobook, long rest time, and work in the yard helped me feel better. I had an online meeting with the middle school music teachers the next day and felt a lot better about the direction to head. It is exciting, and I welcome the challenge to engage my students in a new way. Having new tasks to focus on at school is also difficult because the workaholic in me could spend all day doing things for my students and ignoring my family which is the most important thing right now. Balance is hard. 

That is for our week....hang in there. You got this!

COVID 19: 1st two weeks

Happy Saturday!

I finally got up early to do a little blogging before the whole house is awake. I have been meaning to do this for a while, but it always makes it way to the back burner. Between the kids 24/7, a little bit of school work, and trying to exercise as a way to help my mental health it has been a busy two weeks at home. 

But before we get into all that, a little back story. 

The whole coronavirus pandemic first started to hit my radar at the beginning of March. I knew it was a real deal when even middle schoolers were aware of it. At first, I didn't think anything of it since it was in China and it would end up being like SARS: something that would be controlled and not make it here to us in Iowa. Well then, things started getting serious the second week in March when not only was the big 12 basketball tournament canceled but all of March Madness canceled. What!? I could hardly believe it. Then, on Thursday, March 12th DSM public schools announced they were closing for two weeks. This was not really a huge deal because they had a week spring break, plus a handful of days of teacher in-service so they were really only canceling about two days of instruction.  That night after conferences, I went out for a beer with my fellow teachers and if there was any way of reassuring me about coronavirus, it was enjoying a beer at a gas station bar in Boone, Iowa. :) 

The next day at school we were informed that they would be bringing in big foggers to disinfect the school over break. I thought this was a great idea, and worked hard to pack my room up and announced to the students to please take their instruments home over break as that is where they would be safest. We even got a special email that went out district-wide that said we were going to resume school after spring break, along with the whole county. I spent the first weekend of spring break not worrying about it and enjoying the downtime with my family. It was my well-earned break!

On Monday, March 16th we got the email that told us our schools (as well as all the schools in Iowa) were going to be closed for four weeks until April 13th. Wow, I was surprised. It just came out of the blue. I was immediately taken off guard because it was not something I had really allowed myself space to worry about or mentally prepare for. It took me a few days to really deal with the grief that a four week closure meant for me and my program. 

I really felt sad for a while. Yes, I was thankful the closure would mean my family and I would be safe at home. I was thankful it meant my students would be safe at home. But I was sad about the missed opportunities that were canceled: honor band, our jazz tour, swing show concert, club day, butter braid delivery, final jazz rehearsals, rehearsals preparing for our concert. What would the rest of the school year even look like? Would we be allowed to have our concert? Adventureland festival? 

It was definitely too much for me to wrap my head around at the time. I have since found a bit of clarity and peace about the situation. I know that even though things are canceled, we still had many wonderful moments during the school year. I know we will have more great moments in the future: if not this year, then next year. Band is not going away, neither am I or my students. 

I am taking it one day at a time. I can only worry about today's worries. :) We haven't heard whether or not we are going back on April 13th, but in a staff meeting, our administration told me they are asking the governor to please let districts know ahead of time what is expected of us going forward. Especially if it involved online teaching/learning which takes some planning and preparation! 

Our administration has been so gracious during this time, letting us know that our family is the most important thing.  I realize how much of a blessing it is, still being paid and getting to stay home with my kids. I am still working plenty, but my family is my focus. 

Anyway...that is where we are at with the backstory! Here is what we have been up to in the past two weeks. These are out of order, which is fine because I don't hardly know what day it is anyway. 

We have been trying to get outside every day. The playgrounds are off limits so it has been a lot of nature walks which is fine with me. The kids are really doing well, even walking two miles at the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge! We had never been here before, and the forty minute drive was a welcome break from our house. We loaded up on Scooters before, turned on Harry Potter on audible and all the kids fell asleep. It was lovely! 

It was the perfect day to visit as the sun felt lovely on a 50 degree day. I'm not sure I would want to visit in the summer sun, but I would like to see it all green. The nature center here looked fun and we have it down on our summer list (maybe in the morning). 

We also explored Brenton Arboretum, one of our favorites. We played at the nature playground for a bit until another family came. The kids learned a hard lesson about social distancing. I keep telling them we are out of school to stay away from other kids if it was safe to let all the kids play with each other we'd be back in school. Michael was a good tour guide here, as he came on a field trip earlier in elementary school. 

I made the kids a fort and they were so excited about the surprise. We played in it for a few days, until the number of toys inside became too much. It was a hazard to walk among the blankets with toys underneath! Also, a major design flaw was that we couldn't see the tv super well from inside. The kids liked it and both girls slept overnight inside it twice. 

I am happy that our little play area in the basement has been getting quite a bit of use. We worked hard to make it a nice area for the kids and I'm glad they are taking advantage of it. One day we "set up" our store which was just a trick for me to get the kids to help sort out the food and kitchen stuff. They were on board once they realized how fun it was to have all the things in their individual places. On this day, we went shopping for and had a birthday party Brynn complete with presents. 

We've also been spending time in our garage when it has been too cold or rainy to go outside. Scooters, the bounce house, dancing, and playing in the boat have been fun activities. Usually, I can listen to my book and enjoy a cup of coffee from a camping chair while they play. 

We had fun chalking our driveway for the WG teacher parade. It was quite the sight, all the teachers driving by. They even had a police escort. I got a little teary-eyed at how excited the teachers were at seeing their students. What a community! 

Otherwise, we have been spending a lot of time snuggling, coloring, and doing a bit of learning as well. 

Michael has started to become very handy in the kitchen, making some recipes 100% from scratch. He can do a box recipe all by himself! We've made brownies, cookies, muffins, and banana bread. 

I've enjoyed entirely too much coffee. 

The kids have been getting along fairly well, although they still try my patience at times. I imagine it would be so hard to only be around your family but I hope they are finding out days together cozy and safe. Sometimes they are playing together so nicely and it just makes my heart explode (usually when I am 100% ignoring them or they think they are being naughty). I am trying hard to not get stuck in my ways, and remember that nothing is worth making a kid's feelings get hurt.

We took a hike to Ledges after the school closure announcement when I went to Boone to grab some things from my room. It was also the day they announced the restaurants would be take-out only so we didn't stop for donuts at our favorite bakery.  

This was another fun day, exploring at Jester Park. The kids spent a good chunk of time building some forts in the woods. They were using their imagination and playing so well. They could have stayed all day, but we left when we saw another family approach. 

More fun at Jester. The first two are when the girls and I stopped for a little playtime while Michael had his piano lesson. His lessons have also been canceled. :( 

That is all for now! I'll keep updating! :)