May 2020 Happenings

By May we had worked into a bit of a schedule that was working for me staying home and working while the boys stayed at home for schooling. We had to get creative a few times and do Zoom meetings or conference calls on the road, which was always entertaining. Reed's school had a drive through teacher appreciation day and we decorated our car in colorful hearts the boys cut out and then Reed wrote inspirational words on. We moved the hearts to our dining room wall which had become our office/schoolroom and it really helped cheer the room up! I hosted a Zoom book club, the boys made a kitchen band, we worked in the garden, and the boys kept up with their music practice. The boys also both got to see their teachers semi-in-person and Kieran lost his 1st and 2nd tooth on the same day! The Primos were reunited after being separated longer than ever before, we continued allergy shots and blood work with Reed, and we tried out the new ice cream shop in town - Kieran loved his milkshake and Reed loved the milkshake I made him when they had run out of the root beet I had promised him.

Lyla's Birthday is at the end of the month and Kieran spent over an hour making her an extra special card - a kitten, sitting on a couch, holding a video game controller, with Happy Birthday written in fancy writing. C and Tio had us over for homemade pizzas to celebrate with Nonna, Pepe, Grammy, Pop Pop, and Tia T. Lyla sold lemonade, the kids had swimming races, drank root beer floats, and had an epic dance battle. The next day we went to Nonna and Pepe's for more celebrating which ended in a stowaway in my car trying to hitch a ride home with us!

April 2020 Happenings

This should probably be titled April 2020 - what we did to avoid insanity staying at home! All of April I was home with the kids every single day. Week days they had school work. Most days Reed's workload meant about 4-5 hours of engaged work, that meant coming up with "schoolwork" for Kieran to do to keep him busy since his workload was about 30 minutes per day max. Their music teacher had Zoom classes that continued to be entertaining, each of their school teachers hosted several Zoom class sessions each week, and we did our best to get outside, be creative, and spend quality time together. I'm not going to lie that last part is extremely hard when you are trying to get a ton of your own work responsibilities done, be a teacher to students in two different grades, take care of your normal duties in the home, and also work on plans for remodeling a house you just purchased. Most days I was lucky to have taken a shower by the time the boys went to bed and not be working until my own bedtime. We tried to make things fun by wearing bunny ears once in awhile, having Zoom hangouts with friends, the boys found a way to play their favorite game online with some of their friends, and Reed's teacher sent out a ton of things that the boys loved - drawing tutorials, virtual fieldtrips, science experiments, and craft projects. We had a heat spike and they convinced me it was warm enough for them to go swimming - even though they were shivering with chattering teeth they had a blast. April 2020 was definitely a month we survived and will stand out in memory for many years to come!