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Remember that late night hangout I talked about...well...it was really late, like around 1am when Kyle and Otto started loading the dishwasher together. To be fair, this is probably one of the bigger and cuter accomplishments of the day and it took place before we even went to bed for the night. Otto did eventually go back down pretty easily after his awake stint. As for the rest of our Saturday, Kyle and I cashed in on a lot of screen time while the kids played and played and occasionally fought and whined. I did get all the laundry in the game room folded while I binged and we took a break to run a couple errands. Kyle dropped me off at the grocery store (which was much more stocked than the last time I was there) and then he got some gas in the car and got the kids some smoothies before he came back to pick me up. Then it was back to not accomplishing much. I'm going to call it a mental health day. I'm also going to give myself bonus points for passing on panic buying the ENTIRE end cap of gummies that was staring at me while I was in line to check out at the store. Not only did I not buy all of them, I didn't get any. (I did buy two bags of chocolate chips though so I'm not a saint or anything!) Now that that trip is done it's back to the house until we need food or milk again! Good times!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Miles!

Dot to Dot

We made it to the weekend! "School" was rough today but we stayed pretty much on schedule and battled through the toughest parts. Nora's final assignment of the day was to take a selection of colors and make a five line design of her choice. There were no rules other than 5 lines and the colors that were in front of her - didn't have to have a pattern, could be whatever. She set to work and the picture above was the result. Then I sent her to the couch with her design...there she found the xylophone and learned that next part of her assignment was to play the song she'd just written! She worked on it for a while but eventually got pretty frustrated trying to learn it. After they were dismissed for the day and onto playing other things I played around and here's the little tune she unknowingly composed.

We were able to get the kids to bed and asleep in relatively decent time today and joined our friends in an online ice cream social. It was a lot of fun to group chat despite some technological hiccups here and there. After we chatted with them we caught up on week one with Marty & Tim. Otto ended up joining us for a bit of a late night hangout. I hope everyone has a good weekend and finds somethings to make them smile or feel accomplished - even if it's just playing a song written in colorful dots on a kid's toy xylophone!

Happy Birthday Katie!!

Reality...

Check it out, all three engaged and working on their lessons...all well and good. Almost makes me want to think I've got this whole homeschooling thing down pat!

Then Otto throws the entire bin of puffs on the floor because it's "shark food" Cort smelling terrible, runs in the house likely having rolled in or eaten some kind of disgustingness, Otto then decides he's done with his next activity and loudly dumps those blocks on the floor, gets so much satisfaction from that that he moves onto the lego/block bin and dumps that. After all that, he decides he needs a pumpkin roll snack...only that's buried pretty deep in the freezer, so I found him hiding under his comforter in his room with a pint of chocolate ice cream instead - complete with chocolate around his mouth. Reality! In all seriousness though, today wasn't too terrible. There were some waaaay out of control before dinner sillies but we're a week into this thing, that's going to happen.

Kyle took the kids out after lunch to ride bikes a little (recess/PE?) and then after dinner this evening we all went for a walk/bike ride - the kids in capes of course - because...why not!? I will put this warning out there to the masses...Nora is CRAVING socialization so we are starting to dig deeper into the FaceTime roster...look out people, she has self-published books to share with the masses! Now if we could just get them ALL to bed at a reasonable time tomorrow night so we can attend FaceTime Happy Hour! It was a rough one tonight so hopefully we'll rally for tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Susan!!

No Food For You!

Anyone need bread or cheese? Tough. I realize that this is happening everywhere but today was my first trip to the store where the shelves were completely bare. Pasta aisle...empty, lunch meats...gone, eggs, yogurt, cheese, bread...gone gone gone gone. I made a quick trip to the store after my Dr's appointment this morning just to top off some things. My shopping hasn't quite caught up to the kids and Kyle being home all day everyday...definitely effects how much is eaten. Luckily my usual sale shopping has been clutch because most of the things that were gone from the shelves were things I already have in our freezer from past stock ups. Anyway, our school schedule was slightly off today because I was gone this morning but we ended up doing our school work this afternoon. Nora was so inspired by our Lunchtime Doodles with Mo Willems session that she wrote and illustrated 2 of her own Pigeon books! Amazon brought the rest of the supplies I was waiting on so I think we're headed into tomorrow with a pretty good set up/plan. We'll see how it goes cause this afternoon and evening Otto got pretty stir crazy...if it continues and or escalates, (which it will!) look out!

Beginning of the..........

Well today was day 1 of school at home. And while it's supposed to be spring break, letting the kids do their own thing wasn't working so I figured why not just get in gear and settle into a routine. Turns out, after we finished our full day of activities and learning, not only was I really tired...the word got out that it went so smoothly they decided to keep schools closed until AT LEAST April 15! Oye! Kyle went to work in the game room this morning which made things interesting at times, but for the most part the kids seemed to forget he was home - except for Otto - he likes to keep things interesting too much to forget a thing like that. Anyway, I tried to incorporate some St. Paddy's stuff into the mix too since it's usually a day we spend having lots of fun and this year it was a day we were spending in our house! We kicked things off by making soda bread, then green glitter slime

Which as you can see from this Something About Mary-esque situation went very well. After a shower it was school-ish work, lunch, recess (which no one wanted to participate in) then reading/quiet time, then shamrock pearler beads and we closed out the day with a little Irish dance lesson via a PE teacher on YouTube. Lincoln managed to talk me into 1 PBS kids show while I was making corned beef and cabbage for dinner. I snuck out early this evening to vote quick and shortly after I got back they went out in the yard and made mud puddles and got soaking wet. They all came in filthy enough that Otto required his third and fourth showers of the day to get all the dirt off of him. Anyway, there were a few bumps here and there but it was a decent start to what will be a long haul. Unfortunately, I'm now short on ideas for tomorrow - you'll find me digging through my supplies in the morning. Bodes well for the next month! Hold on tight everyone I feel like this next month of home confinement mixed with my kids (let's call it like it is...Otto) is a recipe for crazy! Good luck out there everyone!

Climbing the Walls

This picture is very accurate...This spring break is definitely a lot more like house arrest! The kids did their own things this morning as I set to work creating a schedule, gathering materials and content to kick into home school mode in the morning. With it being St. Paddy's day we're still going to try to make the best of it and incorporate some themed activities but it won't include the typical day out and about! The Y was still open today and we went to swimming lessons but they'll be closed tomorrow for the rest of the month so even swimming lessons are gone from the routine. It's going to be a long couple weeks (at least) but hopefully having even a lose plan will help things go a little more smoothly because the fights are getting a little crazy! Kyle starts working from home tomorrow too, so for his sake hopefully I can reel them back in to avoid him having screaming kids in the background of his calls! Keep washing your hands everyone!

Staying Busy

Sunday in the books and Kyle was home by bedtime! There was lego building, fort building and a fancy party! Nora spent a lot of the day in "her" fort coloring and the boys kept busy with the cars, some coloring, duplos and dollhouse between trips outside to run around, climb and play. I finished the last of the big sibling shirts and managed to get a few things cleaned up - although now that the kids are in bed and the dust has settled you would not ever know! I'm hoping to sit down tomorrow and figure out a schedule and put together some work/activities for the kids to do while they're home for the next two weeks - otherwise I'm pretty sure none of us are going to make it out with our mental health in tact - let alone physical health! I've been prepping for the baby pretty aggressively this time around, saying, with 3 other kids, you just never know what is going to come up and if I can get stuff done early I'd rather do that than wait. TURNS OUT! Hahaha! I'm pretty happy I went with my instincts thus far. We still have things to do and finish but now that homeschooling is added to my list of daily to dos I'm glad I have other things checked off my list! Stay healthy everyone!!