First Day of School 2021

Hallelujah! It finally happened!  The boys went to school, all day, and in person. It almost felt too good to be true and you better believe I nervously attended the latest school board meeting to confirm that the kids were really going back in spite of the latest rising Covid numbers. But they went and weren’t even phased by wearing masks, except for Marcus. We dusted off their backpacks, washed out their lunchboxes from days long past, and away they went! I was amazed at how quickly the old routines fell into place like scrambling to catch the bus even though there was plenty of time to be ready.

Marcus is a Senior!  He is counting down the days until he's done at Skyline and is only taking the bare minimum to graduate.  He gets out of school early so he can work as an intern at a physical therapy office.  And how cute is that picture of his first day of kindergarten?  It was even in Farmington, where he wishes he lived now.  Oh, the irony! We are still waiting on the results to come back from his MRI but he's so used to limping around we've forgotten what it's like to have a normal ankle.  And his heel is numb but the wound healed up fine.

Landon started middle school!  He was so excited because our middle school is awesome and Landon makes friends easily.  He was the only kid at our bus stop waiting and waiting for the bus that never came.  I went down to check on him as he stood there all lonely and then a coyote ran by.  We quickly ditched the bus stop and I drove him to school.  He is loving it and always gives me a full report of what he ate for lunch.  Today it was a cheeseburger and only 7 fries and no fry sauce.  LOL

Ethan is growing up!  He's a sophomore this year but last year was so weird he still kinda feels like a freshman.  He's taking Drivers Ed after school (online), works at Dairy Queen, and spends most of his time with his friends or wishing he could be with his friends.  He's almost as tall as me but he's still growing so it's only a matter of time.  

Parker is in third grade and all alone in elementary school until Henry joins him in a couple years.  He has another amazing teacher which means he's had two years of excellent teachers so this boy better go to Harvard.  This year he's in the portables but he sits on yoga balls instead of chairs (#awesometeacher) and wearing a mask is no big deal because he gets to play wherever he wants at recess instead of being stuck with his "pod" like last year.

Henry started preschool! HALLELUJAH!  

 I can't overstate the joy this brings me.  He only goes three mornings a week but already I feel like I have a new lease on life.  The house gets clean and stays clean, I run errands like a boss, and I wish I wasn't so cheap because I really should fork over the $600/month to have him go five days a week.

He is the cutest!  Which is why he gets two pics.  He's our tiniest boy so far but his big personality makes up for it. And yes, he picked out his clothes, even his underwear.

*This First Day of School is brought to you by NIKE, the only shoes my boys will wear, along with their Nike shirts and hoodies.  It's ridiculous.  But it sure makes shopping easy!

Back to School COVID-Style

 First day of school and no one was dressed in new clothes or had to leave the house. There was arguing, tears, and a couple brothers brawling until I pulled them off of each other. Then quiet descended as they logged onto their classes and their zoom calls began. Funny how back in the spring I thought we might return to school for the last few weeks and here we are in September and not much has changed. Washington is a pretty horrible place to live during a pandemic.

Ethan started his freshman year of high school and is pretty excited to not have to go in person. He’s hit a growth spurt and is hoping to catch up to some of his friends and is thankful for more time to grow. He built himself his own desk in his bedroom and hides out in his room all day during and after school where no one can bug him.  My only request is that he makes his bed before school each day because it's in his background (and in our family we make our beds every day as part of being functioning human beings, or at least that's the goal).

Parker started 2nd grade and has a great teacher who has handled the remote learning so well.  I wondered how these little kids would sit in front of their screens all day but they do a lot of activities on their own.  After only a couple weeks of school he has learned how to navigate Zoom like a champ, can lead a discussion in a breakout room, and knows exactly how much he can get away with by turning off his camera.  I have to watch this kid like a hawk!  I have no idea how working parents would navigate this.  

Marcus is a junior and definitely the most frustrated with remote learning. He set up a table in the den and enjoys laying on the couch behind him when things get boring.  Without early morning seminary he's not nearly as sleepy in school.  He keeps his camera on most of the time and tries to engage with his teachers and classmates but he says most students don't talk or show their faces.  He is hoping to go to school in UT next semester if he can't play lacrosse again here.  He is keeping busy working out, training people (they pay him!), and looking for a job.  He still manages to have a social life which makes everyone happy.

Landon started 5th grade.  He misses his friends, recess, and PE but is pretty happy to be using a computer all day and thinks the new gaming headphones he wears are the coolest. I bought them after a friend who homeschools her kids by choice, recommended them for their good microphones, sound quality, and comfort level. Sadly they’re meant to be worn for hours at a time and they definitely are. Landon has a group of neighborhood boys he hangs out with and they are constantly together any time they finish their work and have a break.  Sadly, none of their schedules have recesses that coincide  (they are a blend of public and private schools), but they usually manage a few minutes together during the day until they finish in the afternoon.

I am happy to report that after a few weeks of this new "normal" that things are going better than I expected.  I definitely don't think my kids will learn nearly as much as they would have but at least they are being held accountable for attendance and are required to do all their work.  Some days things go smoothly and sometimes I want to cry for myself.  Mostly because I have to keep the little boys on track while Henry is fighting for my attention.  Toddlers make almost everything so much harder!  

The other hard thing is keeping track of when the kids need to log back on.  For example, Parker's teacher will tell him to log off Zoom and silently read so he has to keep track of when to return to class by logging back on.  We use a lot of timers and alarms all day long to keep him on track.  Unfortunately they don't work so well if he's outside playing.  The second day of school I found myself riding my bike around the neighborhood yelling at the top of my lungs for him.  He finally appeared fifteen minutes later after playing in the woods and missed half of his math lesson.  I was so mad!  Marcus and Ethan have lunch at the same time, which starts earlier than the elementary boys so that makes it hard when there's lots of commotion in the kitchen and the little boys are still trying to endure thirty more minutes of school. But then they go back to class and the little boys are still eating lunch and having "recess."  I've heard Marcus say multiple times, "Sorry, I have four little brothers at home," as he apologizes for the noise in his background.  But we are getting by.  

Thankfully everyone has laptops from the school and we have a hot spot so the wi-fi is fairly reliable, but definitely not always.  On the rare occasion when Henry plays by himself, I want to cry tears of joy that I can clean up the kitchen before it's time for lunch.  The nice weather also helps since the boys can play outside with their friends.  I'm trying not to think about how the rainy months ahead will drastically affect the way we cope with this new life.  It's going to get ugly. 

Happy Birthday, Ethan!

A long time ago, Ethan turned 14!  I wanted his day to feel celebratory despite the fact that we were quarantined and all fun had been cancelled.  I came up with a pretty good idea though.  I sent him on a scavenger hunt around town for his birthday presents.  I had hoped to have Marcus drive him around which would give Marcus something to do too, but the DMV closed before he could take his driving test.  If there's one thing I've learned from this pandemic it's to be flexible so I adjusted and decided Marcus would drive Ethan around while I sat in the back saying nothing, not even complaining about the loud music they played.  I wanted them to feel like I wasn't there and it was fun for me to be a fly on the wall and see these brothers in action.  It was a lot of fun!  I quickly made up a few clues and hid a couple presents at different locations with the help of neighbor Barb (I think she was happy to have an excuse to leave her house).

Ethan's first gift was a Starbucks gift card that he was supposed to use to buy three drinks (not coffee, of course) for him, Marcus and Randy and then deliver Randy his drink for the next clue.  We pulled up to Starbucks and the drive-thru was closed.  Ugh!  But I'm flexible so I told him to give me a head start and we ran up to Randy's office where Ethan received his new iPhone.  Ethan has been impatiently begging and waiting for the day when he could have a smart phone to replace his "dumb calculator phone."  I haven't seen Ethan smile so big in a long time when he opened the box.

From there we went to the library where he eventually found a gift that I had carefully hidden behind a huge rock in hopes it wouldn't get stolen before we could get there.  Next we went to McDonald's drive-thru to pick up lunch, where Marcus proceeded to order using his best British/Australian accent (but I didn't say a word even though it was super annoying).

The next clue sent us to our church parking lot to eat lunch and get the next gift.  

'Thanks for the lava lamp, Grandpa!"

From the church we drove down to Issaquah to a bakery where he went inside and asked if they had an order for him.  The baker handed him a box with a HUGE donut cake inside.

We drove back home with the sun shining, music blaring, and the boys having a great time together and for a little while all thoughts about the pandemic were far from our minds.  It felt glorious and was the best part of my day.

The donut cake made up of 3 giant donuts and large cinnamon stick donuts for the fries on the side.  And yes, that's real bacon on the sides to make the "burger."

 After dinner and cake, we had an intense game of water balloon volleyball to end the party.

Happy Pandemic Birthday, Ethan!

Happy Pandemic Birthday, Marcus!

Marcus turned sixteen!!  Or should I say, Marcus turned sixteen and who even cares because he can't do anything so he doesn't feel too excited about it.  Poor kid.
I ventured out to find a bakery that a friend told me about so I could surprise Marcus with some amazing donuts in the morning.  While I was out, I figured I'd try to find some toilet paper since apparently it's gone if you're not at the store first thing.  A lady at the bakery tipped me off to a junky store called Big Lots so I headed there and bought the last two packages.  Score!!  By the time I got home, Marcus had already gotten up and made himself breakfast.  How depressing is that??
We ate donuts and hung out, frequently checking the news and our phones for more updates since things were just beginning to shut down.  I think we were still holding out hope for something to stay normal.  I can't remember what we even did that day but I know we finished the day off with spaghetti and meatballs--his favorite meal since the age of two.  He didn't get to open many presents because they all arrived late (even the grandparents failed this year).  Poor Marcus.  But eventually he got some clothes, a fixed screen for his cracked phone, and a fancy massage gun that feels pretty amazing after a long run or tough workout at the gym.
Marcus doesn't have his drivers license yet because the DMV is closed.  He passed the written exam with a 94% and will be one of hundreds of kids anxiously waiting for May 4th when things might start opening so he can take the drive test.  Marcus got money to take a girl out on a date and instead, he used it to take his brothers out for ice cream because we all know a date is not happening anytime soon.  Luckily we have a friend who bought a home gym set for his garage and is kind enough to let Marcus use it (by himself) every other day.  It has saved us!  So even though the world seems to have shut down, I still get to do a normal thing by driving Marcus somewhere, dropping him off, and returning to pick him up.  It's frustrating he can't drive himself but I LOVE getting out of my house.
So happy birthday, Marcus!  Sorry for a lame, pandemic birthday!

Pandemic - The Beginning

A lot has changed in a short amount of time.  We are now in a full-blown pandemic and the world seems to have stopped.  Thursday afternoon, the Governor announced all the schools in three counties would close until April 26 at the earliest.  I cried when I found out.  I cried for Marcus who most definitely won't get a lacrosse season.  I cried for me because I get to homeschool my children whether I like it or not, and I cried for the scary situation that has become our reality.

Randy took a quick stock of our cupboards and went to the grocery store for a few items.  You'll die laughing when you hear what he came home with.  He bought four bags of marshmallow cereal and about ten boxes of other various cereals, along with orange juice and ice cream.  Lots of ice cream.  Oh, and yogurt because that's the one thing I asked him to pick up.  I could not stop laughing.  But don't worry because the next morning I went to the Church's storehouse and bought about twenty cases of dried goods including their last cases of flour, black beans, sugar, potato flakes, pancake mix, hot cocoa mix, and pasta noodles.  I was quite proud of myself and hope we don't have to use it anytime soon because that would be really depressing to actually have to eat it!

Today we had our second Sunday of home church.  All church meetings and activities have been canceled worldwide.  When that was announced I panicked, along with the entire State of Utah, apparently.  Our local church authorities have not given us permission to administer the sacrament in our homes until Easter Sunday.  That's a long time!  But if it means fewer people having to go to other homes to administer the sacrament then it's worth it in the long run.  We had a family-style sacrament meeting in the living room where each of the boys gave talks and we started and ended with a hymn.  Henry sat inside a big wicker basket, invisible to the rest of us, as Ethan passed him books to read from our Sunday diaper bag.  He kept quiet and the boys listened.  It was a miracle!

I've already started going crazy and the extrovert in me is freaking out!  As long as I focus on the day at hand and not the infinite number of days ahead with nothing to do but trying to entertain my rowdy children, I will be okay.  And if I hide out in my room every time I start to think less than loving thoughts about my children, I just might be okay.  It's going to be hard and it's going to get ugly sometimes.  I'm going to have to do a lot of apologizing to my kids.  But I'm also embracing this gift of TIME.  Time to do things that I normally don't have time for.  I'll have time to read a book instead of driving my kids everywhere.  Time to teach my boys how to cook, cut hair, iron shirts, fold laundry (the right way), etc.  I'm choosing to see the good in this situation and am humbled to tears that as scary as things are, I have faith in God who has prepared us for events such as these through prophets who have counseled us to prepare, save, and teach our children the gospel in the home.

For those of you who have extra time on your hands, please leave a comment!  What are you doing to cope with your new pandemic life?  What do you miss the most?  What blessings do you see?
I want to hear all about it because I'm surrounded by a bunch of stinky boys who think a conversation consisting of only grunts and nods is okay!