Almost the End of September

197th Day of Quarantine.

High today was 79F.

Kids spent night with aunt rocky.  Very excited to go.

Billy and I had a cheese and meat pack for dinner. While we watched Enola Holmes and The Boys.

-------

196th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 82F.

For our nature study, we decided to go to the "pumpkin patch."  In years past we've gone to uncle john's cider mill and enjoyed live music, rides, and a huge selection.  Today, we just purchased from our "neighbor" who sells produce on his front lawn. = )

Billy bought cider and donuts at the QD that we were able to enjoy on our walk back and at home.  The kids also made some fall 'masks' from an email that Aunt Wanda sent me.

For dinner we had a crockpot stew that made the house smell wonderful all day long!

Sarah took me to pick my car up from the dealership, who wanted to charge $5K for the repairs I need, and bring it into our favorite mechanic, who tends to shy away from my car after the month long saga a few years back.  He's supposed to call me next week with a quote.

------

195th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 77F.  There was a cool breeze reminding us all that it is truly autumn.

We have almost finished week six of our curriculum, so our routine is settled and we are all pretty comfortable with our day.

For dinner we are having tortellini with alfredo sauce.

I finished my book and now I don't know what to do with myself.  The first mops meeting of the year is tonight at 7, but I don't think I'm going to go in person.

It was great to see so many smiling familiar faces.  Not the same as being there in person, but at this point in 2020, it was still a welcome change!

-------

194th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high was a respectable 80F.

I got up early, and Sarah met me at the dealership at 7:30 to drop off my car.  The ABS light is finally on full time, it has a little oil drip, and worst of all, my heated seat stopped heating. = (

Sarah beat me there, but I still waited outside the door for 5 minutes until they opened.  On the way home she took me by the QD so that I could get donuts for my crew.

Most were awake when I arrived home, and we were able to start our school day on time!

Juliet dressed all Ariel today.

In science the big girls made a hygrometer.  It's currently on the porch, we'll see if it works in a few days. = )

After a pleasant poetry & tea time, the kids played a live action version of "among us" [called "imposter" in roblox.] It's collectively their new favorite online game. 

One is the "imposter" and kills a victim, as they all mill about the house. Once a "dead body" is found, they have a meeting and vote who they think the imposter is. That person admits their role, and if they've chosen incorrectly, they have to move about again, and a new person "dies." It's fun to listen to their observations and politics.  And this is absolutely one of the best reasons to have 5 kids. = )

For dinner we had hamburger helper.  

My book was so engaging it was all I could do not to ignore my responsibilities.

------

193rd Day of Quarantine.

The expected high was 75F.

William finished his 1st grade math review today and received his alien stuffie!

After school, I went to the thrift store with a load and then to FEDEX to drop off the recycling box from the kids' medicine.

For dinner we had cheesy chicken noodles.

I'm still reading through my Cormoran Strike book, and have been making the poor decision to stay up late to read it. = 0  

-------

Today is the 192nd Day of Quarantine.

The expected high was 73F.

In science we attempted to make a "camera obscura" but I'm pretty sure that the tennis ball cannister that I procured lacked the opacity that we needed to make it work.

I ran to carl's to take a tub of cans.  The shed is still chock full of them, but at least now I am slowly removing boxes versus slowly adding them.  While I was there I got root beer and a snack for tomorrow.  I also got some bacon to attempt a "quick" recipe I saw online.

For dinner we are having Stouffer's lasagna and salad. 

------

Today is the 191st Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today was 67F.  We turned on the heater for the first time.

After church, I went to drop off recycling at Sarah's. She bought me sugar cubes!  I've been looking for weeks at the stores I actually go to, without success.  So, I'm very excited.

The grocery store was busy, as was the gas station.  When I went to the ATM that offers different denominations, I saw a sign that they are about to close it down mid next month. = (  I stopped at a garage sale, but didn't find anything today.

For dinner we had chicken fajitas.

------

later days

3rd Week of September

The 190th day of Quarantine for the #crockstars.

The expected high today was 64F.  It was quite cool, but when I was out painting in the direct sun, it was warm enough that I was sweating! = 0

For dinner we had a variety of food: chicken nuggets, mini corn dogs, boiled eggs and pretzels. 

Billy and I finished watching the other two installments of CB Strike.  It is well done, and I am excited for more to come.

------

Today was the 189th day of Quarantine.

The expected high today is 61F.

Today we went to the DODC to do our nature study. It was too cool to set up in the shade, but was very pleasant in the sun.  The kids (except for Alice) had a fun time running up and down the hill for a while.

For dinner we had steak and spaghetti, since Sarah brought over some of the steak she bought earlier in the week.

We started CB strike, and watched the entire first installment (broken into 3 parts.)

------

188th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today is 64F.

For dinner we had cornbread chicken with peach salsa.

------

187th Day of Quarantine.

78F was the high.

Sarah came by with meat after a run to Rives Junction.

I've started returning my cans to Carl's (in small loads) but it will take a while to get all the cans from the past 6 months returned.

William made some cornbread from a recipe he found in one of this books.  It was pretty good without sugar (but with butter on top) and even better with sugar mixed in and butter on top!

Dinner was hamburger helper with homemade corn bread and Greek salad.

-----

186th Day of Quarantine.

73F was the high today.

For dinner we had Panera family meal.

The new Cormoran Strike book came out today (on a Tuesday?) and I've ordered it, but used all my self reserve to wait until after my chores were finished to start it.  I'm so happy.

-----

185th Day of Quarantine.

67F is our high today.

We started a new read aloud, after lessons, Red Sails to Capri.  

Sarah came over to mow the lawn.

Made an appointment at the dealership for my car for next week.  Made an appointment for my car with the tire shop tomorrow.  Called the doctor to see if the kids need xrays and bloodwork (again.) Filled out and paid for a new driver's license and yearly fee for my car tags.  It was a good Monday to get things done!

For dinner we had fish over rice.

Trying to finish the book I'm currently reading, so that I have an open kindle for the new Cormoran Strike book that comes out tomorrow!

------

184th Day of Quarantine.

73F is our expected high today.

For dinner we had gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with grapes (green & purple.)  I'm such a chef.

------ 

later days

2nd Week of September

183rd Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 75F.

Today was an exciting day for my Grace; Molly came home from the doll hospital!

She arrived in her hospital gown, complete with ID band, discharge paper work, and a tiny get well soon card.  Grace was so happy and loved on her all day.

Is it Grace and Juliet? Nope, it's Grace and Molly, twinning!

For dinner we had Mac and Cheese, since that was what Grace and Juliet wanted to make.

------

182nd Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 73F.

9/11 is always a somber and reflective day.  As of today, I've spent as much of my life post-9/11 as I had pre-9/11.  

We finished our Alice in Wonderland read aloud. It was a nice end to what seemed like a really long week, despite the Monday holiday.

Once we were finished with our school day, I drove down to Charlotte to go to a rummage sale that I caught wind of.  I picked up another sale on the way down, and stopped in at the <cheaper> Goodwill to shop for some Halloween costumes.

For dinner I picked up Rally's and McDonald's on my way back from Charlotte.

I saw this sign posted at the taco bell, and this type of advertising on a "now hiring sign" just feels so appropriate for our current political/economic/pandemic.

------

181st Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today was 63F.  It was overcast and chilly.

Today was our last day of extra subjects to make up for having Monday off.  During the Alice in Wonderland read aloud, we did some watercolor painting.  It was a big hit.  Today's subject was Ward*.  

After lessons I went to the farmer's market and bought dinner, some flowers, produce and popcorn!  We had chicken satay, pad thai, and Billy had a burrito with chips and salsa.  I also bought a gourd for the kids to see, since it came up in our lesson on the purple martin today. 

*My poor plant that the chippunk, that lives under our porch, almost killed off by pulling off the leaves and digging up the roots!  It's doing well in recovery, inside our bathroom now.

-----

180th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today was 63F.

The only things we added to our curriculum today were the composition part of Language Arts and Nature Study.  Strangely, that ended up adding hours to our day.  

For Nature Study, we were doing the Moth 'extensions' and it called for listening to "Autumn" by Vivaldi.  The kids were silly and tired by the time we got there, so it didn't go as well as I thought it would, but it was still pretty pleasant to lay on the floor, close our eyes and imagine floating leaves and cold wind.

Science called for the making of a shield, in true da Vinci style.  So, the big girls set to cutting and gluing and taping dragons on their shield.

Grace was the self designated "materials manager."

Today was also poetry day, so we had a particularly full afternoon!  The kids really enjoy the tea and biscuits though, and it is nice to see them so excited about 'poetry' even if it is only because of association.

After tea time, the big girls worked on step two of their shields: paper mache.  Truly, we could have skipped this, and my kitchen would have been so much cleaner and they wouldn't have minded even known the difference. But they really enjoyed it, and had so much fun. I just can't wait to see how their shields turn out!  (step three is to paint, and so we are now 'waiting' for them to dry.)

And, once our long day was winding down, our cleaning lady came a day early*! = 0  Usually I prep everything and tuck things out of the way, make sure A/E have their clothes hung and everyone folds up their blankets, but she caught us unprepared!

So, we had a mad rush, lots of things got tossed into computer cabinets and we tried to say out of the way.  She had been coming during the day, but with all the kids out of school, we are back to an evening schedule.  Of course, that is immaterial to us, since we are here all day, every day.

For dinner we had Salisbury steak and potatoes, which is not the worst meal to try to clean up before my kitchen was thoroughly cleaned.  But the dishwasher was full of our tea dishes, so my little tub that holds the dirties was working overtime.

After dinner I cleaned off my desk, and worked on a few more loads of laundry.

*this was the first time she's been in since March, and while I try to keep things clean, I would have been better prepared tomorrow.

------

179th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was an exceptionally cold 58F.  The twins broke out scarves gloves and ear warmers for recess.  We are all in for a long winter.

In science the big girls tried to make a 'floating animal' from the da Vinci book.  It didn't turn out so great.  Emily's kind of floated once it dried, but Alice's was just a sticky mess.  At least we had fun.

For dinner we had pork and beans with the leftover hotdogs. 

I finished watching a netflix romcom Love Guaranteed.  It was sweet and completely unremarkable.  

I also worked on ordering books, or tracking down the websites that we will be using in the near future.  I am finding it very hard to believe that we are already in week 4 of our school year!

------

Quarantine 178th Day of Quarantine

The high today was 79F. It was a rainy morning, and still pretty cool in the shade.

The Crockers left before noon.  I snapped a few pictures so that Brenda could have a recent one with each of the kids.

I enjoyed a leisurely shopping trip to the VOA before driving to Grand Ledge to pick up Dairy Queen for dinner.  

------

Quarantine 177th Day of Quarantine.

 
The expected high today was 71F.

Church had a few issues this morning, but I did get to see the end of service at least.  After church I went to pick up the groceries and then stopped at a garage sale.

Billy and I went to menards and dollar tree in grand ledge to try and track down a hinge that was out of stock at the one closer to us.

After our errand we found a Dairy Queen.  It is a proper Dairy Queen with chicken strips and white gravy!

For dinner Billy grilled out hot dogs, sausages and barbeque chicken.

He also broke out the heat lamps (for the 3rd time ever.)  And it was really chilly out/

-------

later days

First week of September

176th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 77F.

I slept in this morning and it was lovely.

For lunch, Billy picked up Arby's.  

Billy and I started burning the basement door, but even at 3 hours of fire and heat, we just got it started before the rain moved in.

For dinner we had teriyaki chicken with rice.

Enisi took Alice to pick up a 'birthday' cake so that she could celebrate with her too.

She picked a peanut butter ice cream cake. = )

-------

175th Day of Quarantine.

73F was the exceptionally cool high for the day.

This morning before we started school Emily, Grace and Juliet all matched up their outfits.  I had them get dressed today since I knew that the Crockers were on their way.

They actually arrived just as we finished our morning routine.  Since it was Friday, we had a lot of one on one activities (dictation and narration.)  So, Brenda got to spend some time with those who were not 'testing.'

As soon as we finished our day, Brenda took the kids for ice cream, and I went out to run some errands.  My first stop was dollar tree, then I failed an attempt at buying some ten dollar roblox gift cards at game stop, then we went to 5 below, my next stop was Target, I collected lots of goodies for the kids' Halloween morning.  My final shopping stop was Menards to get a second hinge for the basement door, but sadly they were out of the one we needed.  On my way home I found 2 garage sales and picked up a few treasures. = )

We had pizza for dinner, because we need a pizza box for science next week.

Enisi, Grace and Juliet snuggled up and watches some videos, since they wore Enisi out pretty quickly after her long, straight trip up here.

-------

174th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today was 85F.

We started the day on time, and enjoyed a typical start to the day.  As soon as they finished handwriting practice, it was time to rush.

William and I loaded up and were on the road by 9:15.  We didn't hit any traffic slow downs, except for the 5 or 6 vehicles that were pulled over by the state police along our route.  I guess extra patrols are out with the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend.

We arrived with a scant 10 minutes to spare, and I had William chow down on a lunchable since he wouldn't be eating anything solid for several hours.

I remembered to bring William's reading practice with us while we waited for him to be called back, but totally forgot my book.  Thankfully they do have guest wifi in the building, since I get little to no reception and there are no magazines or books to be found.

He was more emotionally prepared this go round, and went back bravely and came out one tooth fewer and another tooth covered.

William watched An American Tail on our trip home, so I've had "There are no cats in America" stuck in my head for the afternoon.  Billy placed a pick up order for us at Wendy's since I promised William a milkshake, but he couldn't use a straw.

We were home just after one.  Once everyone had eaten, we completed our scant afternoon list.  We finished our afternoon reading of Alice in Wonderland 10 minutes before the 4pm electronic ban lifts!  I was so excited, considering we spent a 4 hour chunk of our day on the dentist expidenture!

For dinner, Alice made us tortellini alfredo.  And cleaned the kitchen.  5th grade and up my children plan one meal and cook it once a month.  I am very excited to have 5 fewer meals to create. = )

After dinner, Billy placed and started to install our new basement door!  It looks so much better than it did and I am so impressed that he made it from scratch.

---------

173rd Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today is 81F.  The day started out rainy, but it turned into a pretty afternoon.

For Form I geography today, the little ones made a Lego model of our "classroom."  They did a great job.  The big girls were a little jealous, because the still had to do their map drills.

The rain ended just early enough that they were able to have outdoor recess.  I told them I wanted a picture of all 5, since I hadn't gotten one at all this school year. = )

In our lessons today, we ended up doubling up on Ancient History and Science.  Thankfully, we had a cool experiment, that the big girls enjoyed, and it kind of made up for missing out on the Legos.  Here is Alice showing off her marshmallow and toothpick rhombicuboctahedron.

And, three weeks in, we finally had our first Poetry Tea Time.  We had apple cider tea with a variety of biscuits and some nice poems.

-------

172nd Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 80F.  A thunderstorm blew in late in the afternoon, and cooled everything down. = (

I punched holes on the other side of the paper for my poor little leftie.  So she turns her pages "backwards," but doesn't have the binder rings in the way! ; )

Today, Grace finished her Kindergarten review, so she earned her stuffie!

Adding in the extra subject (in order to make Thursday a shorter day) hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought.  The kids haven't complained, and today we even finished earlier than 'normal!'

I spent an hour or so of my afternoon tying down the Littlest Pet Shop toys that I scored at a rummage sale to a carboard display.  They'll be going to Elizabeth for her birthday in October, but I rarely regret taking care of thing early. = )

They fit perfectly in the box that I had set aside, but I worried about part of them breaking during shipping, so I moved them to a bigger box that I could pad a little bit.  Now the twist ties are facing up, so it doesn't look nearly as good.  Luckily, I've got a few months to think on it and come up with something to make it a little fancier. = )

We are still reading Alice in Wonderland, but only have a few chapters left.  Next Friday I hope we can watch the animated film!

For dinner we had chicken fettucine alfredo.

------

171st Day of Quarantine

The expected high today was 81F.

Today in school the kids did their first picture study: The Last Supper.  I was so impressed at how well the did on their memory drawings!

We squeezed in an extra subject, at the beginning of our "feast" block and it was not too bad.  Hopefully our Thursday will feel nice and light since William and I are making a third trip down to Ann Arbor.

In between morning work and science I ran to Carl's to grab the cream (and a few other things.)

I started cooking the meatloaf at 3pm, since it always takes so much longer to cook than the recipes recommend.  Hopefully it will be ready by 5:30!

------

170th Day of Quarantine

The expected high today is 65F.

After online church I swung by Sarah's to add recycling to her bin.  She had a few ripe tomatoes on her vine that she let me pick to bring home.  After that, I drove down to pick up my grocery order.

Once the groceries were put away, I changed into my 'painting' clothes and burned all the assorted wood pieces that had accumulated in the fire pit.

Billy came out and finished fashioning the door for the basement, then I got to work painting it.  While I had the paint out, I also repainted the ramp and step to the shed.  Sadly, I was out of paint and couldn't paint the side door deck.

We had Chinese for dinner (sweet and sour chicken and chicken low mien) that Billy ordered while I bathed all the babes.

After baths were finished, I made meatloaf to cook for tomorrow, and fried up the rest of the hamburger meet to store in the freezer.

As I was setting up for the week, I found that we did not have the cream (a critical component) for our science project on Monday.  I checked the hours of our local grocery store, but they close at 6pm on Sundays.

-------

later days