May 24th, 72nd Day of Quarantine

The high today was a beautiful sunny 86F!

We enjoyed the 9am service this morning, followed by the kids sermon at 10:30.  The kids enjoyed the packets from my mom's church.  The twins made a parade once they finished their banners.

I tried out a new plant identifying app, and it is pretty cool!  I think we will do our best with the field guides, and use them until we get stumped. = )

Emily and Grace set up the slip and slide, and today was supposed to be our first "go outside and play so that you are tired on Sunday night" but it was a weekend.  I was going to skip it, but decided to enforce it.  I was glad I did, as all 5 of them ended up in swimsuits, playing in the water. = )

I spent a good portion of the day on the front porch previewing and notating our nature studies book for this fall.  I made a list of things that I need to acquire.  I also tracked down things that I thought we might still have, if they survived my konmari a few years back. = )  Once of the things was a brick.  I had found several partial bricks in part of the 'wild' in our back yard, but could not picture a full brick.  After scouring the basement with a flash

I also decided that the kids could start working in their nature journals this summer as part of their daily summer chart.

Billy sat out there with me and worked on engineering things on his laptop.
Once I finished with the nature studies, I pulled out the since list, and gathered anything that we already had.  I made a list of the recycling we will need to keep, and the items we might be able to get a dollar tree.  There are a few items that a thrift store would be my go-to, but I have no clue when those will be opening back up. = /  And once they do, I don't know if I will go.  Certainly not with all 5 kids.

For dinner I heated up whatever leftovers I could find, no one seemed particularly hungry after a day of snacking.

I don't know how Billy managed to keep going all day, but it is time for bed and he is still out there working!

later days

January 13th

Today was cold, but we did make it above the freezing mark!  I was expecting a high near 40F, but the warmest I saw while driving was 34F.  We must have gotten some snow yesterday in addition to all of the ice, because it was pretty thick on our stairs when we left this morning.

After taking my dear little ones to school I checked the mail and then took the recycling over to Sarah's.  It was still before 9, so I stopped and got gas at Meijer, then headed to Aldi.  It's been at least a month since I've been able to do my normal shopping rotation Aldi/Meijer, so it felt good to be back at it!

From Aldi I headed back to Meijer to finish the rest of my shopping.  They were quite busy compared to my normal trips! Maybe there were some Sunday people there?

Next on my shopping route was the VOA on cedar.  I perused their aisles, but only ended up with a couple of books for Leon, a replacement sewing ruler (toddler Alice broke mine 6 or 7 years ago!) and a curtain for my latest project.  I decided against a blanket for a project for Emily, but messaged Sarah later in the day and she went back for it, since she lives kind of nearby! <3

When I arrived home, it was already afternoon.  So I quickly sorted all the things I'd brought home and started on my sewing project (a different one than I started yesterday of course.)  I wanted a cape for the upcoming Viking fest, but they wanted $30 for the ones I priced out, and when I was looking at it thought: "I could probably make that!"

So, I did.  I didn't quite finish before it was time to pick up my children, but I finished sewing it before the PTO meeting tonight.  I still need to attach the buttons, but it came out cute.  It's a little shorter than I wanted, so Alice might be getting it, and I'll find another curtain to repurpose.  I'll also need to pick up Emily's blanket to make hers sometime this week.

For dinner we had Taquitos with sour cream & veggie bites shaped like dinosaurs (from Aldi!) I thought that they were pretty good.

The PTO meeting had so many upcoming dates and events! I'm already tired just listening to all the plans, but we'll make it happen!

It was a shot night, and since I didn't get back until almost 8, we rushed through bedtime, because Emily has to be at school early tomorrow for a Student Council meeting.  And right before bed, we called Enisi to wish her a happy birthday!

later days

P.S. Oh, and it's been a year since I organized my drawer, Marie Kondo style.  This is how my drawer looks tonight.  I love it!