3rd Week of November

253rd Day of Quarantine.

Today was a much cooler high of 47F.  It was sunny, with a mild breeze, so it didn't feel awful if you were bundled up.

Sarah tasked me with a project for a Christmas gift she was working on, and while I was upstairs sewing, I made another mask, a mask & doll mask set for Grace's friend Zoey, and a doll mask for Grace's Molly, that matches her mask.

Billy and I have been on a movie kick. I think it's because we don't want to get wrapped up in other unfinished shows.  With Supernatural being over, I'm feeling a little bit of ennui, but I'm content now with the ending.

For dinner we had hamburger helper and corn.

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252nd Day of Quarantine.

Today we were still at 60F.  It was warmer than we are used to this year, and makes me happy. = )

I knocked out all kinds of projects today!  

We finished the salt dough ornaments that we made in Nature study yesterday.  They weren't fully hardened, so I put them in for another four hours, and that seemed to do the trick.  The kids painted them with the paint markers, and I added the ribbon to hang them.  They each picked one to send to Enisi and Edudi, so I got those boxed up and ready to ship.  These are the ones we are keeping.  I forgot to take a picture of the ones we are mailing.

I ordered a few more Christmas gifts (and feel like I must be getting close to being done!)  Speaking of Christmas gifts, I made Seven a reversible bandana to wear during Christmas time. = )

While I was digging out that material, I found a material that made me think of Erin Elise, and so I made her a mask.  And, while I was doing that, Grace came up and wanted to make a mask for Molly out of the scraps.  So, I did that too.  Doll masks take just as many steps as full sized masks, they just have less workspace.  = )

We also got Billy's tag renewal for his car, so I made up the check for that, since there is a fee if you do it through the website.

I also knocked out a few projects in the kitchen.  I needed to use up the other half of the fajita chicken from earlier this week, so I made some homemade chicken and dumplings.  It was too salty, so I need to tone down the bouillon, or up the water.  The dumplings were good though!

And, as part of my paranoia, I have been looking for ways to use up pinto beans, since that is something we have a lot of in our 'crisis' stash.  One of the recipes I found was how to make a pinto bean chocolate cake.  It doesn't take a ton of pinto beans, just a can, but my modified recipe worked really well.  The ultimate test, of course, was what the kids thought, and I'd say it was a success.   Grace cleaned her plate, and Emily and Juliet both used a tag to call a piece tomorrow. = )

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251st Day of Quarantine.

Today was in the 60s, you read that right, a balmy 65F in fact!  For the clothes we typically wear this time of year, we were shedding layers!

The last day of school ran long, still trying to push Alice to finish her 4th grade review, which is now new material...

We also made salt ornaments and our first year of table cloth handprints!

For dinner we had a delicious beef crockpot roast with potatoes and carrots. Started it at 8:15am!  The house smelled wonderful all day.

Supernatural had it's finale tonight.  I didn't hate the ending, but I am very sad.  To stave it off we watched my favorite episode (Tuttle) and Billy's favorite episode (The Ringbanger) of M*A*S*H.  They are actually back to back episodes in season one, which made it easy and enjoyable.

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250th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 46F. 

For dinner we had BLTs with pringles and strawberries.

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249th Day of Quarantine.  Tomorrow, the state will rejoin us in our quarantine efforts, as many things are shut down or have lowered capacity for 3 weeks.

The high today was a cold 37F, and we saw flutters of snow!

I presented William with his shirt to match his roblox character!  (I couldn't buy one, so I had to make one)  It was well received, and he was so excited to wear it, and tell Avia, the doctor and the nurse all about his new shirt! = )

Today was a rushed day, but we made it through!  We quickly progressed through much of our routine this morning, and forwent a break, so that we could be ready to go to William's appointment at 10:45. We worked through material that would be hard to pack, or that we could not pack.

 My mom came over to help corral and load the crew.  Then, when we arrived at the Doctor's office, she sat with the girls while William and I went it.  I brought William's reader, but neglected to bring it inside, so she had to rescue us by sending pictures of the next few pages.

While we were inside, the nurse went out to the vehicle and got the girls' flu shots all taken care of! It was awesome.  Very time conservative. = )  William got all positive remarks from his doctor! He is well on the curve in height, and weight, giving him a nice 11% BMI rating!  The curve in his spine was recently reviewed by the orthopedic doctor, and he cleared him for now. (But we need to get x-rays every few years, as a preventative measure.)

The original plan was to run to McDonald's then return to the doctor for the girls' shots, but since we knocked it all out at once, we went through the drive thru and headed to our grocery appointment.  We were early, but still had a tiny bit of school left, plus our read aloud.  

We finished up and were some of the first to arrive in the hour block we picked.  Sadly, my car is still at the mechanic (yep, month 3) and most of the time, this is not a problem, but it was particularly annoying today, when we were trying to knock our our school in the car.  The good thing about Billy's car over mine, though, is that there was more light by which to work.

By the time we came home, we brought in and put away groceries, cleaned out our work form the car, and Alice was doing her second round of math (she's still playing catch up, but making great strides!) it was almost 4pm, and our cleaning lady came today.  So, it was rush rush rush. 

For dinner we had chicken fajitas.

I finally got to sit down and relax once I got the kitchen cleaned and some laundry started.  Now, it is time for bed.  Sadly, the kids get to go first!

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248th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today was a chilly 45F.

Alice progressed with her math, finishing and entire 4th grade unit today.

We had chili cheese dogs for dinner.

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247th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today is a cold 51F.  The wind is something else today, I'd rate it as a Fresh Gale on the Beaufort Weather Scale.

I left my grocery order too long, and with the uptick in corona virus cases, I could not get my usual Kroger time (or any time near it.) So, I'll be saving the big trip for Tuesday.  We'll pick it up on our way home from William's well child visit. I've also set a reminder in my phone to schedule it earlier in the week, so that I can get my preferred day.

Billy and Alice made up some gumbo tonight.  It was really tasty.

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later days

2nd Week of November

246th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was only 43F, but it was sunny, so we went out to the cross country trails by the high school to take some Christmas pictures.  I'm not convinced that we got "the" picture, so we will try again during Thanksgiving week, maybe.

We might end up with one of these, depends on how the next ones turn out.

For dinner we had leftovers, with fresh made green beans.  The green beans were a big hit. = )

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245th Day of Quarantine.

The high today is staying chilly, at 49F.

For dinner we had Bob Evans chicken tender meal.

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244th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was warmer than yesterday, but there was frost on the ground and it was a cold 51F.

We finished out our first week of term 2, after 4pm.  I'm trying to help Alice play catchup in math, and we are finally to new material, so it is rush, rush and push push.

For dinner we had hamburger helper.  

I made my annual Mops apple pie, and logged in to the live feed this evening.  My table leader brought by the ingredients and recipe, and Billy grabbed the oats for me at the store when he went out for lunch.

I watched the penultimate episode of Supernatural.  I watched live, again, since I couldn't get into the MOPS virtual zoom.

It was a a bit of a let down, I hope the end of series does not disappoint.

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243rd day of Quarantine.

The high today was a cold (and usual) 46F.  Brrr.

Avia came over to eat birthday cake for breakfast with our birthday boy!  She stayed through most of our morning so that they could play with silly string during recess.

After math, they all played with a slime 'assortment' that William received as a sub part in a present for his birthday (from us.)  The kids all played in the bathroom, on an old shower curtain, and it still made a huge mess!  We ended up with impromptu showers for all. = /  I do not like slime.

We did set up tea and poetry this afternoon, but I told the kids that they are going to have to contribute more to set up and clean up if we are to continue.  I made a list for them to help out next week.

For dinner William requested teriyaki chicken and rice, so that is what we had.  No one else seemed to care for his twizzler cake enough to have some for desert, so hopefully he likes it a lot!

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242nd day of Quarantine.

The high today was 74F.

We finished the trebuchet in science, and it worked!

During reading time, we made the rain stick that Aunt Wanda sent, since we learned about the Hopi tribes and their rain rituals!

And we had shrimp and rice for dinner.

We also made William's 8th birthday cake, since this is his final night as a seven year old!

When we were decorating, Billy accidentally popped the giant 8 balloon, but we still put up many of the rubber ones, so it looked festive.

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241st Day of Quarantine.

We broke a weather record set in 1977 with a high of 78F!  It was nice enough to be out without a jacket.

Avia came by during recess today, to pick up some boxes of returnables and say hi.  I also sent her with the remaining meatball meal that Billy made last night.

We worked ahead a little in science, making the base for the trebuchet that we were not scheduled to make until tomorrow.  This gave it time to properly dry before we start using it to fling rocks.

After school Grace and I went to pick up her replacement glasses frames, and get a new screw put in William's frames.

For dinner we had Tikka Masala, complete with naan and hummus from horrocks! = )  

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240th Day of Quarantine.

Today the high was a lovely 74F.  We opened the window, on November 8th!!! because when I went to take out the trash it was warmer outside (71F) than inside (68F.)

After online church, I went to a later than usual appointment, since my regular timeslot was already taken! = (  It wasn't awful, I went at the very beginning of my time.

For my "birthday" dinner, Billy made a Gordon Ramsey meatball recipe, with fresh ingredients we picked up at Horrock's.  It was soooooo good.  He served it on giant noodles, which are not my favorite, but made it better for the kids. = )

I spent my extra time (not cooking) working on William's birthday shirt. I'm still waiting on the actual shirt, but it should be here soon!  I cut out the old adidas logo, and I'll do my best to make it look like his roblox avatar! = )

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later days

Mid-October

225th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was a much chillier 48F.

My mom made it back to Michigan (for the first time since March!) But she is currently self quarantining at Sarah's so we will not see her until after my birthday. = (

Billy made another run to Biggby.  I think it must be the time of year, or maybe the cooler weather.  = )

For dinner, I made the pancakes that Grace requested all day long!

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224th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was a deceptive 65F.  It was warmer than yesterday this morning, and muggy.  Then we had a few thunderstorms blow through and cooled us way back down into the 40s. = /

I finished A Handmaids Tale.

For dinner Grace talked me into ordering a pizza.  It was not a hard sell. ; )

I also got caught up with Supernatural on the app.  Watching it broken up with commercials, when I've only ever watched it on Netflix, is painful.

I watched A Simple Favor.  [spoilers ahead] It was good, but really the soundtrack was the best, as I feel the twin trope is really overdone.

Then I watched an run of the mill rom-com, whose name escapes me.

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223rd Day of Quarantine.

The high today was a pleasant (with pants and jackets,) rainy, 63F.

Sarah brought by some cake donuts this morning, which made for a very nice break this morning!

We are feeling the end of term crunch, well at least I am.  We finished up week 10 today!  I am 95% prepared, I think.  The first round of anything tends to be stressful!

I worked on cleaning the liner of our shower. Since the grommets and plastic were still in good condition, I started with a bleach bath, then a bar keeper's friend bath.  The latter did the trick, and it looks so much better now!

So now, the curtain and tub are both much cleaner! = )

For dinner we had hamburger helper and corn.

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222nd Day of Quarantine.

The high was a chilly 56F.

After our lessons, we watched Pocahontas.  

The big girls finished up their DaVinci helicopter, since it required dry time for the glue, it was just before dinner time that they placed the final elements.

For dinner we had cheesy chicken noodle stir fry.

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Day 221 of Quarantine.

The temperature reached a measly 52F today.  It was kind of sunny for a while.

We went at top speed through our lessons, since I had a yearly appointment with my doctor scheduled for 230.  

The big girls worked on the DaVinci helicopter, but didn't quite finish.  Hopefully we will get it done tomorrow.

For dinner, Alice cooked up some tortellini with alfredo sauce for us!

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Day 220 of Quarantine.

The expected high was a cold 50F. = (

During Solfa today, there was a game, and the kids were anxious to participate (way more so than I figured they'd be!)

For dinner Grace made us some spaghetti squid. Billy is travelling for work so he managed to avoid this missed out on this culinary delight. 

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Day 219 of Quarantine. 

The expected high today is 54F with expected rain.

For dinner we had leftovers, sandwiches and whatever we could quickly make up.

Emily painted up a Roblox Figurine for William's upcoming birthday!

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later days

3rd Week of August

162nd Day of Quarantine

The high today was 88F.  It was warm during the day, but the nights still get cool.

Billy went to Lowes to pick up supplies for replacing our decrepit basement door.

For dinner Billy picked up Wendy's on his way back from Lowes.

Also, I started season 15 of Supernatural.  I'm really not ready for it to be over yet.

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161st Day of Quarantine

The high today was 87F, and it sure felt like it on our way to the DODC.

Today we finished up our last day of our first week of homeschool!  Today had two elements that we hadn't yet encountered.  The first was dictation, the second written narration.

I tried doing all 5 of them on dictation at the same time, and it was awful. There was whining and when I would work with the big girls the little ones were noisy, and next week we will try something different.

It was so much sweeter then, when we did written narration.  I called them in one at a time for narration, and they picked a variety of books.  Even Grace, who gives me minimal oral narration each time she is picked filled up 2 pages about King Alfred and the Cakes. Since today was the first time, I wrote the big girls as well (they had to have a number of sentences greater than or equal to their grade.)  We will work toward them writing their own, but the podcast I listened to recommended starting with oral and working our way up.

At the end of our school day, we walked down to the DODC by the kids' old school for our nature study.  We were looking for "mini beasts."  We saw butterflies and lady bugs and ants and on the way back Alice even found a myriapod!

For dinner we had a microwave Chicken Fettucine Alfredo kit & bueno nachos

And we watched the end of Kim Possible.  We also watched the cartoon movie (which should have followed the end of season three.)  And we watched the live action movie.  It was exciting, as the voice actor for the cartoon made an appearance! Also, the actor who played the grandmother in this was the mother from the Torkelsons, one of my favorite childhood shows.

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160th Day of Quarantine - Alice's 11th Birthday!

The expected high today is 84F.

We are still finding our rhythm and tweaking our school schedule, but now have a good idea as to how it will look each day.

In honor of Alice's birthday (and so that she could spend max time on her new Sims 4 game) we bent the "no electronics until 4pm rule, and they were able to get on right after we finished reading chapter three of Alice in Wonderland.

Billy walked down to the farmer's market and bought some rice and chicken for dinner (from the Thai restaurant.) It was very good.

We sang and ate birthday cake for dessert.

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Today is the 159th day of Quarantine.

The high today was 77F.

The most exciting thing that my children learned from our poet study today was that Shakespeare had twins (Hamlet and Judith.)

Alice and Emily were filling out a map as part of their geography.  I was happy to have a map that Sarah made up (of Canada, none-the-less) to show them what they can strive for.

We had to leave for Ann Arbor around 1, so I left Emily in charge of making Alice's cake.  She did a great job, and apparently Alice was excited about the custom "topper" that I ordered of her Roblox character. = )  Emily "painted" it with acrylic paint markers, and it looks a lot like her old avatar (I saw her changing the avatar on her account 2 days after I ordered it...)

The drive was fairly uneventful, other than several patches of construction.  We waited in the parking lot for a bit, and the kids all caught a quick nap en route.  They have finished some of the inside construction, and taken down walls so it is now a very different path than we used to take.  There was no one at reception when we arrived, and we were scolded for not 'checking in' by the nurse.  ugh.  We ended up waiting for about 20 minutes which is a really long time, considering they no longer even play movies!  (I totally get the toys being picked up, but you would think that a movie on in the waiting room would be virus proof?)

Grace and Juliet both received excellent reports.  Grace even has a few wiggly teeth on the bottom! William's getting in some permanent teeth, and they already have issues.  The problem is the same on both sides, so we will be making 2 more trips for them to cap his teeth until they are fully in place. Once they are fully exposed then they will put on a more permanent solution to protect them.  Not the best news, but not unexpected, and the primary reason we make the drive to go to a specialty clinic for them.

Since the appointment wasn't until 3, we didn't get to leave until after 5 heading home.  Traffic in Ann Arbor was awful (couldn't even make a right turn thanks to the back up.) We also came to a complete stop on 23 as we approached 96 a couple of times.  Nothing too bad.

However, when we rolled into town at 6:15ish, and were due to stop at Wendy's to procure dinner, the line was all the way to the edge of the parking lot, which would have had me stopped out in the main lanes.  I opted to run home, drop off the kids, and then went to a different Wendy's.  They were busy, and slow, but at least I didn't have whiny, hungry children with me.  With all of that, we didn't end up eating until about 7, which is really late for us.

It was also shot night, so once I unloaded, got everyone fed, I made up shots, then toothbrushes.  It was a hurried bedtime, but everyone got to hear a little bit of whatever story they like, then quick kisses.  Unexpectedly, the three little ones did go to sleep, so Billy and I were able to set up Alice's balloon décor uninterrupted.

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Today was the 158th day of Quarantine.

The high was a very cool 77F.

We started off the morning going out to find a "dew orb" that we read about in the big girls' recitation exercise by Shakespeare.

After some whining during math, and general slowness transitioning between subjects, we finished off the evening with chapter 2 of Alice in Wonderland and playdoh play.  The big girls told me that they really enjoyed it, since they don't get to play with playdoh at school anymore. = )

For dinner we had Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes.

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We are looking at the 157th day of Quarantine.

Today the high was 82F.

It was the first day of school!

Billy had a late doctor's appointment and brought back Arby's for dinner.

Billy and I went for a short walk after dinner, a very short walk since the kids stayed home.  Hopefully we will be able to make it a little longer next time.  = )

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Today was the 156th day of Quarantine.

The high today was 81F with a very cool start to the day.

I woke up a little earlier so that I could clean up all of the paint supplies before online church.  The kids worked on their packets and watched the video from Avia's church.

After church I rushed out the door to run the recycling by Sarah's and go pick up my grocery order.  I stumbled on a garage sale after I left Sarah's and bought a few small Christmas gifts for my crew.

The Kroger gas station had small lines when I arrived, so I picked up my groceries first.  This worked out in my favor, since the lines were going by the time I had my groceries. = )

After putting away the groceries, I listened to a few outstanding podcasts from A Delectable Feast about narration and "things."  I planned on shucking the corn while doing this, but ended up with a few cute, albeit messy, helpers. = )

Once the corn was cooking, it was time for baths, then making dinner.  For dinner we had chili cheesed dogs and corn on the cob.

After dinner, Billy helped me measure and mark for the pictures to go back up on the wall.

There are still blemishes and it is not perfect, but I'm glad that there are no longer medium & giant holes in the wall!  This will make being in the room for hours a day so much better!  = )

later days

Saying Goodbye to Summer

Summer ended just as suddenly as it began, as it seems to do every year.  We did our best to live each of the final days to the full.

I made some supernatural sugar cookies.  The kids didn't like them since they didn't have chocolate.  I thought they were pretty good.

William likes to sprawl out on our bed, when given the opportunity.

Catching one last movie at the library. This time we went to the one near Aunt Rocky's house. They let you eat and watch at the same time.  Parking is nearby and free, so it might be our go to next year.  Also, everyone redeemed the rest of their summer reading prizes.  = )

Billy made one last round of burgers.  They were so colorful!

It is possible that William is more of a Texan than I am.  It was 73 degrees in our house, and he had on a fleece nightgown, put on his lined hoodie, and then wrapped up in his blanket.  It didn't last long, as the day warmed up, but I could not have comfortably put on that many layers.

Lazy summer games.

Shots are still on the agenda three times a week.

William's piano time    d    r   a   g    s       out every day.  Instead of buckling down and just learning the song and moving on he does this:

And this:

And several other acrobatics.  Now that the twins are learning the basics, I think he will finally be prompted to move on once they catch up to him.  If he would just buckle down and practice this piece, he could move on any day.

Hamster Holmes was the free book I chose on Alice's behalf, since she didn't want to pick anything.  It opened up all sorts of fun for the end of our summer.

I introduced my crew to the Hamster Dance song, from the earlier days of the internet.  This book also had a chart of Morse Code letters. So Emily and I had fun writing and translating notes back and forth for the day. = )

I'm always sad to see summer go, and I'm doubly sad about winter coming.  Hopefully I'll survive another Michigan winter.

later days