Life Lately

Hello! We’re certainly scooting right through this week as we continue distance learning and working from home. Obviously, we’ve been sticking pretty close to home, but I thought I’d share a peek at what we’ve been up to…a bit of our life…lately.

Well, while I knew it was coming, we got the official word that we would finish out the school year at home. I feel like I’m mourning the loss of this school year in a sense. I surprised myself when tears sprang to my eyes when I saw the tweet from KDE.

My kids will only be in the 4th grade once. They have awesome teachers, and I know how it goes…as the school years go on, there’s more stress, school seems less fun, and the memories of elementary school are some of the best. No carnival, no 4th grade field trip, no field day, and no end of the year teacher hugs…the list goes on and on…and I’m sad for them …even if they aren’t too sad right now. It’s absolutely amazing to me how resilient kids are. I’ve said to others that it’s almost scary that we are now kind of used to this new normal (in regards to staying put at home and distance learning) that I’m afraid kids won’t want to do much once we get back to normal, if that makes sense. I know they miss friends and will want to get back to sports, but we’ve started a new, more simple routine.

A friend brought up a good point about how our kids have been so over-scheduled and how content they are now at home. I do agree…but joked that Hayden’s been playing too much Xbox, so I can’t want to over-schedule him once we can get back to it, and that Hadley over-schedules herself!

Anyway, I know it will all be just fine…and I’m thankful this isn’t a milestone year for them, but I know springtime at the elementary level provides some of the best times and best memories.

That being said, the kids are doing a great job learning at home. That first week was rough but we are now in a routine. This week their teachers have incorporated some other activities like Earth Day activities, a video about kindness, and Hayden’s teacher is doing a chapter a day Read Aloud of the first Harry Potter book. Hayden has loved listening to the book this week.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we’ve been working on our master bedroom refresh. Travis and I wallpapered one wall in our bedroom Friday evening. Then, Hadley helped Travis paint over the weekend.

On Saturday, Hadley decided to try on one of her dance recital costumes. She even put on some makeup (she’s better than me at doing so) and twirled around the house for a bit. Just your average Saturday afternoon! Hayden did ask her why she had a napkin ring on her head! haha

I had a Zoom call with some of my friends on Saturday evening. We had a little 7-8:00 Happy Hour and just caught up with each other. It was nice to see their faces and hear their voices!

Monday afternoon, I picked up by Kroger Clicklist order which included instant coffee. So, I made my first ever whipped coffee. I followed Amy’s directions from one of her recent posts. It was a delicious and refreshing treat!

I stopped by my classroom on Tuesday. I needed to get a few materials, and it felt good to sit and work there a couple of hours in silence…and in what should have been…

There was a birthday parade for one of my friends on Tuesday. Can birthday parades always be a thing? I love this idea! If we are still locked in our houses in July, can someone please organize a half birthday parade for me?!?

The past few evenings, Hadley and I have been watching the Elephants documentary on Disney + (narrated by Meghan Markle) while the guys have been watching the Last Dance documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

I made a Trader Joe’s run recently and picked up some of our faves! Nothing says warmer weather to me than the canned Rose’ I love from TJ. The other items are family favorites but I’m also oobbbssed with the Havarti cheese with dill and the Buffalo Chicken Dip.

We’ve even kept up our (at least) weekly family bike ride.

Also, this week, I wrote my first ever Tuesday Talk blog post on Why I Started a Blog. It was a fun link up with Erika and Ashley.

Well, I guess that’s it. Just a little bit of what’s been going on with us! See you back here tomorrow for some of my recent favorites!

Thanks for reading,