Chalk and Bikes

Alice and Simon worked together on assembling a Lego set.

In the evenings, they love to rice bikes on the smooth part of the road, but because it has traffic, a grownup always has to be out there with them.

Easter Sunday 2020

Easter Sunday arrived in the midst of the pandemic. We couldn't go to Izzy's, but we still had our house egg hunt.

They're playing rock/paper/scissors for something (I forget.) Also, Zac got them corn plants for Easter.

Since we couldn't go to Izzy's, we also had an outdoor egg hunt in our back yard. These eggs were filled with precious gems.

Alice loves to be organized in the most illogical ways.

Pink Panther

One night, we introduced our kids to the Pink Panther cartoon. They loved the slapstick humor of it, and shared it with the neighbors.

Scarf Models

Our neighbor, Linda, weaves. She had Simon and Ellie model two of her scarves one bright day, and sent me the picture.

Fruit Art is a Fine Art

Alice got a sharpie and got creative this morning.

Scooters & Sparks

Ellie has a tricycle that has a handle where if you pull it down, it makes sparks. Simon loves it.

Mud Hills

Up beyond the creek at the bottom of the greenway are some hills created by a rogue BMX biker gang. The kids also love to play on them.

Alice's work

Because I wanted to keep the kids in the habit of doing school work while Wake County figured out what they were doing, I made up reading and writing assignments for Alice, using books we had. It was a struggle to get her to do it. As you can see, she really struggles with spelling, which makes her hate writing because it is so hard for her. Too bad!

She's a bit of a rebel too.

Easter Egg Coloring

Zac helped the kids dye eggs today. Simon loves to eat boiled eggs, except the yolk.

The Fairy House

Sometimes we wake up in the morning and come downstairs and the neighbors are already there and they've all blown up balloons already.

Our neighbor, Kim, helped all the kids make fairy houses.

Simon and Ellie still spend as much time together as humanly possible, especially on the weekends.

Meanwhile, I had spent the past week (my school's spring break) catching up on grading that I hadn't been able to do since a bunch of things were turned in right before we switched to the shelter-in-place orders and I had to relearn how to teach everything online. Tomorrow I "go back" to work.

Backyard Fun

We've been really appreciative of our backyard and the neighbor kids!

Here they are practicing for their future circus careers.

And then there were three...

That's right. We now have THREE fish tanks in our dining room.

It's stocked with some minnows, crawdads, a nymph and a tadpole that Simon and Ellie found in the pond.

Homeschooling: Week 3

Week 3 of homeschooling saw no improvements. Simon still resisted doing any work.

Alice still spent an inordinate amount of time doing the simplest of assignments.

They both primarily prefer to goof off and play.

I mean, you can't blame them. They're kids. It makes sense that it's hard to try and get them do school from home-- a place they associate with weekends and breaks.

At least our backyard playground is getting lots of use.

Alice can always stay focused when doing her art though.

Signs of Covid-19 (wishing this were all an elaborate April Fools joke)

Almost every day I take an afternoon walk on the greenway. It's my break from the kids and work, both of which seem all-consuming right now. The greenway has been a lot busier lately--as everyone is forced to work from home and everything is closed, walking and biking are are some of the few things left to do. Plus the spring weather has been mostly warm and sunny.  Even although my walk is my escape, reminders of these strange times are everywhere along the path. 

  

 

From sidewalk chalkings to math problems tacked to trees to the now omnipresent Zoom meetings, I love that we're still finding ways to come together during this time when we're told to stay apart and everything feels like it's falling apart. Because honestly, it's really scary what's happening right now.