When this pandemic thing started kicking up, I wanted to show what we were up to during the quarantine/ self isolation/ home-school weeks. Now I know this is going to be a while. So, numbering the blogs by week of the quarantine might not be what I want to do. We will see.
Here is this week's update:
EASTER! I didn't really take pictures. We had a great church meeting. We did not do our (what has become) typical everyone gives a talk. We watched Jesus Easter videos and had musical numbers. Alex played "That Easter Morn" in the hymn book. We also read the Easter story in John.
Later, Joey and my mom came over and we had the sacrament and Easter dinner. This is what I wish I had taken pictures of. I will have to get pictures another time.
Joey stayed for games again! It is so good to be around someone else for a change. And her especially.
Did I mention that I cut everyone's hair on Saturday? Well, I did.
Monday it was back to school for the boys. It was about 9:00 and we had no internet. This is not good because Andre had to work. He was trying a few things to get the internet up and then he was going to have to leave. Since Chase had no internet, I helped Chase with his music. This involves going into his room and opening his curtains to let the light in. I noticed that a Comcast truck was outside our house. I went to talk to the guy. They were replacing cables in our box (and looked like our street) and it would be back up in a few minutes. So that was good.
It was a pretty good day to get everyone back into school. They boys don't really have a lot to do and they are focused. I just wish I could figure out a better schedule that would allow flexibility and free time but also less wasted time.
Chase's art project today was to draw a picture of his family.... This is what it is like to have boys. Boys are just different than girls. Also. This is very Chase. He has always drawn things with guns and nuclear bombs. Ever since he was 4 years old.
Make sure you notice the nuclear blast in the center. It didn't scan well because it is metallic pink pen.
Jaxon called about 3:00. Andre was in our room working but took a break to talk to Jaxon. I was in "my room" the room that has all of my projects in- the extra bedroom upstairs. So it was funny to hear Andre start talking and then hear it on the phone. My phone does not take screen shots anymore But Andre's does.
Alex had his piano lesson at 3:30. It is over an app called Google hangouts. Rae is my friend and the teacher and she has been wonderful!
Monday was the day that more stuff started to be cancelled. FSY (for the strength of youth) conferences were cancelled for the whole summer. Tanner and Alex were set to go the first weeks of June. These are really awesome conferences and it is really sad. Alex is pretty upset. Tanner said, "I don't care". (He says this about everything lately- I guess it is his coping mechanism. Because I know he was looking forward to everything this summer.
I started to go through all the boys clothes this week. I started in the back storage room and figured out which clothes might fit someone in our family. Then moved to Chase and Alex and have not really done Tanner because he basically does it himself. It is a big job. I cleaned out 2 boxes of clothes out of Chase's room that don't fit him or are too old or he doesn't like.
We kind of just had a nothing evening because the boys had just started school and I felt like it would be a good idea to not force anything. Also I felt blah and went to bed early so that was really why we didn't do anything. Sometimes I feel bloated (I burp too much) and laying down helps. Usually I am fine but I must have eaten something that affected me weird-- it was not corona! My asthma doctor told me that I should go see a doctor about my hiatal hernia because it does get in the way of my lungs. But that was in March and the start of all the corona virus mess so I am putting it off.
Tuesday school day! The kids do a great job being motivated and just doing their work. I appreciate the fact that Chase only has one teacher and he is really simplifying the work to do. But I feel like I need to push him a little bit. I need to figure that out.
Chase had physical therapy. He has walked around the house a little without his brace starting over the weekend. The gave him a face mask to wear when he is there. We don't have face masks so he is the only one in our family.
He is now not wearing a brace even more just around the house. If he goes down stairs or outside he needs it on. We don't want to re injure it while it is healing.
We have been working in the yard lately. I figure I need to work out there because usually I don't have time and I do this year. But it is going slowly. The kids are helping a little but this is were I would really like them to help more. Tanner did go over to Grandma's and mow her lawn and help with some heavy dirt stuff.
Andre worked at his office on Tuesday and Wednesday. The plan is that he goes in 2ish days a week.
This afternoon the next big change happened... school is now cancelled for the year. I had a few kids cry. And Tanner "doesn't care". But he does.
We had a yummy dinner and then had young mens. They all had a quorum group-chat thing going on. This is a good thing because they need to see and hear from their friends. Here is a picture of Andre (Deacon leader) and Chase on their group thing. It is a game called Jack Box.
It is a good thing I borrowed school laptops from the school for each of the boys. they have been great and have helped the boys be more independent with their homework and they can also use them for young men's!
I went to my moms house when all the boys were with their friends.
About 9:00 Tuesday night we had another aftershock. It was a 4.2. We have not had an aftershock that we could feel for weeks, so that was a wake up call.
Wednesday, it was a typical school day for the boys, I got some of my projects done. I am searching for things for the boys to do during this down time that is not kid stuff. Plus looking for gifts for future events. So, Amazon has been my friend. I am organizing pictures and getting scrap books updated. I am 2 years behind. So I need to get caught up. Who knows when I will have another break from work in the future. I am also organizing closets and cupboards. Some of these things have not been cleaned out in 10 years or so. I am finding things that I didn't know were lost.
We are trying to do work with the kids so it is a little productive. So today we cleaned out the cars. Maybe we will wash them this weekend. Then we watched a movie together.
Thursday morning at 7:40 we had another 4.2 aftershock. That woke up all the boys. What a way to start the day. I don't really remember a lot of this day. I have been working on my scrap books. I am around to help kids with their work and make sure they are staying focused. I clean things and I am slowly going through closets and cupboards to organize them.
I can't remember when we did what so no more talking about days... this is what we did...
We painted the salt dough creations!
This week I worked in the yard. I have been working on a triangle flower bed right next to my driveway and my neighbors' yard. I hate it. I don't know what to plant there and it is always full of trees. The flowering pear trees that are over it drop tons of berries and they grow so many trees. We dug up all the trees and now I need to figure out what to plant there.
Tanner has a project that he has been working on. We have had this bench since before we were married and it was a mess. It was so splintery that I didn't ever want to sit on it. Tanner had taken it apart, cut the wood, now drilled holes and stained. More pictures later!
We made a Cadbury creme egg cake.
The kids wanted to play a video game together. So that was our family activity one night.
We have watched a few movies this week. It has not been a great week for big plans or even a lot of creativity. I did go to the store to get a prescription and bought a lot of cereal. Our boys eat a lot of cereal.
Saturday we went on an outing! We went to Eagle Mountain and found an area that Chase and I could hang out and shoo the Bow and arrows and The others could hike around. Chase hiked a good distance to this spot. His knee is getting better!
The boys got to the top of the hill/mountain and on the other side was a view of Utah Lake.
This is looking North towards the point of the mountain and the way we came from.
They got back and we had snacks.
We had brought the salt dough creations. Because boys like to destroy things.
Chase shot up his landscape. The weird thing is after 2ish weeks of that thing drying. It was still wet in the middle. I even put it in a warm oven for hours to dry.
Hanging out in the wilderness.
This is the valley we were picnicking in. It was beautiful.
We were close so we went to Camp Floyd. This is the monument.
There is a museum!
And we toured the Stagecoach Inn.
Then I tried to find the next Pony express marker heading west. We had been there before years ago. It was a lot farther then I expected, so we pulled over to explore a little. This is a picture of self isolation. The Utah West desert. The middle of No where.
It is beautiful in it's own way.
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