I am going to post about the things that I like that are happening in quarantine because today was really hard and I felt closed in and a bit Hulk-ish in that I wanted to break everyone and everything. I will blame a lot of it on two nights of terrible sleep, rainy weather, and my children being done being stuck at home.
I know you all have probably heard this 14 million times, but this is not how homeschooling works. We as homeschoolers are struggling, too. My kids miss our co-op. They miss their teachers and their classes. They miss seeing their friends. They miss the classes they take at the Discovery Center (which we miss going to on rainy days or days we need a change of scenery) and classes at the Forest Preserve. They miss the library and going on field trips around town. We are all ready for this school year to end. We're ready to see people again.
So, I am going to focus on things we like about being home.
All of the kitchen-ing!
Julia loves to bake and would gladly putz around the kitchen all day if allowed. She's very patient with the boys, who love to help in any capacity. This particular day she was making one of her go-to recipes, Chocolate Oatmeal Drop Cookies. No baking and no flour!
My current read. If you haven't read any of Bill Bryson's books, I highly recommend him! The first book I ever read of his was A Walk In The Woods and I laughed until I cried through the whole book. Evan's listened to even more of Bryson's books and also recommends them!
A meeting of the minds.
When it isn't raining, the sunsets lately have been gorgeous!
Evan has made sourdough bread on and off for years, but when all of this went down, and I couldn't ask him to stop by the store to grab a loaf of bread on his way home from work anymore (which apparently I did all the time!), he made a new sourdough starter and we have been loving having bread bowls and loaves of sourdough for sandwiches and with meals. The kids love helping, especially when it's time to punch the dough.
He has seriously perfected bread bowls.
I went to a store in Wisconsin that sells grains by the bulk. I was able to get 25lbs of flour, 20lbs of sugar, and 6.5 of rice. Oh, and a couple small treat bags of gummy worms and gummy bears for the kiddos.
I had ordered containers to put it all in and am now ready to feed an army (convenient since we actually have a small army of which we have created).
On a walk the other night, I kept oohing and ahhing over the trees that are blooming around our neighborhood!
We have played with all the things in our house. Seriously. So, I am trying to rotate some things so they feel new-ish. Kinetic sand is one of them.
Tomorrow is the last day of April. I absolutely do not want to switch the calendar and look at another long month of quarantine. But, I said that at the end of March and we have made it through April. I keep telling the kids they can do hard things--they may not like it and they may not do it gracefully, but they can do it. I need to take my own words to heart.
We ordered a curbside pick up of things to plant in the garden this weekend. Tomatoes, beans, herbs, peppers, and some flowers to put in the planters by our front door that are still holding our faux evergreen trees. We're going to order mulch to be delivered and spend time in the yard working for the next few weekends. I ordered a couple of camping hammocks to put up in the backyard to give us another space for the girls to go to have some space and alone time. I'm planning on our summer curriculum and gathering what we need to get those subjects and projects going.
Here's hoping tomorrow is better than today. That maybe I won't holler so much that I have to put myself into timeout to avoid throwing a temper tantrum. That maybe I will have a few more ideas up my sleeve to help us not feel annoyed with each other and every little thing. And here's to hoping tomorrow the sun will shine so we can go outside!!
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