Social Distancing Week 6

I wondered how long it would take and it happened at week 6--I don't have anything to say about this week! Here's a few highlights anyway...

I wore a mask to the store for the first time.

4 siblings in a hammock. They have had more fun and conversations on the porch.

The dogwood trees are still in bloom. It is the longest they have stayed in bloom that I remember. Of course it could seem like a long bloom because I am watching it every day.

I've pretty well cleaned and/or organized. The most satisfying thing is that the car has stayed clean!

I had the best laugh this week. I got a text at 8:30 on Thursday morning...
Text: Happy Friday
Me: Almost...I think today is Thursday though
Text: No! Stop!

Social Distancing Week 5

This week I quickly learned that I need to have a project going to keep me motivated. I'll always do what has to be done to keep the household going, but I was feeling very blah on the inside the beginning of this week.

One day school looked like forts for Isaiah and Anna and the corner of the couch for Josiah.

We are on the 4 week countdown to finishing school!

I'm sitting on the porch to write this. The power cord is draped through the window. The dogwoods are in full bloom and the azaleas are blooming too.

We learned that living in isolation is just not how we are made to live and so we broke the rules using common sense. Mom visited one afternoon. We sat at the table, had hot tea and a snack. The children had SO much to tell her and show her. The girls even put on their dance costumes. It was an equally heart wrenching and beautiful time together. Another afternoon my sister and nephew came over to play outside. Sean had so much fun, he didn't want to leave.

This week's projects were emptying and organizing my personal email inbox and my BJU email inbox. And then yesterday I tackled the biggest organizing project in the house. There is a storage space off of our bedroom that I call The Pit. It was to the point that you couldn't really walk into the space. It took 5 hours and some help from Jeremy, but it is now a lovely space that stores what we need and those things can be accessed by the walkway. Amazing! Miracles can happen!

And now we still start another week in which I will most likely continue to use the words weird, crazy and unsustainable in most every conversation I have!

A Quarantined Easter

This was a different Easter Sunday, but the meaning of the day did not change. Jesus' sacrifice for all of my sins and his resurrection was the center of our focus.

We did the traditional spring celebration things too. Coloring eggs...

...a family picture...

...and an egg hunt. It was simple and quiet with only 4 children--usually there are 10 cousins.

Since this was already an unusual year, Jeremy and I decided to give each of the children a Bible. Aliza has wanted the Life Application Study Bible and Josiah expressed interest in a red letter Bible (the words Jesus spoke are written in red). For Anna, I chose a Bible that has some verses illustrated and has journaling lines in the margin. And Isaiah got a Bible story book.

I made a ham dinner and we had church using Zoom. By the end of the day I did miss my larger family. On the other hand, though, it was good to know that we could have a happy holiday just the 6 of us.

Social Distancing Week 4

This week was filled with every kind of high and low. On Monday the week looked endlessly long and on by Friday morning I was surprised that it was Friday already.

 Janell and I exchanged seeds by mail. I have 2 trays of seeds started and am looking forward to getting the little plants in the ground soon.

 I started another big project on Tuesday. This area needed to be cleared out. I began on Tuesday and it started raining just before I could finish.

 So on Wednesday I finished. With everyone's help, we excavated a huge tarp that was buried.

 It was definitely a team effort. Memories were made.

Josiah has a bad case of poison ivy from helping me last weekend. Josiah was miserable most of the week, but today it seems like he has turned a corner for the better.  Anna and Isaiah now have poison ivy on their faces from helping on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Aliza and I hit the proverbial brick wall on Wednesday. Math did not go well. There were tears from both of us. I thought a drive to the bank would put us back on track. I ran over a muskrat less than a mile from our house and everyone was thoroughly grossed out. We worked really hard outside in the afternoon, then I made cookies and we watched American Idol in the evening. In the end, it wasn't such a bad day.

Jeremy had his first significant business hit as a direct effect of the virus. That night I ate a Dove chocolate bar and this was the chocolate wisdom.

On Thursday we had a huge treat. So huge, in fact, that we waited on the porch for them to arrive. Mom and Janell brought us a couple blessing baskets that needed to be delivered up here so we got to see them! Aliza got hugs and a bit of conversation which made her very happy. It was really good to see both Mom and Janell in person. We all enjoyed the delivery drive and surprising people with a gift on their porch. As an extra bonus we also got to see my Dad to pick up something from him.

Aliza talked to Meghan on the phone which made her very happy. AND Aliza finished Earth Science on Friday which is a school boost that she really needed.

I organized the desk area of my room and have plans for further room cleanup (clean out?)

I got to talk on the phone with a couple friends that I don't see very often and had a surprise show up in my inbox.

I keep thinking that I've done everything possible...that there will be a week that absolutely nothing will happen. I guess that isn't possible with 6 people living in a household. Who knows what this next week will hold!

Joy Dare::March

6961. Long shadows
6962. Waffles for breakfast
6963. Lots of birds at the birdfeeder and a flock of robins in the yard
6964. A not-feeling-stressed-out Monday
6965. Over 60 degrees = sandbox in full use
6966. Walking around the yard to look at the daffodils
6967. Celebrating Aliza
6968. Skillet chocolate chip cookie
6969. An hour with Jeremy
6970. Thankful for safety
6971. A not-too-cold night to be without heat
6972. Delivering soup
6973. Minecraft night with Uncle Joel
6974. Aliza and Josiah surprised with mail
6975. Talking to Dad
6976. Anna being the peacemaker and encourager
6977. Lunch with Aliza
6978. Browsing through Barnes and Noble
6979. Late night sister bonding
6980. Evening light
6981. Isaiah taking care of his puppies

6982. Slow, quiet Sunday
6983. Sitting with Isaiah instead of morning walk
6984. Cooking a birthday supper for Jeremy
6985. Daylight Savings Time = evening family walk
6986. Rhythms of seasons
6987. Motivation to learn
6988. 6 gold finches at the feeder
6989. Apple pie and ice cream
6990. Peace in the midst of social chaos
6991. Driving time alone
6992. Aliza seeing beyond herself
6993. Josiah reading to Isaiah
6994. Glorious 77 degree day
6995. Porch sitting with Janell
6996. Evening visit with a friend
6997. Letting the younger ones play in mud
6998. Pajama day
6999. The around-the-table chats
7000. Cinnamon rolls per Isaiah's request
7001. Visiting the horses

7002. Date night
7003. Grandad available to love on Josiah
7004. Food for the week
7005. "Mom, I can see why you married Dad."
7006. Evening walks
7007. Anna was the costume model

7008. Jeremy could dry and salvage the computer without getting angry
7009. Sibling love

7010. Family that is happy to be together
7011. Seeing Aliza's dances and costumes
7012. 14 gold finches feeding!
7013. Realizing the grass is green!
7014. Phones to stay connected
7015. Frisbee playing
7016. Picking up trash
7017. Two spring days
7018. Planting seeds with Josiah
7019. Anna and Isaiah snuggles
7020. Good advice for life: Give more than you take.
7021. Making lists to stay motivated
7022. Church from home
7023. My aunt
7024. Groceries
7025. Jeremy will continue to work
7026. Technology to have Bible study together
7027. School finished by 1:00!
7028. More lego playing
7029. Tiny leaves appearing
7030. Flowering trees
7031. The rhythms of days and seasons
7032. Evening walks
7033. Lingering at the table
7034. Neighbors ready to chat
7035. Josiah finished a couple subjects
7036. Referral
7037. Walking through disappointment with the girls
7038. Cook Out shakes
7039. Worship with Michael W. Smith
7040. More cleaning projects
7041. Green tea with pomegranate
7042. Warm Sunday
7043. Finished reading Earth Science textbook
7044. Listening to the sermon together
7045. Gas for $1.97
7046. Talking to Meghan in person for a couple minutes
7047. Eating lunch outside
7048. Playing piano
7049. Isaiah making progress with reading
7050. Mowing

Social Distancing Week 3

I've been saying that walks and fresh air are saving my life. We had our share of rainy, gray days this week, but mixed in we had enough opportunities to takes walks and play outside to keep us sane.

Josiah still says he is perfectly happy to be at home. Aliza was only on the floor bemoaning the state of her life once so I'll call that a pretty good quarantine week!

A special box arrived in mail from a friend full of snacks. I've never seen such a large bag of swedish fish and sour patch kids!

The car is thoroughly cleaned out and vacuumed. Anna was my helper for that project. She loved using the shop vac. She found it very satisfying to suck up all the dirt and debris. I found it very satisfying to watch her use the shop vac! While that was happening, Aliza was mowing the grass!

Yesterday I went outside intending to pick up a few sticks and start working on the flowerbed. Instead, I started a fire to burn sticks, convinced Jeremy to start a big fire and started cleaning out an area of the yard that was overtaken by brush. I didn't intend to go as far as I did, but I got very motivated and just kept on going.

I called it Project Take Back the Land. Many years ago (I'm thinking 10, but I don't know for sure) we had a bunch of pine trees that we leaning over and one day Jeremy cut them down. There were 6 to be exact--I found the stumps. For some (unremembered) reason the limbs and branches did not get completely cleaned up. And over the years those branches and limbs got covered up with pine needles, leaves and vines, leaving an area that looks like the before pictures. As I was doing this project I kept thinking, "Heslop, you are never again cutting down trees and not cleaning it up completely!" (I'm going on the assumption that I was pregnant or had babies when this happened, therefore, making it impossible for me to have finished cleaning it up! lol.)

My method was to start at the edge picking up what branches I could. Then I took the lawnmower and slowly mowed down strips until the could see more branches to pick up.

It's actually the perfect kind of project for me because I love seeing progress. And I can keep at a very monotonous kind of work when I'm making progress. Also, when there is literally no where else to be, you might as well take a day to be outside and work hard!

While I was doing this, Jeremy kept the big fire going. He just about cleared out our piles of brush. The children helped for a few hours. Isaiah stayed out the longest in the afternoon. He kept us a constant chatter. Jeremy told me some pretty funny conversation that he and Isaiah had.

Homeschool Snapshot--Science

I didn't take any pictures but this school story has to be remembered.

Anna learned about the Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It was a longer then normal video lesson, but apparently Anna really got into it and listened. (Listening is not always a given.) Anna came to me a couple times during the video to tell me interesting facts and then she did the worktext page without having to read the textbook.

At supper when she was asked about her favorite part of the day, Anna talked about plants. Her favorite facts are that Uranus rotates sideways, Jupiter is the largest planet, that Jupiter has a red spot that scientists believe is a storm and that Jupiter has dust storms that can last for years. As she is saying all of this, Josiah and Aliza are adding in additional details that they have learned this year. It was fun to see how the curriculum builds on itself.

The girls got in bed that night and noticed an especially bright star shining through their window. I had an idea of what that star might be so I got Jeremy knowing that he would get intrigued and open is astronomy app to identify the star. Sure enough--that star was Venus!

Oh. My. Goodness. Anna was SO excited. She was jumping around like she had just been given the greatest gift. In fact, she was so excited that she didn't fall asleep until after midnight. Venus was covered by a cloud for a bit and then she could see it again.

The next night (tonight) Venus is still shining in their window. Anna fell right to sleep tonight.