Make-up tutorial

It's been nice to see Elena and Sam getting along better as they get older. It's possible the quarantine has helped a bit, too. At any rate, I figured I would share their latest shenanigans. The camera was a little low so it's pretty obvious Sam is doing the arms, but you get the idea.

Photo shoots

 Elena has been keeping up on taking pictures of Olivia:

Sam helps, too:

He also took this lovely selfie:

Random happenings during the "Stay-at home" order...

(This was written 2 weeks ago so the stay at home order is actually a bit different now...it just took me forever to get the pictures)

1) Apple tree hammocks! The kids have pulled out all of our old sheets and tablecloths that are too worn out for use, and converted them into hammocks on the apple trees. Their cousins next door brought out their sheets to join in! The only problem is that the knots tighten up so much when they sit in the hammocks that they are almost impossible to undo so the trees will likely look like this all summer.
(Side note: their back-yard friends are the only kids they are allowed to play with, and ONLY outside. We could technically bring the kids to 2 separate day-cares - (older kids and younger) under the stay-at-home orders, and we are opting to keep them all at home to limit outside contact. So...for those who disagree: I don't feel to guilty allowing them contact with one neighboring family outside vs. multiple daycare families inside.)

2) Olivia is teething. And those top two teeth are taking FOREVER to come in. She's handling it well overall, but she's needing Mama a bit more than usual. Normally while I'm trying to "help" Charlie do the homework that he doesn't really need "help" with but is convinced he cannot do unless I sit and watch him write down every word and number. She is also learning new tricks regularly to get those around her to laugh and smile. Her favorites right now are "So big!!" and Pat-a-cake. Oh, and being outside. She gets very fussy if we make her stay in for too long or don't let her stay out long enough.

3) We watched Tangled.  I was sure the kids would like it. And they did. Charlie was quite disappointed the ending, though, which I wasn't expecting.
Why? You might ask. It has a happy ending after all. The reason: (spoiler alert) he hated Rapunzel's haircut.

4) Fun quote from Frankie: (in reference to food) I like everything except for the things I don't like.
Frankie also discovered this week that girls pee sitting down, which was unbelievable to him. He thought I was making it up, and it took some convincing before he believed me!

QuaranTUNES

The kids' music teacher gave them the option of participating in the school's Virtual Talent Program instead of doing the regular music class assignments. The kids jumped at the chance, and I was excited to have an outlet for some of my creative energy. They recently watched the movie Annie and were playing the soundtrack a little too frequently for my taste. 

With all those songs stuck in our heads, this is what we came up with.

Even though we had rehearsed it perfectly several times in the days prior to the filming, getting this on camera was more difficult that I had anticipated. The main problem was getting everyone's heads in the shot. Charlie had to be in front because of his height, but if he leaned forward too much he blocked Sam and Elena. Then of course there were missed entrances and one line that Sam had sung perfectly 20 times before but just couldn't get the day we taped it.

Here's a glimpse of the struggle (which the kids probably found more entertaining than the actual performance):

Gross (with a Capital G!) potions

Warning: if you suffer from germaphobia - you might just want to skip reading this post.

The kids love playing in our junkyard back yard, and they have a way of finding a use for everything...and I mean everything. One thing they little boys like to do is to make "potions." They usually borrow heavily from the compost pile for this so they never smell good. Well, yesterday's potion topped them all.

Frankie peed in a bucket that was in the backyard (this is not something we encourage or allow, but it happened...) Anyway, I think this gave Charlie and Reed the idea to do the same, and they decided that was a great starter for a new potion. I don't know what else went in there, but at some point Reed had to go #2. So he went in a cup and - you guessed it - into the potion it went. They were out there stirring it up when the older kids came in to tell us.

We immediately made them discard of the potion - they were indignant: "What???? Why do we have to dump out our potion??!!" - and go to their respective homes to change and shower. We had to hose Charlie off before even letting him in because he spilled it on himself when he was dumping it out.

Once Charlie was done bathing and changing, he came out making a face and spitting like he had eaten something terrible - and before your imagination runs away with you, he did not get the potion into his mouth so rest assured.  I asked why he was doing that and he said he had put a bar of soap in his mouth. "Why did you do that?" I asked. "To punish myself." (Maybe he got the idea from A Christmas Story?) At any rate, I think (hope!) they've learned not to do that again.

Roomie

We have a new roommate! The preschool teacher at St. Ed's was living with an elderly couple in Marshall, but we decided with coronavirus it would be safer for them if she was not living there. Plus, she is closer to work this way. And we have an attic with plenty of room so here she is.
We are doing our best not to drive her crazy - moving from a house with 0 kids to 5 kids is a major change.
She has been mystified by such odd behaviors as kids dropping things on the floor and not picking them up - "Who drops a pen and then just walks away??" "I'll give you 4 guesses." and siblings fighting with each other. "Why are they fighting? Can't you just tell them to work it out calmly." "Oh! Huh...I never thought of that :)" I should mention she also didn't grow up with siblings. At any rate, it's going very well and she fits in nicely. She's good at rolling with the punches, and gets along well with everyone.
Bonus: one more person in the house who cleans up after herself without being asked!!

Around here

The saddest part of staying at home during this pandemic is not getting to bring the kids to see their grandparents regularly.

Olivia in particular is growing by leaps and bounds. She is making lots of new sounds; she says Dada, Mama (not as often), kitty and tickle (both of which sound pretty similar to Daddy).

She is getting around pretty quickly, shoving everything in her mouth(which had been so much harder to monitor with all the kids home and schooling all day), and standing on her own for 10 seconds at a time or so. She doesn't pull herself up so think walking is a few months off, but she is pretty dang proud of her ability to balance on her feet.

Poor Frankie has been lost in the shuffle as we all race to get schoolwork done every day (which usually isn't completely finished until almost supper time). He could go to daycare, but he doesn't like leaving when he knows we are all staying home. Given the option of going to daycare (which he loves!) he had said, "No, I will just be bored at home."

And here's another quote.

Frankie: Are Russians all bad guys?
Me: No, they just kind of sound like that...

We then realized he has only ever heard Russian accents on movies where they play the villians, triggering that question.

And to sign off, I will leave you with a few unedited photos that look like they were made with filters but were not. 

We have a teenager in the house!

Elena turned 13 smack dab in the middle of our state Stay-At-Home-Order....well, maybe not the middle. This could be just the beginning, but either way, it sure dampened our plans for her birthday. No friends over to share cake, no going out anywhere.

She took it all in stride and wasn't too upset. In the end, there were lots of friends and family who made it a point to make her day special.

The day started with "April Fools" caramel rolls. These were rolls that I set out to rise the night before only to find in the morning that they had been in the freezer a bit too long so they didn't rise. April Fools! Have a crappy breakfast.

Fortunately, we didn't need the rolls after all. Elena's former 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Delmonico came to the rescue with her kids, bringing donuts from the Canby Bakery. (For those who aren't local, those are as good as it gets!) They stayed in the car for the visit & we stayed several feet from the car. It was wonderful to visit with them, but so sad the kids couldn't get out to play!

This was followed by a visit from my parents who brought her roses along with an Easter hat and a mermaid snuggie. They got out of the car, but we stayed outside and kept our 6 foot distance (as you can see) during their short visit.

In the afternoon, we had visits from 2 more of Elena's friends/cousins (Ana and Maddy) from the Marshall area, bringing cookies and gifts. More social distancing was had by all. I was bummed not to get a picture of Ana who came appropriately dressed for the occasion with a mask and gloves.

The evening brought a visit from Seth's mom, followed by a bonfire with Seth's sister's family out back.

And I can't forget to mention all the cards!! At the time I took this picture she had gotten 21, but she has since received several more.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty special day. And a birthday she likely will never forget!!

Staying At Home

During Minnesota's Stay-At-Home period, I have been thankful to have a large family. While it means a lot of extra work (we've been running the dishwasher twice a day + a daily load of hand-washed dishes), it also means a lot of options for a variety of social interactions during the day.

We have been playing lots of games together. Olivia's favorite is This Little Piggy (she grabs her toes to let us know she wants to keep playing if we stop). Spot-It is a favorite of Frankie's, but he can't play with Charlie or it ends in a fight. If we can get the 2 littlest ones asleep early, the rest of us can play games like Telsestrations and Catan. 

We haven't found too many activities the entire family can do. About the only thing we can do all together (well, almost...Olivia sits in her Bumbo at a distance and watches) is wrestle. 

The last time all 4 kids were attempting to pin Seth. They couldn't get close so I joined in to help. I am sad to say that it ended with Seth having all 5 of us at his mercy, pinned into one giant pig-pile. Several times. To be fair, Frankie and Charlie got in the way more than they helped. And Seth was a wrestler in high school, while I kept busy with things like Mock Trial and theater. 

Still pretty pathetic, though. 

If you watch to the end, you can see him pinning all the kids.

Social distancing

As coronavirus spreads, we are taking things day by day around here.

The exhausting part for me has just been making decisions. How much to limit contact with others; letting the kids play outside, but then suddenly having 5-10 neighborhood kids show up to join them (all boys, of course. Poor Elena!); whether Seth should go out to meetings at all; whether Frankie should still go to daycare, etc. 

I think I finally have a plan figured out for teaching Spanish online. I am so grateful that I just have the one class to plan for this year. I am learning that I really dislike recording myself, but I guess it's something I will have to get used to. 

Frankie just doesn't understand how everything can suddenly be closed because of this illness that he can't see. He keeps asking to go to the Thrift Store. I told him it might be closed for a few months, and he asked about 30 minutes later, "Has it been a few months? Is the Thrift Store open now?" 

It's looking like we will likely finish out the school year at home with "Distance Learning." We have survived the first 2 days. The older kids are pretty independent, although I am learning that I need to double check on them. 

Me: "Did you do everything?"

Sam: "Yep."

Me: "Even this?"

Sam: "Well, I couldn't figure it out."

Me: "That doesn't count as done, bub."

Quote of the day comes from Charlie when I told him we had to get started doing his school work:

"But I did it all yesterday."

Apparently we neglected to explain this sufficiently to Charlie.

On the bright side, we found a way to turn reviewing math facts from his most dreaded task to his favorite: