Corona Virus Week 11

Sunday I made homemade salsa, tortillas and tortilla chips.  The salsa was so easy and turned out so well.  Everything was put into the blender and mixed. It was so quick.  I have never made salsa so it was fun to try it out.  A friend here in Charlottesville has a really good recipe that I would also like to try but for now I am a fan of blender salsa.  My tortillas were not circular but they did taste really good so I am calling it a win.  Everyone in the family prefers them to store bought ones, even the really good raw ones that we have been unable to find the past month and a half so that is encouraging. There were 2 pans of chips and one baked really nicely and the other did not. So while they were good and would work if we had no other option I am going to keep buying Costco Tortilla Chips.

Jared was in charge of our family home evening treat and picked a Mint Oreo Brownie Pizza Pie.  We worked on it together but he did a majority of the work and did a nice job.  He was very happy with how it turned out.  The mint frosting or "sauce" layer was a bit much for me but the brownie and Oreo part was great. Lydia and I made Banana Chocolate Chip muffins and she did really well.  She has now made 3 muffin recipes so to finish her goal she will make one as much as possible on her own.  Its good for her (and Jared) to practice reading recipes and trying things out.  Jared feels confident taking things out of the oven for the most part but Lydia is not there yet which makes perfect sense. 

It was really nice to not have a day off from work Monday. In the morning I took a leisurely walk in a neighborhood near our house.  I really like this neighborhood but it is full of big hills so I definitely would never run there but I figured I could handle walking there. The houses have huge yards and are different from each other.  The homeowners have done some fun stuff to make their yards really fun and many had pretty gardens.  It was really nice to walk somewhere new.
Mark took Jared and Lydia kayaking with a teacher friend and his family. The Shedd's planned to go at 1:00 which is pretty much my least favorite time to kayak so I stayed home and painted a bathroom (Mark did the first coat) and did laundry.  Once they got back we made froze lemonade and Mark grilled for dinner.  We make sure to talk about why we even celebrate Memorial day with Lydia and Jared but struggle with really "celebrating" the day.  Since I missed out on kayaking earlier in the day I decided to go in the evening which is my favorite time to be out.  Mark said when they were there it was really crowded so its a good thing they were kayaking, a very good social distancing activity. When I was there there was hardly anyone around which was nice.  I didn't see anyone else on the water just a few people fishing, some turtles, the lake otter and 2 big herons.

These flowering tress were fun.  I don't know if it was them or something else but there was a really nice floral scent near the edges of the lake.

While I was out kayaking Mark set up the tent for Jared and Lydia on the back deck.  The weather was pretty decent and they have long wanted to sleep out in the yard so we went for it. They were super excited and both made it through a majority of the night.  Lydia went into the guest room downstairs around 5:15 (she later told me the birds were too loud) and both were up by 6:15.  They ate breakfast in there and are ready to do it again when there is nice weather.  Crazy thing is that Friday morning, just 4 days later the bear was in our trash again! I have no reason to think the bear would go near them and we have gone camping in campgrounds where bears regularly appear but it is a little unsettling.

Tuesday we met up with friends to ride bikes at the church parking lot.  It was beautiful out and really nice to visit with friends.  There was plenty of space and it was fun to see them. We took Jared and Lydia to Baker Butler to ride bikes the next evening.  There is a sidewalk with a decent incline that leads to the track and Lydia and Jared had a lot of fun riding down it.  Lydia generally does not enjoy riding down hills and will apply her brakes the whole time but she was feeling particularly brave this evening which was fun to see.

Thursday Jared got his braces off!  He was supposed to get them off in March but his appointment got cancelled along with everything else so he got an extra 2 months.  When I talked to the office they said they would decide after seeing him if he had enough space and he did so now he gets a break.  If I had known for sure it was happening I would have possibly planned some sort of acknowledgement but a quick trip to Dairy Queen for a blizzard worked out well.

This week UVA announced their plans for the Fall.  They are not set in stone but as of yesterday they plan to bring as many students back as possible for the Fall term.  School will start August 25th and classes will end by Thanksgiving so travel can be minimized.  Finals will likely all be online in December.  Any classes with high enrollment numbers will also be held online.  There were a lot of plans and details but it looks like they are going to try to do it.  Jen was going into the office on Tuesdays and Fridays for packages (normally one of my duties) but her husband works at UVA Health and he has been in contact with COVID-19 patients (he is in full PPE) but to be safe I am now going in to do it.  One of my tasks today was to create signs for the stairs (up only and down only), bathrooms, and doors (exit only and entry only).  The three of us will not be in the office full time before August, and even then I think it will be one of us each day and not for the whole day. Going in for 2 hours twice a week will be a nice change of pace until then.  While I was at UVA Mark took Jared and Lydia to Baker Butler to fly Jared's drone.  This was his number one birthday request and it has largely sat on the shelf in his closet not being used.  This actually worked in our favor because now he has a new toy to entertain him as Summer starts.  In the Fall he did not put in the time to read the manual but after attempting to fly it this week he sat down one night and started reading it and is figuring all kinds of things out.  Its cool to see him learn new tricks with it and see how proud he is.

Earlier in the week Lydia commented that she felt like she hadn't been farther than 5 minutes from our house in a really long time.  That is a pretty accurate statement for her.  I think our last trip to Richmond at the beginning of May was the last time she left our general neighborhood.  We looked at the weather for Saturday and the humidity was pretty low so we decided to drive over to Walnut Creek to kayak.  We stopped for Duck Donuts on the way and I accidentally broke Virginia's newly mandated mask order.  I had ordered the donuts online and ran in to get them and when I got to the car Mark made commented on me breaking the mask mandate the second day in.  I had completely forgot about it!  I wore my mask the whole time I was at the office Friday but just spaced it when I went in for donuts since I was going in so fast.  I will have to be better.

We got there around 8:45 and started off.  It was really nice to be somewhere new to kayak and to get there pretty early in the day.  We have really only ever started from the swimming area and have only done it once or twice.  Mark towed Lydia which she loved and Jared did really well paddling. After we had paddled around for awhile I asked if we could take a picture together which is no easy feat since you don't exactly stay in one place. We asked Lydia to lean over a little and she went too far and flipped out of the kayak!  She was so surprised but also loved getting cooled off.  We kayaked around for awhile and then started up a game of kayak baseball which was really fun.  Kayaking is nice but I can only do it for so long.  Before we left I grabbed a beach ball and a small basketball that would float and took them with us.  Jared broke his paddle into 2 separate pieces so he and Lydia could each have a bat and Mark and I pitched to them.  We were mildly successful but it made kayaking a lot more fun.  I'm pretty sure they are going to ask to play each time we go out which I am cool with. We had Jared and Lydia switch kayaks for the paddle back which Lydia was not pleased about but a few minutes later she realized she could go pretty fast in the adult kayak and did really well.  We only had 3 paddles with us so I towed Jared for awhile with him helping as he could and then he laid down on his stomach and "freestyled" it which worked pretty well. After a quick break at the dock Mark and Jared went off to play a few holes of disc golf and Lydia and I paddled around near the dock.  It was a perfect morning outing.

Mark had great self control and saved one of his donuts to eat while we were out. 

We got home and cleaned our kayaks.  They were pretty gross and are looking much better now.  We hadn't cleaned them in a long time. We also made a trip to the dump.  We borrowed a trailer from some friends so we could load up the renovation debris from our guest bathroom that has been in our driveway the last month.  We started renovating the guest bathroom about a month ago and are basically done.  We just need to hang up the towel rack and mirror. The guy who has been helping us was supposed to come Thursday to finish up (and then take the junk to the dump) but he called us to let us know he couldn't come because a guy he works with tested positive for COVID-19 so he was staying home for the next 2 weeks.  He only worked with that guy one day and it was after the last time he had been to our house but I hope he does not get sick.  It is really nice to have the driveway cleaned up and the bathroom mostly done.  We are planning on having him do the master bathroom as well (its funny to call it that because it is so small). Mark returned home from dropping off the trailer with a pressure washer so I guess that is happening this week.

Two other things that happened this week were: Jared taking over doing his laundry and a really great Come Follow Me lesson by Lydia.  Long ago Mark and I decided (after hearing that his sister in law does this) that once our kids were 10 years old they would be in charge of their own laundry.  He has been 10 for 7 months now so we were a little slow but were there.  We did it together last week and this week he got it done.  He does not fold his clothes but sorts them out by what goes in which drawer and then dumps the clothes in but I feel confident that one day he will see the value in actually folding clothes. Cecily, Mark's sister in law gives her kids a new laundry basket as one of their presents on their 10th birthday.  She is great.  Jared was not excited but also realized that its not that hard to do.
For her Come Follow Me lesson  Lydia focused on Alma 4:19 which talks about pure testimony.  (She saw this idea in the Primary outline.)  She had us read the verse together and talked about testimonies.  Then she had a glass full of water and 4 glass jars.  We each went around in a circle and as we mentioned one thing " we knew" (or bore a part of our testimony) we poured some water into the jar.  It was really sweet.  It was so simple and yet brought the spirit right into our home.  On Sunday I taught a lesson for RS (via Zoom, our ward will not be meeting in person any time soon) based off Elder Andersen's talk, "Spiritually Defining Memories" which was my favorite conference talk.  This Come Follow Me Lesson is one of those memories for me.  Sitting around our kitchen table, feeling the spirit as we all bore witness of what we know.  I have rarely heard Jared or Lydia bear testimonies and it was lovely.  I want to be better at writing these memories on this blog and it was fun that one happened the week I gave this lesson. 

Summer Fun List 2020. Not all of these will happen (likely the travel ones will not) but we will try.

Having this up makes me happy.  I felt really unmotivated and irritated last week. I lacked energy and direction. Thinking about the hot weather, the long, empty days depresses me.  Every year I get this way.  And then we make our Summer fun list and I am in a better place.  Making this list helps me feel in control of my life and have things to look forward to.  I make a big shopping trip to get all the supplies we will need so I have them on hand when needed. Then if a day is feeling long and empty and I start to feel yucky I can look at this list and have instant ideas we can do.  Many days I am fine but on days I am not this list saves me.  We also came up with a simple learning schedule and started it Thursday.  We will do it together (the four of us) after lunch and if we miss a day because something comes up then we do not care. We have some theme days and projects and will do some math and literacy each day.  But we make it fun and do most of it together and its not more than an hour unless they are really into what they are doing. I have noticed many days go by where I have very minimal interaction with Jared and Lydia and this helps me spend some focused time learning and playing together.  This week we played banana-grams (my new favorite game) and did math with a deck of cards.  Jared and Lydia were happy to do it with us, and we all appreciated the structure in the day.

Corona Virus Week 10

Sunday we went on a walk at Charlotte Yancy Humphris Park.  I had been wanting to go on a walk here the past few weeks.  Its a great paved path through some woods right in the city.  We hadn't gone the last few years and it was nice to be back.  Jared and Lydia both want to ride their bikes there which I guess would be okay. It would be hard to keep up with them on bikes though and there are lots of turns. Its not very big and all the paths do cross back over each other. I feel confident that eventually we would meet up.  They have watches (to set a meet up time) and we could take walkie talkies so we could talk if needed.  We should just try it out. Although there are some hills because, Charlottesville so I don't think they will like it as much as they think they will but I'd be happy to be wrong.

Exhibit A.  Lydia is still 60/40 on right and left so I am not sure she would turn the way we discussed if she got to this spot on her own. Its likely she would just wait for us but still. 

I love pictures like this, a path through trees.

Lydia was feeling quite "posey" 

On Sunday I made strawberry shortcake for my weekly new recipe challenge.  At a family reunion a few years ago my sister in law Cecily made strawberry shortcake with this recipe and it was the best I have ever had.  Sadly mine did not turn out as good as hers but it was still good. 

Lydia has been asking to make stress balls for awhile so we did that Sunday too. Mark made 4 stress balls and Lydia broke 3 of the 4.  I did not think she was particularly stressed but maybe she is? Jared still has his.

We also had a fun surprise from our ward primary chorister.  She stopped by the houses of all the families in our ward (and there are a lot) who have primary kids and left cute signs in the yard.  I love this picture of Lydia.  Even Jared talked about how nice it was of her and how much he loved them and he is really undemonstrative.  It was really thoughtful of the chorister, she is so kind and fun. 

Jared and Lydia spent most of the week reading, playing in the creek and playing with Barbies.  Jared has been a really good sport about playing Barbies with Lydia.  Lydia has been thrilled. They especially love to take them outside where they have all kinds of adventures.  Things are admittedly getting a little weird though.  I think we have been home too long.

Even though remote learning was not the way anybody really wanted the school year to go they did  get to finish 2 weeks early because of it. Jared and Lydia are both happy to be done with school.  Just one more year at Baker Butler for Jared. He had a whole class, final, zoom meeting Friday (normally they are split into 2 groups) and was happy to meet one last time.  A few days before his teacher suggested students decorate their area to celebrate moving on to 5th grade.  I asked Jared if he would like to decorate and he said yes so we did and we were the only ones but it didn't matter, he loved it and I had fun doing it with him. Lydia had her last class meeting Wednesday and then her teacher sent a cute slideshow with pictures and memories from the year which was nice.  We celebrated with grade level donuts for breakfast and ice cream in the afternoon for our annual end of the year traditions.  The Shaw's came over to enjoy ice cream with us which was the first time we had anyone in our house since this all began. I am pretty sure they have joined us for ice cream the last day of school every year we have been at Baker Butler so we are glad they could make it. It was really nice to hear Jared and Lydia talking and laughing with friends in our house again.  

I introduced Jared and Lydia to crumb (now called crunch) donettes.  They were my absolute favorite growing up. For 4th and 5th grade I attended the school where my Mom taught which I loved.  If we ever needed to stop at a convenient store on our way to school (she always had a stash of Diet Coke in her classroom to help her make it through the day teaching) she would always let me get a package of them.  I bought powdered and crumb in case they didn't like the crumb but they both now love the crumb donuts the most too. 

We are all happy school is out but it is going to be a long(er) hot(er) than usual Summer. All city pools and county lakes will be closed for the Summer.  We hope we can travel somewhere but there are still a lot of restrictions and things that we would enjoy seeing are still closed so I'm not sure there is much point in going.  Flights are starting to fill up. Mark worked at the airport 3 days this week, from 2:00 - 7:00 and each flight was about half full which is what I believe the new policy is. It could have been a busier week because of the holiday weekend though.  We plan to make our Summer fun list tomorrow and will have to be extra creative. We did start off with a morning picnic on the trampoline and cleaned off our water table which will likely be put to good use this Summer! 

Seen on my walk at Chris Greene today:  This was not there earlier in the week so I think they wanted it up before Memorial day. 

Corona Virus Week 9

Lydia and Jared made the goal to learn how to make some of the muffins we have for Muffin Monday.  Jared is just doing blueberry his favorite, and Lydia picked three recipes to learn so we will make them together the next few weeks. I often invite them to help me make muffins or other things and they rarely want to but as we made these Lydia kept talking about how fun it was.  Hopefully she will remember that! 

I saw a recipe online for ice cream bread and could not quite wrap my head around it so I decided to try it out and it turned out pretty good.  It won't be a regular treat here but it was fun to try something new.  Jen from work asked me if I could go into the office for her Friday as she had some big deadlines and I was happy to go in and have a change of scenery.  I love to take treats into the office so it was good to have something to take in. Only Bill would be there but he might be the one who likes them the most.  It's made up of just flour and ice cream!  I added the Oreos to make it more interesting.

A sweet friend texted me earlier this week and asked about getting together and suggested kayaking and it was so fun to go out with her.  It was a beautiful night and we had a great time catching up. The sunlight was so pretty.  We saw some fun wildlife: turtles, an otter and a huge bird that I think is a type of heron. 

The bird is in the middle of this tree. 

Our family went kayaking twice this week.  We had Jared ride his bike to the lake each time and it made me happy to see him riding somewhere other than a parking lot. 

Lydia is doing well with the youth kayak.  She just needs to keep practicing and is happy to use this one.  Mark towed her for awhile this night which she liked even more. 

Second to last class Zoom meeting. Lydia's class meets (optionally) on Wednesday's at 10:00.  She likes to go for the first 10 minuets of "sharing" and see her classmates and then is done and that's fine.  She does not like to stay for whatever the activity/lesson is. I would say its safe to say online learning is not her thing. Jared's class has been meeting Mondays at 8:30 (optionally) for like 15 minutes. The 4th graders also have the option to take part in a Minecraft Challenge on Friday's if they complete all their seesaw work which has been all the motivation he needs. True to the pattern set at the beginning of the year Lydia has way more work than Jared which is odd but she is a trooper and Mark too. The other day we were talking about online school and they both commented that school with Mark as their teacher was way better. They really have done so well but each day I have noticed they are slower to start their work and need more motivation from Mark and I.  They are so happy that next week is the last week.

Mark ran his personal half marathon!  After his 10k he kept adding one mile each week and now he's done it. Before he left we made plans to meet for a water break after mile 8 and as I was getting ready to leave I got a cryptic text from him asking me to meet him at the church and to bring his keys. I asked him why and he replied back with a number 2 which I did not get at all. We were supposed to meet near the church but instead I drove to the street the church is on.  He came around the corner and signaled to meet him at the doors.  He rushed inside because he desperately needed to go to the bathroom. Poor guy.  I was really paranoid about this happening on my long runs and felt bad for Mark that it happened to him.  (He told me to share this story) This pit stop through off his time which disappointed him but he did it and we are proud of him.  To celebrate he wanted fancy chocolate milk and a nap.

Mile 12.5!

Lastly, Mark and Lydia decided to plant a garden.  They brainstormed what they wanted and got it all planted today.  Hopefully it works out for them.