Delighted In

Good Friday service looked a bit different this year. Since it was scheduled for 6pm, we set the kids up with their pizza dinner squeezed around tents.

Communion.

Since we hadn't heard of any bike trails open, we trekked down to a parking lot to let the kids ride.

While we were out bike-riding, we heard the fire trucks returning from their Easter Bunny rounds. The kids and I dashed back to the fire station to see the firemen exiting the fire truck and the Easter Bunny walking into the firehouse. We did get a wave.

Trekking back home. She insisted on riding her glider bike instead of letting me carry it.

Another week's progress on masks

Easter Sunday was super-windy, but nice enough for the kids to go out and play in the afternoon.

We made homemade Resurrection Rolls just before dinner.

Easter dinner. Not only did we spent the day meditating on the hope we have because of Jesus, but we also found ourselves incredibly grateful for all we had to eat and all the time we've had together in this difficult season.

Monday after Easter was still part of our Spring Break. We started our "Music" themed day by watching awesome videos on the parts of an orchestra & the science behind the different instrument families. We made our own pan whistles out of straws (which actually worked!), stringed instruments, and banged on a lot of percussion instruments we own. (Sorry Dad's conference calls!)

Rain all day = ringlets in Amelia's hair

A friend had mentioned to us that two kids can play Battleship while virtually meeting. Such a genius idea. So Austin and Sawyer played Battleship one evening; it was so much fun even just watching them.

Helping Mom with her big mask-making project for some emergency responders.

First family bike ride of 2020

Outfoxed is such a favorite game.

Taking a little break on our second family bike ride of the weekend.

Our district determined to keep the Spring Break schedule. Knowing we would have 10 consecutive days of no school, I decided to create some purpose for us throughout the week days. There are so many internet resources for kids right now, but we avoid them during normal school days because the kids have already spent hours in front of screens. So our spring break week was designed around all the fun internet resources available.

We started our 'Oceans' day with watching National Geographic Wild videos on ocean creatures and coral reefs.

Our project for the day was creating an ocean scene with oil pastels and then painting over them with blue watercolor paint.

I had hoped that we could get into the Round Valley Reservoir for a picnic lunch somewhere near the water. While the main area of the reservoir was closed, a rocky beach area was open. So the kids and I hiked past a half dozen fishermen and a few women with lawn chairs and books and claimed a space to dig and picnic. It was a glorious couple of hours in the sunshine. The kids played together SO nicely; it felt very much like a 'normal' day for us.

Patrick signed us up for a free one week trial of DisneyPlus; the kids watched Finding Nemo in the afternoon.

Colleen is "frosting" her ice cream cake with blue-dyed whipped cream.

On Tuesday, the birthday girl woke up early. Instead of sending her back to bed, we did the "princess" puzzle we had borrowed.

Opening cards and gifts

After watching some videos on how castles are built, we built catapults out of popsicle sticks and rubber bands. Then we shot puff balls around and over LEGO walls we built.

Colleen had asked if we could go back to the reservoir for her birthday lunch. So we packed up our picnic and sand toys. However, when we arrived at the reservoir, we discovered it completely closed. We drove around to the boat launch area and found it to still be open. So we explored a new area, walking over the dam into this side of the reservoir and found ourselves a new beachfront property. There were a lot more fishermen for us to bother, but we tried to give everyone space.

Colleen fell into the icy water, giving all the fishermen an earful. We stripped her down and borrowed her siblings' sweatshirts to keep her warm on the hike back to the minivan. She changed into a new set of clothes, and we set back out for our beach area.

We stayed for 3 hours! It brought me so much joy to let the kids dig in the sand/rocks, haul rocks and branches around, hunt for shells and "explore" our little patch. Later that evening, we heard that the governor had closed all state parks. The reservoir must have known the announcement was coming, so they closed off a day early. We were really disappointed; I probably would have brought the kids here every nice afternoon after school for the duration of social distancing. But I do understand the logic behind closing the state parks. We saw many groups of young people - obviously not related - out hiking together. But it is a loss for those of us who don't have yards.

Our afternoon medieval movie was "The Sword and the Stone."

We had arranged to have Colleen's ice cream cake with our neighbors. The kids played outside until the adults could break away from work. Then Colleen put on her blue sprinkles, and we sang Happy Birthday.

We let them stay outside pretty late.

Colleen's two food requests for her birthday dinner (since she couldn't have Time to Eat Diner) were Indian food and Iced Tea. So Mrs. Shruthi sent over amazing food and homemade naan. Colleen downed her iced tea but still left room for her dinner.

On Wednesday morning, Colleen reminded me that we didn't paint her toenails like we were going to, so we had to let them dry during breakfast.

We started our rainy Wednesday "Space" theme by watching a tour of the International Space Station.

Then we made moon art; the background paper and glue craters took most of the day to dry.

Colleen needed a rest time; while she slept, the big kids and I played some big kid space games - AstroTrash and Space Trivia.

Since the website wasn't working on Wednesday, we spent Thursday morning watching a few books being read from the ISS during the "Storytime from Space" broadcast.

We finished our moon craft.

Then we officially started Thursday's National Parks/Camping theme with watching a few Sesame Street videos with a park ranger, as well as Expedia's tours of Yellowstone and Yosemite. The kids are ready to go!

Our project for the day was making camping scenes. After making their tents, the kids were free to add whatever they wanted to their camp scenes. They were each really creative with the paper, stickers and supplies I set out.

Knowing that the couch was going to be pulled out for family-living-room camping, I took the opportunity to wash the couch covers and let the kids play with the cushions.

After our tinfoil packet dinner, we made s'mores over the stovetop.

We started the Penguins movie.

Each kid had their own tent; Mom & Dad slept on the couch. It was a decent night's sleep. They enjoyed it so much that they begged for us to do it again on Friday night, and we agreed.

Friday's theme was "Art." We started by watching videos on Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Then they sculpted for awhile with playdough.

We talked about realism & impressionism and watched some videos on Monet and others. Then they made their own impressionism art.

Then we talked about pointillism as a form of impressionism and watched videos on Seurat. The kids chose what kind of coloring sheet they wanted me to print out, and they used the ends of brushes to make pointillism art.