Corona Chronologies Day 54

Since yesterday was the last day of school today we put it all away.

It is nice to have my living room back from the school table and not have the classroom clutter.

That was killin' me.

Hopefully now I can furnish my living room so we don't still look like college kids but I do not have high hopes of that.

It's comfy and people sit around in it so I guess it does the job.

We also recovered the basement from what looked to be an bombing of legos with clean laundry drizzled from the washer to the boys bedroom.

It was lovely.

Some of the people were not thrilled with having to work on it.

The attempted to play dead.

Brevick went to play at a friend's house this afternoon which was super fun for him. I let the other kids play on their tablets which made for a very quiet afternoon. The Anchor woke up and it became decidedly less quiet.

Ben is getting all of his fishing gear in order for the summer and Anchor was lending some moral support with a screaming order barked in occasionally.

*I love that he has his little hand on Ben's back and is studiously watching.*

After dinner we got the gate posts set in just as the wind began to blow ferociously so the timing was perfect. We are hoping to run some of the rails tomorrow morning before it gets hot! One step at a time and we will get this thing done.

Per the usual, I am totally exhausted and cannot wait until sleep. 

Corona Chronologies Day 53

Last day of school! Last day of school!

That is really one of the best days of the school year I think.

I didn't even make my kids do any school work today.

Well, I made them do some learning games which it totally not the same thing.

When Anchor saw Sallee come into the kitchen for her breakfast he ran over and got a bowl and went to the cereal to get dished up.

He loves to share her food.

Anchor felt like he needed to run his own lunch situation today so he did.

Note, his pizza is on top of his upside down plate. He ate great though so I guess that't a win. (He probably ate good because he had pizza, not because he set it up himself)

We did a lot of prepping for our home school graduation BBQ

All the kids requested menu items so today we had: ribs, shrimp, corn on the cob, meat, (leftovers from the fridge) guacamole, salsa, sugar cookies (some shaped like graduation caps) and a minecraft brownie cap

Emmerlyn made the cookies, Charley made the brownie cap and the shrimp (with Ben's help.)

William made the ribs and since I don't know how to grill anything he was pretty much on his own until Ben got home and could shed some light on the situation. Because I am inept at grilling the ribs were done about an hour after we ate the rest of the dinner so they were a nice pre-dessert protein snack.

I should learn to grill a little but I won't because I don't want to be responsible for that.

Brevick brought the soda bar and everybody enjoyed their drinks.

Since Emmerlyn hates pop she made herself some fresh squeezed orange juice. That was yummy too.

The kids wound down with some TV before bed after asking if they could stay up until 10.

I said no.

I let them stay up until like 8:45 which is basically the same thing! 

Corona Chronologies Day 52

Good news, Charley throughout the day has been able to put more weight on his foot and I think it is going to be just fine.

Good thing I didn't over panic last night and take him in to get an x-ray.

Anchor was up and ready for breakfast a little after 6 and then wanted to just roll right into the day.

He came in to yell at me while I exercised but then he got really into it and was doin' his crunches right along with me.
The older kids were doing reading on their tablets so Anchor thought he would jump in on that.

He helped me out by pulling out all the coloring stuff while I attempted to organize the leftover school supplies for summer.

Then I loaded the dishwasher while he rearranged all the dishes that I put in. 

Then he climbed on the table while the kids were trying to play with their playdoh.

I took a shower so he could cry outside the door in my room.

We all went to pick up the lunches

Anchor unloaded all the bags on the table that way the kids could fight over who's sandwich was who's knowing full well they were not going to eat it.

Finally we got him down for rest-time and the kids could finish their responsibilities and then be annoyed because they still had to do some learning games.

they are really leading a tough life.

After rest-time Ben dropped off a trailer full of vinyl fencing for William and I to unload so we could finish the fence hopefully soon.

*this is a view of a small sample of the amount of work that we have done and we have yet to do.*

The vinyl was light but after taking all of it off in the hot sun I am SO worn out!! I hope that we can pick a day to get it done when the weather is cloudy and cool.

Ben and William headed out to go fishing after dinner and the rest of us are chillin' watching mindless TV because deep down inside we wish we were asleep.
After a few minutes of chillin' Emmerlyn decided it was time to mix up some cookies.
Yep, let's do that...

Corona Chronologies Day 51

When the day starts out like this, you know it's not going to go to good places.

First on the agenda was to take back the chrome book. We got all the way to the school and realized that we had forgotten the chrome book. We did get everything returned eventually and had to spend the rest of the morning decompressing. William got his yearbook and loved looking through it right up until the end when it started talking about Coronavirus. He slammed it shut and tossed it aside venting "that he was sick and annoyed hearing about that all of the time!"

Anchor was up pretty much all night then I had to try 3 different times to get him down for a nap. His new favorite food today is belvita breakfast biscuits...dipped in apple juice also, he refused to eat his cereal this morning until he had a piece of toast to dip in it. 

These two and I had fun drawing pictures on the whiteboard and then guessing what it was. I love writing on whiteboards.

William made his favorite enchiladas for dinner and they were yummy. A little spicy for some of the kids but they ate them pretty well.

Anchor refused to come inside for dinner and opted for more biscuits on the couch later.

We got to go to a super fun birthday party at the trampoline park which we all loved right up until Charley injured his ankle/foot.

Thanks to Uncle Simeon for picking him up and bringing him out.

*It's the bottom ankle* you can't tell in the picture but it is swelling on the top of the foot below the ankle. We iced it, gave him some motrin, and wrapped it and sent him to bed. Fingers crossed that it's all better in the morning. I am moderately concerned because every time he tried to move it he started to cry again...I piggy-backed him in from the car and then down to his bed, good thing we didn't fall on the stairs!!!

We will see what it looks like in the morning.

Corona Chronologies Day 50

DAY 50!!!!!!!

I cannot believe it has been this long and at the same time, I feel like it has never been any different.

Today we finished up and turned in all of the missing assignments from school.

Brevick didn't have any (...that they are tracking, we definitely missed enough)

Charley had 2

Emmerlyn had 4 (they were done, she just didn't know how to submit them)

William: his entire band class.

I'm gonna go with a win here. 50 days of home school and that's all we missed. I'm ok with that. Not the band class. That one slipped right under the radar so I will have to step up my line of questioning in the future.

The day was beautiful so the kids and Ben built themselves a little pumpkin patch at the bottom of Raspberry Hill and they got their pumpkins all planted up.

We also got a little tomato and pepper plant growing on the deck so Anchor can work on digging them up all summer.

We put in some parsley and cilantro plants so we can have surprise salsa and past because they look pretty much the same.

After William made hamburgers for lunch Ben went to work and Emmerlyn and I went shopping to see if we could put together a summer wardrobe for each of us.

There is nothing left for sale in Pocatello so we are going to be uncomfortably attired for the hot weather but...we did get her a new swimsuit, a cute rug, new socks for Anchor AND 5 containers of ice cream because they were on sale at Fred Meyer. 

We really love ice cream.

While we were gone William had to change a stinky diaper. He tried his best. Probably he won't be a daycare provider when he grows up. I reminded Anchor that he needs to hold still with the kids are changing him because it is hard for them. 

He laughed at me and tried to run away while I changed his diaper again...and his clothes.

I am proud of William for taking care of things while I was gone.

Ben came home and then we went for another drive so that our kids can hate us. We let them play on their tablets so they were only a little mad.

Anchor has perfected two new words "fries" and "sprite".

He really is adorable. 

The 10th Weekend

This weekend we really didn't do anything. Saturday the rain came down and it was just what we needed. We went for a drive searching out a good fishing spot. We think that we found a couple options that will work so we will have to try it later.

We watched some TV, did some tablets. You know, the usual.

On Sunday we had church and then Ben enlisted the kids in making dinner and the did a great job. We had teriyaki kabobs and fried rice.

Emmerlyn followed it up with this lovely corn-on-the-cob cupcake conglomeration. 

We ended the day reading some family history stories and a wild game of trivia with the extended fam. That was fun, the kids loved it.

And that's it. That is the whole weekend, just what we needed.

Corona Chronologies Day 49

I'm not gonna lie,

my heart is just not in it tonight.

Today Emmerlyn had her last google meets for 2nd grade, she is a little sad about missing her teacher.

Charley found out one of the kids in his class is getting a puppy (of all the rotten timing, I thought we had moved on.)

Brevick has been running around like a banshee all day.

And Anchor, well, Anchor has been busy as usual. He ate his cereal with his fingers. He fell asleep on the couch so his nap was delayed.

He lost William's valve oil for his tuba.

He wanted to go outside for his water operation but it is raining and 45* so we said no which resulted in a flopping melt down.

He did take a good afternoon nap today but then refused to go to bed without Emmerlyn.

William had his first ever blood draw today which he has been talking about ever since. He was pretty proud that he didn't pass out.

I also got a text from William's band teacher that said "He is an outstanding young man and I realize that tuba practice is very low on the list of items of global importance but if he doesn't do ANY of the assignments then I won't be able to pass him..."

I responded that William would get ALL of the assignments done by next week.

Then William and I had a nice little chat about what it means when I ask him if he has gotten all of his classwork done for all of his classes. I don't think we will run into this misunderstanding again.

In his defense, the band teacher told them to focus mostly on their core subjects. If William was putting in more than 1-2 hours of schoolwork a day I would have let that slide but he has definitely had the time to be doing his assignments. He has been practicing though, we have all heard and felt the tuba throughout Corona Break.

He is also still trying to pick along on the base guitar. We will see how far that goes.

Corona Chronologies Day 48

Hmmm, what did we even do today?

Well, I can tell you what we didn't do...

Anchor didn't sleep in, 

Then he didn't take a morning nap,

Then he didn't stay awake in the car when we went to pick up the lunches (think 1 minute of sleep)

Then he didn't take an afternoon nap.

Emmerlyn and Brevick didn't have any schoolwork to do today 

I assigned them some summer schoolwork so they didn't get to just play on their tablets all morning like they wanted to.

William didn't have anything he wanted to do after school 

I didn't want to make dinner

This problem fixed itself.

The kids didn't want to play with their toys so I sent them on a scavenger hunt to the ravine.

They came back covered in mud.

I didn't want that all over the house so I sent them to the showers.

Emmerlyn didn't want to miss her first day back at gymnastics (YAY!!!!) so we set 2 different alarms.

Anchor didn't want to keep his feet on the floor so he stood on his rolling zebra riding toy to be able to push buttons on the TV.

William doesn't want to give up the idea of getting a dog, nor does he want to give up the idea of having pizza so he diy'd it.

He didn't like that some of the pizza bombs were a little doughy so he complained to the baker...

He will probably get to fix the dinner problem again tomorrow.

I didn't like the idea of William being bored all summer so I told him to make a summer bucket list.

He began listing out loud.

I didn't like the monologue so I told him it must be written down.

He asked Charley for a paper and pen.

Charley didn't like being left out so he asked for paper, pen, and a bucket!

We didn't want to miss out on the limited time only flavor burst ice cream cones at Arctic Circle so we stopped to grab some.

Anchor didn't want to miss out the full ice cream experience so he rubbed himself down with the melted leftovers.

I didn't want to lose my mind so I just rinsed him and quickly put him to bed.

Bath day can be tomorrow.

Corona Chronologies Day 47

Pop Day!!!

That is always a good day.

I didn't have pop but Brevick did so that made all the difference.

He had a rough night last night because he had a bad dream about us all getting Corona. Poor kid, I think it is amazing how much kids pick up on. *Although I can't say we have been subtle in our use of that word around here.*

Emmerlyn realized this morning that she accidentally finished her whole week of schoolwork on Monday so she is done with 2nd grade. Kudos to her.

Brevick wanted to be free for the rest of the week so he did all of his papers today so he just has to do the online stuff for 20 minutes each day.

Charley and William are still motoring along doing what their teachers post each day. The end of the school year is in sight though and we are ready for it.

Anchor has been slippin' around in his footie pajamas all day because he opted out of getting dressed this morning.

He actually slipped on the floor a couple of times and he slipped off the piano bench which was heartbreaking. I need to upholster it just so it isn't so bad. He definitely is one of those guys that gets made when he is hurt because he was crying and snuggling into my shoulder and then yelling and pointing at the piano bench. It really angered him. He ended up going downstairs to removed the offending object from his sight and yelling all the way down.

I had a bit of an accident this morning.

(It also broke the floor but I couldn't take a picture of it because I needed to sweep first and then after I swept I lost interest)

I was super sad because this is one of my favorite things.

Allyn tried to make me feel better by saying it would be ok but "no, Allyn, it is irrevocably broken. It is not going to be ok."

"uh, it is just a rolling pin so I mean..."

Right Allyn, so right.

*in case you are worried, I saved the marble part, it just won't handles*

Sallee hung out today trying not to lose her mind on the couch, she is really looking forward to her rotations coming up.

Since the school year is coming to a close and life may be opening up soon we did this, finally.

Starting with some warm towel pampering.

Then some curl winding.

Then some awful smelling.

Then the final results

He really loves it. I think it makes him look older so that's a little bittersweet for me. There are some hairs in the middle that didn't seem to curl so I have officially decided that I will not be going to beauty school next. 

I really loved it though when it was just curled against his head. He can rock it!

Corona Chronologies Day 46

It is truly a stroke of luck that I remembered this tonight.

I knew I was forgetting something, I just wasn't quite sure what it was.

I remembered!!

Today was Dentist day. 

I hate the dentist but we might as well get our money's worth out of the insurance policy.

William and I went first thing this morning and we were there for 2.5 hrs to get our teeth cleaned and have an exam.

The other 4 kids went this afternoon and we were out of there in 30 minutes.

Total.

For ALL of them.

It was Anchor's first visit and he really wasn't thrilled.

First there was a fly in the waiting room so he had to scream and run.

Then the dentist got all up in his face.

The dentist asked me how brushing was going with him and I said that it was rough and we didn't do it like we should.

He asked why? "uh because he fights it." 

"well, it's very important that he gets his teeth brushed, at least at night"

Thanks pal, I had no idea.

The dentist then attempted to brush Anchor's teeth.

It did not go well.

I felt better because now I know it's not just me.

He likes his new tooth brush though and used it for about 30 minutes after we got home. First just upstairs to try it out.

 Then downstairs with a little hat flair.

(I think he looks like a mario character)

The majority of the day was spent playing outside in the yard and the ravine. Tragically my kids were so dirty when they went to the dentist that Brevick left a pile of dirt and weeds where his feet sat on the chair. (I did not know that he was that filthy otherwise I would have put him in the shower before we went, it must have been under his heels)

William made pancakes for dinner and then the kids played until bedtime.

As they were chatting we heard this little conversation going on:

Emmerlyn: "I've always wanted to be like Charley when I grow up because he's my older brother."
William: "hey, I'm your older brother too"
Emmerlyn: "yeah, you're not the fun one"

Good times.

Well, Anchor has decided against sleep at this time so I need to go get him out. Here's to sleeping all day and playing all night!

2115

And none of them had gone to sleep....

Corona Chronologies Day 45

I could fall asleep on the couch right now as we speak.

Today I picked up Brevick and Emmerlyn's last packets which was a little bitter sweet. Emmerlyn won the award in her class for the best friend which is pretty fitting.

Brevick got his kindergarten graduation certificate and so he thought he was done with school.

He was pretty bummed to find out that he still has to finish his work for the next 2 weeks.

Charley and William are still plugging a long but hoping that they will be getting all of their work done soon.

The kids spent the day trying not to blow away in the wind and playing whole house hide and seek.

I even went out and played add-on on the tramp with them. That was fun but I don't know how cut out I am for jumping on the tramp anymore.

Anchor came out and played for awhile too.

William made a deal with Ben that he would back fill all the post holes in the yard if he could get extra tablet time so that took up his entire afternoon it really worked out for everyone.

I finally went to Costco because we were out of milk and spent my whole life savings. 

We were going to go on a drive this evening but all of the kids had a breakdown about going so we decided not to.

They then had a breakdown about staying home??

So really there was no right answer.

We watched the Lorax so we can get our green peace on and then sent the little complainers to bed.

Tomorrow is dentist day and I am dreading that!

The 9th Weekend

I don't have a whole lot to say about the weekend because Saturday we spent putting in all of the fence posts.

That was so exhausting.

Thanks to Denton and Susan for coming and helping.

It was so much work.

We eventually found a system and it only took us about 6 hours.

I was in charge of dumping the dirt into the post just to give it some stability.

Brevick and Charley were on the bucket brigade. Which they did great until about 12 when they went inside to make lemonade and never returned.

William helped tamp everything down and other odds and ends. He was a great worker!!

Emmerlyn was on the baby crew and she even made muffins. We ran out of sugar so she just skipped it so that was different. Luckily Anchor still liked them and William was so hungry he could eat anything.

Ben and his parents did all of the hard stuff and we are so lucky!

Ben is pretty awesome and does such a great job.

After being outside all day we didn't have much left over for making dinner so we went and got some.

The kids just wanted ice cream.

Anchor couldn't be bothered to go find a spot. As soon as he got his cup he dug right in.

 It made navigating the room a little difficult for everyone else but he didn't mind.

 Allyn was struggling with her dinner and had to bring in reinforcement. 

Sunday was good. We were all a little sore and tired so we tried to take it easy.

I was having a little bit of distress so I decided to make so cookies so I could eat my stress.

It looked like a good idea but

I probably should have waited until I was in a better state of mind.

They were however, delicious.

Corona Chronologies Day 44

Soooo, we started on our fence today.

The rental machine was late so we had a late start but thanks to the Allen's that came up to help us out, the post hole digging went really well.

Thankfully.

We only cut through the neighbors sprinkler system.

twice.

That was  bummer.

Everything else went pretty smoothly and Ben is good and worn out.

This guy loved watching the tractor in the yard.

I held him and watched until he started holding my eyelid open so he could poke my eyeball.

At that point I put him to bed.

We watched the jets fly over and that was super cool, the kids loved it!

We had to skip picking up the school lunch today because we were a little trapped in the driveway and it only sprinkled for a minute so we were really grateful for that.

We spent the late afternoon...

Fixing the neighbor's sprinkler system.

He should be good to go.

Tomorrow we will be hitting it hard putting the posts in.

Fencing is far more complicated than I thought.

Anchor got his favorite meal tonight...PIZZA!!

He was super excited to tell all of the kids because he wanted to share the joy.

I am blogging early because Anchor opted to wake up exactly 1 minute after I closed my eyes last night and he was ready for a water bottle and bird watching so we were awake for awhile.

I am ready for bed, I am also really hoping that Ben will be able to move tomorrow.

Corona Chronologies Day 43

Today we prepped for the fence.

Well, that's what Ben and William did for about 1.5 hours this evening.

The rest of the day was filled with fighting, laughing, arguing, eating, schoolwork, baths, the cruelty of an unjust life, the boys first outing since Corona break started 2 months ago, shows, tablet time, snacks, bird watching, throwing dishes off the deck.

You know, the usual.

Anchor learned a new skill today.

He can turn on the TV.

Brevick had to make up his schoolwork from yesterday. 

He definitely regretted not doing it yesterday.

He picked to snuggle in my bed and do it.

*my bed was made before he got in it.*

To be honest I am a little nervous to get in bed tonight because I am not sure if I got everything collected.

When I showed this picture to Brevick,

he said "hey, are those my scraps?" yes. "Why did you take a picture of them" why did you leave them in my bed? "I didn't know what else to do with them?" uh, next time, THROW THEM AWAY!

*note to self, do not allow cutting and pasting homework to be done in my bed.*

I came around the corner in my room and found this.

Apparently we need to work on the pillows are for heads not hinies understanding.

He was also freezing because our house is freezing. Still.
The boys had eye doctor appointments today which none of them need glasses but William and Charley will probably need them in the next year or 2. William asked the Dr if he could just have contacts. I told him he is going to have to stop teasing Emmerlyn about her glasses because what goes around comes around.
Super quick bragging, I have the most amazing kids. They were so well behaved. They sat nicely, they spoke quietly to each other while they were waiting, they followed directions. I can not believe how lucky I am to be their mom. I just don't know how they can be so good!!
After the appointment I took them to the store to grab a treat and some ice cream for dinner.
Brevick held on to me the whole time because he was a little nervous being around people after being cooped up with all the corona hype and social distancing media (he even pointed out that the eye Dr was not social distancing) The boys were also super careful to watch the people around us and stay always 6 feet apart.
The aisles are all marked so the traffic only goes 1 way and Charley looked down and then loudly stated "what is the point of one way arrows if people don't go that way?" there were like 5 people in that aisle going the wrong way.
Maybe next time they will pay more attention.

We had waffles with ice cream on top and bacon for dinner and this adorable baby LOVED it. He ate so much food.

Since I had to eat after everyone else was done, Anchor joined me for more food and to manipulate the bacons with the tongs.

He was doing a great job.

He then heard the kids playing downstairs so he headed down to play only to come up a few minutes later crying real tears and gesturing towards the basement.

I asked him what was wrong, and he responded with now angry gestures and words I couldn't understand. 

Emmerlyn was up here now and said that they were playing a game and Anchor kept trying to get the pieces so they told him he couldn't play.

He apparently understood this because his little heart broke and he came upstairs to tell me.

I wrapped him up and snuggled him to go to sleep. 

This worked well until Brevick decided he wanted to go outside and spray stuff with the hose.

Anchor wanted to go outside and spray stuff with the hose.

I said no and made Brevick come in and go get in his pajamas.

Everybody cried.

I put Anchor to bed.

There he remains.

Brevick has a hold of my ponytail and is flopping around on the couch like a fish.

I counting it as a win.

Corona Chronologies Day 42

I am struggling with my attention span today.

Which means I picked up this computer about 2 hours ago and just remembered that I needed to do this.

This morning Anchor helped Sallee freshen up.

He got her lookin' good to work from home.

Brevick talked me into doing his schoolwork "some now and then some later" which meant some got done and some didn't.

The kids and I scrubbed all the window tracks and casings this morning (which nearly killed Brevick. We used vinegar and he HATES that smell so he went outside. Well when poured into the window track it would flow outside and after a little while I could hear him yelling from the front of the house that "it even stinks outside, I can't get away!!!")

After the smell settled and the porch got spayed off, the kids were looking out the windows while I waiis finishing up and there was a killdeer bird on the lawn. Brevick said he was going to go try to touch it *I had no problem with this because there is no way he is going to catch that thing but he would sure burn a lot of energy trying.* But then I looked up and noticed that there was a baby, 2 actually. So the kids spent about 20 minutes watching the babies and their mama which was super cute, they are so tiny.

For dinner we had lasagna with garlic rolls around the edges which was super yummy. 

Brevick hates "basagna"

Lucky for him and me I got distracted while I was making the rolls and made cinnamon rolls with it so he had to eat some food to get one of those.

He likes those.

Sallee found a little spider had sat down beside her and frightened Miss Sallee away.

Actually it landed on her arm while she was eating her dinner.

So she ran and hid under Anchor's highchair.

William killed the spider.

Anchor laughed and pointed at her.

They have an interesting relationship.

I spent an obscene amount of time cleaning out the dishwasher tonight.

PSA to all that are within the sound of my voice...

DO NOT PUT SAND COVERED DISHES IN THE DISHWASHER!!!

The kids enjoyed many episodes of Americas Funniest Home Videos while I did that.

I was not laughing.

Everybody went to bed meekly because they wanted to live to see another day.

Except Anchor. He snuck downstairs with his blanket to go sleep with the boys while I was getting the clean dish towels out because he had 'lost' his binkie leash. 

Then I tried to put him down and he was just playing with Emmerlyn but I thought he was crying so I got him out. 

After snuggling Allyn for a minute and pointedly ignoring Sallee he heard a loud crash downstairs and immediately started calling for Brevick.

He took off to run downstairs so I shut the baby gate.

The night was not the same after that.

He launched himself kicking and screaming on the floor because he wanted to go play with Brevick.

I picked him up, wrapped him up, bink'd him up, and sent him to bed.

He is currently asleep.

The loud crashes from downstairs have now ceased.

I only have a few more things to do. . .

Corona Chronologies Day 41

This day we changed up the schedule and Ben and I ran a load of yard waste to the dump. That was exciting except that I hate that place. It smells SO yucky.

Anchor likes to go because he can watch the tractor drive around while we unload so that was win for him.

He was so cranky this morning that he went down for his nap at 11 then slept until like 3:30. He really needed that.

I attempted to get ready today and these guys enjoyed getting everything out. They had some kind of game going with all of those clippers but I don't have any idea what they were playing...

Anchor spent some time outside and then some time showing everyone his best skill.

Pulling down his pants.

He does great pulling them back up until he gets to his little bootie then he requires a little assistance. 

We picked up the 2nd and final load of concrete today for our fence so we should be ready to measure out and mark where the posts are going to go tomorrow. This is getting exciting but since I have no idea how to do this I confess I am a little nervous I hope it goes well.

Brevick is holding strong about coming back out of bed I wonder when this will end.

He was really sweet and rode with me to go pick up lunches today, he wanted "to go all by myself with just mom." I think he is feeling the effects of all that is going on and needing a little extra snuggling which I will gladly oblige.

Did you know he is going to be 6 in 23 days? Just in case you aren't counting down too now you know.

Yesterday when we were getting his packet out for school there was a little bookmark in in with his picture and poem on it for Mother's day. I showed it to him and he glanced at it and said "yeah, I didn't make that sooo..." 

I guess I can't even say it was the thought that counted there.

I think I love this little 5 year old.

Charley is working hard to convince us to get a go kart while William and Emmerlyn are working their puppy angles. 

The go kart would be so, so, much easier. 

Time will tell.

Ben is...at work.

Corona Chronologies Day 40

So we hit Monday with the racing speed of a turtle.

None of us really wanted to dive into it.

Eventually we took a deep breath and got going.

The kids did their school work.

I recovered our house from the weekend.

Anchor explored new playing fields.

The kids worked on chopping down the rest of the tall grass along the fence line and I attempted to pull out all the furniture and vacuum and mop the living room.

Anchor kept unplugging the vacuum so I was trying to sweep but he kept taking the broom and walking in the pile.

I had to put him in the hiking backpack so I could be productive. He thought that was super fun. Right up until he didn't.

He felt like he was missing out so he started swinging around up there which was nice for making my back work hard.

We also finished the egg drop finally.

Emmerlyn and Brevick's eggs survived.

Charley's was not so lucky.

(I did help Brevick so he had an unfair advantage.)

Anchor joined the fun by throwing off 6 cups.

William was the judge at the bottom he almost got nailed with a cup.

We played a nice round of chicka-pig which is a fun quick board game. Anchor threw the pieces so I bailed and put him to bed.

It is now 2115 and he is back out and so hyper I regret giving him six-lets before I put him to bed.

So we were talking about breeding dogs and getting a dog and all of the kids were trying to sell their points. After a minute Charley announced

"No, no, no. We're breeding go-karts"

Honestly, I think I could be on board with that plan.

Maybe that should be our only plan.

The 8th Weekend

So Saturday we redid the front of the house, again so that we can keep up with the Jones' and have just river rock in the front. After all the variations we have had, turns out it was the border that I hated. Now it looks good enough to leave it forever.

Hopefully.

Brevick surprised me, I could cut the bags of rocks open and then he was able to dump them out. He is tougher than he looks.

Anchor loved running around in the yard and Emmerlyn was assigned to chase him. He cannot contain himself when the opportunity of freedom arises.

He spent the afternoon eating cookies and coloring.

On himself.

 Ben and Emmerlyn finished up her birdhouse so she was pretty happy.

Sunday brought Mother's Day with it which I don't generally love that day. All of the hopes of having a lovely day and it always results in craziness, messes, and tears.

We didn't do too bad yesterday, Ben made french toast for breakfast. Anchor covered himself in whipped cream so that was work.

Church was lovely though. William gave a great talk that he wrote himself and Charley forgot about his talk so he gave a great heartfelt testimony.

I think I have the most amazing kids that ever there were. I just hope I don't ruin them.

After lunch we went to launch Charley's rocket (finally)

The rocket launched SO well and went SO far. In fact, we could not find it. Which was sad. On a happy note the parachute actually deployed which was a first for him so he was glad of that. So was I.

We spent the rest of the day resting and playing. We really loved the sunshine.

Corona Chronologies Day 39

Today was a ball.

Literally.

These two held a lovely ball complete with DJ Anchor on the key board.

They got all dressed up and everything and I think they looked smashing.

*I took this picture and then Brevick wanted to see it. "oh! I should have done my hair before the picture"

I think it adds a little flair of wildness. Also note he even has his church shoes on.*

 Pretty girl has herself all put together, she even painted her nails and toes to match.

It was a short ball. Those are the best kind though, if I remember right.

Anchor did this to his toast and then was trying to whisk it in the bowl so I thought I would liven things up a little.

By doing this.

It was a terrible idea.

Which resulted in the baby being wet AND sandy

And my kitchen floors turned out like this

William came out and asked if we had gotten a dog because it looked like Jetta had walked through.

Then we had to have a moment of sadness for our late dog.

Charley had a science project today that was making ice cream in a bag.

*it was freezing their hands*

It seemed like a fun activity for the kids but really this is what happened

*please excuse the terrible shot (I hope I don't look that terrible)*

I got them all turned to ice cream though.

My hands froze.

At least that cutie boy had fun with the oven mitts.

This afternoon we had a surprise visit from...

Dora Jean and MONTGOMERY!!!

When they came in Emmerlyn was so excited to see him she couldn't get to him fast enough

Anchor doesn't have to worry about getting eatin' this baby is skipping the snack and going for something a little more substantial, like an 8 year old.

He loves the sectional almost as much as Allyn. 

*I wish I had Dora Jean's whole face, she looks so happy. DJ, you should print this and frame it.*

Like this.

After the left we prepped for dinner.

Well, Anchor snacked for dinner.

He was prepared just in case an opportunity came up to go outside.

It didn't but he really enjoyed eating that cup of peanut butter finger lick by finger lick.

This kids wanted to have a late night all the way until 9:00pm playing their tablets and I figured, what do we have to lose...I let them.

Tomorrow's peace and happiness, that's what we'll be payin'