Scenes from this week

My pictures loaded backwards and I don't care enough to take the time to switch them in blogger. So this week we'll look at pictures in backwards order. When we moved to Washington we decided not to use the dining room in the house as a dining room because A, we had left our old kitchen table behind, and B, it was carpeted and that just seemed like a bad idea. So we have spent the last 15 months using our kitchen bar as our table. I have wanted to build or buy a nice kitchen table for probably ten years, but the one we had sufficed, so I never have. A few months back I helped my friend build a kitchen table for her house, which turned out great, but was more difficult to build than I would have liked because I didn't have all the tools I would want to make it easier. So my dreams to build my own table weren't quite so vibrant. And when I saw a Costco ad for this gorgeous table at a very reasonable price a couple weeks ago right as the quarantine started here in Seattle and I realized we didn't have a good work space for our kids to work from home for the next few months, all the pieces fell into place. I've always loved the look of a live edge table and this one is so pretty. It arrived yesterday and I'm already in love. We'll acquire some chairs and some stools for our kitchen bar in coming weeks, so for now we're using our old standby folding IKEA chairs that have lasted for an unprecendented seven plus years, and it's just great. It was so nice to be able to sit across from each other at a table for the first time in so long after being wrapped around an l-shaped bar for the last year. It's a small thing really, but I just appreciate the improvement so much. 

 We got a new rug to go under the table that will hopefully help with the cleanup every day. I wouldn't choose to have a carpeted dining room, but that's what we've got for now.

 Here's Aaron doing some homeschool work in my new desk location. I also wouldn't have chosen that spot for my desk in the past, but it's a really good place to see what's going on in my house because I can see my kids' rooms from here plus the whole front room and dining room. I'm pleased with it even if the visual appeal isn't my favorite.

 The kids took advantage of the big open floor space before the table came for a few days and there was lots of lounging with pillows, reading and playing legos.

 Genevieve had a project to do a mandala, some artwork using supplies she found outside. Chloe got into it as well and made her own little picture.

 This is Genevieve's butterfly and caterpillar.

 We've also been in the market for a new mattress for a good long while. We tried the Helix mattress for a couple months and ultimately decided it wasn't for us. We didn't like the bounciness of the hybrid mattress compared to straight memory foam. So we upgraded a little bit and bought a purple mattress. So far it is wonderful. I have no intentions of sending this one back.

 Aaron made a fortune teller for a school activity one day.

 And a puzzle for another. Kindegarten has the best homeschooling requirements.

 And we have had more recesses on the trampoline in the last two weeks than for the entire winter. I'm so glad the kids are out enjoying it so much.

I am really pleased with how well this shelter at home time is going for us. I was very stressed about it when it started for us three weeks ago. But it is okay. We're doing okay. We're blessed to both have stable jobs, and our kids our doing well despite the isolation. I guess you can never really be isolated when you have three siblings. But I think we will come out of this with better sibling relationships and a tighter bond. I am grateful for that.

Shelter in place

Coronavirus, you are changing our world. It's been such a crazy week. Homeschooling has gone surprisingly well. Staying at home all the time is also okay. I thought I would be more stir crazy, but it's not too bad. I go out to grocery shop and that's about it. The kids have jumped on the trampoline a lot. We've watched a lot of shows, worked on a lot of educational sites, played lots of games, read books. It's ever evolving. I'm following the news and Facebook way more than I was before this hit. I see a lot of ridiculous behavior, but also so much good happening. So many people are stepping up and doing good in this crazy time and that is comforting. We'll weather this. People are going to have really bad hair and nails and eyebrows and won't know what it's like to have to put normal clothes on after wearing PJs nonstop for weeks on end, but hey, being forced to step back and focus on family isn't bad. I worry for our economy and my investments and my friends and family that don't have stable jobs and are hurting so badly already. My job is beginning to scale back my workload, so we will feel the financial pinch from that, but nothing like what I know so many are struggling with. I remember back after 9/11 there was a long period of time where people and communities really pulled together. I've missed that for a long time because it went away all too fast. I'm seeing that again now and it is wonderful. A silver lining in all this bad.

 Some clay creations we made one day.

 Trampoline time on repeat for days. It was glorious.

 Except for when Spencer quite accidentally bounced Aaron out the open door onto his head. Thankfully no concussion or lasting damage as far as we can tell. What a huge blessing since he fell on his head on the concrete.

 I finished Aaron's paint by number. He loves it. Next up is a butterfly for Spencer but it is not a priority item on Amazon, so it won't come until May at the earliest once I order it, so it looks like I'll be taking a break from painting for now.

 We took a Sunday afternoon bike ride and saw way too many people out and about socializing. Gov. Inslee issued a stay at home edict today and I hope it helps. We've got to all work together to beat Coronavirus.

 The painting stretched and hung in Aaron's room.

We are costuming it up pretty constantly and the kids played with our tangram shapes for a good long time yesterday. That was a fun toy to pull out that we haven't played with in a long while.

Coronavirus

What a week! Never would I ever have imagined I would live in the town where a pandemic first hit in our country. But here I am in little Kirkland, Washington, experiencing just that. School is closed for six weeks at least. Church is not having any meetings or activities. Spring sports are starting to get canceled. Looks like Bill will be working from home starting tomorrow. And his work has held out longer than many around here. All restaurants are closed except for takeout. Library is closed. Museums are as well. Social distancing is in force. We're mostly just staying at home. It's something else. And from what I understand, we're two weeks ahead of the rest of the country in this pandemic but ten days behind Italy and Spain, who are really in the thick of it. It's nothing like I could ever fathom happening. I would never have chosen to homeschool. I prefer not to stay home all the time. But we'll be doing our part to slow this thing down.

We got out this afternoon to our local hiking trail and that was truly delightful. It was in the 50s and blue, blue skies. Glorious. I was in heaven. I'm pretty sure hiking will be my saving grace because it is something else to be at home 24/7 with a family of six. We'll make it though. There's some awesome resources online and we'll try to make the best of this whole crazy situation.

 New haircut.

 Church at home. This will be the norm for a goodly while here.

 Primary songs karaoke.

 Aaron joining me for some yoga this morning.

 Then the three kids actually doing kid yoga. They've always stopped and just watched after awhile in the past but they did this for a solid 20-30 minutes.

 And this is me enjoying the glorious sunshine and blue skies. This was a HARD winter and the sun is ever so welcome.

 Armed and dangerous.

Everyone loves it when Grandma comes to visit

Grandma Suzanne came to visit this week and we've loved it. We haven't really done anything too exciting, but just hanging out is good enough for this visit. Some 48-hour bug nailed most of us this weekend, so we've been binge watching TV and taking Tylenol to keep the fevers a little more manageable. We did manage to squeeze in a family party with Bill's sister and crew Friday night before the ick hit us. And thankfully it doesn't look like we passed it onto them. Despite the sickness, it's been fun to have her her. 

 Chloe is all about posing for pictures. She wanted me to take this one of her.

 This is the shed I just finished. I'm pleased with how it turned out. It's as big as I could make it to reasonably fit in the space I had, but it's actually still not big enough for all our bikes. Oh well. We do have eight bikes, lol.

 We are doing a little competition Spencer came home from primary activity this week wanting to do as a family. Each kid is making up a competiton for them to do and we're keeping points. The first one was making our own tinfoil boats and whoever's could hold the most weight, won. We used some old lentils I've had around for too long to measure. Much fun was had.

 Chloe and my niece Joanna got lots of solo grandma time this week one day when she came over to spend the day with us. Grandma was kind enough to push them on the swing for the longest time. They were in heaven.

 Aaron brought this puzzle home from school and was so excited to put it together with all each of his siblings. He wanted me to take a picture of it completed.

 We made scrunchies for my primary activity this week. Hopefully we're not fueling the current scrunchie craze of giving them to boys the girls like, but hey, I guess they can do what they want with them. I forgot how nice scrunchies are for ponytails. I'm glad they're back in style after a 20-year break.

 Genevieve slept a good portion of the day yesterday.

 Last night we made Shamrock rocks as part of Genevieve's piece of our family competition.