Caterpillars!

    What a fun week, the weeks fly by so fast lately and I can't believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here. Homeschool is chugging along, some days are better than others but we usually finish all our work for each day sometime between 10am and 8pm. We had a very exciting delivery on Wednesday which was also Veterans Day. Hazel was helping me make patriotic rice krispies for our veteran friends and neighbors when we heard the doorbell ring. It was kind of a crazy minute, I had marshmallows blowing up the microwave and hazel stirring something but I ran to the door and it was our baby caterpillars! Live delivery! We finished making the treats and then unpacked the critters, we had a great time setting up their habitat and seeing them crawl around. We eventually moved their house to our homeschool table so that they could have more light and so this past week we did homeschool on the couch in the living room. It was different but kind of nice too. 

The kids are so funny with their little toys, sometimes their friends like to come to homeschool. I guess that is a perk of homeschool! 

    Other fun things this week included a fall themed art class with Grandmalita over FaceTime. The kids love to help me cook and stir and cut things, Hazel is my biggest helper lately and loves to grab a knife to help cut whatever she can get her hands on. Zara made her famous "Zara Soup" Veggie soup with noodles. The kids have also been enjoying taking baths in our big bathtub downstairs and I think Eli gets the award for best at relaxing and finding his inner zen. 

    Leo is getting closer to walking everyday. Lately he likes to kick is feet up on the ottoman to get up to the couch. He is a very smart kid. The playroom is always a mess, to me at least, but the kids all seem to know were everything is and they always amaze me with their creativity and the games they make for themselves. The toy of the week or the last two weeks was that huge box.

    Friday is our park day with Grace, Drew and Cam. We have been going to the park with them for years every week since Drew and Zara were about 3? But, I would say that we have become even more consistent since the pandemic started in March, well actually when it first started all the parks were closed so we didn't see each other for a while but sometime in the summer they reopened the parks and we basically go every Friday. The kids love seeing each other  and I love sitting and talking to Grace. The weather is getting really nice now which makes it even better.

    This week we tried a new park which turned out to be a major flop! So we packed the kids in the car and went down the road to a tried and true park. Leo loves swinging and Hazel keeps up with the big kids. In the car we listen to Laurie Berkner CD's that Barbie gave us at the beginning of the pandemic. When she first gave them to us I thought, awesome. Great. Thanks Barbie. Loads of annoying kid music. But actually they have turned out to be the best gift she's ever given me. We listen to them every time we are in the car and we have all the songs memorized and when I hear the kids singing them around the house or out in the yard it makes me so happy. 

    Friday morning at the park is fun but what the kids really live for is friday movie night. This week Dusty leveled up and set up the tent in the playroom, we added some Christmas lights and viola! A magic sleepover! We watched the new Secret Garden which wasn't quite as magical as I was hoping, should have gone with the 90's version I grew up with. 

    Saturday morning is pancake time! It's amazing to me how traditions have kind of just evolved, especially since covid happened we look forward to them more than ever and the kids remember them every week too! Hazel is Dusty's helper every time he makes pancakes, it's really fun to see. The missionaries came and helped us weed our front yard which was very kind and helpful of them, we covered a lot of ground! Zara came out and helped too, with the weeding and the chatting. After that everyone was kind of hot so all the kids grabbed their swimsuits and jumped in the pool!! I couldn't believe it! 

Last swim day of 2020:November 14th

The kids jumped in over and over, even Hazel! Leo and I were on the sidelines but eventually even Leo was itching to get in so he went in with Dusty up to his diaper or so and was happy as a clam. 

    Then we headed to Barbies house for an impromptu slip in slide. It was the perfect day, the kids did the slip and slide and the swing while the adults sat around eating snacks and sipping drinks. It was fun to catch up with Francesca since we don't see each other very often. The weather was beautiful. 

    Finally, some random odds and ends: I love when Hazel yells at Alexa through the tv remote, we've been watching The Crown and Alone, Spanish lessons are tough but fun, sometimes I give Leo chocolate in his highchair so I can cook dinner(he loves it obviously) and I'm reading a book about "The Secrets Of Happy Families". 

Six year blogging break!

 

                      

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This week was crazy. On Tuesday we waited and watched the votes for Trump and Biden roll in, even the kids were interested in everything that was happening and wanted to watch the TV with us. We went to bed without a winner in sight and turns out we wouldn't know till FRIDAY. We had voted together on the Friday before during early voting and Zara was curious about the candidates. She asked lots of questions in the car and she predicted that Biden would win. She said that we should give him chance because everybody deserves to have a chance. Well, she was right. Biden and Harris pulled off a win and there are lots of celebrations going on right now across the country. This election was emotionally stressful mostly just because so many people were extremely vocal, especially on social media, about who they were voting for and if you don't vote for that person then you are an awful human being. Lots of aggressive words and things I think that people generally wouldn't say if they were talking face to face. This whole thing has made me think about starting a podcast for Tampa where people would be interviewed about why they are running and their top points. It would be nice to have a way to learn more about the candidates. 

While we were waiting to find out who the next president would be we did lots of fun things and tried to soak up all the nice weather. It's finally starting to cool down to the low 80's and sometimes there is even a breeze. We spent some time at a local park that we hadn't been to in a while. We enjoyed exploring the trails and finding ponds with lily pads. Lot's of time at the park this week, Leo is getting brave and crawling around the play structures. He even ventured down a slide all on his own, though I think that by the end he wasn't so sure about his decision. 

On one exceptionally cold morning (68 degrees) we ate breakfast super fast, threw on our coats and drove with the windows down to a paved path behind our old house to see the horses. I actually didn't get any pics of the horses, oops. When I rolled the windows down Hazel yelled "Hold on to your seatbelts everybody!" it was so cute and she amazes me everyday with how much she can say and express herself. The kids picked sticks and asked me to tie long pieces of grass to them to make fishing poles that entertained them all the way back to the car. We made it back just in time, the temps were back up by the time we got home. 

Yesterday we finally buckled down and worked really hard to organize the garage, since we moved to the new house the garage had been kind of crazy. The kids played in the driveway and backyard while Leo napped. Dusty hung the bikes and we got rid of tons of stuff we never use. Now Dusty can park his car in the garage! When Covid started one of my friends gave me some cds by Lauren Berkner and we've been listening to them nonstop for months, they are really cute. Lately while the kids are playing or drawing I will hear them start singing her songs and it is really sweet. As soon as we were done with the garage we hopped in the car for an afternoon lunch at Red Robin! It was the first time the kids had been in a restaurant basically since March and they were super excited. We got fried pickles, even Leo loved them, and all the kids got milkshakes. The restaurant wasn't too busy and everyone was spaced out. It was really fun to get out again all together!

Today is Sunday and Dusty has been going to church now for a while. The kids and I stay home and watch on zoom. Last week he took Hazel with him and this week was Eli's turn. When Eli decides that he wants to dress up he goes all out and it's really cute, he does his own hair and everything. He was excited to go with Dusty. After we watched church the girls and I went out to the front porch to watch the birds. There were quite a few neat ones today! A family of Sandhill Cranes that live in our neighborhood, parents and two kids, were back at our pond. They rotate between a few ponds in the area. We also saw some Wood Storks that I hadn't seen before, they are white with a little bit of black, we had fun watching them swing their beaks back and forth in the water looking for food. I've been trying to start this whole Charlotte Mason nature journaling thing and it never seems to work out. But, today I told Zara to run in and get our notebooks and some pencils and we sat out there and drew the birds. We had such a great time. We've been doing picture study during our  morning time where we look at one work from a painter and lots of times I'll just ask them "tell me something you see in the picture" so today after Hazel had drawn some lines on her page she walked around asking us "What do you see in the picture?" it was so cute. 

The kids loved playing with a huge box that Dusty got for his birthday, Dusty turned 36 this week!! The kids loved getting him a gift and picking out cards. I think Dusty was excited to receive a few camping related gifts for some trips he has planned this winter. Anyway's, they turned the box into their hideout complete with lights, pads for sleeping, books and toys. Eli even step in it this weekend during the kids sleepover (every weekend since this summer the kids have slept together in the playroom and call it their sleepover). 

Leo is getting brave and taking more and more steps everyday but what he really seems to excel at is climbing up on things! In the cabinet, up the stairs, the chair, the little table. He loves it! He is a really fun kid to have around. Zara started reading the book of mormon, by herself, without any of us suggesting it and she likes to tell me that she is almost to Nephi 2. She is a great big sister and really enjoys reading. 

I've been trying to read more here and there. This week I enjoyed a fun book called Tender to the Bone by Ruth Reichl, she talks about all the food memories she has growing up. Her mom was a bad cook and it gives me hope that at least I'm not that bad! I've also, been watching The Great British Bakeoff with a friend, it's nice to have something special to look forward to every week. I started a book called Let Them Be Kids and so far it's a good reminder to keep the kids off the screens most of the time and let them be bored a little more. I'm always amazed at the things the kids come up with when they play together and don't watch tv, it's just so hard to keep the tv off between 3-6pm when they seem to turn into little monsters and I turn into the crazy lady. 

Also! Let it be known that the last day that the kids have swum in the unheated pool so far this year is: NOVEMBER 2nd, 2020!

Tomorrow is another week of homeschool amid Corona Virus 2020, should be a good one.