Week 6 and We Are Still Smiling

All is well with A^4 and we hope the same for our family and friends.  The kiddos are doing great - mostly getting along but there have been some epic fights over a plastic cup and a Christmas mug - "the cup is mine - No, the cup is MINE....Mumma!!!!"  Sigh.  Luckily the laughing and playing outweigh the fighting.
The kids have been in Distance Learning for SIX weeks!  Now that the NEW routine is well established, we decided to have the kids cut back on electronic time during the week wahahahaha (that increased during the start of everyone staying at home...:)

More time spent playing with all the TOYS that they have!!





The music assignment this week was to interview and older family member and ask them about their favorite music when they were kids/teenagers.  The kids picked Grandpa Roger and Grandma Pat and had fun going back and forth with the questions and responses.  Thanks, Grandpa and Grandpa!





In Art Class this week, the assignment was to create a portrait out of household items.  Can you see the smiley face in the "horsey head" ?


Ayson built a Creeper (Minecraft character)


Silly Thunder sitting in the lego bin - THAT can not be comfortable!


In Addie's class, they are working on a poetry unit:)




Coloring!!




Saturday morning walk in the orchard was filled with birds singing and bees buzzing!
The boys


Of course we had to "dink around" at the creek!  Amy and Ayson walked a different path that had more brush and Amy found a tick on her pants- ugh!  Luckily the family did not find any other ticks.  Amy pre-treats the hiking clothes with permethrin in an effort to ward off ticks (and therefore Lyme disease)


The kiddos picking up the weeds that Amy pulled from the raspberries


Hahaha!  Addie did NOT want to be caught doing a chore


Yes, the kids put the sprinkler under the trampoline and the high in "little Florida" was 64 degrees.  Crazy kids!  BUT they are having fun and laughing/playing with each other and that is what counts.




Rainy day Sunday means inside fun
Solving puzzles (Turing Tumble) using switches and marbles

Safe at Home

We hope that all of our family and friends are staying healthy and safe at home.  We are sending good thoughts to all!!!! 

I must state that the current demonstrations to "reopen the economy" worry me.  The goal is to reduce community transmission of COVID 19. 
We implore all of our family and friends to understand what their Counties are doing with respect to COVID 19 and what the "phased plan" is for gradual relaxation of the stay at home orders for their Counties, their Regions within a State, and an entire State - when the time is right - based on the science.  Relaxation of stay at home orders must be based on science and data - not on frustrations with the significant blow to the economy. 

Could Governors do a better job of explaining their plan?  Certainly.  Are the "re-opening" plans evolving?...they better be evolving since the entire world is learning new information on the virus every day.   Do I fully understand the "phased plan," probably not as well as I should.

Demonstrators are not just locals that live near the state capitals.  Demonstrators drive from their towns to converge on the state capitals...then the people get back in their cars and drive home to their (and yours and my) communities. 
I am not certain that my community (and the hospitals, Doctors, Nurses, and multitude of essential health care staff ) can handle new positive cases of COVID 19.  I worry for their health/well being and the health of their families.  I don't know for certain that my family's normally healthy bodies won't launch a "cytokine storm" on the virus and land one of us in the hospital.  I just hope that I am not forced to go back to working outside of my home (I am very fortunate that I can work from home) before my County AND the County that I work in have well thought out plans for testing, tracing, and stopping the spread of COVID 19. 

The kids do ask us when they will go back to school AT school and when "things will be normal again?"   We tell the kids that we have to wait and that "back to normal" might take longer then anyone expected and that "normal" will be a "new normal."   They are still loving school at home (sleeping in and more electronic time than Amy/Adam like) but they do miss their friends. 
The kids are still healthy and happy and that is all we can hope for, right?

Monday
The kiddos working on their art assignment for the week: building a town out of cardboard tubes :)




Addie also wanted a cat, surprise - surprise!


Ayson's town with a mine (way back and to the left)


Addie received a gift from her friend Mikhan.  Yay!  Thank you Mikhan and Sunshine!!!


Addie working on the secret pix BFF bracelet for Mikhan


So, it snowed.  hahaha.  Sure is pretty :)




Adam teaching Ayson the finer points of paper football hitting


He scores!


Ready, aim!!


Adam made baguette bread on Friday :)


The snow line on Saturday morning :)


Our hike at Labrador - on the west side of the valley had plenty of snow!


It is hard to see but Amy found a spider web with snow on it and tried to take a picture of it with the kiddos in the background


Chilling on "our" tree




The cats "hanging out" and chilling


We spotted our first morels in the yard!!!  Now for a "Test" -  there are four morels in the picture - can you find them?!?!?

Happy Spring Break, Easter, and Nice Weather!

Happy Easter, Spring Break (wait, that was cancelled for NY students - mostly to allow continuation of the food service and daily connections with students and families :), and nicer weather!  All is well with A^4 and we hope the same for our family and friends!!!  We had lots of laughs this week even if the kids (and teachers) had class this week and we were not at Disney as planned.  We are all safe at home and getting outside whenever we can.

Sunday evening sunset picture that did not make last weeks blog post :)


Shadow taking it easy on Monday.


The kids completing a PE assignment


Ah, FREEDOM!










The gardens are now connected!


Circus time with Adam




Gorgeous moon on Tuesday morning


Addie in her blanket fort (she needed to build something for a school assignment)




Bike ride in the orchard - Ayson left us in the dust!


Ayson is the blob on the road far off in the background.


Our daffies are blooming!


Amy's conference call companion


Addie making black bean brownies (for a school assignment)


Yum!  Addie insisted on having the first BIG piece...and the last piece :)


Completing another PE assignment: burpees.




A Thank You card to Auntie Fran for a belated Christmas gift :)








Trying out a new wood source for the fall - yes, it is April and this wood will be burned in late September




Ayson helping bring in a load of wood to the house


Addie requested a scavenger hunt so Amy made one up of items that they needed to collect in order to have a snack in a blanket fort while reading a book on the trampoline...hahaha.


They also had to pick clover and a few pieces of grass (had to include the front yard into the hunt somehow)




Fort time!  The kids were out in their forts laughing (and bouncing) for a good 30 minutes - yay!  Amy's goal is for the kids to remember this time that we must stay home with laughter and fun and for the kids to not be scared or anxious.


Best Buds


A sunset picture from Long Island from a friend of Amy and Adam's :)


Ayson playing Minecraft with his friend, Graham on Saturday morning.


Time for a walk in the orchard!



Hahahaha!  Adam having kids climb all over him is payback for when Adam used to pick on (read annoy) Amy while on hikes BK (before kids).


Chatting with Cousin Dane


Shadow, WHAT are you doing?!?!


Sunday morning hike!
A fort at Clarks Reservation State Park


Moss on a very very old tree trunk


Ayson wanted his picture taken with the skeleton hand tree trunk




A great spot to read a book :)


Or take a nap....


or slide down a moss covered hill!


Adam estimated 200 hundred steps to the top!


Happy Easter!
Easter egg hunt instructions


And they are off!


Can you find the last egg?!?


Sorting the loot!


Coloring eggs - they requested to color eggs on Sunday (and not on Saturday).


Adam has been wanting to make bread - he found flour in Tully at Kinny Drugs 2 weeks ago BUT he had not been able to find yeast! Hahahaha, Adam rediscovered yeast in our fridge from 2014 and it was still active :) The bread was awesome!


The seeds that we started indoors that are near the wood stove
sunflowers


Tomatoes