Hello Spring (and Summer!)

We made it to mid May!!!  Adam and Amy wonder how the kiddos will remember this school year (of being home since their birthdays in March- no parties, no seeing friends... no school bus, sleeping in, less school work, too much electronic time, swimming in the pool) when they are adults.  Will spring 2020 be remembered as if it were one long summer vacation?  I guess we will have to wait and see. 

As of May 15, Central NY is now starting to slowly re-open up (in a minimum of 14 day phases) while areas near New York City (to the east) and Buffalo (to the west) and the Capitol Region (in the middle of the state) have yet to reach the 7 metrics related to the downward trend of positive cases, hospital capacity, and availability of contact tracers.  Every "data point" is a human being and we wish health and mental peace for our family, friends, and all fellow human beings. 

A forgotten picture from Ayson and Adam's "camp out" last Saturday night :)  Ayson had so much fun:)


Amy's companion during a Monday conference call


Shadow, are you hiding from Monday?!?!?


Family fun!!


Playing NICELY together after completing their school work.


Another art assignment - drawing bubbles and learning about Autism Awareness  :)




Game night, round two!  Who will beat Addie!


Addie VS Mumma


Amy has been helping Mrs Oliver (Child After School Program Director) weed her gardens during the week and Amy got a sneak peak at the baby chicks that Mrs Oliver is raising!


Shadow giving Adam a bath.


Addie made a scavenger hunt for Amy and Adam on Wednesday - thanks, Addie!!  We had tons of fun looking for the next clue :)


Addie received a "Flat Mrs Davidson" from her teacher on Thursday and Addie has to take her Flat Teacher on outings and take pictures of different things/places that Addie does/goes.


First picture: relaxing on the back porch!


Ayson made cookies on Thursday!!  Ayson is working on fractions and had to follow the recipe using only a 1/4 cup measuring cup and a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon in order to work on his fraction skills.


The cookies turned out PERFECT!  Thanks, Ayson!!!!


Thursday evening was gorgeous so we took a walk to the creek after an early dinner (that consisted of cookies and fruit...hahahaha).






A braid of braids :)


Gianna is a graduating senior this year and her lacrosse coaches stopped by her house to congratulate Gianna on her hard work and scholarship (both for grades AND sports) for college.  May 15 was Gianna's official LAST day of high school :)  YAY!  Congrats, Gi!!!  We celebrated with her and Jo by helping them eat cake on the back porch:)   We have been explaining to Ayson that hard work, good grades, consistency, and integrity, can lead to privileges such as getting done with school early, getting into good schools, AND getting paid to go to school...what?!?   Ayson definitely took notice of those rewards:)



Our gorgeous tulips




Crazy Ayson got in the pool on Thursday...brr!


Saturday was gorgeous!


Of course the kiddos went swimming.  Kathy- we STILL have the turtle floatie that you gave us at least four Christmases ago.  Adam and Ayson did have to patch a small hole (which also involved the amputation of one back flipper but the turtle is still having fun :)


Go Addie!  The pool depth is above Addie's head so she has to swim!  So glad we had lessons last year:)


Amy planting sunflowers in the garden - SIX rows of sunnies to look forward too :)


Ah, Saturday evening was perfect for smores


Ayson and Adam :)


Addie with a pretty flower in her hair


Grandma Collene came by for a visit on Sunday.  The family LOVED seeing Grandma and eating McDonald's for lunch :)

Happy Mother's Day

An uneventful week for A^4 and we hope that everyone is doing well!  Happy Mother's Day!!!!
There are more scenery pictures than pictures with people this week but that is OK :)

Had to get a picture of the tulips before the snow arrived :(


Gorgeous sunset


Ms Annie dropped off a sumi-e painting kit on Thursday.  Thanks, Annie!  We had fun making the ink and painting :)




Addie captured THIS sunset Thursday night :)


Friday sunset


Shadow discovered his own reflection on Saturday morning :)


Addie eating one of the fabulous (and massive) strawberries


The art assignment this week was to put on a miniature art show
Addie: Animal theme


Ayson: Minecraft theme


Gorgeous picture of Labrador Pond that Adam took on Friday morning


Tulips in the snow on Saturday:(




Shadow stalking the "fin" while the "fin" eyes the food container


Amy's Mother's Day request was a walk to the creek so that we could "dink around" in the water :)
Cool algae that we found


Dinking around


Happy Mother's Day to all of the amazing mother's in our lives!!!


Mmm!  Adam made scallop potatoes and ham for dinner :)

Hello, May!!!!

All is well with A^4 and we welcomed May with open arms!!!  Too bad cold weather is in our future.  We hope that all of our family and friends are making the most of the extra down time - we are enjoying the not as rushed week days and Sunday evenings :)  More time for FUN! 

To sum up our week, we enjoyed:
Gorgeous sunsets


And sunrises


and Spring!  Look close at the strip of brown in the green field - you can just make out the tractor plowing up the field


Addie waiting for her teacher to post the daily assignment.  One day last week she started waiting at 730 and the assignment did not post until 8 am...hahaha.


Addie using her "less electronic time" to build and PLAY!


Shadow hiding in the barn


We went for a walk Wednesday afternoon at Tracy Lake and discovered trillium in bloom :)


A few of our tulips




Thursday night activity: drawings with glitter!!!!  We will find glitter in random spots of the house for the next year:)


Ayson making a paper chain


It did not take Ayson long to get into the glitter






Glitter might be a great may to determine how often a person touches their face - hahaha.


Saturday night smores!




We could hear the spring peepers as we watched "our" two bats searching for their dinner.  Can you spot the bat?  The kids have named our bats "Brownie" and "Strawberry"  :)


Sunday morning breakfast.  Service with a smile!


Crazy warm day on Sunday with a high of 76 in "Little Florida" so the kids big and small had a water balloon fight :)
Ayson's yellow balloon is zooming towards Adam


Addie's first attempt to hit Adam resulted in her balloon busting and a stripe of water


Standoff




There goes Addie's balloon!


Sunday evening fun :)