Week 19

Here's the thing.  

I don't know what to do.  A couple kids are out playing.  The others are watching Star Wars.  

I've got some free time on my hands.  

So - I could pick up, go for a walk, start dinner, freeze blueberries, sweep, mop, put away clothes, pare down Nate & Sam's clothes, run things to the bank, run things to the thrift store, do a Holy Hour, film Children's' Liturgy, lesson plan for next week, finish #OTDIH / saint bios for the year, mail out Ranger Badge materials, declutter, put away groceries, sew or any one of eleventy billion things.  

But I'm just tired. 

I'm not sure if it's Social Distancing fatigue or I'm sick of hearing bad things on the news reports fatigue or I'm a Homeschooling Mom of 4 fatigue or whatever...but it's there.     

We're still hacking away at Junior Ranger Badges.  

Finished Lewis & Clark Trail today.  Our plan was to do the Lewis & Clark Trail in person last summer...but then we ended up moving.  

Someday we'll do it.  

We went blueberrying again.  We've picked about 10 pounds total and froze most of them.  I had not been berrying since I was child and was swarmed by angry hornets after stepping on their nest.  Only took me 35 years to come to terms with that experience.  

Frozen blueberries at the bottom of a vodka tonic provided an excellent incentive to face my berrying fears.  

Also...who can resist this smiling face?   

Tseitle continues to be ridiculously adorable.  She sits in the bathtub, just waiting for someone to turn on the water so she can hunt the drops.  

Yes.  I'm tired.  But looking at pictures like this make me so grateful that the fatigue is more manageable.  

Week 18....Maybe? I'm not sure anymore.

It seems like when I have time to sit down and blog, either

    a- my mental energy is all drained and I can't put a coherent sentence together

    b-someone else is on the computer and my fingers are simply too fat to try to blog on my phone

    c-someone is sitting directly behind me asking, "What is there to do?" Which sends me through the             roof, making me forget what I sat down at the computer to do in the first place.  

Any way you hack it - not a recipe for quality, consistent blogging.  

Life is creeping back to what we consider normal now, but still would boggle our minds if we were to look at the situation before mid-March.  

Olders are in theatre camp for 2 weeks - mornings only - but it's a nice change of pace for everyone.  I think there are only 9 kids in the whole production.  Everyone is distancing and there is no singing.  It's more than we could have hoped for, even a couple months ago.  We're grateful.  

To give the Youngers a break, we've been working on Junior Ranger badges while the Olders are at Camp.  So far they've completed The National Park in American Samoa, El Malpais, Redwood and Obed Scenic River.  We have Dinosaur National Monument, Brown v Board of Education Historic Site, Central High School National Historic Park, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, War in the Pacific National Park and Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial.  

Those should keep us busy for next week.  

The kids have had to call a couple parks to interview Park Rangers as part of the badge process and the Rangers have been wonderful.  

Caroline and I got to go out to lunch today, which was nice.  For the past couple months I've had a super hankering to go shopping.  I HATE to shop, which means this pandemic thing must be taking a toll on my mental health...

I can't remember the last time just she and I got to go out on our own.  

We had gads of clothes to try on, only to get to the dressing room and find out that they were closed due to COVID.  Ugh.  The WHOLE POINT of shopping for clothes is to try them on.  

So we ended up making some educated guesses as to what would look good and came home with some things that look great AND we needed.  

Caroline is growing like a weed - I'm sure we'll have to make another trip out when the weather gets cold and she tries on her pants, only to find them all 3" too short.  

The boys are watching "Hamilton" yet again.  Which, of course, I'm thrilled about.  We have to watch it as many times as humanly possible before it goes off Disney Plus in 12 days.  Watching it has truly been a highlight of our summer.  

We had a Major Instance of "This is Where Homeschool Does NOT Suck" this past week.  

Benjamin has been studying space and space exploration in science class.  So I had him following the exploits of the Mars Rover Opportunity.  I had him reading the Rover's tweets - totally  unaware of the fact that the Rover died in early 2019.  

Never.  Have.  I.  Ever.  Seen a little boy so distressed.  

Huge sobs.  

Gator tears.  
He cried on my lap with his head buried in my chest until my shirt was soaked with tears.  

Hot Mess doesn't even begin to describe it.  

I posted on Facebook, thinking folks would get a kick out of it.  

I was contacted by my cousin who works for NASA who SET UP A ZOOM CALL WITH ONE OF THE PROJECT MANAGERS OF THE MARS2020 PROJECT for the kids!!!!!

It.  Was.  Amazing.  

The kids lived and breathed Mars before the call so they would have some good questions to ask.  

It was the opportunity of lifetime for them.  

We are SO very grateful.  

Caroline snapped a picture of Benjamin after he found out about Oppy.

We are SO grateful to NASA and the folks at JPL who gave these kids their most precious resource, their time.  

Softball has started. 

But we can totally socially distance AND lose games AND barbecue at the same time.  

So we're good there. 

After a deluge before our last game, we spent game time puddle stomping.  

Because what else are summers for?

We went to Monocacy National Battlefield on  the anniversary of the Battle.  The Visitor Center wasn't open, but the Ranger was kind enough to stand with us outside for 30 minutes and give us the lay of the land.  We were able to do our On This Day in History Broadcast on location...which is always a special treat.  

And Tseitle.  Tiny Tseitle.  Little Tseitle Boo.  

Not so little anymore...but still a purr-purr kitty.  

She is also a WATER KITTY.  

She sits and waits for the faucet to drip.  

It's adorable.  

After dropping the Older kids off at Edge the other night, I got to go for a walk around Walkersville Park.  I hadn't ventured there since before we left for Oklahoma.  

It has been almost a year to the day since we returned.  

Crazy what has happened in the 3 years since we left.  

Watching the sun start to set over the Blue Ridge, I was overwhelmed.  

It hit me that God has put us exactly where He wants us.    

I am grateful.  

The Tail End of Week 16

    As of next weekend, Caroline has marked it on the calendar that we will have spent 1/3 of 2020 socially distancing.  It's crazy to think of all that has and hasn't happened since March.  

We're managing.  

Doing pretty darn good right now, actually.  

Thank God.  

School is going strong.  Field trips are being added back into our repertoire as things open.  We're back at socially distanced Mass.  Kids are at in-person dance class with masks and spacing.  Softball is starting back up again.  Jim is working on-site.  We have a bubble of Our People that we stick within.  

So far, it's working.  I know it's all subject to change and we're just going to have to roll with the punches.  

Looking at data coming out, I fully anticipate being on lock-down again come autumn.  So we're just enjoying what we can safely.  

I'm not a fan of the new Blogger interface, but I don't do well with  new lately.  

So here's the best I can do.  

We have been spending a lot of time in pools this summer. Despite using SPF 100, Sam has been subject to sunburns this summer.  I'm off to get swim shirts for everyone.  

The Youngers are getting quite creative about their Pool Entry Styles.  

We've been fortunate enough to have our fair share of Creek Time this summer.  Catching crayfish is next on the agenda.  

Benjamin tried his hand at mask making.  He did very well.  Still being too short to reach the foot pedal, he sat on my lap so I could push the pedal and he could guide the fabric.  He made his own new mask to go back to dance class with Harry Potter on one side and Tigers on the other.  

Nate is growing up.  He's still DestructiNate, but he's doing such a good job of learning to harness his powers for good.  Here he is playing with the two year old little girl next door.  He took it upon himself to get a bag of "goodies" that HayHay would enjoy playing with and told me "I have to help her mom, Mom.  Two year olds are exhausting."

Don't.  I.  Know.  

I was bowled over the other morning when I came downstairs to find the last gallon of milk LABELLED by Sam.  

He got a big hug and kiss and was thoroughly mystified with me thinking that the labeling was the culmination of years of parenting.  

I'll take it.  

Our very own "...And Peggy".  She outgrew her Angelica dress from a couple years ago, so Caroline doffed my Schuyler Sister (who are now Disney Princesses, amiright) dress.  Caroline is now a solid inch taller than me.  I never got to be taller than anyone in my family growing up...I'm kinda jealous!

Even Benjamin got in the act dressing up for Hamilton.  Here he is in the posture that I can only assume the Watson Children will be in until Hamilton stops streaming at the end of July.  

We've only since it twice in the past two days.  

It's still freaking amazing.  

Last Sunday morning, after a frantic, yet cryptic text from our neighbor, the Watson Family started our own Snake Relocation Service.  

I'm happy to say that Snakey McSnakeface was placed in the conservation land behind the houses.  

I'm also happy to announce that Relocation Service is OUT OF BUSINESS.  

It's not like Tessie was going to help us or anything.  She is waaay too comfortable doing what cats do.  

We sojourned to Gettysburg to walk Pickett's Charge and survey the Round Tops.  We were able to do our first #OTDIH on location (!) as we were there on the anniversary of the 20th Maine's defense of the end of the Union Line.  It was pretty cool.  

Pickett's Charge is 1.25 miles, which is a lot for little legs in 93 degree heat.  

Benjamin was able to con Nate into giving him a piggy back ride for part of it.  

Here's how Benjamin enjoyed the same walk in  2014...

Not much has changed in 2020 (except the amount of grey hairs I have)

Perspective and acknowledgment are everything.  

I don't do well growing things...thank goodness these hydrangea grow on their own.  I thought it was a bit strange to have such different color flowers on the same plant when we haven't fiddled with the soil pH at all...

We are ready for softball!  
Buffalo chicken dip....here we come!