Scott, Emma and I all got glasses. For me and Scott they're for reading. I guess we have leveled up to the "reading glasses" level. The eye doctor said these may be helpful to Emma when reading or looking at things close up but that she doesn't need to wear them all the time. And they said she may not need them anymore as her eyes develop. So we'll see.
She wears them when reading things or doing her zoom calls.
School things are changing. First just Emma attended school and only two days a week. Then John joined her, then Grant. Matthew and Anna, at the middle school then started attending in person two days a week. So after 14 years of always having kids with me (minus a few hours early last year when Emma was at Pre-K) I was suddenly alone in the house for a couple days a week. Actually, I wasn't alone 'cause Scott works from home now, but it was eerily quiet. Here are Matthew and Anna walking to the bus one cold morning.
The elementary kids then transitioned to going to school in person 4 days a week. They are still home on Wednesday. I took down Grant's little desk and put all three elementary kids together in the same room since they don't have too much at home time anymore. Here they are on a Wednesday morning all zooming at once. The middle schoolers have plans to start going four days a week as well, and that will take effect in a few weeks.
It was very jarring to have two completely free days after so many years of kids around - and then all kids around pretty constantly for the past year. It was nice but also weird. What is my life about if its not constantly taking care of kids? So I started taking my exercise out of doors. There are many nice trails very near our house - good for hiking or running. Here I am by a waterfall.
After I found this waterfall once I then had to find it from the other side of the creek which was harder. New challenges.
Another day, another waterfall
And by the lake - this hike is about 6 miles long but very flat (lakes are like that).
It would be a perfect run, but I just walked on this day.
The lake again!
One Wednesday I walked with the younger kids down the hill to the river
Throwing rocks in the river never gets old
Because the younger kids are at school now on Fridays and the older kids can watch themselves, Scott and I have been able to reinstitute our every-other-Friday lunch dates. It's been over a year since we last went. We went to this very tasty sushi place on a recent Friday.
Years ago I had a friend who was stationed in Italy for a little while and forever after couldn't bear to eat at Olive Garden because the Italian food there was sub-standard compared to true Italian food. I always rolled my eyes at this food snobbery but I think Scott and I have become somewhat more discerning about what we think makes good sushi after living in Japan. There was a sushi place in Illinois that many of our friends loved and had truly horrible sushi. So when we find a good place now its always a wonderful thing. This place was very good. I always think the west coast has better sushi.
As the covid rates in our county have improved some kid activities have resumed. Matthew started taking fencing lessons, which is a sport I know very little about. On the way home from practice I always have him tell me the new things he learned, hoping I can absorb some info. He seems to be enjoying it so far. That's Matthew facing us in the photo.
And Anna joined the middle school cross country team. This caused much drama in our family. I ran cross country all four years of high school and it was a wonderful experience for me. I wasn't the fastest cross country runner - just somewhere in the middle - but I was an athletic kid so it wasn't too horrible getting conditioned. But I do remember those first few weeks were very hard and lots of kids quit after the first day or two.
So Anna likes running and was enthusiastic about joining the cross country team and I was excited for her because it would be a good way to make friends and get out to exercise with a team. But after the first day of practice she wanted to quit.
Scott and I decided that we would require her to complete the season, which was only 6 weeks long. For the first two weeks she complained quite regularly about going and said her feet hurt. I took her to the running store to get better shoes for her feet and we even visited the doctor about the feet issues. The shoes we got after the running store analysis took care of the foot pain and she slowly stopped complaining. I'm not sure in retrospect if forcing her to stay in was the right thing or not. Those are tricky parenting questions. But she made it through the season. She improved her PR (personal record) in each subsequent meet and she made lots of friends. For middle school their races are 1.5 miles.
At one meet she got second place in her heat and got a medal.
Way to go Anna!
In the end I asked her how she thought the season had been and she grudgingly admitted that the cross country season had been a good experience but that she didn't think she would do it again. I'm glad that she completed what she started.
And here are some pictures of other random activities.
Grant built a frighteningly realistic guillotine out of Legos. The blade even falls down and there's a little basket to catch heads. SHUDDER!! A little disturbed by this realism, I asked him how he knew what a guillotine looked like or what it was and he reminded me we had seen one in the movie Peabody and Sherman (an animated kids movie where they travel through time) and again in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. So we have corrupted his innocent mind with our movie watching. All that aside, it was a nice guillotine that he made.
I cut my own hair. I have cut the kids hair and even Scott's many many times over the past year. And this isn't even the first time I've cut my own hair this year, but it is the first time I've attempted bangs. Not sure I like them
After I finished reading Peter Pan to the kids, John and Grant decided we should make a Peter Pancake. We made several and they looked very weird. Unfortunately no one could bring themselves to eat Peter Pancake.
Matthew won a contest at school to build the tallest tower with a certain set of materials.
This was his winning design.
Grant made a bug with his name hidden in the bugs body. Extra points if you can spot the letters.
And we are continuing to learn to play the piano - each kid at their respective levels.
Here we are learning about the notes on the staff. The internet has supplied me with some different fun ways to remember the notes for the kids - like the two black keys together make a dog house and a Dog (the note D) lives inside the dog house.
Four little boys playing on the rocks behind our house. Grant has two little neighborhood friends he plays with back there on some days. We finally let John go out with the other boys. Up until now I haven't let him go out there without an adult because he would fall or get hurt a lot. I had a big talk with him about taking care of his own person while he's on the rocks and doing only what feels safe. His motor skill delays have made me perhaps overly cautious with him but I decided I just need to teach him what to do and then let him try. So we're letting him go out on his own...as I nervously watch from the house. He did fine and made it home again with only a few modest blackberry scratches. So good work John. More springy adventures to come.
