Monday: decisions

 Well, we made a decision.  We're going to keep doing virtual school for the next trimester.

Most of September I wasn't expecting this decision.  Things were looking stable and at least under controlish.  But there is now community spread.  Some things that were were worried about in August might not apply any more, but numbers are still going up and we've just hit the beginning of winter/Thanksgiving/Christmas and several factors that we considered in August are still applicable.  Virtual school also isn't going too poorly.  Isaac gets more time to do his work, so if he needs to go slowly sometimes it's ok.  Joshua still loves his teacher.  The whole pace of the day is somewhat slower (for the boys) which isn't bad at all.  They're learning fine.  They don't have as much social interaction as they would in school, but neither is anyone else.

So I think this continues to be a good decision for us.  The boys are fine with it.  I still understand why parents would send their children to school and think that can be a good decision too.  

Here's to another four months at home.  (Although note my lack of an exclamation point.)

Saturday: things

The garage refrigerator is up and running!  I'm super excited because it makes leftovers so much easier to deal with.  It also means that we don't need to restock pop in the fridge.

Isaac made new rules for Sleeping Queens.  The game wasn't exactly fun, but since there were specific rules it wasn't too bad.  It was also short, which is always a bonus in made-up games.  (Note, while there are a lot of arrows, we only followed about half of them.)

Joshua also made up a Robot Turtles game.  Several times he told me that he wasn't going to tell me the rules, but then I had to do something obscure like laser a little gem from just the right square so it bounced and got the big gem.  Needless to say, I cajoled the rules out of him quickly.

 

on being an adult

 I think part of being an adult is hearing the strange noises in your house and immediately figuring out what they are and if you need to fix something

Art and Robes

 A while back Joshua made a bunch of signs so that we know what we're supposed to be doing in different rooms.

Sleeping in the bedroom:

Cooking in the kitchen:

Studying in the classroom:

He made a cat named Pumpkin for his teacher.  He asked her during his small group what she would name a cat (any cat) if she got one.

On Monday the boys had their swimsuits on a bit early and were cold.  I gave them my robes.  Isaac has been wearing it a ton.  It's a bit of a problem because that is my main robe.

I was reading on the couch today and Horizon kept joining me.  Of course, it was always after he checked to see if he could get in the bedroom where Ben was sleeping.  I was just the second choice, but I'll take it.

 

Saturday: groceries

 I might be done with grocery pick-up.  I'll admit it has its perks, like being able to order the groceries at any point, but I've been starting to miss actually going into the grocery store.  I know, it surprised me too.  I was excited to actually get a subscription for pick-up in February and while it has been really nice some weeks today was annoying.  It wasn't bad, but it took a bit longer to have them bring the groceries out than I was expecting.  And I don't like dealing with all the substitutions over text.  And I really like being able to see all my options...especially if the exact thing I want isn't available.

I'm not completely sure when grocery shopping will happen.  It might have to be on the weekend, which is normally busier at the store.  Some weeks I might be able to take the boys with me.  But I'm ready to find my own items and get the items from the store I normally shop at.  

I guess we'll see what happens.  We'll see how I feel next week about grocery shopping.  We'll see how I feel in the store if people aren't wearing masks properly (or at all, even though it is still mandated by law).

I also got a picture from yesterday.

Friday: corn maze

 Today was supposed to be a beautiful day (and it was!) so we made plans to go to a corn maze with Cheryl.  It was smaller than the "popular" one in the area, but it was still fun.  I'll admit, the size was just about right.  There was also a playground that the boys played at for quite some time.  I thought they were going to get bored rather quickly because it had a bunch of toddler castles (along with a large boat play structure) but they played hard for quite a while!  (Yes, I know the masks are being worn improperly, but it's because there were no people in sight.)

It was also packet pickup day for the boys, which I find rather fun.  It's like getting a present every two weeks.  I'm not sure the boys feel that way since it also includes a lot of work, but I don't make them look at it.  Anyway, Joshua received the moral focus award for Wisdom this past month.  I didn't hear why, but often another piece of paper comes home in a month that is on the wall at school.