Inauguration Day 2021

All four kids are at school. 

Elementary children were allowed to return to school five days a week starting yesterday. Middle School kids are attending twice a week and today was Ramona's day. Wylie is at preschool with his ancestral flag project:

Wylie made a Japanese flag with pictures of tofu and a red plate with okonomiyaki

Watching the end of the Inauguration of Joe Biden on TV while Forest lays down some flooring on the main floor bathroom. He took on the project of remodeling it this month--so far, it has new paint and part of a new cabinet. I got to play some of my Beethoven Sonata earlier . . . I am hoping to actually get together with a pianist and try it out in a couple of weeks. Maybe now I will get to some more old photos. Perhaps April 2019? So many possibilities when my house is just home and not a branch of Poudre School District at the same time.

Fingers crossed that we can keep kids in school and keep our new president alive and well. Happy Inauguration Day!

So Long, 2020

Hopefully 2021 tastes better than 2020 did

Happy New Year!

So long, Solitude

Today marks my last home-alone Wednesday morning for a while--it's the final in-person instruction day for the girls this semester. Next week they return to 100% remote learning and will continue with that format until Winter Break.

Here is Ramona getting ready to leave for Preston Middle School this morning:

Here are Paula and Mika getting ready to walk to Bethke Elementary:

And here is Wylie, getting ready to ride his bike to preschool. No word yet on whether or not his school will have to shut down, but if Colorado gets a stay-at-home order in the coming weeks, he may have to say goodbye to Ms. Stacie for a while.

No one is thrilled about doing school from a computer, but we are planning to reward our efforts with Chick-Fil-A meals and Disney Plus. And we will probably continue to watch Marvel movies every week--that has been essential for our morale the past few months. 

I have a few more minutes until I get to greet my little preschooler and bring him home for lunch. Let's see if I can finish our 2020 Christmas card . . .
 

Another Wednesday Morning

 It's Wednesday morning again. Hello. The kids were allowed to go to school this week (miraculously), and I got another stretch of quiet time with the house all to myself. 

It appears as though Joe Biden will be our president next January. But things still feel pretty unstable--Trump won't concede, and he has taken to lawsuits to try to win back what he believes is rightfully his. A lot of people are on his side. The nation feels as divided as ever.

A vaccine is on the horizon but people are still getting sick. No stay-at-home order, yet, but I started teaching lessons with a face mask this week. It's better than trying to teach over a computer. 

Time to go get my little boy from preschool. Can't wait to see his grin. :)

US Election 2020

It's Wednesday morning. The kids are all at school again (for the third time ever) and I am here on the blog again. I'm not sure how much longer this in-person instruction will go on--COVID numbers are steadily rising again in our county, state, and country--but I will take these quiet moments while I can get them.

Speaking of country, yesterday was election day. But we still don't know who are new president will be in 2021. As I am writing this, Joe Biden has 238 electoral votes and Donald Trump has 213. They are still counting ballots in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and pretty much all six states are neck-and-neck in percentages. Whoever wins, a lot of people will be upset about the results. I saw a news report that the City of Denver was asking store owners to board up their front windows with plywood in anticipation of rioting and looting. Our nation requires so much healing--this week, and moving forward. 

Perhaps now is a good time for me to take a peek back at some photos from good ol' April 2019 . . .

March 2019

Most of these photos speak for themselves . . .

Wylie asleep on the floor after eating part of a frozen Gogurt. One mitten on, one mitten off:

Mika's baby snowman:

A bigger snowman:

St. Patrick's Day:

Irish Fiddle? In a diaper?

Finally dressed for church:

James Palmer and Wylie in nursery:

Ramona waiting to get her hair chopped:

Twelve-inch donation to Wigs for Kids

New short hair:

Melted snowman:

Beat-up snowman:

NCAA March Madness picks--on the computer this time (but at least there was a tournament that year):

Girls in dresses, Wylie with a big stick:

Raspberries for lunch

Mika's Second Grade Music Program--the theme was jokes. I came to watch the daytime performance.

Mika got to help tell a few jokes:

What do you call an alligator wearing a vest?

An investi-GATOR.

What did the elevator say when it sneezed?

I think I'm coming down with something.

Forest went to see the evening performance:

At the end of the month, Ramona and went to a library program about Helen Hunt Jackson. She had just dressed up as Jackson in December for her wax museum project, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see someone ELSE dressed up as this historical figure.