Quincy’s 8th grade coronation

As we all know, Quincy has missed a few more things than the other kids just because of the grade she was in.  Her graduation was cancelled, track season cancelled, 8th grade class trip to Worlds of Fun cancelled.  She hasn’t really complained at all, but she did ask if we could still have a little family dinner with cake.  Not just any cake though. She wanted a grandma made cake.  

Tonight we had a little graduation party to honor her.   Grandma did not disappoint her!   She let me take some silly pictures of her with her Corona supplies and allowed us to call her Quarantina for the night.  

Madison made her a giant cookie too!   It wasn’t the same as the other kids 8th grade graduation, but I bet she never forgets it!  

Thanks grandma!!  Happy kid right here!  

Someone decided she can walk.  I think she just wants to keep up with her aunties.  She also really, really likes cake!  

Other things from this day.  We attended mass for the first time in over 2 months.  It was not a decision we made lightly.  We miss church.  We miss our normal, busy, active as heck life.  We wanted to go.  On the other hand the number of cases of Covid 19 keep rising.  The death toll keeps rising.  The news is never very promising. But I had a couple of reasons for plunging forward.  First, we simply cannot stay in lock down forever.  Life has to go on.  There likely won’t be a vaccine for at least another year, and with them fast tracking everything, I don’t know that I feel safe injecting myself or our kids with it.  Second, I think that they will at least try to reopen schools in the fall, and I think that they will want the kids to practice social distancing, and maybe wear masks.  The sooner we start training than to deal with these things, the easier it will be for them when things open.  Learning to wear a mask is hard!   I was hot, it is weird to breathe, and somewhat awkward.  Did I wear it anyway?  Yes.  Did the kids?   Yes.  They did complain a little.  For Preston it was vanity.   Quincy said she felt like it was too hot.  And Harper said it fogged her glasses.  All small prices to pay if it actually might help stop the spread.    Saige got a mask with dogs on it from a lady at Jim’s work.  She didn’t complain at all.  

I also attended my first ever Zoom graduation party!   I feel sorry for the class of 2020, but I will say I liked the zoom party and the video more than I ever have enjoyed sitting in a crowded gym!   

What happened

We covered so much ground today I honestly lost track of 8 or so hours.   I love a day like this.  Working outside on some fun projects, soaking up some warm air and sun.  

We are making progress with Aunt Karen’s kitties.  They are getting reacclimated to being outdoors a little bit, and we are weaning them onto soft foods.  They are getting really big and have tiny razor blade feet!   They like to climb everything including our legs!  

The new pool has been ordered.  Jim and I decided if we are going to spend this amount of money, we should have someone install it who knows how to do it right.   We found such a person, but in order to keep his price lower, we agreed to tear down the old pool and rake the sand.   When we agreed to it, I thought it would be easy.  I am very uneducated about such things.  It was heavy, awkward, sharp, and seemed to be a great place for wasps to build their nests.  With the kids  working really hard, we got it done though!  We just have a few deck boards to replace, and some water sealant to paint on, and we will be ready.   Excitement is over the top for this project.  

Is it really a weekend if you don’t burn some pile of something?  I love walking out and seeing the kids visiting with their dad.   He has been gone a lot during the week lately, so when we get a chance to hang out with him, we take it.   Just wish the day didn’t go so fast!  

Lil outlaws

I think all parents are scrambling a little during this time, trying to figure out things we can do that aren’t a violation of state rules.  I have seen a few things shared on Facebook, some of which I had no idea about, despite growing up here.   Jesse James hide out cave near Pomona was a new one for me.  Now as outings go, this one won’t take you very long.  The cave is literally visible from the road and is maybe a 20 foot walk.  The path is a little bit steep though, and with recent rains it was pretty slick.  The kids had a great time seeing this, and thought it was really neat.  Of course, if you’re in Pomona, you aren’t far from Ottawa.  Ottawa has Dairy Queen.  And yes, the little outlaws did con me into taking them for dipped cones.  

I did make Preston read some information about Jesse and his gang to them.  Just because it’s summer, doesn’t mean it can’t be educational!   We also talked a lot about the Great Depression.  I truly believe that is where we are headed.  

School’s “out” for the summer

Last day of school - a day we usually all look forward to, celebrate, and it usually feels like a small holiday.  This year, well....was just plain old weird.  There really has not been the traditional countdown going on.  We have all sort of lost track of the days, and I was honestly surprised when I started getting the "final week of virtual learning" emails.  The last 2 months have been a mix of oddities and weirdness.  We did not really celebrate.  Quincy finished her year last week.  The 8th grade always finishes up a few days early.  They usually have their graduation, which was a no-go.  She instead turned in a Chromebook and received her diploma while they played the graduation song in the gym.  She was neither sad, nor happy about it.  She is just indifferent about this whole thing.  She has taken it all in stride.  She is finished with junior high, which is hard to believe.  Off to high school she goes!  Maybe.  If they reopen next year! 


Preston finished his year with straight A's.  He was happy to be done with virtual school.  The problem he had with it - he finished all his work the first week.  He decided to just do all of the assignments and be done.  Except they kept wanting him to check in, attend zoom meetings and whatever else, and he was annoyed.  If you have the work done, what is the point?   I understand his view, but they needed to log attendance for the state I am assuming.  He was highly annoyed by this.  After much consideration, and a lot of heart filled discussions, we allowed him to be removed from the gifted program.  Here is my take on it.  When he was young, he was tremendously bored at school.  They did not know what to do with him.  by the time he was in 3rd grade, he was doing junior high level work, and they kept just piling it on, he would finish it, and be bored.  He had teachers who thought the answer would be to have him "help" the other kids, but he resented it and it was not good for him.  Enter the gifted program.  It was awesome and amazing.  He was finally challenged at school.  They gave him projects, outlets, entertained his mind with real world applications for the stuff he was doing.  In other words, he was no longer bored.  He is now taking college level classes, playing sports, participating in a few clubs, and in band.  He is not bored at school anymore.  Gifted became a place where he was just overwhelmed with busy work.  He was not enjoying it, and it was not beneficial to him being annoyed all the time.  So we discussed it and had him removed.  He was so happy with this decision.  He will be taking a full load of classes and if he wants to put in the effort, will be able to graduate high school with his associates degree.  That will be his choice though.  He is kicking around going to tech school, so we will see what he decides.  I still can't wrap my mind around him being done with his freshman year! 

Harper is now finished with 4th grade.  Harper is the one of our kids who was made for quarantine.  She has not complained.  She is not bored.  She has quietly finished all of her assignments with very little help.  She has kept herself entertained, and has not one time asked to go play with friends, or begged to go somewhere.  She was not real excited about having to go to the school at all, even for the 10 minute drop off/pick up time yesterday!  She wanted me to just go for her.  :)  She told me she doesn't mind school, but virtual school is ok too.  She has definitely been easy during this strangeness!  I am thankful for her amazing technical skills.  She was a ton of help with navigating google classroom and some of the other programs. 

And last, but not least, Saige is super excited to be finished with 2nd grade.  She didn't mind online school, but she definitely prefers to go to school and hang out with all her friends.  She has done almost all of her work by herself and loved having the projects and zoom meetings.  That isn't to say she wasn't excited to have summer break.  She is excited about swimming, going to the lake and has multiple other ideas of things we should do, however I am not committing to anything because who knows if we can make it happen or not.  This could be a very interesting summer.  But is any summer ever bad?  I mean...who doesn't love some warm sunshine, chlorine smelling skin, adventures to quiet places, lack of a schedule, popsicles, sprinkler afternoons, and freshly grown produce!  The ball park nachos might have to be made at home, and the field trips may get way more creative, but the sunshine and warm weather will heal our souls and make everything feel happier!  

Mother’s Day weekend

Friday we spent the afternoon cleaning out grandma’s chicken house so we can use it to raise our broilers, which will be delivered in a couple of weeks.  We like to use grandma’s chicken house because it is fairly predator proof.  Or at least we thought it was.  We kept hearing something growling.   Upon inspection of the feed room, we discovered a mother raccoon and her nest of babies.  

We also enjoyed helping grandma pose flat Geraldine. The nursing home sent home flat residents and asked that the family take them on adventures. Flat Geraldine cleaned a chicken house, pole danced around a shovel handle, and took a ride on one of Clayton’s pigs!   The kids were having a little too much fun with this!  I am not sure when Geraldine sees the slide show of her adventures, that she will be all that happy about it!  

Friday evening, Colin showed up with a truck load of ribs and plans for a weekend of fun.  He took the kids out on the river in his boat and they set limb lines.  He had a 4 day weekend due to some storms in Wichita causing him overtime. Saturday, he helped us fix the mower, mowed our yard and ran the smoker full of ribs and jalapeño poppers.  Madison got a second job working at the local bar as a grill cook a couple nights a week, and she had to work. Andrew, Evie, and Mallory all joined us for culinary amazingness by Colin.  Andrew got a new job and started this week but I hadn’t had time to talk to him about it yet. I’m very thankful he was able to find something!   It means I have my work buddy back!  

Sunday found us at Mallory’s for a Mother’s Day barbecue and games.  It was a really fun evening.  I am sorry we didn’t get to see Cameron, Spencer or Lauren, but under the current circumstances this was a great day anyway. Cameron did face time me.  He is getting really close to finished with his sophomore year.  He had to work all weekend.   He went through a huge interview process to get a job as an RA for next year and now that is up in the air.  I’m sure it will all work out, but this pandemic is a giant pain when it comes to being able to plan stuff.   

Despite the pandemic, I feel abundantly blessed.  

not the A game

This has not been the best of weeks.  Jim hurt his shoulder and has been down a little bit, but has gone to the chiropractor and is starting to feel better I think.  I had to have 2 teeth pulled.  Honestly, getting them out made me feel a lot better!  To me, there is nothing worse than tooth pain.  Either way, both of us have been sort of taking it slow this week.  It has meant that the 'fun' activities have not been overly fun.  We are hoping that the rest of the week is a little more lively!  

Saige and I did use the abundance of apples we get from school lunches to make miniature apple pies.  I am sure that the school food program would frown on us adding their apples into a pie, but at least they weren't wasted this way!  :)  

They turned out great!  Of course, they could have baked for a little bit longer, but Saige was determined that they were done cooking (she wanted to eat them!).  We also used the milk and oranges to make orange Julius.  Of course, that lead into a conversation about hanging out at the mall and getting them from the little station in the food court.  I was then told that I am  'such a boomer' which is the greatest insult that you can be given by a teenager.  Just for the record, I was born in the 70's.....so not a boomer!   Suck on that Preston!

I have started my summer tradition of getting up in the mornings and walking with Grace (on the phone since she lives in Wichita).  I enjoy the early mornings....birds singing, everything starting to wake up, sun coming up, nobody else up.  Last night, I finished the day by taking a walk with Saige.  I had taken a picture in the morning of the beautiful sunrise.  I had to take a second picture of the beautiful full moon shining through the trees.  With all the pandemic madness going on, I have been abundantly happy that we made the choice and sacrifice to move to the country.  The kids have so much space, room for critters, places to take walks that you can enjoy the beauty without ever seeing a single other person, and all the fresh air you could ever need to rejuvenate after a hard week.  I am abundantly blessed.  Of course, we are now asking a lot of questions which to me is harder than the decision to go into lock down.  The questions of "is it safe, is it time?"  I am hearing that we will have mass this weekend.  The school has said they will start summer weights and conditioning in June.  I teeter between we need to still stay in isolation and 'safe,' and this cannot possibly be how we live life, let's just get back to normal.  I have attempted to educate myself, reading as much as I can from both sides. The thing that sticks out to me the most is that we do not know what will be the right course of action until it is done.  It is also apparent to me that the top of our government is grossly underqualified to handle this situation, but that is a whole other post!  :)  

Some kinda something

Yesterday, some sort of weird storm blew through town.  We had 75 mile per hour winds, an enormous amount of rain, and the loudest thunder ever!  I was at my office looking out at the fountain created by the water rushing down the street toward the storm drains!  At the same time, I was wondering if I should have made a run over to Mallory's to use her basement!  The radio was saying straight line winds and baseball size hail.  I am super happy that the hail stayed pea size, but that wind was crazy!  

I don't know if you can tell, but a big tree fell down in the street where Jim usually parks his truck!  I am glad we had ridden together yesterday and his truck was not in town!  I was also worried because the kids were at home, and the power was out, and my cell wasn't working.  Preston was in charge, and he did make the girls stop playing outside to come in for a while!  :)  We did not get the same storm at our house as the one that hit town.  We had some rain, but apparently not the wind.  I am thankful for that too!  

Jim and the city crew were out before the storm was even over, moving trees off of the streets, and assessing the damages.  There is so much tree damage! 

Also damaged, this grain storage bin at the co-op.  The wind knocked it off the foundation and put a pretty good dent in the side.  Jim said they had to get an engineer to determine whether it was stable, and had to shut the road down for a while as a result.  It is crazy to think that straight wind did this!  

The wind also took the roof off of the local storage units.  The tin is all wrapped around the across the road.  Of course, since we are still not doing much, the kids and I took a small  tour around town.  We also brought Jim lunch and his truck, so it wasn't a complete "ambulance chasing, nosy neighbor" kind of trip!  I am feeling lucky that nobody was hurt during this craziness.  There will be a lot of clean up, many new roofs put on, and a busy couple of weeks at the city's tree dump, but overall, we are good!

Not storm related, but this bird is so handsome!  Sometimes I just have to take his picture.  He is an interesting pet.  The kids want to be his friend.  They all want him to love them, but he really only loves Quincy.  He tolerates me and Harper.  Saige is terrified of him because he sometimes bites for no reason.  He annoys Preston!  Of course, I have seen Preston try to play with him....but Frankie doesn't love men, so it is a constant question of whether he will tolerate the love or not.  He does not love Jim - at all.  We do enjoy him though, such an intelligent animal!