The Last Shots

Yesterday the littlest man got his first covid vaccine in a beautifully organized clinic for the littles. He was not excited for the shot, but loved the sticker with the crown on it.

He was also pretty thrilled with the bribe he received afterwards.

First Choir Concert

 After years and years, our noise-making child finally signed up for a choir class. His piano teacher had been also coaching him in singing for a while. Michael has quite a nice voice and a good ear. 

Despite my excitement about him in choir, I must admit that I was not super enthusiastic about attending a high school concert. And the first choir to perform meet my expectations. However, Michael's choir was next and I was very impressed - a delightful surprise! Michael participated in a trio for the first song and brought a nice, strong bass voice. 

The choir director is incredibly enthusiastic and picks fun songs for the kids, um, teens. Currently, Michael, our band kid, is loving choir more than band! 

Well, he loves choir, but he does have some opinions on what they get to wear for concerts.

Before/After: A Year To Remember

20/21 School Year was an(other) year to remember! It was a rollercoaster of emotions and schedules. We started 100% remote and ended hybrid in-person (Mon/Wed in person for our kids).  In between there were so many zoom meetings and masks. Oh, and too many people using the Wi-Fi and Chromebooks that struggle to function as a computer.  

We sort of limped across the finish line with this one. Everyone was so burned out from school. Michael and Ben managed to pull off really great grades (well, Michael did fail Advisory {yes, they give a grade for Advisory [seems like you'd have to try to fail a class like Advisory though, right?]} but that doesn't affect his GPA) but it was worse than pulling teeth to have them get their work turned in the last couple months (or more!) of school. 

Okay, maybe it was only worse than pulling teeth because you get anesthesia for getting teeth pulled and no one gives you ANY painkillers to get you through the pain of nagging middle schoolers to get their work done in a pandemic. Kudos and all the heartfelt gratitude to the teachers who were in the trenches this year. 

Anyway.

::deep breaths::

I know summer is its own special crazy because the kids are home all the freaking time but we needed to be done. On the first and last days of school I took a picture of Isaac's desk and thought that the juxtaposition of his desk on those days of school pretty much illustrates the difference between those days in my head. 

The beginning

The end

And He Got A Shot

Washington State made the vaccine available to the 16+ crowd on April 15th so we were keeping an active eye open to find a Pfizer clinic. So when Jason called me from upstairs (yes, we are now that couple) to tell me he had to a meeting, but had just sent me an email with a Pfizer clinic I hung up on him and got this kid a spot. And then called a friend to pass on the info. And then sent a few texts to some other friends.

Just trying to spread the good news.

Saturday morning (bright and early) Josh drove to the clinic and injured nary a traffic cone in the process. 

It was a rather well-organized process that didn't involve leaving our car the whole time.

He suffered from a sore arm for a couple of days - his brothers may or may not have contributed to that by punching him in the arm to see which arm he got the shot in - but otherwise is doing just fine. 

Spring Soccer, PNW Edition

 And soccer is back! Back with masks, on and off the field. Soccer in the time of covid-19.

This morning's game was played on what can best be described as a shallow lake. Now, I know that this looks like a grass-covered field, but I can tell you from experience the whole thing was covered in about an inch or so of water with a smattering of deeper areas placed randomly around the field.

I wore my rain boots and I have to tell you that anyone who wore regular shoes to the game...chose...poorly.

For all that it was a pretty good game. The Wildcats did lose (6-5 we think) but the close games are more exciting than the ones when the team blows their opponents out of the water (which I guess would have been literal in this case).  Looks like it's going to be another great season.

First Day, yet again

It was a glorious, dark, rainy and cold morning when Isaac first attended kindergarten in person. Long past the promised date of September 14th, but at this point we aren't complaining.  A few concessions to covid19 - a morning health "attestation" filled out online, a mask, and his own bottle of hand sanitizer - but otherwise a typical day. His backpack looks like it's half his size and we spent time over the weekend writing his name with a sharpie on all of his winter gear. 

Jason went to work a little bit late so he could walk with us.  Isaac was in high spirits the whole way there. His excitement wavered a little bit when the para started walking him to his classroom, but he still seemed happy.

And this is when I realized that I've been doing it all wrong:

    -when Josh went to K I had TWO kids still at home

    -when Michael went to K I had ONE kid still at home

    -when Ben went to K I was PREGNANT

And now, as I took Isaac to K, I realized that I have THREE KIDS STILL AT HOME

Seems like I may be doing this wrong.

ANYWAY, I spent the next 5 hours being only slightly productive including a poorly timed walk during which I walked by Isaac's school during his recess. A mistake I hope not to repeat. Luckily he didn't see me.

He came home a happy boy with stories about the toys he played with and the snack he ate.  We'll count that as a success!

Halloween

On Halloween Eve (which we apparently celebrate some years) our ward had a drive-thru Halloween activity. There were games to play and candy to eat. Isaac played the games, but Michael and Ben helped with the candy eating. Last but not least, my friend Becky put together this fun photo shoot spot. Sadly Isaac (well, and Scully) was the only one of the boys with any Halloween spirit.

Bright and early on Halloween morning found Ben and I hiking up at Lena Lake with the Bremner crew. Taking the opportunity to hike on one the (likely) last nice weekends of the year was a lovely way to start our day.

 After 8 miles or so and some dinner, the Millers played some games. 

Games with eyeballs.

Games with blindfolds.

And games with glowsticks.

There was a t-rex invasion. The kids didn't exactly have great responses: Isaac tried to punch him in the belly and Ben just lay down and gave up.

Turns out this was a dancin' dino!

And then there was candy.

So.

Much.

Candy.

Irene's new Halloween rule (for boys over 10): eat as much candy as you want, but you are responsible to deal with and clean up after any puking.

Luckily, no one got that sick, but at least one of them woke up the next morning with a stomach that was still hurting. 

Natural consequences, baby.

Between Zoom Meetings

A couple of weeks ago, we took Isaac out of the Dual Language Program and transferred him to the school he is zoned for. It was so sad in many ways, but also the best decision (for all of us). One of the benefits is FEWER and SHORTER Zoom meetings. So no more tears, but still a fair amount of whining.

We are having dry but chilly days lately, perfect for getting the wiggles out between meetings. This morning Isaac wanted to ride his bike, so we took a leisurely trip in the neighborhood stopping often to check out Halloween decorations and fungi.

Kindergarten Chronicles

Once upon a time there was a small child whose personality was far too large for his petite body.  With nowhere to go, his enormous emotions had nowhere to go but out into the wide, wide world wreaking havoc at times on those people nearest to him.

And so it was that after 5 years, 8 months, and 30 days that the small child was supposed to attend a dual language program (English-Spanish) at a local elementary school where it was hoped that a lovely pair of women trained in education along with peer pressure (it's not all bad) would help him self-regulate a little bit. 

Alas, a plague afflicted the land and on that no longer glorious day in September, the small child began his education on a laptop computer. For 3 hours+ a day.

Does this story have a happy ending? Who knows.

Sigh.

Some examples from kindergarten remote continuous learning 2.0:

--Isaac spends his time during his Spanish class telling me that his teacher is saying the wrong words

--One day Spanish class ended with Isaac yelling at his computer during the alphabet song that "z for zapatos" is NOT the right sound for that word

--He called his English teacher "poopy butt" TWICE...luckily with the mute on

--Isaac likes to take the cursor on the screen and "poke" the eyes of his teachers and classmates while laughing maniacally

--Zoom has a lot of options for how the screen and screen-in-screen are set up...he has found them all...during class

--If he isn't chosen first (18 kids in the class), he throws his arms in the air and says "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"...on mute...but I'm pretty sure the teachers can read his body language

--If Isaac doesn't like a video with music the teacher plays, he covers his ears and glares at the screen (see picture above).  Fun fact: Isaac doesn't like any of the videos his teachers use. He finds the Spanish sounds one especially offensive.

First Day, part 3

I didn't ever imagine that for my oldest's first day of college I would be dropping him off at my Mom's place at 8:30 a.m. and driving back home to act as the (unappreciated) assistant for my kindergartner.  Another unexpected consequence of a global pandemic. 

Josh is taking a piano class (on zoom) that happens at the same time as Isaac's class (on zoom). Which is pretty unfortunate since our piano is in the same room as Isaac's school area and neither can be on mute the whole time. So we're feeling pretty good about Rachel's decision to buy a piano. Then he came home in the afternoon to work on his other classes (U.S. History and English). 

Definitely not the college experience he was expecting either. He's a good sport about it, but I am hoping he can do some in person classes this year. 

First Day of School, part 2

 

Summer Week 12/School Week 1

Monday

Labor Day gave us an excuse to go on a family hike. We left early(-ish) in the morning to beat the crowds. You may laugh, but this is a state that is serious about the outdoors. This was also a good excuse for Josh to get some some driving practice. This tends to be stressful for driver, parent, and passengers for different reasons. 

Jason is stressed because, well, honestly he is a little bit stressed when anyone else other than him is driving. A beginning driver makes that worse. Josh is stressed because he can tell Jason is stressed and because the peanut gallery in the back thinks they are very funny. His brothers are stressed because they don't trust Josh yet. And, on this particular occasion, I was stressed because I had to listen to 40 minutes of overlapping Minecraft talk from Michael and Isaac.

So we arrived at Deschutes Falls in good spirits! Ha! Luckily it is a short walk to the water and we had lovely weather. I think the boys really did have fun and enjoyed exploring, grumpy faces in the pictures notwithstanding.

 

Tuesday

To give the summer a fun send-off, the boys were given (mostly) unlimited time on wi-fi and electronics. We normally keep a pretty strict schedule so they were thrilled with option. With a few exceptions, this is what the day looked like for them. I spent most of the day running errands and visiting the various schools schools the kids aren't going to be attending in person this month.

The middle school had an online open house in the evening which was only successful for half the classes (Ben has the same teacher for 4 periods and none of the zoom links for any of her classes showed up) and made me rather nervous for how school was going to go the next day.

Wednesday

The BIG day...well, the first BIG day. Isaac doesn't start until next week and Josh's community college classes don't start until even later. But this was the day school started for Ben and Michael (and kinda for Josh) so I made a special breakfast.

The morning got off to a good start and then quickly went downhill. Michael's computer began spontaneously turning off and then Isaac started throwing up. After we got Isaac situated with a bowl, towels and the TV, then I moved on to changing out Michael's computer....with one without a working mic or camera. Fun times.

Luckily the vomiting didn't last very long. The boys were able to log in to all of their classes that day. I had to reschedule Isaac's kindergarten assessment, but that meant we missed out on being in lock down at the school as the cops were chasing a guy with a gun around that area.  Oh, and the National Weather Service started warning us that CA and OR were sending us some very unhealthy smoke clouds to round off our week of fun.

In preparation for a rough day, I had planned weeks ago to meet up with a couple of friends (with masks, outside, 6 feet apart) in the evening for a pity party. I brought a couple of extra friends with me. Delicious friends.

Thursday

Isaac seemed much improved so we visited his new school and teacher.  We came home with a chromebook and bin of supplies to get this par-tay started. His class is the tiger class. He wasted no time asking me to set up a Lego Ninjago picture on his desktop. He also seems to think that having a computer means that he will get to watch Minecraft videos on it. 

He's going to be disappointed.

Saturday

The day that has been threatening to come finally arrived. It was hit or miss there for a little while, but eventually Rachel had her official orders and today is the day she flew out to Fort Bliss (trust the military to pick a sadly awkward name for a piece of land near El Paso). She's got a couple of weeks of quarantine there and then a flight to Germany and then a couple of weeks of quarantine there.  It's an awful lot of quarantine, but hopefully she has a great time in Germany and I have high hopes that Americans (and by Americans, I really mostly mean me) will be able to travel there by next summer.

It's always sad when she leaves, but she thankfully does these one year gigs and then comes back. In the meantime, Mom likes to paint so I told Rachel that she should probably expect to come back to a slightly different house.