Every weekend since mid-May, Jeremy has driven to and from our parents' places in Indiana regardless of whether or not the girls have switched places watching their cousins. He has been working in his parents' yard, mowing, killing weeds, cutting up fallen trees, and cleaning brush and such. He has bought a chain saw and enjoyed his time outside working. Here's a little before and part-way-through of one area he's been clearing.

He has also enjoyed getting to spend time with his fellow "firebeards."

We busted out the Wii Just Dance 4 one night this week and Sylvia, Caeden, Jeremy and I had a little dance party. We also laughed a lot!!! 

Annah got to help Tessa give Luna her first bath!

I can't even explain how incredibly thankful I am that Annah and Sylvia are getting to spend so much of this summer with our family in Indiana. 

Meanwhile, back at home, this kid has many "vibes..."

HS Awards

About a month ago, the Ridgeview Review published the RHS Honor Roll, and the school sent the kids' award certificates home since there couldn't be an awards ceremony as usual.

Sylvia received the course awards for:

Chemistry 2

Spanish 3

Honors English

US History

Computer Science

and certificates for participating in Student Council and WYSE

Caeden made High Honors as well.

And he received course awards for Computer Science and Advanced English.

We are always proud of our kids. We are proud of how they work hard and achieve goals in learning and activities they are involved in. And we are proud of how they have handled the absolute insanity of what the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order did to the last 2 months of their school year. 

Optimism

Sylvia and the kids going for a morning walk...

Our wonderful friend Dawn sent this great cup to Sylvia. It is hard to keep optimism going sometimes, but they are both people who work hard at it and help others to as well.

I needed some alone time last evening, and the rest of the fam was watching a movie I didn't care to. So, I was upstairs crocheting and doing my own thing when I heard loud shrieking coming from downstairs.  It is always hard to tell around here if the screaming and yelling is of the laughing kind or the crying kind.  Usually it is the laughing kind, but tonight I couldn't tell.  After a while Caeden came upstairs and said he missed me and asked me to come down.  This is what I found...

Also, I asked Annah to put away her recorder from elementary school, but Caeden got a hold of it and repeatedly played That's What Makes You Beautiful. 

Also, Annah decided to make buttered noodles and refused to share.

These teenagers are so silly.  And I love them.

Last Day of School?

Today was the kids' official last day of school--more than 2 weeks early, actually, due to the COVID19 shelter-in-place order and remote learning.  Honestly, neither of them had much actual class work this week, but each had a few Zoom meetings to see their teachers and classmates and say goodbye for the summer.

I honestly almost forgot to do last-day-of-school photos, since they haven't grabbed their backpacks and driven off to school for 61 days!

Sylvia actually liked the online learning for most of her classes. She liked that she could go back and re-watch specific parts of lectures as many times as she wanted to. She liked the fact that classes and lectures weren't interrupted with other students' asking questions. She missed in-class discussions, friends, music, and lots of other things though. 

Even if the end of it was odd, there were plenty of awesome, amazing things during her junior year. 

Caeden did not like remote learning at all--except for Zoom meetings with his favorite teachers/classes, Biology and English. It wasn't that a lot of work was done during those Zoom meetings, but the teachers needed to see their kids just as much as the kids needed to see each other and their teachers! (On one Zoom with his English class, kids were apparently showing each other around their houses, and kind of having a show-n-tell where they were trying to come up with the weirdest random item they could find in their house.  One student showed up with a baby, and he won!) I know for sure that remote learning was just as hard for the teachers (if not harder) as it was for the students. For Caeden, it was very hard to stay focused and complete his work at home. He usually does almost all of his work in class, and he feels like home is where he unwinds and doesn't think about school work.  So staying on task with classes on his own was a bit rough. Also, Caeden is such a social person; not seeing his classmates and friends has been the hardest part. We did grant him the concession of SnapChat, and he has connected with so many friends that way...it has been the best thing for him, really...as much as I hate SnapChat and hate to say that.  

His freshman year started out loaded not only with new classes and high school academic responsibilities, but vocal jazz, marching band, cross country, and fall play keeping him at school for about 13 hours a day! Talk about ending the school year in complete opposite! 

Now officially a senior and a sophomore, oh wow!

I'm calling this group the "socially distanced skateboard gang."  Coby bought Caeden a skateboard and gave it to him today so he could actually skate with them; so sweet. And they got Jackson to come along too! 

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." - Proverbs 17:17

20 years

It's our TWENTIETH wedding anniversary today! Clearly, we are not on some tropical getaway relaxing in the sunshine to celebrate. But, to me, being at home together with my dear husband and children is even better. I am so in love with all of them, and so grateful for the life God has given us. It is not "perfect" in the eyes of other people, but the Lord has blessed us in more ways than I could even try to name.

Obviously, we spent the day at home.

My brother texted us this...

Jeremy worked [from home] all day. I made us grilled cheese for lunch. 

We made and kept our pact not to buy each other gifts. We are getting a water softener next week.

There was silliness...

This evening, he grilled some fantastic ribeyes, and the girls made a peach cobbler and we all had a lovely dinner together. We played Tenzi and hung out in the living room. It was a great day. Lots of love and time together with those we love most. Thank you, Jesus.

FaceTime Cello Recital

Sylvia's teacher, Dr. Ransom, has kept up lessons via FaceTime during the COVID19 shelter-in-place order, and today she hosted an end-of-semester FaceTime recital for her students. 

It was quite a bit less nerve-wracking than a recital in-person, I think.

 Sylvia played Bach, which I love to hear.  I just cried watching and listening to her, thinking of all the things she has missed out on these past couple months.  

I'm so glad Dr. R made sure this recital happened. 

I just love to watch and listen to Sylvia play. 

First Year Done

My favorite part of Annah's workspace are the snacks that appear daily.  Nice choice on the Oreos for the last day, Ann.

She did it.  She finished, and she is so glad to be done with this school year.  Right now she has very few positive things to say or feel about it, but I pray that one day she will be able to look back and be so thankful for ever part of it. 

I am proud of her for continuing to try when she really did NOT want to. I am proud of her for enduring Music Theory 2, Audiation 2, and Class Piano 2 with essentially no instruction for the entire semester.  I am proud of her for completing a 6-credit Humanities: Philosophy of Religion course that was super intense. There was more learning about being a grown-up and dealing with the unfairness of life than we would've wished for her this year, but I can totally see God's hand in all of it.  Even though it feels like almost everything is uncertain for her right now, I cannot wait to see where the Lord takes her next!

Drive-Up Birthdays

I think one of the most fun things to come out of the COVID-19 "social distancing" orders are the drive-up birthday celebrations and parades!

Sylvia organized two today for her friends Briley and Alexis, and they were so surprised! There were lots of smiles and cheers and even a few happy tears! 

Caeden and I watched Solo today, continuing Star Wars in chronological order.

Fun Orthodontist

Caeden was supposed to have an orthodontist appointment way back in March, but of course, they had to close their office for COVID19. He had a chain break a couple weeks ago, so I finally called on Monday and asked if that was considered an emergency.  It was! So, we got out of the house today!

It was annoying to have to wear masks (mostly because we wear glasses and they fog up when you have a mask on too), but we totally understand and complied! 

I had to sign a paper verifying the fact that no one in our house has had fever, cough, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, fatigue/exhaustion or been around anyone who has. We were asked to use hand sanitizer as well.  No problem!

Dr. B fixed Caeden right up, and we scheduled his next appointment. This was the first place we had been inside besides our own home in 53 days. We talked with Dr. B about how, strangely, no one seems to be talking about how this shelter-in-place is so detrimental to mental health!

As we were leaving, Caeden said, "That was fun!" He is such a social boy; this shelter in place order is pretty hard on him.  And you know it's getting to a person when a teenager genuinely says that going to the orthodontist was fun! We do love Dr. B and his staff though; they're great.

 This evening, Jeremy and the girls and I took a walk around Arrowsmith.  We kept seeing these square concrete slabs that we had never noticed before. Sylvia decided they were spots for posing as a statue--until we saw one with a half-barrel planter on it and remembered that they all used to have them. I think the barrels just disintegrated and were removed. 

Another weird thing related to COVID19...

We received this information today for returning Chromebooks and other school property and getting the kids' items from their lockers.  They won't be allowed in the building.

 And, you know, the murder hornets are coming! (I actually read that praying mantis kill them, so I'm not worried because we have lots of those!). I also saw that these are shark birds are sure to arrive this summer in the midwest...!  ;)

 Today we watched the Anikin-turned-to-the-dark-side-and-killed-younglings-and-is-cut-in-half-and-burning-on-the-side-of-a-hill Star Warms movie. It's so sad and dark.  

Annah eats all the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms, and she has no shame about it. I personally don't care because marshmallows are disgusting--especially rock hard ones in cereal--but everyone else in the house is annoyed.  I think it's funny!

I think this is funny too!