quarantine chronicles, week 6

i recall feeling like we were finding our rhythm and making peace with our new situation this week. 6 weeks feels like the usual amount of time it take to adjust to changes,. new house, new job, new baby, new pet, new relationship--whatever it is, a month and a half tends to rub some newness out of situations. and of course, this newness isn't really SUCH a major change, in that david continues to work daily, and i went to work 3 days this particular week.... but all the same. all the togetherness and home school and NOWHERE ELSE TO GO started to feel better on week 6.

the weekend brought some sunshine, and maybe that's part of why things felt good. we took a walk in the windy cherokee marsh

and we put the yard sofa on the skateboards. david pushed the kids down the sidewalk for a record distance of 5 houses. this yard sofa is our quarantine mascot.

oh, and we've been cooking new things, baking too many things, and trying all sorts of new things. sometimes it's a total win, like this super yummy homemade ramen. sometimes, it's a disaster that results in james crying and yelling at us at the dinner table. you never really know what you're gonna get!

perhaps in a sign that we miss museums (you guys, we really do enjoy art museum visits), david installed art pieces around the yard, and then gave the museum style labels. he even labelled the bunny rabbit that was left in the yard for my birthday last summer.




we closed out the sunny weekend with a happy hour hor de'vours and dance party on the driveway. a neighbor walked by and snapped this photo. this is a pretty typical weekend driveway scene. i will be pretty bummed when the driveway turns into a construction zone. i mean, pretty bummed AND pretty excited.


then monday came, and with it, the return of homeschool, homework office, and balancing all the things. luckily, this guy is a whiz at multitasking.


the kids did some park clean up for earth day, and then built this frame from scrap wood and arranged a diorama of found nature bits.



other home school projects included a largely independent butterscotch cookie baking and delivery project,


making a backyard sundial,


and making fresh sourdough baguettes to go with dinner (FYI: NYT orzo shrimp scampi was gobbled up without a single word of resistance, but instead moans of delight by all 4 of us; HUGE success) (also, see above regarding too much baking).


we snuck in a sunny mid-week hike at olin park right in the heart of the city,



and david caught me catching views.

looks like we need to add "put the popsicles away and close the freezer" to future homeschool lessons, but despite this little scene, things went well this week.