quarantine chronicles, week 8

reflecting on this 8th week of together time, i feel a sense of "normalcy" creeping in. not normal in that things are starting to return to how they were before the quarantine, but instead that we are very used to our safer-at-home/working-at-home/homeschool/reduced work hours/no gym/no vacation/no playdates/no nothing sort of life. 

this was a week of spring time, ushering in yard work, blooming magnolias, and baby bird eggs.

ramona did a little seed planting for the new butterfly rain garden that david is making on the terrace.

we took a sneaky peek into the nest over our front door light. i fought these robins daily in the early stages, but i have now fully ceded the fight. fine. you win, robins. 

look at this magnolia in our backyard! it's glorious. the other magnolia in the yard is on her deathbed, sadly, and only put out about 4 blooms and looks to be growing 5 leaves, and the arborist came and said "it's on it's last legs" so let's just hope for a regrowth, like the ones before. 

some of our friends who live in a highly visible spot along gorham street by james madison park had the brilliant idea to install temporary wood panels to their fence, and let friends paint the panels for a collaborate project. they dropped off the panels and some paint and said "go wild" so we thought and thought and then agreed on a dragonfly. ramona came up with the design, and we all participated in the execution of the art.

look closely for dragonfly at the gap in the fence. it's purple. it's pretty. 

the sunny warm weekend also gave us a chance to get out on a bike ride to visit a blooming corpse flower (and ooooh baby it stunk)

you better believe we had some driveway time, including the yard sofa. we taught the kids how to play team darts, specifically cricket (let's be honest: that is the only game david and i know).

we zoomed with family on the sunny front porch.

the weekend sunsets and waterfront strolls were fantastic.

monday came, and we all got back to work. from the pictures, work looks pretty fun, but rest assured: we be working. 

i made bread!

we learned to fold origami cranes!

james did some art in which he attempted to convince us that "fart" is onomatopeia. for the record, it is not.

homemade collaborative math games were played

puzzles were completed

and duets were practiced.

our weekly hike was a little delayed and it looks like we waited for the weather to get cold and gray again to go on a hike, but i don't remember that being a problem. we went to donald county park, and found wild cucumber seed pods,

stream beds full of blooming yellow flowers

and a cave with a geocache box hiding inside.

it was lovely. 

when we got home from the hike, the kids planned a "fancy restaurant afternoon tea" and it was delightful. we were told to dress up and meet them in the hallway upstairs for our 3 pm reservation. we took tea and sandwiches in ramona's room, and desert in james' room. 

these sandwiches were literally delicious, and look at that handsome attentive server in the background.

and the dessert menu was promising, 

and the service was amazing. 

but there was also some real school mixed in there, too. we have been working off a checklist system daily to help keep the kids on track, and it is working pretty well. here is our week 8 school checklist, memorialized here forever. 

it was also teacher appreciation week, so ramona made this sweet sign for her teacher mr eilbes and sent him this photo.

have i ever mentioned how annoyed i am that our country made "teacher appreciation week" the same week as "nurse apprectiation week" and that every single year, those two appreciation weeks end on mother's day? it just really bugs me. let's spread it out. as a nurse, who teaches, and is a mother, and has a mother, and has children who have to bring food and treats and card and all sorts of things....i mean, ITS TOO MUCH and feels just a little like the USA was like "i don't know, let's just make one week where we honor most of the women all at the same time, and just get it over with."

it's rants like this that might end me up on a therapist's sofa, but i'm in luck, because look what ramona did to the yard sofa...

(that sign says "thearapy" which means "therapy")

or maybe i should just calm myself by indulging in self care with overpriced naturally sourced and scented bespoke lotions. and GUESS WHAT. i'm in luck there, too, because a little shop selling overpriced naturally sourced and scented bespoke lotions popped up on my driveway. 

later, ramona made these adorable tiny clay creations of her favorite food: sushi and ramen. fork for scale, obviously, because a fork has no place in the eating of sushi or ramen.

take home messages from this week? i think it's that the kids miss restaurants and shopping. and everyone needs therapy.