Week Four: Coronavirus (April 6-10)

Week Four...who would have thought we would still be doing this quarantine thing...not me! This week was an adventure for us.

I continue to teach Monday through Friday at 9am on my classroom Facebook page to my students for about 45 minutes.  I set up all the learning and use large pieces of paper to write on for calendar practice, math problems, writing prompts, and knowledge charts for the topics we are discussing. I have also been incorporating a super fun science experiment at the end of each lesson with some yoga practices to close the lesson.

The sunshine has been bright and we have been trying to enjoy every bit that we can.  Nolan is in love with Leo and you can often catch him cuddling with him and carrying him around like a baby.


There have been several times this week that I thought we might be on our way to the ER.  First the boys were piling up the couch cushions at the bottom of the basement stairs while Bob was on a work call upstairs and I was working on parent emails.  They sounded like they were having an absolute blast until they weren't.  Nolan was screaming in a way that I knew it was because of an injury.  Both Bob and I came running within seconds to see his head bleeding and his back scraped up.  He jumped up from the stairs in the basement and hit his head on the pokey points of the ceiling and then scraped his back on the baseboards when he came down.  Needless to say it bled a lot but the cuts were small in both areas.  My couch cushions have blood splats on them though.


We have been working on introducing Leo to his crate because when life goes back to normal he is going to be comfortable with that space.  The boys decided to try them out for size. 


Our neighbor lost a big branch on his tree and Bob went over to cut it down.  Any chance to use his chainsaw makes him happy.  The boys were happy to take a ride in the wheelbarrow.


I was finally able to snag a grocery pickup time in a few towns over so the boys decided to go on a long bike ride while I was gone.  Bob wore a backpack backwards and tossed Leo inside the front pocket.



He loved his first bike ride.



During the bike ride, the boys stopped at one of the baseball fields to run the bases.  Bob was wearing a hat so his vision was blocked by the bill and he knocked his head right on the corner of the dugout to the point that he fell to the ground.  The boys were very concerned and helped him to stay calm.  Eventually, he said he felt stable enough to stand up and they rode home. Carter lead the crew home and was a bit ahead of the others, when he arrived at home he noticed the trashcan by the firepit was on fire.  I guess Bob tossed some coals in the trash can from his fire the night before into the leaf-filled garbage can before they left for the bike ride. Without hesitation, Carter grabbed a bucket and filled it with water and was using it to put the fire out.  When Bob and the others got home minutes later, he already had it out.  It is clear that I can not leave these boys alone.



We traveled to Day's Dam to take a family nature hike.  Nolan found the skull of a deer on the trail.





A boy and his dog!

We have been taking advantage of all our board games that we have here at the house.  One we hadn't played yet is called Googly Eyes.  It is like pictionary while wearing vision impaired glasses.  It was so silly to watch them draw in these silly glasses.




One day the temperatures where close to 70 degrees so we were doing as many things outdoors as we could.  Nolan got this gift last year for his birthday called "Booger Balls" which was basically creating slimeballs to throw at one another.  It was so messy but they enjoyed it!


Next, they begged Bob to get out the slip and slide but the ground was way too soggy for that.  We decided a family water balloon fight would be the next best thing.  We filled the balloons with warm water and had such a great time getting soaked.


We have been taking Leo on many walks to get his energy out.  However he is so stubborn.  In this photo you can see that no matter how hard Bob and I try to get him to follow us he refuses.  He lays down or sits and stares back at our house instead.


Nolan had his first Zoom class meeting with his classmates and he was over the moon to show Leo to his friends.


Recently the boys have been so into Pokemon Go that we have been exploring new locations for them to gather/catch Pokemon.  We ventured over to Oberlin and found a super nice walking path, hidden trails within the arboretum, and amazing architecture of the college campus.



Bob has been putting the boys to work with him as he does many home projects. You can see the new grill patio he created.  The boys are helping him move rocks over to a new location in the landscaping.




The puzzle bug has hit our house.  Landon has proven to be an avid puzzle man.  We have been completing puzzles within a day that we don't have any more to complete.  Neighbors have been dropping off puzzles for us to do!


The weather in Ohio has been funky this week for sure.  We woke up one morning to a light snow on the ground.


Newest home project: Creating a command center.  This is just the fancy term for decorative place to put all our important things for each member of the family.  I have pinned quite a few ideas on Pinterest and Bob is excited to get it started!


The Grochowalski family is located all over the United States so my cousin Christin created a family Zoom check in for us.  It was so great to see and chat with everyone.


Bob and I may have worked all day to complete this 1000 piece puzzle.  It was so worth it!


Scooter riding and bike riding is our big physical activity!



Exploring off the trail


Easter was Sunday and wow was it different but enjoyable.  We Facetimed with grandparents as the boys hunted eggs in the backyard. Nolan was in a grumpy mood because he just tripped up the stairs and dumped his eggs every where.



Poor Leo was so tired

We watched our Easter church service via the internet projected on the TV.


One of the gifts the boys received were Treasure X.  These are creatures that are buried in various materials they have to dig out to create.  Hard at work in the garage.

Coloring/Dying/Painting Easter Eggs

This year we have decided to change up the garden a bit.  In previous years we haven't had much success in getting veggies to grow there so we are making it a sunflower garden. 
I was even able to use the power tool to get it ready for planting!


Safe at Home we are here in Ohio.