Covid-19 Break: Week 5

Norah had the great idea of putting up the tent and camping out.  The kids had fun camping out in the dining room all week.

They like to watch DVDs and read books before going to sleep.

Norah likes to do her school work in the tent too.

Brock practiced Oh, What a Beautiful Morning and The Ballad of the Green Beret on the piano.  Those are two of his favorite songs.

Ration runs: Rations are now only given out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  So now we don't have anywhere to go on Tuesday and Thursday.  They give out rations for Tuesday on Monday and and for Thursday on Wednesday.  They also give out rations for Saturday and Sunday on Friday.  This was definitely the worst week but there were a few highlights.  Good: The applesauce was blueberry flavor, we got Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal bars, new fruit juice in cans, enough grape juice to use for the Lord's Supper for several weeks, and cheese sticks for only 2 days.  Bad: Uncrustables for 5 days in a row!!!  The other two days were gross chicken nuggets.  The calorie count for one Uncrustable lunch meal is 970.  We received another big bag from the food bank but it only had 2 pears and some kind of lettuce that still had the dirty roots on it.

We still have picnics but we are trying out different places.

There were quite a few people playing volleyball together Thursday evening and no one told them to stop, at least while we were there.

The place we ate at on Saturday for lunch had bees so we probably won't go back there.  Saturday night we ate on our back porch for the first time in a long time.  We had pulled pork smoked by Jared and it was awesome!

Covid-19 Break - Week 4

We began week 4 with an Easter egg hunt in our front yard. 

Then we had lunch at the park, rode bikes, and played soccer.

The school rations keep getting worse.  No pizza last week.  We did get Uncrustables, boiled eggs, chicken nuggets, tons or oranges, pop tarts, and more boiled eggs.  The one bright spot was on Tuesday we received a large, heavy paper bag from the food bank.  What could be in the bag?!?!?!
Grapes and Envy apples!  Score!!! Now I could put off going to the store for a couple of more days.

On Friday the school gave out breakfast and lunch for Saturday and Sunday too.  Oh boy!!!  Boiled eggs for 3 days in a row!  Because everyone wants to have the same exact thing for breakfast and lunch three days in a row.  I used the eggs to make deviled eggs this week.  I'd never made them before so I thought I might as well learn how.

One afternoon we walked down to the park in the woods by our neighborhood.  We haven't been there in a while and we found out our kids are too big for the playground now.

On Saturday we tried to beat the rain.  We managed to do 2 laps at the park before it started pouring.  We took shelter under the picnic pavilion.  Someone had drawn a hopscotch so we took the opportunity to learn the rules and try to wait out the rain.  We finally gave up and Jared backed the truck under the pavilion so we could load the bikes and go home.

Covid-19 Break: Week 3

We started off week 3 by sewing masks.  Brock loves it when we use the sewing machine so he was entertained for a while.  Jared made one for me and one for Norah.

Jared and Norah worked on watercolor beach scenes.

Norah earned a certificate for being 100% fluent in addition and subtraction facts and was on the school announcements.

Jared purchased an army ration and he and Norah made a video describing everything just like Steve 1989.  I will post it here when it's ready.

Brock started school last week.  He has 3 classes each day online with his teacher and other students.  He also has dance class once a week online.  He was glad to see his teachers and friends. Brock and Norah both stay busy with school work all morning and part of the afternoon.

Ration Review:  We now call our trips to school Ration Runs.  The lunches and breakfasts are getting worse.  Last week included Uncrustables TWICE, boiled eggs, and turkey meat sticks TWICE.  We are drowning in cheese sticks and applesauce cups.  I have so many mozzarella cheese sticks that I am looking for recipes that use mozzarella besides pizza.  And at least I can bake with the applesauce if I need to.  On Thursday they told me to bring a box on Friday because they would be giving out food for the weekend too.  Well, on Friday when we arrived there was an extremely long line all the way down the street and through the bus loop of the middle school.  Usually there are only 3-4 cars in the line and no wait.  We waited in line for over 20 minutes.  I guess they were running out of food because they didn't give meals for the weekend.

Friday night we had another picnic at the park.  If you look closely you can see Jared holding a meat stick!  We rode bikes again.  Norah has a new bike!

On Saturday we made Easter cookies and Brock got a haircut!