Week 2

We're still holding strong here!  Everyone is healthy and happy (for the most part).  The days when it's been raining all day get a little long and tensions run a little high but as long as we can get outside, we're good!  

The boys are very good at playing with each other.  I told Erik the other day that I'm very thankful this is happening when the boys are at the ages they are.  They're self sufficient, they play well together, we don't have to watch their every move like we did when they were toddlers and we are still in charge of their social life so whatever plans we make (or lack thereof), they have to go along with anyway.  I can't imagine dealing with this when they were babies/toddlers or trying to keep teenagers in the house and away from friends. 

Unfortunately I still have to go in to work and my work isn't really slowing down all that much yet.  And school starts back up (online) on Monday.  So the "honeymoon" is officially over in 4 days.  It's been a great ride: we've stayed up too late, watched too many movies, ate too much popcorn and other treats and hung out in the same clothes for a few too many days in a row!  So far, we're all still enjoying it!!

Fishing for alligator gar off the front porch

Kade wanted nothing to do with my picture taking but I did manage to get a couple thumbs up!

Hopefully these are the last pictures of snow!!

COVID-19

I just had to use that as the title of this post, if anything, for easy reference when we're looking back on this memory!

We're on Day 2 of "social distancing" and the hardest part has been getting some WiFi time for myself to do a post!  Between Erik working from home and hogging all of the internet speed and the boys using the laptop to do their learning games, it doesn't leave much left for me.  

So it turns out "country living" can be used interchangeably with "social distancing" so, so far, we haven't noticed much change from the norm.  Again, we're only on Day 2.

We sent the boys to school on Monday and Tuesday of this week.  Who knows if they'll get to go back this year and we wanted them to have some closure with their teachers.  Kade has taken this pretty hard, he LOVES his teacher, so we've had some tears.  He's wanted this teacher since he was in 1st grade because of the NCAA tournament.  Apparently Mr. Matejka has been known to show a game or two during class and he has them fill out a bracket.  So, when that got canceled we had some EXTREME disappointment.  Then when we realized they might be done for the year...well....to say Kade was sad is an understatement.  Since we aren't sure ourselves, we haven't really told him what the future holds so right now they think they're going back in 8 days.  And, maybe they will!!!

I don't think Mason truly grasps what's going on but he did ask today (again, Day 2) when he gets to go back to school.  I'm actually having a little harder time with Mason's situation.  I feel like Kindergarten is such a special year and I feel bad that Mason's kindergarten experience might be cut extremely short.  I know he won't remember it very well and maybe it's because he's my baby, but I'm sad that he might never get to go back to his Kindergarten classroom.  He also LOVES Ms. Tuohy and I feel terrible he might be done with her.  She's been wonderful with him, with patience beyond measure, because we all know Mason can be a bit much at times!  

However, Mason's love of sleeping in, along with his amazing imagination, has made his transition into hermit life quite easy!  Kade, on the other hand, thrives on structure, plans and socialization.  Hopefully he can learn from Mason, relax a little and go with the flow.

A few weeks ago, I took these 2 days off (Thursday and Friday) to watch the first round of the NCAA tournament with Erik, while the boys were in school.  Obviously plans have changed but it's been nice being home with the boys, knowing there's nothing to do and nowhere to be.  We've watched movies, drawn pictures, done a bit of school work, played basketball outside, went for a run, stayed up late and slept in.  I know this could be a loooooooooong situation but right now, I'm loving every minute of it.  I'll still have to go in to work like normal, but we have been told we can change our hours to work around our children's schedule.  And, soon, online learning is going to happen and maybe the stress will pick back up.  So, we're making sure to bask in the quietness before the possible  storm.

Anyway, so far we're healthy, happy, and enjoying each other's company.  Fingers crossed it stays this way!!!

Fishing on the "beach"!

Thankfully we were able to watch the last boys basketball game before everything got canceled.

We busted out some VERY old warmups (Erik's dad's when he was in high school!!) to help cheer on our Eagles.

And our very own Mason got Student of the Week in P-E the week before everything got shut down!!

He said he knew it was going to be him when the teachers said this to describe the winner, "And sometimes this kid can be a little crazy..."

Warning:  Kade picture overload!  

Melissa, my photographer friend, hooked the team up with some great action shots from a game.  There were so many wonderful ones, I figured I'd just post them all.  

Unfortunately, I can tell that Kade didn't feel good this day, so when I see them, I just see my little man needing some Tylenol and a couch.  But of course he'd never admit to that because there's no way he'd miss a game!!

These first few are my favorites:

Talk about timing when Melissa snapped this picture!

All those boys and arms but Kado has the rebound.

Very serious business.

Harper, Jackson (their buddy from daycare) and Mason...not exactly cheering their team on, are they?

So, we had to take Kade's iPad away for awhile.  His reading was slipping and we weren't happy with the amount of time he was using it.  It's been about 3 weeks now, shockingly, he's never asked for it back.  He's happier, he plays with his brother more, he spends more time outside.  I can't say that his reading has improved much but we'll take what we can get!

The boys enjoying the sun!

Mason and his dog cousin, Brody.

It might be time to get this kid a dog, he LOVES playing with Brody.

Kade and Violet

Kade had his last basketball tournament this past weekend.  

In between games, Charlie came over to play.  

Here they are testing Mason on his sight words.

Sadly this was Kade's last basketball game as a 3rd grader.

I cannot believe how fast time is flying, I swear it was just last year he was just a baby and dying laughing every time Erik said, "SLAM DUNK".

They were going on and on about how bad their elbows hurt.  They didn't realize how ridiculous they looked stuffing their faces with a doughnut and whining about their elbows at the same time.

I made them take a picture, they weren't happy with me.

Then I made them show me just how badly their elbows hurt...