Daniel & Annabel's Adventures: Quarantine Week 10: Last Week of School!

Quarantine Week 10: May 17-23

Sunday it rained ALL day. We'd spent the weekend watching all three Indiana Jones movies (on different nights- I don't do marathons, can't handle that much screen personally) for the kids' first time. They enjoyed them, and were glad Daddy could tell us the creepy parts to close our eyes for. So fun to introduce the kids to Indiana Jones- great movies.

Annabel finished Harry Potter book 4 (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) early in the week, so we watched the movie immediately afterwards, too. She's now caught up to Daniel and I, so we're reading the same copy of book 5 (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) with different bookmarks. It works. I'm reading it aloud to Daniel- remember, this is my first time through the whole series, too- I know, shocker- so I'm LOVING reading these aloud to Daniel and experiencing them together, and now with both of my kids, too! Anyway, since I'm reading it aloud, it takes us a bit longer to make it through the book, each chapter taking a good hour in some cases. We're finally almost done as I post this (some extra daytime reading has helped us out tremendously!).

Annabel had her last virtual art lesson. She had fun, but we're planning to stop for the summer (which we usually do). She didn't think she got that much out of the virtual lessons. Our library subscribes to a new online art lesson platform called Creativebug that is SO much fun (I think I mentioned it before)- so that will do us just fine. And it's free. Even better. I really love the lessons and activities I've seen on there- now that I could spend hours watching (and pay for it later with a headache...but I mean, I could get lost for hours in there!).

We finished our Zoom read aloud, Cursed, with Grandma Cheryl during the week, too- it was SO fun to have that to look forward to every week. And the kids are excited to start another book now- Hatched, the second book in that series. So yay!

I finally finished that hard Mickey frame puzzle! Well, the inside. I'm making Ben do that last row of gold framing, haha. Still, it felt good to get that (mostly) finished.

This week was our last week of school and the kids were still pretty much doing the same things...read this article, answer these questions, offer your opinion in this writing piece, watch this math video, do the following math questions, etc etc- as you know, I've found e-Learning to be particularly lacking in quality. I'm not a bit sad to be done with that. Some notable things for these last days were various spirit days for their class Hangouts- Annabel had a crazy hair day, Daniel had a dress up as a movie character day (he wore his Stormtrooper mask, his teacher dressed up as Indiana Jones- fun irony!!). Annabel also had an Ice Cream social one afternoon on her Hangout- she loved that. On Thursday, the last day of school, Annabel had a class movie Hangout (watching Space Jam) and Daniel's teacher gave them one last pep talk as graduates! And that was that. "School" was over. Yes, quotation marks needed. I won't miss it a bit, like I said. Ben and I are really not looking forward to doing more of that come fall, if that's what happens. We'll just have to see. Maybe the district will revamp this summer and wow me, and I know it varies teacher to teacher, but eh, I'm not optimistic, sadly. Oh well. It's done for now. Hallelujah.

Since school ended so abruptly on March 13th (isn't that wild- we left school that day, never going back...), the district set up curbside pickup procedures for student materials left behind. The teachers were each assigned a day to go pack up their rooms a few weeks ago. Then for this last week of school, we got detailed instructions about how to do pickup, when to do pickup (this was a district wide coordinated effort so that no family had two pickup times overlap- crazy organization), and so forth. We were not allowed to walk, we must drive following this route, no kids please, no getting out of the car, have a sign in your window, if you're returning materials tape bag closed and label, and so on. Our principal tweeted a picture of our school gymnasium filled with bags of student belongings- that was something else to see. I'd seen the middle school's similar tweet the previous week and hoped our school would share a picture, too- they did. Something for the books, that's for sure. Wild times.

I sent Ben on the day of our pickup (which happened to be the last day of school) and he was back home in two minutes, having encountered no line since he went at the tail end of our time bracket. Nice and easy. I'm so glad. I was happy to get rid of Annabel's library books (we laughed when Annabel checked her account and saw the note that all books were overdue- I'll just bet they are, haha! And another fun fact- our librarian made the comment that over 840 items were checked out of the library- getting all that scanned back in and put away will be quite the job). Not 30 seconds after Ben got home, Daniel, who'd been asked about a dozen times if he had ANYthing that belonged at school to any teacher any classroom anywhere, said well what about my safety patrol vest. Forehead smack! Well yes that would be an example of something that belongs at school!! Sheesh. Luckily, there was an afternoon pickup time, so we just swung by then and dropped it off out the window, to our principal and staff who chuckled upon hearing this story. Kids, eh?!

Anyway, back to pickup! The kids couldn't wait to look in their bags of school supplies. It was pretty cute, almost like Christmas morning for them. So fun to reconnect with school things, and toss a bunch, too. I got out next year's supply list and we went through everything to see what could be used again next year and pared down my fall supply shopping to just 4 things for Annabel and a very easy list for Daniel. Yahoo! All stuff is in a nice bin ready for fall. I feel so prepared and organized. (Pats self on back.)

For Daniel's last day of elementary school that Thursday May 21st (say what?!!), I put up posters and banners all over the house- You did it! Congrats! Celebrate! So fun to make a little fuss over Daniel. I even changed the house colors in the family room to the middle school's school colors, yellow and black. Harry Potter inspired this- you know, when they change the decorations in the Great Hall to the banners for the house that wins- I thought that sounded fun for us, too, since we still had Annabel's birthday banners up. It was an easy switch from yellow pink and purple to yellow and black. So fun! Another fun surprise for Daniel's graduation was waiting for us in the front yard, too- our school had treated all 5th graders to those signs you see everywhere now that celebrate graduates or sports participants...now it was Daniel's turn! It just announces we have a 5th grader we're celebrating- so sweet! Daniel thought that was fun and happily posed in front of it. (In fact, he happily posed for all pictures on this last day- it was so cute and I was thrilled!)

That night I arranged a fun surprise for the kids- a mini tailgate picnic graduation/last day of school party with both grandparents at Portillo's! The kids didn't know until we got there and got everybody's food and pulled around the corner to find everybody there waiting!! Daniel and Annabel were so excited. You could tell Daniel was so pleased. At school, the 5th grade walks out the back door on the last day to a big clap out from parents on the blacktop- it's such a fun tradition and I couldn't wait for my turn (though I knew I'd absolutely be a blubbering mess, I cry every year when it's not even my kid!)...I was SO sad to miss this clap out, SO sad. So this little party was sort of my way to make up for it. My mom made an adorable Clap Out poster for Daniel, which he loves. So fun. Grandma Mary Kay also had fun treats for both kids (cookies, candy), with Daniel's wrapped up and covered with words, Goodbye, Hello, etc. Daniel had a lot of fun with all this and loved it, in his sweet humble way. We got a kick out of Grandma Mary Kay using a large stick with a hook on it to deliver goodies (she had things for Ben and me, and Annabel, too). The kids loved the bubbles and sidewalk chalk Grandma Mary Kay brought (never occurred to me to bring anything, haha- but it was awesome!), and the adults all loved catching up and chatting. It was nice to sit outside for a bit and eat together (but apart- we were all definitely apart, at different tables and all), even though it was a bit chilly. Such a fun night! I'm so glad everybody could come and like I said, Daniel really did seem so pleased. And just like that, I have a middle schooler. Daniel is DONE with elementary school. That's just crazy. It's still sad it had to end like this, though. But, YAY!!!

And now, summer. All I have to say about that is PFFT. I'm not feeling it. Not a bit. Makes me so sad. All I can think is I had two crap summers already, then last year's amazing summer (!!!)- yes I got that at least and am hanging on to that, but now why must another crap summer happen. (And yes I completely know I'm not the only one this time around...but still...I already did this twice. That's the punch for me.) Trying to hang on and make the best of it...and we will, I know we will, but right now that's hard to see. Summer will come no matter what, that's for sure. We shall see what it brings. I've mentioned my summer thoughts a bit before I know, but this last week of school brought all these thoughts back again. Sigh.

For now, we celebrate no more school and that's enough! I still can't believe Daniel is done with elementary school...crazy. I know I said it already just now, but I can't get over it. He's quite thrilled of course. He's such a great kid, Daniel. Way to go, buddy! We can't wait to see what adventures come next for you!

Picture time!!

Craft time! Annabel and I painted Harry Potter rocks. So fun!

Kitty at our feet while watching movies. Adorable.

SO MUCH RAIN. Our backyard flooded. You can see how much water there is back there.

Ben and Annabel went for a walk to check our neighborhood out. Lots of water out there.

The school field was flooded.

Monday, I think, the kids and I sat together as we do and caught up on Some Good News. I literally bawled my eyes out at episode 7. Sobbed. Big fat tears. At some point John Krasinski says he thinks he cried harder than anyone- the kids were all uh-uh, look at Mommy! We all laughed because indeed I was crying dang hard. It was the wedding and the babies and the grandparents all bagged up just for hugs that got me. Darn love edition. Ben joked that I'd better not watch A Lot of Good News or I'd really be crying. And then I was laughing so hard I was crying more. I couldn't stop. The kids were a little taken aback, I think, haha. Sigh, ah well. (And don't even get me started on how Some Good News was sold recently. Disgusting. It was good because it was low budget and homegrown and just average people and good stuff. It was perfect. I'm appalled now. Oh well. It was good while it lasted.)

Annabel's darling art picture from her last virtual art lesson.

Another cute art project. Annabel's been in the mood to just draw Harry Potter anything pretty much. This sorting hat looks awesome! And she's darling in this picture- love her to bits.

Our school's gym filled with student materials all bagged up and ready for curbside pickup.

My puzzle (mostly) finished!! Ta-da!

Annabel's crazy hair day! So cute.

Cosmo snuggled up with us during our Zoom read aloud with Grandma Cheryl!

And then he stayed while Annabel and I worked/played games.

Annabel's ice cream social with her class on Hangouts. She fixed herself a sundae. Yum! (She was very jealous her teacher had gotten himself an Andy's ice cream treat though!!)

School tent and tables ready for curbside pickup. This is something else, I tell ya.

More Harry Potter rocks in progress!

More Harry Potter drawings of Annabel's...we put them together in a collage. So fun!

My finished rocks! I think they're pretty cute. Annabel chose what I drew and I went at it. I had a lot of fun.

Cosmo soaking up sunshine.

One morning I found that my Instagram had two consecutive posts reflecting on the future. Some coincidence! Two in a row! The future was indeed on our minds, because- summer- yay! I think? I almost wanted to say pfft, summer, whoop de. Trying to see the bright side and let it come however it comes. Summer/the future may not be what it used to be, what it would have been, maybe it will be better, maybe it will be bright...what the heck, we'll give it a chance. It'll come anyway.

I made Ben take pictures during pickup. Not that interesting, but there you have it. That's our principal here first, and then some other staff person checking a list next. And then home he came, lickety split. Nice and easy and fast.

Getting these bags of school supplies was like Christmas morning for the kids! It was rather exciting!

Annabel tested out all her markers, all are good and ready for next year- phew! We put everything aside already for fall. I feel so prepared and organized.

Changing of the house colors!
Annabel's birthday streamers were yellow pink purple...now for Daniel's 5th grade graduation, I changed them to his middle school's school colors- yellow and black! So fun!

Celebrating our 5th grade graduate!!

I received this cute poster from a friend to print and made a spot for Annabel's end of year celebration, too!

Annabel's teacher sent this class picture as a reminder of how they've grown this year! So cute.

We celebrated the last day of school with Legos! Of course! Star Wars for Daniel and Harry Potter for Annabel!

Daniel happily posed for a picture! Love that smirky smile- love that kid!

Time to build those Legos now!!

In a new leap of faith for this momma, Annabel has been allowed out riding with her friend from down the street lately. She LOVES this independence and loves riding around the area with Aggie. She couldn't be more pleased I'm allowing this now! The mom and I are in constant touch and we parent similarly, and lecture the girls equally, so I'm learning to be okay with this. They are just growing up, these kids! Who's allowing this?!

Waiting for our food at Portillo's! They came to my window for our name (we pre-ordered, which didn't help a bit as it turned out, oh well), so I was masked up.

Annabel wanted to wear hers, too, for fun. Sure, go ahead. Ben had his on, too, just in case- and it was good because they brought the food to his side.

Mini-graduation party time!!!

HAGS. Have a Good Summer, for those that don't speak in letters like this. Oh boy. This was a new one to me. Must keep up.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!!

Way to go, Daniel!! Hooray!

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!!

Love you SO much, buddy!!

I spent the first day of summer on Friday feeling pretty blue about summer period. In a fit of I don't know what I decided to look at pictures from before kids (looking at past pictures never helps my mood, so I don't know what I was thinking! maybe I wanted more tears? I didn't have any left after SGN, haha!)- we're talking 2003-2008, and found these two gems. This first is my Aunt Karen and my sister Christina. I'd love to know what book they were looking at (it looks like mementos of some sort when I zoom in- ??) but it was a sweet moment to capture. This was from July 2004. Karen passed away the year I was pregnant with Daniel. I remember going for the memorial quite pregnant and feeling quite hot in Virginia summer weather. Ben and I had made a good trip of it that year- Monticello, DC, and all. I have fond memories of that trip. Karen was a wonderful aunt, miss her dearly. I was happy to reconnect with this picture.

And this picture just made me laugh out loud. Brian, Christina and I were recreating some childhood picture. I'm not sure why exactly, but there you have it. This was from June 2005. A good laugh for a blue day.

And then a package arrived...Ben had ordered me my own Lego set thinking I might need a pick me up and it couldn't have been more perfect, nor more perfectly timed! Minions!! Too cute. I built them over the weekend. So fun!! Sweet guy I have in my life.