COVID week 9

So I don't feel like we are totally in quarantine anymore (because we're not), so I will stop calling it quarantine weeks . . . However, things are still not normal and so I will probably continue my weekly updates and call them COVID.

School finished up for my three youngest this week. Emmy turned in her online assignments and iPad (at her school) on Monday. She did well - getting mostly A's and some "Passes." If you didn't get a 90% or above, then you just got a pass. Online wasn't the easiest to navigate, but she worked hard and did really well. Jonas turned in his online assignments and iPad on Wednesday. He probably had his best quarter ever - getting all A's and A-'s. So that was cool. Lucy turned in her packet and chromebook to her school on Friday. She got her long-awaited desk items: writing work, art projects, folders, etc. Miles will finish up all his finals this coming week. The boys are somewhat "busy" with their lawn care - they've added aerating to their services and have done a decent number of them. It's hard with Miles still doing school, but will get much easier when he's not working on school all day long. Ben helps them about 25% of the time - if it's a new job, etc. But for the most part, the boys are getting independent with it - so cool.

Oh, HUGE news that is bittersweet: the girls are going to a new gymnastics place. It's a long story and I won't go all in to it, but it was the right time to make this transition. I think having time out of the gym and away from Coach Kirk, helped them to take this new path. Lucy was in tears the first day I brought up the idea of trying the new gym. Then she became excited. Then she and Emmy had an "evaluation" at the gym and they both loved it! Both girls got in to the levels they were hoping for - Emmy in "Gold" and Lucy in "Silver." Emmy has a couple really close friends in that gym and so she's super excited. They start up on June 1st. The really crummy thing? Because of COVID, the gym is operating at 10% capacity. Classes are spread out, etc. So Lucy will be going Mondays and Wednesdays and Emmy on Tues/Thursdays. But, whatever, it should be great for them. The gym (Black Canyon Gymnastics) has a big team of girls, they compete during competition season, etc. I am really excited for them. But it was hard telling Coach. We've been with him forever. But sometimes change is hard, but for the best - and that's what we're hoping.

Picture time:
Our Tuesday night activity was chosen by our YW Class President. She wanted to do a fashion show with "themes" chosen by the leaders. So we choose 4 themes:

Prom.

80s.

Tourist.

Nerd.

We gave the themes out a few hours before the activity so the girls could figure out their outfits. Then we met on Zoom and picked a theme, the girls changed in to their outfits, and then modeled them for us all. It was cute and the girls really had fun.

Lucy taking back her stuff to school. Sniff, sniff.

Kids were asked to wear a mask when they returned their iPads (oh, and picked up their yearbooks - fun!) at the school. So Jonas wore his ski mask.

The middle school's band teacher, Mr. Lund, is retiring - after teaching at the school for 33 years. He's strict, but awesome and does a fantastic job of teaching band and jazz band to his students. The school did a drive-by parade for him on Friday night - it was a surprise and turned out pretty great, I think. I came up with the idea of making a mustache for Miles' car (which we drove in for the parade). Mr. Lund has a mustache (that honestly looks a lot like what Jonas and Ben ended up making - I found the amazing fabric on my grocery trip to Walmart) and the kids often wear mustaches on their last performance. Mr. Lund and his wife got a HUGE kick out of it - as well as the other parade-goers. We saw so many pointing and laughing and so that was fun. :)

I am trying to introduce my kids to some of the good ol' classic movies. Friday night: JAWS. My kids literally were scared during it. It was perfect.

I organized an unofficial race - the Black Canyon Ascent. It was canceled, of course, due to COVID. But I got 20 (6 from my own family) to register. We have 2 weeks to do - starting on May 16th and going until May 29th. Lucy helped me mark the start and finish - the start line was already gone by the time we came down from the finish spot. No worries, I had tied a ribbon to a post and it was still there.

Since cars couldn't drive here, the finish decor held for today at least. :)

A little after 7, my family (minus Jonas who will run it with a friend next week) and neighbor, Heather, started out. Heather and I were the only runners - although Emmy decided to try and run the first mile and just run/walk the rest (spoiler alert: she ran the WHOLE thing). I felt great those first couple of miles and took a sizable lead in my group. :) Poor Heather is suffering from a new diagnosis of Chrone's/Inflammatory Bowel Disease and had a few stomach issues during the run. But she did and did it well. Brigham was my running partner and besides barking at the cows, did pretty awesome. In fact, maybe he helped me shave 3 minutes off my time?! The four times I have run it (I walked/ran it last year with Jonas), I was always at 72 minutes and whatever seconds. Today I did it in 69:02. Yeah! I was hoping to PR. :)

 After I finished, I started walking back to cheer on Heather and meet up with my family. I cheered on Heather and then not too long afterwards, I see this cute girl. She told, "I have run the whole thing!" I was so amazed and impressed. This is seriously the hardest race I do - way harder than a 1/2 marathon.

She sure knows how to push herself. By the time she came to running down to the finish line, she said, "I can't do it." She was like literally 20 feet away and finally running downhill - that's how hard this race is. It makes you want to quite when you're that close. :) Her time: 1:24:17. So great!

 We got our chocolate milks from the car and started heading down the road to find the rest of the crew.

  There they are! They did a great job, too. I mean, it was obviously fairly easy (while still challenging) for Ben and Miles, and pretty challenging for Lucy. But she didn't complain and finished strong. What cool people.

Heather, me, and Emmy. Why is everyone so much cuter than me? Sigh. :)

And that's a wrap for our week. We're all pretty tired, but continued with mowing, chores, car-cleaning, etc., today. Emmy gave her first go at Cake Pops. We'll try them out after dinner tonight - YUMMY, I'm betting.

Bye!