Called it

Well, I was right: school will be moving to distance learning next week. The kids are disappointed, of course, but with COVID cases rising like they are we get it. This way it'll be easier for us to appropriately quarantine before bringing this circus on the road for Christmas! 

As for our week, it was pretty standard! This is Marlo and me every morning.  

We're back to being busy during the week and relaxing on the weekends. Marlo has rediscovered her love of drawing lately. And she's really good at it! She watches how-to-draw videos to get ideas then makes about a million of each design. She was really excited about drawing "stackers".

 

(That's a taco)

Her list to Santa even includes "printer paper". Haha! She's got a lot of creating to do. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Beginning of the end

If I was a betting person, I would guess this is our last full week of in-person school. Covid cases are exploding all over and I think the kids will switch to distance learning after Thanksgiving. It was great while it lasted! I know the kids have really enjoyed being in school the last couple months. 

That means I can look forward to exclusively online violin lessons. 

 

I can also expect a lot more of this. 

 

We played Ticket To Ride Friday night while we had pizza. Marlo was into wearing Rob's clothes this weekend for some reason. 

Getting doughnuts yesterday morning. 

 

Legos

Kasper went to the tae kwon do studio for the first time since March! He is supposed to test for his black belt next month so he had to go in for a prep class. I think he really liked being back with his fellow students and teachers! 

Today we hung around the house and did homework, read books, colored, baked cookies. Marlo is pretty good at finding her way around the kitchen! She can make herself a sandwich, pour milk, make toast, cut an apple. She can also use the oven with parent supervision. She's very comfortable!

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

Finally some good news!

 Obviously there was one major story this week.

Our horse won but not without much gnashing of teeth on our end. Honestly this week felt like a year and it's going to take some time to recover. 

We spent our days glued to the news. Marlo was free to run wild and create. I think she went through a whole ream of printer paper and a pack of masking tape. She did some of that with Rob's glasses on.

We also discovered our next dental project. 

 

So that will be fun. 

We enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous weather this weekend! I took the kids for a long walk/bike ride yesterday and today Rob took the kids disc golfing! The weather will change again this coming week so I'm glad we got to be outside.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, because the world as a whole absolutely did! 

Happy Halloween!

I returned to work this week! The expectation is that I do only what needs to be done then I go home to limit the amount of people working in the lab. As a result, I was home by lunch every day! It's been a nice way to ease back into work. 

On Wednesday, Kasper's distance learning day, he said that he had had enough of his front tooth and it was just bothering him too much. You think? (I'll make the picture small because it's gross.)

 

I called the dentist and they were able to get him in within an hour. I assumed they'd tell us to keep wiggling it but it turns out it wouldn't have come out at home because his gums filled in the space where his tooth root dissolved and it was stuck. A little novocaine and some elbow grease later and out it came! I wasn't expecting to see Kasper with a front tooth space and it's pretty cute. 

The kids got to bring costumes to school Friday which was exciting for them. When they got home, Marlo tried on Rob's costume and I thought it was hilarious. 

We got the pumpkins carved at the last minute. 

 

I've mentioned here before that Marlo seems to have an almost compulsive urge to make and create, so naturally she spent yesterday making her own Batman costume. Her favorite media is paper and tape but she also loves digging in the recycling pile.

 

We weren't planning to go trick or treating because, COVID, but at 7 pm, we decided to just hit a couple houses in the neighborhood that had bowls of candy in the driveways. I'm glad they got to do a little Halloween because 2020 is pretty awful and disappointing most of the time.

Today we ate lots of candy, watched the Vikings beat the Packers (!!!) and Marlo put some finishing touches on her Batman costume. She colored a pair of her undies yellow and I don't think she could be any more Marlo than she was today. She flexed her creativity muscles big time this weekend and I think she was in heaven.

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Early winter

Ugh. If you're in Minnesota, you know how dumb the weather was this week. 

We got about 7" of snow on Tuesday! It was the earliest 3+" of snow EVER in Minnesota. Not a record I really needed to see fall. 

 

Of course the kids loved it. 

Isn't he a handsome devil?

 

School was closed Friday for conferences. We had only Kasper's and after talking over his teachers a couple times on Zoom the conferences were over! I miss being able to go into school to talk to teachers in person. 

Marlo spent her long weekend taking stuff out of the recycling and making art. This was a little escape room type box she make with keys and codes. She's so darn creative. 

Our basement is basically finished! I wish I took some good before pictures but it was a room with an ugly tile floor. It was where Lois spent her days using it as a bathroom so we were NEVER down there. Now it's a warm room with a gas fireplace, comfy couch (with pull out bed!) and big tv and it's used every day! It's where all the kids toys and games are now so we're able to reclaim the sunroom. 

We have some minor painting touch ups to do and hanging stuff on the wall but it's already a favorite spot in the house! 

Well I'm off to work tomorrow for the first time since March. Should be interesting! Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

MEA

 This week was MEA here in Minnesota! That means the kids were home Thursday and Friday. We really didn't do much of anything. The kids were just happy to have no school, Rob was busy with work and I have been plowing through a 1,500 page book that I cannot put down. 

Kasper got to hang out with a friend of his a couple times. The Dads took the boys (and Marlo) out to play disc golf! Apparently their attention was drawn to some teenagers horsing around. Story goes, one of the teens yelled to 3 children "WHAT THE FUNK ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" Says Marlo. We're letting her think that for now.

We did have an unpleasant 20 minutes when it SNOWED. 

We don't even have the patio furniture put away yet. 

We also spent a bit of time downstairs. Rob and I installed blinds on the window that required 2 trips to Home Depot. The valence still needs to be trimmed because it's too long but at least we can cover the window. We also got the couch put back together and vacuumed! The kids helped. Just kidding. They didn't.

 

We did have some family reading time tonight and instead of reading, Marlo drew 3 pages of little squares that she intends to mark off each day. There's no specific number of squares and it doesn't count down to anything. She also made pen and marker holders. Always creating. 

 

This is my last week home - I go back to work next Monday! I've been home over 7 months so it'll be quite a change. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

Teeth!

This week had a couple big milestones! Each of the kids lost their first tooth without assistance from a dentist! Marlo was first on Monday. Her tooth was bothering her so she begged Rob to get a pliers and rip it out. He didn't get the pliers but was still able to pull it out pretty easily. 

You can see her adult tooth is already in. It moved mostly into place by the end of the week! 

Kasper was next! He and Rob went into the bathroom and about 10 seconds later Rob announced that it was out! When I looked in his mouth I was surprised because I thought it was the top guy but it was a bottom tooth! Again, the adult tooth was already back there ready to take its position. 

That top snaggletooth is basically shimmed into place now. It's just not loosening. 

But 2 teeth lost naturally! I think between the two of us, Rob and I only lost 2 teeth naturally. Total. The rest were pulled. 

It was a beautiful weekend! Rob took the kids to play disc golf yesterday. They were pretty into it. 

 

Today we got out and walked around a ski hill/disc golf course and enjoyed the fall colors. 

It was all fun and games until Kasper ground a burr ball into Marlo's hair. 

 

There were tears from a majority of us but Rob got the burrs mostly out then I did some heavy duty detangling in the tub. I don't think Kasper's going to do that again. 

Here's to another week! 

The evening forecast calls for wind and rain, so this may be the last hurrah for the beautiful leaves. They've been so breathtaking this year, and fun to see while they lasted. Hope everyone had a great weekend!