4.20.20 (Monday):

We picked up a bat box kit from curbisde pickup at Home Depot for n’s mammal merit badge. He built it and hung it in our tree, although I do not really want any bats to come-ha!

k’s science teacher gave her an award for her hard work in Distance Learning.

Since it is a “virtual” award, the school had us send in a picture with her holding a blank piece of paper and then they made a Google Slide with “I’m a Distance Learning Superstar!” superimposed on the picture–ha!

4.21.20 (Tuesday):

n made a megaphone for his music class.

Someone sent us a game called Cat Crimes. It is a fun one-person game if you like logic games.

4.22.20 (Wednesday):

Today n took his math placement test for next year. Both my kids were happy about state testing being suspended, but n still has to take a two-part test to determine which math class he is in for 6th grade. The first part was 80 minutes long.

4.23.20 (Thursday):

n took the second part of his math placement test.

We were watching American Idol and I saw that the granddaughter of my jazz band teacher auditioned. She made it through to Hollywood, but I am not sure how far she went (it was an old episode).

4.24.20 (Friday):

n had his second online speech therapy session. (He is still working on his “r” sound). I think he is actually receiving more help this way than before because it is an individual session.

Big shopping day: I went to Zion AND Target! I had to wait outside in a line at Zion before entering. At Target, there was no line to enter, and masks are required for customers.

The weather turned hot, as in mid-90s! We had my favorite dinner on a hot day: somen salad.

At night we had our online church small group meetings. Our internet is not the fastest though, so we experienced some technical difficulties.

4.25.20 (Saturday):

n’ s soccer coach asked his team to make up a soccer challenge video, so this was n’s video:

Our weekend treat was having D pick up Raising Cane’s for lunch. It was our first time trying it out. We thought that the quality of the chicken was good, but we thought it need a little “spice”.

We watched the Robert Downey Jr. Dr. Doolittle movie, and were not too impressed.

I must admit, I am losing my mojo with these life documentation posts. Maybe because our lives do not seem all that interesting right now. Will try to do better next week.

4.13.20 (Monday):

n had his first Zoom meeting to earn a virtual merit badge for Boy Scouts. He is learning about mammals. I think it is pretty cool that they are offering it online, although it is sad how how so many of his Boy Scout activities have been cancelled.

4.14.20 (Tuesday):

We watched the first half of Remembering the Titans. I cannot believe D had never watched this movie before!

4.15.20 (Wednesday):

n had his second Merit Badge meeting. Unfortunately, he will not be going to Boy Scout summer camp this year. I want to start planning some sort of trip for the summer, but things still seem too uncertain.

We finished Remembering the Titans.

4.16.20 (Thursday):

Today we found out that the kids will not receive grades for this grading period. Instead, they will be receiving teacher comments. I guess it is not too big of a deal since grades do not really matter at this point in their academic careers. We still have a month and a half of online school to go!

We watched the Disney Family Sing along on ABC. It was weirdly comforting to watch a live broadcast show, knowing that thousands of other families were watching at the same time. It has been a while since we have watched something other than Hulu or Disney Plus, etc.

4.17.20 (Friday):

Today is our 16th wedding anniversary.

I was going to go to Costco, but my car wouldn’t start! The last time we had driven it was exactly a week prior. After a call to the Mazda service center, D was able to jumpstart it using our other car. We told the kids to hop in so we could take a short joy ride. It was the first time they had left our gated community in car in weeks! PSA: make sure you drive your car every 4-5 days so you do not end up with a dead battery!

D had a lot of work to do, and worked into the night. Not such a great anniversary, eh?

4.18.20 (Saturday):

I became weirdly obsessed with making drawer liners for all of the drawers in our house. It is still a work in progress.

We watched part of the One World special. The Keith Urban song was our favorite.

4.19.20 (Sunday):

We watched our church’s Sunday service online.

D donated blood for a blood drive set up by one of his co-workers.

For dinner, we did takeout from The Habit: 4 cheeseburgers, 4 fries, and garden salad for $25. We had a lot of leftover fries, but it was a nice treat.

We watched the first two episodes of A Diary of a Future President. It brings up some good (and somewhat uncomfortable) talking points about middle school.

4.8.20 (Wednesday):

n and I wore our masks outside the house for the first time, during our walk.

Unemployment in the United States is over 10%, which is astronomically high.

We watched an interesting and entertaining National Geographic Documentary called “Science Fair” on Disney Plus. I liked how the documentary showcased teenagers from very different backgrounds. Even D said it was better than he thought it would be-ha! Highly recommend.

4.9.20 (Thursday):

More rain. During a break in the rain I decided to do a Costco run since I heard that our store had toilet paper in stock. I wore my mask. There was no line to get in, and I was able to buy a big package of Kirkland toilet paper-score! I also noticed that the price of eggs has gone way up.

We have been watching Gordon Ramsay’s show, Uncharted. The first two shows were about Peru and New Zealand. It is a fascinating look into how others live.

4.10.20 (Good Friday):

At Costco, I saw this Urban Pie pizza for the first time, so I decided to try it out. I think it was only like $5 for two pizzas! Pretty good!

In the early evening we participated in communion through our church’s online Good Friday service. We were not prepared, as we did not have grape juice, but we made do.

We watched the documentary African Cats. I could not believe the footage that the cameramen were able to capture! Apparently I am a bigger fan of nature documentaries than the rest of my family, however.

4.11.20 (Saturday):

Even though Saturdays do not really feel like Saturdays anymore, it is nice to have a break from all the Zooming/Google Meets, etc.

4.12.20 (Easter Sunday):

He is Risen!

It was a drizzly day. D made eggs and bacon and I made a giant pancake in the rice cooker using this recipe.

I sewed up some Easter baskets for the kids using this tutorial. They ended up being a little too big since I did not have much to put in them except for some candy. I am thinking they can use them to organize some of their clothes.

We watched our church’s Easter service online. So glad that we are still able to worship and celebrate the Resurrection in this way. We did not dress up at home, like I saw some other people doing on social media.

For dinner, D cooked salmon for us. I made a giant m&m cookie for dessert.

We watched a National Geographic documentary on Apollo at night. It seemed fitting since today was the 59th anniversary of the first manned flight to outer space.

4.3.20 (Friday):

I joined in on a Google Meet for our kindergarten class for the first time since we started online distance learning. It was so nice to see all those cute faces! I also made a video of me reading a book from ReadingIQ using Screencastify for our class. It is fun learning about all the educational online resources that are out there, but it can be somewhat overwhelming.

We joined our small group via Zoom again. This time we were able to watch part of a DVD series and answer some questions.

4.4.20 (Saturday):

Last night I had a disturbing dream that the kids and I had symptoms of Covid-19. It is sad that I immediately start to worry at the smallest cough or sneeze from anyone in our family. (We are currently all fine, health-wise).

I made a “snacky” lunch with carrots, cucumbers, hummus, tuna salad, cheese, crackers and grapes.

It is always nice when the kids are not arguing. Here k is being a helpful older sister by videotaping n doing his soccer skills. n is supposed to turn these videos into his coach each week.

At night we watched “Breaking 2” on Disney Plus. It is a National Geographic documentary about three men attempting to run a sub-two hour marathon. Highly recommend!

4.5.20 (Sunday):

We watched our church’s Palm Sunday service online.

For the record, we completed our third 1,000 piece puzzle.

Our eating out treat for the week was the “Share the Love” Deal from Hopdoddy: $5 hamburger, comes with a side of fries. Good alternative if you do not feel like waiting in the drive-thru line at In-n-Out next door. They offer curbside pick-up, like most restaurants are doing these days.

4.6.20 (Monday): It was a rainy day, but I still managed to take 10,000 steps inside the house.

I went to Trader Joe’s for the first time since the stay at home order went into effect. I had to wait outside in line for about twenty minutes (in the rain, but luckily there was an overhang). They had pretty much everything in stock, with no limits, except there was no toilet paper.

This is how our crazy kids practice the keyboard together.

For dinner, we had one of our go-to quick & easy meals. Ground turkey, spinach, onions and carrots with some Soyaki sauce (Trader Joe’s).

4.7.20 (Tuesday):

Second day of rain, and this time I did not even come close my 10,000 step goal. I tried a Zumba class online, but it was more strength training.

n’s teacher did an online lesson on 3-D drawing, and this is n’s final result. Can’t believe he will be registering for middle school pretty soon!

We had our first virtual meeting “fail”. n was supposed to be on his soccer team’s call at 6:00, but we forgot about it until 6:20. It ended at 6:30. Whoops. We have all of our calls listed on a master calendar in the kitchen, but maybe we need an audible reminder as well.

We watched Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe. It was just ok.