Meet the Teacher

To recap what has been going on in our state (even more detailed in our city), our district proposed decisions to be made on if we wanted to do an online academy where the older boys would do their school work online at home OR if we wanted to elect for "in person " school (we would stay with our home schools until it was voted in that it was safe to physically return). We knew we were not ready or comfortable with the boys returning to school physically anytime soon. We had hoped they could be online with their "home" teachers, but couldn't pick this option in the case our district voted for the kids to go back to school. As it turned out, (very last minute), our district decided that all kids would be online for the first quarter, whether they were going in person or through our online academy. They also extended our summer break one extra week to allow for extra training (and because our daily count of virus cases was reaching all time high levels). 

We elected to keep both older kids home and through the online academy for the first quarter with the option to return to in person school in the second quarter if things were better. Preston will be home all year as his school did not have any cautious rules. Therefore, I am managing the older two with school and teaching the third. Busy times indeed.

I decided I wanted to still hold a "Meet the Teacher" day for them to still "meet me", haha. I got cookies to make a good first impression and we even had a pizza party to follow. My family came to be the "families". I made a presentation even on what I planned to use as materials to teach Preston. It was sad that even the days leading up to Nate and Aaron's first day of school, I had no idea how it was to work or what was going on. That really brought on a lot of anxiety. 

At any rate, Meet the Teacher was always an event we looked forward to, to kick the new school year off. Here are a few pictures from ours :

Living the Woods Life

For just about a week we spent time up north in a city called Greer. It may have been mentioned before as I spent some of my time there updating this very blog. Now I am home to write about our trip there! 

It was much needed and much appreciated. The weather to begin with was thirty degrees less than at home, which made the high's to be in the 70's. It was such a nice break to actually be OUTSIDE. Naturally we spent a lot of time outside doing all the outdoor stuff - we hiked, fished, went on kayak rides...

I think we all felt at ease and relieved. It even helped us forget a bit about what was happening in life that we could just enjoy what we were doing. We had a nice patio that allowed us to sprawl out to enjoy meals, reading or naps out! I know I spent probably the most time out there. Our first evening we saw deer from our patio. 

This was our dog's first trip/family trip. He did an excellent job and also seemed to have fun. We are excited to go back in another month to the same city for the same relaxation! There's something just so relaxing about being in the woods and nature. Peaceful. Just what we need right now. 

June 2020

All I can recall about June is that we tried to think of things at home to keep the kids busy. There were numerous Lego sets. Those might have lasted a day's worth of entertainment if we were lucky or a few hours.

We saw my parents some. Aaron and Preston were able to do take home VBS activities. The boys have 

still been receiving their subscription boxes.

One day, we made our own Kucenski mall. I ordered an Auntie Anne's pretzel making kit which gave us the idea to have a "food court" and "stores". We pretended we were at and walking around the mall. 

We continued to support local business with treats and food. We began a tradition where certain nights of the week, the boys could stay up later and others were for Josh and I.

For our 15th wedding anniversary, we researched local establishments and decided on a restaurant we felt would be safe. We originally had reservations at another restaurant in Scottsdale, but canceled due to protests happening in the area. It has been a very wacky year.

We taught the boys some new card games and had ice cream delivered one night.

Daily pool time and popsicles. While Preston's swim school did eventually open, we decided with as often as he swims to not go back right now. He is doing great on swimming on his own! He can swim the length of the pool. His technique may not be par, but all things considered he's pretty much a fish. He has loved the water this summer. We are finishing September still swimming. However, Nate and Aaron's interest in the pool has dropped significantly this year. They used to be daily swimmers over the summer months. It has been sad to drive by our local pools and parks and not be able to do any of them this year.

Basically, a lot of places have gone through being open or then being closed. My gym is such a place. Even being open, I was not comfortable going there. So, we started to build up on equipment for home with weights and a cycle bike. I needed more than just the treadmill. Nate has become quite handy at building things that he put it together for me! I love using it with an app by One Peloton that has a large range of workouts and meditation. 

I spent June wrapping up all of my magazine work. I decided that since I had all the information I needed, I just wanted to work in advance and be done. I'm glad I was able to plow through and complete all my work by the end of that month. Homeschooling Preston and getting ready for school was surely going to start taking a lot of time to prepare. 

We got worms that we watched turn into butterflies. This was particularly neat for our littles.

All along the long summer days (and now school days), I've invested a lot into beauty and bath care as evident by my pile here. I look forward to the evenings when I can soak. 

What we were really looking forward to was being away from home for the first time over the fourth of July. More on that in our next post!

The End of A School Year

I think I can say on behalf of every student in the world that we were in denial of how the school year ended. That the kids never got to go back to school at any point for closure with friends. One of the saddest days for me was going to school to collect their things in a bag. The school year ended in a bag. Such memories.

Ugh. Hard day. Even harder to know that we didn't know if we would even be back in the fall ( spoiler alert : we aren't and still don't know when we will physically be back). 

Of course on this note, then I grew concerned about what would happen with Nate's 6th grade graduation. Clearly they would not have their typical last day or ceremony, but I wondered what they would plan instead.

I was relieved when plans were revealed that indeed the kids would still be honored in a different way. We also did a drive by type event for graduation - we pulled into the bus lane, and Nate's name was called. His teacher gave him his diploma and took a picture (he is now graduating to junior high). To see the amount of teachers and staff, lined up at school to still "clap out" our kids was heart warming and something I will always remember and appreciate very much. That evening, we had a small party for Nate at our home. We had his favorite dinner, went swimming and revealed a surprise - a slide we restored for the pool AND we put on a projector to watch a movie from the pool, something we hoped to turn into a summer tradition (something that happened only a few times as it turns out, but was pretty neat graduation night). One thing that happened 1-2 weeks before graduation was Nate's teacher that came to all his kids' homes to give them a sign for the yard. It was nice that Nate got to catch him then, and at graduation for a little bit. 

I think all things considered again, we had a nice day. 

Summer is up next. Like I have said in past posts, I'm never going to complain about a summer again for as long as we are able to go out and travel. We spent the whole summer of 2020 home minus one week. Besides some trips to pickup food, and visits with my parents a bit, that was the extent of summer 2020. I'm glad to be on the other side.