Zane Turns 4!

I cannot believe my littlest is now 4 years old!

Zane is so fun.

I am thrilled that the Lord gave us Zane :)

We had plans to be with Nik’s family during the week and to celebrate Zane’s birthday with them.

Well, our plans got cancelled (as most people’s during this time).

So we had our own celebration.

And it was a fun day!

Zane woke up first thing and asked (in his sweet morning voice) "Is it my birthday?"

YES!

Jaxen and I sang to him, hugged him and then showed him his birthday area:

He really wanted to open presents, but waited patiently until after lunch.

Except for one. 

We let him open this early... his birthday shirt :)

We ordered pizza from Mod for his birthday and finished up with 

Funfetti Cupcakes and homemade ice cream!

Then - present time!

Every gift he received was great!

After lunch we walked our neighboorhood and saw this….

A sign in the window that says “Happy Birthday Zane”

and this...

I love our neighbors! They were so sweet to think about Zane and help make his Quarantine Birthday a bit more special :)

The rest of the day, this boy played and played!

We picked up McDonald's for dinner for the boys and then they played some more.

Since then, it has been Raptor-raptor’s and Spike’s birthdays (his pet dinos).
Zane loves birthdays and I think he is ready for another!

Continuous Learning - Week 1 and 2

We have almost completed two weeks of “continuous learning”.

Week one was not great.

Week two was better.

Week two I changed the way we did things.

I made a schedule.

Shocker, I know!

Basically, week one was more of a “check list” 

which included all the things that needed to be done in a week. 

Week two was a “schedule” of when to do all the things - and it went smoother.

I think because everyone knew what to expect. 

So here is what our days have looked like this week:

7:00am Morning relax time (basically free time with breakfast)

9:15am Clean up breakfast, brush teeth, get ready for day

9:30am School (with a different subject each day)

10:30am Chores

11:00am Specials (art, music, PE)

11:45am Clean up from specials

12:00pm Lunch

12:30pm Afternoon free time

4:15pm Clean up from free time

4:30pm Kids Messenger time

From there we have dinner, walk, shower, clean up, Bible reading, bed…. 

our nights look a little different but we are trying to keep the days the same.

That being said - not everyday does this schedule work out.

Thursday - no school work was accomplished.

And that is okay. 

There were other priorities for Nik and I that day (like work and sleep!).

So this weekend, we will ‘make up’ a day.

Also - Jaxen has set alarms on his tab.

Which is super helpful for him to move from one activity to the other.

Let’s see…. I think that’s it.

It’s a big learning curve.

We are doing the best we can do!

Here are a few pics from the week…

Zane got to Zoom with his teacher and some of his class mates and he loved it!

He misses his teacher so much.

And pictures from art.

Art pictures are more exciting than math pictures :)

And this is the way Zane would have it everyday:

playing at my feet in my office while I work.

I usually let him a few times during the day - the rest of the day, my door is closed!

Quarantine - Take 4 (Weekend Edition)

Friday was super cold and rainy.

I started a fire downstairs for the boys and I to enjoy and we had a relaxing day.

I got lots of work done and they watched lots of movies :)

Nik even popped popcorn and watched Onward (the new Disney movie) with them in the afternoon. 

Saturday morning started out slow, but ended up great!

Jaxen and I finished up a puzzle we started on Friday (while Zane painted).

After lunch our family loaded up and went on an “essentials” run.

Yea - we found toilet paper!!!

We made a special run-through Dunkin’s and got the boys a treat.

I made them eat in outside the van, in the parking lot, while Nik did some shopping. 

That afternoon we enjoyed the bit warmer weather 

(although I was still wrapped up in a blanket).

These next pictures are hard to see the details - but I’m going to explain them:

Jaxen is throwing the football to Nik, while Nik is jumping over the rope that Zane is swinging.

"Dad-multitasking" at its best!

Zane has had his little orange “balance bike” for a few years and is great at it.

But he has been wanting a “big bike” lately.

We pulled out Jaxen’s bike and put training wheels on it for Zane.

He loves riding up and down the sidewalk with it!

He has gotten the motion down of pedaling and I’m pretty sure it won’t be long

until we pull those training wheels off and he is riding on his own!

Saturday evening was the perfect campfire weather, so we got one going.

It was so nice and relaxing. 

We all ate dinner around it, roasted marshmallows and enjoyed the cool night air. 

Sunday morning I woke up to all 4 of us in our bed.

Both boys (for different reasons) at one point in the night wanted to sleep with us.

We obliged.

 We enjoyed on-line church and I look forward to doing some “Holy Week” 

devotions that our church is providing to us, and to the kids this week. 

Guess what we ate for lunch?

Our favorite…Mod Pizza.

We ordered it and picked it up curb-side and it was a real treat!

 The pic below is not of that - but of a McDonald's picnic in the park last week.

We have been grabbing take out once a week - and we all look forward to it!

After lunch I laid down and took at nap while the boys had screen time.

Nik watched a movie downstairs.

It was so nice - belly full of pizza, windows open with a cool spring breeze,

no where to go and nothing to do!

Very relaxing :)

I cut Nik’s hair outside while the boys played catch. 

Please pay attention to their outfits:

Jaxen is wearing his fleece, full body Christmas pajamas.

Zane is wearing a t-shirt, undies, socks and shoes.

 Lol!

That pretty much sums up our weekend.

Monday starts week 2 of continous learning for the boys and I have outlined a new schedule.

We'll see how it goes.

Hope everyone has a great Monday.

Quarantine - Take 3

Here is a glimpse into our last week...

Nice weather and sunshine mean time outside!

Chalk Art

 

Laying on the driveway looking at clouds

Nik made us homemade ice cream

Bike Rides