Day 1899 | City of Bridges
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The bridges around here just never get old. The boys and I enjoyed a lovely bridge-filled walk ahead of the cold front swooping in tomorrow.
Day 1898 | Seedlings
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This might just be the social isolation talking, but is there anything more exciting then watching plants burst from tiny, dried seeds? It’s really incredible.
Day 1897 | Fishing
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This photo was from this weekend but it’s too cute not to share. Robbe has been asking to go fishing for months now and Chris finally made his dreams come true—even though no fish were caught. There’s always next weekend!
Day 1896 | Family Bingo
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My dad’s extended family has been meeting for family bingo games on Sunday nights since the social isolation began. Tonight, 20 families joined the virtual hangout. My grandma has been beyond tickled by the whole spectacle.
Day 1895 | Putnam Trail
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We have recently re-discovered an amazing bike trail near our house. We traveled it last year but it was a bit too long for our new bikers. This year it’s perfect. And such a beautiful setting.
Day 1894 | Bird Watching
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We declared today “Field Trip Friday” and headed to a marsh for some bird watching. Have I mentioned we’re pretty into bird watching lately?
Day 1893 | Sunshine + Books
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After three days of rain, the sunshine and warm temps were a welcomed visitor today. Our quiet time involved soaking in some Vitamin D while reading some good books. It was a total dream. And just what I needed today.
Day 1892 | Counting Silverware
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One of Robbe’s assignments today was to count our silverware. These teachers come up with some interesting tasks. I like it.
Day 1891 | Skipping Rocks
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Chris has been giving the boys lessons in skipping rocks. Apparently there was a record set tonight. It’s pretty exciting around here.
Day 1890 | Back on the Bikes
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It’s so great to have kids old enough to bike on their own. We’ve been fully enjoying the outdoor activity together as a family. We pushed ourselves out of our normal routes (and distance-limits) for a lovely bike along the Chippewa River Trail today with a stop for lunch at this sweet little stream. It seems as though spring has finally arrived (after a bit of a tease earlier) and we couldn’t be happier.
On an unrelated note, the boys recorded their 4-H demonstration speeches today. They were supposed to do them in-person at this month’s meeting, but [obviously] that’s not happening. We found some fun topics to teach and hopefully inspire some friends to try the projects on their own.
Robbe’s Demonstration Speech (6 years old):
Chase’s Demonstration Speech (8 years old):
Day 1889 | Map Quest
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We’ve been talking about directions and maps this week at school. Today we hit the pavement with our freshly drawn maps of the neighborhood to double check our work. Armed with their maps, compasses, and binoculars, the boys had a blast navigating around our little corner of the city.
Some days quarantine isn’t so bad. Today was a good day.
Day 1888 | A 4-H Teaser
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We’ve been working hard on a 4-H project around here. We’ve decided to offer a little teaser. Stay tuned for more details.
Day 1887 | Earth Day
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Happy Earth Day, everyone. I think this might be the first Earth Day I’ve celebrated since I was in elementary school myself. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, I guess.
And the Earth pancakes were delicious, in case you’re wondering.
Day 1886 | Mountains and Rivers
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We’ve been learning a lot about landforms and bodies of water for the last week. Today’s project was trying to figure out why rivers flow. It was a good one. We all learned a little something.
Day 1885 | Lego Masters
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Our family just finished watching the Lego Masters reality show (highly recommend, by the way) and our interest in Legos has hit an all-time high (I didn’t know a higher level of interest was even possible!). There have been Lego building challenges every weekend: Chase is the judge and Robbe and Chris compete. There have been some epic showdowns.
Day 1884 | Covid Crafting
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You might be surprised to hear that I haven’t managed to scrape together much time for myself during the recent health crisis. Chris is still working his normal hours and the boys and I are slowly but surely figuring out how our homeschooling schedule.
After I crafted the masks last week, though, I took advantage of my sewing machine being warmed up and made this bag that I’m in love with. I just leave it hanging on the door knob to brighten my spirits when I walk by. Maybe someday it’ll get to see the great outdoors.
I’d share a pattern but the bag strayed so far from where it started that it’s not worth linking. Ha! I won’t win any awards on this one, but I finished it. That’s all that matters (to me, anyway).
Day 1883 | Our Home
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The boys and I have been doing some pretty great work for the past few weeks. I try not to share too much of that because I don’t think it helps the psyche of everyone else right now. I constantly feel like I’m not doing enough when I look at other people’s posts and I don’t want to make anyone feel that way (not that anyone else is doing it intentionally).
Having said that, I will share bits and pieces along the way when I come across a project I really [truly] love. This is one of them.
I decided to do a geography theme this week…talking about the places around us. Monday’s activity was rooting the boys in how we fit into the bigger world. I got the idea from this blog. I was worried our eight year old would find this too “young” for him but I was surprised that he couldn’t actually answer all of these questions either. Interesting, right?
Both boys enjoyed putting these together and it was a great cutting and printing activity besides (needed for both my kindergartener and second grader). Plus, I really like the visual of how our little life fits into the bigger world.
Day 1882 | Haircuts
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I dusted off my clippers and scissors for some quarantine haircuts. All three of my boys. Whew. I’m not cut out for this back to back to back haircut thing (get it…”cut out”). Although the finished products turned out pretty good, I’ll be fine retiring my scissors again when the time comes.
Day 1881 | April Snow
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This was the scene when we woke up this morning. A beautiful + serene winter wonderland. The problem is that is April and no one is interested in a winter wonderland anymore.
We did make the most of it—got outside and enjoyed soaking up some sunshine while playing in the last of the season’s snow (it better be). We even made the snowman (or in this case snowbunny) that we somehow didn’t check off our list this year. So it’s not all bad. But we’re officially done with snow now. Welcome, spring. We’re ready for you.
Day 1880 | Happy Easter
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We did the best we could today. There was an Easter basket hunt. We dyed eggs. We had a delicious egg bake and ham dinner. We even managed a virtual hangout with about 40 of my extended family. Still…it wasn’t the same. And the snowstorm didn’t help.
Luckily, my three favorite boys pulled me out of my funk and we made the most of this bizarre holiday. I hope you all were able to find some joy in today, as well.
