99 months

Soccer season came to an end this month. Not sure what happened the second half of the season but she was more timid and shy and didn't score any more goals. The last game of the season they put her into play goalie, a position she doesn't like to play, well she was in tears after she allowed the other team to score two goals on her, that and her team coming in last place didn't end the season the way she would have liked! For spring season we decided to move them over to a little more competitive league. J was put on a 10 and under team and for once had some good kids on her team, there was a boy from that she recognized and told me he was good and could score! With this team they practiced during the week, we had to get into a routine of weekday activities after school, and practiced for a few weeks leading up to the first game. J was liking her new team and coach, and learning some new skills, we were all bummed when their first game as cancelled because of the "virus", eventually the entire season was cancelled. Here is to hoping they can try and play again in the fall.

What was supposed to be a fun Spring Break swimming with dolphins, riding water slides and rides quickly was cancelled as the "virus" spread and forced closures all over the country. We were able to spend a day with a special friend for her birthday before the recommendations came out to quarantine. We spent the week making rainbow looms (back on that kick again), drawing, chalking, riding bikes, puzzling, and doing anything we could think of to keep quiet while dad worked! The girls worked on their home ec skills, we cooked, we cleaned (they are great baseboard dusters) and folded laundry. Some point that week we found out the girls would be virtually learning at least until April 15th, they were not happy to hear they wouldn't be returning to school, they both love school and wanted to see their friends. We along with another family chalked the school walk for when the teachers came back after Spring Break to prepare their virtual lessons, the girls loved drawing and the teachers/staff were in tears when they walked into school. 

The first week of e-Learning was a combo of mommy school and assignments that their teachers started to post to the online portal. We had a virtual spirit week and built lego objects, chalked, and dressed up. The girls loved drawing at lunch time with Mo Willems and Grandma started virtual Portuguese lessons with them. We got their work stations set-up,  daddy recently had gotten a new desk for his office so his old desk became J's work station along with my laptop and the iPad, we also moved the extra shower curtain to somewhat close the playroom off  to help control the noise. By the end of the week J had a little math work to do and she was able to Zoom with her teacher and a couple of friends. Her teacher explained to them what eLearning would be like for their class, when she learned they would have virtual morning meetings daily she was very excited, a sense of normalcy is all the kids wanted and what they needed to keep them motivated during what was going to be a trying time.

Our butterfly garden was in full bloom, J was so excited and that she was home and able to watch them what seemed like 24/7! Every time I turned around she was going outside to check on them, eventually it became addictive for all of us and we were constantly in/out watching them eat and grow into very fat caterpillars! We saw the monarch fluttering around laying her eggs, this is the most active the garden has been since last summer when we had a ton of cocoons! She started to name the caterpillars but once she got to counting 15 of them she said that was too many and only "Mr. Fatsy" stuck and became all of their names! We are excited to see nature take it's course in our live science lesson at home.

With not knowing how long these kids would be home we broke down and bought a pool heater. Our community pool closed at the beginning of this and we needed to be able to swim for our sanity, especially on the weekends when there was nothing to do! By the end of the first week of eLearning the girls were diving in for some PE time and mom and dad were sitting pool side with an adult beverage! Not sure why we hadn't done this earlier, so nice to be able to let them out to exert some energy and get some exercise. We definitely were not slacking in the PE department of school, we took almost a daily bike ride to kill some time and look for animals, daddy would join us on the weekends for a family ride around the Ranch, we have a good little 3-4 mile loop we do which is just enough for them (and we stop at school to let them ride around the bus loop a couple of times). J decided she wanted to get into running with me so I bought her her first pair of running shoes, pink New Balances to coordinate with mine, she was so happy, and quickly learned to tie her shoes, her first pair of non-Velcro shoes! She struggled at first (the kids don't run in PE like we did when we were kids) and then we switched to a run walk which she likes better and helps her, we are up to a mile in around 12 minutes. With their exercise choices we might just have a couple of little triathletes in the making (they also like doing the kids yoga on YouTube)! 

Here are the pictures from the month.