End of an Era and First Day of School: 2020 Edition

It's the first day of school- 2020!

But this year, the first day of school means something a little bit different than it normally does...and it normally is a big, monumental deal.

But this year, you're going back to school in the middle of a pandemic. That's right...I bet you'll still remember 2020 whenever you're reading this because of the Coronavirus. Or "this coronavirus thing," as you guys refer to it. A global pandemic that shut down countries and schools and business has been raging across our earth since around spring break of this year. I took off for spring break, and never went physically back to work.  In fact, you guys came home for spring break and never went physically back to school. You both- and your fellow classmates and awesome teachers (including Mommy)- did Home-Learning to wrap up your spring semester, while I worked from the kitchen. But, it was a longgggg time without actually being back at the building. Everything was looking good for you guys to go back to school in August. The school spent the summer remodeling and redesigning and rethinking everything about how school works to make it work in this day and age of coronavirus. And then the cases started rising again in Texas, forcing the Dallas government to postpone physical school. But, since our school had prepared so well, and since Mommy had volunteered to teach a preschool class (which has to be done in person), you all became "essential worker kids," and got to go back to school with new teachers, and in new groupings of kids, and with new protocols including social distancing and masks and lots of hand-washing and daily pre-school health assessments and as much outdoor learning as possible. And you are loving it. No matter the initial complaints about all-day mask wearing and not being able to hug your friends (this is one of your chief complaints, Aidan... "I want to hug someone!"), you say it is far superior to doing school online. You are energized, and you are growing fast. Your vocabularies have expanded in the first couple of weeks, as well as your curiosity and exposure to new things. And...you are gone!

I am still working from home and for the first time since March...I am home alone. 

You might have noticed, but my blogging since the pandemic started has been brief...and not many written words to accompany the photos and videos. That's not because a lot hasn't happened. A LOT happened...a lot of good, some bad, some sad, some challenging, a lot of triumphs, and family time, and learning more about eachother than we ever knew before. It' because while we were all together I found myself not missing you guys....I could hear your voices and hug you whenever we wanted. We ate lunch all together, went on walks, you kept me company while working, we had movie nights every night and ice cream and swimming and backyard campouts. But now, now that I'm without your voices and 'pitter patter' every moment of every day, I miss you. I miss our weird little "castaway" experiment with the four of us. Toby isn't as good of a conversationalist as you guys are. And I am SO thankful for the 'break' from our all-too-fast-moving daily routine...for the opportunity to help you learn during the spring semester...for the opportunity for you to teach me so much in the past 6 months. And I will cherish it forever.

I may not blog as much as I have done in the past. I finally got that 'paternity leave' with y'all. I still like to chronicle our lives, but if covid has taught me one thing it's to not spend too much time archiving when you can spend that time living. So, I'm on my lunch break right now. I already ate, swept the floor, took Toby for a walk (he turned around and dragged me back home...probably because it was our second walk of the day...but moreso because it started to rain)...and before I jump back to work, I decided to put these emotions I'm feeling in paper.

You're back at school. Julia, you're now a second grader. Aidan, you're now a fourth grader. And, as I say every year, I can't believe how much you've grown. But this year, you've grown- we've all grown- more than we expected to. And I'm SO proud of you...and all of us. We are a better family because of, or in spite of, Covid. And I love you, and can't wait until you come home, so I can tell you that to your faces once again.

And now... on to the first day of school!

Look at you both!  So excited! So much fun!

And listen to what you both had to say about yourselves, your expecatations for the year, and your messages to your future selves. 

You are both so cook and so ready for this! 

And look at how much you've grown!

We love with all of our hearts!

Covid Quarantine Life - July- August 2020

 

Well, it may be covid, and we may still be quarantining, but that doesn't mean we can't still have a good time! It's still summer, after all!

And so we swam, and had sparklers on the 4th of July. We had our first 'dive in cinema', and a few safe-as-we could vistis with friends and family. Mama died your hair,  and we sang and danced and karaoked and drummed and climbed a lot. And we loved each other- in spite of being stuck together-, at a time when the world- and we- really needed love.

And I took pictures of gross bugs.

There were mud fights in the back yard,  and a movie theater (and hotel (and a movie-voting station)) in our living room.  There were legos and ice creams and books and drawings and the world's tallest marble tower.

We painted the shed together, and went on lots of walks, we rode bikes together, and I got my butt kicked at Star Wars Monopoly (several times); and you even beat Yaya once too. We loved on Toby, and while Julia's room was getting converted, you guys slept on a double-decker mattress in Aidan's old room.

We developped a world-famous fried egg, home pickle sandwich and adopted an inflatable alligator named allison. We jammed and jumped and goofed around.

Tea parties? Oh yeah. We had those.

We even had a 'vacation' to stay at Mimi and Pops' house while they were working in our house and the smell of wood stain and varnish got too strong  for us to stay here. 

We gardened and knitted and pickled and basked.

And don't foget.... our HOUSE GOT FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!! Your rooms upstairs grew from nuthin' to something! And finally in August, we got our final approvals and you got to move in!

And before we knew it, our sweet summer was over, and y'all were back to school (with masks on). 

The house was quiet...too quiet... but the laughter, and noise, and music, and pitter patter, and splishing and splashing echoed through the house's memory...and would return again, very soon.