Covid 168–too much virtual stuff, not enough relaxation...soccer, catering

 It’s amazing to me that with all of us home all day how quickly the time flies by and how much less time we actually have to get things done. The reality is Logan has too much to do… But I love him for the way he keeps forging through from 8-5pm or later...poor 2nd grader! Ash is done at 9:30 every morning it seems. She could probably be in 7th or 8th grade to be honest.  Dylan seems to be about just right for ninth grade. But Shelby is a hot mess of stress for a hs junior. I’m proud of her for resting more this week… For knowing that she was at her limit… For dropping an AP course… For getting a little more sleep...for asking her xc coach for a couple days off. This is all such a roller coaster with a big learning curve.  Everybody needs grace.  Our one escape for the day lately is heading out to soccer games… Dylan had another one tonight...this one was his first home one playing. It wasn’t as stellar as some of those other ones but I’m still proud of him for being out there with a broken finger in the goal and being a cheerleader and keeper for his team!  And Hailey has been working odd jobs here and there… A preschool substitute for a few days and today she had a catering job setting up for a wedding.  And of course she’s most excited about heading back to Calvin on Saturday🎉

Covid 167–the days are long but thankful for good friends for me and my kids!

Covid 166–the joys of Loggy, shutout soccer game and we’re going back TO school! Woohoo!

 Well the best news of the day came tonight after the school board meeting… It appears we are heading back to school in person on September 8. This is good and bad news because I know some of my kids like being home and some of them like being at school...ok actually all of them prefer learning in person but ash will miss being done at lunch time! Lol. This is also good and bad news because two of my kids will go to school in person every day and two will only be hybrid. Not ideal but we’ll take what we can get!  I feel like a weight has been lifted… And it’s not because I don’t love my kids all being home… I just feel like some of them are struggling to efficiently manage their time at home while fighting with technology. My sweet Loggy had one of those. His days are extremely long and he goes through a roller coaster of emotions… He’s happy go lucky in the mornings but by about noon he’s ready to cry. Today he did. But I gave him a big hug and he turned his frown upside down and he was an absolute hoot on video today.  At one point he told his teacher that his name was “not Logan but Bob”. Thankfully I had just quickly turned off his mic because I know he has been getting very chatty. He also turned on is mic on just to burp for no apparent reason. And I handed the reins over to daddy Kev for speech time and he told his teacher “I really can’t do speech right now because I’m missing 6 teeth”. And then he continued on to tell his teacher all about his summer… Thankfully his best girlfriend was on the other end of the virtual learning view and turned on her mic and set him straight about how his summer really was LOL   I do love seven-year-olds because they have no filter! And you have no idea how much he farts and picks his nose and eats it and puts things up his nose during video chats… He also loves to get up very close to the microphone and make weird faces. It’s why I’m constantly by his side. He has no filter. 🤯 I am going to miss some of these comic moments LOL but it is definitely time to get back to some normalcy and my kids definitely miss their in person teachers as well as all their friends  Thank you school board! On the athletic front Dylan defended his goal today with a 2-0 shut out… And daddy Kev got to watch his first game. And we got to escape the house and kids for a little bit LOL. And shelb gets a little break from cross country after suffering from anemia and some school struggles this week. To be honest our family needs a nice vacation right now… Stress has been high. Much higher than it should be for school.  We also celebrated Ashley early bday with Hailey tonight with underground cupcakes.  Yumm!  Trying to take it all in stride. 😜

Covid 165–virtual crash n burn, bike ride that didn’t go as planned

 Well all the colleges here in Bloomington started today and you know what that means… All our virtual schooling went down the crapper. Just about everything crashed or froze or didn’t load, so our school day was pretty much a waste. Because of this I decided it was a day we should just spend outside, since it was so nice and I had always wanted to take a bike ride over to our ice cream place in Ellettsville. A great idea you’d think but apparently there are very little sidewalks on the way there and I didn’t do any research so I think we walked 4 miles with our bikes near busy roads at rush hour including Logan.  He was a trooper about it but at one point he said his insides hurt so bad that he couldn’t walk anymore. 🤣🤯Thankfully we were close enough that I could help him with his bike but by the time we got to Jiffy treat we were all extremely wiped out… Thankfully we had a refreshing treat there and daddy came and picked up Logan. The girls and I were pretty confident we could get home via a trail we had heard about it, but it turns out the trail ended in a field and the only way home was pretty much uphill on a country road all the way. Needless to say Kev came and got us as well and our bikes. It was just that kind of day. Doesn’t it seem like the days are getting better and better LOL. I love having my kids home but I am pretty much over them stressing about school. Thankfully ash is pretty easy-going and things are easy for her… Dylan seems pretty chill as well. But Logan is kind of over going to school for like 10 hours a day. And sweet shelb is about as stressed as I’ve ever seen her. Today I went in to take her to xc and she was sound asleep on the floor. Poor girl.  So not fair to have to live a life like that… Believe me I know because I was there when I was her age. I pray for these kids of mine every day!  I pray for everyone for that matter bc we’re all struggling on some level.   I feel like there should be a lot of grace given right now but sadly I feel like there is not. ☹️

Covid 164--another day away with my Dyl...thankfully not in the sun!

Well, I noticed this morn that a day out watching soccer means I now look like my dad...vey dark!  The kids actually told me "you look like Pops" :) lol.  Dylan even looks dark and he never is tan bc he's the sunscreen man!  Anyway...I was grateful our day of sports today was indoors.  And grateful we could also sleep in a little.  The girls went off to church this morn (minus Hailey whom we have just assumed wants to stay free of mass gatherings before heading back to Calvin this weekend). I love that Shelb can drive.  Now we just need to find her that VW beetle that is the perfect fit! We're trying, Shelb!  Kev went off to work in his closet haven workspace.  Logan hung out and chilled all day in the house.  And Dylan and I heading to Indy to play his last bball tourney.  Honestly I wasn't planning on him playing, but they put him in and he wrapped his finger tight and did his thing.  He wasn't able to shoot well or dribble and did most of his guarding with his left hand, but I was proud of him for being out there for his team.  They even won the first game, which meant we had to stay in Indy 4 more hours.  Ugh. But we enjoyed Culvers and chilling.  They lost the next game thanks to the addition of some men on the opposing team (one had a full beard and one was 5ft6 and could dunk...or at least tried twice...no way were they 8th graders!) Then home to race him to church for youth group.  Shelb had a busy day of hw, college prep testing at Class 101, and running. Ash just read, went to the bookmobile and made a bball cookie cake to celebrate Dyl. She is the master baker.  Life is full. We are extremely tired. And I kinda long for covid shutdown again. Honestly those were fun days.  Being all home with little to do...movie watching, game playing.  Sigh.  I wish I loved the busyness...but this was supposed to be my mental health year...not sure Covid and virtual schooling is giving me great mental health :(

Covid 163–a hot day of soccer and watching my broken finger keeper!⚽️

 Well the day seemed uncertain at first dawn.  Dylan’s soccer team was set to play an all day tourney an hour away (gone 7am til 9pm).  I wasn’t go to go bc he wasn’t going to play due to the cursed broken finger.  Last night he started hinting he might play.  It was more of him saying the other keeper thought he should play so I didn’t put a whole lot of worth in that.  But this morning I just had a feeling that he was going to be put in. And I would’ve been kicking myself that I missed it. And sure enough he played half of both games. I was crazy nervous each time the ball went into the goal and he had to grab it, but a bigger part of me was overjoyed to see him finally be able to play in his first high school soccer game. The team ended up second in the tourney.  A win and a loss. He let a couple balls go by, and scraped up his knee.  But his hamstring behaved.  And his finger stayed intact.  Praise the Lord!  It was honestly so fun to watch him with his teammates and just see his joy over playing.  He’s like this with every sport he plays.  And why it’s so fun to watch him.  Makes me reminisce of my hs sports days.  I was always grateful to play with my teams.  And I’m all the more grateful my boy has that opportunity now in covid times.  They may have to wear masks and socially distance and they can’t squeeze all together on busses or eat on the bus, but just having the gift of a team is huge.  I take none of it for granted.  And right now we just take it one day at a time!

In other news, kev worked all day and night.  Logan has a bowling birthday party to go to, Shelby had xc practice and a bday hangout with friends, ash and hays spent most of day at home.  They are pretty bored. I wish I could trade with them! Lol. 

Covid 162–oh sweet Friday!

 Well I’ve never been so happy to see a Friday arrive and have the school week done.  That was a long week!  My fear is that the weekend will be equally long with kev working and me out of town both days at dyls games (Games that I made you remind you he will not be playing.  Ugh.) I would say I’m trying to put on a happy face but with the exhaustion that’s hard. A bummer of the day is that Shelby found a car that she loved and we missed out on getting it by about 30 minutes.  It was the cutest vw beetle convertible.  Ugh. Just chalk it up to a rough week.  :(. We’ll keep looking and praying everything falls into place.