Breakfast Order

 Hey, Google didn't take the site down due to lack of use.  Terrific!

The other day, Elizabeth made breakfast.  Pancakes, eggs, freshly cut fruit.  It was very nice, although apparently not nice enough for Nathaniel, who in the earnestly kind and sincere way that only he can said "I don't want this fruit; I'll have bacon instead, please."  Elizabeth had not made bacon.

He wasn't wrong.

Nathaniel's Virtual Time Capsule Item

This year I got a pizza pillow. His name is Pepperoni. I got this pillow for Christmas this year and was very excited about it because it is a a fluffy and cuddly pillow! Stuffed animals and plush pillows are toys that Matthew, Thea and I love to play with and I sleep with Pepperoni too! My mom bought it on Amazon which is a store online where they deliver presents to you!

Preschool at Home: Apple and Zoo Weeks

This year is unique - Nathaniel is doing preschool at home, with Mama! Here he is on his first day (which was back in August)!

 

The first week was about all Apples: learning about the different parts of the apple, making an apple snack each day (my personal fav was the apple with caramel and m&ms, but the personal apple cobblers and cider weren't terrible), reading about apples, painting with apples, finger songs about apples, making apples with play doh, ok you get it. The week ended with apple picking and the making of a marvelous apple pie.

This week was Zoo week. More books, some search and find, counting, tracing, and Nathaniel's personal favorite - the crafts. He made a lion mask, peacock, hippo, and giraffe. 

This week ended with, you guessed it, a trip the zoo.

 

Thea's Virtual Time Capsule

Hi.Thea here. I'm going to talk about COVID-19 through 2020 -2021. I took a photo of my school tablet for my time capsule item because for school we use it to Zoom for class. Zoom allows us to see our teacher and classmates. I have school friends from all different schools because this year with virtual learning there are 5 kids kids from each of the three schools all in my class. We also have lunch bunch with Zoom where I can eat lunch and talk with my friends. We use Seesaw on our tablets for our school work and once a month I have to pick up school stuff at school, like reading and science packets. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Me at my desk in my room with my tablet

Seesaw on my tablet which gives me links to
Zoom and my school assignments

Matthew's Virtual Time Capsule

Hey Matthew again!

It's the last day of 2020! Oh! I need to say I'm 9 and in third grade. So right now, COVID-19 is a really bad thing, because it's a very new and dangerous sickness! You can also call COVID-19 Coronavirus. You can also look on the internet to learn more about COVID-19 if you like. I'm now going to tell you about my time capsule item, my mask. I picked it because I think it's a great thing for the topic. I had to wear the mask a lot (when I went to stores or saw people outside of my family) because it was a way to keep me from getting the virus.

Sweet home Chicago 🎵

We headed to Chicago in June; hadn't been there since Christmas. For the first time, we ventured the trip via car, all in one day. We started the drive at 3am and then BOOM 13 hours later we arrived.

One of the highlights of our trip was having all the foods we can't get in Philly. Matthew had done a restaurant review in school for Dear Franks so we were sure to hit that place up. He sure did enjoy it!!

Of course seeing family was the biggest reason we went and it was so enjoyed by all!

Paul arranged for professional family photos to be taken

Thea and Genevieve

Thea looooved "babysitting" Axel

Dinner time!

The kids and I also drove up to Wisconsin to see friends there via a car parade stopping at 11 different houses to see friends. The joy it brought all was a true delight! That said, this is clearly a time of adjustment. Children were thrilled to see each other, running towards each other. But then they'd stop suddenly about 6 feet apart unsure of what to do next. The transitions out of the stay at home orders of COVID are proving as challenging as going into it.

We went to a Savannah and saw turtles, an owl, red fox, bobcat and alligator.

We drove past our old house in Illinois and Matthew asked that we walk to our old playground to check it out. No one was there and there were no signs saying we couldn't play because of COVID-19 so we let them play. We then walked around a beautiful park and fed some ducks and excitedly watched some tadpoles and fish.

It was a great trip all around and may do it again come Christmas time!

Sports circa Summer 2019