Week 6 Quarantine: Putting on Our Imagination Cap

This week we had to get a little more creative to stay sane.  Although last weekend we ended up going to my sister's for a swim twice (which felt like Christmas!) that's the only interaction we've had with the outside world other than picking up food and medicines.  We went on walks and played a few games, rode bikes, etc, but to keep it interesting, here's what we did this week.

I tried, mainly for my own motivation, to come up with one small different thing to do each afternoon when all the homeschooling was completed.  Eleven years ago when I had three small children at home and my husband was deployed I did the same thing with our evenings to not get stir crazy.  So Monday I made some Kool-aid that someone had given to us a long time ago for the caffeine free kids below 13 years old and sweet tea for the teens.  We normally only have hot tea, coffee, and water around the house so this was a treat.  I also blew up a baby pool to get the boys outside since it was in the 90's.

Tuesday we watched The Yearling in the afternoon.  We have the book and some of the big kids have read it.  It's a very old movie, and in all honesty some of my kids did not want to watch it.  Hannah worked on her own projects, and Drew caved and watched it with us anyway.

Wednesday I laid down a big piece of butcher paper for the kids to draw a city on together.  They worked on it for a long time and then spent the rest of the week adding to it and coloring it in.  They even turned it into a "Seek and Find" at the end.  My kiddos are big into "Seek and Find" books.

Thursday, I taped up the back door window to have them color in the sections with dry erase markers to make a "stained glass" look.  I saw it online, but they used washable paints.  We just made do with the lighter colored look of the markers.  I drew the Sacred Heart in the middle and added the Divine Mercy rays.  It was hard to get a picture of, but here's what I got.

We also went to Wendy's to get free Junior Frosties that afternoon.

On Friday, Bobby came to me after his rest time and asked if he could use our oranges to make a pyramid like he saw in his book he was looking at.  He promised to put them all back when he was finished.  He sat down and went right to work making a hollow pyramid.  He wanted me to take pictures, and then he requested that I record him making it so he could teach his cousin how to make one.  I love creativity!

See video here https://youtu.be/Wv2W21aA-N0

Drew's getting a lot better at riding his bike with all this free time to practice riding with his big brother.  Drew hope the big kids will never go back to a brick and mortar school.  He loves them being home!

Bobby is a star on the trike, but he is refusing to persevere on his balance bike still.

Judah is working on balancing on his real bike, but often falls back to riding on the little trike because it is easier.

Friday I spent most of the day in the kitchen making homemade tamales.  It is a long process, but having this assembly line shaved off hours of time for sure.  We made chicken, beef, and vegetable.  I froze most of them.

Bob started the line with getting out the corn husks with tongs and laying them on the wax paper for Genna to measure out the dough onto.  Hannah and Drew spread out the dough into a square.  Judah scooped the filling, and Isaac wrapped them up.  All I had to do was oversee at this phase.

There's my littlest helper enjoying the tongs and being able to help too.

Saturday, after weekly chores, we played a game and I got out a big puzzle for the eat-in kitchen table to work on this week.  Brian also smoked a brisket for dinner.  And then there was this...

Dad playing on the trampoline with the boys

And I couldn't help but catch this adorableness.