More of January

 Remote schooling continued for the last couple of weeks, bringing the total to 3 weeks of remote school. The kids (and I) are eager for hybrid school to start back up tomorrow. Yay!

Some days Annie was able to get her schoolwork done very quickly so she often made or helped with lunch, and was often available to read with Megan or help her with school work when needed. 

It was very helpful and made it possible for me to go help McKenzie and Peyton with their school work on Tuesday and Thursday mornings like I did when my kids were in in-person school. Annie took charge of the alarms, making sure people knew when they were supposed to be on a conference, and the kids did a pretty good job doing their work on their own. I love that their teachers and the district have made it so easy for them to know what to do and to do it pretty much all on their own.

We had a sleepover the Friday night of the long weekend (because of Martin Luther King Jr Day) with all the girls here and all the boys went to Todd and Savannah's house. Annie took charge of the activities, leading the girls in a dance to Shut Up and Dance. 

They practiced more on that Monday, then performed it for everyone.

Sunday we celebrated my birthday. Since I turned 40, my mom decorated in black and got me an over the hill cane and glasses. The cane says "Tease be about my age and I'll beat you with my cane." The kids got a kick out of telling me old jokes and getting hit with the cane. 

Ben made me a special card.

Apparently I'm so fat I weigh 100 pounds. Haha! Love his teasing.

I got lots of wonderful cards from the kids, a new kitchen pot, and some books. And adult diapers from Todd since I'm over the hill. 

Here's Annie's covid birthday card:

Since Monday was a day off of school Grandma and I took the kids for a bike ride then ended it at Candy World for some Thrifty ice cream. Delish.

We biked a bit over 5 miles. The kids are all troopers. 

After our bike ride Kristi Mooney brought me a whole pan of Rice Crispy Treats just for me. And Red Vines. Two of my favorite treats ever. I felt the love.

The kids during remote school:

Peyton got her braces on Thursday so we hosted a braces movie night on Friday with a cat movie just to please her. 

Afterwards everyone was intrigued by her water pick so everyone piled into the bathroom at the same time to see how it works. Perfect gathering place, I guess.

Wednesday was the inauguration of Joe Biden. Savannah invited us over for a inauguration watch party after school so we could see the peaceful passing of the torch (especially after the protests at the Capitol a couple of weeks ago that turned violent). 

Yesterday the weather was beautiful so we went on a hike/picnic in Sabino Canyon with everyone. 

This can be a big waterfall with a river running through it, but since it has rained once since August there was just a tiny bit of stagnant water. Eloise slipped and got wet twice, but other than that we were miraculously spared from any major falls into the water.

A picture of all the kids and Grandpa.

The best thing to come out of the inauguration was the picture of Bernie Sanders in his mittens trying to stay warm. It has turned into a meme sensation this week with so many people inserting him into photos. It is hilarious. So of course we had Bernie join us on our hike: 

Now we get to get back to a little more normalcy with the kids back at school starting this week. Rachel and Annie both are torn because they do like remote school, but also want to go back. They may just come down with a "cough" in a week or two when they're ready for a couple of weeks of quarantine (aka working from home).