Covid Chronicles #17

I'm so invested in this thing I drove to Beaver Bark with this picture to ask if this was something bad. She said it looked like a new leaf, which is what teacher Terri said when I e-mailed her too. It's slightly lighter colored and rolled up.

If it feels like I'm taking a lot of pictures of them reading it's because I am. I am so happy they are so in to their books. Olin currently loves the Spirit Animals series and Christian currently loves many of the Rick Riordan series.

Alfalfa all day

First day of "Camp" at school. They were really excited that the teachers created a camp in lieu of their real camp which was supposed to be this week. So this was their 10am campfire sing-along.

They were each to make a name tag. Olin made his out of flowers on the ground, we took a photo and then printed and laminated it. We thought if we used the actual flower petals they would wilt and die.

More camp

Christian especially really enjoys it out there.

Using my sprouts. We have so many.

Ace hardware: I was surprised to see only Husky stuff on the walls. Usually there is only WSU stuff on the walls around here and this is the first time I can recall a Husky-loyal store here. I will be coming here more often!

Christian reading

Covid Chronicles #16

Pretty rose delivery from a friend!

Christian had a very belated birthday celebration in his classroom via Zoom. All the kids in his class get to ask him questions. One asked his favorite thing about quarantine. His answer: he got to ride bikes a lot more. One asked his favorite food besides sushi. His answer: Ramen. One asked what he wants to do for a job. His answer: engineer so he can build stuff. 

Every male in this family loves mandarin orange fruit cups. I do not.

New mammoth sprouters. We're sprouting alfalfa and broccoli currently.

Finally a structured TKD zoom class.

Can't tell you how excited I am about this new Pantry signage.

Somehow this corner of the living room, of all places, has turned in to the kids' knickknacks spot. A meat thermometer is being used to measure the ambient temperature inside their new homemade solar ovens. (Wonder how (in)accurate the meat thermometer is at measuring air. Also, I discovered this new magnifier feature on iPhoto and I love it and am using it) Upside down books are on the chair. Discarded seed experiment is in egg trays. Variety of plants are getting sun. 

Just a reminder of how much we (and the entire country, or world, it seems) is using Zoom for all online meetings, chats, get togethers, social hours, Happy Hours, workouts, yoga classes, meditations.

I overdid it on the products on my hands after micro needling and the skin started really reacting with itching and burning so I resorted to DIY ice "mitts". There is a bag of ice stuck in the glove, with a piece of paper towel between my skin and the ice. Worked great!

Not much traffic down at Pike Place Market

Kids' shoes are in rough shape but I'm waiting for them to notice or complain before I buy new ones. 

Masked Target shoppers

They are so in to reading right now. So am I, and it's awesome. We told Dae he is the black sheep of the family because 1) he has no book, ever and 2) "he doesn't read good" hahahahah. Zoolander reference.

Dae is on TikTok all the time. He has learned how to grow pineapples, he's fascinated with these Chinese toupees, and his latest that he had to show me is a magnetized window mop that you can use to clean the outside from the inside. He was also very entertained by a jimmy-rigged bird feeder that derails squirrels from trying to eat from them by spinning them off.  We decided he's doing a random 43 year old man's version of TikTok - weird educational and entertaining things - none of the dancing unless I force him.

Stats

Organizing my file folders yesterday, I came across this old Pupil Health record (pupil!) from elementary school. Entering 6th grade I would have just turned 11 and I was 145.7 cm and 73 pounds. That's 57.3 inches. I got to thinking I haven't recorded the kids' stats in a while:

Christian: 11 years 2 months old, 55.5 inches, 73 pounds

Olin: 8 years 9 months, 47.5 inches, 47 pounds

They are no giants :)

The handwritten Baker on top was my 6th grade teacher Mrs. Baker. Loved her!

I finally scheduled a tele-consult with the Seattle dermatologist that is also treating the rest of our family (Dae: dark spot, Me: hand eczema and many various dermatological questions). Little did she know she had come across a rash of business with the Lees - literally!

Still microneedling, still love it. Day of treatment.

Throughout the day, they will just randomly jump on this small trampoline because it's right there by their workstation. They told me they really like it.

Kids informed me that they learned from Babz who learned from TikTok that if you submerge a head of pineapple in water for a week and then plant it, you can grow a new pineapple. Why not? Nothing else to do. Never mind that the source of their information is TikTok!

Day after micro needling. I must not have gone as deep this time because I'm not very red at all.

Today the kids and I rode bikes during lunch and Olin wanted to chat during the ride, like usual. He started asking if homeschool kids feel any different during quarantine and I said probably because they can't go on trips. He said "yeah lots of things are different....people can't go to restaurants....people can't go on trips....lots of people getting fired....". He loves talking about people getting fired for some reason. I don't even know where he first heard about people getting fired but he has asked me several times how many times I have gotten fired before. I was like uhhhh....none that I can remember. Ha! Side note: I had to correct him that most people right now are getting laid off, and then I told him the difference between the two. lol.

Covid Chronicles #14

Celebrating mom's birthday a day late!

The canopy was key to our lunch success

Take-out A+ Hong Kong Kitchen, take-out Korean food, and mom's chow mien

Cake from asian bakery Boulangerie in Factoria

Doing Top chef experiment. This one was called "Banana sludge" but I heard him say "nana sludge" so I call it nana sludge

 

Golfing with babz. Look at that lighting! I really like this photo.

Dae said they really wanted a picture with these little duck/geese babies

Covid Chronicles #13

We're on Day 53 of Stay-At-Home order and Day 67 of no school (homeschool). We are trucking along doing such things as:

Finally purchased an indoor plant that I've wanted for a long time for our dining room corner! It's called a monstera and I've seen them in Hawaii and love them. Turns out they supposedly are low-maintenance great indoor house plants. We shall see, but so far I really like it. 

New monthly science kit subscription a friend told me about called MEL science. Kids received their gear (beakers, safety goggles, etc.) and were VERY excited to start.

Virtual reality glasses

First experiment. I can't remember what chemicals were combined,  but it made what they called "poop"

We thought Babz might have thrown away our old hummingbird feeder when we got a new one so Olin said "mom you check the indoor garbage and I will check the outdoor garbage!". I was like, gladly. hehe. 

One of his friends organized a Zoom Luau and dropped by Hawaiian paraphernalia the night before. 

Gas is cheap

They've been in to bow & arrow

Homemade gummy bears. They are so-so. We used fresh squeezed orange juice for one batch, and a Hawaiian punch for the other. There isn't enough taste in them, so we're going to have to use more concentrated juice or something.

Home sprouting using a sprouter that I bought from a school friend's fundraiser. They are sprouting up pretty well, even if I have a suspicion that 5 days worth of growth will net us about 5 minutes worth of eating!

Aiming - directly at the house. Lol.