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Author Archives: Jen

And today was a phone call from Katie’s teacher.

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She said she just wanted to touch base because Katie hasn’t been showing up for class and when she is there she’s often not paying attention. WAIT, WHAT?

She said they can see how long kids are logged into class each day and it should be between four and four and a half hours. And she’s been getting 1-3. Most days are 2 or less. UM EXCUSE ME WHAAAAAT???!!

I mean we know she spends too much time farting around and we are constantly telling her to get back to class, but I’m here with her all day and she appears to be in class. Except apparently not. Her teacher said that she often doesn’t pay attention in class—half an hour in she gets called on and doesn’t even have her book open. So what is she doing???

Of course I’m home but I’m working and doing stuff so don’t pay close attention to her (just like I don’t with Owen) and yes we’ve had some internet issues but not hours worth. Or weeks worth. So it looks like for the near future she will be sitting right next to me at the table and I will be working on my laptop again so I can keep her on track. Just what I want to have to do, right?

The worst part of all this is that she’s waaaaaay behind on school work. She doesn’t do it in class when she’s supposed to OR in her asynchronous time in the afternoon (when she literally has a list of assignments from her teacher) so we’re trying to get her caught up. And that’s a complete joy as I’m sure you can imagine.

We have told her that we know this year is weird. And it sucks. And it’s hard. But none of that is an excuse to skip schoolwork.

Heaven help us.

I just opened an email from owen’s teacher.

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I wanted you to know that Owen is struggling to attend math class. Lately, he has been coming to class, turning his camera off and not responding when I check on him. For example, his icon is in my class right now but he is not responding to me when I am trying to help him. Anything you can do to encourage him to stay with the class would be appreciated.

UGH.

That was from 9:19am when I was putting on my shoes right behind him. And saw it on the screen. But couldn’t see if his camera was on or what he was listening to with headphones on.

So needless to say we had a HUGE discussion with him about it. Especially after his poor grades last marking period (two As, two Bs, a C, and a D). He hasn’t been doing his homework, he hasn’t been asking for help, and apparently he hasn’t been active in class.

I don’t want them in school because that’s just not safe but this remote learning sucks 100%.

It’s a holiday miracle!

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Just kidding—but to be able to park in the garage by the time it starts snowing was one of my few requests when we bought this house. And Tom came through today.

Over the last 20 years the only times my car (either car, frankly) was garaged was when a hurricane was coming through and we moved enough crap to get one car protected…or for a 2-minute photo opportunity when the garage was briefly empty.

I wish I would have been recording the kids when they saw it because it was hilarious—both of their eyes got really wide in disbelief. Because they’ve literally never experienced it.

It’s slowly coming together.

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Everything is still a work in progress and it’s generally a cluttered mess but once in awhile were pick everything up. Today was that day.

This is just a temporary kitchen table until we move things around (or find the perfect table for the space). We did try an Ikea table and chairs but didn’t like it so returned it. That table that Tom built fits perfectly there but we also kind of wanted to use it in the office…but the office isn’t anywhere near being finished so for now the table stays.

This area is also temporary because we really want the secretary to go here…after we get it redone (I want to paint it). But I’m also thinking of a really neat birch bench I’ve seen that Tom can duplicate. But for the time being, we’ve repurposed random stuff.

This will be our H wall but for now… it’s an H buffet.

We reconfigured the couch back to its normal position (2×2 instead of 1×3) to test it out and make room for the Christmas tree which is going to go in that far corner. And we got that rug awhile back to warm up the space a bit.

Some artwork and stuff is going up on the walls (and you can see my lighted birch tree!). We also have some big ideas…I can’t wait to do it and show you! My friend and neighbor has a great eye for design and is planning on helping me pull the house together.

But we needed a shelf to put some stuff on because we really don’t have that much usable wall space. I found this at HomeGoods and it was perfect. I’m not sure where it will go when the tree is there but…we’ll figure it out.

We were Gobbled!

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We heard the Ring go off and all of us ignored it because we were sure it was absolutely nothing—again—but then Katie said maybe we were booed again (yeah, right, okay) and ran out to check and I’ll be damned. We were Gobbled!

And here’s the stash from all earlier Boos!

Trick or treating Covid-style!

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We weren’t sure what trick or treating was going to look like because we knew a lot of people wouldn’t be participating but we told the kids we’d walk around the neighborhood to check it out.

Our treat table.

There were a lot of creative solutions to managing candy delivery. Most were just on tables in some way, but we saw a bunch of chutes, some spread in the grass, and one on a truck bed (below).

I think Halloween may be forever changed
after Covid Style 2020 Halloween. The general consensus among moms I talked to was that we kinda liked it more than usual Halloween! I loved not ringing doorbells or wondering who was/wasn’t participating (the city had delivered red and green signs for people to put up to show if they were participating or not and a lot of people used them so that was nice) but most people were outside watching anyway. There were no huge groups of kids. All kids we saw were being really respectful and gingerly taking a piece of candy or a bag or whatever. And we loved how creative a lot of the houses were!

The weather was also gorgeous! We started with our winter coats but they got unzipped pretty quick.

We were out for about an hour and then as we were almost home we saw some neighbors around a fire pit in their driveway so we headed over to say hi—they are the guys Tom has played poker with but we haven’t really met the wives so we thought it was a good time to hang out. So we had a few drinks and visited while we sent the kids on without us to hit more of the neighborhood. (It’s so wonderful they can be out on their own! They came back and checked in with us a few times but pretty much were on their own for two hours!)

Then we left there to go to a nighttime outdoor candy hunt at our friend’s house—which had been planned in case trick or treating was a big fail. We literally just threw candy in the back yard and let them hunt with headlamps and flashlights while we had mulled cider and s’mores and visited around the fire.

Halloween parade Covid-style

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The Primary and Elementary schools had a drive by parade today—teachers and staff dressed up and parents could bring their costumed kids through.

Sounds nice and easy right? Whoa. It was a traffic nightmare. The school is less than five minutes away and it took us an hour round trip! I think the turnout was much larger than they expected PLUS they had both schools (across the street from one another) at the same time.

The kids also made me shake my head in frustration. I thought it would be totally cool to let them sit in the back with the gate open so everyone could see their costumes. Nope, neither wanted to do it. Like AT ALL. And once we got there Owen refused to put his mask on because he was afraid people were going to make fun of him. And I told Katie she could hang out of the window to wave and she refused. Ugh. Kids!!

Surprise! Another Boo!

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Okay this is getting crazy. But oh my gosh we are having so much fun with this. Now the deliveries are trying to be super sneaky to avoid the cameras (most of us have Ring doorbells). So this time, I didn’t even know I had one—everyone was showing pics of their baskets and I didn’t see one on the porch so I thought okay maybe I missed being in this round (no biggie). And then I went outside and found this in front of the garage door!

We are alone. Parents are alone.

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Trick, or Treat? I’m seriously asking

Every day we reacquaint ourselves with our family’s ever-shifting needs. Every day we find ourselves at a place where we have to decide who we’re going to ignore, which way we’re going to triumph and which way we’re going to fail, what risks we’re willing to take for ourselves, for our kids, for grandparents who want to visit, for strangers who sell us yogurt, knowing that the best way to love our community is to isolate ourselves from it, and the best way to love our children is to let them connect, and the best way to get through this is badly and at great cost, making a fucking mess of it every day as we spin the wheel toward a harbor on the horizon between two untethered buoys that keep lurching in the swell.

Oh it’s just my nightly skincare in 15 steps.

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I used to laugh when I saw women on TV shows or movies doing any kind of bedtime skincare routine because I was like “WHO REALLY DOES THAT?! It’s just faked for TV!”

Well. Time changes things and I’m now that woman. Plus I do a lot more then TV or movies ever show (because frankly it’s not that exciting 😂). I mean, here’s my nighttime ritual in just 15 quick pics. 😂

Ooops! LipSense Remover, Fooops! Make-up Remover, LipSmooth Conditioning Polish, Normal to Dry 3-in-1 Cleanser, Advanced SenePlex+ Renewal with Retinol, Digital Age Defense Serum, Climate Control, Nangai Oil mixed with Normal to Dry Evening Moisturizer, Eye Cream, Collagen Night Pak, Lip Balm, Lifting and Firming Neck Cream.

And no, it doesn’t take forever. I took the first pic at 9:31 and the last pic at 9:42 – but it will take you MUCH less time if you’re not stopping to take pics! 😂

But even if it did take 11 minutes a night it’s worth it for how much my skin has changed and how happy I am with it. And especially because I don’t think I look—gasp—47!

What’s your evening skincare routine?

The drama is exhausting.

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We had a lot of drama when trying to catch up on math homework tonight. There might have been screaming and crying. The rest off the night got better (after she had some cool down time in her room) but this was waiting for us when we came to bed.

Sigh.

This is the default reaction from both kids whenever we try to help them or teach them or tell them what they did wrong. We have no idea where it comes from (though I’m sure Katie says it because Owen does).

So I wrote this back.

Parenting is exhausting.

Kidisms 49

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Either I haven’t been keeping track or the kids haven’t been saying cute things anymore. Or maybe it’s a little of both. So these are actually from last November!!! Enjoy!

 

Katie just called the sofa a loafa and I think she’s on to something.

Katie was up early today and crawled into bed with me.
Katie: You’re lucky.
Me: Why?
Katie: You have a big bed and a comfy cover. And I just have a little rectangle.

This might be the best forest preserve we have been to yet.

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We had to go pick up a Facebook purchase for Katie’s room and I knew we’d be close to some parks…and it was finally a sunny day…so we dragged the whole family along. We hadn’t been here before but we will definitely be back! Lots of parking, lots of great trails (paved and wooded), pavilions, bathrooms, a lake…and a ton of Pokémon stops!!

This blog is having some growing pains.

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Just a quick FYI that this blog/website is going through some unexpected issues so things might be a little off for a bit longer. My host is doing some server migration and I happened to make some changes right in the middle of it and it’s been a nightmare trying to troubleshoot it.