Smokey Mountains House and Ice Cream

We chose to stay in a really fun house. It had a pool table, foosball, arcade games, a hot tub, a fire pit and plenty of room.

We were there on Grandpa Eldredge's birthday, so we kept up our tradition of going out for ice cream to celebrate him, and it was fun to have Grandma with us this year.

Smokey Mountains Bridge

We wanted to do something in the town that would be memorable, so we found this suspension bridge that looked like fun. We rode sky lifts up to the bridge and back down again. Even that was fun!

There were really pretty views from the top!

In the middle of the bridge were these glass panels! Yikes!

See us in the middle?

Smokey Mountains Hikes

Like everyone else, our summer plans had to be changed. We decided to go to the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee because most of what we would want to do would be outside. We were only there for two full days, but we did several hikes in that time. The kids usually didn't love the hike to our destinations, but they liked the waterfalls we hiked to and found the second part of the hike (back down) more enjoyable. It really was very pretty there.

Sometimes Jake got some help from his kind siblings!

Jason's mom came with us, which was so fun!

First Day of School

We started the 2020-2021 school year on August 24th, fully remote learning from home. Ali and Logan are in 7th grade and needed exactly zero help from me with technology, classwork, meeting reminders, or homework reminders. In fact, they did quite a lot before school started to get me, Eli and Jake up to speed on the technology. Bless them!

Eli surprised and impressed me with being able to get to all of his live meets without me reminding him of what time there were or needing to watch the clock for him. What a blessing! His teacher makes a great slideshow every day that goes over what the kids did (or were supposed to do) in each chunk of time for the whole day. Eli and I go over that each afternoon to make sure he didn't miss anything and it is a system that works great for us!

Jake has been a bit more of a challenge. He can log on to his chrome book, go to his class, start his meetings all on his own, and mute and unmute his mic which I am super impressed with. But he has not enjoyed class so far. There has been way to much asking each kid a question (which takes about 20 minutes); and while it is an important skill to learn to listen and wait your turn, it is so hard to do on the computer when you can't see everyone! He has enjoyed it when there is actual interactive learning going on (going through the ABC sounds, teacher reading books, etc) and so we hope there will be more of that in the coming weeks. I also have to more or less sit with him the whole time so I can catch what he's supposed to do during independent time (I've suggested she make a slideshow like Eli's teacher and she assures me she is planning to start that soon). It's also really hard for him to stop playing after a break and get back on another call (which we do four times each morning). I've started letting him color or do puzzles when he's bored and that seems to help...we're both really hoping it gets better.

These are the four (totally different) schedules the kids have. It's a little nuts, but since I really only have to help Jake with his it's doable.

We're really proud of the kids for doing so well in a situation they would rather not be in. They're doing great with a really hard thing and that in and of itself is an important skill. Here's to a good year!

Halloween Treats

Somehow the Halloween cookbook made it's way into our summer and we had to make a few treats. Jake's pick was this creepy slushy drink.

Ali's Nails

Ali has such pretty long nails that never seem to break. And she's getting so good at painting them that people think they're fake!

Creative Buying

This summer has certainly been different than other summers, mainly because we've spent a lot more time at home, after a few months of being confined to home. This has resulted in some creative buying on my part; trying to find things they won't just consume but that will give them something to do!

This net was a great find. It's easy enough to set up that the kids can do it themselves, and resulted in much badminton. 

This lego book was the best buy, because it was the cheapest thing I bought, they all loved it, and it reminded them all how much they love their legos, and resulted in hours of fun.

This sprinkler thing attached to the top of the trampoline net and sprayed them while they jumped. It turned out to be more fun in concept than reality (it got them a bit too wet for their tastes), but even so it got them out of the house for an afternoon or two.

I've also bought them a book a month of their choice, and I think they would all say that was their favorite purchase. Sometimes normal is even better than creative.

Trip to Colorado

In July I went out to visit my parents in Colorado. They had bought a new home, and it seemed like a good excuse to go see them!                                          

                                              

I also really wanted to see my sister and meet her new baby girl!

I got to go on a hike with my brother and his two cute girls.

I love that they live close enough to my parents that I get to visit them too! (JD had just warned me about his smelly pits and so we were all giggling in this picture!)

I was grateful to Jason for being home with the kids so I could go, and thankful that he took and sent me this adorable picture of our kids while I was gone.