Blauggie

Cat family once more

Surprise!

Derek and I decided a few months ago that we were ready to have a pet again. We seriously considered fish, but decided that with all of us being home for work and school this year, it was a good time to re-introduce a cat into our family.

We had hoped to get a single kitten, but found that many of the organizations only adopt cats out in pairs (and that legit kittens - babies recently separated from their mothers) were few and far between. So we chose these guys -

Meet Captian (formerly Sloane), 5 months old...

And her buddy Calliope (formerly Greta), 1.5 years old.

The pair were rescued together, so the foster mom asked that we adopt them as a pair. Captain is by far the more energetic, outgoing, louder of the two, and Calliope is far more timid (for now at least). Everyone is happy they are a part of our family!

Oh, and here are some other cool things that happened recently:

Remy time!

Crazy-soda tasting with Auntie Parker

Water park adventures

Glow holiday lights at the State Fairgrounds

Quaran-teeeeen

Back in May, I never thought that Sebastian would also be celebrating his birthday under quarantine, but here we are. Luckily, Seb is a bit of a homebody, so while it may not have been the birthday of his dreams, it seemed to meet his expectations.

We zoomed with family

And ate delicious food from Burger King and Dairy Queen (in the comfort of our own home, of course).

The next day, he "celebrated" with his best buddy Landon, whose birthday is Dec. 12th, via Google Meet. They feasted on a buffet of weird snacks from around the world.

Here is the spread - ham flavored chips, lychee candy, shrimp chips, spicy suckers, green tea filled marshmallows, mushroom candy canes, salted egg flavored chips, roasted crickets, maple bacon soda, birthday cake soda, and peanut butter and jelly soda.

Fall in crazy town

In September (a week later than usual) the kids started 7th, 5th, and 3rd grade.

After weighing our options (hybrid, which is going to school two days a week and doing distance learning the other three, or Distance Learning Academy, which is an all online school through the district), we chose to send our kids to the online school this year. 

Here they are in their home-classrooms:

The work-from-home crew (I work 4 days a week at the school):

In early October, we snuck away for a weekend to visit Taylors Falls with Grampy:

The next weekend was miniature golf with the Muthers to celebrate Sammy's 5th birthday, followed by a visit from Grandma S, Auntie Sunny, and sweet baby Remy the weekend after. This wasn't weird or unusual, it was very nice and normal - a good reminder that not everything is bad right now. And I learned how to use the blur function on my phone!

In mid-October (maybe even considered early October by some) we had our first snowstorm. Not cool.

And then it was Halloween! Also not terrible, but very different. We started out the weekend with an outdoor movie at a local church:

On Saturday, Eliza's girl scout troop had their own trunk or treat, just for them. This was our trunk design.

Then we went to a drive-through trunk or treat...

and an event at a school where we almost blew away

followed by some abbreviated trick-or-treating (lots of houses not participating, and most that were were grab n' go, so it was really quick) while this guy guarded our treats at home (the skeleton, not creepy Daddy in the background).

And here's a sweet little picture from today, November 5th. Lainey playing hangman with some classmates over Google Meet. As one does when their bedroom is their classroom. Again, not a bad thing, but very, very different.

Baby Remy and bearded Daddy

A few weeks ago, we drove to Auntie Sunny and Uncle Alex's house to meet this sweet baby girl, Remy Kole. Because Daddy is still working remotely, he was able to join us and set up shop at Sunny and Alex's dining room table.

And yesterday, we celebrated this sweet bearded Daddy, who has not shaved since early March.

Here he is on March 22nd, the first hint of stubble beginning to show

Here he is yesterday, experimenting with his new beard grooming kit...

And checking out the Father's Day card Sebby coded for him.

We've obviously managed to have fun over the past few months, but things are far from being back to the way they once were. We spend lots of time at home, and have only had very limited contact with friends and family. But, that has given us a chance to do things we normally wouldn't have had time for. 

Like walking to Dunn Bros. for coffee on a Sunday morning (not to mention lots and lots of other walks)

Nature-y stuff

Games

online drawing classes

video chats with friends

And lots of campfires

The future is very uncertain - will the kids return to school in the fall, will Derek work from home for the rest of the year, will I have a job in the fall, when will it be safe to hang out with friends and family again...etc, etc. But until we know the answers to those questions we'll continue making the most of our copious amounts of downtime and keep enjoying each other's company as best we can!

Coronatown

Within days of returning from our baby shower trip to Milwaukee, our idea of normal was been completely flipped on its head. The threat of schools shutting down, our spring break trip being cancelled, and Derek working from home became very, very real, and a week later it was all in place - the 5 of us closed up in our house for the foreseeable future while Covid-19 runs its course.

Starting that Friday (March 13th), activities and events began being cancelled, and what was supposed to be a very full weekend became completely empty. By the end of the weekend, school had been cancelled, too.

Last week the kids started "online learning," which was a very lose version of a school day. The girls basically received a sheet of ideas for things to do, and were asked to accomplish 2 or 3 of those things each day. Eliza's teacher "met" with the kids via video chat daily, and Lainey's teacher did it twice. Sebastian's schooling was a little more structured, with teachers posting assignments online, including a full-fledged math test which he had to print, complete, and submit a photo of to his teacher. None of this schooling takes more than a few hours of each day, though, so the kids have been filling the rest of their time with things like drawing, writing letters to friends and family, going for walks, playing lots of games, online chess, coding, piano, DIY, rollerblading, and video chatting with friends and family. 

Piano lessons:

Video chatting with her 2nd grade class:

Finger-knitting project complete!

Playing D&D with buddy Landon

Derek's sad new work environment

Baby readiness

The girls and I got to go to Milwaukee this past weekend to celebrate the impending arrival of baby Hempel! We're so excited!

Two weeks of holiday fun!

This year, the kids and I were off of school for a full two weeks for winter break. We fit in tons of fun, and tons of downtime!

We went skiing on my birthday: 

Followed by a quick beer/soda/game time at a new brewery.

Family selfie on Christmas Eve 

 

Fun with Grammy

Christmas "treats" for Santa. The beer was Sebastian's idea.

Christmas morning!

!

Our annual trip to Grandma S's

Our skiing plans with Grampy turned into indoor waterpark plans when it ended up being too warm in Wisconsin for skiing.

New Year's Eve steaks on the grill

Sledding in MN (where it was NOT too warm for winter activities)

Closing in on 12!

Yesterday we celebrated Sebastian's upcoming TWELFTH birthday with his best buddies, Sam and Landon. Derek and I accompanied them to the Mystery Mansion escape room at Breakout Games. Unfortunately, we did not break out.

Fortunately, though, we had fun anyway, and even more fortunately, Derek's best high school friend (and best man at our wedding) Ken came over with his extensive Magic the Gathering cards, supplies, knowledge, and enthusiasm. Derek, Ken, Sebby, Sam, Landon, and Ken's daughter Kira played Magic for close to 3 hours, stopping only for a quick pie break.

Several times, Sebastian thanked Derek for the best birthday party ever.