McCartney Family: Quarantine Week 10 - May 17

Sunday, May 17th
I'm thankful for home church, and the devotionals that our ward leaders are doing. We've been figuring out the right balance for our family. The girls do their 15 minute primary meeting, and then Ken and I participate in the devotional. If the girls want to they can, but after that we have our own little service. Ken passes the sacrament, and we do Come Follow Me. I'm also so thankful that I can play the piano and that we can have music in our home too.

This afternoon Alice and Fiona and I went on an epic bike ride. We went to the small (far) rock concert and to the beach near it. Fiona and Alice climbed up and down trees and had a blast. Riding home was well... a little tricky. Alice wanted her Dad to come get her - she said she was tired and didn't want to ride any more, but with some cajoling and convincing she made it!

After the bike ride with Alice and Fiona, Kate and I went for a walk down to the beach.

Here is spirit week NINE!

One of Fiona's many amazing Duplo creations.

And in other news, my sister is getting another dog. This is Rex. They get him in a few weeks. He's an Aussie Doodle and he's going to be Anna's dog, but all the kids will love him of course!

Monday, May 18th
Today is Victoria Day. Yay for holiday Mondays. Between school work for the girls, and school work for me and work for Ken, there's lots of work to go around, so I was very thankful for today!

Ken thought it would be fun to do the new puzzle that I we bought at Easter and still hadn't opened. Ken was the most committed to the puzzle, but everyone did help.

Oh and did I mention it was Pyjama Day? I think this might be the girl's favourite theme day of all!

More of Fiona and her ever larger and more incredible Duplo creations!

And Ken because he's so awesome had picked up sparklers for the girls before they sold out everywhere. After dinner we watched Whale Rider in the basement as a family, and when the movie was over it looked dark enough, but when we came outside it was still pretty light. The girls enjoyed the sparklers even though it wasn't super dark.

Tuesday, May 19th
Yoga Day. I keep thinking that I want to take up yoga, but then it's always followed by someday. I'm not sure when some day will come?!

The vanity for the upstairs bathroom was delivered today. Before the world ended we had met with contractors, had gotten quotes, and had begun ordering everything to redo the girls bathroom. Everything got pushed on hold of course, but things are starting to slowly open up, so hopefully we'll be able to do the bathroom soon-ish.

Chores... I'm not perfect at anything, and maintaining discipline during this chaos has been a challenge. One of the things that has gone completely out the window is chores. I've asked the girls for help to do things here and there, and sometimes they help, but I also get a lot of nos. I don't like that. Yesterday we started a rotation. The dishwasher is the consistent chore in the house, and it is one that I get resistance about so much - I don't get this! The rotation will alleviate the constant battle about who's turn it is, or who wants to help, it will just be a cycle Kate, Alice, Fiona, Kate, Alice, Fiona...

Wednesday, May 20th
Today was Good News Day. When I came downstairs, Alice had already recorded her news clip - it was so cute! I love how excited they are about some of the theme days! "This is Alice reporting from "Alice Reports" we have good news, the good news is we have everything under control. (pause) Don't panic, everything is good. This is Alice Reports." So cute!

Fiona's story got more and more elaborate. She wanted to have a unicorn wedding and then immediately have a unicorn birth and it just kept getting longer and longer. Eventually she settled for just telling the story that the unicorn was born.

Fiona has been better about getting her school work done, which makes me happy! Oh and can you see her cute hair? Alice did it. They just do the cutest things sometimes.

Kate was pretty grumpy, then she fell asleep, and she was much happier when she woke up! YAY!

This was one of Fiona's pieces of schoolwork. She had to draw this creature from instructions in French.

Kate did a great job on her news story too. Her news story was about rainbow bunnies that are being spotted all over the place. She and Alice would both make excellent news casters. They speak so clearly and expressively!

More trampoline fun!

Lately Fiona and Alice have been playing "the ground is lava". It's really annoying to me. One of them says the ground is lava, and then you have to immediately get off the floor. Alice said it to Fiona one day, and then Alice ended up wearing her dinner because Fiona jumped on Alice. Tonight Alice was roller skating (or was it Fiona?) with these - the bottoms of Duplo cars because of course, the ground was lava.

Thursday, May 21st
Today was Baking Day. Another day that the girls were super excited about! They are really starting to figure some things out in the kitchen. Ken helped them out, but very minimally.

They loved enjoying the fruits of their labours!

After dinner we went to the school yard for some baseball again, oh and frisbee and climbing and bird watching! Fiona loves to climb!

I wanted a turn, so I had one. Then Ken wanted a turn, so he had one. He hit me with a line drive. It hurt! I'm glad we were only playing with a tennis ball. He told me after the fact that he used to hit pitchers a lot. I told him I thought that information would have been useful before I started pitching for him!

We watched this woodpecker, it was really cool! He flew from tree to tree climbing up and down pecking away. We were so close to him. We were all totally captivated!

Friday, May 22nd
I was given another opportunity today to go into my school. I felt so much more relaxed and calm this time. It was not the same as the first time. We were only supposed to be inside for 15 minutes, but I chatted with a teacher friend for ages - it was so nice. I was in the school for about an hour, and the principal finally came on the P.A. and said, everyone needs to leave now!

It was Royalty Day today. The girls were so cute in their dresses and little crowns. We used to have so many crowns, not any more. Today they were wearing crowns they borrowed from dolls.

We went to the school again. I finally remembered to spray some rocks, and we took some of our Easter Egg rocks and put them in the rock garden.

Fiona was being a little bit difficult and wouldn't get out of the car, so I sat and waited.

The sunset was really beautiful tonight!

Saturday, May 23rd
Mom tried to have a conversation with the girls the other day, but all they want to do is play with silly filters on Facebook Messenger! Alice sent me this pic today. I thought it was kind of funny.

Mom asked if we could meet up at the lake by Squires Beach, I said of course. We hadn't seen Mom in a long time. It was a long over due visit. The girls visited and scampered around. It was a beautiful day.