Quarantine Week 14 - June 14 - 20

Sunday, June 14th

Yes we did church, and then it was back to reports, reports, reports. Ken bought a chess board yesterday? I don't know, anyway after church Kate and Ken played LOTR (Lord of the Rings Online) and Fiona played with the chess board (I think there were a few weddings) and Alice and Ken played a game of chess.

Monday, June 15th

I am just so tickled sometimes by the girls and their creativity. When I came out of my room this morning Fiona was in all white - angel, Alice was half and half, and Kate was in all black - devil.

Angels help by putting away the dishes.

Angels plan.

Devils make messes.

Devils do whatever they want.

After dinner Fiona and I went on a bike ride. We were turning the corner onto Cluett and wham, Fiona wiped out right in the middle of the road. We sat for a minute and Fiona had a little cry, but then she carried on.

She wanted to see the pretty flowers by Helene's house.

Then I cleaned out the bathroom. Goodbye old ugly bathroom! GOOD BYE!

Tuesday, June 16th

The tiles look so blue in the sunlight.

So today, Emily wins the friend prize. Really she wins the friend prize every day, but today, extra points! I needed to go into school to pack up and she took all the kids!

Today was part one of packing up my classroom. I thought this would be it, that I would finish it all today, but nope. There was too much, and the car was full. AND I wasn't emotionally ready to be done. I took some before pictures so I could remember.

I love making class signs - it was mottos this year. I've done word clouds, I've done mission statements, but I love it and I refer back to it over the year - this is what we committed to!

I bought the "Failure is Not an Option" bumper sticker on our honeymoon, in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center, it's from the Apollo 13 mission. The kids would question it all the time, so eventually I put the other sign "There is no failure except in no longer trying", and then I would point to it when I got a question.

I really should have laminated the piggy pictures before putting them up, but that would have required me to be prepared ahead of time last summer!

The calendar.

The inside of my tall cupboard - family pics and art from kids.

One of my favourite quotes on my board.

Winnie! He's been on the filing cabinet for so long. I don't even remember when I stuck him there, but he's gone now...

And bathroom reno day one! Today was basically demo day.

No more medicine cabinet!

Wednesday, June 17th

Talent Day! I know a few teachers from my school had a Google Meet talent show, Alice's teacher had one too. I taught Alice how to play Lightly Row on the piano and she practiced and practiced and practiced. I was worried that she'd great afraid, but she was amazing. The class talent show was so cute. I'm so thankful for amazing teachers that do wonderful things for their students.

Alice's talent - playing the piano - also the sign she made up so that after a performance in her class talent show she would hold up the sign.

Kate's talent - playing the ukulele

Fiona's talent - building duplo.

It was official when? I think it was official on the 8th, and I had told a couple of closer friends that it was happening and then the next morning Brian had already posted it so I sent an email out on June 9th saying farewell. Today this card came in the mail from my teacher friend Diane. It is an adventure leaving your school after 16 years! Sixteen years! It's nuts. I feel so grateful, it's working out the way it's meant to. It will be so weird going to another school in September, so weird, I will miss my Blue Willow family so much.

Bathroom reno day two - we have a window - with frosted glass. The casing around the old window was so so gross. I'm so excited about the new window! And a plumber came to do the plumbing for the bath and shower.

Oh and it was Anna's birthday today! We love our Anna and we're so sad we won't be able to see her this summer. We made Anna a happy birthday video before bed.

Thursday, June 18th

Today was letter day. Everyone wrote Auntie Wendy letters. I don't know if I will ever not love getting letters and writing letters. There's something so magical about the giving and receiving of mail.

We also updated the girls school books today. That was fun. I love memories and keepsakes!

Letter writing.

Fiona's was more picture drawing.

Bathroom reno day three, tiles around the bathtub, done.

The girls wanted to roast marshmallows with the Lim-Anderson's, so we did.

Friday, June 19th

Fiona is hilarious during her Google Meets for her class... Today was particularly interesting. The girls wanted a yoga ball so Ken got one, and Fiona thought bouncing up and down on her yoga ball waving was the right way to go for her class meeting.

Today is Juneteenth. "Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance."

After lunch I sat in the basement with the girls and we watched the Disney movie about Ruby Bridges. It was so well done. I cried a lot watching the movie, but the girls really enjoyed it. Knowing the history of racism that was woven into the North American fabric of life, this is so important. My girls need to inherit a world without systemic racism.

After the movie was finished we drove over to Squire's Beach to meet up with Gabriella and Mom. We walked around a bit coming out to a beach further east, then walked back through the flowers and out to the beach directly south of the road. We had a nice visit.

Reno day four. Floor tiles in.

A Friday night walk with my sweetheart! YAY!

Saturday, June 20th

Today was a hot day. The air conditioning in the van is broken so no one really wanted to go anywhere. We did however go over to the Theriault's to wish Aleigha a Happy Birthday!

Kate thought the toilet cupcakes were awesome. Brox - Aleigha's younger brother has a thing about toilets.

Then, because the girls don't have enough school, they played school in the hallway upstairs!

Tonight Ken and the girls played Nintendo switch in the basement and I sat on the couch and made goodbye videos for each grade. It's so weird not being able to say goodbye in person. Reports are done, it's the last week of school next week, and I wanted to make my goodbye videos for all the kids, so I did. Tomorrow I'll upload them to their Google Classrooms, and the cat will be out of the bag!