Fall 2020 looked similar to the spring and summer for us as far as our day-to-day life. Steve was still going to work most days, in a very large building with only a handful of others. His temperature was taken when he entered VA grounds and he wore a mask at all times. I was mostly working from home. When I did go on campus I was always masked and socially-distanced. My building was very quiet with hardly anyone around. The girls were home all of the time. They got into the habit of not even wearing/bringing shoes when they would get in the car, because any errands we ran where all the drive-thru/curbside pickup variety. I would run into Target on a rare occasion and rotated between having groceries delivered to our house or going to Aldi by myself. We put off most appointments. When we did go to the doctor or dentist only one adult was allowed in with a child, temperatures were taken at the door, masks were worn, and we were taken into an exam room right away where we could wait by ourselves. Late summer or fall I started taking the girls to the library (we had been doing curbside pickup) and once or twice they came into Target or HEB with me for a quick errand. Every time they would remark how weird it was, not having been inside anywhere but our own home since March!
School starts here mid-August and as of August 1st we still did not know what that would look like because our great leaders couldn't get their act together. Texas finally decided that districts would provide both face-to-face and virtual options, or could opt to be 100% virtual for the first few weeks. Our district, like many pushed through face-to-face at all costs, but we obviously opted for virtual. Ada had a drive-thru meet the teacher where we picked up her ipad, information, and waved to her 3rd grade teachers. Mrs Schmeltekopf is her homeroom and ELAR teacher and Mrs Fischer is her math/science teacher. We were really excited and hit the jackpot with teachers for her (even though we were super sad not to have Ruby's former 2nd/3rd grade teacher whom we had been waiting for)! Ruby is at River Valley this year which is an intermediate school for 5th and 6th grades. The drive-thru event there was anti-climatic; just pick up your ipad from one of the administrators. There was literally no information and when we asked all anyone was told was "log on the first day". She has 6 classes a day and a homeroom/study time; advanced reading, science, PE, advanced math, integrated studies (social studies/writing), and either art or music (it changes every 6 weeks). The first couple weeks of school were rough trying to figure out how to log on and find all of the assignments, what needed to be submitted when and where, while juggling my own classes and work.
drive-thru Meet the Teacher
first day of (virtual) 5th grade
first day of (virtual) 3rd grade
ready for school...
if only our work would load!
virtual school= slippers/no shoes
paint your own back to school cookie treat
fun first day snack
Ada's school work has gone fairly smoothly as she is using the same platform that she is familiar with all through elementary school. She gets on SeeSaw and typically has a math mini-lesson video along with a couple activities, a science activity, a read aloud that she responds to, and activities for writing, grammar, and spelling. There is typically one activity each for library, music, PE, and art that she can work on throughout the week. Ada has a whole group Google Meet each morning and then either a small group math or reading Google Meet once a day. It is really pretty manageable even with mom and dad working now that we have figured out a routine and she is usually done around lunchtime. Ada likes the live meetings most, especially the small group ones. Math is her favorite and she'll ask us to give her "problems" sometimes just for fun!
working on multiplication
PE
I was much more frustrated with Ruby's virtual platform (as were most secondary parents) due to the crazy number of programs, lack of communication, and inconsistencies between teachers. One day a couple weeks in I counted on the number of different folders she needed to click on to just access her assignments for a single day and I lost count around 40! Once she figured things out though, she is very independent. It takes her longer some days, but she is very responsible about getting her work completed and asking questions when needed. My big win for her this year was teaching her how to email/message a teacher when something wasn't working or we didn't know what to do. She is so good about advocating for herself now. Ruby's teachers are teaching both virtual and f2f students simultaneously (due to poor planning in my opinion) which means she very rarely interacts with them live. They pretty much just post assignments on Schoology and Ruby does them independently. From what I've heard, the f2f students are essentially doing the same thing, just in a classroom. Even with 6 classes a day, she might have one 15 minute Google Meet per day, and they are usually just quick check-ins. Her favorites are the GT Google Meets on Monday where Ada and I just giggle listening to her chat away with the GT teacher and a couple of other students!
sometimes we use alternative seating to help us focus
I need to be better about doing this more often
school is more fun outside
My schedule has also been interesting this fall. I requested to teach virtual as much as possible knowing we wanted to keep Ruby and Ada home and my chair is very accommodating. This fall I taught on campus face-to-face one day a week (Tuesdays) and virtually 3 days per week. Steve worked from home on Tuesdays to juggle the girls. The other days I would try to sit with Ada and get as much as possible of her work done right away in the mornings before closing myself in our room and teaching online for 3 hours. I certainly prefer teaching face-to-face, but Baylor offered a ton of professional development and I did a lot of prepping this summer so the virtual instruction really went pretty smoothly. Ruby and Ada got good about keeping busy while I was teaching (Ada usually playing legos and listening to audio books, Ruby usually finishing school work or reading) and even had to make themselves lunch most days because my classes were smack in the middle of the day. Baylor was able to remain open all semester (one of the few colleges or universities that did) in large part due to their testing and quarantine measures. They had ample space (rented hotels I think) to isolate sick or exposed students and they did random testing all semester. Prior to the start of the semester they sent out testing kits to all students, faculty, and staff ($3 million worth!) and during the semester they continued to test. My students who were exposed had to quarantine for 2 weeks and get tested a couple times, students who tested positive had to isolate as well, and students and faculty were randomly selected to test as well. I got "chosen" 5 times. This was funny, considering I was only on campus 12 times this fall! But the test was quick and easy and the testing tent was right outside my building so it was never inconvenient to pop in after my classes.
my set up at home
The very best thing about virtual school is the slow mornings. No one had to rush out the door or be anywhere at a certain time so we slept in much later than we normally could have, had leisurely breakfasts and stayed in our pj's as long as we preferred. Ada had an 8:00 Google Meet most mornings, but she is a quick riser and would munch on her cereal while listening to her teacher. I have always said I could never home-school my kids, especially the oldest one. Ruby and I are so so similar and I always envisioned us butting heads knowing she would hate me telling her what to do all day. I still think that is true in some ways, but it turns out that this self-paced virtual school is really right up her alley. She has been less anxious and irritable and being introverted is perfectly content being at home. Her best friend is the one family we have maintained regular contact with (our pod) throughout this pandemic so she's pretty fulfilled. Lily Kate and Ruby are really two peas in a pod. Ada adores her older sister, Ana, too so we tried to do an outdoor playdate once a week for social interaction.
A little Common Grounds (coffee shop) treat! No classes for Mom and no Google Meets on Fridays means we can sneak out!
The most exciting event of the fall, was our new nephew/cousin baby Arthur's arrival in September! Silly baby was breech so Sam was faced with scheduling an induction. It was looking like the date might end up being September 21st, Ruby's birthday (and Logan's niece's birthday), but it got pushed back to September 23rd. So the grand-babies' birthdays are all within 3 weeks! He is the cutest, most perfect little guy and we are so so sad we haven't been able to meet King Arthur in person yet. Thankfully Sam and Logan send us pictures almost every single day and we get to Skype often.
Ruby's pandemic birthday was celebrated with an Italian ice truck in our front yard. We invited friends to stop over for a treat and to say happy birthday. It was a beautiful afternoon and worked out really well to socially distance but still feel festive. Ruby got brave enough to get her ears pierced for her birthday, so we masked up the day before and took her to the local tattoo parlor! She had a moment of panic right before when I thought she might back out, but the lady did an amazing job and I don't think Ruby even felt the first one go in.
Amazon yard sign because mama's cheap
not shortage of presents as usual
for some reason I took zero photos of the ice cream truck and guests
thankfully another mom shared this one of R with some of her besties
It bit nervous! She had to bring her yearbook as "ID"!
proud girl
happy 11 beautiful girl!
Ruby picked rice krispie treats for her "cake"
we rarely do an actual birthday cake
seems like we've walked down to the lake and watched the sunset for the last couple birthdays
We tried to hire a cotton candy truck for Ada's birthday because that set-up worked really well for Ruby, but the lady wasn't doing any parties at the time (very understandably). She did offer to make a bunch of pre-packed cotton candy though, so I picked those up and we invited friends and neighbors to pop over for a treat. Ada had a ball (and a lot of sugar)!
reusable sign :)
happy birthday to our sweet 9 year old
sugar lover
so much fun
no pics of the pile of presents because girlfriend was in her undies
lots and lots of legos
and she got the canopy she's been asking for
ice cream (with whipped cream and cherries of course) for this girl's "cake"
silly and beautiful
We took advantage of the Baylor Boat House and went kayaking several weekends this fall for some socially distanced entertainment out of our four walls.
the girls prefer the sups but sometimes they only have kayaks left to use
Ada and mom usually pair up and Ruby goes with Dad
R and A plowed in headfirst on the first attempt so LK went with to show them how to lean back
they loved it and wanted to go again and again
I was not looking forward to Halloween this year because I just couldn't wrap my head around what we were going to do safely. In the end we had a little afternoon hang with the Hoppes on our back deck where the girls painted pumpkins, did a scavenger hunt, and of course dressed up as the Schylur sisters. Our elementary school planned a drive-thru trick or treat event on the Friday prior to Halloween. I should have known it was going to be a huge turnout but I could not believe the line of cars weaving through the neighborhood just to get to the school grounds. We finally got to the start at the time the event was supposed to end and there were oodles of cars behind us. Most of the teachers were still out and we got plenty of treats. Thankfully our past teachers were all out as that was what the girls were most excited about. On Halloween night we had a themed dinner and watched a movie; Hocus Pocus. They popped over to one neighbor's house who loaded them down with candy so they had no shortage and actually ended up with more than usual.
Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy
we also did our traditional pumpkin-carving of course
witch's hat, mummy, and brain jello for dinner
The second most exciting event, just edged out by Arthur's arrival, was the election! It was a huge relief when Biden/Harris was finally officially declared winners a couple days later. I know I let go of more tension that I realized I'd been holding on to. There is so much to process and say about it all, but I am mostly hopeful for a return to decency, morality, democracy and caring for ALL others. There were tears and celebrations happening in the Nelson house when they finally called the election on Saturday morning!
Ada made a Vote for Biden sign and hung it in her window, facing out so everyone who passed by her balcony which faces the woods behind our house would see it!
vote!
mom look, i'm wearing my Kamala shoes
Ruby got asked to do the reading at church one Sunday!
up on the big screen
Ada had been begging for a haircut, so I finally decided to give it a chop.
she has grown up SO much, I feel like everyone is going to be shocked how big she is once we get to see people again!
As it became clearer this fall that we likely would not be traveling for the holidays, I feared for a long week off at Thanksgiving and two weeks at Christmas with nothing to do. Knowing this would make missing family and traditions even worse, we decided to plan a covid-safe trip. (The decision to not travel was purely ours. There were very few regulations about travel at this time even though the CDC, doctors, nurses, and scientists were recommending zero travel and no get-togethers with people outside of your household. In true American fashion many, many people ignored those guidelines. Some people believed what our president and the far-right championed that covid was all a hoax, some had a "who-cares" attitude not caring if they got sick, and many, I believe, had pandemic-fatigue. It is exhausting staying isolated and vigilant for months on end without a definitive end in sight.). We tried to really stay informed and listen to the science when deciding what risks to take, and figured that renting an airbnb and spending time on the beach was very safe. We decided to try South Padre Island since we'd never been there and it would probably be pretty warm still in late November as it is about as far south as you can get before hitting Mexico. It is a 7 or 8 hour drive from Waco and we spent most of the trip listening to Hamilton or mom reading Harry Potter. Ada recently decided she wanted to read Harry Potter so that is one memory I will have of this trip; reading it together as a family. We found a house about a block from the beach with a heated pool and hot tub. It was super easy to walk to the beach and we enjoyed lots of walks up and down the shore, shelling, and just sitting in the sun. Ruby and Ada built sand castles and rode boogie boards in the waves for hours. Many of the restaurants on the island have outdoor seating or are completely open-air so we were able to actually eat out a few times which was amazing. The alternative was cooking our own or getting take-out (which is just not the same).
ready for some fun (or just getting out of our house really)
we went straight to the beach when we got there
so pretty
walked in the surf and picked up some shells
lots of jellies, not what you want to see, but they are super pretty
walked back out first thing in the morning
more jellies, but there were fewer every day
went on a dolphin boat tour, lots of dolphins, but lots of waves too
so hard to get a good pic
joy! water wasn't super warm, but warm enough to get in
this guy was near where we sat each day, he made this lighthouse and a turkey later
the turkey and my turkeys
our own sand creations weren't quite as impressive
but still fun
found some petty flowers to put in their hair
dinner on the bay with shirley temples
lunch on the gulf side
watched the sunset here one night and the second the sun dropped below the horizon all of these pelicans took off, about 30 of them, it was unexpected and really cool
pretty girls, pretty sunset
not a lot of pics of the two of us, I kinda love this one
we went to the sea turtle rescue center
this is what Steve and Sheri did most of the time
this is what the girls did most of the time
we visited the holiday sand castle exhibit
hard to leave this
until next time
We also found a family photographer to take our pictures while we were there. It was so windy I wasn't sure if this was actually a good idea. All of the Nelson girls have so much hair which was everywhere and already a bit unmanageable due to the humidity, but she was able to get a few good shots which is all I ever want!
this one just cracks us up because of Ada's face!
they are essentially the same height now
We decided to take our trip Saturday through Wednesday so we were home for Thanksgiving day. We are typically home and cook for our little family that day anyway so it was nice to keep up with that tradition. And, of course, we had to be home Friday so we could go cut down our Christmas tree!
my only Thanksgiving pic
No comments:
Post a Comment