The start of In person school....again

Remember when back in the fall we were very excited about the kids going to school two days a week? That was very short-lived as that schedule lasted for only 3 weeks before they got sent back to fully remote again. 

However, we are very happy to say that our district has agreed that K-5 schools can now go back 5 full days. We started last week and the kids have been so happy about it. Seeing their friends, seeing their teachers and I'm sure learning much more in the building than they were on the computers make for happy children and parents. 

We are very thankful that the teachers have worked so tirelessly to provide instruction over various platforms during this whole year but there is nothing quite like being in the classroom. We are cautiously optimistic that this will continue for the rest of the school year. Caroline even took apart her school drawers that held her "reading, writing and math folders" to make room for her art supplies. While I tried to assure her that we are hoping school will continue at school, we also still have to be flexible that there could be a time where she or her brother could be asked to come home again for remote learning. 

Covid is still here in our state but cases are no longer on the rise and science is showing that kids this age are not the super spreaders that everyone thought they could be at the beginning of all of this. 

Cheers to more sound science and discovering more and more about our world!

Interview with a 10 year old

What's your favorite color? Blue
Favorite food? Hot dogs, Grandpa Fink's ribs, Hamburgers
Least favorite food? cheese, oranges
Favorite dessert? cookies
Favorite stuffed animal? Bear
Favorite animal? Sharks
What do you like to do the most? baseball and playing Fortnite
Favorite thing to do with Dad? play baseball
Favorite thing to do with Mom? do puzzles
Favorite thing to do with Lucy? play with her toys
Favorite thing to do with Caroline? play with her toys
Favorite TV show? Gravity Falls
Favorite Movie? Monsters Inc.
Favorite thing about school? reading
Favorite place to go locally? Altitude
Favorite place for vacation? Michigan
Favorite book? Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Favorite outfit? White Sox shirts and sweatpants
Favorite game? Throw, Throw Burrito

What are most excited to do now that you are 10 that you couldn't do when you were 9? 
What are you most scared of? nothing much
What's the best thing about you? my sense of humor
Who is your best friend? Jonathan, Luke, Zach, Preston, Lucas and Jack
What do you want to be when you grow up? a baseball player

Interview with a 4 year old

 What's your favorite color? Pink

Favorite food? Macaroni and Cheese
Least favorite food? Baked chicken
Favorite dessert? candy
Favorite stuffed animal? Blue bear
Favorite animal? Starfish
What do you like to do the most? Play with my toys
Favorite thing to do with Dad? Hug him
Favorite thing to do with Mom? Stand on her back
Favorite thing to do with Liam? play with him with cars
Favorite thing to do with Caroline? sing
Favorite TV show? Gravity Falls
Favorite Movie? Rapunzel
Favorite thing about school? Building the playing cake
Favorite place to go locally? A mountain, so I climb up it
Favorite place for vacation? Chicago
Favorite book? Mercy Watson
Favorite outfit? dresses


What are most excited to do now that you are 4 that you couldn't do when you were 3? wearing rainbow glasses
What are you most scared of? Having nightmares
What's the best thing about you? I'm sweet and funny
Who is your best friend? Ava at school
What do you want to be when you grow up? a princess

Family pictures

 This fall we decided to update our family pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

Lucy at 4

 Our Lucy turned 4 in November and she had a great day! Since it was a Saturday we really got to stretch out her celebration. With the pandemic still going on and going strong we decided to forgo a family party. Evan still put streamers up and Caroline and Liam also really got into the party atmosphere and ran around trying to put a birthday hat on everyone, including Archie. 

The Sanckens came over to play outside in the afternoon and Grandpa and Grandma Fink came over the next day to celebrate. Lucy definitely felt the love. 

Lucy, at age 4, is still our very social girl. She loves to be around people and talk to them. Being unable to go to church and play with her friends in the nursery has been hard on her during the pandemic. Thankfully, she still goes to daycare/prek and enjoys it very much. 

Lucy is 3 feet 4 1/2 inches tall and 31 pounds. She is still our tallest kid, already within a 1/2 inch of her big brother at age 5! She wears 4T shirts and pants. 

Lucy loves to make others laugh. She is constantly trying to get her big brother and sister to laugh at her during meal times and at times has to be removed from the table for not settling down. She really enjoys running around with the bigger kids in the neighborhood who come over to hang out. Many times they encourage her to be a monster and chase them around the trampoline, she is very good at roaring and has no problem being loud. 

Lucy loves to watch TV. Her favorite movies are Frozen, Frozen 2, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. She loves to watch Teen Titans Go and Gravity Falls as well. 

She enjoys singing and really doesn't mind if she doesn't know the words. With Christmas around the corner she is very good at singing, "Santa Claus is coming to Town". 

Lucy still enjoys wearing dresses. She really loves to steal her sisters fancy dresses and wear those around the house. She is a girly girl. 

For the last three months or so she has not needed a pull-up at night. She now wears undies to bed and will even wake up and tell us in the middle of the night that she needs to use the potty. She is doing great with that! Sometimes she will wake up just to snuggle in our bed. Sometimes we let her stay and other times we try to get up and take her back to her bed. Most of the time she doesn't fall back asleep when she is with us and squirms quite a bit. When we put her to bed at night we encourage her to stay in her own bed through the night and Caroline tells her that if she is lonely she can sleep with her. (while I do think Caroline means it, I don't think at 3 am she would be at all happy sharing her bed)

Lucy enjoys playing by herself and with others. She loves her toys; Shopkins, Barbies, Princess figurines, Stuffed animals, playing with the kitchen and food and MagnaTiles. She also enjoys playing with Liam's Hot Wheels cars and his legos. 

Lucy no longer naps at home. It is difficult for her to fall asleep at night with many trips downstairs to check on her parents and talking and singing loudly. She has many books that she hides under her pillow that she likes to read aloud to herself and usually has anywhere from 10-15 dolls and stuffed animals in bed with her. On occasion we have had to move Caroline into the playroom so she can get to sleep since Lucy doesn't quite understand the concept of being quiet. At the daycare she does take a nap. So far that has worked fine and we have not noticed it keeping her up anymore than usual. We usually leave the house at 7 am which means she has to wake up around 6:40. I'm sure those days are a bit more exhausting with all of her friends running around, her wearing a mask all day and so nap time at school is ok for now. 

Lucy still enjoys peanut butter and honey sandwiches, macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. She does not eat a lot during meal times which we are trying to fix. She often says she is done eating and then an hour later wants a snack. 

She recently has told us that "we are breaking her heart" when she gets sent to timeout or in trouble. It's very cute. 

We can't imagine our family without our Lucy and thank God for her every day!

The "start" of in person school

 I am so thankful that the kids school has decided to let them come back to school. While we are still just doing a hybrid schedule;  it is something. And I will take something over nothing any day. 

Currently the kids schedule is going to school two days a week and doing remote learning at home three days a week. The classes are split so only half the kids are there on each day to allow for distance in the classroom. Lunch is assigned seating and spaced further apart than usual as well. 

The only downfall so far is that Caroline's teacher decided to retire early with the decision the district made to go back. She unfortunately had some health issues and didn't feel comfortable with the COVID guidelines. Mrs. Wagner was a fantastic teacher and really tried to make Caroline's remote learning days as close to a real day of school as possible. Most teachers were not meeting with their kids multiple times a day to read books and do lessons with their class like she did. We will really miss her smile and laugh. 

Caroline has a new first grade teacher, Miss Harms. She seems very good as well and we actually know her from church so we feel very blessed and excited about the rest of the year. 

Liam will have the same teacher that he has had since August, Mrs. Edwards. I am interested in how this year will go for him as so far with all of the remote learning we haven't seen quite the same effort from him as we usually do during a regular school year. We are constantly working with him on understanding the importance of double checking your work and answering all of the questions asked before turning the assignment in. We are hoping that he starts listening soon. 

The main question is, "How long will the kids stay in school?" and "If they are successful in two days a week, will we ever move back to the original plan of a four day school week?"

I am hoping and praying every day.

Hooray

 When Caroline was born we learned that she had Congenital Hip Dysplasia.  While it was a  surprise to us, we did learn that it is a fairly easy thing to treat. As an infant she wore a fun looking parachute-type strap to keep her legs up and pushed into the hip sockets 24/7. Then, as things improved,  it was just when she was asleep for naps and bedtime. And at around 18 months we were told she no longer needed to wear any appliance and the orthopedic surgeon who was treating her out of Peoria thought that while her X-rays were still not completely in the clear she most likely would be fine. We went again when she was 3 and again we still were not out of the woods but she most likely would not need any further treatment; but to please bring her back when she turns 6. 

So while Caroline was a little nervous getting her X-ray she did indeed pass this time. The doctor said that each hip angulation was under 25 degrees which is exactly where she needed to be. He then showed us a comparison of her hips when she was 6 months old to present day. The difference between the two was shocking. She really has come a long way! 

When we left the office and got to the car Caroline told me she had a funny joke to tell me: "Hip, Hip, Hooray Mom!"

***The doctor said that she should be fine for the rest of her life and should have no other issues with this however if she wants to have children of her own they will be at a higher risk for developing the same issue.