Surprise...

Wow... it was time for lunch and Ben made his own sandwich (without being asked) while reading his book (on his phone). Small miracles... I will take it...

Banner!

Ben and Conner decided they should make a banner to hang outside! Their idea... 

Walking...

Walking has been a necessity for us this week! The boys and I go out at least a couple of times each day to walk around our block. Today they were pretending that they were protecting me from an unseen enemy and they were holding their imaginary badges in their hands...

Update on Ben...

With all that is going on right now at the University of Iowa, Nick and I decided that Nick and Ben will be making the trip to and from Iowa City each week and Conner and I will stay home. No reason to expose Conner to anything if we don't have to. It is sad for us because we have always tried to make our weekly trip a "fun" event and couple it with going out to dinner, but that's not an option anymore! Last week, Ben was sad that we couldn't all go together, but he said he understood. At this point, Ben is continuing to go every week for his medication injection. The good news is that for the third week in a row, his platelet count has increased. This week he has 109k platelets and that is awesome! It might not be a "normal" platelet count, but he can do all the physical activity and sports he wants to with a platelet count over 100k! (Of course, he can't do anything right now because none of us can!!!) It was pretty great to get some good news this week!

Specs...

We were able to get Conner's new glasses today... before the eye doctor closes for who knows how long! They look great and Conner loves them! (And this was the only time we have gone anywhere in a week, so we were all kinda excited!)

Prayer...

Ben decided he wanted to be in charge of writing an evening prayer for us this week. He wrote one yesterday and decided he wanted to write a different one for tonight. He has made himself a little prayer binder where he is going to store all of his prayers. I just thought this was amazing...

First Day of Homeschool!

I have to say, our first day of homeschool was pretty good! Exhausting, but productive... the boys actually do better with some kind of schedule in place so they were kinda excited to start their task list and they really liked the schedule for our day. I put lots of "choice" time in their day so they got to pick activities that they actually wanted to do. Today they chose a lego challenge and made their own roller coaster. Conner wasn't happy with his assortment of legos, so he used some other materials as well! Even though we were stuck at home, at least everyone was smiling throughout the day! 

Normal...

Normally, we would be bustling around, preparing for going back to school after our Spring Break. I would probably be griping about making lunches to take to school and stressing about how hard the first day of school is after a break. I would definitely be looking forward to seeing my friends and students because I miss all of them so much. The boys would probably be grumpy that they have to go back to school and be complaining about a class they are going to have homework in. They would also be very excited to see their friends and teachers and share Spring Break stories. But not today.... Today is weird. It is not normal. It is not filled with our back to school habits, worries, and excitements. It is actually filled with something close to silence. None of us know what to say or how to react when our norm is so incredibly disrupted. We will do our best tomorrow to stay positive, enjoy spending time at home, and maybe even get some school work done... I do have a plan, complete with task lists, choice boards, and all kinds of fun things... we will see how it goes!

New Toy...

Nick finally talked me into getting a new smoker! He got to go pick it up this week and he was beyond excited to try it out today! 

Filling the Time...

Nintendo Switch and a little Lego Challenge with some new legos today...

Art...

Beads, rubberband bracelets, and drawing pictures were just a few of the requested art projects today! 

Down Time...

My guys enjoying some down time... 

Thoughts...

I am paying extra attention to anything that will somehow help us through this time of unrest! I like this thought... 

Archery...

Going into Spring Break, we knew that we weren't going to spend the week away from home, but we had hoped to do many fun things locally. The boys were looking forward to bowling, meals at their favorite restaurants, movie theater popcorn, and so many more fun things that we don't always have the time to indulge in. As everyone knows, we will not be able to do most of these things, but there is one thing that we still wanted to try... Archery! Nick took the boys over to Palo Outdoors and got them a membership so they can practice with their bow. Luckily, there was no one else there, so we felt safe taking the boys for this one activity. Ben and Conner loved it and I am so glad that they got to do one thing on our Spring Break list!

Crazy...

What a crazy world we live in... We will not be going back to school after Spring Break... I just can't quite wrap my brain around all of the recent events, but one thing is clear... We will be spending lots of time at home for the next month! This coronavirus is closing schools, services, and businesses all around us. We have been asked to stay home, unless we absolutely have to go out. Scary times... I hope that amidst all of the chaos and confusion, we can enjoy the extra time together!

Positive...

Ben and Conner both got recognized at school today for their positive behavior! They were thrilled! Their names were announced at an assembly and they got to walk up to the stage and receive their certificates!

Band Picture...

At the boys' last band concert, the whole band had their picture taken! It was posted today, so thought I would share! Hopefully the band is still able to perform in Des Moines in May!

Dive In...

We got a few shots of the boys practicing their diving skills tonight! The boys have had a great time at swimming lessons!

Good News, Bad News...

After a week of mixed feelings, the boys finished up our Thursday night with the last of the cake. After our weekly trip to Iowa City today, we found out that Bens platelet count was down again...Boo. We also had conferences for both boys tonight, however, and we heard so many wonderful things about these two...Yay! So, we are ending our night with cake to celebrate good attitudes all week and we are looking forward to the forecasted sunny weekend!

Laps...

The boys had another fun night at swimming lessons. They are always looking for us after they finish a lap across the pool!

Together...

It was pretty fun to watch Conner and Ben get into the deep end of the pool together tonight!

Cake...

We made a big old chocolate cake today... just because... The boys loved it!