This is a little bit of this and a little bit of that kind of post. A little workout, a little pre-school, a little DIY and a little bit of crazy. Life has been pretty good thus far and the weather is really been working in our favor. I have gotten into a bit of a routine which is nice. It seems like we have to take things in stride as the situation changes day to day. But I wanted to take you through what our life is looking like.... some days it is DIY, 3 homemade meals, exercise, and all the pre-school activities. Then sometimes it looks like the photo above, Halloween costumes, pjs, freshly cut flowers, and some warmed up dino nuggets for dinner. It is all about balance right. Well let's get into it....
Pre-school
I think was made for this part. I am LOVING the pre-school part of quarantine. Today is Earth Day so I have water themed activity set up with sea creatures and waterbeads. Dirt activity with oreo cookies and dinosaur gummies, and then rainbow rice activity. We have been working on writing the word EARTH and the E sound. So as you can see I am enjoying it all. But I have purchased a few things for our home classroom that I wanted to share.
First we got a calendar to do at home everyday. We talk about the weather go over the date, talk about days of the week etc. Thankfully I got to go to Leo's class a few times and saw how his teacher did calendar so we try and follow the same way he did it at school. We also got some posters that go over letters, telling time, seasons, emotions, and there are some other basic posters that I will use for Monroe like colors and 1-10. I figured I didn't mind spending $50 on some pre-school things since I can do the same activities with Monroe.
A few other things we have been loving are the Magna-Qubic magnetic cubes for basic math as well as the sorting bears for Monroe teaching her sorting and colors. Both have been our classroom favorites. We also are doing a pre-school workbook I got on Barnes and Noble and that seems to be good for Leo. And when I have to pull out the tablet to make dinner or need to focus on something Leo will do ABC Mouse. We tried it last year and he was not into as much. But now that his knowledge has grown he has gotten to enjoy the app alot more.
First we got a calendar to do at home everyday. We talk about the weather go over the date, talk about days of the week etc. Thankfully I got to go to Leo's class a few times and saw how his teacher did calendar so we try and follow the same way he did it at school. We also got some posters that go over letters, telling time, seasons, emotions, and there are some other basic posters that I will use for Monroe like colors and 1-10. I figured I didn't mind spending $50 on some pre-school things since I can do the same activities with Monroe.
A few other things we have been loving are the Magna-Qubic magnetic cubes for basic math as well as the sorting bears for Monroe teaching her sorting and colors. Both have been our classroom favorites. We also are doing a pre-school workbook I got on Barnes and Noble and that seems to be good for Leo. And when I have to pull out the tablet to make dinner or need to focus on something Leo will do ABC Mouse. We tried it last year and he was not into as much. But now that his knowledge has grown he has gotten to enjoy the app alot more.
Workouts
I am going to sound like an A**hole here but if you are gaining the quarantine 15 then you are doing something wrong. The weather is nice, you are home more, there is NO REASON you shouldn't be walking, exercising at home, and preparing healthier meals. I love the gym too but thankfully after having kids I started doing beachbody so I got into a groove of home workouts on my days I couldn't do the gym. Until my "nanny girl" as I call her McKenna (I was a nanny in my early 20s and now my "nanny girl" is 21) told me to start using the peleton app and that it is free for 90 days. I have yet to sign back onto beachbody since starting the peleton app. I love the outdoor runs and their weight workouts. You don't need a spin bike or a treadmill to do their apps. It is a similar to an app to like beachbody or any other workout platform. Everyone that I have introduced the app to is equally obsessed. I am not a big runner but I look forward to my peleton runs and I was just telling Jay that I'm so sad the longest one is only an hour. Like I said I am not a runner and the fact that an hour run to me now doesn't seem long enough is proof that this app is SOOOO amazing.
Home Improvements
So the home improvements have been 50/50 some successful some total failures. The first up is the wall decals I did in our laundry room. I got these cute tangerine decals from Urbanwalls . This project was one that was more attainable. It start to finished took me about 3 hours or less. It was simple easy to do and I think it adds a fun little pop to our laundry room.
Now for the total fail.
Jess vs Pergola..... pergola wins. Jay's parents offered to take our kids for 24 hours so I thought this would be the perfect time to strip the paint off the pergola so it could be repainted. Ha jokes on me. I devote 9 hours to it with little results. Jay then stepped in for a few more hours and after 12 hours of us vs pergola with no great success we hired some high school boys looking for some work. They worked yesterday for 5 hours and got some done but I think they have at least 10 more hours. So before painting we are going to be into this thing 40+ hours I bet. Needless to say this was not a DIY I could do. It'll look great after it is done. But I will give my husband credit when he said there was no way I could do this with 2 little kids at home.... in fact he was right. But after it is all done and painted white it will look SOOOO nice.
Currently Reading
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It is either a good or a bad thing that I have went through 4 books during quarantine thus far. Given 3 of the 4 have been on audiobook so I don't know if that counts.
Jay and I listened to American Dirt on our car ride home from Arizona. I have mixed feelings on this book. I didn't love it nor hate it. We also listened to The Boy From The Woods and we finished that one quickly. We both loved the story. I've read one of his other books and liked it. It is a good thriller mystery read.
I also finished in 2 days The Silent Patient, that one got me at the end. And then I am currently actually reading The Dearly Beloved.
So I'd recommend all of them.... American Dirt is not light reading it is about a drug cartel and people trying to illegally get into the US and the process of their journey. It is downright sad and depressing but also enlightening to learn about riding the trains and working with a coyote to cross into the US.
Jay and I listened to American Dirt on our car ride home from Arizona. I have mixed feelings on this book. I didn't love it nor hate it. We also listened to The Boy From The Woods and we finished that one quickly. We both loved the story. I've read one of his other books and liked it. It is a good thriller mystery read.
I also finished in 2 days The Silent Patient, that one got me at the end. And then I am currently actually reading The Dearly Beloved.
So I'd recommend all of them.... American Dirt is not light reading it is about a drug cartel and people trying to illegally get into the US and the process of their journey. It is downright sad and depressing but also enlightening to learn about riding the trains and working with a coyote to cross into the US.
All in All We are good!
Like everyone else we have been effected by Covid. Jay's hours and pay have been reduced, we were supposed to be at a wedding this past weekend in Florida. Sadly, the new date of the wedding isn't one that we can make so we have to miss out on a wedding and a trip without kids. We also had to cancel our LA, Disneyland, and San Diego trip. But everyone has those stories.
Jay now has a side gig of being my hair dresser! Seen above taking our my hair extensions.
Jay now has a side gig of being my hair dresser! Seen above taking our my hair extensions.
I've realized I give terrible haircuts. Jay's hair has turned out pretty good but yesterday I totally botched Leo's haircut.
Monroe is kind of loving quarantine because it means 24/7 attention.
So like everyone else I think we are just taking it day by day. Some days are better than others. We miss our friends, our family, we just miss normal life. We hate when Jay goes to work even though I know he is being safe. We hate to think what this summer is going to look like and the possibility of summer looking really different this year. But we are thankful for our health, our home, our family, our friends, amazon.com, netflix, and honestly social media and technology. Quarantine 20 years ago would be alot different.
Cheers,
Jess
Cheers,
Jess
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