Friday Favorites: Trying to Keep it "Normal"

One good thing about homeschooling and all these new Shelter In Place regulations being put into play is that we've pretty much been practicing social distancing for years.  This was our first week of statewide regulations being put into place and mostly we tried to keep our days as normal as possible. We do venture out for shopping, to meet up with a few friends, and to go hiking but we rarely encounter large groups of people in our day to day lives.  I have been trying to keep on keeping on as normally as possible.

I am loving my latest book and had such a hard time getting anything else done Friday afternoon after a quick very early morning run to the grocery store.  The boys and I did manage to get their schoolwork done for the day and cleaned all the bathrooms while catching up on all the laundry. But mostly I sat in my room reading.

What was not a favorite was that we got a message that Alec's shadow day has been put on hold since the school is closing starting Monday the 16th and they don't have a date for when they'll be back in session (much like all the other schools).  They'll keep us posted and I just hope he gets to shadow before the end of the year as I want him to have a real idea of what schooling is like so he can make an informed decision about next year.  But we'll take it as it comes.

I started my morning on Saturday cooking up some delicious Weight Watchers' pumpkin muffins and finishing up my book before immediately diving into another one.

Alec and I planned out a pie recipe to mix up for Pi day (3.14-- March 14th); he tried out this recipe for custard pie by King Arthur.  Only to find out that not one of us actually likes custard pie!  We each took one bite of the same slice and threw the rest of the pie away.  It looked great, sounds like what it was supposed to be like,  it just wasn't a texture any of us enjoyed.

We all headed out to Bass Pro shop after lunch (hoping we would be able to cross state lines into Massachusettes) to get Ian some new hiking boots-- he's already outgrown the ones he bought when were in South Dakota.  I looked for some new hiking shoes and tried to get Alec to at least try a few pairs too.  While the shoes are expensive we so do much hiking that we feel it's worth it.  All three of us found a pair that we just loved!

Mine look so small in the middle next to both my boys! (They wear size 13!)

We ended our night with dinner out at the Black Dog-- apparently the last meal we'll be eating out for some time since all the restaurants and bars have shut down as well.

Sunday morning I finished up the book I was reading on Saturday and worked a bit on my blog.  It was cool but sunny out so I tried to convince everyone to go for a hike and try out our new shoes.  We ran into a few other families and couples out on the trails.  But for the most part it felt like we were hiking alone. We saw a pair of swans!

We completed our schoolwork on Monday by 11 and made plans to meet up with one other family to go hiking together.  It was OK for groups of 10 or less to meet and we figured being outside in the fresh air was safe and there was only 6 of us.  We hiked for two whole hours and while it was a bit chilly it was fabulous to get outside and breathe in all that fresh air.

We woke to snow flurries on Wednesday! Karate class was canceled (indefinitely) but Alec and I had grand plans for baking and cooking anyway.  He put together a brownie chocolate chip cheesecake using this recipe from The Painted Apron while I cooked up our traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner. We tackled lots of schoolwork and finished up yet another book for the year.  I am loving putting subjects to the side one by one as we finish them up!

We finished up schoolwork rather quickly on Wednesday and took a few minutes to see just how much work we had left in our remaining subjects.  Then the older two boys cleaned house while Evan and I made some zesty ranch Chex mix.  We headed out on a hike before lunch since the sun was shining and temps were supposed to be up near 50.

 

It was a cold and rainy day on Thursday.  We worked quickly to get through all our schoolwork and finished cleaning the house by lunch.  We spent a quiet afternoon at home and I spent a bit of time trying to settle our homeschooling plans for next year.  My husband brought home take out pizza for dinner so I didn't have to cook since take out is still an option and we're trying to support local restaruants!

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