It's May!

I guess it's been almost 3 weeks since the last update.  We are still doing more of the same.  Gracie and Owen are almost done with "school."  I'm not going to lie...it has been hard to find continued motivation for the past couple of weeks, both for myself and to keep them engaged in learning.  Owen doesn't see the point if it's optional (not required)  and Gracie wants to do more, but she needs more variety in her schedule.  Unfortunately she loses focus pretty easily.  They are both scheduled to be done with school May 22.  Gracie will go to the middle school to collect all of her things on May 18.  I am going to the elementary school on May 20 to retrieve Owen's stuff.  

In the mean time, we have continued to be at home for the most part.  We made a lot more progress in the basement a couple of weeks ago, clearing out more space and piling up some stuff for the trash/burn pile.

Look what Owen found!  Grandma Kate bought these for fun along time ago and they took on a new purpose.  Owen hooked them around his feet, just for fun.  He made it all the way up the stairs, but didn't open the slider far enough and got caught in the doorway.  He almost fell face first out the door. He caught himself on the chair with his hands before his face hit it.  Ruby is just looking on wondering what in the world he is doing.

Later on in the evening, these balls also became extra large dodge balls in the basement.

Here is the basement after we cleared out a lot of stuff. 

A wrestling floor with comfortable viewing area.

Nick originally wanted the wrestling mat butted up against the concrete wall, but I thought that was a really bad idea.  At least now there are couches to cushion/buffer before hitting the wall.

While going through boxes, we found Nick's letter jackets from both college and high school.

More room to play in the basement

We (Nick) made more progress on the bedroom in the basement, also.  There are now outlets and switches for lights.  Nick ran electric to the room and installed the ceiling fan.  He also mounted the TV to the wall studs. (We don't have actual walls yet.)  The treadmill is working again, and it's a little more functional down there.

Gracie is learning to use a drill.

Just helping Dad.

Look! We have 2 working TV's in our house now!  So exciting!

No, Nick is not going to actually use the treadmill.

Gracie and Owen enjoying the TV time downstairs.

Gracie has also shown a lot of interest in baking.  She made her own cake from scratch.

We found Owen downstairs one afternoon.  I think he was pretending to sleep.

One hot day.  We've had one, so far this spring.  I cannot wait for the weather to become consistently warm.  It feels like most of the days have been chilly or rainy or both. The day that it was in the upper 80's though, the kids insisted on getting out the slip n slide.  Owen broke it before the day was over, though.

Owen's turn!

Gracie didn't feel like putting her swim suit on.

We found this little guy in our garage.

Owen initially wanted to keep this baby snapper.  He filled a cooler with some water, rocks and other things that would make a snapping turtle feel at home.  However, that didn't last.  Owen decided that the snapper would probably like living out in his natural environment better.  He took him to the pond to let him be free,

Speaking of FREE... We made it out into the world for a pre-mother's day lunch with my parents at the lake.  It was so great to get out and go to a restaurant to eat!  We got to be on the lake and the weather was somewhat warmer, notice we are still in jackets, though.

Gracie and me.

My mom and me!

We convinced my mom that it would be ok for her to get out of the house and go out to eat.

We all enjoyed the afternoon.

Here we are.  It was kind of like a date.  But we were with our kids.

More lunchtime fun.

We returned home to visitors from Florida!!!  Nick's mom drove up and has been staying with us for almost 2 weeks.  We are so excited to have her here.  We put everyone to work right away, though.

Happy Mother's Day!

We borrowed our neighbor's tractor to move some horse poop and get some yard work done.

I got to drive the truck.  Fun times!

I guess Owen got to drive the truck, too.

Gracie and Deb got to fill post holes.

Deb brought her little 10 lb dog and I think she wore Ruby out.

No more mound int he middle of our yard! 

Finally we have a flat backyard.  Hopefully the grass seed will take!

The kids painted rocks that spelled out Happy Mother's Day

Tom and Owen basking in the sun.

Notice the hoodie...It's still not terribly warm. At least the sun was out.

Look at the flowers!

It's only been a couple years and they have grown so much!

And Tom...he's old, but he just keeps going.

This has been over a week and half ago.  We have continued with school and the kids are pretty much done with their school year.  Gracie and I went to the middle school yesterday to collect what was left in her locker and pick up a few other things.  She signed up for the classes she will be in next year.  She is pretty excited to be a 7th grader.  She can't wait to play sports!  She is also going to try choir instead of band next fall.  I was disappointed that even though they revamped their exploratory classes, she is still not able to do both band and choir.  

Owen will check out of his classroom tomorrow.  We have to go pick up his stuff at 11:30.  He is also pretty much done for the year.  He will be entering 5th grade in the fall; the last year of elementary school!  He has lost a lot of motivation to do academics, but is still reading all the time.

Mizzou's spring semester is complete.  Very strange.  I have two seniors this year, who will not get a graduation ceremony.  It just seems very incomplete.  I have not seen any of my students outside of our Zoom meetings since the beginning of March.  I really  hope things change for the better soon.  Now that classes are done, we will just continue to wait to see what the summer session will look like.  I am really hoping to be able to go back to the office at least part time during June.

Softball and baseball do not look very promising at this point.  Gracie may get a couple tournaments in, but league has been pushed back again.  Gracie has started practicing twice weekly again, and the will scrimmage a couple teams up in Bevier this Sunday...if the rain holds off.  I still have not heard from Owen's coach, but I checked the website, and he is on a team.  We just don't know when they will allow practices to begin.

Summer school for the kids has been pushed back to July.  We're hoping that will still happen.  Gracie will be doing a workout program through the YMCA during the month of June.  Hopefully that will not get cancelled.  She is looking forward to being with her friends again.  

I think this is all for now.  Deb and Amber have been with us for over a week and a half and they hope to travel further north to Iowa by the end of the week.  It has been great having them here with us!