The kids wanted to dress up today so why not. I also wore my best glimmery Elvis-chic jumpsuit that I’d planned to wear to a conference. We did some homework, watched some Tiny House Nation, and blew bubbles outside. In the evening, 6 and I went for a long walk and there were lots of people in the neighborhood out. Some streets were practically a block party (ill -advised). I always feel like such a troll compared to the lithe, effortlessly beautiful Lululemon moms – who tonight were drinking wine out of red cups as i heaved and huffed myself by them.

For dinner we had tortilla soup that I spent most of the afternoon making. I have always wondered what it would be like to homeschool the kids, and shut my mouth it’s actually not that hard or that bad. Granted, I haven’t made much progress on work things, but fortunately I banked a lot of great projects before the decline of civilization started so I’m pretty much on track.

DH (dear husband) using the neighbor’s tools to split the geode. After about 15 minutes, I said to him, “I hope this is a geode.”

Frankly it was a darn good day. Easy morning. I got an article written, and the kids and I got fluffies from my favorite coffee shop (drive through, natch). They played at the park and then we drove to the river for a picnic. They spent most of the afternoon blowing bubbles and playing with their fairy gardens unto dinnertime. I made a thoroughly unacceptable dinner (seared rotisserie chicken with shallot, cauliflower, and tomato sauce over penne pasta). How dare I. But everyone is blissfully asleep now, and so will I be soon so I can get up and do it all over again tomorrow and for the next few months.

Bless The Bloggess for writing this gem about Beyonce the Metal Chicken. Because knock knock mothereffer.

I love this book too. In a similar, but more nuanced way to the Beyonce the Metal Chicken story.

It’s barely not chaos here. In spite of all the planning and organizing and care-taking to ensure an enriching quarantine environment, my little ingrates seem to hate everything and just want to watch Octonauts. Not unrelated: I googled the following today:

Are vegimals real?

So today consisted of an hour of morning snuggles with 4.5 who blissfully slept because 6 didn’t wake up screaming for parental attention. We then did some letter tracing for 4.5, and learned about the scientific method with 6. I have no idea what her research project actually is, but I think it has something to do with a homemade candy dispenser.

Next we had a 30 minute tantrum followed by angry fairy gardens.

Next we had lunch and then I settled in with the kids to watch three episodes of Secrets – courtesy of the Smithsonian Institute and Amazon Prime. We watched scientific investigations of the shroud of Turin, the Sphinx, and the lost city of El Dorado. We also caught the hippo feeding at the Cincinnati Zoo for a bit.

Then since the weather had cleared, we took a walk in the neighborhood. I am emotionally spent. I hope this gets easier. I’m not built for parenting excellence.