risk budget

The Monday after Easter, Brett returned to in-person learning after five months of distance learning.  When the school year started, his school offered a hybrid learning plan where students were divided in half and each group attended two half-days a week.  This time around, the restrictions have lessened.  Everyone who wants to attend in-person has a full Monday-Thursday schedule.  Fridays are independent learning, allowing teachers more time for lesson preparations and connecting with students who have elected to remain distance learners.  He is so happy to be back in-person!

I continue to homeschool Brett in the subjects of math and language arts.  If he was at a traditional middle school, there would be remedial offerings in these subjects.  But because his school is very small, they don't have such offerings.  The teachers and case manager are willing to make accommodations for Brett, but won't offer him different curriculum.  He has made friends, fits in, and likes it there, so we are staying put for now!  In our new schedule, we do homeschool as soon as Reggie goes to school in the morning.  We have a little over an hour and then he goes to the charter school for about 4 hours.  Then on Fridays we have more time to finish up what needs to be done for the week.  

Lydia's school also returned to in-person learning this spring. At first it was two groups each going two days a week, and now everyone who wants to can attend four days a week.  Lydia wanted to stay in distance learning and you can't argue with a kid who's getting straight A's.  School keeps her engaged 7:45-11:45 and then we have time for other stuff. I'm enjoying the time I have with her!

For the last year, Bryan and I have talked a lot about our "risk budget".  We think about the amount of risk we are willing to take as a family related to Covid exposure as a certain total amount.  Some things take precedence, like Bryan going to work.  The size of our budget is dependent upon how much Covid is currently spreading in our area. And the cost of a particular activity will depend on risk factors such as indoor vs. outdoor, size of gathering, etc.  We are willing to spend more on certain things even if it takes a lot from our budget, for example, having Reggie play some sports.  Other things are simply too costly, like the potential for unintentionally exposing our parents.  I am very happy that Bryan and I have basically been in agreement!

The risk budget constantly has new or changing variables.  One positive change is that now we have easy access to Covid testing.  While it was hard to get a test in the fall, now we can walk in without an appointment, do a spit test, get results within 24 hours, and at no cost to us. So that has become a part of our regular routine.  Secondly, Bryan and I have both started the vaccine process.  We haven't quite figured out how this will change what we do, since we will still have three unvaccinated kids in our household.  Pretty much all of our activities revolve around them!  I hope Lydia and Brett will be able to get vaccinated early in the summer, but expect Reggie won't be through the vaccine process until fall (because he turns twelve in August). 

Speaking of vaccines, I will never look at a Target dressing room in the same way again.  That's where I got vaccinated!  Bryan got vaccinated at a large event center where we have done things like go to hockey games.

But the news hasn't all been good.  Cases in our area took an upturn in March, with a lot of UK variant transmission. Soon, we were getting notices from our schools and hearing from friends who had gotten sick.  At least 29 cases have been linked to a youth wrestling tournament that we would normally attend.  We didn't go this year because they moved it across the state border to avoid Covid restrictions.

 A couple weeks ago, Bryan's friend from work notified him he tested positive.  There had been a couple other recent cases in his office.  So when word came that his friend was in the hospital, the office sent everyone home for at least two weeks.  At the time of this writing, Bryan's coworker is on a ventilator. 

Spring sports are in the works.  It looks like Reggie will have one more season in Little League and practices started last week.  Brett and Lydia were really hoping to do track through Special Olympics but ultimately the season got cancelled due to being unable to comply with all the safety requirements set in place this year.  Instead, they will try a nearby city's track team.  The program was really short on coaches, so Bryan volunteered.  It appears as though, if things go according to plan, May-July are booked with sports.

Back to life as we knew it?

Easter

We had one of the warmest Easter weekends I can remember.  During Lent, the kids and I had been completing a "kindness chain".  Each day, we tore off a link on a paper chain with a suggested act of kindness.  It was a download from our church, but I had switched up some of the acts of kindness to fit our family better.  The acts were things like donate to a food shelter, do something kind for a neighbor, make someone's bed, genuinely compliment someone, do someone else's chore, pray for someone, read a scripture passage, etc.  The kids really liked the pay for the order behind you in the drive thru line, because it meant getting ice cream at McDonalds. We also wrote a thank you note to our mail carrier and gave her a $5 gift card to Kwik Trip.  Ironically, she stopped us in Kwik Trip to thank us!  The worst one for the kids was giving up screens for a day. But overall, they liked doing the kindness chain, and it seemed easier to do something specific each day than to stick with giving up something for 40 days.

Brett and Lydia made crosses out of burnt matches.  They really enjoyed lighting all the matches and the crosses look nice on our mantle. On Good Friday, we dyed eggs and went to the zoo.  For dinner, we had halibut, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, and rice.  I love halibut!  We also made hot cross buns to use for our virtual communion service.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day and we ate lunch on the deck.  We had ham, asparagus puff pastry bundles, Lydia's special fruit pizza, and deviled eggs.  Reggie and I made a lemon meringue pie.  Lemon meringue was my favorite when I was a kid.  I have never made one, and the kids had never eaten it. Brett made up a game where he put puzzle pieces in eggs and hid them.  We raced to find the eggs, then put the puzzle together.

The Twins played the Brewers on Easter, which was a great opportunity for a little nap.  Then we had an Epic Egg Hunt and Coronavirus Auction.  Many of the eggs contained Bunny Bucks, which were used to bid on various Easter treats and coupons.  The coupons included breakfast in bed, unlimited screens day, stay up late, and a nope pass (used to get out of a chore). I was afraid it might get too competitive and someone would get mad, but everyone had fun and was happy with the treats.

Throughout the weekend, I found myself reflecting on how things have changed and how things have remained the same since last Easter when we were in lockdown.  What was the same was we still spent most of the weekend at home and as a household.  What has changed is I'm no longer worried about my kid's response to the stress of the pandemic.  As it turns out, they are more resilient than I thought.  We have all found contentment and gratitude with the simple gifts life brings us.

I have told you these things, so that you can have peace because of me.  In this world you will have trouble. But be encouraged! I have won the battle over the world.  

John 16:33

spring arrival?

I see that it has been a little over a month since I've uploaded pictures to my computer and wandered over to my online journal.  In March, Reggie wrapped up his wrestling season and started swinging his bat, we had spring break, and Bryan celebrated his birthday.  The meteorologist said this morning that March felt more like April and April is feeling more like May.  For that, I am thankful.  My seed starting has taken over the dining room and patio, but I haven't gotten out to prepare my garden beds yet.

Reggie participated in three qualifier wrestling tournaments, earning two second places and one first place.  He qualified for the state tournament.  To comply with the Covid restrictions, the state tournament was spread out over two weekends.  He was only allowed one spectator, and because he wasn't there with a sanctioned team, he didn't have a coach.  While in a typical year, a state tournament would merit a stay in a hotel with a pool, eating out, extended family, and team comradery, this event was straight to the point.  I arrived with Reggie around 1:30 on a Sunday.  He went inside for weigh-ins, then came back out and we played cards in the van until he could get on the mats to warm up.  The wrestling was competitive and intense, and matches were spaced very closely together.  At times, I don't think Reggie got even fifteen minutes between matches, while typically there would be at least an hour. But Reggie accepted the challenge full-heartedly and earned a spot on the podium.  He had to overcome a number of obstacles to get there. We left the tournament three hours after we arrived and stopped for ice cream on the way home.  Reggie will continue his wrestling school until the end of the school year, but he is done competing for the season.  He is already gearing up for baseball!

Even without Covid, our spring break probably would have been scaled down this year because Brett's spring break landed on a different week than Reggie and Lydia's. I gave Brett the week off from home school, so we had half-days to do fun stuff. Most of our fun stuff ideas came from a book my sister-in-law gave us, The Adventure Challenge Family Edition.  The challenge that turned out to be the most fun was creating a life-size board game with sidewalk chalk on the driveway.  It took us most of a day to create and play the game! Another challenge was human "Hungry Hungry Hippos" using round candies and ballcaps to collect them.  We roasted hotdogs over a fire for the first time this year. Lydia's Violet celebrated her birthday with her very own salad and apple.  We had cupcakes.  We completed our tour of county parks.  Lydia and Bonnie shopped for earrings. We also got to see Meemaw and Papa and collect sap and make maple syrup. 

Also in March, we celebrated Pi Day with a homemade chicken pot pie and St Patrick's Day with corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and homemade Irish soda bread. I made turkey breasts for Bryan's birthday and Brett and Lydia made carrot cake bars with cream cheese frosting.  Bryan set up the basketball hoop and the kids have had their own March Madness.  The kids have been training for a 5K Special Olympics fundraiser, which is coming up in about a week. They've been playing a lot of chess, too.  I love the new patio and furniture we bought.  The table can be used for chess or checkers!  

Well, I think that brings us up to Easter, which I will save for another post soon.