Grafton – Oak
Ben was riding his bike today wearing a t-shirt and boxer briefs. (There has been a lot less clothing lately with the warmer weather and potty training.) Ben was spending equal time riding the bike and finding interesting things on the ground.
At some point he wanted to start collecting the items he found, but I tried to point he didn’t have way to hold them and ride his bike. He proclaimed that he had a pocket. I was pretty sure there wasn’t a pocket to be found. He proceeded to show me the “pocket” in the front of his boxer briefs and I’m still laughing….
The rules around this pandemic are continually changing. Pretty quickly after quarantine started, people did need to venture out. Masks were necessary. Sometimes the kids need to go with us, but they will need masks too. Wade’s mom has been making masks for people and offered to make them for us. They arrived today and everyone tried them on. Ben’s masks fits fine, but he actually prefers Kaitlyn’s pink one.
I had bought a water table on a previous trip to BJ’s and been saving it for warmer weather. I don’t really think today qualified as warmer weather, but the kids needed something new and were very excited about the water table. Even Alex wanted to join in the fun and he’s definitely too old for such an activity.
Ben and Kaitlyn stayed outside for over an hour before the chill got to them and we put it up for another, warmer day.
Today I attempted real haircuts for the boys. I really just attempted to barely trim the boys, but everybody is starting to look shaggy and it doesn’t appear haircuts are going to be normal again anytime soon. In general, the haircut went about as well as the pictures I asked Alex to take. (Here’s hoping the world opens back up soon.)
After Kaitlyn’s latest haircut session with her dolls, I kept worrying she would attempt to cut her own hair again. I have talked to her several times. I thought I had hidden all of the scissors. Obviously those weren’t working. It was time for a new strategy. She and I got on Amazon and we picked out a doll with long hair that was bought just for haircutting. I told her she could cut all she wanted. When the doll had no hair then we would buy her a new doll. Fingers crossed that this works…
Keeping up with Ben while keeping everyone else on track during school hours is proving to be very challenging. My favorite time of day is nap time. Today, I walked into the kitchen to find HUGE purple circles all over the bench cushions in our window seat. There were no markers in site so I am hoping and praying they were made with washable marker. I have no doubt which child decided to redecorate for me.
![](https://i2.wp.com/toadfrogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/circles1-683x1024.jpg?ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/toadfrogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/circles2-768x1024.jpg?ssl=1)
Update: I washed the covers and all the marker came out! Crisis averted.
My heart sank when I sat down to my computer and saw the green lines on my screen. The last time this happened, Wade was able to fix my computer by baking some components. However, I’m always afraid of lost data and being without a computer for a long period of time. This time it was a quicker fix and I am once again thankful for a husband who can fix most anything.
I will be the first to admit there has been less supervision of Ben in the chaos of the last few weeks. He is into everything all the time – but mostly because I am trying to keep the other three on track with everything they are doing. Wade is busy figuring out a new job with a new company combined with working fully from home.
At some point I realized Ben was getting his iPad at playing at will. I put it up on a high shelf and thought that would take care of the matter. Today I walked in and Ben was again playing his iPad. It took some strategic questioning to figure out if he got the iPad or if one of his siblings got it for him. Once I determined Ben got the iPad, I asked him to show me exactly how he got it. Below is his demonstration.
We eat a lot of rice in our house. I buy a large bag of Jasmine rice at our warehouse store and then transfer it to a large storage container that I keep in the bottom of my pantry. Of course I ran out when supplies are still a little tricky to get. I bought the only type of Jasmine rice I could find in a large bag (not the bag I normally buy). I left it near the pantry door for a few days because I am lazy.
Kaitlyn came up to me rather shyly today and asked me if we were getting a new pet. I was really confused and told her no, but asked her why she thought that. She walked me over to the bag of rice and pointed to it. She thought we were getting a baby elephant…
This has to be the strangest Easter ever. Some parts were exactly like normal and some parts were definitely not! We got up and the kids looked through their Easter baskets at a leisurely pace.
We watched church online – just like we have been doing for the last several weeks. I did make everyone dress up for a picture with the Easter clothes I had bought for this special day. (Who would have guessed when I purchased the boys’ shirts and Kaitlyn’s dress that we would be quarantining at home?)
We had our traditional Easter lunch and then had an Easter egg hunt in the yard.