Taking it day by day

Most of my mornings start with a run. I've been waking up at 6 am and though I've been sacrificing sleep, it's been worth it to get a little bit of time to myself. I've also always been one of those weirdos that enjoy running, so there's that.

Breaking out the BOB after a long hiatus

Pretty clouds during one of my morning runs

So each weekday, we try to get the kids to do at least some vaguely academic activity. We've been inundated and somewhat overwhelmed by Sora's teacher. She regularly sends three consecutive emails with activities and assignments. Kai's teacher falls on the other end of the spectrum and we're often at a loss as to what to do with Kai.

Zoom playdate with a surprise a visit from their teacher

I often have Kai follow along with whatever Sora's doing since she has so many activities. Glad that they're close enough in age that this works.. here they are sorting jellybeans..

.. and doing art projects for Earth Day.

Kai had his first video chat with his teacher this week. I could tell that Kai was super-happy to see him

Nik has initiated a few projects with the kids:

Catapults made of chopsticks, popsicle sticks, and rubber bands

A Lego car race

Attempt to make giant bubbles--for some reason, they weren't that stable.. perhaps we need a better recipe?

Our Diet Coke and Mentos experiment literally fizzled out.. only 1 of the 3 bottles had a halfway decent explosion

Part of what keeps us going through these tedious and repetitive days is settings goals and trying novel things. For his part, Nik organized the garage and the kids' Legos while he was on vacation.

Nik also bought a random swing chair to set up in the backyard.
That husband of mine always has to have a project

As for me, I've tried to cook a few new things here and there, but having kids makes you inherently risk-averse when it comes to cooking and food. In spite of that, I roasted a whole chicken for the first time and baked a yeasted bread! The aforementioned goal of running and the fact that I started a diet all before this shelter in place business began has saved me from gaining the dreaded "quarantine-15."

Roast chicken was not half bad, though I need a thermometer to really get it right. Also made dalgona coffee.. which helped me get rid of the instant espresso which had been sitting in my pantry for years

My standard bakes, other than the bread. The bread's texture was okay.. I thought it would be fluffier and it was bland. Not sure if that was my fault or the recipe's. I'll try another yeasted bake in a bit

Nik and I have also taken advantage of a few of the frontliner/first responder freebies. I would probably feel guilty for taking advantage of these deals as a NICU nurse, but having Nik as a true frontline worker, I feel somewhat validated in getting my free coffee, donuts, and McD's.

Thanks, Krispy Kreme! The kids love donuts

Our local McD's stopped offering this deal since too many people were abusing it. The tragedy of the commons...

Did not realize that they were offering free boba until the last day of the promo. Probably for the best, since I would've gone every day if I had known before :P

We set out the tent in the backyard and had a campout on Monday night. Nik slept in the house with Jad. The kids enjoyed the novelty of sleeping outside, though we were all pretty tired the day after.

Setting up the tent

Storytime with Daddy

Rise and shine, Kai-Kai!

Kai's spring portrait came in and of course I can never resist buying school pictures. I'm sad that Sora doesn't have a spring portrait since she never had her picture day, but I'd like to do "photo shoot" with her some time soon.