Moments

This week was made up of a bunch of disjointed everyday moments. I lack the mental power to link them with a spunky narrative, so I made a blog post photo album with captions of moments from the week:

Zoom selfie! On Tuesday night we did a Zoom video chat with a dozen or so of Jeff's Argyle cousins: we rarely see them (like maybe three times in our 13 years of marriage). Quarantine: somehow bringing family together.

I got out my binoculars one day and Amber used them for nearly an hour, looking out at the fields and birds out our back window. 

Amber: "I love you really much, Mommy." Amber climbed into my lap, kissed both of my cheeks and my mouth, then smooshed her cheek to my lips so I would give her kisses too. Maybe all of this extra screen time in the name of school is a good thing.

The girls were helping make some chocolate chip yummy bars. Amber gathered a small pile of flour in her hand, then said "Watch, Mommy!" and blew. The flour poofed everywhere. It was probably only a teaspoon of flour, but it went far. Amber had to clean it up, which she did dutifully.

Jeff gave me a massive new computer monitor, which we hooked up to my darling miniature laptop. It is a comical setup, but my posture is already improving and my neck and shoulder pain is decreasing. Jeff LOVES giving electronics to his family, and I am the most resistant to large electronic apparatuses. I love my little laptop! But with all of the typing I have been doing while writing my story these past few weeks, he couldn't resist attempting to fix my neck troubles with electronics. 

 I was skeptical the entire time Jeff was installing this screen until I sat down and actually used the it. It's amazing. And it's hanging on a swivel mount so I can swing it away from my desk whenever I'm not using it, to keep my preferred minimalistic clean desktop. (and so I have space to set my sewing machine on the desk if I want to sew)

 We had a few cloudy days this week, and the girls went for an umbrella walk through the fields during the brief rainfall.

I forgot what game they invented when I took this picture, but it involved screaming and attacking. I think I heard Jay call their game "A hundred bad guys with swords," sans swords though because all weapons are banned from the family room.

I've been doing a beginner's yoga lesson on YouTube for the past few weeks, and Amber wanted to be involved. She added the foam roller into her routine. Also, I think Amber only changed her clothes twice this week, so that's why she's in the same oufit in all of these pictures--they were taken on different days. 

On Wednesday night, Rose pushed me to my limit with her whining and negotiating while she was supposed to be loading the dishwasher. (a chore that she delayed doing all day long until she was too tired and grumpy to just do it without whining and negotiating. Before she even started loading, she accidentally knocked over Amber's cup of lemonade and tried to get out of cleaning it up by blaming Amber for the spill because the cup belonged to Amber. I was trying to play a hard song on the piano during this whole awful exchange. Not a good night at the White House.) Jeff took over bedtime while I went outside on a slow soothing stroll behind our house. Soaking in the tranquility of the countryside at sunset filled the cracks in my ...aura.

 Reflections are always my favorite.

Real life grumpy Shaina selfie, drawing calm from nature. 

 Grapes.

 My wellies kept my feet away from the dust and irrigation mud and tickly grass while I wandered. When I returned to the house half an hour later, the girls were in bed and Jay was doing his nightly computer time. JEFF FOR THE HUSBAND-WIN.

Working from home: Jeff records videos of himself reading stories in French, then edits the videos to add relevant French vocabulary words at the bottom of the screen. 

I gave Amber a vacuuming lesson this week. She did not like it. She wanted to vacuum her own way, which did was not effective. We'll get there.

Rose took a selfie and I love this intense little freckle-nosed human. 

Another wild game--most of their games seem to revolve around attacking Jay. I kept sending them out to the trampoline whenever it got loud.

 Office buddies, with our big screens. Jeff is recording a French story video, I am working on writing my story. We spend lots of hours in companionable side-by-side time.

 Our neighbors/landlordsthe Martins paved a half mile strip of road behind our house, connecting a long row of houses on our street from behind. We call it The Martin Expressway, and it is so much fun to cruise and glide through the countryside on a smooth road! I got out my longboard for the first time in four months on Friday.  I'm still wobbly and paranoid and should probably wear a helmet and elbow pads too...

 Rose in the dirt bank next to the Expressway.

I ran so many loops on this route over the winter, when it was all lumpy and bumpy. It is disorienting  but pleasant to move across this area without tripping and twisting my ankles! 

 Moody Saturday morning sky during my run.

Another Quarantine special sibling entertainment: When I got back from my run on Saturday, the kids were having a competition to see who could stay in bed the longest. They all tried staying in the same bed and it turned into an all-out brawl. Amber was booted first, then Jay. Rose emerged victorious.