Social Distancing... The Great Outdoors

We certainly miss our friends, but we are very grateful that we live in such an awesome part of the world to be able to enjoy the outdoors.  Sunday we had our first hike of the season into Poplar Falls.  There was way more snow than we thought there might be, but the trails were packed from skiing and snowshoeing this year.  The upside was that it was a warm day and there was no mud.  The entire hike we only saw 3 different groups of people, I couldn't believe it wasn't busier on such a beautiful day! We already can't wait to hike again in a few weeks to see how much the landscape has changed. It was a great day to get out of the house:)

Audrey Turns 7!!

This girl couldn't be more excited to turn 7! She loves trying to keep up with her brothers and the more and more they can do, the more and more she pushes herself.  Audrey is growing into a pretty amazing person with a strong personality.  She is so kind and thoughtful with a big heart and big ambitions. Her strong personality will certainly ensure that she meets all of her goals in life.  She loves hiking, swimming, skiing, running, playing soccer, basketball, and softball. There isn't much she can't do once she puts her mind to it.  She loves her older brothers and can get them to do almost anything for her.  We can't wait to see what this next year brings Audrey!

Audrey also had to cancel her birthday party this year, but she is handling it surprisingly well. There have been so many changes over the past few weeks and the kids are really taking it in stride and being flexible about everything.  We are unbelievably fortunate that we have all that we need at our house and have plenty of room to explore and be active outside in our own backyard. Despite all of the heaviness around Audrey had a super fun day of playing games, reading books, ordering take-out Chinese food, and carrot cake:)

COVID-19 Gives us Time for LEGO learning

 

With the cancellation of school for a at least the next few weeks we are loving getting back to what we miss about homeschooling that gets lost in the amount of time we spend running from place to place now.  Mostly, fun and creative art and science time:) Lego challenges are first up this week.  I won't post them all here, but the kids are happily spending hours with these challenges a few times a week. 

Noah Turns 13!!

We officially have a teenager in our house!  He is taking this bizarre time we are in with the emerging COVID-19 virus in stride.  We had plans to attend a Femmes of Rock concert with friends for his birthday and the day before the concert it was cancelled due to the gathering restrictions put in place by the state. Bummer on our end, but we totally get it and continue to adjust during this time.  School was also cancelled this week which included two big midyear concerts that Noah has been working so hard preparing for.  He is disappointed, but hopefully they will be able to be back for an end of the year concert.  

Noah is growing into such a cool, fun, thoughtful, and loving young adult.  He loves trying new things, playing the piano and violin, running, skiing, playing basketball, and is usually up for anything.  He works hard at school and is becoming more and more involved in our community through church, the school, and our library. We couldn't be more proud of you, Noah, and can't wait to see what the next year brings! Despite all of the craziness around us, Noah had a great birthday filled with games, fun, family, and good food:)  

Crazy Weekend!

The relaxation of our Sugarloaf trip was short lived when we returned to real life.  In the past few days Noah had his final FAST practice, his final day of woodshop, and Noah and James had their final basketball game. Then, Gabe spent 24 skiing at Sugarloaf as part of Maine Health's team raising money for the Winterkids program while the kids and I got ready for the Contraption Convention at the Western Maine Play Museum.  Oh, and Audrey finally got her haircut to donate to Wigs for Kids. We are exhausted, but feeling good that we accomplished so many cool things in just a few days.

The Contraption Convention at the play museum was such a cool event.  The kids had to build a contraption with the goal of (minimally) a ping pong ball ending up in a blue cup. Each of our kids took a different approach with a different theme, but they were all so impressive!  It was so neat to see how many kids in our community used their imaginations and creativity to come up with some impressive contraptions.