The Growing Caldwell Family

The joy of being at home with the kids far outweighs the challenges of balancing working and learning together at home.  Time spent laughing and giggling with this girl is such a privilege. I hope we can all come through this tough time with sweet memories of our good times together. 

I read a photography blogger and during this cover crisis he has suggested capturing pictures of your family in their everyday activities. I decided to do just that.  Given all that is going on in the world right now, I am grateful to capture my sweet boy enjoying his football.

On this day the kids woke up eager to put on their finest and perform! We put off starting school to let them do that.  Sarah Graves chose to sing and dance! Charlie was the jokester! After chapel it was time to get busy with work. The look I get when I tell Sarah Graves she has more Spanish work to do! She doesn't mind the other subjects, but Spanish is hard for her and her teacher is not her favorite.  Charlie isn't bothered by any particular subject, but he gets frustrated when he has to rewrite things.  He loves the hands on activities his teachers are finding. Each day is an effort to make sure the work gets done, we have fun, and at the end of the day we remember how much we love each other. 

Our days flow one into the next with work and school time.  The school provided access to an app called Epic for reading all sorts of books.  Charlie has gotten a lot of enjoyment out of the "Weird But True" books. It reminds me of how much we loved to look through the "Guiness Book of Records" when I was a kid.  We thought a blurb about a rhinoceros who paints with her mouth sounded like so much fun that Charlie should try it! He was intrigued by the painting he made, but said it was hard to hold the brush with just his mouth! Sis has enjoyed some of the apps and online materials teachers pulled together to make learning fun.  Her favorite party is the community time with her classmates each day! Where there's a will there's a way! Our choir director made choir practice a virtual experience for the kids! We have gotten so used to our activity free lifestyle that we almost forgot to attend! Charlie wasn't too sure about it,

We are trying to keep everyone engaged and using this opportunity while learning at home to try new things. The kids love crafts and projects, so they are quick to jump into these activities.  Sis experimented with dying paper using shaving cream and food color! She very sweetly used it to make a letter to mail to a friend whose Dad tragically passed away from a heart attack amidst all the Corona virus scare. It is more challenging to show others love when you can't be present with them, but she tried hard.  Charlie proudly baked some delicious banana bread all by himself! In fact, I was on a conference call while he mixed it up.  We are working hard to make this time fun and positive for all of us. 

Aaron made breakfast for everyone before we settled on the sofa for TV church. Pre-recording the service worked well and no more glitch church as Charlie called it! After going to TV church, the kids asked to go back to the basketball area to play again. The weather looked like rain, but stayed dry.  Sarah Graves was giving us a glimpse of her sulky teenager face. Not sure why she was feeling this way since it was her request to play basketball. Charlie always has a smile for the camera! Aaron and Sarah Graves make a good team! Poor Charlie gets very frustrated with my lack of skills and my lack of ability to read his mind and understand his "plan" to sneak the ball from Aaron and score!   We added the fun of playing with a frisbee to our basketball and four-square route! Turns out that I am not too good at any of these, but we sure did have some laughs! Getting outside seems to be good for everyone's soul!

Our priest made a video to keep connection with everyone and in it she noted the the basketball goals at the school/church would be a way to come to a familiar and loved space and enjoy ourselves while social distancing. I didn't expect Aaron to get on the idea, but he did and the kids were eager to go somewhere! As it turns out, a beautiful spring day and outdoor games was perfect for us. Who knew Sarah Graves is interested in playing basketball! Charlie was all about it! Charlie is prone to minor injuries and gets upset when he thinks he isn't winning...but there was lots of laughter for all! Lots of laughing at our own lack of skills in basketball and four-square! Lots of laughing at each other as we tried to be competitive, but it just wasn't happening!  What a fun morning we had being together in the midst of so much uncertainty and change. I am so grateful for this family that Aaron and I have created and so glad we can be together! Time

Days seem to stretch one into the next. School work was assigned by teachers, so I didn't have to come up with activities for the kids. There were assignments for reading, writing, math, Spanish, science/social studies, and even specials! Daily videos from sweet teachers made a big difference. Aaron and I became tech support as we worked to get new apps and access to online drives setup on the kids' iPads. Thank goodness Daddy knows so much about that! Charlie is a shutter bug and captures pictures of his daily activities to share with his friends and teachers! STEM activity We even attended chapel via video! We love hearing Chaplain Porter Cade's homily and I think we all felt a little more at peace afterward.  Journal entries were done and a chance to practice newly discovered drawing skills! Charlie found joy when his beloved Spanish teacher, Ms. Marta, did a video chat for Spanish class! Seeing his classmates brought him great joy! He loved it

One positive of being at home is that the kids were free to wear whatever green clothing they chose! They were definitely feeling festive!  As our learn something new activity, the kids worked on leprechaun drawings. When I had the idea for this theme I envisioned more research or official learning, but this made them happy in a time when they felt like they had so little.  They used a youtube video and the results were pretty good! I tried out making Irish soda bread. Not sure it was anyone's favorite as the kids preferred to eat lucky charms! We took a walk and Charlie said his legs were too weak and he had to ride in the stroller! He was not at all embarrassed for people to see him in there! We all thought we might die as we pushed around 60 pounds! Sarah Graves built this neat leprechaun trap. No leprechauns were caught but a few pieces of candy were left behind. Charlie pointed out that they had Christmas holly on the package! The leprechaun