Quarantine, Days 22-26

Hi all!  It has been a full week.  Here's the recap of the past few days.

We had beautiful weather in the early part of the week so there was a lot of outside time.  The latest excitement was that the girls put in bids for a few used Lego Friends sets on eBay.  M and I agreed that there was no better time than the present for building Legos, so despite the fact that they already own SO many, we agreed to pay for the eBay bids on the condition that the entire toy area downstairs be cleaned and organized and kept that way for at least a week.  So far, so good.

(Building on a rainy afternoon)

Anyways, they had been basically stalking the mailman ever since we received notification that the new sets had shipped.  Good thing the weather was nice for their mailbox vigil.

These two up here 👆 are peas in a pod.  L is very kind and (mostly) patient.  We had a good time the other day looking back on this post and re-reading the story of how L used to be the one to get J out of her crib every morning.  I think part of their bond happened because they're kindred spirits-- so many of the things J does and says remind me of all the crazy stuff that L used to say and do.  The other morning, after a period of silence and J's absence while we were all eating breakfast, I asked "Where's J?" as I've learned to do when she's quiet for too long.  We found her in my bedroom, liberally applying some pink lip gloss she had found in N's room while looking at herself in the mirror.  As the older girls and I entered the room looking for her, she gave us a huge pink grin and said, "I'm glad I put some on until you found me!"  Less remorse about doing something sneaky, more remorse about getting caught.  We couldn't help it; we all burst out laughing.  Of course we did make her wash off the lip gloss and return it to N with an apology, but... it's very hard to contain our amusement and so I'm afraid she will forever be aware of her cuteness and power to entertain us.  Such is usually the way with the baby of the family, methinks.

But she is such a responsible little preschooler...

(J's drawing of a whale... the best!)

...and Zoom ballet dancer!

N did her hip-hop class via Zoom again this week too.  I was busy making dinner so I didn't get her picture!  She might have been embarrassed anyway :)

It's hard to maintain a more preschool-friendly sleeping schedule with all the older girls at home... J really needs an earlier bedtime but even if we get her in early it's such a small house that the noise of the big girls usually keeps her up, even if they try really hard to be quiet.  She doesn't want to miss any of the action and it is hard when we're all busy with things in the evening to step away and do a bedtime routine with her.  Again, #babyofthefamilyproblems.  Although she probably would still nap if I made the effort, I don't really enforce it-- however, there have been many days during this quarantine when she has enforced it herself.

That's me and M in our bed this afternoon, both catching up on email on our respective laptops, and she just crawled up in between us and fell asleep.  No better afternoon activity, I say!

Lastly, some pics of the contents of a package sent by Grandma and Grandpa, being put to use:

They sent us two puzzles which were completed in a total of 30 minutes, I think!

They also sent us some Minnie dolls who sat in the chair with some Mickey dolls we already had and watched a movie with us the other night.

And lastly, they sent us light-up rocket slingshots, perfect for hours of outdoor enjoyment:

The fact that a few of these have already gone on the roof is reminding me of this video, which is... the best video ever, IMHO.

What a treat to have these things from Grandma and Grandpa to keep us busy!  We are lucky girls :)

I have some chores to do this afternoon before it's full relaxation mode tonight after a full week of teaching and school, so I think I'll save the workout recap and meal plan for tomorrow.  Stay tuned and happy Friday, everyone!