Day 5

Anders writing is in BLUE

Halle's thoughts are in RED 

Annika's thoughts are in PURPLE 

I will add my thoughts in black

Note: Anders types and the girls dictate 

Note: I type exactly what I hear.  

St. Patrick's Day!  Halle had hoped to be marching in her very first parade this year with the Griffith Academy in Hartford.  As you all know by now, that was cancelled.   We were home but decided to make the most of the day.  We worked together to make a big rainbow to go in the window.  Then, we emailed the principal to ask her to tell all the other kids to make one too.  Now, when kids take a walk in the neighborhood, they look for rainbows in the window.  The look-and-find is just one way to brighten our days as we spend our time social distancing.   We have seen a number of kids walk down our street to see our big rainbow.  What a happy thing to see! Love seeing happy kiddos.  

I love making a rainbow. You should put one on your window too! You can make any rainbow you want. It can be a mosaic, or with paper or paint or see-through paper.  

We are making a rainbow.  Well... we got color pieces of paper.  And when we put it outside it was so beautiful.  We went looking for peoples and their's was so beautiful.  

We are making a rainbow out of colored cut-out construction paper. First,take red,orange and yellow construction paper and cut the the paper into strips.Then,tear the strips into big squares and put them into a container. Then roll out some easel paper and glue the pieces on in rainbow order.  You can color the paper first with the rainbow colors so its like a map for where your pieces go. Then take a break and when you are done with the break, finish up the colors of the rainbow.   So....green,blue purple. We did pink instead of indigo to make my sisters happy. 

We used a lot of math to do this.  We measured out how long we want the rainbow to be on the window and then how tall.  We realized the paper wasn't tall enough so we had to cut paper and tape it to the other paper.  It was a big production to get it all together.   Cutting and ripping paper was great fine motor skills and of course, working collaboratively was a skill I was aiming for.  I'm proud to say this activity went well.   The kids had to do a lot of negotiating and they did great.  

We cut the paper into strips and I did a lot of cutting and I got tired and I PEARED! (teared lol)

We cut pieces of paper and then we glued them onto a piece of paper to make a rainbow.  It was so fun. 

It is a mosaic!   Arty told me about mosaic. Arty is from Creative Galaxy TV show!

I like my tent.  It is new in our house. 

  That tent is one of my favorite places to read.

Dylan came to visit in her car!  

Today was St. Patricks day and I dressed up like a elf.  My sister dressed up like Santa elf.  We made our friends laugh. 

We are going to Aunty Lynns house! It wasn't raining but today it was raining.   I had fun at her house and we get m&m's there.  I take four but I'm supposed to take three but I like getting four.  

I love walking under my umbrella because I like to play with it.  I love aunt lynns house especially the m&m's and the popcorn.  I like the kind that my uncle Mark makes.  It is better than moms. It comes from a fancy machine.   Mom makes hers in a microwave.   

I have been enjoying bird watching.  If  this quarantine lasts much longer I will need some binoculars. (also me!) We found these morning doves by first hearing their coo.  We used our ears to help our eyes find them.  Sure enough, there were two on a roof. I only captured a picture of one of them. (I found that one!) Anders and I are getting quite good at spotting birds. Every time me and mom go for a hike,we always look for birds in trees,and on telephone wires and houses.

This is a picture of me and my sisters's drawings with Mo Willams.

A lot of famous authors are reading tho children online. Mo Willams is actually teaching kids how to draw.  How amazing.   We decided to do our Mo Willams time at Aunty Lynn and Uncle Marks house.  The kids were very proud of their work.    

We saw yoga on the TV.  Well we did some yoga moves.  It was a Halloween one.  When it was halloween I liked being a unicorn.   But I wasn't a unicorn when I did my yoga.     

We watched a yoga video on Cosmic Kids channel on Youtube.   Click this LINK to watch the video.  My mom just taught me how to link websites but i need more practice.   

In the window is our rainbow. 

Me and Halle did a show for the neighbors.  It was Irish Steppin.  Mom put the music out from the car. 

We did it because it was St. Patricks day because you couldn't do the real parade.  We had our own! Our neighbors came to watch it and I did it with my sister.  I was happy and not nervous. It made me feel good to be Irish stepping.   

I am wearing a Griffith Academy sweatshirt because it was St. Patrick's day and it is an Irish sweatshirt.  

Day 4

 Day 4
Halle's thoughts are in red.  
Anders thoughts are in blue.  
Annikas thoughts are in purple.
My thoughts are in black :)


Hi, my name is Halle.  Me and my sister are playing math games with popteenies!  It is a fancy tiny doll.  If you had five popteenies and four went to the playground then you only have one left. Aww...she needs a friend!  Let's play again.   

 1 plus 1 equals 2.  and one more is 3. One more is 4.  And the other last one is five.   

 Me and my brother and my sister played by the swans.   We call this place Swan Lake.  We don't go to close to the swans.  They came close to us though!    

   
                                                                             ^ This is a picture of me throwing rocks at Swan Lake. 

We went to Swan Lake and we throwed rocks.  We saw some fisherman and we taked a picture of all of us.  And when we saw the swans and when we and my brother and sometimes when me and my brother plays penguin puffins.   

We took a family picture there 

(center)Mary Kay (top left) Anders (bottom left) Ani (right) Halle. 

 We made banana bread.  Some of the ingredients are sugar, flour and brown bananas.    You mash them up and mix it with the other ingredients and then you bake it and then you eat it! 

Banana bread is fun.  You mix it and you put ingredients in it.  I love my brother and sister.  

Hi! This is Mary Kay.  I went for a run- first one in years!  I recommend getting out and exercising as much as you can during this time.   I ran past a friends house and had a nice "distant" conversation.  It was great to get fresh air and see a friend.   

Every day at 6:00 I played a game called prodigy. It is a math game.I usually stop at 7:15. I do math battles with other people and creatures.My prodigy name is Luke Ironboy!  Actually I play with uncle John's third grade class in NJ.  

Day 3

In the Jensen family, we usually spend Sundays at church and together as family.  Unfortunately, church was cancelled. We didn't do much learning today so I'll let the kids skip their personal thoughts (it takes us a long time to do it) and today I'll do the documenting. 

This morning we had an interesting math lesson.  Anders wanted to blog about the size ball you need to play driveway ski ball.   I did NOT know how to answer this so Luke took over.   Radius, diameter and circumference- that is all I heard before I walked away :)   Anders said, "I'll always remember that during this epidemic, I learned that I know more math than my mom."  BUSTED!  Keep it up Anders or I'll have you doing our taxes!   What I love about our kitchen is the big white board.  Luke was unsure about it but it has provided many impromptu learning opportunities for us.

 

Anders got a much needed haircut and the girls and I took a walk to Auntie Lynn and Uncle Marks.  They are away at the moment and so the kids and I have been "checking" on their house by playing in it and making sure all the walls are still strong and the toys still work :)   All good.

Despite the quarantine, there was no shortage of golfers to look at.   On the way home, the girls and noticed that we heard a lot of birds in the neighborhood but saw none.  We stuck our heads in a bush to see what we could see.  We saw nothing :) 

Anders and Halle finally watched Harry Potter- the third one.  Some parts were scary but they did pretty well.   We will not go past this book and movie for a few years .

After dinner we took a pajama walk.  When the weather gets nice, we often eat dinner, take showers and take a neighborhood walk in our pajamas.  Tonight was very special for me (mom.)   I saw an eagle! 

Luke had restrung the Christmas lights so that we can make this time together memorable.   Over the weekend we did our evening books in the porch. We never did that before and it felt so cozy.  The lights are a bit over the top but the kids thought it was spectacular. 

 We even let Anders stay up a little bit later and read his book.  It is important to make this time magical not trauma-filled.  Reading by the light in the porch is a novel way for Anders to cozy up to a book and great way for him to feel seen.  Its been hard juggling all the kids and I need a lot of his help.  This was a great way for me to recognize him and give him some space. 

Day 2

Greetings from a New Day in Jensen Land

Today we made a village in our front yard.  We would like to show you some of our neat ideas.  Anders will be helping me write this post.  His words are in blue.  

First, you put cones on the ground (in any order you want.) The ball should be about 2"long.(in diameter.)Make sure the surface is slanted.Roll the ball up the hill.If the ball hits a cone on the way up, you get zero points.If the ball goes up without hitting a cone,but if it gets stuck on the grass on the way up, you get 1 point.   

MK to finish his thoughts: if it goes up and down without hitting a cone- two points. And if you can make it around a cone, 3 points.  

 Balance Beam 

 Art in the sun

 Anders decided to do some still life art.  He drew the basketball net that he saw on the street. 

 Reading nook 

snack corner 

                                       

                                

We made cards for a sweet friend who's dog died.   

Anders used a great book to help him make the dog.  

Click the link to buy it on amazon. 

 Halle wrote something that warmed me.  She said, "You are in my heart."   

 To make the evening special, we went into the porch after showers and turned on the twinkle lights and read a book.  In these trying times, shoot for magical not trauma-filled.   

Quarantined- Day One

My family has survived (at least) 14 cases of strep this year, 1 nasty battle with the Epstein Barr virus, an epic juvenile arthritis knee flare, 11 cases of pink eye, middle of the night stomach bugs and sniffles too numerous to count.  We have self quarantined so many times that it almost became easier to never pull out of quarantine for fear of the dreaded call to friends.  "The Call."  We all know it.  We all have made and received it.  Can you imagine having to tell people 14 different times your family had strep again?  It's not like I have ten kids.  "Hi, I just want to let you know, um...we have strep again. Sorry I had you over yesterday."  Everyone always says, "you couldn't have known! I jut hope you are all ok." But then they call their husbands or partners and say, "omg omg omgosh we were just playing with them and now its going to happen to us!"  It is the worst call and I have made it dozens of times this year.

Looking back, all these illnesses were like a series of road races to prepare me for the quarantine marathon that is the Corona Virus 2020 social distancing experiment.  Follow along with us! I'll show you different ways to get through the day.

I don't ever look at the weather report for some reason.  So when I come upon a rainy day, I lean into it.  Put your boots on and take a walk!  Maybe we can fight this virus with fresh air.