March 2020: USA, Meet COVID19

Career Day at SLC

Shamrock Shakes, before they are gone!

 We welcomed March this year knowing our schedules would open up a bit!  The musical was a great success, and youth travel team basketball was fun, but now both are over for the year! 

Lexi and Stella

When Big Sister is at a sleepover, mom
agrees to make slime!

The girls watch an Australian YouTube family pretty regularly, so they have heard about the Australian Bush Fires.  They also learned about them at school, particularly how many animals have been impacted.  So, when Stella approached us about raising money to support the relief efforts, we could not say no.  She and her friend Lexi were given permission to solicit the neighbors and our friends at church while delivering Girl Scout cookies.  They raised $75!  We donated it to the World Wildlife Fund Australia Bushfire Crisis campaign!  They worked with Mr. Hirschy at school too, on a podcast to ask for support from their teachers.  But, this was not something that became a reality for them because our worlds changed on March 14th.

Office Mates!

Virtual Battleship with the Britton Girls

It was a Saturday afternoon when we heard the notice that all St. Lawrence County schools would be closed until April 20th due to the COVID-19 virus threat.  Shortly after that Franklin County made a similar announcement.  Our little school quickly arranged for safe pick-up of chrome books and launched fully online instruction for our kids.  SUNY Potsdam made similar arrangements, and by March 20th, I too was telecommuting.  The USA has seen this virus devastate other parts of the world, so creating social distancing and hygiene guidelines to "flatten the curve" became a requirement for many states, including ours.  A new norm set in:

Video Chat Play Dates

At Home P.E.

Yoga Bingo

 There are all kinds of learning apps for the kids, and because they all chromebooks regularly at school, our girls are very familiar with navigating the different platforms.  They picked up their online curriculum independently, which has allowed Randy and I to do our work during the day without the need to attempt to be Elementary teachers too!

 On Saturday, March 28 we headed out for the golf course to get some fresh air.  It was really nice to be on the course so early in the season and we all had a good time.  Claire may have enjoyed rolling down hills more than hitting golf balls but we had fun!

Church

 SLC hosted spirit week to try to keep the kids connected.  Here's 'show your pet day' and 'twin day'!

With social distancing guidelines preventing us from being with friends, or really leaving the house unless we need food or supplies, we've had lots of really great family time together!  We've had many game nights, and movie nights too.  And it has felt so good to get back to family dinners at the kitchen table.

We've been talking for a while now about installing a utility sink in our basement and creating a crafting area for the girls away from our kitchen - which they regularly transform into an art room, paint, glitter, glue, and all!  With all sports on hold across the nation, Randy spent two weekends in a row cleaning out our basement and creating this special space for the kids.  Mom couldn't be happier to have the mess moved and the girls are pretty excited about it too!

February Fun!

Playing Restaurant

SLU Women's game to check out the Arena Renovations

February was a busy month.  Here are some pictures of the ways we spent our time:

Snuggles on a cold day - probably watching 'The Norris Nuts'

Inspiration from the Girls

As usual, the girls had Valentine parties at school and enjoyed putting together Valentine's for all of their classmates.  When they asked me what my party at work was going to be like and I said we didn't have a party, they commented how much my work must not be fun.  Which couldn't be further from the truth.  We have an awesome and fun group!  (Although if you know anything about collections, the work isn't always fun, lol.)  So, I stopped at Stewart's that morning and threw something together for my colleagues!






Stella worked at the Annual 100 Day's Spaghetti Dinner - a 4th grade tradition at SLC:
  

Randy may not be coaching the varsity boys this year, but he's spent some time in the gym with the girls, as well as joining Joey and his boys here and there.

If you ask me, somebody's starting to look pretty comfortable (and good!) in Larries gear!

Those who know me know I do not love the game of basketball, nor have I enjoyed sharing my husband with his teams over the years.  You would also equally know what a huge impact athletics had on my life.  It is for that reason I somehow managed (maybe struggled is a better word) to get through each passing season.  I thought when the time came for Randy to stop coaching I might have a celebration.  But, that could not be further from our reality.  This has been a painful experience in many ways.  However, I'm so grateful Randy has been given the opportunity to work with Stella and her teammates, and that he's also been welcomed into the SLC Varsity community - which has proven to be a very supportive, organized, and positive culture.

A visit to the BMC gym was in order however, to wish the seniors well on their last home game.

Mid-Day Shout Out

Sunday Morning Routine

Madilyn U's Birthday Bowling Party!

GS Service Unit Sledding Event

Shamrock Shakes!

While I did not capture any of the fun on camera, Claire and I spent some time going to Maxcy hall for TRIBS swimming lessons.  Since Stella has been so busy with basketball and musical, we thought it would only be fair for Claire to also participate in an activity.  And she absolutely loves being in the pool.  So much so, we said we'd probably sign up for lessons again in the spring.

Light Up the Night Tri-Town WinterFest Parade!

 
I've wanted to visit Nicandri and Snow Shoe for some time.  We finally did it!  However, the girls did not enjoy Snow Shoeing.  (I on the other hand really loved it!)  So, we circled back to the center and opted to ski instead.  Randy's cousin Tracy is the Executive Director and was giving out free lessons.  She's really great at her job and the kids had a blast! So glad we did this, and that we have this little gem in our area.  Apparently since this hot spot is so popular, both the Winston's and Zender's were there that day too!

  

Enjoying some Hot Cocoa at Nicandri

  Mary Poppins!  Stella's debut on the SLC stage was a real hit!

  

  

          

Welcoming 2020

  

I had good intentions of getting the blog caught up in February but life got in the way!  So, here's a look back:

We kicked off the New Year with a get together at Gina and Tim's again this year!  Everyone had a great time as usual!  The grown-ups attempted to play pitch, and the kiddos kept themselves busy with some activities like festive DIY party hats, New Year's Eve jokes and madlibs, as well as games and movies.








With the long two-week winter break this year Troop 50303 snuck in some fun!  We had our annual shut-in at the Helena Fire Station, and this year our older girls worked with Miss Alissa to plan our Service Unit Cookie Kick-Off.  Both were great events!
  

The shut-in was packed full of activities.  I led a health/fitness badge for the group and fitting in activities to cross badge requirements for four levels felt like a marathon, but we made it!  And without complaints until the last half hour when some of us started to get hangry!  We learned about fueling our bodies using the USDA My Plate approach, team work and being a team player, played the human knot game, playing games where not everyone wins, and of course we exercised!  We completed a short girl-led circuit! We also played a fun girl-led relay race including a cheering section with the "Troop 50303's got Razz-ma-tazz!" chant we learned.  We finished with some quiet time and a journal to emphasize managing stress in our lives, no matter what our age.



   

In addition to the badge work, some of the girls prepared a taco dinner for our group, and everyone decorated their own cookies, learned about making and tried homemade ice cream, and watched the movie 'Abominable'. I'd like to say everyone slept well, but I'll leave it at we slept...

The kick-off truly did get our girls excited for cookie season!  Each girl was given a passport to complete by visiting various stations.  And they were all excited to see the prizes and set a goal!

  



Since Daddy had been away at a Master Teacher workshop, when he arrived back in town after the kick-off we had a family bowling night.  It was so much fun!  Since it was Stella's birthday we also celebrated at home with her dinner of choice: French Toast! The bowling alley even started cosmic bowling a little early for us so the girls could get one more game in but with black lights!


  

Between everything scheduled on our family calendar Stella's birthday celebration had to wait until the 10th this year, and we squeezed it in after school on a Friday night knowing we had a weekend of basketball ahead of us.  She chose Yum Yum's Chilly Delight again this year, which is always nice for the parents because they have a great venue for parties and are so accommodating.  Of course on her actual birthday we treated her to her family gift: a hover board.  She (and Claire) are wild about this gift!  They also had a great laugh when they tried to get me to step on it.  Let's just say, it's not my thing!










With daddy and Stella spending a lot of time at the gym lately, Claire and I spent some time at home.  Claire is our little sugar bug and was more than happy to indulge in some hot chocolate and sour patch marshmallows we found at the store!


A Trip to New Hampshire:

Since Randy is not a head coach this year, when we learned he was awarded grant money through the Berlin City Auto Group, it was possible for us to get away mid-week to accept the money for his classroom.  We left after school and made it to the hotel just in time to visit the pool!

The girls did miss a day of school, but they both do so well, and this was a moment I felt was worth celebrating.  Randy is a talented and dedicated professional, and our girls should see first-hand how hard work can pay off.  We were so glad we went because Berlin City made a big show of this.  We were greeted by friendly staff, treated to lunch, and all given a gift bag.  And the big checks were so awesome!


 

A Trip to Pennsylvania
Randy and I are huge Angels and Airwaves fans, so even though we just saw them in the fall, we were really looking forward to seeing them again this month in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  Since we've been out of town without the girls several times, we wanted to make this more of a family trip.  So, Grammie and Papa agreed to join us! We planned to see Disney on Ice on Saturday night, and on Sunday we'd go to the concert while Grammie and Papa would stay at the hotel with the girls.  Monday being a holiday made this work out well with our schedules.  But, unfortunately Tom DeLonge came down with a respiratory infection and had to postpone the East Coast tour until spring.  We thought about canceling our weekend away, but decided to go anyway and were so glad we did.  Disney on Ice did not disappoint, and we filled the day and evening Sunday with shopping, dining out, and relaxing at the hotel.

  

   
Some other January happenings:
The girls love experimenting in the kitchen and made a homemade cake, Claire continues to love fashion, Mom had friends over for a Lemongrass Spa party, and here's a pic with Stella holding one of mom's favorite children's books.  It's an oldie but goody!  While the girls are well into chapter books now, we still enjoy picture books!
      

Daddy helped Troop 50303 with card board sled creations:
 

Stella practices basketball and mommy and Claire snuggle:
  

The Girls participated in an awesome Winter Concert!