School Days......or is it School Daze???

The grandkids are all doing great.....I guess it's just me in a daze!  Hard to keep everyone and their school situations straight.   We've got two who are back in their regular routines of attending school in person.

Case is in first grade.....how handsome is HE?????  and he got ice cream with is mom after his first successful day!

and then we have Lane.  Baby Lane who is not a baby anymore but he's the youngest of the 6 so we still think of him as baby Lane!!  He's not in school yet but does go to a preK program that hasn't begun yet so he's still at home "crafting" with his mom!

WHAT a character he is!!!!!!  Cracks me UP all the time!!!

Then we have two who are doing virtual learning thru their own school.  Austin is 3rd grade and Josey has started kindergarten.  They are living at our deer camp for now so they can quarantine...their mom has a compromised immune system and NO ONE is taking any chances with contracting the devil...um, I mean the virus.

Josey is SO happy to be in school even if it means it has to done at the dining room table....look how cute she dressed up for school with the sweetest grin on her face!

(had to change out the headband with bow for the earphones!)

Then, we have two who are being completely home-schooled by their mom at their house!

Their dad, my middle boy, is a heart patient and must NOT come into contact with the virus, so it only made sense to just teach these girls at home.

they even took pics with their masks on.....!

Lilli made their new school sign and it's very symbolic....they spent all summer helping their dad in their garden and learned very valuable lessons along the way!

I must take a moment to applaud these moms.....they never even did a double take when faced with the tasks of having their kids not actually attend school in person this year.  They just stepped up to the plate and are tackling it with finesse and patience!

I am so proud of all of my kids, for they are teaching their own young children that life throws us curve balls. They are teaching them the tools to handle whatever will come their way.

My children melt my heart with pride for them!

Now......if I can just teach this one something when she looks at me as if she's saying....Hey mom - I wanna go to school too!!!

There once was a GIRL named PoppyPEARL who had a CURL right in the middle of her forehead......!

Everyday Life during a Pandemic...

Um.....just to mention a few.   No beach vacations with our kids and grandbabies.  No girlfriend travel trips or even just a trip to their houses by plane.  Or by car.  No fun day lunches at our fave restaurants where we used to sit for hours and talk and laugh and laugh some more.  (one thing I've found is it's not even so much as the actual doing and traveling....but the anticipation of doing those things.  Having something to look forward to....)  Every day turns into the same-o, same-o.......ya know?  

But I AM blessed to have a comfortable home and a sweet lake house that we get to go to on the weekends.  And it's filled with the beauty of God's artwork.  And it tends to take one's mind off of the reality of what's going on in our world....

I love reflections.  They paint more than just a pretty canvas; for after you've spent time watching and dreaming of all the things your mind has drawn up about a reflection ... you then get to feel deep in your soul just what these reflections mean to you.  Where your imagination can take you!!

Coffee in the morning here is indeed a blessing!

The wildlife we see here is always an unexpected surprise.  From white egrets to blue herons to the occasional gator!, our swamps and cypress trees and spanish moss make for a beautiful setting!

Even the local tour guide taking a boatful of people to oooh and ahhhh is refreshing.....see what I mean about wildlife and reflections???  I got both in this pic!!

Fresh flowers in the house always make me happy so when you stumble across a bouquet at the local grocery store for $7.49 .... you grab 'em!

Watermelon on a summer afternoon is a treat too.....specially when they come out of the garden that your boyfriend has worked so hard on all spring/summer!!

Combine that with an afternoon of being totally lazy in the pool....another blessing!

A few weeks ago, it was time.  Time to gather up the little troops and have a driveway picnic!

Each twosome is siblings and when they all got together, we socially distanced them...to their chagrin.

Even the mamas and YaYa socially distanced....

When they sat to have pizza and all I could do was air hug them.....not fun.

But I also count that as a blessing - for at least I got to see them and hear them laugh out loud!!

Rachel ordered them these t shirts and they loved them....that was fun!

We continue to cook and cook and eat.  Hello 10 lbs from a not so good friend named corona....

Smoked ribs, chicken, sausage, boudin and hot links!! (and it wasn't even july 4!)

My Italian friends and landlord from my trip to Vicopisano told me how they stuff their eggplant, so I tried that using the eggplant, tomato, basil, red and green peppers from the garden.  Fresh mozzarella finished it off from the grocery!

Baked Pesto Pasta

Homemade pesto with roasted cherry tomatoes...used Bucatini pasta because it's hollow after cooking and the pesto/spinach sauce filled each noodle up so every bite gave me a pop of pesto!!!

Hence; 4 of those 10 lbs!

And ALL of my days are filled with PoppyPearl  L-O-V-E!!!!

BUSTED!!!   

She makes me so dingle dangle happy!!

When Cap'n isn't in the garden, he's tooling around in his new toy......

Her name is Lucille!

So, the time marked now is week 22 of quarantine.  5 months of quarantine.

Patience.

Understanding.

Patience.

Trust in our higher being that this will be over soon.

Love.

Patience.

WE WILL GET THRU THIS!

So my grand babies will be able to do this again.  OFTEN!!!!