Day 39- April 20, 2020

Day 39- April 20, 2020

I spent this morning relearning how to use iMovie.  Last night, one of the teachers at my school had sent an email about Earth Day, something that, as a facility, we normally would celebrate with activities, curriculum geared around the environment, and wearing matching shirts we all ordered back in February.  But this year is, obviously, quite different. One of the other teachers responded, suggesting maybe I could put something together using photos of the faculty in their shirts, since I'm a "tech wiz."  Of course, I said yes, and we sent out a notice to email me a photo wearing the shirt.  I then spent the morning figuring out how to use backgrounds, music, transitions, and a running scroll across the bottom of the screen.  When it was complete, I had a video with quotes about the environment scrolling throughout, photos that transitioned nicely into each other, and a catching song (that didn't require royalties) rolling in the background.  I was quite pleased with myself.

Then, it was on to spending quality post-schoolwork time with the girls.  E. wanted to work on an assignment from her soccer coach, which was to create her own drill.  She wanted to include her favorite things: shooting and dribbling, so she came up the following: start off backwards running to a cone, then sprint forward to the ball.  Next, dribble through cones (using both feet), and take a shot.  Then, I passed in a second ball from the corner, and she one-timed a hard, drilled shot.  It took a few dry runs to get it right, but then she started to do it at speed.

What I was most proud of, though, was the E. wasn't as hard on herself as she has been, and instead, worked to improve her technique.  That said-  I felt badly, because at one point, R. tried to come out, and it was at a time when E. had just messed up a shot and knocked over a few cones, and she yelled at her sister to go inside.  R. just wanted to read and do her homework in the sunshine, but I explained that for the next 20 minutes or so, she had to just let her sister work through this, and then we could do something fun.  I suggested she hang out in the greenhouse or on the porch, that way, her sister wouldn't see her, but she would still be outside technically.

She nodded that she understood, but her eyes filled with tears, and she ran inside.  This is the part of shelter in place that is so hard- the kids start grating on each other's nerves, and there are few places for them to go.  When one wants attention (and gets it), the other one almost immediately needs attention too, and the initial seeker feels slighted.

R. got to have her own "Daddy and me" time too, so she couldn't get too upset with her sister.  She's learning to play the drums with him since she's so advanced with piano at this point.  This was her first time playing, and I'll give her credit- she's taking to it pretty well.

Once we had the solo time, I took the girls to the driveway, where they used their scooter and bike, respectively, to get some energy out.  They love being able to fly around the driveway, even though it's not terribly large.  E. and I were also looking for her new pen pal two doors down, but didn't see her outside to wave to.

And of course, after dinner, we had time to watch a family show on tv, so we chose Buddy Vs. Duff and while the girls actively root for Buddy (he's their favorite judge on Kids' Baking Championship), they had to admit that Buddy's cake-themed mini golf course was pretty impressive.  Though they still preferred Buddy's course-all nautical themed creations that actually looked like they were made out of fiberglass.

It was a relatively calm day, as blessedly are sometimes.  We just keep plodding along, and stay safe.