Distance Learning 2.0

After a hybrid start to the school year, our schools switched to distance learning in mid-November.  This time around, it was more of a regular school-day schedule, with many more Google Meets.  Abby still had her hybrid schedule, with live meetings only 2-3 days per week.  Norah and I were busy all day long each day, and luckily, she and I had the same lunch break most days (the girls had an early release once a week, with a different schedule those days).  It was definitely nice to not have to commute through most of winter, but it definitely wasn't easy keeping 26 3rd graders engaged every moment of the day from a computer.  It was definitely a learning experience!

Building

 Norah discovered this winter that she loves assembling and building furniture from kits.  She helped me build a console for under our basement tv, and had so much fun that she helped build a storage shelf for her closet!

Willow River winter getaway

 For Christmas, my sister's gift to Dave and me was a night of babysitting so that we could have a little getaway.  Dave and I both had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off, so we took a little trip to Hudson for a night.  We hiked the snowy/icy (steep!) trail to the waterfall at Willow River State Park and took the trail up to the top overlook.  

Winter Break

 This year's winter break was quite a bit different than usual, because we weren't traveling to Iowa or really going anywhere due to Covid restrictions. 

We did lots of puzzles:

Norah used her new science kit:

The girls set up their new Christmas village from Grandma and Grandpa Nass:

Abby tried on her new clothes:

We did lots of Legos...Dave used some money from his uncle to buy the girls the Disney castle:

We watched lots of Hallmark Christmas movies and read new books:

We went to the drive-through light show at Valleyfair:

We spent New Year's Eve playing games with the Pakiz family:

Sadie and I started walking outside every day (we made it almost all the way through the month of January before it got too cold!):

We had our own New Year's celebration on New Year's Day, complete with a snack meal and the "wheel of games":

Christmas 2020

Christmas 2020 looked different than most years...due to Covid spreading through some church staff, I recorded music with Evie ahead of time for the Christmas Eve services, so we were home and had a lazy day.  We opened presents and watched Christmas Eve service online.  The girls slept under the tree that night.

Christmas morning, the girls were excited to see what Santa had brought--a penny board for Abby and an American Girl doll for Norah.

We relaxed at home all morning, then headed to Rochester to spend Christmas day with my sister and parents.  We had a Christmas Zoom call with my dad's side of the family and Greg/Rose Mary, since we couldn't all gather together in person.

We stayed for a couple of nights and enjoyed some good family time!

Dave's parents weren't comfortable getting together, so we did a Google Meet Christmas later on in January.  They sent blanket hugs since they couldn't give real hugs in person.