Taitai
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Post by Taitai on May 21, 2021 8:43:15 GMT -6
Another week of online school done, and they just announced that the schools will be closed through the end of the year. Argh. The cases are too high for the schools to be open, so I understand that, but it still sucks that the kids won’t have closure for the end of the school year two years in a row now.
On the positive side, we have all of our paperwork in order for our trip back to the USA this summer. Plane tickets are booked, return quarantine is booked - leaving in less than 4 weeks now! I’m going to go CRAZY with online shopping when we are back. Of course I am most looking forward to seeing family and getting vaccinated, but the online shopping is also SUPER EXCITING. And Target!!!!!!!!!
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Post by curmudgeon on May 21, 2021 18:39:16 GMT -6
Taitai I’m so happy and excited for you! Doubly so that you can get vaccinated while here. I hope this 4 weeks go by quickly and you’re on your way to see family before you know it.
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Post by duskymonkey on May 22, 2021 22:33:34 GMT -6
I posted the other day but it appears to have been eaten by the internet. IDK. duskymonkey at preschool DS1 made one of those "All about Mom" papers for Mother's Day. On it was a line about cooking: "My mom cooks the best asparagus" We laughed. Of all the things! But we do love asparagus. I don't think I've ever seen or eaten wild asparagus. That sure looks good! That's funny. Oh I remember one of those sheets. Your family or brother? has a farm right? Next time you visit, you should check out the ditches or ask your family. They only sprout for a very very short period of time and very fast in early spring though. I can see a lots of them around the edges of farms around here and so tempting to go into the fields but that would be trespassing. We find them around the "froggy" pond we walk/bike to near our house and this whole area used to be farmland. BTW did you get your new stove yet?
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Post by duskymonkey on May 22, 2021 22:51:01 GMT -6
August Blooms like was for your 2nd vax shot. How are you doing? Hoping you don't have any side effects or just little if any. Sorry you all had to go through another Covid scare. I can't wait for September when they are planning to possibly have the vax available for the littles. It's promising that the trials results were really good for the 12-15 YOs. I am nervous for the next school year TBH I can't do another year. It's been really stressful having both the kids on different schedules for school and keeping DS focused and keeping lil fella from distracting him. I am planning on sending DS to school and will be registering lil fella for pre-K this fall. The weather here is still wonky. My basil, peppers and tomatoes are absolutely hating the cold temps but I've got lettuce sprouting and strawberries are already blooming.
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Post by duskymonkey on May 22, 2021 23:04:55 GMT -6
curmudgeon Taitai good luck with your teeth. I have crooked teeth and can't be bothered at my age lol! and don't have any issues with my bite. My dentist gave up talking to me about it haha! Even though things are "opening up" I am sure you will have time to unpack; hard to do much when the kids are still vulnerable. I still have a several boxes I haven't unpacked - they're mostly books, my artwork and supplies and work related stuff. I've never been on BC but from what my GFs always complain about, I wasn't keen to be on it and never really had a need I suppose. Just as exciting is have you decided on your dining chairs yet? and ETA on your dining table?
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Post by duskymonkey on May 22, 2021 23:32:31 GMT -6
duskymonkey That asparagus looks so fresh and green and delicious! How cool that you can forage for it. I know that is something my kids would LOVE to do. In general, they really like picking/gathering food and eating it. We picked 3 star fruit today from the star fruit tree in our garden. The jackfruit trees in the garden have also been producing fruit, which the building management cuts down and then shares with all of us. We have sweet basil growing in some planters, along with mung beans, and DS2 loves to eat the sweet basil raw (we wash it first of course) along with the mung bean sprouts. Maybe the kids will be farmers some day - that would be cool. Also, I wanted to let you know that your description of your DS1 just up and bolting (plus the attraction to water) is also a lot like my DS1. We are fortunate that we live on a gated compound with a high wall, but I still don’t feel comfortable letting him out of mine or another adult’s line of sight. He gets easily distracted and when he’s not paying attention, I could see him running into something or out into the driveway without looking and getting hurt. Good luck as you move forward with the process, know that your kiddo has many, many strengths! You are a caring and patient mom - he is in very good hands. It wasn't a big bunch so I put it on pizza haha! Yum! I miss ALL the tropical fruit and the bananas. Glad your kids and you have access to garden grown fruits. My dad used to have a prize starfruit tree and he spent all his time wrapping the fruits and we had so much, we would give bags of fruit away. I love jackfruit but had an allergic reaction the last time I was home and really frightened to eat it ever again. One of my fav is cempedak. I had to google for an english name but it is apparently called that and I love to eat the seeds too - the best! It's also super awesome in fritter form. You probably have eaten it. Another fav is custard apple - particularly the red one. Also hugs to you for keeping it calm with your DS too especially where you live. I feel awful for complaining because I know others also experience the same or much harder.
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Post by duskymonkey on May 22, 2021 23:54:52 GMT -6
Sorry I haven't been on for a while and appeared I lament posted and ran. We've been so busy with yard work and I am helping DS with a few of his final projects because he worked so hard on them and I wanted him ( me lol! ) to be proud of it. So for DS' extra class, they were working on poetry writing and I thought it was such a fun way to expand their vocabulary and great way to get young kids be more confident in writing. If anyone is interested I found this site and it has activities and worksheets and it helped me because I don't sit with DS so haven't a clue what the assignments are most of the time and needed to understand what they are. DS' birthday is in a couple of weeks and we decided to get him swim lessons and I am sure he'll lose his mind. Luckily we found a private instructor with her own private pool. It isn't cheap but it's only 10 minutes from our house plus Covid, we can relax a bit. So we'll be busy this summer with summer school and twice weekly swim lessons which I hope lil fella will be excited about too. Also we discovered a farm we can buy honey from today and did a drive by and saw the farmer and he said it's an honor system with the bottles of honey located in the old VW van lol! and when he said the kids in the back, he said we were welcome to have the kids walk around the farm and pet the goats so I think we'll be heading there next weekend when I anticipate we'll running low on honey.
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on May 23, 2021 9:02:17 GMT -6
duskymonkey Wow - your neighborhood sounds awesome! My kids would LOVE a farm where we could collect honey and they could walk around to pet goats. That seriously sounds amazing. I’m jealous of your garden too! Thanks for the poetry link - I might try that out for DS1. He is always very interested in rhyming, and he was also speaking in a rhythmic way the other day, and he said he was doing it, because his class is working on poetry! I loves reading, but we are trying to get him to spend more time on writing. The private swimming lessons with an instructor who has her own pool also sounds awesome. I know your boys will love it! Mine are such water hounds. That fruit you mentioned (ceremack? I forget the spelling and now I can’t look back to see what it is) - I think I’ve had it before, but I’m not sure! So funny that your dad wrapped his star fruits. We do that with the mangoes that grow on the tree next to our balcony! We use newspaper. If we don’t do that, the squirrels will eat all the tasty ones before we can get to them. The starfruit tree has the same issue, and it’s grown so high that it’s too difficult to wrap the fruits. So, we often end up cutting them down when they are still a bit green. I don’t care for them that way (too bitter), but the boys love it, so 🤷♀️
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Post by curmudgeon on May 23, 2021 9:06:04 GMT -6
duskymonkey sadly no table yet. The couch I ordered at the same time was delivered last week, but the table had a longer wait. We are also waiting on a media center that will hopefully arrive around June 1. Whenever we have a service person over they ask if we just moved in because it looks so empty still.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on May 23, 2021 10:06:03 GMT -6
The last weeks of school have been crazy busy as we wind the school year down. H worked the sectional track meets all last week so I was solo with girls though school stuff, tball practices, pick ups and drop offs and the like. Many a Pb and J were eaten for dinner because I just didn’t have it in me to cook each night 😂 Taitai so exciting about the trip!!!!! I’m sure your family stateside is very ready to see you all too. duskymonkey the swim lessons will be awesome. Due to Covid restrictions the girls swim classes this winter we’re either solo or one other kid and they learned so much more this way! They will be back in local group classes this summer but that’s more to just give us something to do at the local swim park. August Blooms I hope your second vaccine was uneventful. We still had frost through last week and I got so tired of covering and uncovering my flowers that I basically was just “grow or don’t” because ain’t nobody got time for this in the Midwest in late May
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Post by August Blooms on May 25, 2021 11:54:21 GMT -6
Second shot was a non event, some arm soreness and I was a bit tired the next day. I had heard so many horror stories about the second Moderna shot I was worried my long weekend would not be an enjoyable one. We are getting a cold snap later this week after hitting 30 C most of this weekend, I’m worried about my pepper plants. I may cover for the nights. duskymonkey Virtual learning with two littles is no fun. It’s made such a difference having the little one back at daycare, I didn’t realize how much of a distraction she was. DD2 is starting kindergarten in the fall, (how are our kids old enough?!?!!?!) I’m hoping by the end of next school year enough kids will have their vaccines and they can drop some of the social distancing. Masks I’m not opposed to but I hate that they can’t play close with the other kids.
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Post by August Blooms on May 25, 2021 11:59:04 GMT -6
I’m weirdly getting anxious about things going back to normal here. I’m not sure why but I’ve actually enjoyed having no major obligations and am not ready to get back to ‘normal’ and I really hated crowds prior to all this. On the other hand I signed the girls up for summer soccer and want to travel and I got the go ahead from DH to start looking at places to book for two weeks in January for Costa Rica.
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danvers
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Post by danvers on May 25, 2021 15:42:14 GMT -6
I’m weirdly getting anxious about things going back to normal here. I’m not sure why but I’ve actually enjoyed having no major obligations and am not ready to get back to ‘normal’ and I really hated crowds prior to all this. On the other hand I signed the girls up for summer soccer and want to travel and I got the go ahead from DH to start looking at places to book for two weeks in January for Costa Rica. I feel strange returning to “normal-ish” life still too. We’ve been in-person schooling the whole time but with masks and social distancing so the idea that next year we won’t be doing any of that feels strange.bi haven’t taught that way with “group work” or partner projects in forever! I’ve never liked big crowds but I’m also ready to see things or go places again too.
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Post by duskymonkey on May 28, 2021 23:59:09 GMT -6
duskymonkey sadly no table yet. The couch I ordered at the same time was delivered last week, but the table had a longer wait. We are also waiting on a media center that will hopefully arrive around June 1. Whenever we have a service person over they ask if we just moved in because it looks so empty still. Bummer. I thought you already got a couch. Did you get another one? LOL! it hasn't been a year so anything under a year qualifies for new house. Heck, we still have contractor grade painted walls and they're bare. I am wondering when we rip up the rugs and do all that stuff if we can skim coat and make the walls smooth. I really really hate textured walls. PITA to cover picture holes and the towel holder got ripped out of wall in my folks bathroom so there's a hole. They're not used to sheet rock hollow walls. So our house looks like a wreck. Ugh!
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Post by duskymonkey on May 29, 2021 0:12:28 GMT -6
danvers high five! for making it to the end of the school year. You and your H must be glad. Today was our last day and it was bittersweet. When it was time to end the last class Webex, everyone lingered on for extra minutes and DS kept telling his class jokes. I feel bad for the teacher because it's not like she could just leave since she's the host. I am also looking forward to not hounding DS to do his schoolwork and keep lil fella from bothering him August Blooms, it really is stressful to keep them apart and sometimes lil fella would grab DS' headphones and change the volume and such on it. Once he threw a toy at DS and it hit him on the head Oy! I messaged another parent today that I am mentally broken by virtual school and just having the kiddos at home all the time.
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Post by duskymonkey on May 29, 2021 0:27:09 GMT -6
I’m weirdly getting anxious about things going back to normal here. I’m not sure why but I’ve actually enjoyed having no major obligations and am not ready to get back to ‘normal’ and I really hated crowds prior to all this. On the other hand I signed the girls up for summer soccer and want to travel and I got the go ahead from DH to start looking at places to book for two weeks in January for Costa Rica. I feel strange returning to “normal-ish” life still too. We’ve been in-person schooling the whole time but with masks and social distancing so the idea that next year we won’t be doing any of that feels strange.bi haven’t taught that way with “group work” or partner projects in forever! I’ve never liked big crowds but I’m also ready to see things or go places again too. Count me in. In fact, I turned down an invite from DS' class mate for a whole class meet up tomorrow at a park. I don't know any of these parents except we're in virtual school together and they are highly likely Covid conscious but it's also going to be at a public park and I am sure there will be other people there too. We've also dropped mask mandates here for for those vaxed but I still don't trust people with the way things have unfolded this past year. Hubs shared this article and it sums up exactly how we feel. I also looked at the stats and our state has the highest transmission rate per capita in the whole country so big fat no from us attending. Anyways I promised DS a birthday party with the 2 families in our germ bubble this whole pandemic and our neighbour whom got her kids vaxed the day after they became eligible so I am waiting for them to get their 2nd shot + 2 weeks after so sometime the 3rd week of June.
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Post by duskymonkey on May 29, 2021 0:46:17 GMT -6
duskymonkey Wow - your neighborhood sounds awesome! My kids would LOVE a farm where we could collect honey and they could walk around to pet goats. That seriously sounds amazing. I’m jealous of your garden too! Thanks for the poetry link - I might try that out for DS1. He is always very interested in rhyming, and he was also speaking in a rhythmic way the other day, and he said he was doing it, because his class is working on poetry! I loves reading, but we are trying to get him to spend more time on writing. The private swimming lessons with an instructor who has her own pool also sounds awesome. I know your boys will love it! Mine are such water hounds. That fruit you mentioned (ceremack? I forget the spelling and now I can’t look back to see what it is) - I think I’ve had it before, but I’m not sure! So funny that your dad wrapped his star fruits. We do that with the mangoes that grow on the tree next to our balcony! We use newspaper. If we don’t do that, the squirrels will eat all the tasty ones before we can get to them. The starfruit tree has the same issue, and it’s grown so high that it’s too difficult to wrap the fruits. So, we often end up cutting them down when they are still a bit green. I don’t care for them that way (too bitter), but the boys love it, so 🤷♀️ Haha...we are surrounded by farmland, they are sadly shrinking though. Don't be jealous of my garden, it's still a mess and I really need to call the landscapers back to finish things up since we couldn't get to it. We originally planned to DIY a good portion of it but with zero childcare help plus Covid, it was impossible to do anything other than just survive. You should definitely try some of the worksheets during the summer to keep him busy. They're short and simple. DS had a really hard time writing his thoughts and constructing sentence structures. I think he had so much info to convey but his hands couldn't catch up to his brain and I think it was a source of frustration for him so he just refused to write. Some of the worksheets allows for creativity without binding them in sentence structures and I think it's becomes fun and I noticed that it provided DS practice and confidence in just writing. Now he's writing his own stories and illustrating and this week started comic strips lol! So I just remembered you can eat jackfruit seeds too! They taste kinda like a sun chokes. Maybe ask your nanny if they eat them? We just boil them with a bit of salt and snack on them. Another way is to eat them ( boiled ) with fresh shredded coconut with a bit of salt and sugar. I always looked forward to those after eating the flesh. When are you returning? Things are looking up here so you should feel safer when you get back here. I also cannot believe that they are literally paying American's to get the vax - with lotteries and such. First world problems...sheesh...privileged
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Post by duskymonkey on May 29, 2021 0:55:02 GMT -6
Well it was busy wrapping up DS' school year plus I started planning for his birthday cake. He randomly asked for a Ring tail lemur cake...I am like YASSS!!! no more trains! meanwhile Lil fell: "I wanna Thomas and the logging locos with the shake shake bridge" - it's from a Thomas the train story. Me: Thinking how TF am I going to make the shake shake bridge. So I got 2 marzipan lemurs made so far and I think I can get 2-3 more from my marzipan lot I made last weekend. I still have to figure out the rest of the cake!
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on May 29, 2021 7:10:18 GMT -6
duskymonkey Those lemurs are the cutest and most lively marzipan lemurs ever! How lucky your kids are to have such a talented mom! Also, we totally eat the jackfruit seeds! They boil them with a bit of salt, and they taste nice and nutty. Our boys love them. Good luck with making the shakey bridge from Thomas, lol. I know that exact story. I am sure you’ll be able to pull it off! Finally - wohoo for you making it through the school year. How cute that your DS was entertaining everyone. I am sure he’s going to love having those 2 families over! danvers Congrats on you getting close to the summer break too! It’s so interesting to hear about Americans going back to normal at school and such for next year. That will absolutely not be the case here. The entire country won’t be vaccinated until early 2022, and I just feel that everyone here is more cautious. I think we’ll be using masks and doing social distancing at school for a long while. August Blooms I hope you all can get back to Costa Rica! I love it there, and I can’t wait to take my kids some day. Are you thinking of the Osa this time? Or someplace else?
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Taitai
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Post by Taitai on May 29, 2021 7:14:55 GMT -6
2 more weeks of online school, and 3 weeks until we fly back to the USA. I think I have all of the paperwork set for our trip, except of course we’ll have to do the 72 hour Covid test before we leave. Hoping that goes okay. The kids are getting really excited for our travel, and we all can’t wait to see family.
As excited as I am to head back, we’re also feeling sad, because one of our best neighbor friends are moving back to Canada in July. So, once we leave for our flight, we won’t see them again. They have 2 boys around DS1’s age, and H and I really get along with the parents. We hang out with them so often…I just know we’re going to miss them a lot. I wish they could stay. Oh well - such is the expat life. We had to do a similar goodbye with a family from the UK last summer. It’s hard to make such good friends and know it will be temporary. We’ll be spending lots of time together the next few weeks, so at least we have that to look forward to.
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Post by curmudgeon on May 29, 2021 7:33:39 GMT -6
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danvers
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Post by danvers on May 30, 2021 9:05:19 GMT -6
duskymonkey I know it’s been said but you are so talented. If one of my kids asked for a lemur caked I’d be very “how about some princess sprinkles?!” Taitai it can be so hard to make friends as adults and then for those friends to move away too - ugh!
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danvers
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Post by danvers on May 30, 2021 9:22:14 GMT -6
Last day of school was Friday so it’s officially summer vacation! My mom came down to watch the girls on Friday while H and I finished up a teacher workday. Her and I took the girls to the zoo yesterday and were there for 7 hours. The girls were exhausted but it was so much fun and we saw, quite literally, every single thing. The girls are so good about wearing masks but less and less people wear them (I’ve fairly certain most of these people are fully vaxxed) I don’t think we will venture to inside or crowded venues still with them still.
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