Sledding

Dear Blake,

Last night we had a big snowstorm and we went sledding today…twice!  We played in the snow in the morning at home and then we went to our sledding hill at schoolhouse manor Park.  There were TONS of people there!  It seemed like all of New Lenox was there!  We had fun with all the neighbor kids and then we drove over to Papa and Gigi’s and went sledding with them at the Don’s hot dogs hill!  Papa and Gigi even went down the hill with you!  After we went to the Patio!  What a fun day we had!

Love,

Mama

Updates

Dear Blake,

So much has happened since I last updated. On Halloween we went out and trick or treated and had a great day! We also had a great Thanksgiving even though many people didn’t go to celebrate with their families because of the coronavirus, we still had a great dinner! After Thanksgiving your school made all the kids stay home again because of the virus. You boys were sad to stay and learn at home again, but now in January you are back full time at school! They said they are very hopeful you won’t have to stay home again so we are hoping that stays true. We had a great Christmas and hosted Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We went to church and had to sign up to be able to go. You guys got tons of lego mario sets.

For New Years Eve we had our friends over and had a great celebration. We went on a fun winter trip and had a great winter break!

We are so happy to be back at school and look forward to all the fun things we are going to do coming up this winter!

Love,

Mama

Back to school!

Dear Blake,

Finally you got to go back to school this week!  You got to go on the bus and I got to stay home and see you go to school!  We went to the bus stop and it was so exciting to watch you guys all go to in person school!  I hope you have fun and that you get to stay in person learning.

  I love you.

Love,

Mama

E-learning…still

Dear Blake,

Well, we are still E-learning, home schooling, whatever you want to call it. But good news! Your school says they are going back October 15th! Hallelujah! Until that day, you are logging in on your iPad every morning and doing school in your room at your desk. You seem to be doing well, but I know nothing is the same. We can’t wait for the big yellow school bus comes down our street very soon!

Love you,

Mama

E-learning

Dear Blake,

Well I knew it would happen, but was holding out hope that it wouldn’t. Your school is being forced to start the school year off remotely. I cant believe this is how you are spending your 3rd grade year. You are sad and want to go to school. When we told you, you said “What?! You told me I was going to school!”

A week before school.was supposed to start, the stare made new rules that schools have to follow. So your school had to decide to teach this way. I feel really sad for you. I’m sorry it has to be this way. This is not normal and I know you’re upset. I will fight this with every fiber of my being. Kids need to be in school and I know you WANT to go. I’m sorry buddy.

Not that there are any positives to this, but you got the teacher you wanted, Mrs. Mack! You were very excited to have her!

Hopefully we can get back to real school soon.

I love you very much,

Mama

Jax beach

Dear Blake,

We went on vacation to Jax beach and we had tons of fun!  We were supposed to go to Disney World but it got cancelled because of the cornovirus.  So we decided to still go on a trip to have some fun because everything was getting cancelled.  We rented a van (which you and Owen loved) and we drove there with Papa and Gigi.  We spent the night in Georgia and then drove the rest of the way the next day.  We got to Jax beach and stayed for 6 nights at the Hampton Inn beachfront!  We got to see Auntie Kitty and Uncle Bryan everyday and go to the beach and pool.  We got to go eat in restaurants (which was awesome because everything in Illinois was closed).  We went on an auto ferry and spent the day in a town.  We had such a good trip we didn’t want to leave.  I hope to make more memories like that again soon!

Love,

Mama

8 years old

Dear Blake,

Tomorrow morning when you wake up, you will be 8 years old. How are you 8? You’re my baby. You can’t be 8. Tomorrow we are having a “quarantine birthday party.” We can’t have a normal birthday party, but we are going to make it as special as we can. I decorated the garage with pokemon decorations in case it rains. In the morning we will get donuts and open presents, and for lunch we will get creamery hot dogs. I even got you a birthday shirt and a birthday crown from school. For dinner and your party I got a pokemon cake from Jewel and “cholis” from Aurelios. I ordered balloons and we will pick all that up tomorrow. We are going to have a surprise birthday parade tomorrow. I hope you love it and you have a special day!

Love,

Mama

Last week of school

Dear Blake,

The last week of your e-learning at school Friday is your last day before summer break. We are finishing off the year with fun activities provided by your district. Friday we will be doing some fun last day of school things. Next week is your birthday and you are going to turn 8 years old! What a big week we have coming up.

Love,

Mama

Still at home…

Dear Blake,

We are still at home until May 30th. We are still doing E-learning by getting actitivities on your district’s website. We do other learning activities at home too. This is all so crazy I hope we don’t have to do this in the summer. We had to go drive thru your school to pickup You’re school supplies. We had to put a sign in our window that said you’re name and then someone brought a bag of your supplies to our car and put it in the trunk. Then we pulled up further and put your libraey book in a crate and drove off. That was the end of 2nd grade. I’m sad that you’re missing out on all of these activities. But I am very glad we are home together.

Love,

Mama

Coronavirus update

Dear Blake,

We are still under a stay at home order. The governor had extended it until april 30th but just today we heard that the rest of the school year has been cancelled. You were very sad when I told you that you couldnt go back to school this year. You want to see your friends. This is all so tough. I can’t believe I wont be going back to work either. You never got to say goodbye to your classmates and friends and teacher. You never got to finish your 2and grade year. For now we will do e-learning at home and try to keep you up to date with everything. I am so sorry that this is happening to you. I know that nothing like this has ever happened before and this is new to everyone, so it helps to know we are all in the same boat together. We have been doing some fun things at home. We had Easter at home but we did go and visit Papa and Gigi in the garage. We celebrated Rory’s birthday and Papa got Easter sliders! We still had fun! We saw the Easter bunny in a drive thru and in a bunny parade! What a weird time we are living in right now. I love you and I know we will all get through this and everything will be ok!

Love,

Mama