Week Five: Blah

Week five was just plain DREARY!  We continue to have cold weather and gloomy skies.  Even the boys did not want to go outside during their recess time.  It wasn't until late in the week on
Friday, that we were able to take a walk and get outside for the first time.

This week felt a little overwhelming.  Just as we figured out the work from home and school from home routine AND the extra curriculars of daily Karate, and Soccer training and assignments, piano and Chinese AND not having a nanny helping, all the teachers added office hours this week.  For Hayden, this meant 8 additional zoom meetings and for Beckham, this meant two more meetings and also two additional apps with separate log in and passwords.  It's been hard to keep every day, every link, every password straight for both of them, not to mention our own scheduled meetings which are ALL on video conference as well.  Survival was the primary goal for this week, for me.

On Friday, I planned homemeade pizza night on the grill.  I ordered the pans, which these days takes more than a week to arrive.  I made the dough, letting it rise during the day.  The boys rolled, tossed and topped their pizzas.  We put the savory ones on the grill.  I made the sweet one with Speculoos, caramel and fresh fruit. 

Here's what else we tried this week: dalgona the latest craze in coffee, scallion pancakes as a side with our dinner, veggie burgers, and vegetarian shepherd's pie and shrimp.  Dinner is usually 2-3 variations that I have to come up with so everyone is happy.  The shepherd's pie and shrimp were the first meals in a while, when we all ate the same meal!

Saturday, we had to run to the house to check on some things and make paint color decisions.  Because many people are in the house all week, we put masks and gloves on.

 This weekend, we socialized a bit with friends.  We stopped at the Frys' house to wish Austin a happy 11th birthday.  The boys juggled their soccer balls for a bit.  Hayden had a chess playdate with his friend Deniz. They used real boards and moved both sides. It worked surprisingly well! Our friend Max and his parents (who play in the Cincinnati Symphony), held a recital on zoom.

We are also trying to stay active, knowing that staying at home is extra bad for us from a movement and basic step count.  My Dr. cousin posted how much impact total steps and movement have on lifespan. Even on a normal working in office day, we get more than HALF the steps that we should.  

We might have to break out the fit bits again if this keeps up.  

The good news is there are plenty of youtube videos with simple, easy to do exercises which don't require any exercise equipment and I have eager workout partners. :)