April with At Home Schooling

During this social distancing time my cake business has continued. Some of my cakes are done without commission...for example...Ster wanted two small cakes for his coworkers. He's supervisor in his shop and wanted to lift moral.

 Tiberias was Mozart in his 3rd grade Wax Museum. Originally the kids would all meet together dressed as statues in a wax museum. They would each have a trifold showing about who they were. And a homemade button would be available for pressing. Once the button was pressed the statue would come alive and speak a speech they wrote about "themselves."
Due to school shutting down for the rest of the school year this event ended up being an online presentation. Sadly, we didn't get to see the other kids' work. The teachers video chatted to witness the students individual presentations.
Ty's teacher was impressed with his costume and his report. He did great!

 

One day for his journal entry Tiberias had to write about using recycled materials to make something new. His teacher encouraged the kids to actually do what they wrote about. Ty came up with an idea but I knew it would be easier to write about it after creating it in real life. So...he made a Larry Koopa decoration for his bedroom. Using a disposable flower pot, cardboard, two cans and some paper.

 Lately I've been painting rocks for the kids in our community. Since Corona Virus has changed our lives the hobby of rock painting/hidding/hunting has become popular on base.
A troll:

 This one is actually a huge rock that I painted for Tiberias. It is a decoration for the kid's bedroom.

 Pacman:

 Japanese rocks:

At the YCC (where the military on base stores are) a few changes have been made. The food court has been cleared out of tables and chairs. Now sticker lines and shoe prints line the food court floor...showing people how to stand 6 feet apart. All the stores now have stickers showing how to safely stand in line now. And plastic barriers. Plastic barriers between all customers and cashiers.

The Airman's Attic has been closed as a precaution. But that means there is nowhere to donate unwanted items. Finally the Airman's Attic leadership arranged a shipping container to be placed at the donation area. When I dropped off toys and clothes I took a look around at what else was left there. I scored big when I saw an adult sized, brand new with the price tag still on it, Yoshi suit! All comfy and soft as if it were pjs. The shell on the back makes it uncomfortable for sleeping in but so fun to wear during the day! And Luke loves cozy pjs to wear all day long! I was torn because I knew Ster would love the pjs and might fit in them too! But I put it in the prize drawer for Luke for his weekly prize (instead of an allowance). He loves it and Ster does too! But Ster gets hot easily and Luke gets cold easily. So, Luke will wear it more often. Ster might wear it once in a while just for fun.

 Sundays we watch General Conference. Today we played puzzles in our pjs as we listened.

 

At the beginning of last week Sterling half jokingly said "We should move Athena into the boys' room and turn that room into a school room." Brilliant!

I hated having the dining table be our place to eat, school, craft and game. I tried creating a little craft station in the office but the office was already crammed with Ster's computer station and Luke's school station. So, using Athena's bedroom for a school room would also have enough space for using it as a craft room, a sew room and a game room too!

I like change. I like doing things right away when we have a good idea. So, I convinced Ster to move Athena's bed into the boys' room! We moved Athena's toys there too. And it worked! It wasn't too crowded. We fit three beds in one room.

Athena's clothing dresser stayed in the school room because the boys and girl need to get dressed in separate rooms.

We moved all the kid books into the new school room as well. The living room is so clean now! The dining table gets used for dining (and my large puzzles) now. And the kids love the new hangout room. 

Athena goes to bed half an hour before the boys and she listens to music during that time. The boys hate listening to music at bedtime. So, it works perfectly. 

I worried about putting all the kids together in one room. They don't get along so great. Tiberias needs a lot of time away from Athena. He gets annoyed easily.

Day one of the kids sharing a bedroom: They got along so well! There was no longer a division between the boys and Athena. They were now "kids"...one group. Friends.

It was amazing!

It didn't last long though. They are back to fighting and Ty wanting to not be with Athena.

At home school is going well. 

Mendel, our elementary school, PTO has hosted a couple drive by fun events for the kids. 1st there was a teacher parade. The teachers drove around the East Side waving, honking and shouting hello to the kids. Ty got to see Ms. Veazey who was leaning out the window and shouting and being fun.

We didn't see Athena's teacher though.

Then yesterday they had an ice cream truck run. They drove around the East Side with Ice Cream Truck music playing...handing out free ice cream. That was a successful one!

Relief Society tailgate party on the YCC rooftop. Social distance lunch for visiting.

My family is staying connected (the Borens) via Marco Polo and Facebook Messenger. The first half of my day is the second half of theirs...over in America. Then I turn my phone volume off each night so the family communication doesn't wake me up. ;)

Dad Boren went to Vegas to protest with a group of people who want life to go back to normal. Staying indoors for longer isn't necessary. At this point Americans should be social distancing but going back to some normality and building their immune systems toward this virus.

Corinna and Wang have been stocking up on fun doomsday items that can come in handy :

Spencer is getting more creative with his cooking!

Tereasa and David have a foster daughter Kaylee who is biologically related to David.

We celebrated Autumn's college graduation with a video stream party. 

And Jacob and his new wife Kim announced their happy news of expecting a baby!

Eliza and Florencio have been renovation their house with the help of both families!

Corona Virus COVID19 and Funny memes

All of Luke, Ty and Athena's cousins have been out of school already. The COVID19 spread around the world has been putting all schools into closure. Here at Yokota we have been safe. The virus has not reached our area.

The government is testing different people on base, people who are sick or have been possibly exposed to the virus. So far none of the test results have come back saying anyone has the virus here. But they keep testing for safety. Once it does get on base it will likely spread fast! The kids have been at school with their friends and doing things as normal.

So, to be cautious, today is the last day of school for a while. The plan is to have school closed for 3 weeks. Then open back up again. But, if the virus ends up on base I don't know that schools will open up that soon. Or at all. Today may end up being the last day of the school year!

Athena is sick. So she is missing her last day of school.
She has a cough and a runny nose and is tired. If she gets a fever...it might be the virus everyone is dreading.

The Kindergartners will have a packet of school work for the time off of school. Ty and Luke will probably have online work to do. Teachers and administrators have until Wednesday to figure it all out and get it ready for the students.

Groups of people are recommended to not meet together. Traveling is limited. You can't fly most places. All tourist attractions are closed.
The plan of the moms on base is to allow kids to play together outside. Thankfully it is Spring here now and beautiful out! We will not be letting friends come inside the house anymore.

Here are some funny but true memes from facebook right now:

Reading and My Children!

Athena is learning to read books. She is learning sight words and knows how to sound out simple words. She practices with books we have at home. Usually I help with words longer than three letters. And she read books online.

Tiberias just started reading Diary of A Whimpy Kid books. He enjoys that. He even chooses to read for fun. It's the same series Luke learned to read for fun with. I don't love the series but it sure works for my boys! Thank goodness.

Lately Luke loves listening to Harry Potter while he follows along in the cool illustrated Harry Potter books we have.

Luke and Ty enjoy listening to other stories together..."6 Minutes" series and "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Women of Yokota Ward

In our church locally we have a great group of women. As usual, a lot of them plan to move away soon. This is norm in a military ward. You always have people moving away soon. And it always seems less move in than move out...atleast here in Yokota and in South Dakota. When we lived in Italy I felt new people moved in as often as families moved out. 

Here is a photo of one of a girl's brunch from a month of so ago. We met at a Japanese place that was awesome. Americanized options and great prices as well as the most important factor...great food quality.

From left to right:
Me, Sarah Auna which I have recently become walking buddies with, Kristen Judd, Emily Petty (Athena's primary teacher last year), Elizabeth Frost whom is a friend of mine (we play tennis together and love being friends although she lives farther from me than anyone else), Christina Stull,
Amy Tree, Mary Dick, Charisse Kartchner (my best friend here currently), Allison Merrell (Bishop's wife and mom of the brand new baby in the pic), Sis. Fischer, Ingred Grey (RS Pres).

Easter weekend

Spring Break was nice. We had some warm days and some cold ones. We are restricted more now on what we can and cannot do because of the Corona Virus. It is now in the area...outside of the military base. So, we are not allowed to leave the base except to get essentials. We have to wear a mask when near people...like at the post office or going to someone's front door to meet them.

I made a small birthday cake for Brandon's big sister Emma. Her mom hired me during Spring Break.
A delicious strawberry flavored cake...

I was not planning on making any masks. We have a couple boxes of disposable and we can wear them a couple times each. But Ster needed a washable mask for work. One that matches his work uniform. So he gave me an old work shirt and I learned to make masks. I didn't have the thin elastic so I had to learn to make the tie masks ...which is much more work on my part. A lot of cutting and ironing and sewing.

Quite a few women on base have taken up making masks for the community. Selling them. But I couldn't do that. I worked on masks all week and then gave them away for free. I am sick of making masks! haha
Here are a few of the ones I made...

Friday was our 1 year in Japan...our Japaniversary. We celebrated by having cake. The kids decorated it and when Ster came home for dinner we enjoyed it as a dessert.

Saturday we had an Easter candy hunt in our house. We also dyed eggs. The kids enjoyed that.

That afternoon I took the kids to the movie theater. We biked there. Athena was on the back of our new (old) tandem bicycle. The Kartchners are moving away once this pandemic clears up. They gave us their tandem attachment. Athena and I tried it out on the way to the theater and back. It's fun for her! I think it will be good for taking her to Showa Park in the future. Because it will be a safer way to ride through the busy streets we occasionally have to on the way there. And it will be less tiring for Athena.

At the theater... I was surprised they are still open. I expected them to close it down the day we wanted to go see Trolls World Tour. But we went and enjoyed the movie!
Every other row was roped off. So that if someone sneezed or coughed it would hopefully not get on the person in front of them.
Everyone was wearing masks.

I gave the kids popcorn and water. Some of our friends were also at the movie. Athena loved the musical film so much she said it is her new favorite movie! It was fun.

That evening we went to the Kartchner's house for a fun night. Ster and I brought hot dogs, buns and smores. The Kartchners supplied lots of sides. We had dinner and hung out. We roasted the hot dogs on sticks in the backyard with their electric fire pit. And later had smores that way too.
The kids stayed up late that night. They had such a wonderful day. And Ster and I really love hanging out with Nathan and Charisse.

Sunday (today) is Easter. The kids found giant golden eggs in place of easter baskets. They were hiding around the house. Once the kids found their eggs they saw the goodies inside. Luke's bunny was cookies and cream. Ty's was a basketball chocolate crisp bunny. And Athena's a sour watermelon choc bunny. Fancy new electric toothbrushes were mom's excitement. I am praying this helps the kids have cleaner teeth each time they brush.

We watched a session of General Conference during lunch. Ster and I started working on a colorful Disney puzzle together.
Later we had a fun Easter lesson about the Savior.

Tomorrow it's back to virtual school. Ster is not working tomorrow so he will help teach and guide the kids.

Sterling has two coworkers with birthday this week. Ster asked me to make two small cakes. So, I end up making a small cake to decorate every couple weeks lately.