Our COVID Adventures- Week 11

Week 11 of Quarantine

May 24- 30, 2020 

May 24th 

This was not our TYPICAL COVID Sunday, because today WE GET TO SEE FAMILY! It has been 92 day since we had seen any of our family. We had Facetime, Marco Polo and called nearly every day but to be able to actually SEE them and HUG them was so special. We did take extra precautions due to COVID but I could not see family and NOT HUG them! In fact, I am not even a hugger but I NEEDED those Hug! Gigi Shirley, Poppy and Auntie Allie traveled down from Tyler to spend Sunday and Memorial Day Monday with us. 

Needless to say... We were ALL HAPPY! 

May 25th- Happy Memorial Day 

The day started at the Irons track as all 7 of us ran and got our miles in. The boys played baseball for a bit before getting on the track and walking/ running with us. I was able to get in a 5K with my mom, dad and sister while Chris walked a few laps around the track and the kids rode their bikes in the parking lot. 

We spent the afternoon shopping with Gigi and Auntie Allie and riding bikes. Chris did some smoking while we all played and rode bikes. Even Gigi Shirley, the coolest Gigi ever, rode the bike in the street with the kids. It was the perfect way to spend our holiday. 

They ALL had so much fun riding bikes!

Oh to be a KID Again! 

Thank you SO MUCH for coming to see us! It was a perfect way to spend the Memorial Day Holiday! We LOVE YOU! 

May 26th 

It was a long day of department meetings and faculty meetings as we wrapped up this school year. I learned via a Zoom faculty meeting that my principal, Mr. Condarco, was leaving to take a job at Porter High School. Even though I had only worked for him for just 1 year, he was literally the BEST admin I have EVER HAD! He was just THAT good! It was a sad day but I wish him nothing but the best! 

How we spend our evenings nowadays!

THIS is our new normal! 

May 27th 

This day was Zoom-a-palooza and was spent literally ALL day on zoom meetings. One after the next during the hours of 8-4. I sat in 6 different learning sessions and got great ideas and tips for starting next year and finalizing grades and etc. It was a long and exhausting day but a necessary "evil" at the end of the year! 

May 28th

This was the OFFICIAL last day of our contact for 2019-2020 and we got all of our final details wrapped up before 3PM. It felt good to get this crazy, weird and what seemed like LONG year finally closed! I cannot believe I have been teaching for 15 years. I can retire after 32 years so 2020-2021 will be the LAST year of my FIRST HALF of teaching! That is wild! 

15 years of teaching MUSIC.. COMPLETE! 

9 years of teaching HS Math... DONE!

Next year he will have been teaching for a DECADE! A WHOLE DECADE!

May 29th 

Since it was our first official day of summer, we decided to take a day trip to College Station. I have been there a few times in college while in the traveling band for The Pride of Oklahoma at OU but it had been over a decade since that trip. I dressed the kids in OU apparel, naturally, and we got in the car and made the 90 minute trip. It was an uneventful but gorgeous scenic drive. We tried to tour the campus on our own but while looking for a parking spot got pulled over by TAMU police. It was a little aggravating since NOBODY was on campus but we were very nice and did everything he asked of us! He gave us a warning and was nice in the end. In fact, after a few hours of touring TAMU, we ate lunch at Chicken Oil restaurant and saw this same policeman ordering lunch. I offered to pay for his lunch but he refused. It is just funny how those things work! It was a great day touring Texas A&M and even though Natalie is only in 6th grade, she knows she wants to go to a BIG UNIVERSITY! I told her to start prepping for that NOW! 

#BOOMERSOONER

It's a MUST... ALWAYS! 

This was a great FIRST TRIP of the Summer! 

The Tijuana fries at Chicken Oil!

These are worth the trip... DAILY! WOW, they are SO GOOD! 

May 30th 

BASEBALL IS FINALLY BACK! Well 7U baseball is! Luke had his first tournament since February 28th and it felt SO GOOD to be back! It was hot and humid but our baseball hearts were SO HAPPY! 

This boy was SO READY to be back! 

The new way of "GOOD GAME". We social distanced at the park and honestly, it was not that bad! We played at The Scrapyard so it was very large and well laid out! Not all baseball parks will be this way! But we are willing to make sacrifices, like spacing and etc to enjoy baseball again! 

It was a great end to our school year and start to our summer! I have no idea how this summer will look compared to what we are used to but we are determined to make the most of it!

CHEERS TO SUMMER 2020! 

But through it all, we know that GOD is still in CONTROL and HE IS STILL ON HIS THRONE! We will continue to look to HIM for answers and continue to pray for this situation and those it is effecting! 

Even in the midst of all of this... 

GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME!

Check out our COVID Adventures: 

The Prequel- December to Mid-March 2020

Week 1: March 15-21

Week 2: March 22-28

Week 3: March 29- April 4

Week 4: April 5-11

Week 5: April 12-18

Week 6: April 19-25

Week 7: April 26- May 2

Week 8: May 3-9

Week 9: May 10-16

Week 10: May 16-23

Our COVID Adventures- Week 10

Week 10 of Quarantine

May 17-23, 2020

It's the LAST WEEK of school and we are all ready! It's been an interesting end to our school year... to say the least! 

May 17th 

Another week started off right with church services online. This has been one of the best blessings during all of the COVID... being able to watch My Daddy preach AND listen to his and our home pastor, Dr. Chaddick preach each and every Sunday. We spent the rest of the day outside walking around the neighborhood and enjoying our pool. 

May 18th 

It is the LAST Monday of the school (even for the following Professional Development week as Monday is a holiday). This always feels SO GOOD but not this year. I was worried for my orchestra kids and was going to miss them. We had one last zoom but this one was just for fun and more of a social party than anything else. I passed out a few awards on the zoom and said our goodbyes. It just felt so wrong! 

Today's Monday- Runday put me at 100 miles ran since the shutdown! I am feeling good! 

May 19th 

As I was out doing errands, I went to Academy and saw they FINALLY had trampolines in stock. We had been looking for a new LARGE outdoor toy since the 2nd week of the shutdown. Our play-set had seen better days and was honestly, becoming a safety hazard. The previous week, Chris and the kids took out their aggression on the old wood of the play-set and set it on the curb for trash. This was the perfect timing for a new trampoline. I grabbed it and we were excited to get it all set up! 

This! This is happening... TODAY! 

May 20th 

This was a very special day as it was Luke's Award day via Zoom and Natalie had her End of the Year 5th Grade Drive By Parade at the New Caney Elementary. It was so SPECIAL and NEAT to be able to see all of her teachers and a few friends in the short period of time we got to drive by! It was a very bittersweet end to her elementary years but she had a blast! 

She is ready for the Drive By Parade! I am SO PROUD OF YOU NATTIE GRACE! 

This parade was very well organized and so SPECIAL! Thank you NCE Admin and Staff for making this happen! 

Luke got 8 different awards, including the Eagle Pride Boy award, which is basically the best behaved and most academic boy in his class. This is the top award any student can get! In fact, he recieved this award in the Fall AND the Spring! We could not be more proud of this little guy! 

Way to go Luke the Duke! 

May 21st 

This was another excited day as I was able to go to Keefer for the Keefer Drive By Parade. This was really neat and I saw about 15 of my orchestra kids pass by with their families! With masks on and 90* weather... It was still just perfect! What a way to end the school year! 

Not many people understood my sign, especially when driving by, but I LIKED IT! And my orchestra kids got it so that is all that matter! I love you KCMS Orchestra! Have a GREAT SUMMER! 

May 22nd 

It's FINALLY the last day of school! The last day of 5th Grade. The last day of 2nd grade. The last day of Chris's 9th year of teaching and the last day of my 15th year of teaching. We survived this CRAZY year and in many ways, it was one of the best ever! It took us 9 years in Texas but we were FINALLY ALL TOGETHER! There were many speed bumps in the road but God got us through! Thank you Jesus! Here's to 2020-2021! 

How can this be? My BABY is headed to MIDDLE SCHOOL! Stop it.. STOP IT NOW! 

And my little guy is NOT SO LITTLE ANYMORE! 

Natalie had her awards today and once again, she brought home the "bacon". She ended up getting about 15 awards including the Eagle Pride Girl Award. As mentioned previously for Luke, this is the highest and most prestigious award a student can get. We are SO PROUD OF YOU Nattie Grace! 

We attempted to put together the trampoline on our own in the afternoon but once we got to the SPRING part, we learned we were just not strong enough! What a complete failure we were! I called the Assemblers Inc. who had put together the swing set and our treadmill years ago and they set us up with an appointment for Monday, Memorial Day. The cost of assembly was nearly as much as the trampoline itself but I feel it is worth it to ensure the proper assembly and safety for my kids! 

The BEFORE picture... 

OUR after picture! HAHA... Face palm, WE SUCK! 

May 23rd 

After we went to the track to get our miles in, Natalie and I went out to go shopping for the first time since March. We went to our favorite store, TJ MAXX, and it was glorious! Plus, they were having GREAT deals with lots of clearance. A little retail therapy never hurt anyone, right! 

This feels SO GOOD... And SO WEIRD!

How do health professionals do this ALL DAY! 

We also stopped at Academy to get Luke some new sliding shorts for baseball since practices, started this week. While at Academy we ventures into the bike section and low and behold was a single teenage girls sized bike. We had been looking online and anytime I went to Walmart but like the trampoline, they were all sold out! This was a God send and once Natalie got on and realized it was the perfect size, we knew we HAD TO GET IT! 

We brought it home and she got right on and rode it like she had been riding a bike for YEARS! She was SO HAPPY! Way to go Natalie Grace! 

This girl was SO HAPPY! And the bike was PERFECT!

Money well spent! 

Luke was hot from riding bikes with Natalie so Oxford tried to cool him off!

We ended the night with our tradition of ice cream on the last day of school... or in this case, the day after the last day of school! I absolutely LOVE this tradition! It signals the START OF SUMMER! 

Happy Summer 2020 with Dairy Queen blizzards! 

It was a busy but exciting week as we wrapped up this crazy school year. This means SUMMER is about to start! Chris and I had one more week of professional development before summer officially begins! We are ready! 

But through it all, we know that GOD is still in CONTROL and HE IS STILL ON HIS THRONE! We will continue to look to HIM for answers and continue to pray for this situation and those it is effecting! 

Even in the midst of all of this... 

GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME!

Check out our COVID Adventures: 

The Prequel- December to Mid-March 2020

Week 1: March 15-21

Week 2: March 22-28

Week 3: March 29- April 4

Week 4: April 5-11

Week 5: April 12-18

Week 6: April 19-25

Week 7: April 26- May 2

Week 8: May 3-9

Week 9: May 10-16

Our COVID Adventures- Week 9

Week 9 of Quarantine

May 10- 16, 2020 

May 10th- HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 

Once again, this holiday was like none we have ever experienced (Except those holidays since March 2020, haha). But it was so good to be able to spend the day at home completely surrounded by my kids and family. We started the day watching the online services from my Daddy at Arp Emmanuel Baptist Church and our home church of Mims Baptist Church. Afterwards, we went and got Mama Juanita's Fajita Family Pack to go! This was not near as good as eating it in the restaurant but was a perfect meal for my special day. 

I am SO BLESSED! I am so lucky God chose ME to be their mommy!

I love you Natalie and Luke! 

May 11th 

This was a busy day FULL of zoom meetings as the rest of the week was going to be spent at Keefer trying to get inventory documented and my room ready for the summer. I had our last "official" zoom meeting with my kids for the 2019-2020 school year. It was very bitter sweet and I am going to miss these kids so much!

I went to get the mail and noticed a VERY large box at the front door. I opened it to find a huge canvas of our Abbey girl. There was no card or return address. We called our parents and siblings to see who may have sent it and come to find out a VERY good family friend from church sent it to us. Susan, who also was the family who watched the kids while we took Abbey to the vet, sent us this gorgeous canvas as a simple reminder of our Abbey. This was the most special gift, perhaps, anyone has ever given me! I just cried and cried! Thank you Susan, and family, and may God bless you!

This was PERFECT! Thank you Susan SO MUCH!  

By dinner time, my Mother's Day gift had arrived. It is a small patio furniture dining set for the back yard to go with Chris's new grill. It is PERFECT! 

My new patio dinner set! It is small and able to fold up when not in use! 

May 12th 

This is going to be a VERY EXCITING DAY! I am going to be able to go back to my classroom for MORE THAN 10 minutes. I had to fill out a Covid questionnaire prior to entering the building but this was going to be the new normal I'm sure. Once I got to campus, it felt SO GOOD! I miss this so much! I finally found my home! THIS is where I belong! 

I was able to do inventory on all of my orchestra instruments and get them ready for the summer. I was also able to go through the new uniforms and get them organized and hung up. I spent most of the day there getting everything organized and unlike the past "end of the year cleaning days", this one just felt SO GOOD! I didn't leave campus until past 8PM but it was AWESOME! 

It felt so good to get all of this cleaned and organized! 

Plus be able to get all of our new uniforms hung up! 

May 13th 

I went back up to school again to wait for kids to come and pick up any instruments or other supplies they may need. I was able to organize even more as I waited for kids to show up and I was also able to talk with the band director and choir director on the other side of the building. About 20 of my 110 kids showed up and that was the most special thing of whole day. I was not able to hug their necks or even give them a high five but to see their smiling face was all I needed to get through the end of the year! 

May 14th 

I went back up to school one more time to ensure all of the instruments had been picked up and notice there were still 3 kids who had not come and got their private instrument. I called them all and after waiting most of the afternoon, I called and told them I would bring it to them! WOW... What an experience that afternoon was. I went to the very back of our school zone to a, well... let's just say questionable neighborhood. The road was not paved and the mom told me to just pull in and wait for her to come from the back of the "housing area". Someone pulled behind me and started honking at me to move and then cursing at me. He kept honking... Then all of the sudden about 15 people came out of 5-6 trailers with GUNS! No lie... I called Chris via speakerphone and told him to be quiet. I literally was not sure what was going to happen. A man came out with the gun on his shoulder and said "can I help you ma'am?" As I was shaking with nervousness I explained I had an upright bass and cello in the back for my students. The car behind me honked for me to move and then passed alongside me in a hurry. I waited for nearly 20 minutes before the mom came up from the back of this "neighborhood" to get the instruments. Needless to say, I had to use the bathroom after all this! Wow... It is just a good reminder of how good we have it! This was such an eye opener! May God bless this family and the many others having to live in this type of situation! Whew.. .What a day! 

May 15th 

After a long week of what seemed like life back to normal... I was exhausted. I helped the kids get caught up on their school work before we all spent the day watching family movies and playing board games. Luke had a lot of fun doing activities with "Flat Mrs. Wolf" too! 

This is the most unique thing I have ever seen! Thank you Mrs. Wolf for all you do!

We love you! 

Locally
Governor Abbot announced the Phase II of the Re-Open Texas plan. This meant that bars, wineries, salons and many more places could open but at a much reduced capacity. Not all businesses opened but many did! We were still be extremely cautious. The kids still did not go out to stores with me and we were not eating in restaurants just yet.

May 16th 

It was Saturday and that meant that it was my LONG running day! We all went to the track (even Oxford) and got in our miles. I did a 10K and did about 80% running and only 20% walking which was good. But I knew with hot weather just around the corner, I would have to REALLY work to keep those percentages that high. Another Saturday tradition was grilling and we spent the afternoon enjoying the pool and grilling! 

It's steak night! YUMMY! 

Luke was a happy little boy (who ate more than even Chris...)! 

This was a great week full of fun and exciting times. I loved getting to spend 3 days up in my classroom, even with the weird feelings that went along with it! Just 2 more weeks of school for us... We are almost there! 

But through it all, we know that GOD is still in CONTROL and HE IS STILL ON HIS THRONE! We will continue to look to HIM for answers and continue to pray for this situation and those it is effecting! 

Even in the midst of all of this... 

GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME!

Check out our COVID Adventures: 
The Prequel- December to Mid-March 2020

Week 1: March 15-21

Week 2: March 22-28

Week 3: March 29- April 4

Week 4: April 5-11

Week 5: April 12-18

Week 6: April 19-25

Week 7: April 26- May 2

Week 8: May 3-9

Our COVID Adventures- Week 8

Week 8 of Quarantine

May 3- May 9, 2020 

May 3rd 

After watching the church services for both Poppy and Bro Jerry from Mims online, we decided to have a picnic in the front yard. I went and got Whataburger for all of us and we set up the tent awning in the yard. Natalie, Luke and I took a long walk and Luke and I even rode our bikes around the neighborhood. Natalie tried my bike but struggle since it was just too big for her. Luke still had his small bike from Kindergarten and was using training wheels but we had such a great time. 

Oxford wanted to be a part of the picnic as well! 

I love spending time with my babies! They are growing up WAY TOO FAST! 

Luke and I got in over 2 miles on our bikes! I was very proud of him! 

I think he will be ready to take off the training wheels VERY SOON! 

Daddy tried to get Luke to do pull ups on the tree branch but it was just not working out! 

May 4th 

It was Teacher Appreciation Week and Chris and I were trying to prepare for the end of the school year. This was one of the last few weeks for zoom classes so I tried really hard to get some neat lessons for my kids. I had been working for nearly 3 weeks on a Beethoven Escape Room but it was not working for whatever reason. I was on hold with my campus media person for over an hour and it still was not working. I shed many tears and by the end of the day... I was done! I AM SO OVER THIS! 

This is what a typical school day looked like for us! EVERYONE was busy teaching/ learning! 

May 5th 

After a full day of school work for the kids and a long day of grading and making teaching videos, we decided a scenic drive was in order. We all, even Oxford, got in the car and headed west past Montgomery. It was a great escape for us all. 

This boy is living his best life! He is so spoiled now that Abbey is gone! 

Davis Family is ready for a road trip! 

May 6th 

After a morning of teaching and zoom meetings, we went to the Costco parking lot to see the Blue Angels fly over The Woodlands. I had no idea so many people would be out to see this spectacular event. There was NO SOCIAL DISTANCING going on as EVERY parking spot was taken BUT... Everyone stayed in their cars until the fly over so it was fine! This was SO COOL! But it was gone in an instant! 

We are getting ready for the Blue Angels! 

This flyover was SO COOL! 

May 7th 

Natalie and went to New Caney to go and pick up items from New Caney Elementary School. This included the Yearbook for which Natalie decorated the back cover in art class. It was neat to be able to see a few of her teachers. She will never see them again as in August she comes over to my school... MIDDLE SCHOOL! Where has the time gone? Since it was Teacher Appreciation Week, we decided to get those few staff members on campus to pass out stuff some SONIC drinks. It felt SO GOOD to give back and have even a little bit of normalcy! 

Luke got a goodie bag from Mrs. Wolf! Full of all kinds of stuff and even a "Flat Mrs. Wolf" to take with you on all your summer adventures! It was so cute! 

Time for Nerf Gun Wars... Doesn't everyone do this on Thursday nights? 

May 8th- FIELD DAY 

This week was National Field Day Week and we had been doing lots of different activities all week for the PE lessons but today it was all documented for points. All 4 of us got out there and did the activities. From Shoe Toss to Penguin Jump, we all did it! It was so much fun! 

We sat up camp as the cheerleaders but we DID do several of the activities! 

Luke's favorite event was the scavenger hunt!

It is amazing what all you can find around your house! 

It was so much fun to be a part of this as parent!

For the past 6 years I have been on the sidelines helping my co-teacher (Coach B and Coach S) RUN field day! 

After the field day activities, we started on Home Improvement project #2, the backyard leveling/ The dogs had dug MASSIVE holes near the back wall of our house to use as shade and it was time to fill those holes and level it out. We bought 15 bags of soil and filled in the holes before placing square deck bricks on top of the soil in hopes of Oxford not digging there again. It was an EXHAUSTING task and we learned we needed to pressure wash the back of our house but in the end it looked SO MUCH better than before. 

We were all working VERY hard to get the holes filled! 

The soil has filled the holes... Time to lay the pavers! 

The finished product did not look great but much better than before. Now we just need to pressure wash and spray Round-up! 

May 9th 

We went to the track to get in our miles. I planned on doing a 10K for the #CrushCorona virtual race I signed up for. The boys did some baseball practice and then joined us on the track. In the end, we did a FULL MARATHON as a family! Chris even got in a 5K. This included the miles to and from the house as well as "the long way" home just to get the 26.2 miles. It was such an accomplishment! 

This was such a big accomplishment! 26.9 miles from all of us! 

The rest of our Saturday was spent outside in our new inflatable pool from Walmart! Not bad for $25. While the kids were swimming, Chris was smoking chicken on his new grill! It was a PERFECT way to end the day! 

The kids were SO HAPPY! 

This chicken was AMAZING!

This was a busy week of teaching and schoolwork but we knew the end of the school year was near! We just need to hang on! 

"Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming!" 

But through it all, we know that GOD is still in CONTROL and HE IS STILL ON HIS THRONE! We will continue to look to HIM for answers and continue to pray for this situation and those it is effecting! 

Even in the midst of all of this... 

GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME!

Check out our COVID Adventures: 
The Prequel- December to Mid-March 2020

Week 1: March 15-21

Week 2: March 22-28

Week 3: March 29- April 4

Week 4: April 5-11

Week 5: April 12-18

Week 6: April 19-25

Week 7: April 26- May 2