Boredom

Raise your hand if you have been bored during this quarantine at home. Yes, my hand is very high in the air. My kids and husband have too. It is not necessarily a bad thing. This time has taught all of us to come up with creative ways to keep busy. Use our imaginations. It has re-taught me how to slow down, something I have not done since having kids. There have been tears and emotions, schoolwork (which is not a favorite part of the day around here) and lots of downtime. Here is another week of the good and bad. We remain healthy so all is good for now at Casa Block.

So many feelings of boredom and sadness ❤️

This girl was having a hard day…

But ordering dinner in really helped our overall moods

These are the moments that capture my heart.

I love that they love to read

Family game night!

Bed head

The bro-mance continues as they create a secret handshake move

Bingo zoom with Grandparents

Butts up….all the time

Dishes & scooter rides

Class zoom session

Sooooo much lounging

Chandler

Devices galore

Our new hangout- “The Clubhouse”

When notes come flying down the stairs after bedtime…

Paige Lauren Masks for our family! paigelauren.com

Mother daughter matching masks

Happy Birthday Chandler!

Boooooored…

Zooming

Weekly Challah time

Sibling life wrestling and dancing simultaneously

Shabbat Shalom

This shirt is SO me.

Getting ready for teacher appreciation week

Bicycle gang

Birthday Party Zoom prep

A little TV time

Baseball practice

Bday zoom- baking a cake with friends

These two ❤️

Masks & Cupcakes

Birthday games

Weekend vibes.

Virtual Sleepover

Birthday Celebration!

Happy Birthday Beau!

It’s the little things.

This week was pretty much the same as the others though a couple things were a little different but made a big difference. For the first time EVER, my husband offered to clean the house. I didn’t think it would actually happen. But he did it and it gave me the day off from cleaning. Don’t get me wrong, I still did laundry, helped with the kids school work, tidied the kitchen as I do over and over every day. But I didn’t have to scrub the toilets or vacuum the floors and it was REALLY nice. My list was long and he did it all. He hasn’t had a lot of work since we have been home and I am so grateful for all of his help with the kids and sharing responsibilities.

We also had a bit of a heat wave in LA this week so Friday we quit school early to do outside water play and it was perfect. For one afternoon it didn’t feel like quarantine and home school, it felt like a relaxing day at home. The kids had the best time and it was wonderful. The weekend was nice too, though Friday took the cake with outdoor play, baking, Shabbat with friends and a game night. Now I have a bit of the Sunday night blues but hopefully it will be a good week. The sun will be shining so that is a start.

Class zoom session- Superhero Day

So this is a photo of toilet paper I ordered in March just as the quarantine began. I ordered from what I thought was a legitimate site but went back to check my order two weeks later and the site was gone. I thought I was taken. Then today this came. This is what $72 worth of toilet paper looks like! Dollar bill for size reference LOL.

Class science project zoom presentation & Go Noodle exercise break.

My list and my hero this week!

I taught PE this week. The kids hated it. At least they will appreciate having their dad do it!

Lunchtime Zoom with class

Epic online read-a-loud books

All day cleaning. I’ve never been more attracted to him 😊

Car parade for a friend’s birthday

Sums up most days around here.

Zoom with my family

Learning

Morning walk.

Decided to do school work mostly outdoors today.

Challah attempt #2. Chocolate chip challah with a new recipe. One for us and one for my parents.

Ready to bake!

Afternoon water balloons & water play.

Good old fashioned fun and genuine smiles all afternoon.

Slip n’ slide

Left is our Shabbat setup and right was an unhappy brother. Sibling arguments are daily around here.

Zoom Shabbat with friends.

Followed by an online game night.

Saturday chores- washing scooters & bikes and cleaning out the garage.

And loads of lounging. Bored kids.

Activity #216457

Another week has passed and we continue to find ways to stay “busy” each day. The kids went back to online learning and have a bit more routine in the day. Their teachers have been meeting with them on zoom and we monitor and assist with school work. There is a lot of boredom. And a lot of screen time. And a lot of repetition. It feels a little strange to continue posting the same kind of photos week after week but that is our life now and it is what we are living. Wishing you all health and wellness in this stressful time.

Legos, Legos, Legos

Lounging & scooters

Daily Family walk

Class Lunchtime Zoom

Online learning

He wanted to help with dinner! My budding chef.

Outdoor dinner

Does everyone have shirtless dad’s working out in their living room?

Street Biking

Making his bed every morning

I decided to attempt to make Challah for the first time. I came back to it throughout the day.

My daughter practicing for her Zoom presentation of her research on the Oak Tree.

Letting the bread rise.

Daily Daddy PE

A school assignment with a checklist of what to include. There were many tears in creating this but a happy boy to present the final outcome.

Kneading the dough.

The girls baked together and the boys played catch.

Aaaand here it is. A little wonky but looked pretty good for a first attempt. Wasn’t the tastiest but looking forward to trying again.

Shabbat Shalom!

At least she liked it!

Zoom game night- Apples to Apples with families

Haircuts….again. Taking turns cutting hair.

Another game night, just us 4. Apples to Apples again.

Our newest furniture rearrange. 2 couches pushed together=perfect hangout spot.

Biking. Again.

And chalk.

And lounging.

Lost in laundry.

Our living room setup this week.

First ever banana split because, why not?

Adult game night with family.

Selfie (not my best angle LOL)

Learning with her class.

Go Noodle & Legos

And when a large package of new TP arrives and we are bored? We play.

Spring Break 2020

Last week we had spring break off from online learning and a time to celebrate Passover and Easter. It was a rainy week and a week that is normally spent traveling and with family for the holidays so this year was definitely different from the past. Here are photos from the past week. There are more photos than usual in this post because there were more days between posts. It has been a roller coaster of emotions but ultimately we are happy and healthy which is all that really matters.

Family Game nights have become a regular occurrence in our home

Making matzo bark for Passover

Family basketball- knockout

Our Passover Seder

A quick family portrait before dinner

Zoom Seder with family

Spring Break art project #768…

Lazy days…

Drawing with our cousin

Dying Easter Eggs

Zoom Easter egg making with grandparents

First Zoom with Great Gramma Lola

7 year old haircut day….

Coloring hair with hair chalk

I let them do my hair too

I am so impressed with the many ways my kids have come up with to keep busy. Racing cars into a pool of water

All this rain has lead us to create an indoor gym

Making soccer videos for coaches

Family walks. Masks are now required for going outdoors.

First ever virtual sleepover on Zoom

Creating a comic book

Happy birthday Aunt Lauren

500 piece puzzle

Easter morning- real egg hunt downstairs

Afternoon plastic Egg hunt upstairs

Rain + Easter = an emotional day for me.

Back to school- online learning that is…

My newest Toy

This week I ordered a remote camera shutter release. Basically it is a remote control to fire the camera so I can essentially be in the photo and take the picture at the same time. Many people have asked if it makes me sad to not be present in the photos I have captured through this home quarantine series. While I am most comfortable behind the camera, I think it is nice to be present in some of the photos so when my kids look back on the experience they remember me as being part of it. I have struggled with the focus of the images as it is tricky to get it right without looking through the lens but that is one of the great challenges that has pushed me outside my comfort zone of shooting in new ways and keeps me inspired. I am still experiencing the emotional highs and lows of this crazy journey we are on but shooting daily has been very helpful in giving me purpose and continuing to push myself creatively. I feel I am continuing to grow as a photographer and will continue to push the boundaries to expand my photographic knowledge and ability during this time at home. Here are some photos from Friday through today:

Keeping Busy….

Our family has been trying to keep our spirits up and ourselves occupied during our quarantine. We are in week 3 and it may seem that these photos are redundant from previous posts– because they are. We are doing many of the same activities and adding some new ones. Bare with me as there are a lot of photos in this post. I am really striving to capture it all and make the mundane look a little more special so my kids will look back on this time and remember the good that came of it. We are healthy and settling into this new lifestyle as best we can. It is hard but we are making it work. For now, here are my photos and my “journal” notes for each. Sending you all wishes for good health and safety.

Kids daily PE class with Coach Block- boxing

Shabbat dinner with grandparents

Playing, playing, playing….

…and lounging

Backyard visit with the grandparents for my mom’s birthday

Keeping their distance

Happy Birthday Grandy!

Chalk art has been a GREAT activity for our family

We have decided to order in once a week to change it up and support local restaurants

Family movie night in sleeping bags

Followed by a slumber party!

Getting ready to head to the grocery store (left) then home to join in the obstacle course fun

hubby & kids created an amazing obstacle course and we took turns timing each other

This week we had 3 family birthday celebrations so we made cupcakes for each bday zoom chat

Jaelyn learned how to hit a ball off the tee

Birthday zoom #1 for Grandma “Grandy” with the family

Quick birthday stop the next morning for Grandma “Nagyi'”s birthday

Online learning in the Seesaw app

Evening birthday zoom with Nagyi’s family & friends

With all this online learning, the kids are learning to use computers.

Our Zoom Chat room (needs some organizing!)

Daily assignments on Seesaw

This boy loves to read!

Shooting soccer practice videos to send to coaches.

So happy he is eager to learn photography! I got out old cameras for each kid to keep and play with. Let the photo lessons begin!

Art Hub for Kids has been a wonderful online art class for our family.

Chatting with friends.

Happy birthday Cousin B! Birthday Zoom #3!

Starting to wake up and prepare their own meals

Morning walks around the neighborhood.

Working on a science project for class.

My husband is working on strengthening his core. He spends time every day doing various exercises to improve his body. Very inspirational.

Our home is constantly shifting the locations where we each do work, school and chats.

Today I asked them to show me expressions of how this quarantine and Coronavirus epidemic feels to them (left). Then their dad pulled a quick April Fools prank to capture the photo on the right!

I have decided to work at being in more of the photos. I have purchased something that will help but it has not come yet. Today I set the camera on a tripod and asked the kids to join me. I have never taken a portrait of myself with them until today.

Groundhog’s Day

So we are well into the second week of our home isolation and it sure does feel like we are repeating the same day over and over. Don’t get me wrong- we are happy and healthy which is so important right now. But we feel like we are living the movie “Groundhog’s Day”. Every morning we wake up and go for a family walk, do school work, my husband leads PE lessons, they have online learning, reading time, free time, online play dates, soccer lessons— AND repeat. To spice it up, my son wanted his head shaved and my daughter got slime stuck in her hair and decided to cut it out. In the front. To the scalp. *sigh* Here are some photos from the last several days. Nothing special or out of the ordinary, just a way to document our time in quarantine. Stay healthy and safe out there!

My daughter is showing an interest in learning photography!

He asked to shave his head….why not

Family walk

PE Class

Class Zoom

PE class

Lego building online playdate!

Online chat with friends

Board games

SLR selfie!

Online “play date” with buddies

Facetime soccer lesson

Document your days

It is Sunday morning and we have been home for a week. We are starting to settle into new life with online learning and visiting friends, phone calls, home activities, walks around the neighborhood, countless projects and ways to play in different spaces of our home. Washed countless dishes and loads of laundry and washing hands till they are chapped but this is all part of our quarantine. The most important thing is that my kids are having fun and are not scared. They have been bored- WE have been bored. But they are getting so much time to do the things that we can never seem to fit in and we are doing it all TOGETHER. I think it is important for parents to document these days. Even if it is capturing time on the ipad or reading a book, it will be wonderful for our children to look back at this time as a special and meaningful time in their lives. A time where life slowed down and they were able to spend quality time with family and new ways of communicating with friends, relatives, teachers, coaches, etc. Someday their kids will learn about this in their history books and what a great gift for our kids to have pictures to show them. These days may feel long and the activities may seem menial but capturing smiles and togetherness will go a long way in their memories of this time and that may be one of the positives to take from all of this. Here are some photos from our last two days. I will continue to capture and post our everyday as a visual diary and to keep myself shooting and doing what I love.

Family morning walks around the neighborhood

Online Learning

Oh the laundry 😩

Getting outside for breaks between work

Kids are making their beds every day

Our dog has never been happier

Homemade slime

Making popcorn for movie night

Painting rocks. We had a kit from the holidays but this is an easy activity. The kids hid the rocks around the yard and we had to find them.

Best fort yet!

The kids thought it would be fun to surprise us with a restaurant for two. They created a menu and served our lunch. Definitely a highlight!

Our menu and one of our servers

We drew in our driveway and walkway for people walking to enjoy

Laser Tag

Bubble bath with bathing suits because….why not

Annnnnnd…..family game night

Our New Normal…

In a time filled with fear and frustration, laughter and tears, I have gone through a wave of emotions as our family adjusts to being home-bound indefinitely. I have gone from working mom and chauffeur to home-school teacher and housekeeper. All while feeling afraid of the unknown that surrounds us all- the fear of getting sick in this awful pandemic. As we navigate our new schedule, I have learned a lot about myself and what seems to be working best. For one, a schedule did not work for us. It made me feel bad when I was behind, tense when I was late and disappointed when we did not complete my expectations. Today, we tore it up and it was our best day yet. I am striving for a balance between having the kids learning and doing school work and having fun and memorable experiences. I think it is important to have them connecting with friends but not overdoing it and feeling sad or frustrated. As we navigate this journey I have decided to pull out my camera and capture some of what we are doing in our days together. We have baked, learned, played, laughed and cried. Here are a few pictures of our week thus far. Many more photos to come. I would just like to take the time to say how grateful I am for the health of those I love and hope you all are hanging in there during this very scary and unusual time.

Sweet sleepy girl

Newborn baby sessions are done in the early days of the baby’s life to ensure they are sleepy and able to sleep in those sweet little tuck positions. There are other tricks that help to keep them sleepy and happy too- lots of milk and a warm room with white noise. All of these tools help make the session easiest on baby. This sweet little girl was at the perfect age and slept like a champ. Her parents were so kind and open to getting creative, which I love! Here are some photos from our newborn session.