A Sweet Cookie

I have to file a complaint.  This quarantine has afforded me about 5 extra pounds, and it’s all thanks to our 9-year-old pastry chef in training.  Every time I turn around, she’s baking something new and irresistible.  I’m not kidding.  It would figure that the avid baker in our house would also be the one who had the least amount of schoolwork, and thus, the most free time.  Now that we are in summer vacation, look out.  

Oreo ice cream pie? Yes, please.

Banana Bread, warm from the oven?  Mmmmm ....

Giant chocolate chip cookie slice? You bet!

Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake? Oh, boy....

Plus doughnuts, raspberry tarts, black bottom cupcakes...and countless other mouth watering treats.

This sweet angel, and her sweet creations make will power really hard to come by.  I love her to death, but if this quarantine continues like this, I’m going to need to buy bigger jeans.

 

She really does want to be a pastry chef when she grows up.  I’d say she’s on a good path to reach that goal.  Since nearly birth, she’s always wanted to help me in the kitchen.  About a year ago, I took a step back and looked on while she did her baking more independently.  I sat near by and double checked, “Does the recipe really say a tablespoon of salt, not a teaspoon?”  These days, I’m not even in the same room.  At the ripe old age of 9, she’s turning into a very skilled baker.  Of course she makes mistakes, don’t we all? But that’s part of the process, learning to salvage a recipe gone wrong.

Before quarantine shut down life as we know it, I ran to the library to pick up some books to keep us entertained at home.  H’s list was almost exclusively cookbooks.  She has used them well.

We’re Praying for You!

Just so you know, the Healy Family is praying for you.  Back in mid-March, we began praying daily the Chaplet of Divine Mercy as a family for an end to Coronavirus.  We include special intentions for each decade of the chaplet.  We pray for people we love, people we know, people we’ve never met, doctors and nurses, cleaning staff, police officers, grocery store workers, the elderly, the vulnerable, the lonely, farmers, those in underdeveloped nations, government leaders, church leaders, those without jobs, teachers, students, the sick, the dying, the dead, the mourning, and just about everyone in between.

Yeah, we all want this to end.  Yes, we miss people and activities we’ve had to avoid.  There are a few missed opportunities in our past few months.  We’re getting kind of shaggy, and there’s that constant search for toilet paper and Clorox wipes.  But really, we’re lucky.  And so we continue to pray for all of you, for all of us.

Fairy houses

I know everyone thinks that this generation of kids has no imagination and needs to be entertained constantly.  You know “Back when I was a kid, we had to make our own fun...”

M is still going to be saying that when she is a grandma!  This kid is always creating, exploring and imagining.  She is the mastermind behind imaginary games like “Runaway Animals,” “Big Ella,” and “Breakfast Bunch Ball.” And she’s not just coming up with the ideas and telling everyone how to play.  She’s teaching her little sisters to have big imaginations too. She’s going to be an amazing babysitter, and an even better mom.  At the ripe age of 12, her dream is to be a grandma.  And let me tell you, she is going to be A-M-A-Z-I-N-G at that job.  Then again, she’s had some pretty good role models in that department.

When M disappears, it’s a good bet you can find her outside...wandering down by the creek, spying on baby animals, building a protective fortress for a sapling she is determined to see grow, or using little pieces of nature to create something out of her imagination.  She calls her recent structures “bark houses,” but I like to think they are fairy houses.

School’s Out for Summer!

Well, summer’s here, folks.  Summer vacation, that is.  Our school called the school year 2 weeks early.  I’m not sure if that’s because we picked up e-schooling without missing a beat, or because teachers are planning for the uncertainty of next fall, or just to end the insanity that is distance learning.

Either way, the Healy kids are wasting no time getting into the summer groove, the summer crazies!   I think I can honestly say this is our first ever last day of school picture out of uniform, and in bare feet!  But what a better way to start summer?

It's Thursday Night, People!!

It's Thursday Night!  At the Healy House under quarantine, that means Dance Party Thursday!!  It started by accident, a few songs before bed one Thursday night, and turned in to a quarantine tradition.  They love it.  It’s turned into one of those “I’m going to tell my grandkids about our dance parties during quarantine” memories.  And I bet they will. 

Before you ask, yes, the resident male teenager is invited, an yes, on a rare occasion he shows us some moves to his favorite 80's tunes.  But no, he would sooner die than let me document those moments in photo or share them publicly!

The girls, however, are perfectly at home on the dance floor and in front of the camera.

We joked for the first couple of week that while the rest of the world was stocking up on toilet paper, we should have purchased the quarantine-essential disco ball.  In the end, we added some pulsating Christmas lights to our living room decor for the time being.  It gives just the right ambiance for a family dance party.  But most importantly, we have a really good time just being together.

As an added bonus, when large gatherings are once again allowed, the Healys are going to rock all the wedding receptions, because we are a house full of “YMCA” experts now!

Sisters

It’s a pretty regular occurrence that I say to the girls, “You are so lucky to have sisters.  Even though you don’t appreciate them now, when you grow up you’ll always be there for each other.  You’ll be best friends forever.”

Let’s be honest, sometimes even I don’t believe that. But then...
...then I catch a big sister reading a little sister stacks of books....

Or someone following the example of Jesus, and washing her sister’s feet....

Yes, that really happened, and yes, it was their own idea.

I think it must be hard to be a big sister, with everyone always copying you, or wanting to play with you.

I think it must be tough being a little sister, because you get left out, shut out, and you’re never big enough for anything.

I bet sometimes being in the middle is pretty lonely.

I am sure at some point they have each wished to be an only child.  But recently the “gratitude game” has been a part of daily life, and I’ve seen the fruits.  More than one sister has admitted how lucky they are to have someone to play with.  They think about a classmates who is an only child, who, due to quarantine, cannot have a play date.  They think about the next door neighbor girl, stuck at home with only a “boring brother” who would never play dolls or barbies or grocery store.  Indeed.   They are lucky to have each other.  Today, tomorrow, forever.

Geared up for JD

DaddyHealy has to go in to work from time to time, but at least he’s geared up for the job!  JD made their own face shields that mount on a ball cap for when 6 feet of distance cannot be maintained.  Masks are required at all times in the office, but are in short supply.  Great thing we have a sewing expert in the family.  (Thanks Mom S!)

There are a lot of other safety precautions in the office as well.  Everyone entering is required to go through temperature checks.  The cafeteria is only serving grab and go meals.  The vending machines have been unplugged because they were deemed too difficult to keep appropriately cleaned.  The number of people in the building is limited and entry times must be staggered.  Sanitizer is everywhere and most everything in the building is hands free.

So even we he does have to go in to work, we feel pretty good knowing DaddyHealy is safe and protected.

How we’re keeping busy

Here is a little visual tour of how we are keeping busy at the Healy House under Quarantine...

Puzzles

More Puzzles

Science Experiments

Daily Walks

BIG Art

Distance Learning 

Dance Parties (Masks Optional)

New Hairstyles

Cooking Lessons

Sword Fights

Lots and Lots (and Lots) of Books

It’s Good to be Mom

My kiddos were worried about Mother’s Day under quarantine.  But I’ll be honest, there’s not much I need and they are a pretty creative bunch.   M made me a breakfast burrito, DaddyHealy made sure there was chocolate involved, and I got some pretty fancy bling, along with a selection of homemade cards. H gave me a drawing lesson and D gave me a hug.  Hey, those are hard to squeeze out of 14 year old boys under normal circumstances.

Most of all, I have the family that I love close at hand, safe and healthy.  And that’s  best kind of Mother’s Day.

Math and Kisses

I am a firm believer in using manipulatives in math.  I remember DaddyHealy teaching D multiplication concepts at the age of 5 or 6 using Lego bricks.  And let’s be honest, if Legos are good, chocolate must be better.

Kindergarten addition is a whole lot more fun if you can count out Hershey’s Kisses rather than fingers.  Yes, they are leftover from Christmas.  Don’t judge me.  And yes, of course I let her have one when she finished the page.

View From My Window

I wanted to share the view from my window:

When was the last time I mentioned that I love seeing how they love each other?

The weather is so capricious these days, I feel like I never know what season we are in.  Obviously the girls have the same problem.  I noticed they are wearing everything from short sleeves to winter coat and hat!

Right Where We Belong

Is anyone getting tired of seeing pictures of my cute kids doing their schoolwork anywhere but at a desk? Because let me tell you, I’m not tired of it.  At all.  I love that they can be outside.  I love that they want to be outside.  I love the freedom.

Keep Moving Forward

D had only been taking piano lessons for  about 2 months when the faucet of life was shut down to a trickle.  He had been loving it,  I mean loving it! It made me wonder why we hadn’t ventured down this path before.  However, a long time ago, I made a commitment to myself and my family that we would limit extra curricular activities in an effort to save our sanity.  One activity per child could potentially translate to being on the run 5 nights a week.  Even that sounds like too much.

But since D is homeschooled, we were able to find an amazing (fully booked) piano teacher who could sneak in lessons during the school day.  So in late January, piano became a part of D’s curriculum without sacrificing the family dinner table.  You see, we made a deal early in the 2019-2020 school year.  Our two-time regional spelling bee champ and Scripps National Spelling Bee contestant was deliberating whether or not to continue on the spelling journey and give it his all for his final year.  It was a decision between letting spelling become his main focus for this last shot at spelling his way into the finals of the National Bee, or simply moving on.  I suggested to help make that decision clearer, he create a list of other things he’d want to pursue if he were not dedicating hours a day to practicing spelling, learning language patterns, rule exceptions and words recently added to the 460,000 entry dictionary. In the end, he hung up his spelling hat and started venturing on to new challenges.

On that short list of other interests was learning to play the piano (the right way).  He’d been messing around on a keyboard, teaching himself to play songs he loves and doing a little composing too. He tried a bit with online piano lessons and piano books, but he needed a real teacher.  Luckily, we found the perfect match.  Two weeks in to his piano lesson journey, I was already wondering why we had waited so long.  It was not particularly surprising that he took to piano quickly and passionately.  Music has been very important to D for quite some time.  He is a percussionist in the band (preferring to play bells over drums), and he is almost always listening to, humming, or playing some tune.

Unfortunately, after about 2 months of lessons, our society shut down.  Luckily, his piano teacher has been continuing lessons via video conferences on zoom.  In the picture above, you can see the IPad precariously positioned on a stack of books to give the piano teacher an “over the shoulder” view of D at the keyboard.  It’s not perfect. There are definitely frustrations in learning piano (or anything!) over video conference.  But it’s better than nothing.  We keep moving forward.

DaddyHealy on the Job

Job security is a good thing.  DaddyHealy’s job has been deemed an essential business, critical to sustaining the food chain.  So, even though our state remains under strict stay at home orders, the company is plugging along, even if it is not business as usual.  The factory is operating, new product development is on-going, and DaddyHealy is as busy as ever, if not more so.  

Although the  factory and offices are open and allowed to operate, employees who can work from home are encouraged to do so.  So, back at the beginning of April, we sorted out the best place for a “home office,” as any office-type room in our house has long ago been converted to a bedroom.  

Choosing the right spot was more complicated than I imagined.  Since there are 6 other Healys spending literally every hour of every day in this house, we had to consider nap times, school schedules, play time, noise levels, wi-fi strength, and more.  The master bedroom won out and is currently doubling as home office.  In a short afternoon we relocated furniture, pulled together supplies and created a work space that has been DaddyHealy’s primary space for the last 5 weeks.

Granted, I am not the one who has to work here, but I have to say, it has been nice having DaddyHealy at home all day, even if behind a closed door.   In the morning he gets ready and dresses in his work clothes, puts on his badge, packs his cooler with drinks and snacks, makes his coffee in his travel mug, and takes the short walk to the “office.”  Sometimes we share breakfast before the kids are up.  When he takes a break mid-morning and comes out for a quick hello, he is attacked by little girls looking for their morning hug.  I love that this is the new routine.

He has only needed to go into the office around once a week, so we get to eat lunch together almost every day.  After lunch, he clips his badge back on, (joking he wont be able to get back into the “office” without it) and makes the short commute down the hall back to his office.

I roll up a towel at the bottom of the door each morning to cut down on the noise, and it must be working.  Although we have school at home noise, live streaming lessons and piano classes, flute practice, sibling bickering, kids’ zoom meetings and the usual chaos that is home life with 5 kids, he hasn’t left running back to the office so he can concentrate.  He’s actually told me he hears me shushing the little Healys more than he hears the kids’ noises.  Oh.

So for now, we are 7 Healys doing what we do here on the Big River.  More than ever, we are learning to be considerate of each other.  Yes, we are rearranging our schedules and belongings a bit to make it all work.  But isn’t this a nice, intimate reminder of serving one another on the most basic, familial level? Today we are choosing to show our love for DaddyHealy by using our quiet voices so he can take care of us by doing his job at home, a place where we can all be safe and happy together.