The BrehiThomas Family Blog: March 2020

This was the beginning of COVID closures/changes....

Date with Crepes

Luckily, we had planned a family day of going to Sweet Paris Creperie& Cafe a few days before "lock-down." It was such a cute restaurant and the crepes were delicious. Lehi & Lincoln went savory with a Philly Cheesesteak & pizza crepe and Mav & I went sweet with Bonne Maman (jam & sweet cream) and Nutella. After lunch, we hit up our favorite candy store to fill up our bribe bucket, and let they boys play a bit. It was a simple day, but we wouldn't realize how long it would be until we had a day like that again.

Teacher Drive By

When schools were officially announced as closed for the next 6 weeks, our awesome teachers organized a drive by parade for their students. I was off doing something for the house, so Lehi waited outside while the boys played and anxiously watched. Maverick was so excited to see Miss. Medina--he adores her! We are so luck to live in such an awesome district.

Self-Isolation in Full Effects

Texas when on lock down relatively quickly compared to other states. Essential businesses were allowed to remain open (grocery stores, gas stations, etc) but other businesses were closed. It was strange not going to UTSA (although I have transitioned to teaching the majority of my classes online), not taking Maverick to school, Lehi being home all.the.time. Lincoln not having speech. While things seemed to be in complete chaos, there was also a strange sense of peace in simplicity. (I will talk about my COVID thoughts more in a separate post because I think it will be interesting to look back on). Some of these pictures summarize our self-isolation journey, including winging some home-schooling for Maverick for a week, before schools had made the transition to online learning. Longest spring break ever. ;) We went on Spring break, had a week extension to the break, and the officially postpones school (UTSA going all online through the end of the semester).

"Picnic in the stroller" during one of Lehi's 3 hour interviews = 2.5 hour walk

Picnic in the park

Games. So many games.

Time outside working in the yard

They be-dazzled her rock n play

Mav & Linc's play dough cookies--they were delicious! ;)

Beads + pipe cleaners for adding practice

...or counting in Lincon's case :)

Counting out the correct # of poms for each container--must use tongs

Uno Addition/Subtraction Practice

Letters hidden in kinetic sand--Mav had to say a word that started with it, Linc had to match it on his paper

Celebrities reading their favorite books

Shaving cream + food coloring

Movies! His hand was on my shoulder for awhile

Sweet girl being content

Trying to use a computer on his own--the power struggle has been the worst part

Yay for teachers! Back to "normal" curriculum!

This girl <3

Had the boys clean their water table & the windows. Scrub brushes + soap = at least 3 hours outside

Boys jogging with me

Honest photo. Sometimes we are just bored.

Quarantine Cousins

After two weeks of being away from cousins, Tasha and I decided we would quarantine our families together. Whenever I went to store and visa versa, we were with each other. We never went out without each other and our kids never left the house (aside from walks & playing outside). Having a family to self-isolate with was the best decision. It helped our kids not go stir crazy and helped fill that void in their social butterfly hearts.

5 legged race...no prompting from Tash or myself

Pete, Leprechauns,& Donuts, Oh My!

What do these three things have in common? It is what we did with cousins on St. Patrick's Day. We started with the author of Pete the Cat, doing a read aloud online that we tuned into. Then we made these cute Leprechaun puppets (complete with brads so they could move) and went to Krispy Cream for green donuts. After we had purchased the said Krispy Creams, I discovered the the rival (and significantly superior) Duck Donuts also had a St. Patty's theme donut box. So off we drove to donut shop #2 (per Tasha's insistence) and loaded up on more donuts. We divided the loot between families for a lovely St. Patty's donut platter.

Family "Take Your Pick" Day

We decided to dub a day as "take your pick" Saturday. We let each person pick one thing they wanted to do as a family--and then we did it!
My pick--decorating cupcakes
Maverick--play in the water table/bubbles (I surprised him with water balloons)
Lehi--watch a movie
Lincoln--Uno Attack (lasted 40 minutes!!)

We also got cookies from Bobo that night, the boys made towers

Tortilla Insufficiency

One of the side effects of the COVID chaos this month was empty shelves (elaborated on later via COVID blog). Most staples were in short supply (toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, meat, bread, etc). Well, in Texas tortillas are also one of those staples. My boys eat their weight in tortillas, so we were in a bit of a dilemma. So, towards the end of our "take your pick day," I decided to take things in my own hands and make my own dang tortillas. They weren't perfectly circular, but they were darn delicious!

Forts for the Win

I taught the boys how to make a legit fort one night. It was great--they had no issues going to bed and I let them keep it up for a few nights. We went all out with Christmas lights/night lights/ and it was complete with a few "storage" areas for vital items of importance, such as books and Pokemon cards.

Memorable Maverick Quotes:

"Mom. I'm bored. All there is to do is eat."

"When we move, say goodbye to ketchup. The snow kills tomatoes."

Enos Prayed Lesson

We decided to take advantage of our Sunday lesson and headed to the (outside) of a local church building that has gorgeous Texas wildflowers this time of year. We had our lesson, took some pictures, and enjoyed the beauty around us! Since it was just our family, we don't have any family shots, but that's ok!