Flexible Seating…

The boys enjoy taking advantage of flexible seating during their remote schooling day here at home. We use it ALL up in here. They have yoga balls or chairs with chair bands or a wiggle seat for sitting at their desk, a comfy floor lounger with a blanket, a floor pillow, and a lap desk.

Today, Roman flipped out about not having enough room at his desk, so he sprawled his materials and himself out on TOP of the kitchen table (this picture was taken when he was actually pseudo-sitting back on the bench). Xander has been known to do his work under the piano or even in his teepee. Jonas has even sat in the van in the garage…ha! I try to keep the boys downstairs, so I can monitor them to make sure they’re staying on schedule with their Zooms and classwork and not chatting with friends, reading on Epic, or playing on their Dashboard when they’re not supposed to be. But sometimes they’re in a Zoom break out room and need to discuss something with their teachers and/or classmates, so they run upstairs really quick to do that in the bonus room.

It’s a little crazy over here, and we’re all so very ready for “Freedom Friday” (the boys will log in for a morning meeting and then will take the rest of the school day, finishing their classwork, at their own pace…AND we’re going to make it a pajama day). We’re all going to need some serious rest, fun, and outside play time this weekend.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That…

Oh man, I tell you what. This remote learning thing is tough. For me, it’s like having triplets that are on different eating and sleeping schedules…constant mental/emotional/physical triage. Seriously. It might be hard to believe unless you were here with me.

Jonas and Xander have pretty much taken right to remote learning. BUT Roman. BUT Roman. Roman is having a tough time adjusting…he has multiple meltdowns a day to the tune of screaming, yelling, and crying in frustration. I know he’s one little guy, but his presence is HUGE, especially when he’s spinning out of control. And it just throws everything off of its kilter, not to mention how emotionally exhausting it is. Bless him. Help us.

In spite of all of that, we’re still trying. AND we have our very own emotional support dog, so that helps a lot. Here’s what today looked like…

First Day of School…

The boys had their first (half) day of school today!!! Jonas is starting middle school this year (6th grade), and Xander (5th grade) and Roman (3rd grade) are continuing on in elementary school. Jonas still wants to be an Engineer when he grows up, and Xander still wants to be a Dolphin Trainer. Roman is leaning more towards wanting to be a Professional YouTuber.

It went so much better than I was expecting! Jonas will start and end school an hour earlier than Xander and Roman this year…which might be a little dicey when they’re remote learning. So, I put together a list of upstairs and outside things that they can do while their brothers are schooling and they’re not. While Jonas was schooling and before Xander and Roman started…I threw the football with Roman (we made it to 65!), and Xander made origami creations (recently, that’s his happy place)…

Jonas’ day went really smoothly (except for his General Music class that was switched to Spanish the night before and was then rescheduled the next morning to Theater…it hadn’t shown up on his dashboard yet, so he missed that Zoom).

Xander and Roman kept getting disconnected from Zoom, so we put in a request with IT for a computer swap for both of them and a hot spot (because we have three on the WiFi at the same time), which we’re hoping for on Monday or soon after. We’re SO grateful for the principals, teachers, staff, and IT department working overtime to get and keep everything up and running in this unprecedented, challenging time. Xander was chatting on Zoom with his friends, which he was schooled on pretty quickly…little stinker…he knows better! Roman, our resident extrovert, had a really hard time waiting to talk and be called on. He made it about an hour and a half (even with breaks) before he started melting down. I just kept trying to remind him that this is new for EVERYBODY (students, teachers, and parents).

All in all, it was a good day. And the boys really enjoyed running around and playing outside after their first half day of school. Tom was super sweet and thoughtful and came home early with flowers for me and a cookie cake for the boys…he’s the best…totally made me tear up. Team Seyfried!!!

Boating…

We’re so grateful to be a part of the Nashville Boat Club. It has brought so much fun into our lives (especially this year with COVID-19). We took a wakeboard boat out on Percy Priest Lake this afternoon. Tom wake surfed, the boys and I tubed, Jonas wakeboarded, and Xander and Roman kneeboarded.

Percy Priest Lake…

We went out on the boat this afternoon. The boys and I rode on the tube, Tom and the boys played King of the Hill on the Lily Pad (a HUGE styrofoam mat that floats on top of the water), and we all swam in the lake. Roman was not into having his picture taken today, but I got some good ones of Jonas and Xander…

A Resting Place for the Fish…

Our little backyard fish pond was so full of algae that you could hardly see the fish anymore. So, Tom spent the afternoon, cleaning it out, which is quite the task. After Tom caught all of the fish and put them into the bucket to wait while he cleaned, we were amazed at how many more we had than we started with. Roman and I really wanted to inventory the fish, so he took pictures and I wrote down the descriptions and names of each fish. We noticed very soon after that they looked really stressed out and thought it might have been from them being moved and handled or maybe because the new water was colder than the old water. Then, as they started floating on their sides, Tom realized that he needed to add de-chlorinator to the water (it was a different process when we set up the pond because the water had been sitting there for so long before we added fish). Long story short, we lost about half of the fish…including our three big beautiful koi (Oreo…black and white dappled / Rusty…black with a reddish/burnt orange tail / Cookie Dough…black with a white tail), two goldfish (Fanta…white with an orange tail / Bolt…all orange…he was Xander’s), and the Three Goldies (golden colored baby goldfish). It was so heartbreaking…especially for Xander, as he lost his fish…his favorite fish. He cried all night and the next morning. We decided to bury them in the garden. So, Tom dug a hole in between the yarrow and the Black-Eyed Susan’s and laid them all together in the ground. Xander called them each by name and bent over in half with grief. He has the most precious heart for creatures and always has. I told him that maybe he could make a cross to mark their grave and put their names on it. So, he did. A little while later, I was cutting zinnias for a little vase in my bathroom. Xander said, “Are those for the fish, Mom?” with his big, teary, blue eyes. I said, “Sure, buddy. Do you want a flower for each fish?” He said, “Yeah” and started crying again. He picked out an orange zinnia in honor of Bolt. It was a sad day.

But we are so thankful for the fish who survived…two goldfish (Tropical…white with an orange head…he’s Roman’s / Pervi…not short for “pervert” but short for “pervi” which is Latin for “see through” or something like that, according to Jonas…white…he’s Jonas’), one koi (Ruston…black with a twinge of burnt orange), and three baby koi (The Kellys…black and golden).

We’re looking forward to adding more fish to the pond soon…

Bathtub Fun…

The boys had TaeKwonDo camp this week!

Mr. and Mrs. Mast have been doing such a great job of keeping the dojo clean and sanitized, spacing the kids out and putting them in small groups, and making sure the kids sanitize their hands on the way in and out, etc. Their indomitable spirits have been such a blessing and a safe haven in this trying, unsettling time.

The boys came home exhausted but excited and fought less/were more peaceable than they’ve been in a good long while. I’m so grateful that they got to have that fun, healthy outlet with friends. Monday was Nerf Gun Wars, Tuesday was a Scavenger Hunt, Wednesday was Water Day, and Thursday was Kickball.

By the time Friday rolled around, they needed a veg day at home. So, they did a lot of resting, snacking, hanging out with neighbors, and reading. I set up a little sensory station on the kitchen table for them to visit in between, complete with kinetic sand, play doh, water bowls with pipettes, and orbeez (water beads).

Xander and Roman started playing with the water beads, and it morphed into them dumping the orbeez into the bathtub, putting on their swim trunks, and playing peacefully together for about an hour. It reminded me of when they were little. ❤️

Creek Stomping…

I took the boys creek stomping down the Little Harpeth River today. The river was refreshing and cool, the lighting was beautiful, and the boys caught five little fish and a crawdad. The pictures are pretty, but MAN was it a rough time.

Roman’s meltdowns are tough things to navigate. When I’m in a good spot, I can just talk calmly to him, remove him from the situation so he can calm down, try to change up his sensory input in some way, etc. and even try to teach him to do those things for himself. But I just didn’t have it in me yesterday, and it stacked up on me from the morning to the afternoon. It would take pages to explain. Suffice it to say that I lost my temper, ended up cutting our little creek stomping adventure short, and dropped him off at his Daddy’s work with his lunch and instructions for zero screen time. And then Jonas, Xander, and I proceeded to enjoy the picnic I packed for us by ourselves in the shade of a big tree at a nearby park. It took me a while to want to even talk at all…a shower, a nap, and some space helped.

By the time Roman came home with Daddy, he and I both were able to ask for and give forgiveness. And I guess that’s the most important thing. Being a kid is hard. Being an adult is hard. But it’s good to know that we can love each other through it.

Jackson Falls…

The boys and I drove out to Jackson Falls this morning, which is just off of the Natchez Trace.

The beginning of the trip was GREAT…the boys were reading on their tablets and I was jamming out to some new Ruston Kelly tunes and enjoying the open road. Then, we hit probably a 10 mile stretch of curvy country roads. About 5 miles in, Jonas started asking to roll the window down and looking pale, and Roman out of nowhere said, “Mom, I don’t feel so good” and then vomited in the back seat. Luckily, there was a place for us to pull over. So, I let them kind of get their bearings while I cleaned up. I made the executive decision to move Roman to Jonas’ seat and Jonas to the passenger seat, put on a movie that Roman could focus on, gave both of them a salty snack to eat, put the air on full blast, rolled down all the windows, and forged ahead through the last 5 mile section of wind-y-ness. It was definitely one of those trapped feelings, probably for all of us. I am the QUEEN of motion sickness, so I totally understand the hell. The only reason I wasn’t feeling that sick was because I was driving.

After making a wrong turn and heading down the Natchez Trace the wrong way, we finally made it. The walk down to the waterfall was not that challenging…it was paved with some stairs and a railing. I’m not sure if it’s always like this, but the waterfall was just barely trickling into a pool that was a few inches deep. So, we ended up climbing up a bit to the “natural waterslide”, and the boys spent the rest of the time there. At that point, I was wishing Tom was with me because they all flipped into daredevil mode, and I’m more anxious/nervous about all of that than Tom is. He would’ve been right in there with them. I was just standing there saying, “Don’t run!”, “Wait your turn!”, “Don’t stand up and try to walk down!”, “Sit down!”, etc. Xander was giving me the big (what I’m assuming is the beginnings of) preteen, “Moooooooom!” which he had to be pulled to the side a few times for…the attitude. He was pretty much just sprinting up the slick rocks and sliding back down, which scared me half to death. And Roman had to sit out a few times as well for being a sassy pants to other kids and to me. Meanwhile, Xander and Roman were alternately begging to go home, saying, “This is boring!”. I mean, seriously. Really?!? I was SO done. Jonas wanted to stay longer to make the good times outweigh the bad (i.e. more time having fun on the natural waterslide than riding in the backseat of a minivan on curvy country roads). But, alas, we had to go with the majority, as I could sense major meltdowns coming on. Help us all.

The natural waterslide was really so cool, though…I’m thankful they got to experience that.

Happy Birthday, Xander!!!…

Xander turned 10 today!!! It is so unbelievable to me how quickly they’re all growing up. It was tough this time around for him to figure out how he wanted to celebrate his birthday, but he finally decided on probably our favorite format for birthday parties. He invited his best friend (and next door neighbor), Jeremy, to climb on the outdoor ropes course at Soar with him and Tom, to eat dinner at Cracker Barrel (one of his favorite restaurants), and to have a sleepover (which he’s been asking/wanting to do since school let out for COVID back in March). The bummer was that it started thundering after about 10 minutes of climbing on the ropes course, so they had to forego that plan. (You can see how Xander felt about that in this picture…)

So, they switched gears and ended up playing miniature golf there (and getting vouchers to do the ropes course another day) and doing some geocaching.

Then, Jonas and Roman and I met them at Cracker Barrel for dinner.

The boys ask all the time if we can adopt Jeremy…they just love him. We came home for birthday cake and presents, and the boys cozed up to watch a movie before bed. The next morning we had pancakes, and the boys just hung out and played until lunch time. All in all, it was good (if crazy) times and a happy birthday for Xander.

Wakeboard Boat…

We took the wakeboard boat out today on Percy Priest Lake. Jonas and Xander enjoyed long rides on the Big Mabel. They had a blast and always wanted to go faster (which Tom put a nix on) and do donuts. Jonas wakeboarded…it’s so amazing and exciting to watch him!!! He got up the first time, after not having wakeboarded since last summer. (Xander and I both tried but were unable to stay up for very long…next time hopefully.) Tom wake surfed like a boss (while I drove the boat…whee!). (Roman wanted to stay at his friend’s house…Jay just got a new puppy…instead of going out on the lake today…so he had a fun afternoon too.)

Xander: Braces…

Xander got his braces off today (after only 10 months of having them on)! They haven’t been allowing the parents or siblings of patients into the office, but they let me sneak in with my mask on after getting my temperature taken to check on him. He hates having his picture taken, but I was still able to snap one really quick where you can kind of see his teeth. He was in the middle of saying, “Stooooop, Mooooom!”. Ha! Ha! So proud of him. Look how big he’s getting!!!

Put Put Golf…

I’m not really sure why I call “miniature golf”…”put put golf”…I think it’s a leftover saying from childhood.

Anyway, I took the boys out to Grand Ole Golf to play this morning. The weather was perfect. We were doing all right…even Roman, who usually loses it when he’s not doing as well as he wants to, decided he didn’t want us to keep score for him, which I thought was a great call/big guy choice.

Then, Xander came up against this really tough hole, that all of us were totally failing on…and he lost his mind and raged so hard, so quickly that he smacked the putter against a rock…and broke it. Yes. Broke it. So, he and I took a little trip back to the front desk, where he explained to the clerk what he had done and why and asked how much it would cost to replace it. Needless to say, he owes me $11. Not worth the rage, I’d say…especially to a 9 year old.

As we were finishing up our game, this really annoying music started blasting over the loud speakers. I was definitely starting to get agitated by it…then, Roman headed into full on sensory meltdown mode with it. The only thing I could think of to help him out was to bring up his Amazon music playlist on my phone and put some headphones in his ears, so he could be in his own world for a minute. I was afraid he was going to fixate on the fact that the headphones were too big and didn’t fit right, but he was able to get over it and calm down and pretty soon he was back in sync and jamming out to “Hall of Fame” by Script. So proud of him! Then, we took a BREAK. HaHa! Mommy needed one too (that’s who Roman gets his sensory processing issues from).

We drove over to an empty, expansive church parking lot and picnicked in the quiet, under the shade of a big tree (overlooking the place where Tom proposed to me!). They burned off some post-lunch energy on the playground, and then we picked up the most delicious snow cones from Cotton and Snow (right next to Grand Ole Golf) before heading home.

Tomorrow is going to be a veg day.

Beach: Day 6…

I ran 6 miles this morning, and that’s it for my running this week…I’m trying to keep it right at 15 miles a week, a good and maintainable jumping off point in case I want to start training for another half or full marathon in the fall/winter.

Then, Xander, Roman, and I hit up the pool, while Tom and Jonas took advantage of the yellow ocean flag (medium hazard) to swim out to the sand bar and dodge some waves. After lunch, I drove out to Port St. Joe to grab a few things from the grocery store for the trip home and to pick up my book from the post office. I’ve read two books so far this week, and this will be my third…The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins. Whee!!! We all took one last dip in the pool before dinner, headed out for one last ice cream cone, and hung out on the beach one last time.

This trip has been such a blessing…Jonas even told Tom, “Dad, I really needed this vacation. I’ve been so stressed.”

Bless his heart…us too. I’m so grateful that we had this time together to relax, restore, and renew.

Beach: Day 5…

This morning we went to Happy Ours Kayak and Bike Outpost to do some kayaking and snorkeling in the bay. The boys loved it in the past, but today they were CRABBY. Jonas and Xander both helped paddle and took to it pretty well, which was great…they love to race. But, when it came to snorkeling, none of the boys were into it for some reason and preferred to sit on the boat and whine, which just sort of put a damper on things because they were pouting and asking to go home. I just ignored them and enjoyed snorkeling, but Tom ended up having a Come to Jesus with them. I think it helped a little, as they all ended up getting in for a little bit and checking things out. We saw horseshoe crab shells, scallops, a starfish, several schools of little fish, and lots of interesting coral. After lunch and quiet time, we went out for some ice cream at Cape Coffee and Ice Cream (a small local ice cream shop, where if you don’t time it right…will have you waiting in a line wrapped around the parking lot). So yummy! We swam in the pool until dinner time and then headed down to the beach at sunset for a game of football and one more round of pictures (we needed to get a good one of the whole family).