It's been a good week. After a couple of rainy days, we have had beautiful weather and enjoyed being outside. More flowers in bloom.
I love how green everything is this time of year.
Traffic jam in our neighborhood, and the first we have seen since living here. Now that people can drive on certain days (odd/even plates corresponding to the day of the week), people drive around just because they can, or at least it seems that way!
At the base of the hill of our neighborhood, there is street that is a couple of miles long, connecting two main roads. It typically does not have many cars on it, but now that people can drive, people go down to picnic, play, and race cars...we have seen car wrecks from afar multiple times...here is one.
Nathan did school outdoors with the boys one day and they really liked it!
On evening, this little girl decided she wanted to get into the bathtub with her brother, so she got right in. She is a busy little girl and we need to keep a good eye on her!
You turn around for a matter of seconds and she is climbing into or on something!
Our neighbor across the street is a great baker and we sometimes get to benefit from her over baking! This week it was donuts and english muffins, which was a treat for all of us.
Making swords, hats, shields, and bow and arrows out of tinfoil.
This sweet girl loves playing the piano with her brothers.
We decided to order masks, since they are now starting to require them inside many places. A lady in our neighborhood makes them with fun patterns.
The boys are ready for battle! They picked out an outer space mask and a royal crown mask (it's a Jordanian thing).
One evening while sitting in our porch room, we saw a bunch of cars getting stopped. The police were not in uniform and were stopping people that were driving out past curfew at 6pm. This was at about 6:15pm...and there were already a lot of cars pulled over - all the ones on the right side of the street. Benjamin and I decided to go to the roof to watch the show.
Enjoy Benjamin's commentary, haha! It ended up getting heated and they eventually let everyone go.
On a rainy day, we found our old cork collection and the boys made Jerash and a bunch of other things.
We usually take the boys out in the morning before school to ride bikes or walk, and out for a walk in the evening before curfew. This afternoon, the boys wanted to walk up to the park we usually play at to see if it was still there. It was there but roped off and they are hoping it opens up again soon.
Benjamin said the mosque by our house is beautiful and wanted to take a picture of it.
Nathan got out the water table this morning. She loves splashing water, being outside, and getting naked, so it was a big win for her!
We are finishing week 7 and are seeing light at the end of the tunnel! While we will be under curfew until the end of Ramadan with Friday complete lockdowns, and work is still severely restricted, this week more businesses are opening up. Electronic, automotive, barbers, nail salons, clothing stores, and many restaurants are open for delivery. Buses and uber will start working in a limited capacity, and later this week, people were allowed to start using vehicles every other day, based on odd/even license plates.
Through all this, we have been tremendously thankful for many things. Extra time together, daily family worship, time to slow down, overcoming obstacles, and learning new ways to do things. I know I will look back on this time with a lot of thankfulness.
Earlier this week, my mom and I celebrated our 114th birthday (she turned 73 and I turned 41). It is very special to share this day with my mom. I love this painting of my mom and I.
This was from their visit in to Jordan in November 2017. We were at Little Petra in this picture.
This year there was a birthday breakfast waiting for me of cinnamon rolls, bacon, and sausage egg casserole on our 'You are Special Today' plate, and some sweet cards. I love this plate and how full it is.
Tes cooked up a storm that day and made pancit, a Philippino dish that is typically prepared on birthdays or to congratulate people, lasagna, one of my favorite dishes, green beans, and a cake. It was very sweet of her to make all this food for us to enjoy!
Final product...it lasted 3 days!
Tes has been making cakes for our family for years and they are delicious.
Nathan and I went out on two walks that day. It was so nice to get outside and walk around the neighborhood. We have enjoyed the recent freedom of getting out for daily walks!
After dinner, we enjoyed the cake!
Another day we did something the boys have been wanting to try for a while...make a soda fountain with mentos. All you need is mentos and soda. To get maximum fountain height, we taped the mentos to scotch tape, so they could all be dropped in at the same time.
Rushing to the field across from our house.
This is what they had been waiting weeks to do!
A lot of the soda came out in the fountain, and they were happy to have some leftover to drink afterwards.
In the evenings before curfew, we have been walking to a street nearby our house where the kids ride their bikes. They call the slopes in the sidewalk 'ramps' and have enjoyed doing 'wheelies.' Now that cars are allowed on the roads again with limited capacity, we may take a riding break because people have been cooped up the past 7 weeks and have been driving extra fast.
A friend gave us a bubble set, but we had to make the bubbles. It seems like glycerin is the main ingredient in bubbles, which we don't have, so we found one with dish water, dish soap, and honey that sets overnight. It smelled good, and worked pretty well.
Until Eliza dumped all the bubble solution out....
They tried making a quick solution with just soap and water, but it didn't work well, so we may just try to find bubble solution this weekend, now that we can drive!
Distance learning is going, well and the kids have been such troopers adjusting to all the changes. Some days are better than others, and I am working on my patience, but they are doing great and have two weeks left. Each day they have reading, writing, and math in some sorts and a special of either art, Arabic, music or PE. We do school from 10-2 and take a lunch break in the middle and other breaks when needed :). This is Benjamin working on a an art assignment teaching about camouflage. He drew a ladybug and camouflaged it in red and black flowers. Benjamin loves art
Caleb is working on a poetry writing unit at school. He had to write a repetition poem and he chose to write one about his sister.
The boys are good friends and we caught some sweet moments throughout the week. They eat lunch outside every day and have recess in the middle of the school day.
Walking around the neighborhood one quiet morning.
One afternoon, a couple of their high school friends from their bus walked by the house. It brightened the boys day to see them :).
Benjamin recently learned how to play the pink panther on the piano, but they had never seen the show. They enjoyed watching it one night.
A lot of flowers are in bloom now and they are so pretty and colorful. Here are a couple from our walks this week.
Caleb is ready for battle. The boys have been having nerf battles the past couple of days.
