April 3, 2020

It's been far too long since I posted! I'll give a quick update what we've been up to.

William and Robert completed their 3rd and 1st grade curriculum back at the beginning of April. They were happy to be done before our "spring break" started, and so was I. Hannah has learned all her letters and their sounds and is beginning to use those sounds when she sees them. She is ready to read! She knows her numbers and is able to identify them. Robert is a reading machine and likes reading chapter books about animals and pretend adventures. William is still an avid reader, and over the past couple of weeks seems to have read all the books in the house at least once. Andrew is growing so much. He has quite a few words now and even some sentences like, "Are you?" ("Where are you?"). He says it mostly when we play hide and seek. He knows the routine and always tried to be one step ahead of us.

The end of the first week of March, my in-laws came and got the kids and took them back to Dallas. They spent Thursday night through Sunday at my in-laws' and Sunday through Wednesday at my parents' house. They went to the Perot Museum, Legoland, the Grapevine Aquiarium, Dallas zoo, went swimming and so much more! They didn't miss us at all. Francis and I got to go on our cruise! The cruise was an excellent time of relaxation and a chance to recharge. The sea was very rough, so rough that we were unable to dock in Costa Maya. The waves were literally washing over the dock. As a result we only had one port: Cozumel. We didn't mind though. We decided to take everything in stride and just enjoy the quiet. I read an entire book! In Cozumel, we visited the beach and enjoyed dry, solid ground. It was a good trip, and just what we needed.

We arrived back March 11 to a world that was very much unlike the one we left. Francis had to go back to work, and so I drove to Dallas from Galveston to get the kids. I had planned to stay until the weekend so I could see my family and have a mini spring break with the kids. Wednesday evening the whole Noble clan (minus Francis and Chad) had dinner together. We went to a place where there was a playground and we kept having to tell the kids to wash their hands before they could come back to eat. The TV announced that the NBA was suspending their season while we ate. That's when I knew what was coming.

Thursday we hung out with my parents and Dani and Kevin around my parent's house. We swam, watched TV and played board games. We decided not to go anywhere. Mom was on calls much of the day with the governor an others. Spring break got extended another week for public schools. After all that was announced, I decided to cut the trip short and head home on Friday. The kids were so happy to see Francis. Francis got the order that he needed to begin to work from home. We ran all of the errands we needed to including grocery pick up, getting me a new bike and getting Francis's bike repaired. After watching first hand what had happened thus far in China (via teaching my sweet students across the sea), we decided we needed a way to continue to exercise as a family. I'm so glad we did.

So then social distancing/general quarantine occurred and has been for the last three weeks. I'm still teaching in the mornings, and am now tutoring our CC campus online on Tuesdays. I'm doing my Thursday Bible Study via Zoom. I feel busier than I have in a long time and we aren't even leaving home! The kids are keeping busy. They love playing on the fort in the backyard. We are doing activities we normally don't have time for. Robert learned to ride on two wheels last week and William has gotten more confident in his bike riding. With Hannah and Andrew in the bike trailer, we have been going out on nightly rides. The first night it took us 45 minutes to go a few blocks. Last night we did our longest route ever and it only took us 10 minutes (the rain cut our trip short). I'm loving to see the kids grow.

Overall the kids don't seem to mind the change. Francis is home all the time (which they love) and they get time outside and get to explore on bikes. Because school is over at our house, we invested in ABC mouse.com and so the kids have been doing some "online school" like everyone else. They are loving the fun activities. Robert took his first Mandarin class online and William is continuing with his French. These kids are each other's best friends, and I am cherishing the growth in those relationships. And in other news Andrew went on the potty for the firs time last night. If we can get potty training accomplished during this time, words cannot express how happy I will be. But between the last two sentences, I had to change Andrew due to an accident, so it may be a pipe dream.

Life is not perfect here, but we are embracing the good and releasing the bad. Francis and I are sharing the laundry room as both of our offices (it's a big room and Francis also works from the garage and out bedroom). We are learning a new normal just like everyone else. I'm glad I have Francis. He makes everything better.

That's all for now!

Tha