Hey all! How’s everyone holding up out there? I’m sure you have noticed some different pictures in our column this week, what a neat idea from Steph! These are my kids. Tyler and Kenzy. This was taken three weeks ago for an early morning dentist appointment. Being there by 7:15 a.m., I had to reward them with breakfast at McDonald’s before I took them back to school. I mean, it isn’t very often on a Friday you can be a little late to school. My kids are never tardy, so it was kinda a big deal to them. Plus, it makes me a super cool mom. *insert cheesy smile here*

We never dreamed weeks later they wouldn’t have school for the foreseeable future.

My daughter, Kenzy, misses school. Her first year of kindergarten and she misses her friends and her very sweet teacher, Miss Arnold. Kenz is very bubbly and loves being around people.

In fact, at Thanksgiving they had a Thanksgiving dinner for all the kindergarteners. This will give you a chuckle. Kenzy’s class each made a necklace to write some things they were thankful for on it and wore it to the dinner. As her class passed me to go back to their classes after we served and ate, the kids were waving “Bye Kenzy’s Mom!” A cute little towheaded boy said “Hey! Look at my necklace!” His necklace read I AM THANKFUL FOR KENZY! I said, “Oh my goodness, how nice of you to do that!!” Then another little boy at the end of the line said he wrote the same thing! So later when we got home, I said to Kenzy, “My word Kenzy, all those boys wrote they were thankful for you! How sweet was that!?” She said, “Yea, I told them to write my name and say they were thankful for me mommy!” I was dying. There was my sweet and innocent six-year-old, bossing boys around already. (Believe the sweet part, but not the innocent haha!) This story we have shared so much because it gives people a laugh. She is one of a kind, that’s for sure and a born leader.

My son, Tyler, feels like he is in heaven. Thinks it’s a dream he is off school and doesn’t even have to make it up. Of course, I’m the worst mom EVER for making him read thirty minutes four days a week and still practice his trumpet until we get more instructions from the district on more to do. We’ve baked cookies and made homemade playdough, which I will share the recipe since this column is about my kids, and an idea for a family to make and play together. Hey, at least I’m good at teaching home economics. Plus, we have been doing game nights! The game of LIFE is a great game to teach money, and the game of WAR taught our daughter which number is higher with cards. You can do so much learning at home even without the schoolwork. Tyler is amazing with Legos. His brain is wired mechanically and engineering. I’m not talking about little Legos. At six years old this kid was building a Technic Lego Crane of 2,606 pieces meant for 11-16-year-olds to build it. He has collected and built so many over the years that we had shelves made all around his room he could display them on. Last year he wanted the Technic Lego Bugatti. This thing was over $400! We told him he needed to save up for it. He saved most of it and we helped pay for the rest, but he finally got it last month. This thing has almost 4,000 pieces and was meant for the ages 16 and up. He had it all put together with no help in less than 12 hours at 10 years old. His mother couldn’t do five pages in a day! These two very thick instruction books would stress me out. Needless to say this car is so big that it won’t fit on his shelves, but we were just so proud of him. Lego’s can keep any kid busy designing something for hours!

So, yeah, kids are all home and we can’t go anywhere, but there is still plenty to keep them busy and enjoy making memories during this time. They loved making playdough and the cookie recipe from last week’s column. Fifteen years from now we want our kids to remember this time we all went through, and some of the good that came out of it. Time together.

Homemade Play Dough
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup salt
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp cream of tartar (if you don’t have this, it’s ok!)
• Gel Food Coloring (I used neon colors)

Put everything into a saucepan till a ball forms on low heat. When ball forms, add coloring with gel food coloring. You will have to use your hands to really mix but the coloring came off our hands the same day. Mix until colored through. Keep in an airtight container.