The Luckiest No Matter What!

Dear Carter, YOU ARE SEVEN. WOWEE! You are not my oldest, but somehow you are getting old too and I’m having a hard time accepting it. A YEAR OF CHANGE This year from six to seven has been huge for you… full of so much change. When you turned six, you had only been in school in person for a few weeks. You had barely seen anyone, tried anything, got any socialization. Fast forward a year and each day you are coming home telling me about some new pretend game at recess, a new friend you are playing with, a new thing you’ve learned. It is truly mind blowing sometimes. During recess, you bing around playing with many different groups, but probably your favorite thing is to make the girls laugh or play games where there are teams chasing each other.  In other school news, you do not fit into the mold of traditional expected behavior. Sitting the right way in a chair is hard for you; sitting in a chair at all is hard for you. Being still and quiet for long periods is hard for you. I can ...

Dear Carter, HAPPY SIXTH BIRTHDAY, BING! You’ve been very excited to turn six and are always looking to the next things you can do when you get bigger. Meanwhile, I am trying to just slow down time because every time I look at you I see a very, very rolly and smiley baby.  You are almost done with the strangest kindergarten year ever. In a way, this pandemic has actually given you such a gift for kindergarten. Whether online or in person, you’ve never had to go to a full day of school. I think that’s pretty great for a 5 year old! It’s given us more time to be together. This has all been challenging, also, because you’ve not had a typical school experience yet. There is a lot for you to learn at how to “do” school: raising your hand, taking your time on work, only talking at appropriate times, etc. So far, though, you’ve been a friend to all, a hard worker, and someone everyone can count on to move discussions forward.  This year, I’ve watched you become a reader… and I seriou...

One of my reasons for writing anything down is to preserve my story in this big, big world. Putting my fingers on these typing keys help make my family's memories have a place to sit so I can revisit them whenever I want and remember, soak it all back in.  Time is a thief! I can't remember the last time I captured what's going on with #hundtboysx4: what they are into, what they love, what's been challenging for them. It always feels overwhelming to do that kind of necessary memory preserving justice, but I always try and that's what matters.  Here's whats up with the Hundt Boys... NOLAN N loves to do these jumping pictures and I am always ready to say yes. This guy is more than 7.5 years old. This last year during the pandemic has arguably been the hardest on him of my four sons... outwardly anyway. He has lost sports, which he loves more than any other activity. He has only been able to build a relationship with his teacher over a screen, which is the most impo...

My kids have been learning remotely since March. There is no end in sight for us. I am working my tail off, the kids are working their tails off, their teachers are working their tails off. We've had ebbs and flows of things going pretty smooth and going like a goat rodeo, but one blessing (and curse) at this point is that we know the drill.  I know N and J will have zoom calls from 8:30-11:45 with a 15 minute break at 10:15. I know they will do literacy first and then math. I know what their asynchronous work looks like and about how long it takes. I know C will write about his weekend every Monday morning. I know he does Freckle on Friday. I know when he sees his new sight words. It is all predictable and known at this point.  I called this kind of monotony a blessing because consistency is important, routines are important. My young children can show a lot of independence when things are predictable. I also put that it is a curse in perenthesis because knowing exactly what'...

I have two second graders and one kindergartner who have been in remote learning for about a week. There is a learning curve in this for us all: kids, parents, teachers. We are all learning technology. Each of us are learning norms, learning new schedules, and learning routines. The chaos of it all and the camaraderie of it all is unique and palpable. We are all working hard and trying our best and that is easy to see. I could go on and on about all the feelings present, what the kids have been doing each day, and how we are all adjusting. Whenever anyone has asked me how things are going, I usually have a lot to say.  However, I thought I would share some smiles and frowns from the week. We still share these about our day each night at bedtime and the biggest take away is that, no matter what happens, there are smiles and there are frowns each day. Reflecting in this way helps to find the positives when we may feel like there is none and invites us to examine problems that may...

During the spring shut down, we worked primarily at our breakfast nook table and dining room table. It was okay, but I realized, the more weeks we were out of school, how distracting that area was. My kids were just steps away from food and toys. Not to mention, for a good chunk of their day, someone was cooking something near them. It was way easier sometimes to watch mom making sandwiches than it was to finish a journal entry. The Space Because of that, we've been working to clear out our main room in the basement so that we can do learning from there. I wanted the space to be inviting, comfortable, but devoid of as many distractions as possible. I also wanted to be able to spread out my three humans so they had an area to clearly focus without getting too distracted by each other. Little by little we've been organizing, sorting, and getting rid of things to make that space work. Restructuring this room isn't necessary, but it has felt really good to feel product...

The past couple of years, I've spent the summer doing 'camp days' with #hundboysx4. I'll come downstairs in the morning and announce, "It's MOVE-IT MONDAY" or "Get ready for a WACKY WEDNESDAY." If you want more ideas of camp days like this, read more about it here . That's been going really well and kids really like it. It gave a little focus to our days and also kept things fresh. This year, for so many reasons, I decided I wanted to be just a bit more structured and do a little more intentional educational activities. We were already knee deep in a routine where we spent some time in the morning doing school-ish type things because of in person school being canceled since mid March. Since we don't have many places to go or other activities like sports or camps, I felt like having something for 1-3 hours each day might make sense. As I was planning for what that might look like back in June, Carter ended up being my muse.  He was i...

In the fall, I shared with all of you what a difficult decision it was to listen to the advice of the teachers and place Nolan and Judah in separate classrooms. My boys, up until that point, had done literally EVERYTHING together... willingly and by choice. Here we are, it's June, school is out, and I've been able to really reflect on that decision and how I feel about it now... At first, that distance between the two of them was difficult and also endearing. They both had a hard adjustment and looked SO forward to recess, lunch, and pick up where they could cling to each other and spend time together. I loved that and hated that all at the same time. These two walked hand-in-hand almost every day As the months continued, I began to notice a shift as the boys grew in their confidence and grew in their individuality. I remember vividly talking to them one evening about lunch, trying to sort out why Judah hadn't finished his lunch AGAIN and I was asking Nolan what he...

Dear Nolan, HAPPY SIXTH BIRTHDAY! You’ve let me know that you are so excited to keep growing and getting bigger while I sit here with tears in my eyes because I cannot believe how fast time is flying. You’ve had a wonderful year of growing, maturing, and learning so much about so much. Your brain, my dear boy, sheesh. It is always moving, always going, always thinking, always worrying. Just last night, I had to lay in your bed with you for a little while because you couldn’t sleep. This morning you told me you were thinking about TV shows and movies and books and sports and that all kept you awake. On the subject of sleep, you went through a difficult period during this year where you had a very hard time falling asleep. Daddy and I were honestly getting nervous. Every night we would have to go in your room several times to try and help your mind rest. We started using essential oils, having ocean waves on a noise machine, doing yoga and classic music before be...