Back in December, I had an idea.

I wanted to do a film along with my annual “Adopt a Stray in May” photo series, and I wanted to show how animal rescues help save these dogs, and the transformation they go through when rescued.

So I reached out Pet Haven (whom I adore), and they started sending me out to see dogs as they were brought into care.

One dog, in particular, snagged my heart. His name was Rolo.

So I began filming his story, and I followed him until March 14. Then Covid-19 swept in, and I was suddenly done with the project. And thankfully, I nearly WAS finished! I just needed one more clip, which I was able to have filmed for me so that I could add to the end (thanks to Rolo’s new parents!).

Because of the pandemic, I had to cancel all of my Adopt a Stray in May photo shoots, so I am glad I had this in my back pocket.

Now, I realize that National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day is tomorrow, April 30, but I wanted to release this film a day early hoping that people would see it and share it tomorrow — on the actual day.

I do hope you enjoy this film. Telling this story over months reminded me of my time at the newspaper, and it really filled my soul.

This weekend finally felt like spring (a few showers and all), and we pulled the kid outside and taught him how to play frisbee. He loved it! Which is good, because it’s getting harder and harder to snag him away from his books inside these days…

These are a few shots I took while Jamie and Ezra tossed the frisbee in the driveway. I love his joy in these photos, and I had fun capturing the shapes and light as we went from bright and sunny to cloudy. When we came inside, a quick thunderstorm rolled through, and it was magical.

And finally, finally, it warmed up enough for us to wear shorts.

This weekend featured some glorious weather which we spent riding bikes, playing frisbee, having a picnic (with only the 3 of us) at a nearby park (which was empty) and dinners on the patio.

In our downtime, we began listening to Harry Potter again. And if you’ve ever hung out with a five year old, you know that there is zero sitting still during “quiet time.” What I would do to bottle up this child’s energy.

Anyway, Ezra was leaping all over the sofa while we listened to the book on Saturday, so I thought I would capture a few snaps.

One thing that has been really hard as a parent right now (well, one of the MANY things) is balancing screen time.

There are SO many options for learning online, and they are great. They are fantastic. My kid loves them. Friends and family send us a gazillion ideas every day for things to watch on screens — and some are fantastic.

But also? My kid isn’t as great of a listener after spending large amounts of time in front of screens. He’s not as engaged. And I notice.

So many organizations have created a gazillion ways to keep our kids occupied during this time, but we also need to figure out ways to do this that are more hands on. Workbooks have been great for this (as have good old fashioned regular books). Cooking has been fun, as have crafts.

Because I have not had a lot of work in the last six weeks, I took on the brunt of being the teacher while Jamie worked, and then I fit in my business stuff “on the side.” But starting next week, I’ll be allowed back in my studio and back to working more. This is good for our income, but hard on our kid since school is now officially canceled until fall.

It’s something we’re struggling with, but I think we’ll figure out.

In the meantime, Ezra does get a few hours each day learning on the computer, and one of my favorite ways he’s doing this is with the Osmo. The games are on the screen, but he has to use toys and pieces and such to make it work — which means he’s still connected a bit to reality. I was a little hesitant to purchase this, as it’s a pricey, but he loves it, and I’m really glad I did. The puzzle games are fun for all of us to get involved in, and I, personally, adore the art games.

If you are thinking of getting one and want to chat more, please reach out. Also, I think I can round up a discount code for you.

Each day, we try to have a focus on “science” around here.

It’s a pretty broad spectrum. Ezra has a great game (which I’ll talk more about later) that works on physics, which counts as science. And sometimes if he can build a tower to a certain height that I dictate, that counts as science as well (engineering?).

But usually science is either learning about his own body, the growth cycle of plants or lots and lots of information on animals. As you can guess, learning about animals is his favorite.

We watch a bunch of nature programming on NatGeo, and we have some wonderful books that we read through and then use as guides to jump off of (did you know there is a jellyfish that is immortal? Did you know that if a jellyfish is split in half, it becomes two jellyfish?).

By the way, that link up there is to purchase that amazing book through one of my favorite local booksellers — please support them instead of Amazon right now!

Anyway, that has led to Ezra playing more with these animal toys in his free time, which I love. I bought these for him about 3 years ago on a whim at the zoo gift shop. He was begging me for them, and I knew he would likely forget about them by the next day, but I liked the quality and the idea of more imaginative play, so I caved. And now I am SO GLAD that I did.

In the early days of “running” the home preschool, I reached out to my local Ace Hardware to purchase supplies for starting seeds from home. The staff were great! They put together an entire kit (dirt, trays and seeds) for me that I could pay for on the phone and pick up curbside.

Let’s all pause and be grateful for these amazing local businesses helping us through these times. I am trying SO hard to buy from them instead of Amazon right now. But I digress.

So Ezra and I spent one afternoon out on the patio a few weeks back planting these seeds. And watering them and watching them grow has been SUCH a delight! I seriously think we’ll do this next year as well!

Ezra helped me choose the seeds (green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and lots of pink flowers), and we’ll let these get a bit bigger before planting some outside in the garden next month and gifting the rest to neighbors.

Anyway, just a fun little project. I also have been pondering getting some a butterfly kit, but they are a little more spendy, so I think I’ll wait to see if school is coming back or not before I do that.

This is the happy and mischievous cackle of my child after squirting himself in the face with the water gun.

And this is where we’re at now! Indoor water guns (when oh when will it warm up in Minnesota?), chasing the dogs in circles around the house (sorry Magda) and so many couch forts.

We got an early tease with some nice weather a few weeks back, but that snowfall last week destroyed our souls. The forecast right now says we’ll be in the 60s starting tomorrow, but since it’s 34 degrees as I type this, I’m not buying it.

I want to feel the warmth on my face. I want to tell the kid to go outside and dig in the dirt for an hour. “Go find some worms!” is what I imagine yelling as I sip my margarita on the patio while reading my novel. But you guys, this is not the life we are living right now. It is only the life I am aspiring to.

I think that we are now at the point that returning to school will be… weird. Don’t get me wrong — I am still ready for it! It’s just that being home all the time has become normal now.

So normal, in fact, that I think returning to school will bring “first day” types of jitters for everyone. It’s now been forty days at home for Ezra, and that’s a lot. By the end of the week, we’ll be at 45 days — that’s half of a summer vacation!

The only good part of this is that emotionally we’re all starting to balance out a little more. We’re eating better, we’re sleeping better, and things are just… better. Not better than, say, January. But better than the end of March, for sure.

This past weekend was full of some really sweet moments around our house. My favorite was that the boys were out on their first bike ride of the season, and I was alone in the house (which was glorious) and I decided to read a bit.

When they returned, Ezra asked if he could read his own chapter book on the couch with me, and my heart just melted into a puddle right there on the floor. We both read for awhile and then we sat and told each other about the stories we were reading and… wow. Parenting is just fantastic.

I am slayed.