That Time Hackers Closed School

 

In this edition of The Times Have Changed, I give you a two day school closure because of a cyber security issue. In our school district's case, it brought down the entire system. My kids are still doing things "old school." They have to..gasp...use pens and paper. They couldn't reach their teachers by email anytime they wanted. My middle said it was a depressing way of living. In an effort to not sound old, I didn't reply with, "well, in my day..."

So, their unexpected days off of school left me fumbling. I had to order groceries for a quick delivery since I had extra tummies to feed (and not little tummies either!). I had to put in place a no screens rule after the first eight hours. They could earn screen time back through extra chores and doing projects around the house. That worked the first day. On the second day, the youngest chose to help with daycare and the boys took themselves on a hike on the bike trail. They wound up hiking over 6 miles, then came home and cooked. 

Extra doses of coffee for me.

While the cyber security issue closing school was unexpected, and something I didn't think about nor know the repercussions, it wasn't terrible. It gave them a couple of days off on beautiful days. That's looking at the bright side. The negative is that it pushed back our last day of school date and gave us some fun identity theft issues to deal with. I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering the world I'm raising my children in. 

Trying Tik Toks And Schoolwork Weekend

 

My children have a life. My life now revolves around their social calendars. I did nothing this weekend other than supervise Tik Tok challenges and grocery shopped. Groceries for my children and their need for thousands of snacks of school each week. I don't feel completely comfortable going out and doing my own things while my children do their things. For one, at least one of them and a friend or two is at our house, so we're the ones to provide supervision. Or they're off somewhere else, requiring us to be on call for pick ups and drop offs. So, that's our weekends these days.

On this weekend, they finally did a gift exchange with friends. We had boba and pizza. There was a lot of squirrely behavior, which at this point I'm used to.

We discovered prepackaged bubble tea at Sam's Club. It's decent and much friendly on my budget than going to our local bubble tea shop.

Then they had other friends over for sleepovers. It was during this time that I learned more than I cared to know about fruit covered Jolly Ranchers. I had to buy specific reusable cupcake wrappers. I learned how long it takes to melt a Jolly Rancher. I learned how to blow bubbles with Jolly Ranchers. I also learned how to wash melted Jolly Ranchers out of hair, dish rags, and my counter top.

When my children weren't socializing, they had homework to complete (hello semester end), which I had to be available for questions. I now have my spot on the couch on the weekends and the kittens look forward to cuddles during this time. I spent so many years running and on the go with my children that I, at times, enjoy the break. At others I'm crawling up the wall to get out of the house and explore. We have yet to find a good balance for it all.

After having my house full of tweens and teens Friday and Saturday, I needed a refresher Sunday morning. I treated myself to a berry water.

The youngest came out of her room with her kitten in the daycare doll items...with a hat on. I wasn't expecting it, so naturally I laughed until I cried.