4/23/21

Ken received his 2nd vaccine today!  Worth the drive!  (especially now that he has returned to travel for work!)

 

I finally figured out my camera.

Anna!

 Because the blog has been the "joel show" for a few days, I had to post a picture of Anna.

She isn't in any extra-curriculars right now, except girl scouts, so not as many photo opportunities.  This will end next year as she is my first child doing both marching band and show choir in high school.  Previously I wanted the kids to choose....well not Matthew because he never sang except at church.  I knew Carolyn would also want to do drama and Joel sports, so having 2 musical things that are very labor intensive didn't sound good.   They both chose show choir over band.  Anna loves her flute and show choir is extremely fun, so she wants to do both.  Anna agreed not to do drama and I don't think she will do sports, so I think going music crazy next year will be fine.  It seems less daunting anyway, since 2 kids are away at college.  When all the kids were home, I wanted them to pick their extra-curriculars wisely, so I didn't have to live in the car.  Now Joel keeps his own schedule, so things are much easier.

4/20/21 He shoots, he scores! (ok maybe that is a basketball reference....but you get the point!)

 Why does this guy look so happy?

Because he scored 2 of his team's 5 points in their game against Ottumwa tonight!

I was thrilled that one of his teammates (there are 3 games played by the "team" because they have 60 players, so a bunch of boys watch the games in which they don't play....so really there are 3 teams, but they are all teammates)  video-taped the first goal, which was a penalty kick.  1/2 the fun was hearing the boys cheer for Joel.  It was even crazier when he kicked a goal a few minutes later in the game.

A screen-shot from the video.  It was (almost) FREEZING cold, so I didn't bring my camera.  RATS!

Financial Advocate's Week

Formerly known as Secretary's day!  Sometime this week is Financial Advocate's Day.  However, I can't carry plants and a coffee cake in from the parking lot on the same day.  So tomorrow they will get plants and Tuesday we will bring food to share, now that we are all vaccinated!

I  went to Earl May, just hoping to pick out a plant in a pot, but alas, they were separate!  The 20 year old working there was very sweet and said she could pot the plants for me, but that just felt sloth-like.  So I bought the potting mix and went to town.

Very satisfying in the end.  

(before)

The plants require low light in case they want to keep them at work.

(after)

The blue pot is mine.  I received the spider plants from a friend. The white mug has the plant that was immediately put into a pot a few weeks ago.  The blue pot has plants where I allowed the roots to grow.  My friend thought this might help them thrive.  To be honest, the mug plant is going gangbusters, so it will be hard to top!  (Plus I probably should have not waited this long on the other plants.)

 

4/18/21 Drake Road Race

 I am not sure that Joel has ever done a race outside of school.  Back in November his buddy was going to sign up to do a 10K with the Drake Road Races.  Joel was game and I signed him up.  Fast forward and they cancelled the 10K to decrease numbers or something Covid-related.  The boys had the choice of switching to a 5K or a 1/2 marathon and they chose to run the 5K.  Earlier this week we found out that the races started at 7am and they sounded less fun.  Especially since Joel had 3 soccer games and 2 show choir recordings this weekend.  More stuff than many many months in 2020.  They staggered the start (50 people at a time and the runners had to wear masks until they got into a socially distanced position and after finishing the race.  All spectators had masks.  Felt pretty safe.

He and his 2 buddies from Cross country took 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their age bracket which was pretty cool.  I love this photo since Joel and Evan seem to be having fun.  The start was uphill, so that probably ended pretty quickly.

This shouldn't have been fuzzy, since it wasn't far and they weren't moving, but alas!

4/13/21 and 4/14/21 VACCINES!!

On Tuesday Carolyn and Matthew received their first vaccination!  (Pfizer)  Initially they were going to get the jab via The University of Iowa.  Then I heard that the next week's shots were going to be limited and I signed them up at a CVS in Iowa City.  Glad I did since then Johnson and Johnson vaccinations were paused the day after I got them scheduled.  Their next shots aren't on the same day because by the time I got their school schedules figured out, 3 weeks from the day of the original shot had only one open slot at a good time.  Matthew said he will transport Carolyn on her day!  It is really convenient to have a car in Iowa City for things like this.  After vaccination they went and ate bagels!

 Joel got his first vaccination on 4/14/21.  No photos, but that is fine because Joel has MANY activities this week that will involve photos!  His 2nd shot will be in 3 weeks and 2 days so that he won't miss soccer games or school if he doesn't feel well.  I didn't plan so well for Matthew and Carolyn, so they will have to tough out school the day after their vaccines.  I was just trying to get them scheduled before the slots disappeared!  I told them to buy some ibuprofen while at the pharmacy, just in case!

The Giver, final dance recording

Show choir is nearing the end.  Today the group recorded the last of the dancing.  They will record singing separately due to Covid restriction issues.  (something about if they sing indoors, they can only sing 30 minutes at a time without leaving the room to let the air turnover, so they came up with this compromise)  Today families were allowed to come and watch the recording because it was outside.  FIRST LIVE VIEWING OF THE YEAR!  I took hundreds of photos, mostly because I couldn't tell in the bright light if any of the pictures were turning out.   (My viewfinder is little and I had on sunglasses.)  Plus it is hard to get a good photo of dancing.  Also my friend asked if I could get photos of her son.  (Luckily, he was in front of Joel for most of the recording.)   I also took photos across the group since I know that most parents have gotten ZERO photos of their kid's show choir this year.  (I didn't posts those here :0)

The best news is that my long-range lens did well today.  My normal lens was ok, but I had to be far away, so that I didn't interrupt the recording, and the participants were pretty small!!  Truthfully, I wish I had used only the long distance lens, but sometimes that hasn't turned out in my favor so I was hedging my bets.

Here are the boys getting ready to perform! (rah rah and all that.......... "who are we?" "SPECTRUM")  Normally they cheered before each performance to get pepped up!  zero performances this year....sigh

The kids weren't in "uniform" because this was the Closer, and the song was "Find Me" by the Birdy.  It was supposed to indicate that they were finally free.  (They were told to wear bright clothes.)  They did wear more of a uniform in other recordings.  Joel is in the back in this first photo:  white mask, teal green shirt and dark gray shorts.  He is closer to the front for the other 1/2 of the song.

I wish this was clearer.....just trying to get a shot of the whole group.  They had to be distanced much more than normal because of Covid.  Normally the whole group fits onto a standard school stage.  (of course normally they dance with each other, rather than socially distanced)

It was a little funny that this recording involved face masking, since Joel played in 3 soccer games in the past 2 days, without a mask, except on the sidelines.  Don't get me started about wrestling (obviously without masks) that they allowed this year!!

what a great guy

I have mentioned that I found vaccines for Ken, Matthew and Carolyn using a website voluntarily created by Brian Finley to help people find vaccinations in Iowa without randomly searching.  Anyway, he posted something on April 9th, asking for some cash for the operation and I was definitely going to send him some money.  Then I read his follow-up tweets.  So many people gave him money (in 10 minutes)  that he ended up giving away $1807 dollars after he covered his expense.  That is a great human!  He didn't keep the extra money and he stopped collecting money.....WOW! 

NEXT WEEK!

 

Ok- this comic isn't the best vaccine comic ever....but  I needed something so that I can announce that 3 more McClearys are scheduled to be vaccinated next week.

Joel's doctor sent a message to me the day that Iowa opened vaccinations up to the general population. Of course I called right away and he is scheduled to get his Pfizer vaccine next Wednesday after school!!  (since he is umping and playing soccer he is our weak link)

The University of Iowa has plans to vaccinate all of the students before the end of the year.  That said, given the Johnson and Johnson problems last week, the number of doses they are getting next week is a fraction of what they were expecting.  Plus Michigan is having a huge 2nd wave and MN and IL aren't doing so hot either.  Anyway that raised my worry level, so I went to the Twitter sight for IA Vaccine Alerts and there were vaccines available 1.4 miles from Matthew's apartment on Tuesday!  I quickly called both kids (several times to wake them before 9 on a Saturday......actually, Carolyn was picking up her breakfast in the dorms)  Fast forward and they are both signed up!  For the 2nd dose, they aren't on the same day, but Matthew will transport Carolyn because he is a sweet brother and very pro-vaccine too!

Also Pfizer asked the FDA for emergency authorization to vaccinate 12-15 year olds 2 days ago!!!!

Soccer 2021!

 After a 2 year wait, we are back to soccer season!  I took 169 pictures (which sounds insane, but my camera has a SPORTS feature, where it takes a bunch of pictures in a row....action shots, so you are taking one picture and get 10 quickly)

Unfortunately we were far up in the stands and I haven't yet learned the tricks of our larger lens.  Plus it was getting dark.....sigh - here are the 2 best photos.  The rest were trash!  Hopefully some of the games will have a set up closer to the action.  I also will wander down, lower in the stands, to get a little closer.  Plus it will stay lighter later as the days get longer.  But mainly I hope to figure out how to use our really nice camera that I mostly use like a point and click!

Anyway....Go JOEL!  Go Jaguars!  Joel's team won 4 to 0!

  

Easter weekend

 We went to the Easter Vigil in hopes of being un-crowded in church.  It was lovely (and uncrowded).  We had 2 adults join our church and one baby (daughter of one of the newly baptized adults) baptized.  (no photo)

Earlier in the day we made cookies.  We made the mistake of making a double batch because we wanted to send some cookies home with Patrick.  That meant that there were plenty for me to eat and I would rather have felt that I should only have 1!

Matthew always wants to do something creative, so he made the blue and green marbled cookies above.

Anna and I were more traditional!  But man on man, the cookies were delicious!

We had Easter dinner around 2 and were joined by Carolyn's boyfriend, Patrick.  He brought us flowers and a plate of fruit for the meal.  It was a great day, everyone helped make part of the meal.

That evening Matthew worked on a project for school and so I made Anna leave the table where he was working (because she wanted to play a video game right there!).  It was so sweet, Carolyn said, "let's go upstairs" and I could hear them talking for a long time.  Makes my heart happy!

4/07/21 Before and after

 

I did tell Matthew that it would be a lovely Easter gift if he would get a haircut!  Note that Joel's "before" is shorter than Matthew's "after".  Joel was wise to get a short cut given his soccer and umping duties!  He will be much cooler (and see better :0)

Also we now know that Anna isn't the only curly haired child in our family!!!

Pogo stick!

 The other day we watched a talent show on TV and there was a champion Pogo - stick jumper!

Anyway it brought back memories of my pogo-stick days.  So when I saw this at the store, I bought it.  I am sure its use will be limited compared to 5-10 years ago. 

Matthew also was a willing jumper, but I didn't get the camera out soon enough.

Faith in Action

Joel spent the first 1/2 of his Spring Break at Catholic Youth camp and the surrounding area doing service.  Matthew and Carolyn had the same opportunity in high school (except last year when it was cancelled 2 days before it was to begin)  They had a fraction of the normal number of kids, partially by design.  They kept the kids in their small groups for eating and sleeping to minimize contact.  Joel is pictured to the left with the other 4 guys in his crew.  (3 of the others go to our church and 2 of those three are in the Youth Group Core leadership with him.)  Proud mom!  (He is on the left in this photo.)

 Here are Randy and Erin, our Youth Ministers.  They had the music people in the back away from the kids.  I think they did a great job keeping the kids safe while allowing them this wonderful opportunity.

3/31/2021 Ken received his 1st vaccine!

Ken drove to Albia Iowa, about 1 hour and 20 minutes from our home to get his first vaccine.  A lovely man in Iowa made a website to share with people where vaccines were available.  (Brian Finley:  twitter: Iowa VaccineAlerts)

Excellent Job Brian, it is amazing that a guy with some free time can do something that the State of Iowa was unwilling to do!  Without this, you just need to randomly search every place that might have a vaccine in your area.

There were 19 vaccines available for 3/31/21 at the Albia HyVee and ZERO available in the entire Des Moines metro area...Something is a little wonky here! (and they might be a little anti-vaxer-ish in Albia.....we went to Albia once during the pandemic and they were definitely anti-maskers) 

I told Ken, don't even take a sip of water while you are in that town (because of the need to lower his mask to take a drink!).

Anyway - yeah vaccines!  He will go back to Albia 3 weeks and 2 days from his first vaccine.  That way he can relax all day Saturday and Sunday!

XKCD comic:

 Immune Response

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3/20/2021

 Ken, Joel, Anna and I went to see my Dad!!! Yeah for vaccines.  It was nice to see my Dad and Uncle Joe.  

Of course the crazy timing is that Anna then had a cold starting on the following Monday!  Can you imagine my horror had we gone any other time than when my Dad had been vaccinated?  Luckily, it was just a cold, and she had a negative Covid and Strep test.  To be honest, except for taking the photo, I still didn't let the kids get too close!!!