Miser Family update: my baby grew up

 Life continues to be rich and full in the Miser Family Household.   This week, we're particularly rich in happy memories and in celebration!

L1 and my Sister-in-law made cakes.  Since N-son was with L1, he got to eat the strawberry cake,
and my sister-in-law got to eat the chocolate one.

Why memories and celebration?  Because N-son turned 21 years old this week, that's why.  When he first came to live with the rest of us, he was tiny and adorable.  

"Yes!! Tiny baby N-son!" I-daughter was delighted.

It was fun to gush at these photos together; as we started sending photos back and forth, how many could we send?, one of us asked.  As the Matriarch of the family, I responded, "Rules? What Rules? No rules!", and I-daughter responded with "Pic spam incoming 😀"

As you can see, N-son has changed a lot since those early days, but he's still adorable, no matter what he's wearing.

And he's always ready to lend a hand (or a head) to people who need a lift, or a good book, or a raccoon from the fair, or just something yummy to sniff.

Most of all, though, we're just all so happy to celebrate the wonderful connections N-son has with our family and we with him.  We're glad to be his sisters, his godparents (top right, below), hosts-siblings . . . and for me and my guy, his parents. 

I-daughter says the third photo is "The first time N-son took a plane w/o his parents"

Happy birthday, N-son!

What else is going on in our lives right now?  Well, N-son has been hanging out this past week with L1.  K-daughter and D celebrated their one-year anniversary!  My guy has been riding his bike all the heck over the place.  And me, I taught my last class in this overload module we're teaching.  Phew. 

With all the celebrations, the week has had its challenging moments, too, I'll admit.  I ended the week with yet another round of plagiarism -- that makes 11 of my 26 on-line students who have used forbidden resources (including calculators, the internet, and mostly each other).  I wish so much I could figure out a way to give exams with proctors.  If I give an internet exam that lasts a full class session, they can Chegg it (that is, they buy solutions from an online source), but if I give shorter tests, the students panic about running out of time.   If I give questions similar to their homework problems, the answers are just a quick google search away, but if I give more conceptual questions, the students freak because it looks like nothing they've practiced.  This is just such a vile situation for us all; I wish we could be together at scary (exam) times, but we can't.  

And the reason we can't be together is getting more and more can't-er.  A month ago, my city was logging 30-40 new Covid-19 cases a day, but now we're up to 300 per day.  A month ago, my college had 0 cases on campus, but this past week we had to move all hybrid/in-person teaching entirely remote to end out the module, because we've had 44 cases of Covid-19.   We have more and more personal stories of friends who are in quarantine, of school counsellors who died of the disease, of yet another church member who got sick and is slowly recovering.  (Our church has both in-person and online services; I "go" online each week, myself).  

I still have to give final exams for my students (entirely remote exams), and by now you know how much I am dreading what that means.  So I am especially grateful that, after those exams,  I get to start a break from teaching that feels like it is of biblical proportions.  For forty days and forty nights, I can hunker down, sleep in on weekends, run with my tiny bubble of friends (outdoors! because Safer-that-way), and Not Spend My Days Grading.  

I have more family interviews coming in future weeks; this letter is long enough (and I'm wiped out enough), that I think I'll end here.  That's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  May you and yours stay safe.