March 12th and 13th went down like this pretty much...
In the blink of an eye, one by one the dominoes fell and our corner of the world (and much of the greater world) shut down. As world and nationwide news rolled in fast concerning the coronavirus, and we started hearing words like "social distancing" and recommendations to avoid large groups, we began to stare at the calendar and wonder...and then real fast no longer wondered as our calendar cleared SO FAST my head spun (I literally have no idea what the date is anymore, or barely what day of the week it is...I no longer need to know pretty much). It started with Daniel's last band concert slated for the evening of the 12th canceling, his last chance for a fun night for local "tweens" at the middle school canceling, and on and on. One thing after another. Literally.
I attended a very strange book club the night before all this went down, strange because we were in a group (gasp!), should we be in a group (seriously, half of us wondered at the wisdom of this- we were already washing hands before touching anything and not hugging), all we could talk about was this virus, members with college kids suddenly had kids home, members traveling suddenly had flights canceled, the news was rolling in and phones were chiming with messages, it was very strange. That would be the last time I would truly see people I knew.
Thursday, I went to pickleball as it had not been canceled yet (it was definitely under-attended, but several still came), we washed hands afterwards, said our goodbyes and stay wells, then I came home and hovered over the news and, as I said, began to wonder...would these events on my calendar still happen. And I quickly began to mourn the fact that they might not. I truly did. It was hard to wait and watch and see how things could be. I began to prepare the kids for the likelihood that things might not happen. They were concerned and bummed and all- very understandable feelings. And sure enough, that afternoon we learned that the band concert was canceled, the park district started to cancel their events, libraries (though not just yet ours) started to close. In my confusion and foggy state, I went to the library by our house, grabbed a few good reads for the kids and myself, and then took Annabel out for ice cream. This was comfort we needed- the library and ice cream.
Friday the kids went to school and all day we got emails noting concern and laying out contingency plans. Later, Annabel told of many PA announcements- "beep beep, staff, please..." "beep beep, teachers, please..." "beep beep students..."- interrupting the day. Meanwhile, Ben and I went to the grocery store- we needed Oreos. Truly. We picked up a bunch of other things, too, but we truly went because the kids wanted Oreos. Priorities, right?! That we could do. Comfort we could aim for while so much was uncertain. The store was crazy busy (took forever to checkout), but we managed and got through it. That was the last time I would step foot in a store (Ben goes now, I'm too paranoid, plus I catch every bug that comes my way, he doesn't so much, tough guy he is). By 2:00 that day, we learned that school was canceled. My days secretly planning Annabel's Escape Room style birthday (at least in the daytime) were over- in fact, I'd naively just sent the invitations out to her friends, knowing full well it would likely be rescheduled. I think I just needed to believe it could happen, I think I needed to feel like something was out there to look forward to. I spent the last half hour of my alone time with a cup of tea and a book, trying to calm my nerves, because I was literally shaking. Comfort.
The kids came home that Friday afternoon buzzing with energy and excitement, retelling how their day went down. Annabel called it the "coronavirus break"- because that's what it was. We were staring down three weeks at home (to start with, of course- it would be much more in the end)- two weeks of "eLearning" which would begin the next Tuesday and then our spring break that third week, as originally scheduled. We took stock of our home, the things we had, the things we needed to do, the things we could do with all that time "off" (I was eyeing our backlog of Doodle Crates and other half started projects!). Daniel's teacher had instructed them to set up their learning space- and Daniel did this immediately, it was the sweetest and I was so so proud of him. I didn't worry one bit about the home schooling- my kids are such strong kids in that area.
We also began to grieve, truly, because the two weeks leading up to spring break were to be filled with super fun things for the kids, things we ALL looked forward to- band instrument selection for Annabel, honors testing for Annabel, a teacher movie date for Daniel (the thing we'd worked SO hard to bid on and win at Carnival- and Daniel was so SO excited to go and I was thrilled for him and so pleased he wanted to do this with his teacher- what a treat, what a great thing for his 5th grade year), a pizza lunch with the teacher for Annabel, and so much more. It was hard to know these things wouldn't happen, at least not now. All we could hope was that someday they could. It was hard- our hard, at least. I read this quote somewhere and it immediately rang true for me- "your hard is your hard"- it's still hard, for us; yes there were graduations ruined, weddings ruined, and all, and I get that, of course I do- but this stuff, this stuff was still very much looked forward to for my babies, this stuff was ruined for them. Daniel kept saying his 5th grade year was ruined. That's hard. When you're 11, and having a great school year, possible your favorite school year, a year with an awesome teacher you love and friends in your class you treasure, of course that's hard. Annabel was having her best year, too- loving her teacher, loving her Honors Math program and wonderful honors teacher, making great new friends, having a ball- that's hard to let go of. I myself was so disappointed the kids' year with such great teachers was getting cut off, I loved their teachers this year- this was such a bummer for me, for them.
I literally had to operate minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day for quite some time while I wrapped my head around our very drastic life change- Quarantine. Stuck at home- reframed to Safe at Home very quickly; we needed that positivity. My first thought was okay 9 days of school, we can do this, we GOT this. And of course- my babies home with me!- HOW FUN!, this is who I am and exactly how I like it! But when you couple that with news saying that three weeks isn't gonna be enough, we're gonna be in this longer, and when you can't see that end, and when your calendar is completely emptied, the days seem long, the outside world seems so far away, and things look bleak. My head stayed in that space for a few days- it was hard to get past. I keep going back to this is who I'm meant to be- a stay at home mom, I LOVE my kids home, truly...and that's where I try to keep my head, but some days are just plain rough, just plain sad- and that's okay, too. We have to allow this for ourselves, too.
Saturday and Sunday- like I said, we started to take stock of what we had, what options we had, all the things we could do, the ways this could be fun. Because that's the outlook we had to have- we'll get through this. We hit our library's other two branches, stocked up on umpteen books and movies (I've started a box for filling up with returns...yes, a box- we might need two), and then dove our homebodies right into some fun. We set up Annabel's learning space with cute lights on the wall and a clean desk and room. We enjoyed the fresh air and started our daily walks. Annabel caught a nasty cough/cold that Sunday, so tea and some games and movies were in order. We just hunkered down and enjoyed being together as a family.
And the days rolled by. We filled 'em, alright. Sometimes I'm not even sure how I'm filling the days, but I am. We're busy. Doing what, who knows, but we're busy. We make sure of it. Distraction is the order of the times. I stopped looking at news, I stopped browsing the internet, I stopped looking at my calendar. I had to. I couldn't look at all that bleakness. I had to look right in front of me- at that minute, at my babies, healthy and home, and get down to some fun.
Tuesday March 17th started our e-Learning and the kids got right to work. I'm beyond proud of them. I'm blessed with such great children who work well independently, who are trustworthy, who are hard workers, and so much more. I was entirely not worried even a little bit about their schooling. Generally their assignments took them a couple hours to do, and they had some fun things mixed in, too. I was always on hand to check in with them, making sure they got their tasks done, but for the most part, other than a few "I'm saving that for later" comments on more than one occasion (there are only so many laters!), the kids really were doing great. We had a few adjustments (totally expected- this is all so new!), a few attitude-y and cranky moments (on both the kids' and mom's part!), but we got through our first week of e-Learning and celebrated with S'mores Nachos that Friday night. We made sure to include outdoor adventures or physical games every day and just get ourselves moving- it all felt great. I was reminded of my first response to all this- we GOT this! We did, indeed. Still do. :)
The Wednesday night of that week, Annabel and I attended our Book & Cookie Club virtually. It was so fun! I installed the Zoom program on my computer (this is all so new, I keep thinking! who'd've thunk it?!) and joined the meeting- so easy. We could see our librarian and other friends who come to this book club regularly. The librarian, Emily, asked the kids what their favorite part of the quarantine was, and Annabel whispered to me, "What's a quarantine?" I said, this, what we're doing- being home all the time, all this, that's a quarantine. I guess I hadn't made that part clear- she'd just called it the coronavirus break and we went with that. Well, now she knows. The other enlightening moment was when Emily was describing what the libraries were like that weekend when things were shutting down minute by minute. Our town's library was the hold-out- they didn't close till that Monday. (And yes, over the course of days between Thursday night and Sunday night, we'd been to all three branches!) Emily commented how people were filling bags upon bags with materials, how people were renewing library cards just so they could check stuff out, and how many people came in just to get library cards in the first place so they could check stuff out. So fascinating. And sure enough- our library did finally close that Monday and is still closed to this day, and will be through April 30 as I write this. I picked up so many books and thought oh I'm not going to finish all these before they're due, and well, now it's almost like they'll never be due and I'm certain to finish every last one, haha. Silly me, to worry about that. (Not to mention, I have many many books at home on my shelves still to read, too- I'm not hurting for books, that's for sure.) Emily had also checked out multiple copies of the book club selections for upcoming months and offered them to us for pickup at her place. Annabel and I hopped right on a couple of them. We thought meeting virtually was such fun!
At some point during all this time home, too, our school district unlocked Google Hangouts so the kids could "see" their friends and teachers, both for school work and socially afterwards. This was SO needed and while I struggle with how much screen time the kids have now, I also completely understand their need to see friends and let loose a little. Annabel does gymnastics with her friends, Daniel plays games with his. They set their Chromebooks up so they can see each other doing their activities and that's their play date. A breath of fresh air, that, really. I was reminded immediately of that Spaceship Earth ride at Epcot at Disney World- the one about communication through history- and how when I was little, the "future" was video chatting- and now it's here. So eerie, really. What a different world. I actually cried the first few times I saw the kids doing these Google Hangouts, happy tears and sad tears. It's sad that this is how things have to be, how this is how they have to see their friends and play for now. Breaks my heart. But it works, it really does. They can see their friends in this way and for that, happy, grateful tears. We are not alone.
And so the days roll by. I won't write nearly as much every week, but I am taking a lot of pictures, because this is history. I keep telling the kids, who groan now when I take pictures...someday you're gonna wonder what we did with all this time and now you'll know. We fill our days, we keep busy.
Enjoy our pictures! These are different times, but we're homebodies, truly, and introverts (most of us, anyway), so our days look much the same actually (in fact, it's not unlike summer, really, just we can't go anywhere)...except they're extra full of love and fun. I hope the kids just remember all the fun we had, all the time we spent together, and how we all pulled through together as a strong family unit.
Alright- WEEK ONE- here we go!
Cosmo sat on my book, that Friday morning March 13th. This was before we knew what was coming. Well, before it was confirmed anyway, we had inklings.
Daniel came home and set up his learning space, as instructed to do by his teacher. So proud!
We had already started this puzzle that week. Little did we know puzzles would soon be a hot ticket and NOT found in ANY stores or even online. Thankfully, we have a stash from Christmas and birthday presents! Not to mention old puzzles we can whip out and re-do, too. Plus we're puzzle swapping with friends and family. Solidarity, I tell ya.
Cosmo thinks he fits in this box. He looks super cute. I think he knows it, too.
Just one (yes, only one) of our library movie hauls.
Just one, yes again only one, of our library book hauls. Plus Oreos we picked up that Friday. Priorities. Who needs toilet paper? (Which could already NOT be found anywhere as well. We were already pretty set, thankfully.)
Annabel's awesome learning space! Love the lights!!
One perk of this quarantine- there are NO cars in the streets so the kids are allowed to rollerblade, skateboard, and bike in the streets. So fun!
Whittling. Processing all this. Keeping busy. This was Saturday, the day after we learned of the first part of the quarantine (the three week part, through spring break at least).
When did this kid get to looking like a cool teen/tween?!
Annabel proudly shows off her first whittled stick!
We introduced the kids to Storming the Castle- a fave game based on a fave movie! It's been so fun to play this with them! This was the day Annabel had a cold, we needed tea, a tissue box, and games for comfort. :)
More kitties in the box.
Grandma Mary Kay gave us this schedule, which we thought was great. Annabel loved it! Once e-Learning kicked in, that helped with our schedule, too.
Annabel doing "chores"- we needed to test markers out. She had fun!
Our puzzle is coming along! Although I could barely focus to do it at this point. I could barely focus to do much. My brainless distracting tablet games were much more my liking because I couldn't think of much beyond the game of matching boxes and racing against time to do so!
Gray days came, but we still got outside for rollerblading and baseball in the yard.
The first day of e-Learning! It went great! I had the kids start off in the kitchen, so I could see what they were doing, but eventually they moved to doing their work in their rooms, which has worked out just fine. They're good kids. All work gets done within two hours in the morning and we're done with school by lunch. It's nice to have the rest of the day for fun together then. Or they do a Google Hangout, too. After all, we have a lot of time- that's for sure!
Ta-da! Finished puzzle!
Another day of e-Learning. The cats are very confused and all over us. But they love having everybody home all the time.
Soaking up the sunshine!
Pickleball at the courts by our house. This was before they closed even these down to eliminate spaces for group gatherings. Grandma Mary Kay came with us. This was also before we truly wised up...because we had also imagined all these playdates and sleepovers with grandparents to help break up our weeks, but truly the recommendation has been to only be with those you live with...and we're strictly following that now, I feel strongly about that. To the kids' chagrin, but I think they get it, they know why, and they're okay with it. Duo calls, Zoom meetups, and Google Hangouts are the order of the times...and saviors they are!
Seeing green on St. Patrick's Day! I am struck with all the greenness in the world now that spring is here and how life does simply go on.
My favorite picture during quarantine so far!!!! This picture- such a blessing to see these happy, amazing kids! I look at this picture often. Usually it brings tears.
Cute kid.
Cute cats!
Cosmo always nearby.
Daniel's assignment including writing in a journal (to which he shook his head- not his thing! Annabel did though!)...making history indeed! A 5th grade year they'll never forget indeed.
Cuties!
I was ditched in favor of Google Hangouts! The kids were thrilled to be able to see their friends. I had puzzles, teddy, and a cat for company instead.
Listening to the kids chatter away on Google Hangouts.
A peek at them chatting, too...
PE time- Twister fun!
Even Ziggy helped!
I'm not on screens much for myself right now, if I can help it, but things like this do make me laugh and are a balm to the soul!
The cats made it hard for Daniel to work...walking all over him, stealing his chair, and fighting...
Annabel made a darling felt succulent garden. It was the perfect thing to do now- more green and plants for our house!!
Thumbs up for rollerblading!
Daniel trying out his new penny board, which he'd been really wanting. Now was the perfect time to hop on that!
When we can't find Cosmo, this is where he is...on the dining room table!
S'mores Nachos to celebrate the first week of e-Learning!! Hooray! We did it!
Another puzzle done. Another cat spot.
I'd already made chocolate chip cookies. Those were gone fast of course. Now the kids wanted brownies. I said I wasn't making them. They noticed my loophole...they could make brownies themselves, so they did! They worked together so wonderfully! I loved it. The brownies were wonderful, too!
Handsoap and dish soap is another hot commodity you can't find anywhere (at least, not at first- again, we were pretty set in this way so I didn't worry)...but we had a very generous neighbor drop off this bag of goodies! It was the sweetest!
A better look at that finished puzzle. It was cute!
Annabel during our walks...she loves this "roller coaster" sidewalk!
And that's just week one! See? We did it! I know we'll get through this!
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