Death to Extroverts

I think we are on Day 18 of social distancing and mostly staying home. Ollie and I both wake up in the worst moods. As the day gets going, we do better, but the prospect of limited social engagement every morning weighs heavy. 

People are so sweet and resilient though! 

*Our neighborhood is rocking the bear hunt (putting stuffed animals in windows) so you can have something to look for and count on the million walks we go on. 

*Jon started reading the same book as me so we could do at home book clubs.

*The teachers from school had a parade-like pep rally and drove around all the kids house in a long line of cars honking, waving, and yelling greetings out the window.

*The memes of this pandemic are going to kill me. (Better that than covid 19, I say!) I die laughing every day and it is necessary. 

*Ollie and I have been baking up a storm and crossing things off our bucket list. So far we have made a yule log. Next up, macaroons! Jon read somewhere that we will all come out of this expert bakers or alcoholics. I'm trying to stick with option A! Fingers crossed. 

*My brother organized a family dinner for us across three states using technology. I'm definitely becoming more grateful for facetime/google duo/zoom/whatever. 

*Jennifer and Jessica came over and hid Easter Eggs and candy in our yard. Then they called us and told us to come out. While the boys were looking for the eggs, they pelted them with water balloons from the back of a truck. Super fun way to see friends and keep our distance. 

*My sister-in-law told us about the app Bunch and we've spread the news among our friends. Ollie plays on there every day and is so grateful to see friends and family. 

Ok, mom/teacher is needed. Pictures coming another day! 

Quarantine Diaries

Helllllooo!?? You out there? You surviving this madness?? 

We are home for the foreseeable future. Restaurants in Texas have closed, although I think many places still have their drive thru open or delivery available. Good 'ol Governor Abbott changed (suspended?) the law and has allowed alcohol to be delivered. He has also cancelled STARR test. Woohoo!!  As of now schools in Texas can re-open on April 6th, but too soon to say if that will change. 

We are kind of trying to quasi-homeschool, which mostly consists of me making lists and the kids tackling them. This has actually gone better than I expected, for which I am so grateful. I'm trying not to complain too much about being stuck at home (Jon, if you are reading this, feel free to roll your eyes) and make the most of our time. We have also severely restricted tv time, which our kids did not expect, but have adapted to fairly quickly. I figured if it ends up that we are home for months, we better start off on a creative and playful foot. I have been pleasantly surprised by finding kids reading, doing puzzles, playing legos. But also the fighting. Ha. That has been a constant. Maybe we are turning a corner on that??!! Fingers crossed.       

We have also broadened our definition of entertainment. Yesterday it included seeing how many layers of jello we could get to fit in our casserole dish. (Only 3. We need a bigger dish next time.) Ollie has been such a good sport and goes on runs or works out with me. My mental health needs it, I am grateful to have a buddy to work out with. Ollie and Jon are planning on re-watching the Superbowl today, which they are both pumped about. Seth is trying to learn how to do back handsprings, but he rarely does them in the basement, which means he is pretty banged up from hitting his body/getting cuts on various furniture around the house. Somehow he has sliced a quarter size part of skin off his big toe by jumping over the toilet. Don't ask me how. Don't ask me why. 

On pi day, we celebrated by making a cheesecake type pie. Later we found out that is also Steph Curry's birthday, so we just stuck in candles and sang to him. The boys took turns blowing out Steph's candles. 

Oh! We also tackled some home improvement projects. Jon put in a trash can drawer thingy! We need to slap a couple coats of paint on it, but yay for progress. 

We also put up some backsplash. It was peel and stick, so a super fast project.

Fancy!!

Ok, folks. That's it for today. Now it's time to check my phone and hope some of my friends/family have sent me new hilarious memes. 

Social Distancing

What strange times we are living in. My personal opinion is that everyone is over-reacting, but I am just trying to keep my head down and go with the flow. Or the stop, as it were.

I did go to the grocery store tonight for the first time in a good while, (more out of curiosity than anything) although we were out of eggs. Guess what? So was Wal-mart. I do feel grateful that Jon has a job that doesn't depend on tips or sales, and that we already have rice, bread, canned beans, and toilet paper at home. (The store was out of all those items as well.) I feel grateful that I have a mom who cooked delicious and healthy meals and taught be how to as well. A mom who taught me how to stock a pantry, how to plan ahead, and how to feed a crowd.

We just started a week of Spring Break, but my best guess would be that we will be off school for a couple weeks minimum. Today I told my kids that we have never been a home-school family before but that were going to try and start. They were actually great sports about it and we all worked together with minimal complaining. It probably helped that we had a few friends over for dinner and a movie, so they at least had something to look forward to. (We didn't keep it less than 20, but don't tell anyone. Ha)

I just keep thinking about families living on the edge, though. What about single moms that are going to have to stay home with their kids and forgo a pay check? What about families that don't have the first clue how to home-school? What about families that eat out 5 times a week and don't cook? Or families that don't have money for extra toilet paper and rice? What about people who have experienced trauma or neglect and literally lack the brain capacity for planning ahead?

I do feel grateful because we have money in the bank, food in the house, a husband who can work, brains that can flexibly plan, and working immune systems. I have to remember that having these advantages is probably one of the reasons why I think everyone is over-reacting.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks. In the meantime, if you need tp, some homemade cookies, or are wondering what to do with your elementary kids, come on over. We are happy to share. 

March On

It feels like it's been a good little bit since I last posted! To be honest, I was looking through my pictures and don't even remember which haven't made an appearance yet. Forgive me if you are seeing duplicates.

March has arrived! One of my favorite months, Jon's bday, arrival of spring, and of course spring break (which Nolan has taken to calling sprinkles break). 

This first picture needs some background. One of Momo, Ollie, and Nolan's favorite knock knock jokes goes a little something like this:

Knock, knock

Who's there?

Duane.

Duane who?

Duane the bathtub, I'm drowning!

Nolan, Ollie, and I went to a Monterey game a few weeks ago and a player named Duane drove down the court and dunked. 

Me: All right!! Let's go Duane!

Nolan: Mommy? Is that Duane the bathtub?

Ollie and I died laughing. 

Donuts with the team!

GC kids putting together their memory verse. 

Painting class at the Y. Yes indeed, I turned my still life plant into a Mandrake.  

Seth and Isaiah at jump rope for heart. 

Ollie and Jon, expert jumpers. 

Nolan currently is obsessed with this puzzle grandma and grandpa gave him. He likes to put it together several times a day. Cutie pie. 

Bahama Bucks! 

Oh man, we celebrated Ollie's half birthday recently. 9.5! He is currently into coin collecting, all things sports and football cards, Harry Potter, and of course running. He is such a cool kid.