Day 17

School is back in session! We discussed what kind of schedule we might like and agreed upon school starting at 8am - at the kitchen table. Prior to that time the kids should get ready, have breakfast and just have some free time. Yes, this only means I get some time to get some of my things done. Sure enough Grant was up at the crack of dawn and well before 8am and my coffee, he was asking for schoolwork help. Buddy there is reason school doesn't start at 7:15! We navigated through what this week's homework looked like and Grant presented on the state of California to Auntie Amber and fam. He did a really nice job. I think I was 20 before I made my first PowerPoint - he is 9. We are going to have to continue to work on the structure of our day. At one point Grant asked me to get him a pencil...he was glued to the couch. We are still searching for our new normal!

In the afternoon I decided I wanted to bake and decorate sugar cookies with the new air brush Elizabeth got for Christmas. The kids tried to play online with their cousins but there was some discontent in the kingdom so it ended with the special promised chore of the day! The chore was picking up rocks out of the yard and putting them back in the landscaping. Some areas were more difficult than others because the rocks had been stepped on and were really down in the dirt. But they worked hard and came in happy. It was great. I was really proud of them and was silently praising myself for a consequence that really seemed to work!

We watched some Titan Games and then discussed the plan of attack for tomorrow. They both agreed that they like to get up and get going on their work. I told them as along as they were able to work independently that was a great plan.
And we received this very special announcement from our governor today - we will all be at home until April 30th now!

Day 16

A new week! Technically today is a teacher institute day so I didn't have the kids dive into school work. However, they are both still working on the finishing touches of their state project, assigned by Auntie Amber. We started the day running a few errands, before heading over the river for a hike. Running errands looks like this: I went to the school to pick up a laptop for Grant. This meant pulling up to the curb and they brought it out to you. I took some checks that needed to be deposited to the bank. I would usually always go inside - not anymore. The lobby is closed. You go to the drive-up teller - I roll my window down, the tray slides out. I lay my paperwork down and say thank you and pull away - touching nothing outside of my car. I needed to drop something off at a friend's house. Normally I would just leave it on the porch- but when I got there they were on the porch. So now, I walk halfway up the driveway, drop the bags and have a brief conversation at a distance and while I back up, she can pick up the bags. The pool store that was opened last week, apparently this week it was now considered non-essential and they were closed.

We hiked for over an hour. It was really a beautiful morning. Crisp air. I am always surprised at the lack of wildlife we see, but then again I have to tell the kids to keep their voices down several times, so perhaps we scare the animals away! We maybe encountered 5 people/pairs on the trail. I instructed the kids to step off to the side when we would see someone approaching and it gave everyone a safe distance to pass. At our snack break I checked my phone and learned that Arizona had cancelled school for the rest of the year. When I told the kids they translated it into, it is probably going to be us next. They probably aren't wrong, but we still await the official word. The lack of summer sports and those being cancelled is weighing pretty heavy on them. Elizabeth lives for summer swim team. Grant's baseball team had been practicing really hard and he has been working on his pitching. He is pretty upset about the potential of his first year of kid pitch being cancelled. We were approaching the end of the hike and encountered an older couple. We had stepped to the side and they turned back when the saw the kids and very sweetly asked "kids, how ya doing?" They both kind of hung their heads. I explained that we had just learned that their cousin's school had been cancelled and that we were starting to feel the impeding doom. They had so many ways they could have responded...this was what they choose to say "Yep, probably going to happen here. Everything will be cancelled. Sports. Summer Vacation. All of it!!" Well thank you.

We had lunch and reading time and it was still only 1:00! I started on a few outdoor projects. The kids chatted with their cousins and we heard Stella's presentation on the state of Louisiana! We had a birthday car parade for a friend's son in the afternoon too.

Brandon was very worried that he only got 853 steps one day last week. So now he can work and walk at the same time! 

It was nice enough to work on their State projects outside!

The nice thing about having Brandon home is that he will occasionally allow for a few interruptions. He came to check on my outdoor project. (I was using a new power tool - he had right to be concerned!) When his day finished up he was able to walk out the back door and play catch with Grant. They played ball until almost 7:00! These are the good things we will remember about this crazy time!

Day 15

We were done with church by 8:40. It seemed like a long day ahead but Brandon decided to finish up an indoor electrical project that we had started a few months ago and it ended up taking up much of the day. The weather was really pretty gloomy and not conducive to much outside activity.

I escaped in the afternoon for a parking lot party with some friends. This new reality is really strange but we are finding ways to make it work!

The kids ran on the treadmill, played some games and all in all got along really well. After dinner they were sitting at the counter just talking. Talking like friends. It warmed my heart!

Day 14

Sunday Funday looked a lot like church on the couch and an electrical project that took ALL day! Yes he does his best work in his Christmas jammies :) He only shocked himself once. Truly the weather was still recovering and it wasn't nice enough to be outside so we just worked on picking up around the house a few indoor projects and games.

Day 13

Well we all know how lucky the number 13 is. The last time we had weather predictions on this scale was Nov 17, 2013, when the EF4 tornado hit our town. Over morning coffee Brandon very politely encouraged me to reconsider our shelter area. He wasn't sure I had picked the right spot in the basement. So we have relocated our emergency tornado box, restocked, put fresh batteries in the weather radio and spent a little time this morning preparing...just in case. Large hail (2" size) was predicted in the morning. We didn't see that happen, luckily. As I told the kids, everything that is important has legs to walk down to the basement - if all we have is ourselves we will be fine. The thing about having some advanced warning is you start to feel the need to haul stuff downstairs!

In the afternoon the rain came, the clouds rolled in, but we never had hail. And then true to fashion it warmed up and cleared off. The boys played catch. We sat outside and tried to have a quiet adult moment. Within 30 seconds of sitting down. Grant joined the party. 30 seconds later Elizabeth was there. She asked for the towel I was sitting on to dry her chair and sure enough in the process I knocked my glass off my chair and it shattered. Quiet adult moment passed.

The kids had cheeseburger sliders for dinner. Adults had racqulette. All seemed calm. My mom texted and said that it was on the national news that we were in the eye of the storm. The tornado watch had started at 2 and was set to expire at 10pm. Sure enough as soon as we said, "kids go get ready for bed" the alert went off to take cover. We headed down to our well stocked shelter and got the news turned on. We could have sat in that room and never have known anything was even happening. Poor Elizabeth was crying. In the end it all blew through rather quickly and with no harm. I think she might have been more upset that she was the only one with her pajamas on and we all had our clothes on still from the day. The scenes of people emerging from their basements after a tornado in "non-street" clothes are a reality to us! The weather radio was on my nightstand and it never went off again and we all eventually fell asleep!

 They still love their Legos!

Day 12

It's Friday ... the days are really starting to blend together. Elizabeth had the great idea to make pancakes. After breakfast we just putzed around the house doing a few odds and ends. Grant and I ran to Ima and Pops' to check on things there. We ate lunch together again. After lunch I tried to play a game with the kids, it didn't go well so it resulted in a 30 minute separation period. We reconvened and enjoyed some Ultimate Beast Master. Next we got out the marble racer and had some fun building with that. Brandon and I went on a run. We supported local and ordered carry-out for the best fried chicken in town. We played a game of Ticket to Ride and finished the night with more UBM. The kids went to bed, I watched My Best Friend's Wedding and Brandon played Nintendo. Nothing too exciting here. We did have a sprinkling of phone calls and FaceTime with family and friends. The major news besides the Coronavirus and how long the kids will be out of school and how  long we will be sheltering in place is the weather. Predictions are very favorable for severe weather tomorrow.

Day 11

Thursday...trying not to think about how many games we would have played with my parents this week! I have pretty loose with the kids in the morning and just let me do what they want...which usually means waiting for the cousins to wake up so they can FaceTime with them! The weather was supposed to be pretty rainy again so I roused them all for a morning walk. The fresh air felt good. We even talked to the neighbor through the fence - which is what we usually do, so that felt really normal! Elizabeth busted out some craft projects. She made soap, glittery soap, floating gem soap, lip gloss with blue food coloring (which was not in the instructions and now we know why - you get blue lips!) and sun catchers. We sat down at 12:30 and ate lunch together as a family - on a Thursday - this is so weird! 

After lunch I spent some time in the basement cleaning up the store room and the kids played a new educational game that kept them happy for 3 hours. Win! I snuck away to the hot tub thinking surely they would find me in 10 seconds...nope! I had 30 minutes of silence - ok truth be hold I got bored. I have started to worry that I am getting a little too use to everyone being around and when they all go back it is going to be too quiet! Auggie however seems completely exhausted every night! 

A local boy had just come home from his treatment at St. Jude and his community (they used to live and work here, but moved to a neighboring community) had organized a car parade to go by his house. Luckily we had the time to join in! I loaded the kids and dog up and we meet up with Washington's caravan. It was really fun, but again weird. People would go up to talk to each other in their cars and be standing so far away from their car window! And I should say really only 3 people got out of their cars - not a lot. I commented that the caravan meet up was like a parking lot party - just stay in your car! 

We had tele learning with Auntie Amber this morning and she taught us about the state of Oregon. Then each of them received their state and they began their research - that is what is happening below. Elizabeth will be reporting on New York (a real hot mess of Coronovirus right now might I add) and Grant choose California. They are working on their PowerPoints and will report next week. 

After dinner had daddy watch the Ultimate Beast Master with us and then I don't know how it happened but he busted his shin open and Elizabeth started screaming "It's blushing!" - yes blushing, not gushing. So there was that whole medical scene...and then bed!

Day 10

Today's agenda...piano lessons and yard work. First, we made it all day without being told once to be quiet by the boss man at home! Elizabeth had her virtual piano lesson at 10:00. After I need my virtual lesson on manners for the kids and their cousins. I now fully appreciated why Zoom stock has surged!

We headed outside after our lessons for some spring yard clean up. We only worked in the backyard, but the kids worked hard and there was no complaining. We raked some leftover fall leaves, trimmed some bushes, scrubbed some mossy pavers... Grant could play in the ravine all day with a hack saw cutting things down I let him. I don't know exactly which chore wore me out so much, but my body is feeling it this morning! The kids were so good I took them to the drive through for a cheeseburger. Mom's lunches are getting little boring. Brandon even requested a frozen pizza for the next lunch.

I guess an afternoon movie this week has become routine and Grant was already requesting that it was his turn to cuddle with me. We tried the movie Clue (1985 edition - the 2014 was unrated) and after 10 minutes Grant asked "when is the game going to start!". I think it was too much for them to follow and a few characters needed to tuck their chests back into their dresses so I turned it off. We then found the Ultimate Beast Master. The ultimate obstacle course challenge. Everyone was happy. I closed my eyes for ten minutes :)

Brandon worked pretty late so I put dinner in the oven and we took a long walk and our FIVE ingredient chicken and rice was ready upon our return. I made FOUR ingredient chicken and rice last time and we all decided that 5 was better than 4! After dinner we watched our church's mid-week lenten service. We learned about Saint Francis and Sister Clare. We were down to two eggs and Brandon was itching to get out of the house so he went to the store. They were closing right after he checked out so he made it just in time and yes sanitized all the way.

It was a pretty clear night and the kids requested a little hot tub time. The trees haven't leaved out yet so we have a good view of the stars. Brandon and Elizabeth even saw a shooting star the other night. I have always said if you look long enough you can see one every clear night, but he never has the patience to just stare at the sky. We have a little time on our hands...and he finally saw one! No shooting start this night but we did hear coyotes like I have never heard before. The first time we weren't sure...the second time we were sure. I would say they sounded very close. Brandon would say they were just close - not very close. At any rate, I sent the dog inside!

Day 9

I am starting to lose track of the days! Ok, it's Tuesday. I let the kids have plenty of electronics time this morning. I had a virtual coffee date with a few friends and daddy only had to come out to tell us to be quiet once. I worked on making butternut squash ravioli a good part of the day. We played a few games of Sorry! and cleaned out the hot tub. The kids found a new app that allows them to play games through text messaging so that kept them entertained. We ended the night with the Blown Away finale and we went to bed pretty early. I did remember to pull pain au chocolates out of the freezer, so we will have a yummy breakfast tomorrow!

Where are we in the COVID-19 world? I have instructed Brandon to stop leaving the house to run to the grocery store. He hasn't left for the last two days. There are still only a handful of states in "shelter in place". There is a lot of conversation about what is considered "essential" and if they can be open for business. The President said yesterday he is hopeful things are back up again by Easter but most people feel like when the date comes in from this 15 day period that tune may change. I really can't picture the kids not going back to school. I also can't picture a summer without baseball and swim team. So we wait and see. New York is getting hit pretty hard and a lot of people are saying we still haven't seen the worst. It is also hard to know what and who to believe. One thing is for certain, being at home with the family is a gift we may never get again.

Day 8

So we were supposed to be a on a flight to West Palm Beach, but let's not focus on that. Today we woke up cheerful and glad to have each other and the only mandated school work is 30 minutes of reading. After breakfast, I introduced them to one of the best shows of my childhood...Saved By the Bell. Grant was not a fan. Elizabeth was only OK about it. In all fairness AC, Kelli and Jessie hadn't made it to the scene yet. Anyway...they decided to help decorate the house for spring. Well no one will be over for the next month so knock yourselves out! There are eggs in very random places!

The found the bunny banner and they asked if they could make their own banners so we spend the rest of the morning working on that. After lunch and the mandatory 30 min break we watched Frozen II. Upon it's conclusion I asked them to walk the dog. The only reason they didn't come back in the house screaming was because daddy was on a call. However, we held a meeting in my bedroom and discussed that our life is pretty good (of course I gave real life perspective, but I'll spare you - I'll just say the phrase "clinging to life" was used) and they are arguing over who picks up dog poop. While in their rooms for reflection, Auggie was apparently needing some attention and she ran downstairs (you know where it is carpeted) and proceeded to vomit 3 times. So spring break is pretty fun so far. 

After another chit chat about behavior they came together and we good as gold. They even made us dinner. Brandon and I were able to go for a run and do some outside work. We concluded the evening with our new favorite show "Blown Away" which is a reality series about glass blowing. Grant didn't really care for it the other day, but after watching Saved by the Bell I guess he decided glassblowing is pretty interesting.

Chicken satay and macaroni and cheese. The chicken probably would have had more moisture if they would have started boiled water for the Mac n cheese before the chicken was done...but that's ok! They really did a great job and they worked on it together and happily!

Cream Puffs for dessert - pretty impressive.

Day 7

7:00 seems to be the new wake-up time. What a nice time to rise. Brandon went for another run. I checked the weather - 27degrees and opted for an indoor work out. I tried one of the donuts from yesterday and was really glad I ate as many as I did fresh. They definitely aren't as good today! We all showered, made beds and assembled for church. Elizabeth and I had wet hair, Grant had holes in his pants and the dog was with us...it's a weird way to go to church. I joke that Grant only asked 3 times if he could get something off the "play cart". It was a nice service and made it feel more like a Sunday.

Then we looked at each other as to say "Ok well what do we do now?" Grant said he would like a donut...just like he does when we are at actual church. We decided on a game of Elizabeth's choice and we played Trivial Pursuit...girls vs. boys. The boys won, but only by a slim margin. I see a rematch in the future. Then there was more moping by Elizabeth and then some pouting that resulted in 3/4 of us again playing Catan. Afterwards, I rallied the troops for lunch and Elizabeth baked chocolate chip cookies.

We then became couch potatoes for I don't want to say how long. Brandon was cooking ribs so he was at least doing something productive. At 5:00 pm I whispered to him "I'm bored! Don't tell the kids!" We ate dinner and went for a car ride to check on my parent's house. Yes this was the outing for the day a 7 minute car ride!

The night ended with a game of Ticket to Ride which not Grant refused to play. (insert eye roll) I can't wait for spring break to start tomorrow!

Oh yeah, it actually snowed today! 

We escaped the house!

Day 6

It's the weekend...well yes, but it kind of feels like every other day this week! Brandon woke up early and went for an outdoor run. The kids wanted to play with Lincoln Logs so they were entertained by that much of the morning. I had a virtual coffee date with Amber and Sandy. 40 minutes in my dad buzzed in for some FaceTime. Then the cousins called so are all staying virtually connected!

Brandon decided today was the day that the bathroom door that he has been building would finally be installed. He has worked really hard on it. He bought an old barn door, deconstructed it, sanded and rebuilt it. It looks awesome. We will paint it later on, but it is up! The kids played together really well most of the day so I knew when the grumbling started the wheels were going to fall off fast. We redirected and they cleaned their rooms and then we made yeast donuts together. We may have consumed many right out of the oven, but they are really best when they are fresh!

Homemade play doh 

At 5:00 we had a virtual cocktail hour with my friend to celebrate her birthday since our "shelter in place" order and quarantine didn't allow for a proper gathering! It was a lot of fun and we all said - why didn't we do this when you lived overseas?! Well there is the time change thing and matching up of schedules...right now our schedules are pretty open!

We need the day with dinner, hot tub and a game of Catan. Well, 3/4 of us played...it isn't Elizabeth's favorite game. She moped around about it until Brandon played "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie and we all went to bed! Tomorrow we give virtual church a try!

Day 5

It's Friday! Today's situation: Brandon is home working, Elizabeth is going to the horse barn and Grant is google chatting with all of his clothes on! At 3pm today our governor announced the "shelter in place" act...until April 8th. Just 18 days from now...we are allowed to leave for groceries and medications. The stores are still pretty picked over.

Elizabeth completed her morning school work and we ran her over to love on the horses for the day. Grant and I went and grabbed pool chemicals and then watched way too many Dude Perfects. Thank goodness our day was broken up by his class chat. Brandon surfaced for lunch and kept announcing "this isn't too bad". It's day one for him...he is in the honeymoon phase!

We all (including the dog) went to pick up EB and then we got a special Chicago deep dish pizza for dinner...take and bake of course. Our new "getting out" is going for a car ride. We reminded the kids that we will have food, it might just not be what they want to eat, but we all have to come together and be tough right now. And really learn to cherish the time we have together.

After dinner we had some family hot tub time and then watched a movie, Richie Rich.

Brandon said it best...the days are long. Yes they are, just more time to spend together!

Day 4

Today started a little slower for the kids. Elizabeth beat Grant out of bed! I got up with Brandon to have some alone time - I got 10 minutes. 10 minutes before the first one came downstairs, but they are so cute!
Breakfast and schoolwork seems to be an easy start to the day. Grant and I conquered adverbs. My favorite meme from today: "Covid homeschooling update: Two students have been suspended for fighting and one teacher fired for drinking on the job. Just joking, it's not that bad. The kids actually got along really well today. We went down to work out at 9:00. The kids requested a twin yoga challenge and I attempted to do a virtual class from my pilates studio...I made it 35 mins, so not bad.
  Today was homemade pasta day. Both kids got to google chat with their classes and EB had a FaceTime with a friend. The weather was pretty rainy so not too much fresh air until after dinner when we took a family walk.


 We went for a drive to do a few drive thru errands and ended with a DQ treat.

Doesn't the weather look nice?!

Grant's teacher read the class a book

The highlight of the day was the discovery of the show Wipe Out. They have it as an app on their iPad's but didn't know it was an actual show. I found the UK version - "Total Wipe Out" and it was very entertaining. I have a video of the belly laughs! 

We also officially canceled our spring break plans. I think we all knew it was going to happen, but it still a bummer. Brandon had a fun trip cancelled too. He starts working at home tomorrow! I flipped between 3 news channels tonight and was nauseous.  I don't even know what to think anymore!

Day 3

We woke up nice and early to Grant announcing that he had finished his book and was ready to take his AR quiz. Ok, I woke up - Brandon and Elizabeth were already awake. AR quizzes are using only taken at school so it is a big deal to be able to take it at home. After much debate over question #1, he received a 10 out of 10! We went for breakfast first before diving into the schoolwork. Crepes with strawberries and then Grant ate like 4 more breakfasts...because that is what he does. Todays' homework was done a bit more independently. I sat at the other end of the island with my AirPods in listening to the news until I got "Mom! How do you spell Jumanji?!" It went downhill from here. What am I learning, or I should say affirming, my kids really are horrible spellers so they are my children. Grant never stops moving and Elizabeth likes complete silence. She is very independent but wants me to constant look at her work and smile and nod in pleasure that she is doing good work. Grant - well I pretty much just try to avoid getting a pencil thrown at me! (joking, not joking)

Today I made a list instead of a schedule. Let's just try to get these things accomplished today. New day, new approach. About the the time we get the hang of this, things will change. 9:00 was my online pilates fusion class that I thought would be fun for everyone. Grant screwed around the whole time and the bug guy came 20 minutes in so I missed the half the work out! Then they talked me into Cosmic Barnyard Yoga which the bug guys witnessed as he was spraying around the basement windows...we all had a good laugh. Elizabeth wrapped it up with yoga with your dog. Yes they make a yoga with everything. Grant and I were long gone.

Grant had a class video chat that he had already run upstairs for. As I was tidying up from pilates, I see Grant's shirt...I go running up stairs and sure enough there he is on the laptop talking to his class with no shirt on! We did bible time after this incident.

I ran to the store to get flour, because today I wanted to make homemade pasta with the kids. No flour. Well no regular flour. I settled for a bag of self rising and I honestly only bought it because it was one of two bags of flour left on the shelf. We made banana bread instead. I sent Brandon for flour by work and he came home very proud...with a bag of unbleached flour. Yes I recognize there are a lot of flours out there, but FLOUR is just good ole' bleached, white, AP flour...but it was not to be. I will research pasta and flour tomorrow.

The chore to learn today was laundry. The kids successfully did 4 loads; wash, dried, folded and put away! Gold starts all around...they can go to college some day.

We rushed to get lunch on plates so we could log onto to lunch with Mo, but his site was crashed. Elizabeth was content watching the last two day's episodes before her art class started at 1:00. Today's lesson was drawing houses. Grant and I tried to solve his rubix cube that works with his iPad. After 30 mins I just wanted a nap.

2:00 was the home safari. I really did nod off this time. The animal was an ocelot and it was very pretty, but I have no fun facts to offer. However, we did research "blue bottles" or "Portuguese Man 'O War" sealife and facetimed with Ima to tell her all of our finings. They had seen a bunch washed up on shore and sent pics to the kids.

Elizabeth had her first virtual piano lesson and although she was really hesitant about it, it went very well. I only had to help a little ;)

After the lesson the cousins were available to chat so Amber and I took advantage of that and chatted ourselves. Before I knew it, Brandon was walking in the door and it was 6:30 and time for dinner. Dude Perfect is live at 7:00 and tonight is Lego Masters so we tossed bedtime out the window! Maybe we can sleep in a little bit tomorrow...

Day 2

Brandon woke up early to work out and I fell back into a deep sleep...I was driving my car in a snow storm in Minnesota and then "Mom! Mom! I think it is time to get up!" It was 6:42. We once again started the morning with school work. I made my coffee and sat in the front room. It was about 5 minutes before Grant found me. "Why are you in here?!" All part of the plan dude. They worked more independently this morning. Elizabeth loved that she could multi task her choir homework and math problems - once we found headphones! The kids wrapped up their schoolwork, ate breakfast, wished each other a happy St. Paddy's Day and took off for the horse barn. Elizabeth was asked if she would like to do some chores and somehow picking up sticks with horses around is way more exciting then picking up sticks in our yard! We dropped her off at 10 and she ended her day with a trail ride and we collected her at 5. She picked up sticks and walnuts...she earned that trail ride and the soak in the hot tub! We have one exhausted girl, but a very happy girl.

Grant loves one on one time so his cup was full too. We played basketball a couple of times, a few rounds of UNO, he got to do a google group chat with his teacher and a few classmates and have a virtual lunch with author Mo Willems. He is known for his pigeon and elephant and piggy books. It was so good that Grant asked to watch yesterday's lunch that we missed! Between the lunch doodle date and the class chat, we totally missed our home safari today, so our porcupine facts will be lacking.

"Dad, Mom is getting better at basketball," says Grant.

Don't let this pigeon drive the bus!

Google chat with his teacher and classmates!

Fun story, when we went to pick up Elizabeth there was a horse out of it's stall. The girls got a halter and got it put away but it had been out for over an hour...really enjoying the grass!

I really only had one kid for most of the day...Day 2, easily survived.