Covid 2019 - Part 2

Two months later and there is a smidge of hope for things to return to a new normal....restaurants, stores, salons, and small businesses are beginning to open.  

The mandatory shelter-in-place order was lifted a week ago yet it is still recommended that we remain in our homes.  

Schools have ended their learn-from-home year....teachers were struggling with this set-up as were the children.  For our family, Colin has finished for the Spring semester; Pryce has finished his Junior year with school except for AP exams, the first of which he took today and felt good about; MK has finished her 7th grade year; Maddox and Maryn are homeschooling - we will be doing reading, math, and ELA throughout the summer; Chapman is loving life, she has the attention of the brothers, MK reads to her daily, Maddox does school with her, and Maryn is her partner in crime....it is the ideal life when you are in preschool.

Ryan went back to work today for at least this week.  

Goodness, what a great two months it has been.  All of my babies and my husband, all together with no where to go but home.  Thankful the boys have had each other to hang out together, thankful MK has had time with her brothers and her sisters - she is the glue to both the bigs and the littles, thankful for the time my littles have had with each other just being sisters.

A snippet of what we have been up to.  

My friend, Whitney, did pics with the children in our field.  I was beyond stressed out their clothing - coordinating all of them was not going well so I threw my hands up in the air and told them just to pick something out and put it on....and they did and the pics were fabulous!

Ryan began building a playhouse for the girls....more to come.

The girls discovered one of nature's wonders, honeysuckles.  They have now mastered the art of finding and tasting the honey.

We spent hours outside making gigantic bubbles and riding plasma cars, albeit train style, around the pool.

Maddox, usually our indoor child, has found a new liking for outdoor activities....hoverboard and the ripstick.  She also taught me how to play Trash....she wins most every time but occasionally I can get ahead and come out on top too.  

As a family, we went through a period of "Top Ten" lists.  This brought out a bit of discussion, sometimes intense discussion, over dinner.  The boys were particularly funny with this....dressing for the occasion and presenting their lists as if in a courtroom environment....truly, there were a lot of laughs.  Some of our topics were Top Ten Pixar movies, Top Ten Summer Olympic games, Top Ten Dreamworks movies....

Maryn made a quick little moondough activity one day....it was supposed to be non-messy but turned out to be quite sticky and the girls were not fans of the way it smelled, lol.

The rest of our days were really spent by the pool, in the pool or walking in our neighborhood.  There is a fun little creek not too far from our home....the girls love to get their feet wet, throw rocks, walk on the rocks, etc.  Just good, innocent fun.

COVID-19

Well, exactly one month ago today, our family was traveling to Orlando, Florida.  There was a little chatter about "the virus" but the world was operating at the ignore level and everything around us was as normal as any other day.
Thankfully, our family had the best time.  We returned on Sunday, March 8, and everything went downhill from there.  C hopped out of our car and into his car with one of his friends in tow....they made it thirty minutes away and his car choked down.  Ryan was able to mend that situation by taking them his car and he hobbled back home in C's car via backroads.  Crisis averted.  As the week progressed, talk of "the virus" escalated.  Many friends from the kids' schools were telling me that there was a good chance the schools would close the following week.  On Thursday, March 12, Maryn and Maddox came home from school with packets of work to do for the following two week "just in case" the schools were to close over the weekend.  Even then, we didn't see it coming.  Friday, March 13, MK came home with a packet and talk of colleges closing for the remainder of the semester was being heard.  By Sunday, March 15, all of the girls heard they would be out beginning Tuesday - we chose to allow only MK to go to school on that day in order to pick up any items she needed before the school closed.  Pryce and Colin were left....thankfully, both of their schools closed doors too by Tuesday.  And just like that, we were all under one roof for who knew how long.....
To say it has been a whirlwind, is an understatement.  It has been SO wonderful at times.....
I go to bed each night hearing the boys in our basement laughing or playing their loud music.....
We eat all three meals together, we go on walks around the neighborhood as a family, we have played so many board games and family challenges - some have been so much fun while others have been a flop.....Ryan joined us for the days when Bridgestone closed its factory down Sunday, March 22.  He has been working from home and been our primary store guy.  The stores are empty.  Ryan has to time it just right to even have a chance of getting what we may need for the week. Lysol is non-existent, as is toilet paper.....those are just the two items that seem to have gone missing early in the game and have not yet returned.  Meats, cheeses, eggs, milk, rice, pasta, flour....it's all on a shelf for a moment one day and gone two seconds later....you literally have to go in and seek the most-needed item first.  I've become quite acquainted with ordering groceries online....the trick to that is ordering ahead because it will likely be 2-3 days before you can schedule a pick-up time.
Today I asked the children, age 20 years to 5 years, how they feel about the "shelter-in-place" order that has been upon us now for 3 weeks.  All of them agree that it's fine....we are enjoying time together.  They all stated they missed their friends,  tho MK was the only one to wish that she could go to school.  Basically, she misses the social aspect which I totally understand..,..what 13 year old girl doesn't miss her friends.  We all agreed we are chilling and taking in this time that has been given to our family.  While we are sad about canceled events like baseball season for Pryce, dance classes for all of the girls, dance recitals, ROAR of Love ballet, school, college life, work.....all of this gone with mixed emotions.  Yet, in the midst of things being halted, life is happening.  Family life.  Family dinners every night with every one of us gathered around the table playing games as we eat; family walks - granted the walks are the same each day pretty much, the conversations are different; pool time with siblings, family game time and challenges, family movie time....all of this uninterrupted.  It is truly a blessing and one that I will treasure in the years to come.  I pray my children view this time happily as they grow up and remember the time we were quarantined together for six weeks, I pray they see the light in all of this uncertainty.
So, what have we been up to?
Penny boat building challenge, Lego challenges, family make-up challenges, Maddox broke her head open helping Colin move his college apartment belongings back home - a little glue at the ER and she was all set; Maryn lost three teeth in one week; Chapman learned to write her name; Ryan began a few building projects; we've watched movies, played cards and games.....and hopefully my children will remember this time as a time of slowing down and enjoying the company of siblings.