Social Distancing: Week 3

I think two weeks was sort of a novel experiment, with a hope that maybe we'd realize it was overdone, or it would end surprisingly soon... But at the start of the week, when the president announced we would continue in this manner through April, I think it kind of threw me into a funk. Not that I am a people person, particularly. Not that this is that stressful on us, as we are always at home, I never work, and Bob still has a job. But I see it wearing on the kids- not being able to get out of the house for fun or activities or see friends. And I see it wearing on Bob, having to work from home, and for myself- the days can get long with no place to take the kids aside from a walk or the backyard.

So we trudged through the week. We did school. We played outside. We had online dance and online Taekwondo and online music. We didn't stress about fitting in all the new extras. And we felt almost normal busy, but with a haze of discontent with the situation.

As we woke up to a rainy day with no promise of playing outside, I have to admit, I was less than thrilled.

But in the fashion of many other bloggers, I am going to turn my cranky, complainy mood around. Many people are posting about how they are thankful for what this unprecedented situation is giving them. Or about what they realize that they were too busy to see before. I am happy that so many people can see the light in a gloomy time.


I already know what many are coming to discover...

I am thankful that this is (close to) my normal every day.

That every day I get to spend the whole day with my kids.

That every day I get to teach my kids and learn from them, rather than giving that job to someone else.

That every day I get to chat with them over lunch.

That every day my kids get hours to go outside and play with each other and pretend and imagine.

That every day my kids get time to themselves, to choose whichever activities they like.

That my children already know (mostly) how to play together, get along and resolve disputes.

That when our afternoon activities come around (online or in real life), my kids aren't already burnt out from their day.

That every day we eat dinner together, even if sometimes it doesn't happen until 7.

That we (usually) really enjoy all the time we have together.


This isn't normal, and the news is uncomfortable to hear, and it doesn't feel good to be in a state of constant concern, or worry, or frustration. But in such a time, I am thankful for my supportive husband and these adorable kiddos.

Water and Snow?

I am hopeful that being home all the time will make me appreciate the little moments. It's not so much different than usual, but I'm going to try to document some of our not so exciting time. 

This morning we started a car wash. Which ended up as three toy washes. Which ended up as three kid washes. Hey, everyone had a blast. Doesn't get much better than playing in water in the kitchen when you're a little kid. Kept them busy for almost an hour, so I'll call it a win. And my floor is so much cleaner than when we started. Double win.

Then, even though there was no snow on the ground this morning and it wasn't even snowing at lunch, THIS happened after I had already put away all the snow gear!!!

Three of the kids were excited to play out in the snow one more time. MiniM.E. isn't really into this social distancing thing, and her attitude towards everything clearly displays her unhappiness to be stuck at home all the time.

By dinner our deck looked like this!

A Weekend of...

Nothing??

This has been the most challenging two days yet. The kids look forward to the weekend all week, counting the days, usually starting on Monday! They love spending extra time with Daddy at a playground or on an outing, or having a family over for dinner, or something... different. But since Daddy has been at home, and we have nowhere to go, even though the kids knew we couldn't do anything, I think they subconsciously were very disappointed with our weekend.

The boys played and climbed.

The girls played dolls.

And Daddy built an epic fort while all the kids complained it was taking too long with the kids.

Just Hanging Around

Today we finally made it out for a "hike". Of all things I've promised about social distancing, the kids are most excited to hike. Odd, since none of them actually like walking. Today we went to the Spring Run Trail to hike/scooter/bike. It was such nice weather, and even though we are social distancing, just seeing other people felt good. And it was a change of scenery from our neighborhood walks.

As we were taking the snack break above, a kid rode by and shouted, "thunderstorm coming!" 

This smart mom had checked the radar an hour or so before we left, but of course, didn't think to check again. Sure enough, it was almost on top of us as I herded the kids back to the trail and encouraged them to MOVE IT!

We didn't make it. Fortunately, it was just pelting rain, no thunder. And it was warm... enough.

I exclaimed over the fun adventure, and the kids all rode home in their underwear. Friday afternoons don't get much better than that!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Not the best climate for celebration this year. We certainly won't be having a party or a play date or be going out to eat (now that restaurants are closed except for take out). I have, in the past, gone all out for St. Patrick's Day with scavenger hunts and rainbows. The girls, especially MiniM.E., remind me of what I did last year, which makes it hard not to do those things again. BUT, I had a lot going with stress of SARSpocalypse, quarterly reports, and trying to help out my mom friends who need homeschooling advice and resources. By the time I was done with "work" last night, it was too late to start a scavenger hunt.

We woke up with a blanket of snow which the kids decided was a trick from the leprechaun, so that worked in my favor.

We settled for green pancakes and green smoothies for breakfast and made leprechaun slime for science.

Slime resulted in clothing and hair full of slime, so we also filled our morning with a bath time.

Maybe later we will venture to the store... at least it will be an activity.

Flu Crazier!

No school, no work, no shopping, no restaurants, no play dates, no Taekwondo, no dance, no music, no library... no one even wants to meet up at an outdoor location. It's like some crazy sci fi movie or alternate universe. We shopped yesterday and everywhere was out of meat, bread, frozen food and toilet paper. This is by far the craziest thing I've experienced.

We are feeling so fortunate that this is already what we do every day. I can't imagine what parents must be feeling that are used to sending their kids to school and now are expected to stay home with them and teach them. So other than no one wanting to play and not heading out for activities this evening and having Daddy home all day, it was pretty much a normal school day for us today.

Lots of playing outside with these cuties. And other than asking for playdates a few times, the kids seem pretty okay with things so far.

We'll see if I'm feeling so chipper come the end of the week!

Flu Craziness

So it's getting a little crazy with the paranoia over coronavirus and the new social distancing. We went from "maybe they'll be a meeting Monday to decide what to do" to "no school for five weeks" in a matter of hours!

We were supposed to spend the morning at a Taekwondo tournament, but it's been rescheduled. We needed a few books and movies from the library so that became Plan B until we looked online and the Saratoga Public Library was "closed to the public until further notice". Figuring we were going to be without the library for weeks, I quickly searched the nearby libraries, and thankfully the library Glens Falls was open for the weekend, to close Monday. So Plan C was get to any library ASAP for books we might need for months. I quickly put together a list of what we would need for school while these crazies played.

We already had a date night/sleepover planned so we went ahead and went out, but the whole thing feels so crazy.

The downtown bar and restaurant scene didn't feel any different- we couldn't even get a table at the restaurant we planned on, so things can't be too bad.

Our friends watched our kids at our house and then we came home and kept their kids for the night. It was a bit crazy, but the kids had a blast (as usual) and will be very tired tonight (as usual). At least we didn't have to rush our morning since church was cancelled for both our families. The kids got to play through the afternoon!