Quarantine: Week 1

Recess

My friend Kim encouraged me to keep blogging during this period of social distancing. It is going to be a major event that all three kids will remember from their childhood - and I should record it ... both the ups and downs. She might have a point. 

So, here I go: We've made it through week 1 and we still like each other. The end. 

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Fine ... I'll fill in a few additional details. 

Legos

Day 1 was ... rough. By 4:00pm, Mike was laying on our bed, convinced that he wasn't going to make it. Day 2, my boss told me to call it, pack my workstation, and relocate to the home office (aka the basement bar). According to my watch, after that decisions was made, my resting heart beat went down 5 bpm! Day 3, Mike picked up packets from school and two more pairs of rollerblades. Day 4 rained. Day 5, we put our pjs on right after dinner and watched Ellen's Game of Games. Day 6, Mike installed our Ring doorbell and we talked to each other through the doorbell and pretended we had company. And made cookies. Basically our "Johnson" came out on Day 6. 

We continue to strive for elements of normalcy in this extremely not normal time. Bedtime remains the same, as do family dinners, and most screen time rules. Each day, when I shut down my work computer, we grab bikes or roller blades and go out for a walk/ride. It's one of our very favorite parts of the day. We even went on Day 4 - because a little rain does not scare us!

Matching skills

Gma N gave Dec the coolest Lego set for Christmas. It's an old school Volkswagen camper. We had not put it together because we never had time. Guess what we have loads and loads of right now ... so Mike, Q, and D have been building it. There has also been a lot of marble run building. It's the perfect time to let their imaginations and creativity get to work.

We are also finding ways to get outside and get the energy out. Lots of walks, bike rides, and rollerblading. There was even a street hockey game one day! Mike was able to clean up the dog piles in the backyard so they can run around back there. He and Q have even planned where they are going to build the vegetable garden this spring. 

We've been keeping their brains busy with daily lessons that Scholastic made available online. And the girls were so excited to send videos to their teachers of what they have been doing. Today, we rearranged their bedroom and had a blast doing that (until bedtime. When they wanted it put back). We are FaceTiming and calling and texting our people. We miss humans who don't live here. But we hope to come out on the other side still liking each other. And with a deeper appreciation for the little things. It's hard and stressful right now. But there is so much to be grateful for too. 

So that's where we are. For the record, we still haven't found toilet paper- but Mike did successfully restock the Kleenexes!

Marble run