I decided to start posting a few blogs of our personal life through all this Coronavirus craziness. I went back and forth a bit, as I actually don’t like to share too much of my personal life and my kids online…but in the end I wanted a bit of a journal of some of these moments….so there you have it.
With two school-age kiddos during this time, resorting to online education and trying to keep their schooling from totally going out the window— but also struggling to keep their spirits high— has consumed a bunch of time initially. Luckily, the boys Spring break was quickly after they stopped going to school in March…so we had a bit of a break after those first initial days of navigating online school. Overall, the boys are doing pretty amazing with all this— we have days here and there where one of them will struggle a bit mentally, or breakdown, or feel “overwhelmed” by online school, or just not sure why they feel the way they do…but you can tell they struggle a bit too with all the change and suddenly being only at home, not seeing friends, playing sports, going out to dinner, etc…..
I’ve tried to get a bit creative with a few things here and there— Measuring trees, learning how to make Hard-boiled eggs and other basic cooking skills, potting plants, learning States and Capitals, basic First Aid, etc. Mostly I have really noticed so many little “life” skills and things that I kinda assumed my kids knew…and they didn’t really. I like having the extra time to really show them how to do things…or just not be in a “rush” all the time to go somewhere…so that we can really learn something without me just “doing it for them” to get it done quicker, etc. It sounds funny, but I feel like they are kinda getting more of the life that I did as a kid? Doing more around the house, being more present at home, being a bit more responsible for their stuff and chores, etc…but just having a bit of a different frame of mind. The forced “slow down” of things has kinda made me not want things to go back the way it was…(of course not speaking of Economy and jobs!), but I guess we always have that choice of how we live, right??
We have spent much of our time playing lots of board games (which we do anyway lol!), doing family puzzles (ongoing…), watching movies, lots of reading, cooking, daily walks, and of course getting outside in our yard and area everyday! The first couple weeks we definitely had more spring snow too- so enjoying those last days of sledding and snowball fights was common. The boys of course love playing their Nintendo Switch too (what 9 year old doesn’t like video games!!??), and we purchased Mario Kart 8 so we can all play as a family together- which has been a blast!
By far, much of their time is still occupied by LEGOS (we are legit OUT of room in our house for Legos lol….), and luckily the show “Lego Masters” was streaming on Hulu, and we loved watching that! The boys got totally inspired to organize their Legos by Color….which of course fizzled kinda quickly…with thousands of Legos still on the floor….😬! anthony and I are constantly surprised by their creations…and they picked up some awesome tips from watching the show!
Noah managed to get his Front PERMANENT tooth chipped (accidentally by Everest…) pretty early on in all this— and of course there is no way for us to get it fixed right now…so luckily it is not causing him huge pain— but he has to drink everything through a straw still….poor buddy! The next day he managed to hurt his arm/rotator cuff or something (throwing the ball really hard for Everest…damn dog lol!)— and it is still hurting him pretty good weeks later…so I think we may have a doc visit once it’s possible. Other than that, no major injuries or trauma! I literally tell them daily though, “Boys! stop that! We can’t go to a hospital right now!!”
Zoom Calls and other video chats are how we keep connected! I am super thankful to have such technology in a time like this!! The boys have morning “meetings” with their Class and teachers, we have Zoom calls and face time with all our families all the time, and I am lucky to have multiple groups of friends in my life to share virtual “happy hours” with! Seriously- so thankful for virtual connection! I honestly feel like we have some people more now than we did before!! Hopefully setting new habits for the future….
We are fortunate enough that Anthony’s job is remote, and he is still working full time. (thank god!!). As you can imagine, my career right now and business has taken a huge hit….and it will be a good while before it recovers. The Event and wedding industry in general is suffering horribly right now- and I feel for all my colleagues and all my poor couples that have had to reschedule/cancel, etc. We will be ok though, and life may take a while to get back to some resemblance of what it was before….but I am welcoming the time to work on pieces of my business that needed some love, as well as just focusing on what I can and what matters most right now. It’s the only way I can look at this without crying everyday. So many things are out of our control right now, that being flexible and creative is going to be what gets us through.
As these photos here are already a month old…I am already looking “back” and feeling like it was forever ago lol. How quickly things escalated from the time these were taken…and how we have already adapted new habits and daily activities, etc. I will post more from the weeks after these soon! Dealing with Holidays at home, new Bikes, warmer weather….and more!
A good majority of these pics took place before the actual “shelter in place” order…so we were quarantining, but we were technically able to do a few things outside the house while still distancing. We managed to visit a farm in our area that we knew the lady, and got a last soccer kick-around session in at our nearby field- before really having to stay home! We also visited our local neighborhood Hike that we love! We also of course spent St. Patricks Day at home….didn’t do anything elaborate- but at least drank some Green Beverages, and I made Corned Beef and Cabbage! We revisited/reminisced about our vacation to Ireland too!
The picture of Noah in the car is the last time he was in my car. 36 days ago (as of when I am writing this).
stay safe and healthy everybody!! ❤️❤️
