Day 15 with a side of Tornado Warning

Today, Thomas showed some signs that maybe the quarantine is starting to get to him. He was crazy hyper and really short tempered today. He kept hollering at everyone about everything and I finally looked over at Evan and said, "I think he needs walked."

So, in between rain storms, we all got dressed and headed out as a family for a stroll. The boy wore their puffy vests and they were ADORABLE!

We spent a good 15 minutes before the walk saving as many worms as we could from certain death on the driveways and sidewalks. Elisabeth was very proud to see her siblings saving the lives of earthworms because she was often tardy to second grade (when we lived in Colorado) because she would stop to save every worm she could on her walks to school.

Julia, Vivian, and David rode their bikes, while Evan, Elisabeth, Thomas and I walked. 

Thomas is not a paparazzi fan.

While on our walk, we saw a friend and her oldest daughter. Her daughter is practicing her driving because she has her permit and my friend's in-laws live in our neighborhood, so they wanted to drive in another neighborhood besides their own that was familiar. You guys, it was so nice to see her! It took everything I had not to run over and hug her on the spot. I was so giddy to see a friend! Ugh. 

My sister-in-law had been making masks like a sewing professional to send to medical workers the last few days and I asked her to make a few for a good friend of mine. She mailed them to me and ones she'd made for the kids. They were thrilled! The younger ones immediately decided to play veternarians.

After our walk, we decided to do some arts and crafts that my father-in-law sent for the kids. They called them Papa Quarantine Gifts! The younger three got wooden vehicles to paint and put together.

(This is a tree picture from our walk. I thought the moss looked so pretty!)

Thomas was ALL BUSINESS about doing this project. He yammered to himself the whole time, declared the name of his race car (Speedy Fast) in his holler voice at least fourteen times, and was so dang proud of his work.

Having to wait for his paint to dry to add the stickers and then for the glue to dry on the axles before he could play with the car really pushed his three year old patience to the limit. We ended up talking Julia into giving him an impromptu bath so he could paint the walls to his content and try to wash away his bad attitude. It worked! He was totally human again post bath.

Evan is in charge of all things sourdough bread, and since we were having Pioneer Woman's Chicken and Noodles for dinner, he set about making a loaf of bread to have with the meal and two bread bowls for him and I to have.

 Aren't they pretty?!

 They were delicious!

 
Thomas was in rare form at dinner. Naked and trying to be a clown. You guys, the kid is crazy.

Giving him a manicure gave us a few minutes of stillness from him (like the February kid before him...).

After declaring the boys needed to be in bed earlier than normal (they'd woken up before 6:30am) and after reading a chapter of Harry Potter Book 5 to Vivian (who is still a horrible sleeper and takes forever to actually get to fall asleep), the damn tornado warning sirens went off and it took all I had not to say the f word in a string of creative profanity and refuse to comply because I had just gotten my kids to bed after fifteen straight days of quarantine and it just seems so unfair to throw in a post bedtime tornado into this situation, but I did none of those things. (Well, I did pout and act bratty about it all) We carried boys downstairs, woke up a very disoriented Vivian (who kept trying to get back to her room to bed), and stayed in the basement for half an hour until we got the all clear. Thank you to God, the boys stayed completely asleep.

We need a second couch in the basement. The older two girls had to sit in either kid sized or bean bag chairs. Plus, the couch we do have is a love seat, so we the five of us that were on it were all squished up together super cozy.

I'm thankful the tornado warning didn't get too serious.
I'm thankful the boys stayed asleep and Vivian fell right back asleep as soon as she got back to bed.
I'm thankful my friends in the area are ok.
I'm thankful for Old Fashioned drinks brought to me by my husband while I type this up.

I'm also glad I am documenting all of this for future us because I think my anxiety levels lately would make this all a big blur.

Today on the news, they announced the first case of an infant with Covid-19 died in Illinois. The first child to die from it on record. I've been really struggling with that news. It's so devastating and it ramped up fear about this whole thing all over again. For all of the complaints and annoyances about this time of shelter-in-place, I know that this is important. I know our compliance is not just for our own health and safety. Our decisions affect others. It's hard, but not as hard as us being sick. Not as hard as having to go into the hospital because the sickness was too much to be able to take care of at home anymore. Not as hard as being a medical professional and having to be in the front lines every day. Our feelings of frustration and annoyance about all of this are normal and expected, but, man, it could be worse.

One of my favorite writers and speakers, who I had the pleasure of getting to speak and meet at a conference in East Peoria, IL in 2015, wrote a poem about this whole pandemic experience that I reposted on Facebook. I'm going to share it here, too, because I really feel like this poem is so powerful right now.