On Day 36 we went for a walk!

This past week has been a rough one here. Lots of bickering and boundary pushing. Lot of big emotions, missing friends, and weariness at the never ending winter weather. So, when we saw that spring weather was FINALLY arriving this weekend, I told Evan I wanted to go for a walk on the trails at Severson Dells. 

I had taken the youngest four kiddos there this winter for the JV Squad to take a class on fire building. The boys and I hung out in the center watching birds, playing cars, and coloring, but I did take the boys to the outside area for about twenty minutes because it wasn't below freezing temps. We didn't walk the trails because it was too icy, but I had told the kids we'd come back in warmer weather and explore more with Evan and Elisabeth.

The playground was closed today, but the kids loved exploring the trails and all the fallen trees.

There were so many fallen trees! I have no idea if these all fell from the tornado we had recently or the ice storm in January, but the kids were thrilled to be able to walk across trees and climb over rooted stumps.

We didn't run into too many people. One other family with kiddos and few pairs of people.

Man, you guys, today's weather was so lovely!! Sunshine and temperatures almost in the 60s! Windy and perfect. The kids all really needed to run wild. To climb and frolic and dig and not be burdened with winter gear.

Maybe one of my new favorite pictures of the boys:

I have a goal this year to visit more of the forest preserves and state parks in our area. We used to do it so much more than we have these last few years, but I'd love to get back into exploring as a family.

While looking for rocks in the stream, Elisabeth found a fossilized hive! It is now proudly living on our kitchen window sill where only the most important rocks live.

The kids have already asked to go back again. It was a really nice way to spend the afternoon.

Day 33.

I find this picture amusing for a couple of reasons: 

1. Thomas's face.

2. The fact that my kids were so excited about the giant box of toilet paper showing up from Amazon a month earlier than it first said it would (!!!).

3. That I documented toilet paper being delivered because life is so different than it was even a couple of months ago. 

The kids were ECSTATIC to recieve fun mail from Aunt Kyle. It included Star Wars costumes and pajamas from Owen and they instantly started dressing up.

She also sent a couple more masks from the material that Jana used to make Julia a Pink Baby costume for Halloween when she was four.

Halloween 2011

Here's the menu for the week:

Julia put Vivian's hair in a bunch of braids to sleep in and her hair was so cute the next day!!

We've been doing a lot of singing of Frozen II songs.

And went to another virtual birthday party for a friend.

Today, Julia made a treat my mom used to make when I was little--bird nests. They're a butterscotch and lo mein noodle concoction that is yummy and cute!

She is going to deliver some to our neighbors.

I wish the weather would decide to stay warm. Yesterday we had light snow showers off and on all day and it was barely above freezing. It would have been bad form to kick the kids outside all day, or that I wasn't tempted because oh.my.word. there was so much whining and fussing yesterday. Roaming around outside would be a great reprieve from being cooped up indoors.

We're halfway through the longest month in history!

I'm making grocery runs tomorrow and then on Friday, Julia has to go to the dentist. She's had a couple of small cavitites on some baby teeth that weren't causing her any pain initially, but have started getting more and more painful. I called and got her in Friday (our dentist is now only open on Tuesdays and Fridays) to see what we can do to help her since she's having daily pain that is miserable. She's pretty nervous about going, not just because of the tooth procedures, but because of being out in public. We talked about how this was an essential because we need to get this taken care of before it becomes infected or something worse, but that still didn't negate her nervousness about leaving the house.

I feel like this week has been extra long and heavy. Besides the necessity of still parenting and holding kids accountable not only to our family rules and expectations (ex: no Legos on carpeted areas; you still can't punch siblings out of anger; I do actually expect you to follow house rules, thankyouverymuch), but also trying to motivate them to continue putting in the work for classes that they no longer physically attend and dealing with big emotions about still not seeing friends (poor V has been taking it really hard this week). Then there's the added stress of news updates, hearing about job losses or cuts in pay, knowing people whose loved ones are sick,waiting for stimulus checks, having friends and family working in the health care field, trying to imagine what the next month, two months, three months will look like. It seems like this week has been a transitioning week from "waiting" to "this is our new normal" and adjusting. To stop thinking about this as a limbo period and accepting that the way things used to be will forever be altered.

That sounded much more melancholic than I had intended, because I actually felt a lot of peace after making that mind change. I know we won't be stuck in our house forever, but I do think that more sheltering in place will be in our future (like in the fall and winter). Maybe not to the same extreme, but that's my prediction. So, with that thought in my mind, what would I have done differently if I had known that this shelter-in-place was coming and staying for so many weeks? Besides stocking up on essentials?  What would I do in certain rooms, with certain spaces, to make sheltering in place an easier transition?

I would have had a better area for schooling and art supplies. I definitely would have had the basement better organized and cleared out. I would have had bedrooms better situated to do schooling or be away from siblings easier. I would have had our room even more prepared as a place for Evan to work from home. I would have had a second refrigerator and shelving in the basement specifically for extra essentionals. I would have had more yarn for crocheting (!!!). I would have had Evan and I get those garden plans ready sooner for a bigger vegetable garden. It's these kind of things that I keep thinking about right now and I'm feeling led to make happen. To be more intentional with what we have, how we're using spaces, and how to accomodate future needs. 

Now that I sound like a Doomsdayer.

Do any of you feel that way, though? That if you could go back in time and better prepare to be all in at home, what would you have changed ahead of time or gotten ready?

Happy Easter on the 30th day of being quarantined

We spent this weekend with simple plans:

Evan was going to grill as much as possible (aka: as long as the rain held off and he had enough charcoal).

Play outside.

Get ready for Easter Sunday.

Well, Evan grilled hamburgers on Saturday (which is usually a must for the first grilled meal of the season because Julia always insists on hamburgers; they are her absolute favorite). I had bought stuff to make s'mores on Easter, but since it looked like it was going to rain when we were planning on grilling Sunday, we decided to have s'mores Saturday.

David had forgotten what s'mores were, but he quickly remembered and loved them. 

He did insist on washing his hands after every one he ate, though, which...yeah.

The hail storm from a few days ago really only damaged a few of my daffodils, so I cut them and brought them inside.

Per tradition, we dyed Easter eggs the night before Easter. This year, we dyed fewer than usual but that might have been a good call anyway because Thomas was a loose cannon about the whole thing. First, he walked in a declared, "Oh, good! Hot cocoa time!" Ew, no. Then he kept just dropping his eggs into the cups, spilling every thing every where.

 I had ordered food coloring on line a couple of weeks ago, but they were the natural ones, which I love for baking, but I usually buy the unnaturally colored dyes for Easter eggs. They turned out very pale pastels, but they were fine.

I didn't capture any pictures of the kids this morning because I was basically a walking zombie from lack of sleep the last couple of nights. However, after a wonderfully needed Easter nap, I remembered to take photos. We dressed up for our Easter feast, which meant the boys were in button up shirts and let me tell you, Thomas is going to struuuuuugggle when it is time to wear real clothes in public again. He was pulling on the shirt like it was a straight jacket!

Evan had this great idea of our driving to our friends' houses and vice versa to take family Easter pictures. It was so nice to see everyone from over six feet away! And in their Sunday best!

Vivian rollerskating in her Easter dress was my favorite.

For our late Easter lunch we had grilled turkey breasts, cranberry sauce, corn on the cob (which Thomas has been crying to eat for days and days), roasted brussel sprouts, and mashed potatoes. Since the dining room has become the lego room during quarantine, we laid out the tablecloth and china at the kitchen table. First year that everyone has had china plates and not substitute plates due to being prone to throwing dishes!

Julia captured this lovely picture. Ha!

We watched Easter Mass after lunch was done. I have been really struggling with not getting to spend Holy Week physically in our Parish. Easter is one of my favorite holidays. We watched the Mass and were watching the priests' procession when Vivian noticed they were all stopping and I look over and they had grabbed these signs they'd had hidden in the pews.

 I burst into tears (much to my children's dismay). It was a really sweet moment and it meant a lot to see that today.

I have been really feeling the loss of community lately, not just with our parish, but our co-op, seeing our friends during the week, letting the kids play with the neighbors. We usually invite my in-laws up for Easter and we couldn't this year. My grandma and sister share a birthday this month and we always make a trip down one of the weekends surrounding it to see them. It's later this month, but I know that day will be hard knowing I can't see my grandma. We spent 6.5 years living away from family while Evan was active duty, so celebrating holidays with just us isn't new or necessarily hard, but it's knowing we couldn't be with others if we wanted to that made it feel like a big sacrifice today.

The kids had fun. They liked their Easter baskets and found all the eggs hidden around the house. David declared it the best Easter ever (because he is a real life Buddy the Elf). The rain never showed up, so they got to play outside and Evan was able to grill Easter lunch.

I made an apple cake for our Sunday Dinner Party.

And, of course, we watched another episode of Lego Masters.

Tomorrow we are going to make an Easter treat that my mom used to make for us when I was little and read more Easter books. I'm sure they will finish off the last of their Easter egg candy. Then we'll plan another week of being home, which, quite honestly, is still my favorite place to be.