One Week Down...

Hard to believe it has been a week since Friday the 13th.  The day things got real...and it was announced that the schools were closing.  I mean, we had known it COULD happen, but I don't think anyone could really wrap their heads around the reality of it.  That is what we have all been doing day -by-day, hour-by-hour....trying to wrap our heads around something that is completely foreign and new to the modern world.  So far no success in wrapping here...

That said, we keeping completely occupied and busy with 4 kids at home.  We feel lucky they are still young enough where they don't completely HATE being stuck at home with us and each other.  At least not yet...ask Chloe again next week.  In fact, this is a DREAM for Ella.  She loves nothing more than to be at home all day long.  She is the biggest homebody I've ever met.  She's happier than ever right now in her innocent little 7 year old world.  We are working hard to keep the kids away from too much worry or stress about the situation.  

We started right out with keeping up on a school schedule to the best of our ability.  Myke even brought out the flag for the morning Pledge of Allegiance...and has a school bell sound play on the Home Pod right at 8:30a.m.  It's pretty funny.  By mid-week he had even printed out "tardy" slips for kids who weren't here when the bell rings.  LOL.

We've had a lot of rain lately...which seems to add to the doom & gloom mood of the current pandemic-ridden society we are living in.  The silver lining is that rain in San Diego often means snow in our nearby mountains so Wednesday was a field trip to Mount Laguna!  We left at 8:30am which would usually mean terrible rush hour traffic...but we zipped right down the highway and then headed west.  It was just over an hour's drive and didn't disappoint.  Snow play at it's finest ...though my boys both were more than content to stay in the car (what's wrong with these kids?!) and draw pictures and laugh together.  The girls were the one's out playing in the snow.  Go figure.  

Before the plow came through..a bit slippery!

So, yup, we are just keeping busy with Myke working (luckily, can work from home) and me putting my M.A. in Education (K-12) to work finally. I was just starting to get my paperwork back in order to do occasional subbing in the district and here I am now "working full time" but for no pay!  Oh well, so far I love my new "class" and haven't needed to expel anyone.  We will see what next week holds! 

Hope everyone reading this is doing okay, staying home, staying safe & healthy, and finding ways to keep in positive spirits as we navigate this new (hopefully-very-temporary) lifestyle together.  

xoxo

Sarah 

(No time to proof read or edit...Ella has been waiting over 30 minutes for me to play Candyland so I need to run! Excuse any typos/poor grammar)

A few more from this week: 

Pancake batter for St. Patty's (food dye central!!)

rainbow stacks

brotherly cuddles

(always touching eachother/bothering/wrestling/hugging)

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that my brother is here in San Diego!

Long story...but he's currently self-quarentining in my in-law's condo

in Pacific Beach (they are on the east coast) after traveling to the U.S. from Brazil.  He arrived Monday.  We stopped by to say hello from a distance.  

Welcome to the sh*t-show that is the U.S. right now, Uncle Hale! 

Coronavirus Day 1

Well, we don't (hopefully) HAVE coronavirus but we, like the rest of the country and a lot of the world, are definitely affected.  Every day is new news and big changes.  Yesterday we found out that schools are closed until April 14th, minimum.  I found out around 10am Friday and then spent my last 2 1/2 hours (they get out at 12:45pm on Fridays) running to a few stores for some extra stocking up.  Trying to imagine a minimum of 4 weeks in the house together...needed lunch items, snacks, etc. On top of this, Ella wasn't feeling great so she stayed home on the couch all day (see above photo).  

I picked the kids up from school and thus begins our new reality for the next month.  

Day One (Saturday).  Not keeping up a strict structure or schedule since it's the weekend.  I'm still thinking of/planning/trying not to panic with how the week days will run with home-schooling 4 kids.  Luckily, their teachers must have been expecting this and sent a lot of work/books/school iPads home with them so they have assignments to complete.  Today we moved around the girls' rooms.  Chloë, who has had the same twin trundle bed since she moved out of her crib, has decided she wants a bigger bed.  Her room isn't huge so we are "trying" a queen size bed by using our guest room mattress in her room.  It actually fit great and we really liked how it looks.  Ella, as the little sister, got her hand-me-down bed and now has the twin trundle.  I think both girls are pleased with their new set-ups.

Chloë's Tween Room 

Ella's "new" bed

Basketball Hoop

We also splurged today on a basketball hoop.  We had made plans with our neighbors/friends who live in the cul-de-sac by us to go in a hoop together and keep it by their house since there is less traffic.  Our street isn't SUPER busy, but it's not a cul-de-sac so we are wary of putting a hoop in the street (and our driveway is too slanted).  Our friends have much younger kids (toddler age) so they won't get much use out of the hoop just yet, but wanted it anyways as they love having all the neighborhood kids around playing by them.  All of that said, I'm thinking we will leave it by our house for just now--there has been almost zero traffic today and, with the kids home all month, I think it will be perfect to just have it out front for easy access.  We'll see how that goes.  

I'm hoping these school closures and less large group events/activities will help to flatten the curve and help this whole thing to blow over.  I know that it won't be that easy...but I'm definitely hoping that if we all do our part we can eventually get back to some form of normalcy in our lives.  I have a strong feeling that it will get a lot worse before it gets better...but time will tell.  Until then, making the most of this unexpected time with my kids and feeling blessed that Myke already works from home and that, while it may not be convenient, we can helpfully do this home-stay without too much discomfort.  It's a scary time, folks.....