Social Distancing

Over the weekend the concern for the coronavirus increased.  By Sunday evening they had canceled school for the next few weeks.  We felt more of a need to stay home and social distance from friends and family.  Sunday we had our first at home church service.  Slowly things in the community started to close.  Kids activities and piano lessons were canceled.  We heard our gym would close Tuesday night for 2 week.  I went on Monday and Tuesday, we cleaned our equipment before and after using it.  It was bittersweet to workout with my friends one last time Tuesday morning.  We were all sad to miss this part of our life but knew it was necessary.  JJ taught spin class Tuesday morning.  He will miss being able to use the gym equipment to workout.  There are continued rumors of a more strict lockdown so I ran to the store for another gallon of milk.  It is scary to see the grocery stores so empty, many shelves are completely bare.  The kids are struggling being home from school.  They will be given assignments to work on from home but not until our official spring break is over.  Their known normal is changing as well.  It is hard to have them home all day with not a whole lot to do.  We are staying home and obeying what has been asked.  It makes for long days for us.  The kids sometimes exercise with me in the basement so they can get some exercise.  They keep asking to play with friend and I am reminding them that we can't be around people right now.  Garrett has written letters to his friend in the neighborhood and he has written back.  It is fun for them to be little pen pals.  The weather hasn't been the best, still cold and lots of rain.  When it is nice we try to get outside, at least a little bit each day.  It helps us get out some energy and have a change of scenery.  We have tried to enjoy the time together and trying to do some fun things at home.  We have done some puzzles, watched shows, made yummy food, played outside a bunch and the kids have done lots of playing together.  We got out and visited with our neighbors one afternoon but still kept our social distancing.  In the evenings we have enjoyed some family time, we have been going on walks and bike rides.  Garrett has set a goal to do a 10 mile bike ride.  He has been going on some long rides with JJ in the evenings.  Friday when JJ got home from work we went to the store together to see if we could get a few things we were running low on.  It was sad to see the stores are still very bare and out of a lot of things.  We were able to get some milk and eggs.  I am so thankful I felt the need to stock up last Friday and get a lot of groceries so we have plenty to eat.  We also got some cookies and ice cream for a treat with movie night.  Trying to keep things fun!  Saturday we went for a drive to Rockwood Reservations and went for a walk there.  I am so thankful the sun was shining and we were able to get out and enjoy the day together.  It was nice to go for a drive and I know the kids appreciated getting out of the house.  There are so many concerns we have about so many things during this time.  I am worried the kids will not be returning to school.  I am not sure I am cut out for homeschooling my kids.  I am not sure how much they will learn at home and things will be challenging.  It will make for a long spring/summer break from school.  There are many uncertainties with work for JJ.  He has been able to stay open so far and we feel lucky about that.  He has spread out his schedule so there is space between appointments and they can clean really well during that break.  He has been thankful for technology and has bee able to do some vision therapy through video chat.  He found out the office he works at on Fridays and Saturdays will be closing for two weeks.  This could turn into a really challenging time financially for our family and business.  We know and realize that we will probably have to close the office for a period of time.  We hope not to long and we hope this doesn't affect our business to much.  We have sacrificed and worked so hard to make this successful and it would be so challenging and scary to loose it.  We are trying to have faith that this will all work out and be over soon.  We are trying to do our part by staying home and not spreading this sickness any farther.                       

t

 

Happy Birthday

I was thankful my birthday was on a Friday this year!  It is hard to have a birthday and make it feel special when you are an adult.  I often struggle with how to make my own day feel special?  Many times it is a typical day for me, but I am always thankful for little things that make it different and special.  JJ and the kids decorated the house for me which was nice.  I went to my gym class and ran my Friday errands as usual.  There has been a lot of talk about the coronavirus and it spreading in America.  There was lots of talk about things closing down and us being put on lockdown in our homes.  Thursday afternoon things started to cancel including church activities and Sunday services.  I wasn't sure how serious this was but as I did my shopping I bought double what I would normally buy incase I couldn't get to the store again for a while.  I was feeling a little silly while shopping at Aldi and filling my cart completely full.  I grabbed several large packages of chicken, beef and ground turkey.  I tried to think of simple meals we could eat as a family as well as things that could be shelf stable or in the freezer.  I didn't buy anything we don't normally eat so things wouldn't get wasted.  It was a lot of work and took me a while.  The kids had early out and by time I got home from the store Lucy was already home.  JJ was home for lunch and we all worked together bringing in all the groceries.  Lucy helped me get all the food put away down in our food storage area as well as divide and freeze the meat.  While I was gone my ministering sister dropped off some goodies on my porch.  She left a sweet note and I dove right into eating those as I put away my food.  They were yummy!  I finally was able to shower and get ready for the day just before JJ got home from work.  We made some BBQ chicken pizza for dinner, a favorite of mine.  I made my cake Thursday afternoon since I knew JJ wouldn't have time.  I made my favorite Dark Chocolate Turtle cake all from scratch, it is so good!  We were all looking forward to having some after dinner.  JJ and the kids got me some gifts which was so sweet.  They went out shopping while I was at orchestra.  I saw on Facebook there was a restaurant in Defiance hosting free family bingo.  I thought that would be the perfect thing to do as a family for my birthday.  I love to play Bingo!  We played several games and they gave out prizes after each game.  We didn't play traditional Bingo but played games like making a T, covering all the top row and down the middle.  That was new for us.  Lucy won a game and got some hand soap, cleaning wipes and flushable wipes.  All the prizes had to do with hot items in association to the coronavirus.  She said she would put her soap in the kitchen and share it with all of us.  I am so glad we went and played Bingo, it was the highlight of celebrating my birthday.  They host Bingo night every month and we will have to go again.  I am thankful for everything that made my day special, looking forward to being 37!                    

 

 

Family Birthday Celebration

My family has a lot of March birthdays!  My parents were wondering what we were going to do to celebrate my birthday.  We were looking at the calendar and I talked with Christy since her kids all have March birthdays.  We decided we would celebrate my birthday with Tyler's and then do her girls celebration later in the month.  We got together Sunday for dinner, hamburgers and all the fixings.  We haven't all be together for a really long time, we haven't been to my parent house since New Years.  We have seen them at different things, just not been to their house.  It was perfect weather for all the kids to run around and play.  Christy got a big Costco cake and I made a big monster cookie.  Tyler and I put our candles on the big cake and thankfully he helped me blow some of mine out.  It was fun to start my birthday celebration a little early.  I am glad we go together as a big family and enjoyed each others company!        

 

The kids all dressed in blue for church.  It wasn't planned but as we all got in the car for church I noticed they all matched. 

 We got the firepit out Sunday evening to make some smores.  We had hoped to do them Saturday evening but it got to late.  The kids were so excited to build a fire and have smores.  We shared with our neighbors and enjoyed sitting outside by the fire.  With the weather warming up hopefully we can do it more often.   

 Nolan celebrated Dr. Seuss at school, his teachers set home some fun pictures of the class. 

 

 With some warmer weather and daylight savings the kids have been playing outside more.  It has been so fun.  Garrett came home from school and I asked him if he wanted to ride his bike down to his friends house to see if he wanted to kick the soccer ball around.  He came back with 4 other boys and another one later joined him.  He was so happy to have some friends to play with.  They had a fun time playing in the backyard together.  He likes that as he gets older he can ride his bike to play with friends.   

  Some of my daffodils' are blooming! Spring is coming, it is excited to see things coming back to life.  My tulips and hyacinth's are coming up too.