Easter, Coronavirus Style

We dyed eggs, as we do each year. This year my little great nephew "helped". The baby and eggs managed to escape unscathed. 

We decided to dye the eggs outside, as the weather was gorgeous. Also, there was a lot less mess worry.

I forgot to buy an egg dyeing kit, but the gel food dye I had in the cupboard performed admirably.

After the egg dying, the kids hosted an egg hunt for the baby. He loved gathering the eggs. When we showed him the candy inside, he was underwhelmed. He didn't care to eat the sugary treat, but he did enjoy finding them several times.

On Easter Sunday the kids enjoyed their baskets. 

This is a picture of me prepping the baskets. Michael just wanted to point out that I had gone overboard, again. I may have a problem. I am unrepentant, though.

The baskets before...

...and after. Ethan chose to sleep in. He did eventually get up. His basket willingly waited for him. It was a nice basket.

We then had a sacrament meeting in our living room. It was not perfect, but it was meaningful.

After "church" we had our own Easter egg hunt. The kids were missing the one their Aunt Georgette and Uncle Andy host every year. Ours paled to theirs. They still had a lot of fun though. Due to the small nature of our yard it resembled tackle football more than the conventional hunt does.

Grandpa even came over for a brief visit. We decided to visit in the front yard. Social distancing!  Ethan and Libby even serenaded him while the neighbors tried to nonchalantly listen. A little later, the neighbor told me how much they had enjoyed the ukulele/singing concert. The teens about died of embarrassment, but I'm sure it is building character.

It was a different kind of Easter,but it was actually quite lovely.

Seven Things to Fill Our Time

We have had a lot more downtime with the stay-at-home order. I have struggled to keep myself and the kids busy and engaged. Here is photographic evidence of ways we have been filling our time.

Activity #1 : Michael has been working on all our bikes. Several needed complete re-hauls and we had to buy several off Craigslist, due to the crazy growth of kids. He has spent a lot of time using his new bike stand and tools to get everyone bikes adventure-ready.

Activity #2 : In direct relation to activity #1, we have been riding bikes and scooters, a lot. 

Just a few days ago Grace was riding her scooter very fast down the road when something (a rock, twig, oxygen?) completely stopped the forward momentum of her scooter. Unfortunately, her body did not stop. She went right over the top of the scooter and managed to break her fall with her face. She was in a lot of pain, and Sam was panicking. Thankfully we were all together, so I asked Ethan to take Sam home. I deal better with one hysterical child at a time. Ethan willingly hauled Sam on home. Michael and I got Grace to spit out her mouth full of dirt and rinse her mouth. We were fairly certain her injuries were superficial so we loaded her on Michael's bike and took her home to wash her up. The washing process created as much screaming as the the initial fall.

Activity #3 :  We have also not been putting our bikes away. This is not a fight I am currently winning, so I've given up. At least they are riding.

I filled up the gas tank, in our only vehicle, a week ago. The needle is currently sitting on FULL. With all activities canceled we have barely been driving, so I guess that is a small blessing.

Activity #4 : We have been attempting to complete the assignments sent home by the Boise School District. The ones from this week are just ideas to keep your brain engaged. Next week the kids will start working on actual course work. Because of the complete weirdness of the situation whatever work students do can only help their grades. The school will not penalize students if they do not complete any work during this last quarter. I, as their mother, make no such promise.

Homework example -

This is Libby's life story. **I was born. I loved baths. When I was 4 my little sister was born. She was fat. When I was almost 4 I met my BFF. We were cute!"

**Corona. A virus called corona ruined my life and now I can't see my friends. About the author: I am going to be a Sophomore at Borah High School. I love my friends and I miss them. I think you should know that I think this assignment is stupid, especially 'cause it won't even be graded.

So, yeah, public school at home is going about as expected.

Activity #5 :

Ethan has been busy building a computer desk for his petite room. It took a couple attempts, but he was well pleased with the results. He can fit everything he needs to do his school work on his little desk, just in time for him to work on his public school classes.

Everything he needs stores neatly inside.

Then it closes up onto the wall. He is hoping to eventually do some sort of Boise skyline cut out on it, but currently it is just raw wood. It is completely functional, he built it himself, and it only cost about $30. It is a definite win.  If anyone wants to help him decorate it, I'm sure he would welcome it.

Activity #6 : Libby has been busy spreading cheer. She gave a "Corona Starter Pack" to her friend, Izzy. Then Izzy gave one to Libby. Then Libby and Izzy made three more boxes and delivered them to their friends. It's hard on the social people to be in this situation, but she is trying her best to stay connected and engaged.

Activity #7 : Sam has been reading. He has read through most of the Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson, etc.) books in the house. He finished those and then started reading the blog books I finally got printed.

The blog books were my project that took way longer then they should have. Multiple calls to tech support (Michael), numerous times having to restart the process, an entire afternoon at the computer, and then taking out a second mortgage, I finally got six years worth of blog posts printed in three books! With the printing of one more book, I will finally be caught up!

We don't know how long we will be asked to stay home, but we are trying to make the best of this unique situation. We are trying to stay healthy, and more importantly, keep the at-risk population safe. I keep reminding myself that "this too shall pass". Soon I may even start believing it.

Drama Queen

Things we have lost or have been closed/canceled in the last 2.5 weeks: Our Broadway play get-away, my job, Ethan's job, Libby's job, the YMCA, city playgrounds, the dog parks, school, choir concerts, student council elections, Ethan's lifeguard training, gymnastics, hanging out with friends for all children, seminary, tennis, National Junior Honor Society banquet, choir tour, church, church activities, job interviews, Everyday Leadership, track, tech Tuesday, the library...

Libby made a commemorative cake.

Things we still have: Michael's job(!), our health, our family, our home, lots of food (no hoarding!), toilet paper, a Wii stuck on the Wii Fit game (it suffered a fall several days into this new adventure), Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, internet, phone calls with friends, and lots of other stuff I'm too lazy to list.

It's been a weird few weeks. Most things are canceled and closed and we are supposed to stay at home. The upside is we've managed a lot of little home repairs that are constantly ignored, the kids haven't murdered each other, and we are getting lots and lots and lots and lots of family time. It's also nice to not be running all over town like a crazed chicken, which is the natural state of things.

So life is weird and then it got weirder. Last night as I was making dinner the whole house started shaking. At first I thought the washing machine was off-balance, but the shaking got bigger and lasted longer. It took us all a hot second to realize it was an earthquake. Libby started crying and asking, "What do I do, what do I do?" Ethan placed himself in front of the huge bookcase to catch it in case it fell. Sam was just wandering around. Grace stayed in her bed watching a show with headphones, almost oblivious. Michael went outside. I gathered the children away from things that might fall (giant bookcase) and herded them toward an interior wall. By the time I got them all there the shaking was over.  We shouted to the equally bemused neighbors and decided it was in fact an actual earthquake, in Idaho, during a pandemic. I might just crawl into bed until 2021. This year is too dramatic for me. I feel like 2020 is that girl in college who says, "I just want a relationship with no drama!" and then sets about creating drama in all her relationships. That is 2020. This year is a drama queen. There is no reasoning with her. We just have to wait it out and then never speak of it again. This is the year-that-must-not-be-named.