A sad day

Today they announced that there would be no school for the rest of the year. At all. None. The Governor holds a press conference every other day at 2pm and today we were told that he was making an announcement about the school year so we all tuned in. In the back of my mind, I knew it was probably going to happen but hearing the actual words come out of his mouth were hard. It was a sad day. The kids seemed pretty happy but it I don't think they really realize what this means and what they will have lost not going to school for the rest of the year. It is a process of grief for us all and this is just one of the many things that we have lost.

Art class meets shop class

At Dan's home school art and shop can become one class. The kids sketched our their designs and then Dan cut them from wood we had lying around and then the kids helped him put them together and paint them with their unique color choices. I didn't get a picture of Sean's but they both turned out great!

St. Patty's Day-from home

I didn't even realize that it was St. Patrick's day until I went to the pharmacy and I saw the woman dressed in green head to toe. I looked at my watch to see that it was actually 3/17/20. No celebrations like usual this year. It has only been a few days since we have been adjusting to our new life. The kids have been calling Nama every day at lunch to spend time with her. Sean realized that his baby quilt that she made had a large hole it in and she offered to help him sew it, via face time. So, he did! It was awesome, he did a great job! Carter decided to spread some kindness by writing some kind notes through the neighborhood in sidewalk chalk and finally Dan got to enjoy his Guinness. It wasn't a bad St. Patty's day. Just different.

It was our first day getting the hang of "home" school and adjusting to the new schedule. So far it wasn't so bad. Our kids aren't getting off easy with a math teacher and an elem counselor in their house!

Coronavirus 2020

Well, it has been years since I updated things but with our current quarantine situation, I figured it was time to update and resurrect this blog to document our time together during this interesting and unexpected time we are facing.

I guess I'll start at the beginning. I remember specifically watching the Today show in late January/early February and thinking about how horrible the situation seemed in Wuhan, China and how I could empathize with the people and just could not imagine living in a world where everyone had to wear masks, etc. A couple weeks went by and it seemed like things were getting worse.

Jenn and Kevin came to visit right before things got really bad, on March 7-8th and things were still pretty normal and there weren't too many signs of things to come at that point. But in just a few short days things spiraled pretty rapidly. By Thursday, March 12th at 4pm we were notified that school was going to be closing for a solid 2 weeks to help slow the spread of the virus. Sean's bus was, as usual, late so he called me from his watch phone to tell me, and he was so excited, "MOM, we have two weeks off of school!" He was acting like I would not already know this information. I could tell the kids in background were all really excited as well.

We had Friday, March 13th to finish out one more day and give the kids the packets that were provided to us by the county to the kids, along with 5 library books and whatever school supplies that they needed for their extended break. Today, we had to work to finish up things as a teacher work day but it wasn't required. I am glad I got to go in through because there were some things I needed to do and I was able to get a lot done before I left. I took this picture on my way and I hit a pit in my stomach like it was the last time that I would see my office this school year. The break was scheduled for two weeks but I felt like it would end up being longer than that.
The kids started their official quarantine on Friday, March 13th and Dan and I started after today when we both got home from school.