Day 21

Yesterday was fun filled FAMILY DAY!  It was Great Grandpa's 90th birthday so we did our best social distancing birthday party!

 Uncle Brian, Aunt Erin, Owen, & Kayden joined us through Facetime!

 Camden and Liam made some adorable signs for Great Grandpa too!

 Komos (the Rochester chapter)!

 The Rochester chapter saying "Happy Birthday" to Great Grandpa!

 This was the best shot that I could get of the birthday boy!

 Then Great Grandma came out to tell us that Grandpa was done lol!

 Then we all met on Zoom to have a nice Sunday dinner!

Then the kids ditched us and the adults visited!  It was really nice to see everyone and spend some time together on what is becoming our "new normal".

Day 20

I didn't take too many pictures yesterday.  Since it was the weekend we had some extra time on our hands.  I did a lot of reading, Claire did some baking, Mark worked on real estate stuff, and Oliver played outside and caught up on Fortnite.

 I never thought I would hear myself say this, but during this whole thing I have been happy that Oliver has Fortnite.  He gets to play with a bunch of his friends every day while playing and that makes me happy.  I don't care for the game and I definitely don't want him playing that much, but it is nice that he can play with all of his friends during this time when he can't see any of them.

 Last night we had a "Zoom Birthday party" to celebrate Jessica's 40th birthday! This is the only picture that we have but we had fun.  It was so fun to see my girls and catch up.  This whole "zoom" thing has been so great during this time!  It really felt like we were all hanging out together!

Day 19

Yesterday was a busy work day.  It was time to send all of Oliver's work in to his teachers.  I have to say, I am so proud of how hard he has been working!  He takes his school work very seriously and has done a great job. It was also time for me to plan for next week and that always takes a while, especially with our new situation.

 Claire has been working on mastering the Rubix Cube for the last two days and yesterday she did it!!!

 It was really impressive!

 Last night Claire started a puzzle and Oliver busted out some legos.  Oliver gave up on the Legos but we all got into the puzzle (except for Oliver who also gave up on the puzzle and went to play Fortnite with his friends).

 And we finished it!  I should start out by saying that I am not a huge puzzle fan BUT this one was fun.  It is amazing how just having time to do stuff changing everything!

And then it was time for Ozark, of course.  I  honestly think that Mark and I like trying to solve the puzzle from the beginning of the show the most!

Day 18

Yesterday Claire motivated me to get off my butt and do a workout with her.  She has been getting workouts from her boxing coach and it was a great workout!

 The sun was shining and it was a bit chilly but we crushed it!

 I am loving my new workout buddy!

She spent the rest of the day trying to beat the rubix cube.  I have to say, she is getting really good at it.  God bless her patience!

Day 17

Yesterday the weather was gorgeous (even though it was bit chilly) and we needed to get OUT of this house!

 Claire made up a week of activities and we dropped it off to her buddy Giada. So Giada made this for her yesterday!  I love their cute little surprises while they have to be apart!

 I couldn't be outside enough yesterday.  I ran, then went for a long walk, and then we all headed to Chestnut Ridge to take a nice hike!

 I was a little "off" yesterday but I think it was from two days in the house.  I think I forgot to remind myself of what I need to be grateful for.  Yesterday while we were walking at Chestnut Ridge (and I am not gonna lie, we were all a little on the grumpy side) Oliver reached up and held my hand.  He is nine and in 4th grade. His hand holding days may be coming to a close.  But yesterday he held my hand.  And for a while.  And it was wonderful. And THAT is what I need to focus on right now.  This is all terrible and stressful and full of so many emotions BUT we never would have been at Chestnut Ridge yesterday and Oliver would never have held my hand if we weren't in this terrible situation.  Claire and I have been working out together and baking and watching tv shows and talking so much.  And that wouldn't be happening if we weren't in this horrible situation.  So I choose to focus on THAT.

 Claire is also becoming a master baker!  She has been perfecting her chocolate chip cookies!

These were seriously amazing!!!!!  I am so proud of her!

Day 16

Yesterday it was another rainy dreary day.  Claire and I drove around a bit while Oliver worked on a bunch of schoolwork.  I have to say in all of this, thank God for Netflix.

 We try to save our "TV time" for after dinner, which has been good because it gives us something to look forward to. Claire and I have been watching "Love Is Blind" and it was so terribly good.  

Then after the kids go to bed, Mark and I watch a couple of episodes of Ozark (which is super good).  Today the sun is shining, which is really a good thing because I think we all need to get out of here for a bit!

Day 15

Yesterday Oliver Zoomed with his class. He really enjoyed seeing all of his friends and Mrs. Hanlon.

 Oliver's teacher is amazing and has done such a great job keeping in touch and making Oliver feel like he is still in the loop.

 We borrowed my parents printer yesterday so that Oliver could print up some of his math work.  It took Mark some time to set it up but here he is proud as a peach because he finally got it!

 Claire baked us all some homemade chocolate chip cookies!  She found the recipe herself and did it all on her own.  We had to adjust the baking time but once we did that we were all set.

They came out amazing and they were the perfect dessert after dinner!  Thank God she can bake because I cannot!  

Day 14

The weather was absolutely gorgeous yesterday, well in the morning anyway.  Around 2 the weather totally turned on us and it started to pour and thunder!  But all morning it was close to 70 degrees and beautiful. 

 Claire and I went for run together!  Well, we started off together and then Claire zoomed ahead of me. Then we did a workout together!  Oliver played hockey in the street for about 3 hours and Mark ran too.  We all enjoyed the gorgeous day!

 After dinner we bundled up (since the temperature dropped back down to the low 50s) and headed out for a long walk.

Then we finished up the day with some hot chocolate and a Rack-O tournament.  Mark was the big winner this time.  We were all pretty beat after our busy day and we all slept in today!

We all just kept reminding ourselves that when this is all over we are going to be sitting around a "regular" Sunday night and think, "hmmm, it might be nice to go for a long walk and play Rack-O with some hot chocolate on a school night!"

Day 13

Lucky 13!!!  Yesterday was a lazy day.  I feel like I say that a lot lately.  But compared to our usual crazy schedules being home this much feels pretty lazy sometimes.

 Our art teacher is putting together a video for the kids so I put this together yesterday (and combed my hair lol).

 Mark and Oliver caught up on the news.  We really try to limit the news around here.  During the first week we had the news on constantly but that got to be really stressful.  So now we only watch it a little bit throughout the day.  Just to stay current but not to overwhelm ourselves.

 I made my famous breaded porkchops!  They take a while to make and we don't normally have that much time to make them so we don't have them very often.   But since we have all the time in the world, today seemed like a perfect day.

I meant to take a picture of our delicious meal but I didn't take it fast enough and everyone ate up pretty quickly!

Day 12

Yesterday we reached our second Friday of quarantine.  We usually go to Moe's on Fridays as a family so today we made tacos at home.  It wasn't the same but we had fun making them.  Claire really helped out in the kitchen.  She has really been cooking a lot through this whole thing so that has been great!

Claire and her lacrosse friends made the cutest "TicToc" video!  I really hope they can play together soon!

Day 11

Yesterday I spent a lot of time on school work.  Just when I think that I have things all figured out for my plans I feel like I get a new idea and start all over!

Mark and I also started watching Tiger King on Netflix and it is a glorious hot mess!  It is the perfect distraction from the real world right now!

After a nice long walk last night we played some Yahtzee and facetimed Grandma into the game!  It was really fun to "hang out" with Grandma for a bit and play one of our favorite games.  Oliver was the big winner last night!

Day 10

Yesterday was a "slow day".  The weather was nice so I went for a run and did a quick workout outside and the kids roller bladed for a while! Claire is working on her roller blading so her and Oliver went around the block a few times and practiced.  I love when they hang out together!!

Oliver was given the assignment of creating a family tree.  I have LOVED this project.  He can really work on it independently and he has loved calling many of our family members to get some information!  His amazing teacher also called him yesterday just to chat.  I can't even explain how much we love his teacher.  She has been so amazing through all of this and Oliver loves to hear from her!

Day 9

I have really been trying to focus on the positive during this whole thing. 

 One positive thing is that I have more time to enjoy the little things like my french press coffee.  I  have really enjoyed starting my day with this!

 Another positive thing in technology.  Thank God for computers and the internet.  I have been able to stay connected with friends and stay on work out groups that keep me motivated to keep working out!

Oliver was able Zoom with this his hockey team!  It was kinda crazy but they had an absolute blast!

Which eventually ended up with Oliver "Zooming" with his friends and then playing Fortnite.

Another thing is that stores are still open. Our TV broke yesterday but thankfully Target made it very easy to order online and just pick it up!

 I had some time to FINALLY make my photo book about the Ski Club!

 And we enjoyed breakfast for dinner!  

We even took a drive today to get out of the house.  So overall, we had a pretty good day!  

Day 8

Yesterday was a rainy lazy day around here.  The kids got their school work done and Mark and I spent a lot of time getting our school work prepared for this whole "distance learning" situation.

 I had a very nice meeting with my team.  It was great to share some ideas on how we all plan to tackle this new way of teaching (which sounds a lot easier than it actually is).

Then we spent a lot of time laying around chatting and playing games today.  

Not all of these days look the same and that's ok.  Today was a "slower" day than normal but we got all of our work done and at our own pace.  None of us went outside (it was rainy and yucky) and we took the day off of exerciszing and that was ok.  I feel good about my plan for my students and we all seem to be adjusting to our new normal and that is what is important!

Day 7

 I think Claire is having the hardest time with all of this and we wanted to do something to make her happy.  She really misses her friends and is really bummed to be missing boxing.  She is also sad that there may not be modified lacrosse.  Claire has worked so hard to prepare for this season and she is really upset that it may not happen. So we took this time to finally update some things in Claire's room. 

 Oliver kept up with his Kinex!

 And I had a great time "Zooming" with my friends!  It was a lot of fun connecting with everyone!

Then we all watched Toy Story 3 and cried.  It was quite the way to end the evening!