From the moment we got off the plane from California....the whole landscape of school, home, work and our community had shifted. Here's a brief timeline (mainly for my memory book) so I can share this with G, M and L when they are older and not miss some of this.
March 12: Washington School Closed for 6 weeks for in class instruction
March 26: Washington Stay Home Stay Healthy starts for 2 weeks
April 2: Washington Stay Home Stay Healthy extended through May 4
April 6: Schools close on-site instruction for remainder of school year
May 1: Washington Stay Home Stay Healthy extended through May 31
Today, we are currently sitting on Day 87 home. Home has become a classroom. A full service bed and breakfast. An all night diner. A home office. We are taking the GOOD with the BAD and recognizing that our family (with 2 working parents) would NEVER get all this time together without this craziness. We also recognize that working from home and raising 3 kids is a NEW hard that we weren't quite ready to face. Everyone we know is struggling right now and I think it is safe to say that even though you feel blessed for health, your family and your home you can be scared about the future, worried about your community and unsure about how to plan for next week, next month, next school year. So, here I go, trying to share some of the photos from this time and still can't freaking believe THIS IS LIFE!
So as I begin...This is March.
Wednesday, March 18th was our 1st day home from California. Our 1st day of learning from home. I will repeat this ONE million times. I'm so thankful for my little learners, their amazing teachers at Heritage Christian Academy who have kept them engaged and learning THIS WHOLE TIME!!!! One thing I've found fun is the daily picture for attendance requirements...and on some days it is the only picture I have taken during this quarantine.
Can't forget "school baby" - she is like a class mascot but a little more crazy. Some days she sleeps through morning work, sometimes she climbs on the table. It's a new experience each day!
Thursday, March 19th aka DAY 2. I mean, we are rocking this. Rich is teaching, I'm teaching. We are smiling. This is the best thing ever. Maybe we should really look into homeschooling our kids in the future. (This is a joke - kind of. The thoughts have crossed my mind, but then I think that the only reason I'm a good teacher is because of the support we have and my resilient little kids).
It's Friday...3 days in and starting to find a bit of a routine.
We got creative with a little recess and also make a "sun dial" out of the shadows.
Back out to enjoy a little time in the sun before the NEWS of lockdown would come shortly after...thinking back to this picture, I remember a time where we thought school would go back, work would only be remote for the interim and life would continue to be a little the same, just slower. Well, WE WERE WRONG. If I could tell March 20th Stacie something, I would say...enjoy those hugs with your grandma a little more, let the kids give everyone and extra squeeze and be patient, THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG RIDE.
And then it was time for TAKE-OUT...of course, this one would love Julio's beans as much as the rest of the family!
Saturday, March 21st, Day 4. Finding ways to get outside and loving every second of our 1 to 3 walks per day. Talking, dreaming and soaking in this family time.
Monday, March 23rd, Day 6.
Back to the classroom with a plan to balance it all. (Now that it is the last week of school, it's fun to see that our schedule really did work and we had fun....challenging of course, but fun too).
I laugh thinking that I was worried about my roots on Day 6...it's now day 85, 365 or something...we stopped counting and I'm pretty sure I am going to go into the grey abyss in style. At least for now.
Tuesday, March 24th, day 7. Officially 1 week into home school. The faces of the kids each morning is probably my favorite part of this. So thankful for the pictures we took each day for school.
And then we had a DOUBLE BLACK EYE DAY.
Wednesday, March 25th. School baby was ready to learn and loving being part of the classroom.
Thursday, March 26th, Day 9. The official start of Washington's Stay Home Stay Healthy and we would continue our life "remotely".
Friday, March 27th. Officially10 days in and getting into a little bit of a routine with morning schedules, zooms, work and more...only 2 more weeks until "spring break" and thinking we were close to heading back into the classroom.
Even Chukar was finally settling into having us all at home ALL DAY LONG!
Saturday, March 28th, Day 11. The weather was starting to be consistently nicer and we enjoyed getting out for walks and seeing the flowers blooming (looking back, I'm not sure when these walks stopped...but I miss them).
Sunday, March 29th, Day 12. A first for the family...Sunday church via ZOOM while eating breakfast. Definitely some good things about church in your PJs, but I sure miss the songs and congregation.
Mondays sure are different around here...instead of rushing 2 kids to school, dropping LJ at my parents and Rich and I going in opposite directions, Mondays turned into a quiet start to the week and jumping into new lesson plans and more.
School baby found ways to keep us smiling every day with her growing personality and desire to be a BIG kid!
One-on-one assessments with Griffin's teacher proved to be challenging, but figured out how to adapt.
And, of course, school baby made an appearance on as many Zoom calls as she could.
Fun with friends. Zoom call with the 3 amigos.
This picture sums up a lot of quarantine...looking out to what was next and not knowing.
And POOF, it was April! April 2nd to be exact and we were already 2 weeks into this new normal and feeling like we had a bit of a groove. We had smiling kids, parents balancing life and more dishes than we could count.
And look, I even brushed my teeth before lunch!
Friday, April 3rd, Day 17.
We had WINDOW visitors!!!! Waves and smiles for Grammy and Papa.
Saturday mornings are for pancakes!
And LOTS of time outside!!!
And visits from friends in the driveway!
And for SHOWERS....and time on the porch with RICH!
Sunday, April 5th, Day 19 and Palm Sunday! Since we were doing church from home we decorated our door with palms to celebrate.
Monday, April 6th, Day 20 and Week 4 of learning from home. Still SMILING for mom (or more likely their teachers who get the pictures each day).
Until that afternoon....THIS was the day we found out they would not be going back to the classroom this school year. THIS was the day mom cried for the missing moments. THIS was the day we decided to keep making the best of this and KEEP ON SWIMMING.
Another day, another example of LJ acting like a BIG kid.
Tuesday, April 7th, Day 21.
Getting outside to enjoy a little mid morning break from the classroom....before getting back to the "grind".
AND in this MOMENT, this picture MEANS the most. These siblings developed stronger bonds than they ever would have during this time. They have banded together to become a resilient little tribe and while time will only tell, I think they enjoyed this and are coming out stronger due to the challenges.
Hump Day, Day 22 and the day Leighton learned to drive.
This is what outings looked like...one parent trapped in the car with the troops while one parent ran into a store. Better here than stuck at home..
The daily photo from the classroom.
One of my favorite kindergarten crafts...and what a beautiful day to paint outside.
Thursday, April 9th, Day 23. Plugging along in our PJs because if your teacher doesn't get dressed for school (me) then why do my students.
Soaking up the sun outside.
Friday, April 10th, Day 24. We made it through the week. It was a fun week leading up to Easter and I learned so much teaching about Easter to the kids. Fun to be involved at the highest level for the kids during this whole time.
...to be continued!
