Quarantine Outings

We didn't go on a lot of outing during the stay-at-home order.  But we went on 3 or 4.  Our first one was before the order - but we were doing home school and Jason was working from home.  We went to Hudsen Gardens.  It is this free place that has open fields and all sorts of trails, lakes, streams, and bridges.  It was a much needed break one afternoon during our first week of homeschooling.  Brock brought a football for him and Jason to throw around.  Noah surprised us all after about 10 minutes and asked if he could throw around the football too!!  Jason and Brock taught him how and the three of them did it for a while.  Dane actually saw this and also tried to get in on the action.

Me, Megan, and Madison followed Dane around and the girls climbed trees.

We went on a few bike rides.  This lasted quite a while into stay-at-home but on one of our 6 mile bike rides my body gave out and I needed Jason to come pick me up at about mile 4.  boo.  We haven't been on a bike ride since.  Well.... the kids have gone.  Everyday after they were done with school they went outside and went on a bike ride - but just around the neighborhood.

One day we rode to Flyin' b park.  IT is a fishing pond.  We didn't fish - but we threw rocks in the pond.

The kids are SO cautious with Dane.  They worry over almost everything he does - especially Brock. 

General Conference

I didn't take any pictures of general conference this year. We did our usual preparations - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.  We also picked 2 families to do it to: The Marriots and the Neyenhuis'.  We went into quarantine in the middle but we kept doing it and it was a blessing to have something everyday to look forward to doing and also feeling like we were serving someone.  The Marriots also gave us a treat every other day.  So that was a big hit!

One one level I can say GC was somewhat of a disappointment.  It felt like it needed to be and could have been so much more.  I am rereading the talks now and am finding great treasures - so maybe it was just me.  But the weekend of I felt it "missed the mark" of speaking to our worried hearts.  BUT I will say that it was "memorable" and "unforgettable" to me becasue of my preparations.  I did all the things President Nelson asked of us.  For me and my family.  We studies the restoration in MANY ways (family home evenings, reading Saints, reading Joseph Smith History), we studied the Book of Mormon, I did in depth studies of D&C 25, 84, and 107.  Then of course we prepared for conference by Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and I re listened to all of conference 2 or 3 times in the weeks leading up.  All of this preparation was life changing for me and I am grateful for it.

Chess Tournament

When quarantine started I said to Jason, "I wanna have a family chess tournament but I can't figure out the bracket with 6 people can you help me?".  He took that comment and RAN.  He came up with a whole excel spreadsheet for a round robin tournament that lasted 2 weeks and then a championship bracket.  He made a schedule of games and made sure they all got played and the winner recorded.  It was amazing!!  I am sad I didn't take more pictures of the games.  But everyone played and everyone had a great time.  There weren't any real surprises.  I lost every. single. game.  Jason won every. single. game.  We did have an upset though.  We ALL knew the final game would be Jason and Brock.  But in the semi-finals Noah beat Brock.  It was thrilling!!  

Megan even made a sign for us.

Eating Out

When all this happened I actually felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.  I like to tell people it was gratitude, and it was - but WAY MORE of survivors guilt and I had to work to turn into gratitude.  Having gone through so much unemployment in our life and hard time financially I felt so guilty that we were JUST FINE.  Jason just worked form home, still making the same amount.  I almost couldn't believe it.  How could bad things be happening to other people and not us?  It didn't feel right.  I felt like we needed to be going through it too.  My mind just couldn't wrap around that this wasn't going to collapse our world.  I wanted to help.  I wanted to give everyone around me money who was hurting.  I wanted to give away our stimulus check becasue we didn't need it.  

After a few weeks I found out Jason was feeling similar feelings.  Not quite the same, but both of our feelings led to the same conclusion.  We wanted to help.  I did some research and found several mom and pop restaurants that needed our help.  So we did something we never ever do.  We started ordering out.  We get take out every Monday and Thursday - but only to small family owned mom and pop's (our ideal), or LOCAL franchises.  This picture I know is from Corner Bakery - doesn't fit into either of our categories - but it is owned by some people in our stake and we were asked to order from them.

Things I have learned from ordering take out.

• It IS NOT easier than cooking.  First to find/decide on a place, have everyone order (find something GF for Megan), call in and order, wait, go pick it up (ALWAYS later then they said, drive home, unpack it, make sure everyone gets what they ordered, clean up - it honestly was not less stressful or quicker than cooking from home.
• It is so unhealthy.  Rarely did anything come with vegetables and if it did they were gross or cooked in a way that didn't make it healthy.  So often times I would still cook a vegetable for us (so add that to the above list of things to do).  And obviously, the kids menus were just ridiculous and my kids ended up eating something that was just a different version of a starch, cheese, and fries.
• It is so expensive.  We didn't let this bother us because that was the point - we weren't trying to save money or do it cheap.  (which was hard because I am so used to being like "they can share that" - but the point was to spend a lot of money.  But several times we would have a meal that cost $80.00 that I could have made for $10.00 or less!
• Honestly, nothing was that good.  We have not found ONE restaurant that we would ever go back to.  I feel sad about this.  But it is true.
• The saddest part for me is that I LOVE eating out and as a cruel irony we start eating out right when I get to the point of my pregnancy where I can't eat anything after 4:00.  So 90% of the time I don't even order anything.  I watch as they all eat onion rings and I get nothing.  Sometimes I order and eat it for lunch the next day.  But day old onion rings just aren't good. 

Inspiration

I am writing this post because of my scripture study this morning. 

I have struggled a little bit during this quarantine because people keep talking about "lesson's learned" and how this "puts things in perspective" or "helps us realign our priorities" and "things we will do differently after".  But I haven't felt any of those things.  I keep trying to connect with the spirit and figure out what changes the Lord is trying to tell us we need to make.  And after about a month I honestly felt that what this has taught me is that our priorities were right and we don't have anything we need to change.  I worried this was pride or blindness.  But it always felt right and peaceful.  Then this morning during my scripture study it was affirmed.  I am reading 3rd Nephi 1-8 because it has been said (and I strongly believe) that it is a mirror to our day, before Christ comes again.

I am not going to give context - you can figure that out on your own.  But the Lamanites/robbers represents Satan/world/or this pandemic and the Nephites are us/church/me. 

3rd Nephi 4:16 and 18

16...for they(meaning the Lamanites) did suppose that if they should cut off the people of Nephi from their lands, and should hem them in on every side, and if they should cut them off from all their outward privileges, that they could cause them to yield themselves up according to their wishes.

18 But behold, this was an advantage to the Nephites; for it was impossible for the robbers to lay siege sufficiently long to have any effect upon the Nephites, because of their much provision which they had laid up in store,

I felt that this was us.  We have spent years laying up provisions.  This doesn't have any effect upon us.  Then I read (for my study) President Nelson's welcoming address to General Conference and he said that Lord tells us to stand in holy places and be not moved.  I realized that if we are in a holy place when hard times come that doesn't mean we need to move - we stay there.  Hard times don't mean we have to change what we are doing.  Only if we aren't doing what we should.  We should of course soul search and seek inspiration - but it is ok if the spirit says "you are in a holy place... don't move."

Home School

I was really nervous about homeschooling.  Well... at first I thought it would be homeschooling... but as most parents figured out it was really remote-schooling.  The school gave all the kids Chromebooks to use.  Our teachers were amazing and there for the kids every step of the way.  There were some things that were hard about it - but things that I thought would be terrible ended up not bothering me.  I would find the kids in the nooks and crannies of our house working on school.  Often times (especially the first few weeks) they built forts to do their work in.  I regret not taking more pictures of them doing school.  Often Megan and Madison would cuddle up together on Megan's top bunk and do their school side by side, helping each other (they both have different strengths in school).  Noah built an amazing fort over his bed (that I didn't take a picture of).  And Brock typically did his schooling down on the main floor with me. Sometimes I would have all 4 around the kitchen table or in the living room working but that was more rare.  When we first started I was scared about Dane.  I thought that if he saw a kid on their chrome books he would bother them, want to play on their computer, or want to watch.  Miracles of miracles, he could have cared less.  It was like he didn't even notice.  Such a blessing! 

My kids did not move fast through school.  They took their sweet time.  The girls I am sure could have been done in less then an hour each day - but because I had Dane and was working with Brock they were mostly unsupervised and would spend hours building an amazing google slide with all sorts of animations.  We always started school around 9 and finished around 1 or 2.   

Good and Bads of remote learning

Good: They all had their own device.  Originally I would have thought this would have gone on the bad list - but it ended up being great and I kind of miss having them.

Bad: We have now gotten used to having them and are readjusting to NOT having them.

Good: The kids loved their zoom lessons.  I was skeptical at first but it turns out it was a place for my kids to connect, feels a sense of normalcy, and something outside our home.  I am SO GRATEFUL to all the teachers who love my children and provide a safe place for them. 

Bad: Listening to my kids on zoom call.  SO EMBARRASSING.  So many times I wanted to barge in and say, "don't say that" or "your teacher doesn't need to hear about that" or micro-manage their zoom ediquitte.  But I had to remind myself that I am not at school filtering everything they say and their teacher and tell them to stop talking, or mute their mic, etc.  But most the time I was dying inside!

Good: For the most part the kids never complained or fought about doing school or the school work they had to do.  They all say it was the worst thing they have ever had to do.  I was surprised by that comment because they did it with VERY LITTLE complaining.  Especially Brock - he was the one with a right to complain and he truly never did.  I had more tears over the whole thing then they did.

Bad: It was hard for me!  Oh - it was SO HARD.  Not having them home (I love that).  Not the school work (they can do a lot on their own, Jason was home to help with things I couldn't, and the teachers helped a lot).  But the checking to make sure they did it all.  It was NOT easy to find out what they had to do each day.  I was checking 3 or 4 platforms with each of the younger kids and for Brock I was checking about 21 different platforms.  It took me about 40  minutes to check the 3 younger and an hour to an hour and a half to check Brock.  This was just to check to make sure they were done!  Then one day I would fine out there was a project that we never knew about.  How?  I check, I am so diligent.  But things got missed.  It was all so frustrating.

Good: None of it counted.   I sort of knew this from the beginning - but decided to still make my kids do it all - but knowing in the back of my head it wasn't something to fight about.  They never knew it was optional - but it was nice that I knew.

Bad: Now that it is over and I am talking with other people it is frustrating that they talk about how they did remote learning and how easy it was but then I find out they didn't make their kids really do anything.  I shouldn't care - to each his own.  But if I can do it 8 months pregnant with an 18 month old and 2 kids with IEP then I think they could have done it.  But they said, "it was just too hard."

Good: I truly loved having everyone home.  I loved our morning routine, eating lunch together.  The kids taking breaks together and playing in the back yard.  I loved that Jason was home and was able to help out when needed (either with the kids school work or with Dane).

Bad: I really did miss out on my favorite stage with Dane.  I mean... I saw him and was with him, but not doing what it BEST about that stage.  I LOVE 15 - 18 months and those were the exact months in quarantine.  We couldn't go to the park and teach him to climb a ladder.  We didn't go to the zoo.  

Pie Day

Pie day is Jason's one of Jason's favorite holidays.  I had planned on surprising him with a rhubarb pie (his favorite) but March 14 was RIGHT at the beginning of the crazy binge shopping and ALL of the frozen fruit was all gone.  So I made a chocolate moose pie cuz I had all of those ingredients.  - I also made a smaller one for Megan with a gluten free oreo crust.

home church

That first week after spring break they cancelled church.  We were naive enough to think it might just be for a week or two.  I think we are on week 10 now.  I have loved having church at home.  The best part is having 2 deacons that pass our sacrament.  We do it during Dane's nap.  We keep it simple - except for Easter.  We have an opening prayer, a sacrament hymn, Jason blesses and the boys pass, then we have someone do something - either a talk or a musical number, and then a closing prayer.  We make sure the house is clean and I set out pictures of Jesus and play prelude music on my phone.  Everyone dresses up.  We have had wonderful testimony meetings as well.  Jason is great a presiding and making sure our meetings are orderly and spiritual.

Things I have missed about church:  I do miss having Dane go.  It will be a big transition going back.  I only got to do my calling once before it got cancelled.  Jason and I teach the 16 - 18 year olds.  Now by the time we get back all our 17 and 18 year olds won't be in our class anymore and some might have already left for college or missions.  It is pretty sad.  We have BIG plans for our class this spring, we were going to take our kids to all of their spring sports and activities and we were having them over for root bear floats twice a month.  But strangely that is all I miss.  I LOVE church.  When I miss even 1 week or heaven forbid 2 I miss it so much and when I go back it feels like I haven't been in forever.  I don't have that feeling.  I think it has shown me the importance of the ordinance of the sacrament and spending time worshiping and connecting with God.  That is what is important, not the building, not the people, not the lessons.  I knew that before.  But I didn't know I FELT it.  If someone would have told me a year ago we would go 10 weeks with no church I would have cried and thought I couldn't do it.  But I feel so spiritually fed.  I have gone to church.  Church is in my home, and it isn't any different.

hospital visit

During Spring break when parks were still open but things were "heating up" with the coronavirus Madison fell off a spinny-toy at the play ground and we thought she broke her arm.  We decided to go to the ER.  I was worried about taking her becasue I thought there would be more regulations or no beds - but we were so early on that not even all of the staff were wearing masks.  It wasn't broken.  Just sprained.  She wore the sling for maybe half a day.

Our Covid Story

I just want to quickly document how we went into lock down in our neighborhood.

I guess it all really started March 6th.  We had been hearing about China and South Korea for a few weeks.  We knew it was coming here, I think that things had already started happening in Seattle but there wasn't any talk about lock downs and what not - at least not long term.  Then on Friday, March 6th I got an email.  Someone at Brock's school had just returned from the Philippians and had Covid.  All activities were canceled for the weekend.  The boys were on their Deacon's Quorum winter camping trip.  There was a little bit of anxiety.  We were planning to go to the school musical Saturday night - so that was our first "covid cancellation/disappointment".  But Brock had a basketball game earlier in the day and that was still held.

I had a little bit of anxiety.  I remember being at the basketball game wondering if people had it.  At the time they were really pushing that pregnant women were at high risk (as the months went on that risk diminished).  By Sunday night they sent out another email stating that her test came back negative and that school would be in session on Monday.  The week of March 9-13 was the last week before spring break.  It was to be a busy week.  We had parent teacher conference, district battle of the books, last week of basketball and first week of soccer, gymnastics, and the boys had a youth temple trip, Brock had an orchestra concert.  As the week started we assumed everything would happen.  But as every day progressed things changed.

When I went to parent teacher conference on Tuesday we made plans for the rest of the year.  We never even discussed the idea that school wouldn't be in session.  Me, Noah, and his teacher talked about a few discipline problems and made a plan going forward.  We wrote a new math plan for Megan through the end of the year.  etc.  By Wednesday things moved rapidly.  The boys had a temple trip at 6:00.  At 4:00 bishop sent out an email saying it was still on.  By 5:00 he sent another saying it was "optional" and if your sick or nervous stay home.  At 5:45 he sent out another one saying it was cancelled.  Same thing happened on Thursday with Brock's orchestra concert.  It was "on" until about an hour before - then it got cancelled.  Also on Thursday was the girls district battle for BoB.  Luckily that was held - then on Thursday night we got an email saying that all district events were now cancelled.  It became a tender mercy in the family that the girls got to do their final battle.  That was the last thing that ever happened.  Brock's basketball got cancelled, piano, gymnastics, then church.  Some things got cancelled quick, some slow.  Some got cancelled forever, some thought it would just be a week or two. Everyone had spring activities, all cancelled.  Some were more devastating than others.

Our Spring break was normalish.  There hadn't been any real guidelines out yet.  School hadn't been cancelled yet.  We went to the park, played with friends, had a sleep over, etc.  But by Thursday of Spring Break most of that stopped.  They announced school would be cancelled through the end of March.  This date would be pushed back 2 times until they finally canceled for the whole year.

Things went into total lock down pretty gradually and we followed the guidelines gradually as well.  For a few weeks after spring break we were still going to the park and playing with friends in our neighborhood.  By the time the state went into total "lock-down"/stay-at-home orders we all (us, ward, and neighborhood friends) followed the rules and went into total lock down.  We stayed in our houses and only left if we needed too.  For us, this included going to the grocery store, picking up free lunches the district was offering, and picking up take-out (more on that later).  We did go out into our front yard or walk up and down our streets with Dane and the kids took a bike ride everyday. This lasted for about 6 weeks for us. 

As of now,  everything is a little crazy.  "Stay-at-home" has changed to "safe-at-home".   Everyone seems pretty tired of the restrictions and our neighborhood is no longer social distancing from each other and people aren't wearing masks when outside.  Businesses are still closed and people are still wearing masks when they are at any business.  Everything is cancelled for the summer, sports, plays, workshops, camps etc.  That is a bummer.  Parks, swimming pools, the library, zoos, etc are all still closed.  But there is TALK about them reopening - somehow, sometime, in the future.  Right now I still have a hope and a prayer in my heart that things will become normal again one day.  But each day I question that hope.  I wonder if it EVER will.  I know some things will, but I am not sure if it will ever be the same as it was before.

School schedule

This was our schedule for the 2019-2020 school year.  I may have posted it at the beginning of the school year, I don't remember.  Either way I thought I would document it.  I also had a pretty sweet winter/early spring schedule for me and Dane.  I can hardly remember it now.  But I will do my best.

Woke Brock up at 6:15

Woke everyone else up at 6:45 for morning devotional

Took Brock to school at 7:15

Jason got Dane up whenever Dane woke up

7:30 - 8:20 - get kids breakfast and packed lunches

8:20 - David came over to babysit Dane while I took the kids to school and went and worked out

*Working out every morning was a game changer for me!  It was the best and I was SO grateful to have David to watch Dane.  David is so good with him and only charged a dollar!  It truly changed my whole day and changed my pregnancy.  

9:30 - came home and put Dane down for a nap.

9:30 - 11:30 - Read scriptures, do one (family history, blog, blog book), make a good breakfast for me, clean, get ready, bake something, work on to-do list

11:30 - Dane wakes up.  Play, eat lunch, outing, run errands.  On Wednesday we had a play group

1:30 - Dane nap.  I made dinner, took a nap, kept working on to do list, cleaned up the house

3:00 - Brock comes home (he rides his scooter home).  We chat.

3:30 - go get kids.  Brock usually gets Dane up from nap.

On Monday's I cleaned the whole time during Dane's naps and during in awake time we went to the store for grocery shopping for the week.  As mentioned on previous posts I was committed to doing "real" outings with Dane at least 3 times a week during the spring (zoo, aquarium, swimming, farms, children's museums, etc) - I even bought passes.  But, alas, it was not to be.  And I had to stop working out, which has made my pregnancy harder, but not too bad.

Battle of the Books

We had a great Battle of the Books year again.  We started at the very beginning of September reading our book.  Noah was on the 5/6 team and Megan and Madison were together in the 3/4 team.  This year we challenged the kids to read all 10 books (instead of the required 7) - those who read all 10 almost always make the team.  Megan got all 10 of hers read in the first 6 weeks - she was the first one to read all 10.  Madison got her's read and Noah read 9 - which I was still very proud of since we didn't let him do any audio books this year.  They went to school at 7:45 am every Friday morning all year to practice with their teams.  I went often to help out.  If Dane was awake and had had breakfast we went.

In January we had a school battle.  I got there late and didn't get a picture of the 3/4 team - but here are both teams together at the end.

The 5/6 team.

Then we spent every Wednesday evening the whole month of January and February and part of March at the library battling. The kids did great and won most of their battles. 

Madison was spokes person a couple of times and she did a great job!

This little boy did great too.  You are not allowed to make ANY noise in the battles - so he would be there for about 5 minutes and then Jason, Brock, and I would take turns walking around the library with him. 

Noah's 5/6 team lost in the quarter finals in a tie breaker!  It was so sad.  But they all took it really well.

And our 3/4 team made it to the finals!!!  (Also on a tie breaker).  Our family has been doing battle of the books for 5 years now and it was the first time we have made it to the finals.  It was so exciting and SO nerve racking!

AND THEY WON!  (On a tie breaker again!)  They were elated!

My three battlers.  Noah was happy for them and wasn't too jealous of their win.  He was happy to support them.  

The next week was district finals.  It was going to last all evening because it was single elimination and they could play up to 3 battles.  The boys had Young Mens and we knew Dane couldn't last.  Jason took them because he "earned" it.  He read all 20 books so he could talk to the kids about them AND he wrote questions with them and kept them on schedule.  HE is the reason we can do BoBs in our house.  He is our rock!  So I wasn't there - BUT I got minute to minute updates on the battles.  They were nail biters!  And ON ANOTHER TIE BREAKER they won!!

District Champions!!!!  The boys and I were jumping up and down  when we got the text. 

With their coach

With their librarians

Since I wasn't there and Jason doesn't have a camera - I asked some friends to take pictures - that is why they aren't looking at the camera :(

As a true tender mercy for our family this is the week of the coronovirus outbreak.  Everyday leading up to the battle there was more panic, news, and regulations about things.  Their battle was on Thursday evening and on Friday morning the district sent an email canceling all school and events.  Had it been one day later they would have never got to compete (and now looking back we realize it would have never been made up) and we would have never known.  We are SO grateful we got to do this one last activity!

And then there is this guy... the one who got it all started.  The middle school battle of the books doesn't start until January and they battle in May.  His books were much harder, longer and more "mature" than he had been used to.  Jason (of course) read all of Brock's books as well (that is 30 books in like 4 months WHILE getting his MBA - he is amazing!!)  Brock did great, he read 8 out of the 10 books, he would have read all 10 except for the library closed doe to Covid and we couldn't' get the last 2 books.  They did an online zoom battle where his team won 2nd place!  He was the ONLY ONE in his middle school that didn't drop out once school got cancelled so he got put on another middle school's team.  I am unbelievably proud of this guy.  I am amazed every year that he wants to do it (given all of his learning disabilities) and that he does so well at it.  He makes my heart burst!