New Habits in the New Normal

They say it takes 30 days to build a new habit and I would say quarantine life has created some new ones for us. We are all equally addicted to Simply Piano and most days involve us competing for time on the piano and who can advance to the next course first. We replaced our dance song/morning karaoke with a piano song. We are also committed to our daily walk or run. Addy started running with me and within a week she went from being able to run a few blocks without stopping to running over a mile! I am so proud of her hard work. She also has started a journal and has written every day for over 40 days, today is Day 42.
Legos have really entered an entirely new phase of devotion by the kids. I didn't think it was possible for them to play with them more, and yet they have. They find new projects daily and love organizing, reorganizing and leaving them everywhere in the house.
We try to end our days with family reading time which I love because we all sit and read our books on the couch. Most of our habits have been healthy and positive but we've also been eating a lot more dessert. I've had the itch to bake more which has been good and bad. And what would quarantine be without a few more drinks and more screen time. Brian and I are both guilty of staying up and watching too much TV. At this point I think it will be harder for me to adjust to "pre-quarantine" life than it was to adjust to this new normal.

Easter

Last Sunday we celebrated Easter and had to adjust our traditions under quarantine. We got dressed up for church in our living room, I made my first spiral ham and the kids had to settle for just an egg hunt at home. We missed celebrating at Kim and Rob's house but they were sweet enough to still give the kids Easter baskets. We decorated eggs and did our egg cracking contest. I was so impressed with how beautiful the kids made their eggs. The weather was perfect which helped make it a wonderful day. The kids each got new lego sets and have spent more time than ever working on lego creations. This quarantine time has led to new record level hours of lego creations. Brian's birthday was the day before and we made him a pie and his requested tater tot hot dish.

Fun with Food!

Staying home every day means a lot of food prep. It is hard to come up with new meal ideas that people are excited about. In an effort to not go crazy, we've tried some pretty interesting new food ideas lately.
One day we made each meal a single color. Breakfast was orange, lunch was red and dinner was green. It was pretty fun and made for some beautiful looking meals.
Another day the kids decorated egg owls (Addy's idea). Another day we decided to eat only take out for all 3 meals.  It sounds great, but like a lot of things, it sounds better than it actually is.
My favorite was when we decided make our traditional Christmas dinner. We had steak fondue with the special dip and Addy made chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. The kids even got dressed up in their fanciest clothes. It was very special. And clever Cameron dubbed it our "Coronavirus Christmas" and somehow convinced me the kids should get presents. Clearly I'm getting weak with all of this stay at home time.

Spring Break Quarantine!

This week is the kid's spring break. We were supposed to be staying in a condo on the beach in Oregon. Since that isn't happening we've done our best to make this staycation special. We made a big list of the things we wanted to do and I'm proud of us that we did most of them. Some of them I'd definitely do again, others I think should be a once in a lifetime experience, like the coronavirus.
We loved going on a new hike that has some very technical parts, including crossing a creek. We have averaged at least 2 walks a day, if not more. On one of them, we saw almost all of our good neighborhood family friends and the kids were so excited to see their friends they kept saying "this is the best day ever!" We also did a Movie Marathon where each of us picked out a movie to watch and we watched them all in one day. The movies we watched were The Neverending Story, Spies in Disguise, Napoleon Dynamite, and Onward. Four movies was too many and we all felt a little sick and like zombies when it was over so I would not recommend that. We also decided to go camping in the backyard. Even though it was a beautiful week, camping in April is pretty ambitious. We were bundled up like snowmen and we all woke up at 2:30 am and Cameron asked "Is it time for breakfast now?" We knew we wouldn't fall back asleep so we called it and went into the house. The silver lining is that we got to see the super moon at 2:30 in the morning which was cool. S'mores in April I'd do again, camping probably not.

A Ray of Light

We have built some new traditions through this crazy quarantine and they have certainly provided me a much need silver lining perspective. One of my very favorites is that every morning I pick a new song, turn it up loud and either lip sync, actually sing or sometimes sing and dance to the kids. It brings me such joy. It usually brings them total embarrassment, but it's fantastic. Bonus is that it's teaching them new songs. I overheard them singing 9 to 5 and Hold On and Sweet Caroline, pure joy for me. Yesterday we all sang Eye of The Tiger and it felt like all was well in the world.
We also have gone for a walk almost every single day since this started. It's wonderful to get outside together and often we go for more than one walk. Both kids will go with me while I'm on work calls and just need to move around.
We also do family reading time where we all sit on the couch and read our favorite books. It's alone reading time, but all together and I love it.
Piano Time! Brian and the kids have been playing piano through the Simply Piano app. This week I got my first stab and I also am hooked. Now we are all basically fighting over who gets to play every day. The kids easily do an hour a day. As I type this I hear Cameron playing (and singing) Somewhere Over The Rainbow. I love this new tradition.
The kids have been keeping a journal since we've been home. Hard to believe we're on day 22. Trying to "hold one for one more day" but all of these things are certainly helping.

My Daughter the Poet

It's been over 3 weeks of our stay at home order, and the kids haven't been to school since March 12th. The teachers have given each child their Chromebook computers to work on and are giving them daily lesson plans. It is really helping and the kids have been fantastic stay-at-home students.

Adelyn is in the middle of a poetry unit and has had to write a lot of different poems. I have been absolutely blown away at what a good writer she is. Some of her poems almost bring me to tears. Here are my favorites:

Good Friendships
A good friendship smells like fresh muffins just out of the oven.
A good friendship tastes like homemade buttered bread.
A good friendship looks like a rainbow.
A good friendship feels like the softest blanket.
A good friendship sounds like happy laughter.
Friendship makes you comfortable.

Blue
Blue is the sky on a summer day.
Blue is a butterfly flitting about.
Blue is a blueberry right from a bush.
Blue is my new jeans.
Blue is the mountains from a distance.
Blue is a sapphire shining on that bracelet.
Blue is the ocean water full of life.
Blue is all of these things and more.

Black
Black is night.
Black is a fright.
Black is a bat.
Black is a fancy top hat.
Black is those sunglasses.
Black is your eyelashes. 

Out & About (When that was a thing you could do)

We were still able to leave the house and enjoy some entertainment while Scott and Wendy visited. Addy had a birthday party so Brian took Cameron and his parents to the Pacific Science Center. They had an awesome time exploring the ENTIRE museum. We also enjoyed a wonderful seafood dinner. It was a great time and we were glad that Scott's backpack was found at the airport. The kids were excited to see the surprises inside, including Brian's pinewood derby car when he was a kid and his cub scout belt. Addy got homemade spring dresses for her American Girl doll.

It was a great trip that truly feels like a lifetime ago.