Coronavirus: 6 weeks in quarantine

Friday, March 13, was the last day the kids went to school and I went inside a grocery store. I went into Kroger that morning to get my weekend sale items and stock up on bread and a few other items for the coming crisis. We knew it was coming but not exactly when or how bad it would be in Georgia. Albany already had a breakout but at this point the rest of the state was ok. Kroger was packed like the day before Thanksgiving. Everything was selling fast. It was so bad I texted my friend Holly, who also likes to go for the sales, to skip it and go to Publix nearer our houses. I stock up on sales and our house always has lots of food, so I knew we'd be ok. 

That Sunday they cancelled school for the next few weeks, and later for the rest of the school year. The kids' school assignments are posted online now. Almost all of Gavin's work is completed online, Amelia has a combination of online work and work to be printed out and completed. Neither likes doing school at home, both would rather go back to school. They really miss their friends. The first few weeks were particularly hard on Gavin who is used to being outside with friends anytime he's not at school. They both have trouble social distancing when anyone is around (keeping at least 6 ft away) and therefore require supervision for that when they play out front. 

The weather has been beautiful as spring always is in Georgia. Unfortunately, there is also lots of pollen as always. Normally I go outside anyway but this year I have stayed inside a lot to reduce my odds of getting a sinus infection. Jake has been taking the kids on bike rides, we've taken some walks, and the kids spend a lot of time in the backyard and on the front porch where I can watch them from the house. The kids, especially Gavin, have been enjoying the wildlife - watching and interacting with birds, bugs, lizards, and frogs. 

Jake is working with social distancing measures in place and reduced hours to reduce the number of people in his shop at one time. He wears a mask at work when others are near. I do pick up orders for groceries as needed for us and my parents. I am thankful both Kroger and Walmart have online ordering with curbside pickup. We got take out food a few times the first week or so but I've been cooking at home since then. Groceries cost more because Kroger is not running all their usual sales. Publix still is but they don't have curbside pickup so I'm not going there. They do have delivery but the cost of that would negate the savings. The school district here offers free food for all kids in the county three days a week. We picked that up regularly the first few couple weeks and a couple times since, the kids were excited since they never buy their lunches at school. Amelia loves the chocolate milk. Other than that and a couple stops by the pharmacy I've been home. 

We have continued with our normal scripture study and conduct sacrament meeting at home. We have short lessons but have been able to have some meaningful spiritual experiences. Gavin has a good understanding of the gospel and occasionally shares some amazingly deep and insightful thoughts. Amelia likes to sing primary songs for us and surprised me by knowing the words to a sacrament hymn better than I did. She has started composing hymns on her xylophone. 

Amelia is coping the best of all of us. She is a ray of sunshine and I am so thankful for her. She is a great helper and incredibly strong. One day Jake and I trimmed our trees and Amelia was right with us pulling heavy limb-covered tarps. She writes me love notes and gives me lots of hugs. 

I am thankful for texting and streaming tv. My friends and I text each other funny memes and updates on our lives, commiserating about the challenges we're currently facing. Many evenings the kids watch tv in the living room while Jake and I watch our shows in our bedroom. Being home non-stop with the kids can be mentally and emotionally exhausting and its nice to have some space from each other. The kids have been binge-watching corny live action shows on Disney plus - they've made it through "Good Luck, Charlie" and are working on "Jessie." Jake and I are working our way through "Chicago P.D." and "Chicago Fire."  

 March

 started our quarantine off right with some chocolate oatmeal candy:

 The first couple weeks in particular the kids enjoyed watching how to draw videos on youtube:

 This is what school looks like now:

The kids watched videos from the Cincinnati Zoo and wrote about the animals they saw: 

 made a jar of words: 

 Saturday, March 21 the neighborhood HOA hid eggs in our yard and brought the Easter Bunny to see the kids. They hugged him before I could enforce social distancing:

 School time:

  This is the stool I sat on to help Gavin and get yelled at. He's not a fan at all of school at home. As the weeks have gone by I have learned to just leave him alone to do his work. His teacher/aid occasionally calls or texts me with assignments he needs to turn in.

 The kids have resorted to watching the neighbors' dogs over the fence for entertainment:

Sprinkler fun - kids got to play with some neighbor friends, sprinklers enforced social distancing:

 

 important supplies:

 The weather has been beautiful:

 Kids had a campout with Jake:

 made herself a mask so she won't get sick:

April

  

 I put this picture of the kids on facebook with this note - Gavin is an extrovert. He is constantly either playing with friends or looking for someone to play with. These past 3 wks have forced him to spend more time with Amelia. They spend a good bit of it fighting, but they are also becoming closer. Right now they are on the front porch just sitting and talking, playing with sticks. Amelia got up and walked around the corner of the house for a minute, and I heard Gavin yell, "Amelia, are you alright?" She came back and he said, "please stay where I can see you." My favorite part of being a mom is seeing acts of love between my kids.

 I completed this puzzle while watching the afternoon sessions of General Conference this April:

 

 Holding her up for a closer look at the bird:

 A friend from church that lives in our neighborhood was generous enough to make our family fabric masks. They came at the perfect time, the day before Jake had to start wearing them at work. My donation to the cause was some unused hair ties, as elastic was scarce and needed to make more masks. A couple other ladies in our neighborhood volunteered to make masks for everyone in our neighborhood that wanted one.

 Bought Gavin a Chromebook to do his schoolwork on after the old laptop he was using quit working. The Chromebook lasted 2.5 days:

 A man in our neighborhood works for Publix and takes their day old food to a food bank. The food bank is closed but Publix still wants to get rid of all their unsold food so he puts in all in his garage and invites the neighborhood to come take some free food. I got this food once and went another time and got a bunch of produce. We are so thankful!

 A lady in our neighborhood cleaned out her attic and was giving away brand new collector Barbies. Amelia picked Cruella Deville and Eliza Doolittle:

Amelia prayed one night that the Easter Bunny wouldn't get the coronavirus. She must have gotten her wish because he made it to our house:

 

TV time. I have instituted a no screen time (except school) before 4pm so the kids will play outside and do other stuff besides being couch potatoes. One day Gavin had a zoom meeting for his social skills group and told the teacher "I won't be here long because me and my sister watch tv at 4."

Making cloud dough:

Bird feeder, found a use for stale cheerios:

 Zoom online meeting with her teachers and classmates: