Quarantine

Well, the world kind of exploded since my last post!  In January, there was news in China about a virus that was spreading very quickly and making a lot of people sick.  Because of my work with VIPKID, I actually heard a lot about exactly what was happening.  How a lot of people were stuck in their homes, many businesses were shut down, holiday celebrations were cancelled, school was put online, and  life was basically put on hold.  I will say, I honestly did not think it would affect the world like it has.  Then a couple weeks ago it started to get serious for everyone.  

I think my first experience with how it affected me was when our concert with the Idaho Falls Symphony got cancelled.  The CDC had recommended to cancel all large gatherings and our conductor was trying to comply with that. At the time I thought it was a little bit of an overreaction.  My sister was supposed to play a concerto with the symphony and was super disappointed about it.  There were no cases in Idaho and I thought it would've been fine if we were to have the concert.  But, by the end of the week many states had cancelled school, the first case in Idaho was confirmed, and we were basically in self-quarantine. It was also that weekend that stores started completely selling out of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, diapers, wipes, formula, rice, bread, paper towels, and just about any other non-perishable item.  We haven't really needed any of that except for wipes.  Ava is potty trained, but I was planning on starting to potty train Mia that next week, so she was still in diapers.  I had to go to many different stores and all I could find were these tiny packages.  We have since managed to get a box.  I feel so terrible for all those mothers who have babies who absolutely need those things and can't find them!  I have (kind of) started to potty train Mia, mostly because I'm not sure I'm going to be able to find many more diapers.  And because I guess she's old enough (although that doesn't really bother me....I super hate potty training and will put it off as long as possible).

It won't take long to summarize how life has been because we pretty much do the same thing every day.  We are very lucky that David still gets his paycheck from school and I can still work with VIPKID.  David isn't teaching private lessons right now and the semester with BYU-I is almost over so we won't get that paycheck, but we're ok for now.  So every morning I teach on the computer before everyone wakes up.  I go back to bed afterwards for about an hour then the kids get up.  We watch some tv, eat breakfast, change our clothes, and then I usually have Asher do some kind of school stuff.  There are a few websites where he can do short lessons and educational games and read books and he really likes doing those.  I also got a workbook that we do a few pages on so he can work on handwriting while doing math and English.  Then we go on a walk or bike ride or just play in the yard.  Then we have lunch, maybe watch some more tv, eat lunch, play games, then I have the kids take a bath and get ready for bed.  

David doesn't go in to school, but he has been attending a lot of meetings online for the teachers so he knows how the district is planning on the rest of the year going.  They basically aren't planning on going back to school for the rest of the school year.  The last day is May 29, and that's going to be it no matter what.  David said the teachers can either give a Pass or Incomplete for this trimester, but they aren't going to Fail anyone.  There are so many more things that David has told me about how things are going to be run, but that might be for another time.  Starting April 6th, Asher's teacher will have some assignments he can do, but David said it doesn't matter if he does them or not. (Although I will make him do them because I don't want him to forget absolutely everything)

So that's us!  David and I have made a couple trips to the grocery store, but we never bring the kids and I always use hand sanitizer when I get home and try to avoid everyone at the store.  The kids are actually doing ok with things.  They have been a little more emotional lately, but really not as bad as I would've thought.  Life isn't easy but we're trying to be as positive as we can.  

I will be honest, having everyone home all the time has been hard on me.  I am definitely an introvert and I love my alone time.  And I don't really get that now.  The kids follow me wherever I go and David doesn't work so he's home all the time.  I really relish going on my walks at night with Millie and those times I run to the gas station to get pops (don't worry, I try not to touch anything in there).  I just need those few minutes alone to help me relax.  I am actually really jealous of the people that don't have a bunch of young kids at their house and are bored because I would love that! I miss doing puzzles and reading books and getting to eat a meal by myself all in one sitting.  But it's fine.  While Mia sits on the toilet I started crocheting and made Asher a hat!  I love crafty stuff so that actually really helped my mood.  And we've watched Frozen II (or new Anna-Elsa as Mia calls it) about 5,000 times which helps my girls moods.  And we bought a Nintendo Switch around Christmas (which normally I really try to limit how much Asher plays on it...but not so much right now...) so that's helped Asher's mood.  And David doesn't have to go to work and gets more sleep so that helps his mood!  So we all have things that we've found has helped.  And we're all hoping this ends soon.

This picture actually makes me a little sad.  This was the last picture I took when things were "normal".  We went out to dinner!  Asher said that's now his favorite place to eat and they have the best chocolate milk he's ever had in his life.  2 days later our IF Symphony concert got cancelled.

Asher has started sleeping with all these stuffed animals on his bed.  The girls were playing on our bed downstairs and Asher wanted to help them pretend play sleeping so he took all of them down!  Ava thought it was awesome.

I like these yay-hoots.

One of the things David has been doing to help keep the kids busy is to "help" Asher build a birdhouse!  Ok, Asher gets distracted very easily and really just likes to watch David build it, but it's something they're doing out of the house and together, so I'm not complaining!

One day while David and Asher were working on the birdhouse both girls fell asleep on the floor.

And it was quiet in the house and I enjoyed every single second. ;)

Asher was playing on the Switch.  Ava had a controller that wasn't working.  They played like this for like an hour and both of them had a lot of fun!

I went to sit on my bed  for a little quiet time, but the noise followed me.  Good thing the noise is so cute.

The hat I crocheted for Asher!  When I showed him he said "Cool!  Maybe we can add some decorations?"  I was thinking he'd say tassels or pom-poms or something, but when I asked him what he wanted he said "Like googly eyes!"  So I might order some googly eyes...

My dad used to always sleep on his bed with our dog snuggled under his arm.  So when I saw David sleeping like this I had to take a picture!