Fast forward to Thursday (3/12) and I get a text that church at Jefferson Baptist is cancelled for the weekend. What?!?! Crazy!! The kids are at a birthday party. We take the littles to Burgerville, we laugh with Jeremy about Toilet Paper shortages and I confess that I actually bought some the Saturday before, but only because people were already acting crazy and I did't want to run out because other people were freaking out. I remember going to Costco that day, I'd just been shaking my head at how many people were buying Toilet paper and water. Anyway, I ask Brandon later that evening if he thought I should grocery shop Friday to just avoid more craziness and he says sure maybe not a bad idea. At this point I've heard Ryan's church is closed and ours is also closing for 4 weeks!!!! Apparently Wednesday the governor had banned gatherings of 250 people or more. I had no idea.
Anyway so I wake up Friday morning scrambling to put together a grocery list and planning to take the 4 youngest with me until Brandon texts and say that the Eugene public schools are closing!!! Now I'm feeling a little panic. So I call Mom and ask her to watch the kids while I go out.
I leave early and walk the kids into school and Mrs. Trull says that Crosshill is closing Monday as well and will be closed until April 1st. They are actually sending kids home with ALL their curriculum to prepare in case this lasts longer. What?!?!? She says they're worried about the U.S. becoming like Italy. What?? This is the firs I've even heard about Italy. She says she shopped last night and people were buying all the rice and pasta. Maybe I should pay a little more attention to what is going on in the world.
So I head home and and then turn around and leave for Winco at 8:45. The store is busy but not like some of the stories I would hear about later. Peoples carts are piled high and there is definitely an uneasiness in the air but I got most of what I had on my list. There were only 2 bags of flour left, no pinto beans, and pasta and rice were definitely picked over.
Then I head across the street to Costco. It is now 9:35, mind you Costco technically doesn't open until 10:00, but on a normal day they let people in around 9:45. Today however at 9:35 I literally cannot turn into the parking lot. I have to wait for someone to wave me in. I park out by the gas, get diapers which i was worried about, and am headed to the check out at 10:00 when the lights come on and at this point the lines are already stretched past the snacks. Carts again piled high!
I get home feeling prepared for the next couple weeks at home and figure at least I have diapers!
Pictures of Winco from Ashley later Friday evening
Sunday (3/15) churches across the country are closed. People meet in small groups and the original recommendations of limiting gatherings to 250 are quickly declining.
DAY 1
Monday (3/16) We attend Bo and Vines Friends and Family. Gatherings are currently required to be under 50 people but while we are eating we get the news that the following day restaurants are ordered to close except for take out and delivery, and recommendations are now no groups larger than 10. We also find out that schools are closed until April 28th. UNREAL!!!! But here we are...
On our first day at home the kids made paper dolls and we went to see Daddy at work before going to Bo and Vine. We only saw 3 people at Daddy's work. Everyone else had already been sent home to work indefinitely.
DAY 2
Tuesday (3/17) We picked up groceries via drive-up in the afternoon and we planted some bulbs. The kids were excited to wear shorts outside since the weather was so nice.
Wednesday (3/18) We made Rice Krispy treats. The babies enjoyed swinging outside for the 1st time and we went to Grammy's in the afternoon to play with cousins while we still can. Brandon kind of gave me a hard time for this as we are being asked not to gather in groups larger than 10, but our family is 9 and I guess I justified it because it's just family and we're not going anywhere, but I honestly don't know what the right call is on this whole social distancing thing. It's all so new.
Thursday (3/19) We made sand art and started watching Adventures in Odyssey. We're trying to find some sort of rhythm. We also washed a couple of windows. It all feels hard today... being stuck with 7 kids and 10 month old twins who don't want to nap. Everyone around me seems so flexible even during this time of confinement. I on the other hand feel stuck!
Evie was so cute! She was so careful pouring her sand onto the correct spots.
The babies entertained themselves with Cheerios on the floor while the big kids worked.
Maddie
Aubrey
DAY 5
Friday (3/20) Today we made Muddy Buddies and tried out some fingerprint art. Daddy also got notice today that his office is closing indefinitely and that he'll be working from home. That could be interesting! We also found out that Harper is running a fever and coughing so we've decided not to go to Carter's party tomorrow. We don't know what she has, but I hate to needlessly expose our kids with their respiratory history, and we were already feeling like we needed to make a choice on how we were going to respond to the social distancing requirements. So i guess this kinda forced us into a decision. As we understand it we are being asked to stay at home in order to protect the older generation and those with compromised immune systems, and we feel like we need to do our part. However, even though saying this seems easy it FEELS like a really hard call to make especially since I pretty sure, in my family, we are the only one one who are going to do it this way. I've always had my family to lean on when things got crazy here at home and when I just needed someone outside this house to give me a breath so that I could keep going. Staying at home indefinitely honestly feels like more than this mama can take, but Brandon and I agree that this is what we should do. So it is with a great sadness that we enter this next season of social distancing
This was kinda fun! Wyatt had his first ZOOM meeting with his class. Technology is pretty amazing!
Saturday (3/21) It's Saturday! Daddy demoed the bathroom for a bit and pulled out the bounce house for the kids. Sadie and Wyatt woke up coughing and Hazel started this afternoon. We missed out on Carter's party which felt hard. The kids knew everyone else got to go and I feel like everyone thinks we're stupid and taking this to seriously. I'm just really really disappointed and tired of answering questions about why we don't get to go when other families do and explaining that life's not fair. Kids can be exhausting! Life can be exhausting!
I can't believe we caught this on video. Poor Hazel ended up with a bloody nose but was a really good sport about it. I think they'd been having fun doing this for awhile before they called us out to watch and what happened took everyone by surprise.
Master bathroom demo is definitely under way!
DAY 7
Sunday (3/22) We watched church on the couch. I texted with Melinda and Tina for a bit and the kids did a lot of bouncing. We tried to take a walk, but it end up a drive as too many others had the same idea. We had take out pizza for dinner and decided to watch the Star Wars series with the kids on the weekends. We are trying hard for everyone's mental health to limit movies during the week and keep life as normal as possible. For now this means free time during the day, as this is technically spring break, and keeping a normal bedtime routine with stories and a normal wake up routine with just 2 shows and then no more T.V. until after our after afternoon clean up. So far this is going okay and honestly the routine is probably mostly for me at this point because I am definitely feeling the temptation to just completely disconnect and let these children try their hand at raising themselves. Oh and Brandon mowed part of the pasture so the kids could play a little baseball. That was a lot of fun!
I'm so thankful it is Spring! Can't help but feel happier when I look at all my beautiful flowers blooming.
Busy reading while I listen to a podcast
