Day 3 & 4 & 5 & 6

Well this whole quarantine mess is for the birds!  We all feel great so it has become super challenging to stay home.  The days are boring and pretty much the same so I haven't felt the need to write much about it.  The kids sleep in.  They usually wakeup and go for a drive, just to get out of the house.  Then they come home and try to be a bit productive.  Then they have a pattern of scrolling their phone, watching TV, reading, playing volleyball in the backyard, "swimming" in our blow up pool on the deck, making something.......cakes......

candles.......

we have a family dinner and usually take Audrey to practice her driving.......

Another cool thing is the kids.....mostly Jackson....have been writing a TV show with some friends. Jackson has spent hours on it! I have never seen him enjoy writing so much! I'm going to try to get some pictures of him in the coming days! 

Its not bad at all.....it's just a lot of sameness.....

I will say  a few good things.....I'm trying to form a habit of walking as soon as I wake up each morning.  I will make up any reason at all to not work out.  I hate working out!  I feel so good after though.  So I'm waking up and heading outside to walk for 30 minutes and then getting on with my day.  It's hard to make excuses when we have nothing going on and no where to be, so hopefully I can form the habit during this time and it will stick!

Another highlight of my morning is that I have come up with a coffee concoction that I'm thinking may meet my coffee needs.  You see.....I like my coffee sweet and creamy and not high in calories.  Its a problem.  1 T of French vanilla creamer has 35 calories......I like about 3 T.......it makes it sweet enough and the right color.  But that is more calories then I want in 1 cup of coffee.......So today I tried 1T. of creamer with my coffee, plus 1 Splenda and 3 T. of 2%milk.  It was the right color and sweetness!  I feel a lot better about 43 calorie coffee than I did about 105 calorie coffee.  Its not quiet a good, but definitely acceptable!

Oh and in other news.....the blueberries are almost ready to pick!  I'm trying to get them before the birds do!

Day 2

 I slept in until 7:00 which was nice.  I woke up and had coffee and chatted with Randy a bit.  Looked some at our banking and then signed Audrey up for some high school homeschool classes.  Planned  out how to spend the day.

The kids started waking up and I checked them all for symptoms.....Sophia said she feels slightly congested.  Nobody has a fever.  Jackson slept super late and says he feels like he's getting sick.  He does not sound good.  I started my laundry.  

I deep cleaned the living room.  Cleaned everything....windows, cabinets, picture frames.  It smells good.

I should probably clean more often.  Texted friends. Worked on third grade supply list for next year.  

Made nachos and corn dogs for lunch. Then I spent some time on the hammock reading Deadline.  I took a very short nap and was awoken by a commotion on the back deck.  The girls were vibing in the pool we set up on the back deck.  They are so much fun! Sophia has on a face mask. Lydia repurposed my serving tray has a floating snack holder!

Then I deep cleaned our entryway and did a load of dishes.  

Spent some time proof-reading Sophia's final paper for her Congressional Award!!!!! She's so close to done! Ordered my fourth book this week. Deep cleaned out dining room.

Then the health department called with lots of questions....answered some, not all. They were nice and informative.  Andrew and I do not have to quarantine, because we are vaccinated.  We can work and shop and run errands.  

I talked to a couple friends and family members.  Sophia decided to make homemade tortillas for dinner.  YUMMY!

Randy took Jackson and Audrey to practice driving and I watched Andrew, Sophia, and Lydia played a bit of volleyball.  

Then we ate ice cream and watched some TV and went to bed.

Day 1

 I woke up early, around 4:20am, to the dog vomiting.....Nice.  After that I was not able to go back to sleep so I cleaned that up and made coffee.  I started the dishes that were not started last night and picked up stray cans that were littering the den.  Then I sat down to begin this long neglected blog.  

I ordered another book.  Evidently quarantine has birthed a house full of readers.....Then I began to plan. It didn't take long.....planning for what we are not going to do.  Planning for appointments to cancel and meals to make....

I decided to make blueberry lemon scones....and drink more coffee.  Randy and I talked and scrolled our devices.....made exciting plans to save up for a new air conditioner for the downstairs.....we are hoping we have a year or two left on this one.  

Then I got dressed for my big day at home.  I chose my "jungle" shorts because they have a fun vacation vibe and threw on earrings and sunglasses to the top my head....it is looking a bit overcast.  I made my bed and tidied up the downstairs and my bedroom.  It's only 7:00......I think I'm going to read a bit.

I'm reading Deadline  by Randy Alcorn. I like it.

The kids started waking up and we made some bacon and eggs to go with the scones.  After breakfast we laid around a bunch and played on our phones, watched TV, and talked.  

Then I made some tuna salad for lunch

I was exhausted and took a nap....

After naps we decided to homeschool Audrey in the fall too.  Jackson was pulled out of virtual school in the winter to homeschool and it has been great!  Since I work full time now homeschool will look very different than it did in our early years.  But Randy can work from home now and we can hire out all the classes so we started looking at options.  

I went for a COVID test.  Just to be sure.  I'm vaccinated, but wanted to be sure.  My test was negative.

I let Audrey practice driving in a nearby neighborhood.

Then we went for a walk at the river behind our house.  That was fun.  

We ordered Sushi for dinner and had a family movie night: Greenland.

Then it was bedtime.  Day 1 was pretty good.

Day 0

 Well we've had a goodish week.  I've been working at the summer Read to Achieve camp at my school and running kids here and there and nursing broken hearts, and cleaning house, and planning for camp and vacations and dinner.  I got to have dinner out with some girl friends and I ordered a new book we are going to read through together, I've gone shopping for camp.  I've cheered at swim meets and sat around the pool trying to learn to parent better and how to not simply survive 4 teenagers.  Kids have had sleepovers, worked VBS, been to the pool, played basketball, had friends over until all hours of the night, babysat, cut peoples grass, gone out to eat.....basically we've been all over Durham, with all of our favorite people.

Then.....we found out we were exposed to COVID.

We decided late Saturday to have the kids tested for COVID, because we learned that a couple of the kids had been exposed.  So the kids, who were asymptomatic, were tested yesterday.  Three kids were negative, one kid and I are vaccinated and asymptomatic and were not exposed, so we did not test.  One child tested positive.  

So begins our quarantine..

Once we found out yesterday, we notified everyone that child had been in direct contact with in the previous days.  It was tearful and it was tough.  We sat on the porch and spent a lot of time on the phone.  We processed what this quarantine would mean for our family.  We notified our church and our employers.  We mourned the loss of our much anticipated summer camp.  We brainstormed ideas of what we could do during quarantine.  We analyzed each sniffle and each headache.  We ordered another book.  We prayed we would all be well for vacation and senior trip.  We counted the blessing of having a beautiful spacious home and yard to quarantine in.  We canceled appointments.  A few angry insults were lobbed.  Correction was offered.  Hugs were given.  Goodnights were said.  Everyone retreated to their rooms and cocooned in, sad and sorry and wondering what our week would hold.