Quarantine Week 2
3/27/2020
Our second week of quarantine, due to COVID-19, is done. This week we saw an increase in the number of coronavirus cases in our state and county, though it still seems like something that is "out there" and not very real to us yet.
We countinued to make the best of the time spent inside.
We played Jenga and War this week. My 6 year old daughter had never played War, but dominated this game! Since she'd recently learned about greater than / less than, this was a great educational math game!
A few days this week, we picked up lunch for the kids from a nearby school offering free sack lunches. This at least gave us something to do each day and as a food-run is still "essential travel."
We have a lot of Preschool activities to keep our littlest people busy. Here my 4 year old is doing a counting activity that he enjoys. We are still plugging away on homeschooling as usual, doing age-appropriate things with all of the kids.
More time on our hands means more baking from scratch. Per the kids' request, I made colorful pancakes one morning with an assortment of flavors - chocolate chip, sprinkles, plain and apple w/ cinnamon. Yum. We also made some homemade bread, applesauce in the crockpot, and french toast casserole for breakfast.
My oldest daughter made an Instant Pot cheesecake. Mmm.
She also created her own recipe for a raspberry chocolate ice crem dessert. Very pretty!
My little girl wanted to make "fairy sandwiches" one morning for breakfast. Very easy with bread, cookie cutters and jelly. She liked that they looked so fancy!
Some very kind friends blessed us with a Family Pizza and Movie night. They bought pizza for us, had it delivered, and encouraged us to watch a faith-building movie together. We watched an animated film about the life of George Mueller. What fun!
We took a family walk at least once this week as we saw some higher temps. So good to get out of the house and breathe some fresh air. We actually had 3 inches of snow fall on Monday morning, so a few of us had a "snow day" and played in what was likely the last snow of this season.
We worked on another 1,000 piece Charles Wysocki puzzle this week. Done!
We put out a bird feeder early in the week, to provide us with some entertainment. We have had a few birds eat at the feeder, but we have had one particularly persistent squirrel that has provided much laughter as he climbs the metal pole and does gymnastic moves to reach the seeds. We've named the squirrel (Ignatz) and look for him many times a day now. Anyone who sees him calls the alarm and we come running to observe what antics he'll be up to next.
My husband decided that quarantine was a good time to clean out the birdhouse we've had for 7 years in the back yard. We have time, so why not. My daughter helped him with this project. However, they discovered that not only was there 7 years of nests contained inside, but also a living mama flying squirrel and her two newborns. The mama scurried off up the tree but stayed close enough to keep an eye on what was happening to her babies. They put everything back as best they could, mama returned and we hope they live happily ever after. Note to self: don't clean out the birdhouse in the spring :-)
My oldest daughter felt better this week, after a second round of antibiotics for a double ear infection and sinus infection. She's back to enjoying music and her pet bird.
I had strep throat this week, so I was miserable for 2-3 days. Then I had my first ever virtual doctor's appointment and was prescribed antibiotics which helped immediately with my throat pain. I'm feeling nearly 100% back to normal now.
My husband worked from home most of the week, after a "non-essential travel ban" was put in place and the closing of all non-essential businesses meant that he could no longer go in to work (even with staggered employees, with no more than 10 in the building at once).
We participated in many virtual conference-calls this week for church/small group gatherings. Sunday worship remains live-streamed only for the next number of weeks. We are very thankful that we have the technology to stay in touch in these ways - to at least see other people virtually and converse more than you could with just a phone call.
This week most closures were extended through the end of April. So one more full month of quarantine / lockdown is before us. All Easter activities are cancelled, including a trip we had planned to take to Indianapolis. The government passed an economic stimulus package to provide for families and small businesses that are taking an economic hit during this time. We are checking in with extended family and friends more often, to see how people are handling the anxiety of these disruptions and also to see who is affected financially by it. But for us personally, life continues as usual.
We'll see what next week holds!
