Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Coronavirus - Social Distancing

As I write this, the COVID-19, aka coronavirus, has brought a lot of our life to a hault.  Jason hasn't worked in a week and we found out today it will be about 3 more.  This has created some chaos on the community but for our family, we have been "social distancing" from others for more than a week to help stop the spread.  It has been lovely in my book. Social Kyle misses everyone but the rest of us are fine.  There has been more laughter among the brothers, some new skills learned, and mornings have been relaxed with later alarm clocks for us (yay!).  

I am going to add pictures of things we do or have learned during this pandemic on here ongoing. Check back to see!

This a pile of food, combined with a lot of dried oats, beans and rice, our church has for people unable to prepare for this event.

A lot of video gaming on the weekends.

Book reading next to the waterfall - great day!

Our delivery of Hello Fresh arrived with three meals.  Each boy was able to cook with me for a meal to start learning how it is simple to read a recipe and prepare the food.

The guys decided to try a new cookie recipe - cracked chocolate cookies - they were great!

Kyle, Reid and I went fishing. Kyle caught the biggest fish he ever has - personal record!  He, then, caught a bigger one two days later!


I was upstairs cleaning Reid's closet and room, and looked out midday to see this hunk playing baseball with the boys. I love the little blessing of the pandemic of this extra family time.

The boys had a cookoff for us!  



Reid was our emcee for the event.  It was "blind" for Jason and me, so Reid took these pictures.

Jason went to Chickfila to get lunch.  Since he was hauling the trailer, Kyle was "the car" in the drive thru line.  :) ha!

Today is Wednesday.  We have been "homeschooling" for three days.  Not sure I am up for nearly 2 more months of this!  The big boys are a bit argumentative but hopefully we'll all come to accept our new short-term reality.
First attempt at a schedule.
Now, for what and how to teach?!?

Do you see a theme here? We are in the kitchen a lot!
Jason just whipped up these bad boys.

Thursday - asked Kyle to research and write a hand-written report on Challenger explosion.
What time and effort he put in to it....
UGH!

Friday - very little "school" and a lot of lessons. Jason showed Grant how to get to his jack and how to get his truck lifted.

Lots of dirt work to get the new vegetable garden going.


We let Kyle social distance with some friend fishing. These three... keepers!  I hope their little brothers end up as good of friends as these guys.

No pictures of me working, but I spent two full days in the yard.  The grass is ready to grow and the flowerbeds are ready for mulch!  We also have the creek cleared out and ready for spring rains to flow (it has been backed up for a few years). 

Fun night when your friends want to meet on the driveway, six feet apart!  We missed one Mom who was at home cuddling with her girls in her pjs!

The boys made an ultimate blanket fort in the den. I think every blanket and most bedspreads were included.

Lots of games. Reid is learning Rubix Race here - fun game!

Jason asked for ingredients for 2 meals. This was a Taste of Home Burrito Bake. I love the thought!

Our church has a Bible Lego challenge right now.  Kyle and Reid made an empty tomb.

And Jesus on the cross with guards.

We pull Eddie's food up every night.  He was apparently still hungry and had hopped on the counter to grab a quick snack when Reid went in to say goodnight. BUSTED!

this duo had a nap on the couch

There's a trend on facebook right now to honor current seniors by posting your own senior picture.  Here we are in 1997!

Grant, Reid and I biked (destination: Daylight Donuts) on this beautiful 85 degree day, but we did it before it got too hot.


Jason's truck had been acting funny and as he was pulling in to Braums last week to get milk, smoke started coming from under the hood.  He assumed it was the alternator.
HE WAS RIGHT!
What better thing to do during quarantine than teach the boys some "manly truck stuff" so he did. Bubba came to be a part of it.

Success! Combined with his new tires, the truck is looking and running great (just don't look too closely).

This was our communion for Maundy Thursday service

We spent that evening watching two hours of animal science TV - fascinating!

We had an etiquette lesson on how to properly set a table.  It took a few tries but they all three learned which fork goes where!

We had a guy come cut fire breaks at the land. He cleared the fence lines of overgrown trees and brush.


Look at the difference!

The guys camped. The little guys got camp all set up while Jason was with the fire breaks man. It is fun they are learning!




Meanwhile, Eddie and I were at home cleaning the downstairs and reading.





My guard dog slept with me, too. He made sure to stay between me and the doorway. It was slightly precious.

Land day on Saturday. It was really the first time we have seen my parents for an extended period of time since Grant's birthday!  Guys, that is like 7 weeks!
We are hiking at the land.



Jason had grown his hair out the past weeks.  It really isn't "long" but when he wants it 1/8", 3/5" seems long.  I gave him a fun hairdo during this social distancing time!  :)  It lasted about 30 hours before he had to go to his office, but it was fun for that time.

Easter morning cuddles

Lent is over! You betcha I had a Dr. Pepper on Sunday!

Dyed some eggs and then decorated with markers (never took a finished picture).

Jason got in his "gaming chair" and played some video games. I was on the couch reading, again.

The weather turned terrible late morning so we didn't get to do our hunt on Easter. We will, though!

Reid goes through spurts of creativity.  He youtubed some art tutorials and drew Star Wars characters, a wolf and dogs.  He then decided to try out different boat designs from various shapes of paper to see which one floated the longest.





Grant rearranged his bedroom with Kyle's help.

Two brothers held hands during Greater movie.  ahhhh....

Kyle being so studious.

For Lent, Reiders gave up granola bars!  Since then, he downed a box of 12 in 3 days so we had to slow it up a bit.  He did such a great job, understood the reason for the sacrifice and was true to his goal. Yay buddy!

Social distancing calls for mid-afternoon reading in bed.  :)

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