Staying Home

It has certainly been a strange turn of events over the past week.  We were still adjusting to life without Roscoe, and then the COVID-19 Pandemic really took hold.  We limited our social outings over the weekend, and the kids are home from school from now until at least April 6th.  Jazzercise is closed, church is cancelled, visits to assisted living facilities are banned (no visiting Nana Mil or Grandma Barb) and grocery store shelves are sparse.  People are hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer.  Yet, here we are, trying to remain calm despite the uncertainty and keep family life flowing as normally as we can for the kids.  Matt is working from home, I'm taking a leave from work, and we are attempting a school-like schedule to give us all the comfort of having some structure and purpose to our days.  We have been taking lots of walks outside to ward off cabin fever, and thankfully it hasn't been as painful as expected so far.  There is a lot to be grateful for despite the challenging times.

Here are a few "before quarantine" photos from last week:

Evie did a solo Irish dance for Essex Elementary school.  She was so brave!

Evie with the McFadden dancers

One final Girl Scout cookie booth before they were shut down

The boys helped move a new couch to Aunt Pea's, and it's so comfy!

Quirkle is one of our new favorite games

The kids have been playing lots of basketball. It's fun even when the ball gets stuck!

Noah went into IBM with Daddy to get all his stuff for working at home

Evie and Noah set up the home classroom, complete with name tags on the desks!

Family school schedule

Doing some math work

We are still missing our boy Roscoe every day.  I wore my special socks yesterday to honor him!