When school started in September, Tom sat down with the kids and created a schedule for them. The hope was to reclaim some of the structure that had been lost in the floundering, chaotic months of the quarantine. The schedule includes a mandatory hour of outside time each day. Being the supportive spouse I am,
This weekend we let the kids plan something to finish out the summer with a bang. They chose a backyard campout with s’mores. Then they threw in a night swim for good measure. I feel like our kids are still the age at which they definitely get excited for s’mores and night swimming and a
For ten weeks I faithfully documented our quarantine. I published week 10 just after Thomas’s birthday, and after that I started wondering how long I’d keep this up. See, when I started, I thought the quarantine would be temporary. And I thought that it would end with us flinging open the doors and returning to
Are you planting a Quarantine Garden? Or, to use the more hopeful name, a Victory Garden. A few weeks ago I packed up my face mask, hand sanitizer, and my best “don’t you dare come within six feet of me” glare, and went to a local garden center. At that point, I hadn’t been out
Note: This is Mary’s second blog. You can read the first one here. I took these photos about two weeks ago, when the chicks were still cute little balls of fluff. They’ve feathered out a lot in the past two weeks and look a lot more reptilian, but the kids adore them all the same.
Week five. Is it really just week five? Doesn’t it seem like longer? And also shorter? And like we’re already well into summer but yesterday was Easter? This week, SURPRISE, Tom got strep. Now we’ve each had it twice, and I’m living in a constant state of thinking I have strep. We were talking about
I barely took any pictures this week. This is getting old. At the same time, I can tell we’re settling in. This week was supposed to be our spring break. We didn’t have any huge plans, just some loose talks about a day trip that never even had time to take shape before the quarantine
Week three, the week I realized I can’t make the entire quarantine special for them. I can’t make it special for me, either. Three weeks ago when this whole thing started, we were still operating under a bit of naivety. School had been closed for two weeks, and I, ever the realist, told friends, “I’m
I’m not sure whether this week was harder or easier than the last. I can say that this week I was diligent about my news intake, and I highly recommend that to anyone who is feeling anxiety around the pandemic. It’s absolutely crucial to stay informed, but there’s a point when too much is too
We celebrated two friends’ birthdays this week. They were both distant celebrations — gifts left in the driveway, and a drive-by “party.” My kids liked loved being a part of these celebrations, but they made the wheels start turning. “I’m glad my birthday is in the summer…” I heard someone say from the backseat on