covid19- week 4 + easter 2020

another week into this new norm. while there's plenty to be anxious about, and we certainly are, i'd say we've fallen into our new routine and it's working for us. it's harder for jon & his line of work, but the girls and i are making due just fine. lucy & eloise continue to thoroughly enjoy virtual school. they miss their classmates & teachers SO much, but their schoolwork is exciting and enjoyable for them. grateful! dance is more of a struggle- taking the social piece away, as well as direct interaction & feedback from their dance teachers, seems to diminish much of their joy in their dancing experience. they look forward to our daily walks/bike rides, letters from friends & family and facetiming friends, family & teachers. we have loads more time for creative thinking, board games, cooking lessons, random crafts & boredom. betsy is sure she's one of the big girls now! as of this week, it's recommended by the cdc that masks are worn whenever we leave the house, so in the off-chance we're headed to a place that is likely to have a small crowd, gmom made us all fancy masks. honestly, though, other than a drive down the street to drop a socially distant gift to a friend for her birthday, i haven't left the house in a month at this point. we've gotten take-out one time, and cooked a million other meals out of caution of transmission. we celebrated easter, and eloise told us it was the best easter ever. the girls are happy, although i do think this is affecting lucy the most. she's super social, and also old enough to need some interaction outside the 5 of us. it's all ok- it's working and it's not forever. we're healthy, well cared for, and privileged in so many ways. our parents and my gramma are healthy and staying home, while auntie amy, uncle brian & aunt alli are all in the thick of it at their respective hospitals. we trust there's a greater plan, especially following our lenten journey, and in the meantime with no specific end in sight, we're truly just taking life one day at a time. together.

  

  

xoxo,

-ivy

covid19- week 3

this week brought a bit more structure as we're settling into what's quickly become our new normal. the initial shock of it all has worn off a bit, so jon & i are able to sleep better and wake up with better attitudes despite how scary the prognosis outside the walls of our home is. i'm back to my typical waking up before the kids, and i've realized that getting my workout in before they're awake is key to being as present as possible with them throughout the day. i knew that with online school starting (& dance, too), i'd need to be more available to be "on", especially right when they wake up and for those first few hours of the day. they love waking up and getting dressed on their own, and we get our schooling done in the mornings after breakfast. honestly, the girls love the schoolwork part of their days! lucy and eloise are both bookworms, love a challenge, and math is their jam- a huge blessing to me! their school has done an outstanding job of bridging this gap for families, and it makes me cry just thinking about the love and support we feel from our principal, their individual classroom teachers, and even the specials and resource teachers, providing daily supplemental activities that i leave up to the girls if they'd like to complete (seeing eloise do her typing class was pretty sweet the other day!) they're working on the stations of the cross in religion, which has led to many meaningful conversations each day. their principal posts morning and afternoon announcements, and each of their classroom teachers posts a morning circle where they talk about the day, and mrs conard reads a chapter of junie b to the kids. our afternoons are filled with journaling, facetiming grandparents and friends- reading to meme & gmom has become a favorite for the older girls as they work to complete the reading challenge (still hoping to earn an lol doll!) i made for them at the beginning of this whole stay-at-home thing. they're taking their dance classes, and we do our daily walks & bike rides. we've been blessed with some dreamy windows-open days! we tune in for miss mcbride's nightly bedtime stories, and both big girls have weekly zoom meetings with their classmates. it's a bizarre thing, knowing we're all in this together. the grief is different. but ultimately, i'm so thankful for our health, the information and education we have on the virus, and our ability to comfortably stay home and safe. 
having 3 built-in-besties running around this house really is a dream come true.
these memories will last a lifetime, no doubt. 

you know it's a global pandemic when jon asks me to cut his hair-

my very professional school signage-

yes, eloise has her schoolbox from her kindergarten teacher, yet she chose to make her own variety-

lucy devoured this book in less than ONE day.

to another week of continuing to do our part in flattening the curve-

xoxo, 

-ivy