These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

We've reluctantly settled into a homeschool/homework routine over here on the East Coast and I've discovered some things I really enjoy about this new setup, such as...

Running the dishwasher every night and emptying it every morning.  So soothing.

Playing games in the evening - The Game was a new one for us, Ticket to Ride, and we bought this one for our soon to be six-year-old's birthday coming up this week.  

Note: Game prices seem to be really high!  I guess COVID19 is helping out that industry.

Collecting the mail each day.

Dumping out a 1000 piece puzzle and watching everybody help put it together over a few days.

Note: Puzzle companies are also ridiculously raising rates, the ones I bought for $9.99 right when the quarantine started are now $49.99!

Baking or prepping food every morning.

Reading on the living room couch at night with lavender oil diffusing.

7QT: The I Feel Lucky and Grateful Edition

TGIF and Quarantine Week Two under our belts.  I don't know if it's the sunshine or what, but I'm feeling very lucky and grateful this week.  Linking up with Kelly, and away we go...

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My sister-in-law sent this, and it gave me a good chuckle.  I actually have been thinking a lot about single people during this time.  It must be so hard to live alone, and not be able to hang out with friends or go on dates.  I feel so lucky to already be married and have a family!

Self Care in Times Like These

Even though I feel Self Care can easily become an excuse for Selfish Care (when one's wants are prioritized over other's needs), we are truly trying to order our day to make sure our family's needs are being met during this Coronavirus Quarantine.  The five main pillars of Self Care are Physical, Social, Mental, Spiritual and Emotional.  Let's break it down.

PHYSICAL

This is normally an easy one to check off for us.  Get enough sleep.  Check.  Eat nutritious foods, and not too much.  Check.  Drink lots of water.  Check.  Move your body every day.  Check.   The challenge is continuing to do all of this when we are stuck at home (no gym! no kids sports!) with limited groceries (no bread!  no flour!).  For starters, I've been using each morning to walk the dog and then bake a snack.  I've made bread, definitely want to try Rosie's recipe next), homemade granola - where has this been all my life?, pumpkin bread and loads of banana muffins, thanks to our freezer stash of overly ripe bananas.

No raisins, no cashews, just doubled up on the slivered almonds.

Runners Gotta Run

Bare bread aisle!

Pioneer Woman's Tomato Soup

Every day after online school, we take the kids out to the track or tennis courts and they run and play in the fresh air.  When the weather is rainy (why so much now that we're all home?) we do workout videos or live Zoom classes when available.  The dog is getting lots of long walks too.

My Kindergartner can run 3 miles!  Get this kid a coach!

 I challenged Phil to drink a gallon of water a day with me this week, and that is definitely keeping us full.  We're eating so much less processed foods without having to pack lunches and snacks.  Turns out being home is much more conducive to healthy eating, though we all struggle with wanting to snack all the time because it's available.  

7QT: Week One of the Coronavirus Quarantine

Joining with Kelly today at the end of the craziest week ever?!?!

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I saw this on twitter and had to laugh.  We just made the cutoff with our family of nine!!

Trump:

"No gatherings of 10 or more people"

Big Families:

"One of you has to go"

The Pros and Cons of Schooling and Working from Home

We are currently in the first week of our three-week home-spension.  It's going well...and not so well.  Let's discuss.

PROS

1) We get to start our day later!  Instead of rushing out the door at 6:45 am, we don't need to report to work and school until 8:00.  In addition, we don't need to dress up or wear uniforms.

2) The school day is shorter.  The highschool kids (and their teacher Dad) are done at 1 each day.  The middleschoolers and elementary kids do their work by lunch time. 

7QT Friday: Toilet Paper, Mother's Rings, and an Easter GIVEAWAY!

What a weird week!  Linking up with Kelly because I need some normalcy this week.

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 I ordered groceries from Walmart (so nice to NOT have to go into the store during this viral outbreak), including toilet paper, and when Phil went to pick it up, they said the toilet paper was out of stock.  I thought they meant they didn't have the brand/size I had ordered (I don't watch the news) and asked him to go inside and get some other kind.  He went inside (which defeats the whole grocery pick up) and sent me this picture:

I immediately get on amazon and start looking for toilet paper, which was impossible to find in stock!  I was thiiiiiis close to buying industrial huge rolls when Phil called to say the Walmart closer to our house had some in stock.  So I sent JP out to buy some, and he came home with five 4 packs of toilet paper. It's amazing how a store being out of something sends us into a panic for that item!

Things I Don't Want to Remember, March 2020

Just in case you thought our life was perfectly happy and easy....it's not.  And while every day is a gift, sometimes you want to exchange it for a different one, ya know?

Phil and I had a crazy schedule this week, with the peak being five events in one night.  We had two playoff basketball games, Freshman Orientation at our high school (Phil and I both had to work the event), our weekly Adoration hour, and a Christopher West talk that we had bought four tickets for a long time ago (for Phil and I and the two oldest boys).  All of that in one night!  We had to call in reinforcements, have family pick up kids, get our Adoration hour covered, and miss the Christopher West talk.  Ugh, the logistics can be such a nightmare in our family!

Things I Want to Remember, March 2020

Eamon (7th grade) and Maggie (6th grade) are in the middle of CYO basketball playoffs.  Maggie's team is very good, as they have played together for three years and she's quite certain they will take home the trophy.  Maggie is so tall, strong, smart, and fears nobody on the court.  She's a beast and I love to watch her play.  Eamon hasn't hit his growth spurt yet (late bloomer!) but that doesn't stop him from dominating on the court.  He is an incredibly smart, generous point guard with a nice shot.  He scored three three's in the game last night and his coach told him after the game, "That's why I always tell you to shoot more!!"  Gosh, I love watching him play too.  Total basketball mom over here, I admit it, and I'll continue screaming from the stands to prove it.

We've been watching old home videos of the oldest three boys (back when we had a gigantic video camera) and it has been a good reminder of how we need to be raising our youngest set of boys.  The older boys were so innocent and easy to please!  We didn't have much, they didn't expect much, and they were so sheltered from the world.  I've been having lots of conversations with the older kids about being good examples for the younger ones, and trying to dial back what we allow them to watch on tv.  It's a weird transition to go from raising only littles who watch VeggieTales, to raising all ages, because suddenly our 3 year old can use an ipad and watches the Avengers.  Our eldest wasn't allowed to touch screens, or watch anything slightly questionable until he was so much older.  Anyway, it's been a good reminder to try and keep the littles little as much as possible.  We've been praying the family rosary and watching old episodes of Dora the Explorer :)  Brendan has been telling me how much he wants to marry me when he's a man, and even though I explain that I'm married to Dad and he will find his own lady to marry, he insists it will be me.  My little motherboy.

Brendan's 1st swim lesson!