7QT: Forced Family Fun During April Break 2020

Hello from inside my house!  Can you believe we're still all doing this?  Crazy times.  Phil and I made a Quarantine Bucket List of (mostly fun family) activities we wanted to accomplish before we went back to work/school.  Then on Tuesday, the governor of Massachusetts closed school for the rest of the year.  Oy vey.  So now the kids are staring down 2 more months of home learning, and we are not feeling rushed to check items off the list super fast, so here are the seven things we did this past week while on April break...

1)

This one has been on my todo list for a looooong time.  We had an unorganized filing box of all our important paperwork that I wanted to sort into binders with sheet protectors.  On a rainy afternoon, I sat on my bed, watched some brainless tv, and got it done.  Isn't it funny the amount of time we take to put something off vs. the amount of time it takes to get it done and feel awesome?  Why do I ever procrastinate?

2)

We keep looking for family activities we can do together (or at least the kids can do together) because we want them to have shared experiences and memories instead of each playing/watching individual screens.  Learn to Draw videos have been amazing!  They really get into it, and they are all so much better artists than Phil or me.

Quarantine Week 5: So Over It

1)

Linking up with Kelly on this Friday of another weird week.  Maybe I should stop calling this time weird, as it perhaps has become our new normal, and going back to the old routines will feel weird.  In any case, I'm over it.  

Here's a little poem I wrote on Instagram:

At the beginning of this crazy lockdown quarantine,

We had the energy for choreographed dance routines.

But this has grown old, and patience is lean,

And even this introvert longs to be seen.

The kids are all fighting, the house isn't clean,

The best part of my day is discovering a new meme.

How much longer can we handle this scene?

"We want out!" says the group, aged baby to teen.

Let's storm heaven to an end to COVID-19,

And never again complain of a normal routine.

Love,

Colleen

2)

Grocery shopping has become like a little game of "What won't they have in stock?" (A: chicken breasts) and "What will we buy incorrectly from my parents' list?" (A: green tomatoes instead of green bananas)  

Easter 2020: He is Risen, Even if We Are on Lockdown

I have this primal urge to get a family photo on the major holidays.  It's a mom thing, yes?  On Easter morning, Phil and I woke early to go for a (chilly! 38 degree!) run, and we thought through how and where the family picture would take place this year.  Easter pictures are always taken at church, dontchyaknow, and this was an exceptional year of Mass at home.  I wanted the kids to get dressed up-ish, not in the color-coordinated outfits I had planned before COVID-19 shut us down, but also not in their pajamas.  We knew we could use the camera's self-timer to take the photo without breaking any social distancing rules, but needed to find a place.  We live next to a gorgeous high school and found a nice backdrop that had a stone wall at just the right height where we could set up the camera.  I always tell the kids that smiling nicely is their {insert holiday} gift to me, and we had a few blinkers, but I was happy with the results.

JP took this photo of Phil and I back at home...

...and I snapped one of him as we walked back inside.

Scenes from Week Four of the COVID-19 Lockdown

Alexander, Grade 3, has become quite the technology expert, with a daily zoom meeting and assignments online.

I moved my beloved desktop computer into the kitchen for kids to use.  How long before it breaks?

You Can't Stop Time: Declan Turns Six

 This was going to be the year.

This year, I was going to remember to put him in a box with a brick on his head, on the eve of his sixth birthday.  We talked about it for weeks leading up to it.  He bet me that I wouldn't remember.  But I did.  So on the evening of April 1st, I told him it was time to get in the box.

He got nervous and scared.  He didn't think I would remember since I had forgotten every other year, and only recalled when he awoke the next morning to announce he was another year older.  But I made sure to remember because Declan Kolbe at age five has been one of my favorite things ever.  I wanted to keep him there just a bit longer.  Seeing his nerves, I announced "April Fools!  I'm not putting you in a box!  You're allowed to turn six tomorrow!"

And then he woke up and did exactly that.