Day 6

Some good news today!  I'm officially working from home so we are all able to stay close and flatten that dang curve.  It snowed most of the day and it was pretty chilly so we found ways to stay busy inside.  Will and Reina are adapting to the homeschool rules and Glenn and I were able to get a good day of work in. Dinner was on the table by 5:48 which would never happen on a regular Friday night so that's something.  Reina and I made a chicken pasta thing for dinner and we are planning to bake  tomorrow.  We are trying new recipes from a new baking cookbook I bought a few months ago and Reina is really getting into it.  Maybe we'll have another baker in the house when this is all done.  Luckily I bought a bunch of flour weeks ago when I started to think about stocking up on supplies. 

Some moments of levity today.  Reina and I had a dance party while making dinner.  Will and I tried to play catch with a ball without bending our elbows.  It's harder than it looks.  Glenn and I worked side by side for a while and then one of the cats made a guest appearance on a work video conference. 

It feels strange to have a weekend ahead of us with no plans to leave the house.  No baseball practice, no church, no visit to the movies and no playdates with our baby cousins.  Its really hard to stay away from Vicky and her family but we have to help keep them healthy.  The sun should be coming out so we will get the dogs out for some walks, practice baseball in the backyard and I need to clean out a few closets.  We will keep hanging in there. 

A Letter to the Birthday Boy

We interrupt this diary of a semi-quarantine to bring you another blog tradition.  Quick Day 5 update:  It rained overnight and snowed most of the day so our outside time is limited.  Glenn is now working full-time from home.  We worked with the kids to make a list of things we have to do everyday (read for 60 minutes, exercise for 30 minutes, play a board game, etc.)  and the list was received with only mild complaints.  The city and county have closed all restaurants, movie theaters, gyms, etc. for two weeks .  Lucy is hoping to be able to work from home soon.

Dear Will:

Today you are officially a teen. Let's face it, you've been acting teenager-y for a while so it's not a huge shock but when I write it down, goodness.  Thirteen.  At the doctor's office a few weeks ago, you were officially 5'4" (I think) so just a few inches shorter than me.  Your shoe size is officially bigger than mine but not as big as your dad's yet.  Your sarcasm is way above grade level and your sense of humor is delightful, when it isn't hanging out in potty town.  You are getting good grades and while we still think you could be doing even better in school, we are proud of your effort.

For your birthday, you wanted AirPods and a thousand other things but we settled on said AirPods, a weighted blanket and a fancy rubix cube.  You also were gifted a bunch of $$$ from your generous family members so you can buy fancy baseball sunglasses (please don't lose them, sit on them or scratch them until baseball season at least starts) and whatever else is on your wishlist.

Even before all of this Covid chaos, you had chosen to forego a birthday party in lieu of a cash buyout from your dad.  We'd planned on watching basketball tonight but you are resilient and picked a movie at home instead.  You ordered 25 hot wings for dinner and you've made short order of them.  Cake and ice cream await and I need to dig up thirteen candles.

Will, you are such a cool kid. You have some good friends but you don't like hanging out in big crowds.  You love your sports teams and you found the silver lining in the cancellation of  NCAA March Madness by remarking that at least Carolina won't break their streak of making the tournament.  You love to beat me to the breaking news on ESPN and sometimes you even manage to get the scoop before I do.  You are working hard in baseball and as soon as this snow melts, you'll be back outside throwing a ball against the fence or shooting hoops.

This morning as I was leaving for work, I made sure to point out to you that at that very moment, thirteen years ago, I was yelling in the car while your Dad drove me to the hospital (he parked in the parking garage and made me walk all of the way to the emergency room, a sin I clearly haven't forgiven) and a few rather painful hours later, you made your arrival into the world.  Since then, you've been a mute little toddler, a preschooler obsessed with fireman, pirates and Legos and now a full-blown sports nut. Through it all sweetie, you've been a boy that we can be proud of.  Will, you were the first one to call me "Mom" and that's something I'll carry with me no matter how grown-up you get.  Just slow it down a little, for me?

The birthday boy and his airpods

Day 4

Today's recap is brought to you by guest author Reina.

I grow colder each day, the thoughts of when I was able to ride bikes with my friends haunt me, the world is spreading darkness over me, why? Why I ask, why this torture... I'm joking I'm not very happy staying home because I know the reason why I am staying home, when I really think about it, if this "vacation" wasn't for Covid-19 I would gladly stay home.  Today, me and my mom finished our snicker doodle bars, and we also went on two walks/bike rides.  My dad brought some friends over (Lucy is intervening here to point out that they didn't stay very long because germs) and they talked about hunting.  This isn't the first time I've noticed this but my father has a very loud laugh, sometimes when he laughs I even get scared. Will's birthday is tomorrow, and we just baked his cake. I'm now very fond of baking now,  I am really missing my friends, usually I wouldn't want to ride bikes with boys in my class, but when all you do is play games inside, you will soon find your self desperate of hanging out with boys, or girls. I'm not sure about Will's birthday tomorrow, I mean I understand that all siblings will get jealous when its another siblings birthday but, he gets his birthday off and he gets more presents cause he didn't have a birthday party.

I'm starting to like blogging I'm going to ask my mom if I can start my own. She said "Uhm, sometime sweety." Its better than no, but "sometime." I am glad to say Soxy my cat has lost some weight. This is the end of the paragraph on day 4.

Thank you for listening

                          Reina

Lucy's addendum.  We also Indian leg wrestled in the living room, had a dance party and of course played way too many video games.  It was a pretty afternoon but it's raining now and a blizzard is forecasted for tomorrow.  Glenn and I are both still reporting to work but there are now 15 cases in Wyoming so we anticipate working from home soon. 

Day 3

A shorter update today because I'm tired!  Glenn stayed home again but he is feeling better and is heading back to work tomorrow.  I worked in the morning and then came home this afternoon.  We had a chilly but sunny afternoon so Reina and I walked the dogs and looked at all of the shamrocks in the windows.  A post on FB suggested that everyone put up a shamrock so that kiddos could look for them while they are all home from school.  It was a nice show of solidarity, too.  We're all home and doing what we can to keep those little brains busy! 

Since it was so sunny this afternoon, I took Will for a little driving practice on a dirt road not too far from our house.  For all the grandparents reading this blog, the dirt road is almost devoid of other vehicles and mostly just straight lines so it's a great place to practice.  He was slightly hesitant to go, mostly because he wanted to play videogames but once we got out there, he was enthusiastic.  We were only out for a few minutes but no vehicles were harmed and my blood pressure stayed within acceptable limits. 

Back home, Reina and I toured a little bit of the Louvre online and looked at Egyptian stuff.  Will practiced some Spanish, we cooked dinner and then Reina and I tackled whole wheat snickerdoodles.  Stay tuned for the review on those tomorrow.  With all of us being home for three meals a day, it's truly amazing how many glasses this family goes through. 

Wyoming had more positive Covid-19 cases today, I believe we are up to 15.  State offices are still open but we assume we'll be getting direction to telework soon.  I worry about the impact on our small businesses and restaurants but I also feel strange doing so much to keep the kids isolated, only to go into an office myself everyday.  Luckily, we can spread out and we are all making a concerted effort to keep everything clean. 

So that's day 3.  We're keeping our spirits up and the pets are delighted to have everyone home. 

Day 2

We all made it through the first day of no school, well homeschooling, well more like barely contained chaos with lots of electronic time.  I worked in the morning, Glenn is still under the weather so he stayed home. I came home after lunch to make sure things weren't dissolving into full-blown anarchy.  It was a slightly warm, sunny day so Reina and I took the dogs to the big field for a run.  Charlie (more on him later) found a dead vole and raced around with it until I could pry it out of his mouth.  So Reina had a little bit of a science lesson.  She and also looked at the teepee ring that's still on the prairie, so we added in some history too.  Back at home, Reina dove into math games online and Will grudgingly stopped shooting baskets to work on a spanish website I signed him up for.  Glenn hung up some elk antlers (just what this house needed!) and moved some artwork around.  Reina made a shamrock for the front door, Will shot more baskets and read everything he could find about the first day of NFL free agency.  That counts as reading, right?  

Glenn was worried that there might be a run on dog food, so I headed out after dinner only to find out that the dog food store closed at 6:00 p.m.  I opted for an online order instead but I zipped into Target which was next door.  I grabbed some dog biscuits and a few other essentials - well mostly Easter candy because who knows when I'll go to Target again and even though Easter is almost a month away, we have to have our stash ready.  Walking around Target didn't help my nervousness, it's so strange to see empty shelves where the kids' ibuprofen and cold medicines usually are, plus the tissue, cleaners, paper towels and toilet paper are long gone.  Even the dog food aisle looked a little bare.  I know we are fully stocked here but it's hard not to get caught up in the frenzy.  

Off to bed without reading anymore news, tweets or alerts, just a concerted effort to be thankful for all of this extra time with my favorite monsters.  

Day 1

All weekend, I've had the thought that I need to memorialize this time.  This Covid-19 time.  The change in attitudes and plans from last Sunday to tonight is a little scary but I also firmly believe that we (as a society) need to do everything we can to prevent the spread of this virus.  But this blog doesn't need a diatribe from me about how people aren't taking this seriously enough.  This blog needs the weird little details of how all of the Bronco Babies are dealing with this uncertain time in our history. So let's talk about that.

Reina has been talking about the coronavirus for a few weeks now.  Coming from a long-line of worriers and worst-case-scenario-people, Reina and I have talked a lot. As the situation has progressed, I've told her as much as I've known at the time without adding to her fears and we've talked about we can do specifically, mainly washing hands and keeping ourselves healthy. When Wyoming's first case was announced last week, we talked about that.

Mr. Junior High would talk a little bit about it but *stuff* got real for Will on Wednesday night when he and I were watching basketball on tv, flipping back and forth between college and NBA games.  We had the Nuggets game on and watched in real time as the NBA made the announcement to suspend the season and pulled players off of the court in Utah.  I had to suppress a giggle as I watched the realization dawn on Will and he turned to me and said "I might actually not have school!"  Welcome to the conversation son.

We kept ourselves pretty isolated this weekend because Glenn has been feeling under the weather and we had a icy snowstorm that blew through that canceled outdoor baseball practice.  Our church canceled services and other than a trip to the library and the grocery store, we laid low.  Today the sun came out so we all got outside for a little bit. This afternoon, I read an email from the junior high detailing how they were going to limit the number of students in the cafeteria, took a nap, and then woke up to the news that all schools in our district are canceled until at least April 7.  Both kids were shocked and obviously not completely disappointed, although they are both worried about what it means for the summer and missing their friends.  They are also super excited about my plans to keep them learning during this time.  Okay fine, Reina is pretty excited to be "home-schooled" but Will doesn't think there are any online resources that accurately reflect what he's learning right now.  Because you know, the internet is bereft of 7th-grade math, science, social studies, English and Spanish exercises.  Is my sarcasm coming through loud and clear?

Glenn and I have to go to work tomorrow morning.  We don't know what official plan will be for our agencies but for now, it's business as usual.  Stay tuned for Day 2.

Another month under our belts

How can February feel like the longest month and also simultaneously the shortest month?  I had big plans to blog every week and then our evenings were filled with sports and feeding people.  Then I told Glenn to count the sewing machine I'd already bought myself as my Valentine's present and I found yet another way to not write. Side note, I've been making reusable gift bags which involve little technical skill, thank goodness, but they look cute and I'm having fun putting them together. 

So that's our February.  Will finished up his basketball season on Saturday. His team lost in the championship.  Unfortunately, Will dislocated the pinky finger on his shooting hand a few days prior and while he's on the mend, he couldn't play on Saturday.  I'm not sure who was more disappointed (me or him, probably him) but he has a baseball season to think about and needs to be all healed up.  He had a great basketball season and it was so fun seeing how much he improved as the season went on.  He's also staying busy with 7th grade homework and confirmation at church.  He's figuring out the grind of homework and maintaining good grades even though his mom still knows that HE COULD BE DOING EVEN BETTER. 

Reina has battled just about every bug or virus that has come through Cheyenne in February.  She had a trip to the doctor on Friday to rule out strep and influenza, both were negative and she's back on her feet this week.  We're all practicing extra hand-washing and avoiding germs where we can.  Reina's been busy with dance and piano and added volleyball to her schedule last week.  She joined the school's team and is more excited about it than even she expected.  She has two parents who are willing to practice with her in the front yard when the wind isn't howling.  She's also a voracious reader.  Before we left the school's annual book fair on Thursday evening because of her rising fever, Reina talked me into 4 books plus a few more for her cousin and brother.

Glenn and I are pushing through these winter months.  We both have a little travel in March but nothing extensive.  We're starting to have those days when the wind stops and the sun is out and you can imagine that Spring is somewhere around the corner.  We are playing co-ed volleyball on a team once a week and it's a lot of fun.  Glenn's competitiveness laid dormant for years when we were dating and first married.  Between kid sports and our own games, Glenn is not a fan of losing.  But we have fun and he doesn't mind when I coach him on the court... coach, bark orders, tell him to hit the ball harder...

The best part of February ending is that my sister is done with her chemo.  How's that for good news to wrap up a post?  Works for me.