Social distancing.... day 8

Happy Saturday! 

Today we decided to sleep in. We’re really trying to stick to sleep/wake schedules from our school and work lives. I was looking forward to getting some weekend good rest. That is until the dogs started barking around 7:30. 

We decided to start our day with a movie. Siobhan chose avengers end game. 

A fantastic movie!!  It ran a little long for her taste so she took a break. 

We had a visitor pop by during our break. 

Steve and the dinosaur suit. 😂😂😂 always entertaining. And.... he brought treats! 

Delicious cupcakes!! Thanks Steve!! We miss being able to visit with our friends. That’s been pretty hard. 

The dogs were more than confused about our visitor, and kept eyes out for other unwanted dinosaurs 

All the kids did some dancing today, which made my heart very happy. 

And connor also did a little piano. 

We had a fun lunch of “dip foods”

And then we went for a walk. 1.75 miles of fresh air. 

And a little craziness But nice to be all together. 
After dinner we were able to celebrate a birthday of a dear friend. We played Pictionary through google hangouts. It was chaotic and perfect. 

It was a great way to reconnect through all of this. 

Social distancing.... day 7

It’s Friday. :) 

We started our day with our usual yoga. Sam did his usual getting in the way. 

We then did some work. Siobhan did a great job focusing on her math and ELA work today. She had another class meeting today on google hangouts, and then tackled some social studies and science.  Aisling finished a lot of work as well and Connor did some physics work today as well as a lot of other work. 

Siobhan made time for kitty snuggles today as well. 

Al also did some groceries today, and unpacked the car of things from his office. 

 No idea that he had so many plants in his office. I guess they live here now.... 

He set up his office in our bedroom and was able to get quite a few meetings done today. 

An office with a view. 

I had a meeting today with over 49 atendees on zoom. We are still trying to figure out services and education for all our students. 

Siobhan tried a new dance class today. I’m very proud of her for trying something new. She worked hard! 

She did a contemporary class. 

We took the dogs for a good long walk this afternoon as well. The dogs are really enjoying us being home. 

We ordered dinner out tonight at a local Italian place. They had a special deal. It was delicious!! 

It was very surreal to see the empty parking lot at 7:00 on a Friday night. 

Scary and confusing times. We are pushing through one day at a time. Trying to stay busy. 

Social distancing day 6

Today was a little busier than yesterday and I felt a little more organized. I had a meeting and several work things to attend to. I felt a little more organized with siobhan’s school work as well. 

We started the day with our yoga. The weather was rainy so the dogs did not get their walks. Instead they joined our yoga. 

Next we ate our breakfast and played “sorry”. I won this one. :)

Al managed to find essential toilet paper. (Someday we’ll understand the toilet paper. Today is not that day). 

I struggled a bit with working from home. Need to get better about balancing the WiFi issues. I ended up missing part of the meeting. But... that’s okay 

Siobhans “field trip” today was to learn about porcupines at the Cincinnati zoo. We did a cute painting project. It was very simple and she joked it was like preschool but it was fun and relaxing. And who doesn’t love preschool?? 

Connor took apart a broken computer. I think he half hoped it would magically work again. No such luck. 

Aisling has been working hard getting all her work completed. She’s been very self directed and efficient. She’s doing some dancing as well, though sadly has a sore foot. 

All in all a decent day. Tough to be inside all day. Hopefully the weather is better tomorrow.

Play ball!

Spring 2014

Siobhan has anxiety. And because of that new things are hard. She sometimes opts not to try new things that I am sure she will enjoy because she. Just. Can't.

A few weeks ago out of the blue she said she wanted to play baseball. Could it be? Siobhan wanting to try something new? Forget the crimp this would make in our schedule; forget the financial concerns with a new activity; forget the fact that we are not a baseball family... SIOBHAN WANTS TO TRY SOMETHING NEW!!!

Celebrations were had. Baseball pants and balls were purchased and gloves were found. 

On the big day she woke up thrilled! "Today is baseball day!" She exclaimed!

Then we arrived at the field. 

Tears.   

She wanted to leave. I reminded her of that very morning and how excited she had been.  She decided to try. She went over and tossed the ball around. She even smiled.  A little. 

Then they transitioned to a new activity. 

She walked off the field in tears. 

But then she walked right back on and tried again. 

Turned out: she loved it! She had a blast. 

It also turned out that she was blessed with a wonderful and understanding set of coaches who clearly loved having her there. 

The season could have ended the day it started and I would have considered it a win. I'm so proud of that girl.

Social Distancing, Day 5

Hello!
It's sure been a hot minute since I've been on here. Weird things happening all around with this Corona Virus afoot.

I felt like it was important to document our lives in this strange time. I've been thinking about what this time will be like to explain to our grandchildren and thought I needed to write it all down. I toyed with using a paper and pencil journal, but decided to go digital. There's a few reasons for that; one is that I wanted to be able to include pictures. But the other one is that using a journal just feels so final. For some reason this feels less stressful.

Today is day five of social distancing. Al is still working for the time being. The kids and I are home from school. Connor had been going back and forth to his girlfriend's house, but then her brother got very sick so he had to come home. He likely won't see her for a pretty long while, so that's really sad.

I've worked on compiling some resources for Siobhan. Aisling has lots of things to work on and Connor is doing his own thing. (Which hopefully involves applying for college scholarships...)

I'm trying to maintain a basic schedule, especially for Siobhan. I realize I'm coming at this with an amount of privilege not everyone has, but we are all doing our best.

We started our day with some Yoga today. 

Siobhan did a bit of school work today; including having an online meeting with her homeroom. I am so grateful to her teachers for helping her to stay connected to her peers. 

She also worked on cooking her own lunch. (Grilled cheese!) 

I did some work. (We are required to be working from home and available for our entire work day. This is a challenge with the kids home and the stress we are experiencing. However, I have friends who have lost their jobs so I am grateful). 

We had an afternoon field trip! We did an online facebook live with the Cincinnati Zoo! Siobhan learned all about Ocelots. The resource also included a worksheet and game idea! Highly recommend. 

This afternoon I even got some yardwork done. 

I do not know when the last time was that happened. 

We played a Monopoly game with dinner. Aisling won. =) 

Overall these days have been tricky. Working hard to present a brave face to the kids and keeping a sense of routine in the chaos. Siobhan strives in routine and I need to stick to it for her. I need to be responsible for my job and my staff as well, as well as my home client. There's a lot of not feeling like "enough". I'm worried about Wyatt, who has just returned home after a hospitalization with pneumonia. A lot of worry, a lot of concern for my dad who is living alone. It's an emotionally exhausting time. 

There are good things happening as well. I'm loving the extra time with Connor before he leaves for school in the fall. I love getting to spend time with the girls and remember their amazing personalities. And, of course, the slow pace is great. Those are certainly some blessings. 

I'm hopeful we will all stay safe and healthy across this time. 

A lovely weekend!

We had such a great weekend with the wonderful weather! Girl Scouts on Saturday. Then on Sunday we made our leprechaun traps and went for a nice hike! The weather was unbeatable!

Siobhan was a little silly making her trap. Or perhaps I caught a leprechaun??

Aisling's trap is done! Apparently inside is a leprechaun apartment. But it's all sealed up so the leprechaun won't escape!

Last year our leprechaun escaped, but he forgot his hat. So Siobhan is luring him back with the promise of his hat back! It's inside the box and the sign lets him know.

After trap making we took the kids for a hike. Christian is never too far from us so he came along as well. He and Siobhan spend s long time throwing wishing rocks into the water and making wishes.

 

We are lucky to have such a special guy live across the street.

Aisling was at dance so she didn't join us this time.

 

ThIs face came an after Connor asked how cows get pregnant. I guess it was a lot of information to handle? (There was a little farm near where we hiked)

We had a great day. We are very happy the weather is warm!

 

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