Hello friends!

So, the last week to 10 days has been absolute insanity, am I right? How are you holding up? Are you holed up at home, do you still need to go into work, are you trying to homeschool kids? I’d love to hear where everyone is right now, both physically and mentally.

We’ve been in a self-imposed self-quarantine since last Wednesday, so we are on Day 10 of not leaving our house. The boys’ school closed on Friday along with the rest of the state, but we had pulled them out a few days before that on our own. So, we’ve been here and have been ordering groceries when needed and avoiding anyone outside of our immediate family to try to give everyone a fighting chance at beating this thing. Just taking one day at a time and thankful every morning when we all wake up healthy.

Needless to say, there’s nothing too terribly exciting to report since we’ve been pretty consumed with what’s going on and haven’t left our house. But here’s a peek at what we’ve been doing…

About a week and a half ago, Joseph lost ANOTHER tooth! When he went for a cleaning at the dentist two weeks ago, she said the other bottom tooth was pretty loose and the top two were starting, as well. Crazy!

The kids wore green for St. Patrick’s Day ☘

Since the boys are only in preschool, we don’t have any mandated learning or teaching we need to do, but Dominic’s teacher set up Zoom meetings for the days they would have been in school and they have their 15 minutes of “carpet time” together. They sing their hello and goodbye songs, she taught them a new letter, read a book, and yesterday they did a virtual show and tell. Joseph and Isabelle love sitting in, too 😄

At Dominic’s parent/teacher conference a couple of months ago, his teacher mentioned that he really loved (and is good at) puzzles. After that, he started doing them more at home, on his own, and with ease. This week, he completed a 72-piece puzzle with very little help from me. He’s definitely in the zone with a puzzle (boy after my own heart!).

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I’ve enjoyed having the free time to just sit and color with them for an extended time, or build something together, or read book after book, but full disclosure: these are LONG days. The boys are used to having school, Isabelle is used to getting out of the house and running errands, they all miss swim lessons, etc… so it’s definitely been an adjustment as we try to fill the time and keep everyone entertained and happy.

Luckily, the weather has been decent so the kids have been able to spend time outside most days.

We’ve also done a number of baking projects, including chocolate chip cookies, soft pretzels, hot cross buns (testing an updated/improved recipe!), and challah (in order to test a new French toast casserole!). Speaking of baking, I’ve noticed my homemade bread recipes have been getting tons of traffic, likely because so many stores are out of bread. If you’re interested, these are the most popular: my favorite white bread / Italian bread / ciabatta bread.

I’ve thought about my grandma so much this week; she lived through the great depression and never wasted a single thing; she would plan everything around the grocery store sales flyers, kept her freezer and pantry stocked, and would put an item on her grocery list when she opened the last one (not once it was already nearly used up!). She would reuse aluminum foil, plastic ricotta containers, wrapping paper, and anything else she could think of. I have found myself this week rationing paper towels and Clorox wipes, and never in my life did I think I’d utter the words, “well, I couldn’t get regular potatoes or broccoli, but I did get the sweet potatoes that were in my order”. Perhaps it had been naive of me, but I now have such a deeper appreciation for how my grandma lived her life ❤️️

TV Shows to Watch!

We just finished season 3 of The Crown and can we please hurry up with season 4? Love that show! A few weeks ago, someone asked if I had a big list of all the shows that we’ve watched and enjoyed, so over the last week I worked to put all of our favorites into a document for you since I figured everyone might be in need of some binge-watching right about now! You can see it HERE.

And if any of you have any suggestions, we’re still looking for the next thing to watch, so leave recommendations in the comments below!

Sweet Pups

TGIF to you! Our kids have loved playing fetch with the dogs in the house and out in the yard. I hope that you and your family continue to stay safe and healthy and make the most of this time we are all relegated to our own little patch of Earth, xoxo