The beginning of March started off like any other month. We had the Boyce twins over to play and I had to snap this picture of Ada, who had rolled under the bunk bed, because with the chaos that is Rory and Jackson running around together I thought that was pretty astute of her to head for safer ground.
The first Friday in March we got to celebrate McKenna turning 2 with the Collins, and though we didn't take any pictures it was a nice little party. The next day we went to the ward's Spring Fling at the Aillon's house. I had been feeling nauseous off and on all day, but it finally got super bad by the time we left the party. Elliott snapped these pictures of Ada while we were all hanging out and it's like she knew this was the beginning of the end.
When we got home from the Spring Fling I was too sick to do anything but lay there and feel miserable. Stephen put the girls to bed and then did his best to make me comfortable. I got in the tub and it finally helped ease the chills and the shaking that had started up, but I still felt pretty awful. I tried to sleep that night, but finally around 1 am I woke up to puke and then had a hard time doing anything after that. I opted to lay in the recliner chair and watch dumb movies on my phone. The following day was Sunday and I was supposed to do a big party for the girls who had completed personal progress. I had parents coming, lots of things to hand out, and I even baked a cake! Plus I was supposed to teach the lesson. I snuck over to the church to drop off all the materials before anyone in our ward would be there and see how miserable I looked and then texted the other leaders who were happy to cover for me. Little did I know that I missed my last opportunity to be at in-person church for months!
Luckily the stomach bug passed and by Monday I was mostly ready to start getting back to life as usual just minus the eating. We started planning for our Girls Camp fundraiser that was now just a few weeks away. I took over the making of these rainbow paper fan garlands because I wanted to step up my game after dropping all that stuff on them last minute when I was sick. I spent HOURS folding and gluing these bad boys and had just finished them when news about things shutting down around the country started rolling in.
Schools started shutting down, concerts were getting cancelled left and right. Stephen started feeling like we needed to get a better supply of food on hand and then we got an email from our Stake President saying that he felt impressed to tell our stake members to do just that. I started stocking up, and Costco started looking just a little bit crazier than usual. On March 12 Marisa was having a big black light High class for her birthday and I made Reese's cupcakes and Mint Oreo cupcakes for treats this time. Things started shutting down, the news was saying we shouldn't be in groups any bigger than 50, and Marisa and I were messaging back and forth about whether anyone would come to the class or not. That afternoon we got an email from the First Presidency saying that church meetings would not be held until the pandemic had passed. We were still planning to hold the class when we got the notice that the church building was closed until further notice and could not be used for ANYTHING- especially a super fun high fitness class. Stephen got the notice that he was to work from home until life got back to normal, and thus we entered the self-quarantining phase of our life that I never saw coming.
Luckily for us, aside from church our lifestyle is pretty isolation-y. Rory's parks and rec classes were cancelled, as was her dance class, and we could no longer have play dates. I thought she would get stir crazy and be begging for all of our usual activities, but it didn't really seem to phase her. She didn't ask for her friends or her teachers or even the park. I think the biggest change was that suddenly Stephen was around, and we had all missed him so much during busy season that even just having his presence in the house made everyone feel a little more joyful.
Ada loved quarantining. She's quickly expanding her eating repertoire and has never met a food she didn't like. Plus, now that we have nowhere to go she never misses a nap. She FINALLY started sleeping through the night! It may have taken a pandemic, but this baby is happy almost all the time now.
On my Grandma's 94th birthday in February she tripped and fell at her house and broke her hip. Doug and Connie were with her and my Dad was able to come quickly and get her to the hospital. She ended up getting surgery on her hip and required a lot of physical help for recovery. She stayed at a care facility for her rehab and that meant that she was on super tight lock down as seniors are the most at risk to not be able to handle Covid-19. She couldn't get any visitors for weeks and we all knew she was hating it in there. I asked Rory if she wanted to write her a card and she came up with this all on her own. I love that she knows who my grandma is and I love the way her sharp little mind remembers everything.
We've had to come up with some new activities to pass the days and help them to feel productive. We have done a lot of Cosmic kids yoga, especially the one where she tells the story of Moana. We paint with water colors a lot, and read a lot of books. One day I was feeling crafty so we made a new dress for her Elsa doll. I thought I would be able to let Rory have full reign on this one, but I ended up aggressively taking it over and threatening her if she kept touching the doll before I was done. Oh well, at least she was happy with the results. We also play a lot of barbies and watch a lot of Doc Mcstuffins.
Quarantine has actually worked for the girls because when Ada is able to nap well, then they are never really up at the same time, except for an hour or so in the morning and at night. Ada naps 11-1 and right as she wakes up I send Rory to her bed for quiet time. Then when Rory is done with quiet time around 3 Ada is ready to go back down for her second nap. They love just seeing each other for a few minutes at a time. I had to include this sign I made to help Rory to remember things we can do instead when she feels like making Ada cry. She kept it on her dresser and referred to it often.
Since church is shut down we have been having our own meetings at home. They are about as in depth as you would imagine when half the congregation is under 4 years old, but I have really loved meeting with my family and trying to set the day apart on our own. I try to clean up on Saturdays so that our living room is worthy of the Sacrament. We dress up, just so that the girls know what day it is and because I have so many cute matching dresses in these sizes and I can't let them go to waste! We've done church over a computer conference call with our families several times and I love that as well.
As the world shut down around us and I lost hope of going on our Mexican vacation after all I decide to cope in the best way I know how- eating my feelings! I have been following an instagram account of a girl who bakes cakes every day and I have been DYING to try a cake of my own (not like the little ones I have done in the past). I got a cake decorating kit from Amazon, cake pans at DI, and slowly stocked up my pantry to prepare. I decided to make a peanut butter smore's cake as my first attempt. Rory helped me with every single element. We would make one piece each day and then froze them until we had them all ready to assemble. We made graham cracker cake, toasted graham cracker crumble, toasted marshmallow filling, peanut butter buttercream, and chocolate ganache. It. Was. Divine. And so much fun. It was exactly the pick me up I needed to enjoy all this time at home even more. I ended up hosting book group in March (only four of us got together, the rest conference called in) and I had this giant cake for us to eat. It was a good way to start eating desserts again.
At the end of March they announced that the two week stay at home order was extended to all of April. So if you need me I will be in my house gaining fifteen pounds, trying to stay sane, and taking my babies on a million walks until it is too darn hot for us to do otherwise.
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