Safer at Home - Week One

When we arrived home from Mexico on March 15th and I knew I needed to blog about all that was currently going on.  I also knew that I was so far behind on blog posts that I needed to try to do some catch up.  I have now come to that tricky point where I am trying to include pics about our first week home and wondering what I wrote about during our actual first week home. I decided that I will post the links to the posts from the days connected to the pictures in the post.  The first week I was very ambitious and even uploaded some pics individually for one photo post.  I did 5 real time posts during the first week.  You will see the links below.  I sure am excited to be doing all the posts in real time, trying to find these was a bit confusing. 

THIS POST was written on Monday, the day after we got home from Mexico.

THIS POST  was written on Tuesday, our first day of homeschooling. 

THIS POST was written on Wednesday and contains pics from our first two days of homeschooling. 

THIS POST was written on Friday and talks about day 3-4 of homeschooling. 

THIS POST was written on Sunday night and talks about our first weekend and being home one week. 

On Monday (our first day home) Brandon took the kids to the park at the end of our block.  They were able to play on the equipment because this was before they closed the equipment and honestly we hadn't thought of the fact that it could be dangerous.  It was a big blessing for the kids to get some fresh air and for me to blog in a quiet house. While at the park T made a fort on the jungle gym with many sticks.  She was in her own little happy place, talking and singing to herself. 

T: I will defend my castle!

T: This is my high lookout perch. 

T: The sticks are surrounding me. 

*No pics from Tuesday or Wednesday as I have those pictures in the photo post linked above.

On Thursday morning I decided to take a sunrise picture.  It was so overwhelmingly beautiful and peaceful.  I saw almost no one on my walks, but God's promise of new mercies filled my heart with such peace.

Beautiful!

Later on the walk I past my first "until further notice" sign.   These types of of signs are common now, but when I saw this one for the first time I got choked up and decided to take a pic to remember this season.

Closed until further notice... a sign of the times...

During the first week home we did lots of rotating between school work and play.  Now we try to do most of our school in a chunk of time in the morning.  We enjoyed playing games to break up the screen work.

We all love Monopoly Empire. 

M: Read on your own time is better with a cat!

Brandon's parents usually take the kids shopping for Birthday gifts while they are in town.  This year they decided that a busy Walmart might not be the healthiest place to go so they let T shop for Birthday presents at Kohl's online.  She ordered lots of eye shadow and a makeup bag.  She was so excited when it arrived on Thursday.  I wiped down the box before opening it!

T: I love this fancy makeup!!

In the early days of isolation the kids loved wrestling with Brandon as soon as he was done with work each day.  They would wrestle on M's bed.  I think Brandon is thankful we have moved on to other activities now.  Several small injuries and almost injuries occurred.

T:  This feels comfortable to me!

On Friday T set up a makeup store using all of her makeup.  She talked with a British accent and Brandon made a video.  M worked at the store and I was the customer.  It was a very precious memory as we were all getting along and enjoying each other.  

T: Welcome to my store!

T: I love my new makeup sets!

Friday afternoon T had a lot of extra energy so decided to lay on a scooter on the patio and push herself along.  This was very good OT for her.

T:  This is hard work!

On Saturday we all played a lot of Dutch Blitz!!  T learned quickly and was great at it.  M was great too, but there was some major comparing.  It is wild how much we played it on week one and two, because we have not played it now in several weeks.

T: I love this game!!

On Sunday we watched our first virtual service together.  The church went to online the week before, but Brandon and I were traveling home from Mexico so we didn't get to watch it as a family. The first week was a bit rough for us.  I am happy to report we are getting more used to it now.

T: I loved singing along with Charissa! 

Our cats are very good at taking a day of rest on Sundays... and every day!

Buttercup:  This is a cozy place for me. 

Sunshine:  I like corners where I can watch for strangers.