A quarantine update

We have been in quarantine since March 14. Its gotten old at this point and we are all ready to be with friends and do things. We have found a lot of fun things to do and I have enjoyed the extra time with my kids. 

Neal’s work has been crazy. The Walmart business is strong so his team is working harder than they ever have. However, the other accounts within his company are not doing well at all. Most others have closed their doors for the time being. So the Keeco employees that support those other accounts gave mostly been furloughed. The owners of the company and Neal’s team have all taken significant pay cuts to carry the company overall. It stinks that he’s working longer and harder than ever but being paid less...but we are thankful for his job. 

With him working longer I’ve felt a bit more isolated in this house with 3 kids all day everyday. We’ve tried to get out and have visited a lot of creeks and gone on many walks. I had an especially bad day last Friday and my frustrations showed pretty clearly when Neal got home. Thankfully he’s and amazing husband and he responded with a solution that has given me life this week. Monday he is working all day in the office. Tuesday through Friday he’s trying to leave the office around 1 and work the rest of the day at home. We’ve put William down for a nap around 2. This way he can work because the girls understand not bothering him while he’s working and I can get out of the house. I’ve run to Walmart, done lots of mowing, gone running, listened to podcasts in my car and watched tv shows. It has been so helpful for my sanity!

Another thing I’ve really been enjoying is having the girls from supper club over to sit 6 feet apart at the pond on our land. They drive straight down to the pond, being their own chair and drinks and we are able to hang out with no contact at all. We’ve done it 3 times now and it has been a great outlet for engagement. 

The quarantine hasn’t been all bad. I’ve loved that we’ve been able to slow down. We never have time to eat at home this time of year and I always miss cooking. I’ve cooked more than ever and we’ve eaten together as a family almost every night. Being able to be outside so often has also been a blessing during the beautiful time of year that we are in. Neal and my dad also put together a new play set that we are all excited about! I do miss adult interaction and any time alone with Neal to have any sort of adult conversation...but we will get back to that soon I hope.

President Trump has left it up to each Governor to decide how and when we reopen businesses. Governor Hitchinson is scheduled to announce his plans for restaurants, gyms, salons and churches in the next week. I am eager to hear the plan and sure to hope it all goes well so we don’t have to think about having to go back into quarantine.

Reese’s 10 year old questionnaire

What is your favorite color? lavender

Who is your favorite friend? Ella George

What is your favorite snack? Cheese its or pop corn

What do you like to do with Ella? Jump on the trampoline

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Sandwiches with a lot of mayo

What is your favorite drink? Lemonade

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike

What is your favorite sport? Basketball 

What do you want to be when you grow up? Be a vet or be a special needs teacher

What is your favorite animal? Pig or puppy

What is your favorite book? Almost Home

What do you like to to do with Daddy? Drove in the car with him

What do you like to do with Mommy? Sleep with her

What is your favorite song? Rescue by LD

What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Shrimp tacos

What do you take with you when you go to bed? Lyla, brown blanky & purple blanky 

What is your favorite holiday? Easter & 4th of July

What makes you happy? When my sister plays with me

What makes you sad? When my sister is mean to me

What do you think about before bed? That God is with me

What is your favorite thing to do with William? Rupidos & Superman 

What is your favorite thing to do as a family? A sport

Reese’s 10th birthday- quarantine style

Quarantine is hard! It’s hard not to know when we can have our normal lives back again. It’s hard that soccer season ends this weekend and Ella only got to play 2 games. It’s hard that softball practice was supposed to start last week but it didn’t. It’s really hard that we had to cancel Reeses hotel sleepover last Friday. 

I worried that she would be so sad but she handled it really well. She is sad but she knows we will do something fun when we can to celebrate her birthday with her friends. Since we had to cancel the party (& since Neal was going to use hotel points for the hotel and was able to get a deal with proms being cancelled) Neal decided to arrange to have a limo pick us up Saturday evening to drive us around to say hi to some of her special friends. We also grabbed dinner to eat in the limo. It was so much fun! She says that it is her favorite birthday so far 💜. It is pretty awesome that she will end up getting more celebration this way ☺️. 

Our sweet friend Rachel asked if she could come get pictures of the reveal and I’m so glad that she did!

These are some of the photos we got of the stops we made to see friends. 

We even got to make a stop of Mrs. Bodenstein’s house and that was pretty special to see her teacher after a month of them being apart! ❤️

The Davidsons were our 1st stop and I didn’t have the idea to get pictures with everyone yet so I failed to get a pic with them. Luckily, we’d seen them earlier in the day because they’d egged our house and dropped by a gift for Reese & I got a picture then. 

Saturday evening was a fun celebration!!

Sunday was her actual birthday and Easter. She requested blue pancakes for breakfast and her daddy always delivers.

Easter service looked a little different this year from the couch.

Gigi & Pop got her real diamond earrings for her birthday!

 

We celebrated Easter and Tyler & Reese’s birthday with my dad & the Scantlan’s at the house for Easter lunch. 

It was a weird birthday but I think it is one she will look back on fondly and always remember. We love you so much Reese and we are so proud of you!

No more school 😢

Governor Asa Hutchinson announced yesterday that we will not going back to school this school year. We will be missing the last 11 weeks of school and we are all so sad. The girls both have the sweetest teachers this year and I’m so sad they don’t get to finish the year with them.

Online school is going pretty well. Some days are harder than others. Ella’s work was super easy until this week and it’s like the teachers realized this is long term and really upped the work. It went from one extreme to the other and they may need to find some middle ground. 

The hardest part for me (I think) is that I am around people that need me 24/7. It’s a lot for me. The 2 days a week when William was at MDO we’re life giving. I really am able to recharge when I have a moment to myself. Saturday evening I asked Neal to take them on a car ride and give me 30 minutes alone and that was so refreshing. He offered to put me up in a hotel Saturday night but I told him I don’t feel like that is safe right now and I have months more of this so I should probably save that for when I’m feeling more desperate for it.

I love these babies with all of my heart and I am so thankful for our health...but I sure am ready for this to all be over.

Coronavirus & Quarantine 2020

The past month have been beyond crazy! At the first of the year Neal was worried about production at work because China had some disease caused the Coronavirus that had caused his entire factory to not be at work making their goods. Well by early March it had made its way to the US. And the week before spring break most states began quarantine. The week before spring break the girls school was cancelled, my bible study was cancelled, Ella’s  soccer practice was cancelled, William’s gym class was cancelled and we basically stayed in our house all week. My mom was visiting and that was helpful. It was a strange thing for all of my friends to be cancelling their amazing spring break vacations. Neals market trip was cancelled just days before he was supposed to go.

It’s a good thing Neal’s market trip was canceled because New York has been hit harder with this than any other state by far, so far. He ended up being able to go with us to Uncle Pats ranch. We cancelled going to Houston but we needed to get my mom home somehow so we kept our ranch trip since not many people would be there and there’s lots of wide opened space. We had a fun time there. William refuses to ride the tractor with Uncle Pat even though I know he really wanted to. He did ride a 4 wheeler and the zero turn mower with Neal. He stomped in cow patties 😝 and ran around and had a blast. I think he will definitely ride the tractor with Uncle Pat next time.

The week of spring break they decided to keep schools closed through late April (they’ve since extended that to the end of April). They closed all restaurants dining services (pickup only), closed all nail salons, routine dental, routine eye, hair salons/massage/lashes, they closed my gym (which I completely understand but miss a lot because it was keeping me sane) and most everything else aside from grocery stores and essentials. 

We had fun during spring break and I’m so thankful for this property and the gift it is with space to explore. We have planted trees, cleaned the super cool barn, had a picnic where our house will be built, Neal mowed the outline of our house, threw rocks into the pond, taken lots of walks, started jogging regularly with the girls and fed and watched deer. We also went on multiple trail hikes, found a really cool creek at Hobbs state park and did some yummy food pick up.

Overall this hasn’t been so bad. I’m thankful for the extra time with my family. I mourn their school relationships and fun. I also miss my me time and being able to recharge. William was supposed to have a music program days after all of this started and I am so ad to miss him on a stage singing for the first time. Reese has to cancel her birthday party that is supposed to be next week and I’m so sad for her, but she’s handled it like a champ. I hope to make her day so special. I’m so sad to miss a whole season of watching Ella play soccer. I’m sad that we may not get to play softball this spring. Both girls have the sweetest teachers this year and I’m sad that they are missing most of the second semester with their awesome teachers and friends. The hardest part for me is not knowing how long this will last. I think I’d be much better if I just had an end date, but I don’t and won’t and have to give that to Him. I do pray that through this we figure out what is most important and eliminate some things. I do believe that good with come from this.