Great Day!

Aside from my trip to the hardware store today, it seemed like a perfectly normal day. The only time I was reminded of the pandemic was at the hardware store given all the new rules for shopping. I feel badly for employees who have to wear masks for hours on end. I couldn't wait to rip mine off the minute I exited the store. It has been music to my ears to hear the sounds of kids laughing today. The three girls had a great time together. We picked Evanna up at her house around 1:30 yesterday, and Abby's mom dropped Abby off at our house around 2pm yesterday. I'm driving them home around 8:00 tonight. They have really enjoyed spending about 30 hours together. They slept from about 1:30-8:30am. Yesterday it actually got up into the 80's. Today it was in the low 70's, which is perfect in my opinion! Today I mowed the lawn, weed whacked, stained the front door, mulched the flower beds, and put down some top soil, grass seed, and straw on the two stripes in the lawn that Paul accidently created when he drove his Dad's truck in our lawn. The truck was stuck and had to be pulled out by another vehicle a year ago. The five kids have played a little inside, but they spent most of the day outside - riding bikes, jumping on the trampoline while being sprayed by a garden hose, using the spinning seesaw, playing with bags of water, on the swing, using scooters, etc. Oliver and Ian played with boys in the neighborhood - most of the time with Camden who is nine years old. Oliver and Ian threw some water balloons at Camden's house with Camden and his two older brothers. Ian and Oliver also went swimming in their pool today! I'm very thankful for a day that felt almost completely normal. Tomorrow won't feel normal because we can't go to church, but I'm very grateful that after two months of isolation, at least the kids are playing with other kids. Since the community pools won't be opening and the kids can't swim at camp, I am also very, very grateful that Camden's family had an inground pool installed in their backyard last summer! Earlier Camden had said that because of the coronavirus only their family would be swimming in the pool this summer, but thankfully they have started letting some other kids join them. Staying at home all (or most of the) summer will be far more bearable if the kids can play and swim with kids in the neighborhood. 

I took the picture at the top of the post. The girls have been wearing some of Nadia's dresses yesterday and today. The bottom two pictures were from Evanna's or Abby's cell phone. Evanna has two gerbils. The girls have enjoyed Nadia's guinea pigs. I gave the kids a choice between taco salad or French toast for dinner tonight. They picked French toast. I made scrambled eggs, sausage, and French toast with strawberries and blueberries on top. I haven't had French toast with fresh fruit on top in a long time, and it's something I really enjoy. Evanna and Abby are on the same Bible Bowl team with Nadia. They're both in seventh grade at Meadowbrook Christian School. Ava, who is the other member of their team, wasn't able to come. Ava, Evanna, and Abby are all the youngest in their families. Abby is the youngest of six children, and Evanna is the youngest of seven children. Abby is an aunt of two, and Evanna already has thirteen nieces and nephews! Ava has two brothers like Nadia does, but her brothers are in high school. I'm grateful they were able to spend some time at our house this weekend! It's nice to have people over and act normal - meaning no wearing masks or following any other "social distancing" protocol. I didn't go for a walk today, but between mowing and lugging around 40 pound bags of top soil and bags of mulch, I feel like I got plenty of exercise!

Quarantine Essentials

I try not to talk about politics on my blog, but it's really hard not to when our lives are being so drastically changed by the government. If you want to avoid reading my political musings, skip to the part after the photo of Oliver throwing a water balloon. There are many moments when I'm scanning the news online, and I feel like I must be having a bad dream. It's just hard for my brain to wrap itself around what has been going on in our country over the past two months. The constitution was primarily written to protect the rights of people and limit the power of government. Thankfully there are some, such as the Supreme Court in Wisconsin, that seem to understand that their state's stay-at-home order was unconstitutional. The Governor of Florida said that some other Governors are acting like dictators right now. That is exactly the word I would use. Laws are passed by the legislative branch. One person doesn't get to make the rules all by himself. The Governor of the state of Washington seems to fit that description. If you don't participate in contact tracing or agree to be tested for COVID-19, you can't leave your house at all. Seriously!?!?!? Our Governor has said that churches can't even have drive-in services. I think a vehicle is very effective protection against catching germs from someone. Thankfully, we still do have freedom of the press in our country, and thankfully police officers and local government officials are for the most part not enforcing many of the new rules. I haven't heard of any of the churches getting into trouble for having a drive-in service in our state, for example. Although I haven't attended a drive-in service, I think it's a creative solution. The Governor never said people can't park in the parking lot of a grocery store, Walmart, or Lowe's, so I have no idea what the basis would be for saying they can't gather to worship in their separate vehicles in a parking lot or drive-in movie theatre. Also, why is it unsafe to shop in a small shop but safe to shop in the big box stores? Asking employees to have their temperature taken or wear masks is one thing, but making arbitrary decisions about which businesses are "essential" and "non-essential" is completely wrong in my opinion when the "non-essential" ones are not allowed to stay open. People keep saying life will never go totally back to normal. I hope that the overreach of government ends as soon as possible. I will spare you my thoughts on the insane amount of money our government is spending. That's another huge can of worms.

If the coronavirus was anywhere near as deadly as Ebola, it would be a different story. People disagree on what the mortality rate is of COVID-19 because we don't really know how many people have it due to the fact some people are asymptomatic or have such mild symptoms that they never are tested. I've seen estimates that are as low as less than 1%. If the government truly felt the need to do massive interventions to save lives, there are many other things claiming more lives in 2020 than COVID-19. I don't know how accurate the data on Worldometer is, but according to that site as of today, 307,258 people around the world have died of COVID-19 this year. It sound like an awful number, but thus far in 2020 there have been more suicides, more road traffic fatalities, more deaths by malaria, more deaths from HIV/AIDS, more deaths caused by alcohol, more deaths caused by smoking, and far, far more abortions. About 500,000 people die in the US per year from smoking cigarettes. That is probably five times more than will die from COVID-19 this year in the US. If they banned the production and sale of cigarettes in the US, it would harm part of the economy and send some people into unemployment, but it wouldn't cause anywhere near as many to become unemployed as the economic shutdown has caused. Some people would still smoke because people still die from drug overdoses even though drugs are illegal, but some people who smoke cigarettes in the US now who wouldn't do so if it were illegal and they had to buy them on the black market. They could ban automobiles and alcohol and save more than 100,000 more lives in the US each year. I don't actually think we should ban automobiles. Closing all of the schools, churches, and a majority of businesses for months seems just as ludicrous to me. In our state, more than 2/3 of the COVID-19 deaths have been in nursing homes. Obviously certain populations need to be quarantined, but quarantining everyone?!? I feel they could have invested far more of their efforts on protecting those populations. They purposefully put people who had been released from the hospital with COVID-19 into nursing homes. Why?!? I would feel perfectly safe taking my kids to a playground. Even though I feel the Governor's state-wide ban on using playground equipment is unconstitutional, I am following the rule and hoping and praying the restrictions will be eased as soon as possible. I read today that DelGrosso's amusement park isn't going to open in 2020 because of government restrictions. I would never have guessed when we celebrated Oliver's birthday there last August that it wouldn't be possible to go there in 2020 because of government regulations. The park has been around for 101 years. Time will tell if any of the amusement parks open at some point this summer. Our field trip to Hershey that was rescheduled from the end of March to June 4 has now been moved to September. Here's to hoping and praying we will be allowed to visit museums in September.

I have been trying very hard not to dwell on what we thought we would be doing on a particular day whether that was a trip to Chicago or something closer to home. There are many things I am thankful that we still are able to do as they have become our "temporary normal." I'm trying to keep my mind fixed on all the blessings rather than all the things we miss (church, library, field trips, etc.). I also think it will be helpful if I deactivate my FB account again as ignorance might be bliss when it comes to dwelling on what is going on in the world these days.

• Board games
• Audiobooks via RBdigital, Hoopla, Overdrive, and Audible - right now we are really enjoying the Book Scavenger on RBdigital. 
• Books - that we own plus eBooks we've borrowed through Overdrive, Hoopla, and Kindle Unlimited - We've had a free trial of Kindle Unlimited for several months, and when I went to cancel it this week, they extended our free trial by another month. Thank you, Amazon! I've also gone a bit crazy with using Bonus Borrows through Hoopla this month. Thanks, Hoopla!
• Adventures in Odyssey - Nadia has been listening to episodes for many hours a week thanks to the subscription that my Dad got her.
• Zoom/Skype/FaceTime/Instagram - Nadia has been using all of the above to stay in contact with her Bible bowl teammates, cousin Rachel, and the two youth groups.
• Puzzles - The kids, especially Nadia, have spent SO many hours doing puzzles over the past month. Two boxes that each contain 5 puzzles are supposed to be arriving at our house tomorrow.
• Piano - Nadia has practiced a little bit, but Ian has been spending a lot of time on the piano. A new book of Disney piano solos is to be delivered to our house with the puzzles tomorrow!
• Spending time outside - rollerblading, bike riding, jumping on the trampoline, using Nadia's big swing, going for walks, playing with neighbors, walking on stilts, and using scooters are the main things the kids have been doing outside. The guinea pigs also enjoy eating grass outside when the weather is warm enough for them. Since it was in the 80's today (from snow to 80's in seven days!), I filled a bunch of water balloons for five kids to enjoy (my three plus Nadia's two friends).
• Mad libs
• Internet - we are very, very thankful for the Internet. It means we can stream what we watch on Disney+, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and a church service on Sunday morning, etc. We also enjoy using our Echo dots to listen to Amazon Music or a streaming radio station. Ian used games on the Seterra website to learn the location of every country in the world over the last few weeks! He mastered the islands around Australia yesterday (Oceania) and all the countries of Africa today.
• Nintendo Switch, laptop, and iPad - Nadia uses the iPad and my iPhone every day. Ian uses the Nintendo Switch for one hour a day. Nadia uses my laptop some, but I am the one who uses it the most for things like lesson planning and blogging.
• Friends - After going two full months without seeing any of her friends, two of Nadia's friends came over to our house today. They've jumped on the trampoline, gone for a walk, thrown water balloons, played a game of Clue, baked chocolate chip cookies, and much more. The sound of their laughter is music to my ears. They aren't wearing masks or worrying about staying 6 feet apart. Next Tuesday two boys are coming over for a play date. Now that we are allowed to have small gatherings, hopefully we can continue to schedule sleepovers and play dates since youth group meetings, church services, and such are still forbidden. I'm also very thankful that the kids in the neighborhood are playing together again after staying apart for about six weeks. One neighbor has an inground pool. I'm hoping Ian and Oliver will be allowed to swim there from time to time this summer like they were last summer. My friend Cheri, who lives about 45 minutes from us, says we can swim in her pool this summer. I won't make that drive on a regular basis, but it's nice to know the kids will be able to swim at least a few times this summer.
• DVDs - Usually we get our DVDs from the library. Since the libraries have been closed for two months, we've used Redbox a couple of times and also signed up for a free 30 day trial of Netflix's DVD service. The boys and I enjoyed watching Ride Like a Girl this evening that I got for free from Redbox.

I don't think a quarantine is ever going to feel like any kind of normal, but hopefully these "essentials" will help us through the next at least two more months at home. I asked my neighbor when she thought we'd be able to go back to church. They go to the same church we go to. Her answer was January. I hope she's wrong, but I think it's definitely possible that we will have to wait until 2021 given the size of our church.

Sunshine

I know I've already said it, but the quarantine is much easier to handle when the weather is nice. The weather over the past week has been all over the map. Some days it has rained ALL day. Some days it's been in the 60's, and other days it has actually snowed. Of the first thirteen days of May, I went for a walk on nine of those days. Oliver and I typically go for about 3 miles, but some days we've gone as little as one mile and other days (like today) as many as 6 miles. Nadia and Ian almost always choose a shorter route. The kids are always on wheels of some kind. The families in the neighborhood still do not feel comfortable with kids going into each other's homes as they did before COVID-19, but they are fine with the kids playing together outside without masks as long as they don't touch each other. They are no longer trying to stay at least six feet apart. Oliver rarely wants to earn a turn on the Wii, iPad, or Switch, but watching 44 minutes of TV a day is usually a high priority to him. In fact he almost always mentions it in his list of things he's thankful for when he prays, BUT playing outside with friends trumps TV for Oliver. He didn't have any screen time of any kind yesterday or today because he just wanted to play outside with the neighbors - jumping on the trampoline, playing capture the flag, riding bikes, etc. One of the neighbors has built ramps and such for dirt bikes, and Oliver really enjoys doing that with them. I'm thankful #1 for sunny days and #2 that the kids in the neighborhood are playing together again. It means Oliver isn't spending as much time reading to me, doing math flashcards, doing puzzles, etc., but I'm fine with that. We are still doing Mad Libs every day. Nadia and Ian have already learned to identify parts of speech, but doing Mad Libs over the past week has been Oliver's first introduction to adjectives, nouns, and such. We are also still doing games. We've played more than 60 different games in less than 2 months. Yesterday the game Oliver and I played together was Money Bags, which was a great review of adding the value of coins. Today the kids played two games we had already played (Jenga and Suspend) while I got my shower this morning, and then the boys and I played one we hadn't played in the past two months - Life.

When I found out about the stimulus checks, I had thought of giving the kids each some money to spend as they pleased, but then I decided that after I tithed, I'd put the other 90% in a savings account. I've been trying to save up a certain amount of money to cover some big expenses I think we will be encountering in the next couple of years (replacing the roof, Ian's braces, replacing the van, replacing the stove, etc.). We have now saved a little more than half of what I think we'll need for the items on the list. When I found out Nadia wouldn't be going to Camp Susque, the kids wouldn't be going to PA Wilds Child, etc. I decided that I could spend some money on the kids in light of the refunds we'll be receiving plus the money we won't be spending that I had assumed we would be spending. Nadia has been doing a puzzle just about every day, and she was wanting some new ones. Usually I get them at yard sales. If it weren't for COVID-19, I would have been yard sale shopping the first weekend in May, but they cancelled that community yard sale this year. Puzzles have been a hot commodity like toilet paper and freezers, but I was able to get some on Amazon that hopefully the kids will enjoy. Let me say it is MUCH cheaper to buy them at yard sales. I also ordered Ian another piano solo book - this time of Disney music. Then I ordered Beast Academy 5 for Ian.  I had been trying to find used copies for a couple of months, but I gave up and just bought a new set. At least two kids will use it eventually. I also bought an earth science text. The boys will be doing astronomy in the fall. It will be Ian's second time to go through the book, but he was only in first grade when he did it previously. This series doesn't have an elementary earth science text, so I picked one from another company to supplement the astronomy text. Nadia and Ian have done science together the last few years, but this coming school year she will be doing science more independently than she has in the past. I also contemplated buying a box from Talkbox.mom, but for now I'm just going to try to utilize their phrasebook. I haven't written out any lesson plans for Spanish for next year yet. I'm trying to decide whether or not to finish the Excelerate Spanish curriculum that we started a few months ago. I wasn't crazy about it, but we already own it. I am putting zero time into planning any field trips at this point due to the uncertainty of knowing what will be open, but I can keep writing lesson plans for next year as homeschooling won't be cancelled! I might not be able to use all the library books and videos that I have included in my lesson plans, but most of what I have been planning can be accomplished even if we are under another quarantine at some point during the 2020-21 school year. 

The Tunnel

I have been searching online daily to see if summer camps would be allowed in the yellow phase. This morning we received word from Camp Susque that they have cancelled the camps and wilderness trips scheduled in June and July. The only things they *might* still have this summer are two wilderness trips scheduled in August and two weeks of family camp in August. One of the two wilderness trips is for middle schoolers, but it's full with a waiting list. So I emailed the camp director and said we would take option #1, which means the $100 I already paid will be credited toward when Nadia hopefully goes to camp in 2021. The other options were to consider what you paid a donation or request a refund. We haven't heard yet about Camp Good News, but after hearing from Camp Susque, I'm fairly certain that the Good News Club will likely make a similar announcement in the near future. I had registered the boys for a week of day camp AND a week of overnight camp. If given the option, I will request a refund from them because I paid a lot more than $100 when I submitted those registrations. In the middle of March when things began to close, I assumed that everything would be closed for at least two months, and I was at that point hoping that *maybe* we could still go to Maryland/DC in May. We had planned to drive down on May 18. I remember thinking it was dubious, but still we held out some hope for a little while. Then I became certain that we would still be at home in May, but I was hoping that by sometime in June we would be able to resume at least some of our typical activities. The kids were scheduled to attend camp the last week of July. Now that many things are being deleted from our calendar in July, I admit it's beginning to feel like we can't even see the "light at the end of the tunnel." When I was all alone in the hospital and missing Paul, Nadia, and Ian during Oliver's pregnancy, I kept reminding myself that a pregnancy doesn't last forever. My bedrest began in May, and I was due in early October, but I knew I'd never make it to my due date. I figured the longest I would be separated from my children would be until September. Knowing it would come to an end helped me, although I still certainly shed tears and desperately wanted to be reunited with my children. Oliver was born 10 weeks early so my bedrest only lasted until August 7 although his NICU stay meant I wasn't immediately reunited with Nadia and Ian. It seems like it's supposed to be a good thing that we have moved to the yellow phase, but this phase is far more restrictive than I thought it would be. When the kids were younger (before they started participating in summer camps and things like that), a typical summer day included a walk to a playground in our town in the morning followed by a trip to a swimming pool in the afternoon. At this point it seems like this summer will be totally different  - no church, no swimming, no playgrounds, no camp, no VBS, no amusement parks, no libraries, no fireworks, no parades, no museums or national parks, no zoos, no trips to the movie theatre, and the list goes on. We've been at home for almost exactly two months, and we will end up being at home for 4.5 months if we can't start going places again until August. That would mean we haven't even reached the half-way point yet in this quarantine. At this point we are hoping and praying that all our plans for August aren't cancelled  - a trip to visit Aunt Janet on Long Island in early August and our family vacation the end of August. 

So far the only difference between red and yellow for our family is that we are allowed to get together with a few other people. Technically that's assuming face masks are worn and people stay at least 6 feet apart. Nadia has invited two friends over to our house this Friday night. That will be our first instance of taking advantage of being in the yellow phase. A few other things haven't been officially cancelled yet such as the Wild Childs event at a state park in June, a homeschool day at the Hershey Museum in June, or the Youtheatre workshop that I signed Ian and Nadia up for in July, but I'll be stunned if any of those actually take place. Our church's Bible quizzing teams planned to go on a cabin trip this coming weekend, but thankfully that has only been postponed to July instead of totally cancelled. Nadia has at least one special thing to look forward to in July. Camp Susque is usually Nadia's favorite week of the entire year so it is a disappointment to have to forgo that in 2020, but I know we still have so much to be thankful for. We are all healthy. None of our extended family members or friends have the coronavirus. Paul's business has been deemed "essential" (frankly I despise that term - I think MOST jobs are essential). Although we cannot always buy everything we are hoping to get each week at the grocery store, we have plenty of food. And I am not alone in a hospital room. I am spending these months with three of my most favorite people on the planet. 

Mother's Day 2020

I picked this picture from June 2008 for my Mother's Day post because it's a picture of my mom and my firstborn. I have technically been a mom since 2005, but I didn't really feel like a mom until I was carrying Nadia. I think Mother's Day will always be bittersweet for me. I absolutely LOVE being a mom. I will be eternally grateful for the three miracles who call me mom. The coronavirus has cancelled many things such as field trips, church, and trips to the library over the past two months, but I've still been able to hug my boys every day (Nadia is not a fan of hugs), read to my kids, play games with my kids, homeschool my kids, and much more. Ian and I very recently started playing piano duets for four hands on the piano. It brings back fond memories of when I played piano duets with my sisters decades ago. My parents had a Steinway piano back to back with a keyboard so sometimes we girls played duets that were for two pianos. My mom was our biggest fan. She took great delight in listening to us practice our musical instruments (violin, flute, clarinet, piano, etc.). Ian recently moved to Alfred level 5, but I also bought him a book of Star Wars piano solos and a book of worship song piano duets. He hasn't mastered any of them yet, but I recorded three videos while he practiced yesterday. I need to help him correct a few things - mostly related to timing and keeping a steady rhythm, but I am so pleased at how much progress he has made over the past year with his piano playing skills. I haven't helped him with the Star Wars songs at all thus far. Here's part of Rey's Theme, part of The Imperial March, and all of Cantina Band. I asked him to play a duet with me, and he picked Cornerstone. These worship songs are much easier than the Star Wars ones, but considering his biggest weakness is keeping a steady rhythm, playing duets is a great exercise for him as it will hopefully teach him that he has to keep a steady beat. He's accustomed to correcting an error even if that means he adds a beat to the measure. We've only played this duet a few times together so he definitely hasn't mastered it yet, but let me tell you playing this song with him made me so happy I felt like crying happy tears. Even today he did a much better job on it than yesterday, but I didn't want to record it again. You get the idea anyhow! I've had the utmost privilege to care for at least one child for almost twelve years now, and, Lord willing, we will likely have at least one child in our home for at least ten more years. One of the youth groups Nadia is a part of had a lip sync contest recently. She and Ian made a video for the song "You've got a friend in me" from Toy Story. I love the fact that Ian and Nadia are indeed very good friends. I hope that all three of my kids will be great friends for the rest of their lives. That will bring this mom great joy. 

On Mother's Day I naturally also think of my mom. The kids made Paul's mom things for Mother's Day last week, but they haven't made my mom anything since 2016. This is my fourth time experiencing Mother's Day when my mom is in heaven. I still miss her very much, but I've gotten accustomed to the new normal of not being able to talk with her, hug her, let my kids play the piano for her, etc. The changes brought about by the coronavirus are hopefully temporary, but as long as I'm still here on earth, I won't be able to see or speak with my mom. It's been awhile since I've cried in grief regarding my mom, in part because more time has passed and also because the pain of losing my brother is fresher. However, Friday night I watched the movie "I still believe" about Jeremy Camp losing his first wife to ovarian cancer when they were in their 20's. I usually cry during sad movies. Nadia couldn't believe how the tears flowed when I watched My Girl with her for the first time considering I had seen the movie many times years ago, but my tears on Friday night were partially because I was thinking about all my mom went through during her battle with ovarian cancer. I take comfort knowing that Maurice and my mom are together. Mother's Day is also the time each year when I am most apt to think about and pray for women currently facing infertility or single women who long to be married and become mothers as I can never forget how hard this holiday was for me for many years before I became a mother.  I also remember the babies I lost along the way every Mother's Day. Nadia has wanted a sister for many years, and she feels confident that at least one of the babies we lost was a girl. She looks forward to meeting her sister in Heaven some day. Considering I am 48 and Paul is 50, I know our childbearing years are over, but when I'm asleep I still sometimes dream about giving birth again. Although I would be thrilled to have another baby, I will say for the record I don't miss those night time feedings! The dream I had along those lines last week involved me giving birth to twin boys. So much for a sister for Nadia, LOL!

From March 21 to May 7 I was in a vehicle a whopping TWO times. What strange a year this has been! As a side note, we had SNOW yesterday. In MAY!!! It's not uncommon for us to get snow one time in April, but it is uncommon in May. 2020 is a crazy year. I was in the car for a couple of minutes on Friday as I drove about 1 mile from our house to get the lock put back in the driver's door of the van. Oliver and I never got out of the vehicle so I didn't really need to put my mask on. When I placed a grocery order for Saturday, I wasn't sure if Paul would be picking it up or not. I've typically placed the orders for Sunday afternoon because he usually works on Saturday, but I wanted to make the appointment at a time when Goodwill would be accepting donations. He wasn't home by 3pm so the kids and I headed out, which means I was in our van two days in a row for the first time since March 12! Sometimes Paul has had to wait a long time for the Walmart grocery order, but they brought our order out almost immediately after I parked in the spot. I also ran in to return the DVD in the Redbox kiosk. I wore my mask for that as well as when I went into Venarri's to pick up our pizza. I am not a fan of wearing a mask. My glasses fog up for one thing. I really hope we aren't required to wear masks for the next year. Because it was Mother's Day, I got dressed up for "church" this morning. I even wore a necklace with my dress. Honestly though it still feels really strange to get dressed up when we're not even leaving the house. I mowed the lawn after lunch, and then after Oliver read to me, the kids and I went for a walk. I took some pictures of them at that time as well. Because it was Mother's Day, I got to pick what game the kids and I played (Scrabble) and what movie all five of us watched (Miracle on Disney+). The boys enjoyed the movie. From February 1 through Mother's Day there are several emotional landmines for me in terms of when I feel the loss of my brother and my mom more deeply as their birthdays were in February and March, my brother passed away in March, and I feel their absence more keenly on my birthday and then again on Mother's Day. So I feel a bit of a sense of relief knowing we have passed those dates for this year. My mom passed away in July, but for whatever reason that isn't as challenging for me emotionally as her birthday, my birthday, Mother's Day, and Christmas are. We called Paul's mom today to wish her a happy Mother's Day and also called Aunt Millie to wish her a happy 60th birthday. Paul's parents will be celebrating their anniversary on Wednesday. I forget exactly how many years they have been married, but I know it's more than 50! We haven't seen them since 12/25/19, and due to the coronavirus, we might not be seeing them again until 12/25/20 even though they only live one hour away from us. We haven't heard anything yet about whether camps will be allowed in PA this summer, but since we are in the "yellow" phase, two of Nadia's friends are coming over this Friday for a sleepover. By then it will have been a full two months since she has seen any of her friends. Other than that life in "yellow" feels the same as "red," but thankfully the social distancing rules don't apply to the people you are quarantined with as I am still receiving plenty of hugs from my boys. Thank you Lord for giving me three precious children. It is such a privilege to be their mom and their homeschool teacher. Priceless!!!

 

600th Book!

Yesterday we finished our 600th chapter book. I should say at least our 600th book because there have been times along the way I've realized I had forgotten to include one on the list. I started reading chapter books at the very end of 2012 which means we've been enjoying chapter books together for almost 7.5 years. In the beginning I read all of the books to the kids, and then we also began listening to some audiobooks on CD from the library. About 3 years ago I started obtaining audiobooks from Audible now and then. One year ago we began listening to audiobooks through Hoopla, Overdrive, and RB digital through the Free Library in Philadelphia. I still occasionally read a chapter book aloud to the kids, but now the vast majority of the time we listen to audiobooks together. Usually we listen to audiobooks at meal times and when we are in the van for multiple hours. The kids and I have only been in a vehicle two times from March 21 to today because of COVID-19 so we definitely haven't been listening to audiobooks in a vehicle lately, but the kids have been doing jigsaw puzzles almost every day over the past few weeks, and we often listen to an audiobook while they are working on jigsaw puzzles. We primarily listen to novels, but our 600th book was a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some of the other biographies we've enjoyed thus far in 2020 have included Eric Liddell, Alan Shephard, Brother Andrew, Douglas MacArthur, Ronald Reagan, Milton Hershey, and Theodore Roosevelt. 31 of the 45 chapter books we've listened to so far in 2020 have been novels by Richard Peck, Christopher Paul Curtis, Jonathan Auxier, Kirby Larson, and Gary Schmidt. Book #601 is Ember's End by S.D. Smith which we finished today. If I were to select five of our favorites from the ones we've listened to in 2020, I'd pick A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen, Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan, Sweep, the story of a girl and her monster by Jonathan Auxier, Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era by Sterling North, and Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. This evening we started listening to Mary Poppins Comes Back. Ian can't wait until we start Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard by Johnathan Auxier as he really enjoyed Peter Nimble and his fantastic eyes.

Yesterday was a very rainy day, so I decided to watch one episode of The Chosen with the kids as various people had recommended it to me (including Paul's brother). I think we will save the other seven episodes for rainy days. Today I was able to walk for 3 miles while Oliver was riding his bike. We have certain activities we do every day - play a game, listen to audiobooks, read picture books, etc. Nadia and Ian have been doing jigsaw puzzles every day. Ian did a 300 piece Pinocchio puzzle today, and Nadia did part of a 500 piece Winnie the Pooh puzzle. Nadia sometimes does one or two math lessons on Teaching Textbooks. Oliver usually reads to me. Ian and Nadia read every day. Nadia is currently reading the Princess Academy series by Shannon Hale, and Ian is reading an Olga da Polga book by Michael Bond. Ian practices the piano every day, and Nadia practices a few days a week. Yesterday we decided to start doing at least one Mad Lib together every day. The kids really enjoy them, and it's a fun way to review some parts of speech. We did several yesterday and several more today. We own quite a few Mad Lib books. Might as well put them to good use! The game Oliver played today with me was Monster Math, which was a great way to have him practice subtraction. Ian beat Nadia in chess while Oliver and I played Monster Math. I have warned the kids never to tell me they are bored. I can very easily come up with school work or chores for them to do!

Today was our last day in the red phase, presuming we're never put back in that phase. We still haven't heard if summer camps will be allowed in the yellow phase. Hopefully we'll find that out tomorrow. Nadia has invited two seventh grade girls over for a sleepover. It has been almost two months since she's seen any of her friends face-to-face. Hopefully her friends' parents will agree to let the girls come to our house.

Star Wars Day

For the next approximately seven weeks, Nadia and her cousin, Rachel, will both be eleven years old as today is Rachel's birthday. She, like me, is not a fan of Star Wars, but May 4th has been dubbed Star Wars day. Paul and our three kids all enjoy Star Wars. Last year I saw A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood in the theater while my kids watched Rise of Skywalker.  A DVD of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is coming to our home via Netflix this week. Paul and the boys are planning to see Rise of Skywalker on Disney+ this evening. Although Nadia enjoyed watching the movie, she said she'd rather watch some episodes on CBS while we have the free trial than watch the movie a second time. The kids have been careful not to talk about it around Paul the last few months as he hasn't seen it yet. On Saturday we all watched National Treasure 2 on Disney+, and even Nadia said she really enjoyed it. I like it when we all watch something together. I am looking forward to seeing three movies on DVD sometime in the next month or so -  Emma, I Still Believe, and Ride like a Girl. I thought the library would be reopening in the very near future since we're entering the yellow phase in four days because at one of the governor's briefings they said that the libraries would be reopening when that happened, but they aren't. The Office of Commonwealth of Libraries hasn't given any libraries in our state permission to reopen. They are still closed "indefinitely." I should have figured it out earlier because when they mentioned libraries they also had said pet groomers, hair salons, and nail parlors could reopen, but on May 1 they changed that plan and said that hair salons and nail parlors couldn't reopen. Well I have confidence they will reopen the libraries in the elusive green phase. At least we can access digital resources through the Free Library in Philadelphia no matter what "phase" we are in .

Paul picked up our online grocery order at Walmart on Sunday afternoon and also got a few things at CVS. I never, ever dreamt I would blog about grocery shopping as much as I have over the past seven weeks. I feel like I should have readjusted my expectations by now, but I still just find myself in somewhat of a state of shock over the difficulties in obtaining food and paper products. The good news about this most recent shopping trip was that we got 10 pounds of flour and 12 rolls of toilet paper. It was the first time we had been able to purchase either of those items since the middle of March, and Walmart was able to fulfill MOST of what we ordered. They had ZERO hotdog or hamburger buns in stock, and I had tried to buy 16 hot dog buns. They also were completely out of margarine. They gave us a lactaid version of cottage cheese. Hopefully that won't alter the taste of the casserole I'm planning to use it in. They also gave me a more expensive kind of ground beef. Usually they don't charge you more for a substitution, but they did in that instance. I had ordered a box of 15 ham and cheese hot pockets for Nadia and Oliver. Instead they gave us a box of 12 pizza hot pockets that included 4 kinds of meat. Paul immediately walked into the store to return them. They said they are not currently taking returns on food, but he explained that he just received these and his wife is allergic to sausage. So they gave him a refund. He then went back to the freezer section and bought a box of 12 ham and cheese hot pockets. Why didn't they give him that in the first place?!? Walmart's prices on most things are better than the other grocery stores near us. I'd shop at ALDI if we had one closer to our house. I've started another grocery order with Walmart for this Saturday afternoon . Hopefully it will go more smoothly; I am not going to attempt to get any Hot Pockets. I was happy to find out that Goodwill has been accepting donations since April 22. I had assumed that wasn't possible right now. The trunk of the van has been filled with donations for many weeks. The plan on Saturday is to drop things off at Goodwill, pick up the grocery order at Walmart, and pick up pizza for dinner at Venarri's (my favorite pizza place) since Mother's Day is this coming weekend. 

We've received three of the four masks I ordered on eBay so far. I'm hoping that the Star Wars one I ordered for Ian fits Nadia because the dog one was too small for her. If it doesn't fit her, I'll need to order another adult sized one. NONE of us like wearing them. My glasses fog up for one thing. Well at some point they will reopen museums, historical sites, zoos, churches, etc., and I'm assuming we'll be required to wear face masks when they do. So we are prepared for that whenever it happens. Maybe sometime in July? Time will tell. Every week Knoebels pushes back the earliest they could reopen. Today they shifted that date to June 7, but I would be shocked if we are moved to the green phase that quickly, and amusement parks can't reopen until we're in the green phase. The Governor's Office said they will make a decision about whether summer camps can operate in the yellow phase by May 8. We are still hoping against hope that Nadia can go to Camp Susque at the end of July. Sight and Sound today extended their closure for another month (through at least June 15), but I think they are in the same boat as Knoebels in that they won't actually be allowed to put on a production until their county is in the green phase, and they will still be in the red phase on Friday. I think once their county is in the yellow phase then they can at least begin to process refunds or rescheduling requests. What a project that will be as their performances are typically sold out, and their theater seats more than 2,000 people. 

 

Nadia and I tackled her bedroom this weekend. In hindsight we should have chosen a rainy day for that project rather than a gorgeous one, but I usually vacuum on Saturdays, and this Saturday that task lead me to start working on her room. She finished it this morning. Two girls in our neighborhood claimed some of the wooden magnetic dolls that she decided she had outgrown. She still has her American girl doll, paper dolls, and Barbie dolls. I'm glad she still enjoys them. Childhood should be treasured and not rushed in my opinion. The auto body shop returned my call today. He felt very badly about the lock falling out of my driver's door. They will take care of it. I said there wasn't a rush because I haven't been using the vehicle due to the virus. I'm grateful it won't cost us anything to get that fixed and that the repair shop is right in our town. Even though I miss taking my kids on field trips, I haven't missed all the driving that entailed.

Today was the fourth day in a row that I went for a walk. Nadia and I went for our walk (rollerblading in her case) in our dresses on Sunday. I sprayed Oliver with the garden hose, at his request, on Sunday when I was watering the areas where I recently spread grass seed. It got up almost to 80 degrees on Sunday! It was about 20 degrees cooler today. We have played about two thirds of the 75 games we own thus far. The last few we played included Clue, Uno, and Rummikub. We forgot to play a game today, unless you count the Wii. I don't usually play video games, but Oliver has been begging me to play with him. I played bowling and tennis on the Wii today. I bowl better on the Wii than I do in real life, but I play tennis better in real life than I do on the Wii. Oliver read to me for 40 minutes to earn the privilege of watching the Star Wars movie with Paul plus playing the Wii with me for 20 minutes.

Yellow Phase

It's amazing how words we very rarely or never used just a few months ago have been used so much lately that probably most of us are downright weary of them - COVID-19, coronavirus, pandemic, non-essential business, social distancing, Zoom, yellow phase, green phase, red phase, flattening the curve, masks, etc. I'm not sure if any other states are using the red, yellow, green descriptions for lifting the restrictions, but that's what our Governor has done here in Pennsylvania. Yesterday he said that 24 out of 67 counties will be moving from red to yellow on May 8. Many thought the number would be higher because more than 24 counties met the requirements. The requirement they talked about the most was that your county had to have an average of less than 50 new cases per 100,000 people for the previous 14 days. The counties in the southwestern portion of our state (Pittsburgh and surrounding counties) did meet those requirements, but they were told them had to stay in red just because too many people live in those areas. Moving to yellow means that more businesses can reopen and provided we keep 6 feet apart and wear masks, we can be in groups of up to 25 people. The county in which Bloomsburg is located and where Paul's family live are still in red because they were way off the mark of less than 50 new cases per 100,000. The library we usually go to is in a different county than where we live, but they also went to yellow. Businesses which are still NOT allowed to open in yellow include hair salons, gyms, and just about everything related to "entertainment" aside from the fact adults can now go golfing. SPORTS of any kind are banned. They specifically mentioned kids are NOT allowed to play baseball even if fewer than 25 people are there. Life is definitely NOT anywhere close to back to normal in yellow. The upsides are #1 I believe the libraries will be reopening at some point during yellow. I'm imagining they might just be offering a sort of curbside service, but that is all we really need. #2 We can get together with friends.

The first five or six weeks of the lockdown, the neighbors were all really strict about not letting kids get within 6 feet or another child from a different family. Lately the kids are playing together more and more albeit always outside (whereas before they frequently would go into each other's houses) and secondly making sure not to touch each other. Since everyone has been very isolated for more than a month, it's been nice to see the kids rollerblading, riding bikes, climbing trees, etc. with other kids in our little development. I called one mom yesterday and suggested a play date or sleepover or something with her two sons and my kids sometime after May 8. I told Nadia that she could plan a couple of sleepovers. I think she's thinking of inviting 3 seventh grade girls over one night and 2-3 sixth grade girls another night. We shall see if their parents are okay with having their girls come to our house or not. Nadia learned yesterday that she won't be traveling to Oklahoma in July for the Bible quizzing nationals. She had memorized all of 1 and 2 Peter and the first 8 chapters of Hebrews. She had been working on chapter 9 this week, but she's taken a couple of days off. Next week she's planning to switch gears to studying and memorizing Matthew as then she'll have 14 months to prepare. There are more verses in Matthew than the other three books put together that she was memorizing the past few months. We had assumed that April and May would be stay-at-home months and most likely June, but I have to admit it's been a bit overwhelming emotionally as things in July have begun to be cancelled as well.

If I was allowed to ask the Governor three questions, here is what I would ask:

1. Will summer camps be allowed to operate this summer? He has allowed child care to reopen so I think it will depend on whether he sees camp as child care or entertainment. Also the 25 person capacity might be problematic for most camps.... I expect in the next week or two that we'll hear from the camps whether they will be open this summer or not.

2. What is necessary for a county to move from yellow to green? He has given ZERO details as to what those requirements will be thus far. Green is when zoos, museums, hair salons, gyms, theaters, amusement parks, etc. can reopen, and at least smaller churches (or maybe all churches?) will be allowed to resume having in-person services. There are NINE counties in our state that have each had between 1-7 positives altogether. I honestly have no idea why those nine counties are under ANY restrictions whatsoever. Three of those counties have only had ONE person test positive. One person in a county having a virus means schools, churches, and businesses need to shut down in that county? It doesn't make sense to me, but I don't live in any of those counties.

3. What is the numerical definition of a mass gathering? He has said that mass gatherings won't be allowed even in the green phase and typically the examples given have been concerts and festivals. My reason for asking is because I am not sure if our church services on Sunday mornings qualify as a mass gathering or not? I hope not. If so, we will probably switch to a smaller church during the green phase if ours is still limited to online services only.

2020 is not a year any of us are going to forget any time soon. Nadia's cousin, Rachel, will be turning 11 on Monday. Last night the girls had a "virtual" sleepover over Zoom that included playing Boggle together, doing a craft, and watching a movie. I thought it was very creative of them! Nadia was happy that I let her stay up until midnight. I'm already accustomed to homeschooling my kids, cutting my own bangs, and giving Paul, Oliver, and Ian haircuts. Thankfully we don't live in New Hampshire. "IF YOU’VE cut your or a family member’s hair because barber shops and salons are closed, congratulations, you’ve committed a criminal offense punishable by up to a year in prison.

In New Hampshire, cutting hair without a state license is a Class A misdemeanor." In 2020 many states are letting inmates out of prisons out of fear that they might come down with the coronavirus, while others are being arrested for things like playing softball with his daughter . Some employees don't want to go back to work because they are paid more on unemployment (with the $600 bonus) than they would get if they went back to work. Paul was supposed to get his teeth cleaned next week, but because his appointment is scheduled two days before we move from red to yellow, he has to wait five more months to get his teeth cleaned. It's a very mixed up world we live in right now! Here's to hoping and praying that we reach the green phase ASAP! I've been working on a grocery order at Walmart since Monday, and today was the first time ever since the middle of March that I was able to add flour or toilet paper to my shopping cart. We shall see if Paul actually comes home with those items tomorrow!

Thankful Thursday

I haven't been in the habit of writing gratitude posts recently. It's been raining ALL day. I know "April showers bring May flowers," but still I can't say I'm a huge fan of rainy days, especially during our seventh week of being in quarantine. So here are some things I'm thankful for right now...

1. Although Paul wasn't able to screw the lock back into the driver's door of the van last night, I was able to drive today. It was the second time I drove this month. I haven't forgotten how to drive! Actually, driving hither and yon is NOT something I miss. Plus we're spending less money on gas. Still I was thankful I was able to buy two more pairs of rollerblades today - a brand new pair for $20 for Ian and a used pair for $10 for Nadia. This means the next day it's not raining all three kids can go rollerblading at the same time. They couldn't wait to try them out so they have done some rollerblading in the basement and garage today.

2. It had been a few weeks since we got anything from a restaurant, but I decided we'd pick up some pizza at Papa John's while we were out buying rollerblades. Paul felt like he was in pizza withdrawal.

3. Paul picked up 160 pounds of chicken this morning before heading to work. Eighty pounds is for our family and is being stored in a freezer in Millie's bakery in Pottsville (90 minutes from our house). We gave forty pounds to Al as a belated birthday present, and the office manager/salesman at Paul's company ordered forty pounds. The market made one error and gave us one case of boneless thighs instead of a third case of boneless breasts, but the bottom line is that we have enough chicken to last us several months. I bought a lot of toilet paper last September and wondered how long it will last us. We haven't run out yet. We shall see how long this chicken will last us.

4. Nadia has been able to keep in touch with her friends through Zoom, Messenger Kids, etc.

5. My dad and Margie bought me a foam roller on Amazon to see if it would help with my back pain. I am not 100% back to normal yet, but I have to say that last night I was NOT in pain while in bed, which was the first time I could say that in three solid months. YAHOO! I will keep using it and hopefully the pain will completely go away. That would be incredible!

6. Paul was finally able to get more stone shortly before they ran out. That was an answer to prayer as some of the quarries had shut down due to the current economic situation. None of his employees have gotten the coronavirus. The forgivable loan from the federal government means he has put his employees back to working 6 days a week instead of only 4 days a week.

7. I'm not a seamstress. I sew on missing buttons and do some minor repairs, and that's it. I ordered four face masks on eBay last night. They were very reasonably priced. I got a Paw Patrol one for Oliver, Star Wars for Ian, and a reversible one for Nadia that is blue on the one side and has dogs on the other. I have a feeling we might be asked to wear masks for a very long time. Maybe the next year? Hopefully these are comfortable. Paul had brought one home for Nadia two weeks ago that was adult size so it covered her whole face - even her eyes. I used it today when I got the pizza and yikes it was so hot! I hope the four we ordered are comfortable. I bought handmade ones. I'm happy to support family businesses during this difficult time. Now here's to hoping some things OPEN in the next couple of months so we actually have a need to wear them. I did see that amusement parks can't open in the yellow phase. I hope and pray we reach the "green" phase before the end of the summer and that summer camps are permissible in the yellow phase.

8. Ian had fun building a new Lego set today. He received $5 from my Dad and Margie for Easter, and he had been working since then to earn the rest of the money needed to purchase a $20 Lego set. It was perfect timing that it arrived on a rainy day.

9. I'm very thankful for Kindle Unlimited, Hoopla, and Overdrive which all enable us to get books for free. Our Kindle Unlimited 2 month free trial will be ending soon, but we'll keep having access to the others through the library. I can't believe how many times Amazon lets you have a free trial of Kindle Unlimited. We're also enjoying our free trial of CBS all access and the DVD service of Netflix. I've also been enjoying listening to KLOVE's classics station. They play many of the songs I listened to when I was in middle school, college, etc.

10. Last week my dad had another heart catheterization. It involved the placing of three stents to open a blockage that had been created through scar tissue forming where they had stitched a graft. He spent one night in the hospital and had to stay on bed rest for one week at home. We are thankful they were quickly able to correct the problem before he had a heart attack.

11. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow, but then it's supposed to be gorgeous on Saturday and Sunday with highs in the SEVENTIES.

12. The kids LOVED it when I made S'mores Dessert Pizza for the first time last weekend. I'm quite certain I'll be making that again!

Oliver and Nadia thought a rainy day was a good day for hot chocolate. :)

Puzzlemania

My kids periodically get on a puzzle kick. The last couple of weeks I'm certain we've set a new record as to the number of jigsaw they've completed in a short time span. Ian has done as many as four puzzles in one day. Typically the kids do puzzles that range from 100-300 pieces each. We have some that have 500 pieces, but they haven't attempted any of those recently. When all three kids are each doing a jigsaw puzzle at the same time, we listen to an audiobook together. We listen to audiobooks year round typically three times a day, but the number of hours we listen per day as increased the past couple of weeks. This week we're listening to a biography about Eric Liddell and a novel about a middle schooler. We've also been playing at least one game each day. Some recent choices included: Senet, memory, pick up sticks, Ancient History Go Fish, and Compatibility. Ian has been practicing the piano more than usual. He's working on Level 5 of Alfred plus enjoying a Star Wars solo book Amazon delivered this week. The solo book is challenging enough that I can't even sight read the music very well!

Being under a stay-at-home order is easier to handle emotionally when the weather is nice. On Sunday it rained ALL day, and it was only in the 40's. In contrast the past two days it has been in the 60's. Our three guinea pigs also love it when the weather is nicer because the kids take them outside, and they love being able to eat grass! Thankfully it's supposed to stay in the 60's for the next several days. The kids and I go for a walk whenever the weather permits. I'm actually the only one who walks. Yesterday and today one child was riding a bicycle, one was on a scooter, and one was on roller blades. Oliver has spent many hours rollerblading the last two days. I bought those at a yard sale last September for Nadia. I thought that for one thing it would save us money at the monthly skate night at the roller skating rink, but she thought they were a little tight. I had thought of buying two more pairs of rollerblades for the kids last Christmas, but I didn't. All three of them have been wanting to rollerblade this week. Considering we'll probably be spending more time at home this spring and summer than usual, I decided to buy two more pairs. I was a bit overwhelmed by the prices on eBay and Amazon, but I found two pairs through Facebook. One is adjustable for sizes 5-8 (for Nadia), and the other is adjustable for sizes 3-6 (for one of the boys). I had made arrangements to meet the people today to purchase the rollerblades, but then when Paul got home around 8pm last night from work he told me that the lock had fallen out of the driver's door of my van. He never drives my van to work, but he did so yesterday because he thought he would be using it to transport a chest freezer from a store back to our house. We learned that it's impossible to buy a freezer anywhere right now. We will have to wait until July or August to attempt to buy one from Sears, Lowes, Home Depot, or Best Buy. We don't know why the lock fell out. Neither of us have ever had that happen with any of our vehicles before, but thankfully he noticed it while getting in to come home from work otherwise it would have been lost on the road somewhere. All this meant I couldn't drive today. It was rather ironic as I've only driven one time this month, and the rare time I made plans to drive I couldn't. He's hoping to put the lock back in this evening, in which case hopefully I can do the rollerblade meet-ups tomorrow. Then all three kids will be able to rollerblade at the same time instead of needing to take turns since they're currently all sharing the same pair. Oliver had never had success with roller skating in the past, but what he learned in ice skating this year translated to him being able to rollerblade.

Ian has also been working on geography. Over the last week he has learned the name and location of all of the countries of North America, South America, and Europe. He also learned the names of the capitals of the countries in South America and can identify all of the provinces of Canada on a blank map. The AWANA commander said if anyone was wanting to say their verses by Facetime or Skype they could do that. Ian and Nadia had already finished their books, but Oliver had two sections left. We've been working on relearning them the last few days. He knew them well about 6 weeks ago. I sent this video to the AWANA commander. We shall see if he passed or if we need to keep working on them. Memorizing does NOT come easily for Oliver. I've been spending more time helping Nadia on the piano, doing lesson planning for our next school year, and doing projects around the house. Today's was to clean the front porch, which included scrubbing off bird droppings and such. The past two weeks Paul went grocery shopping once a week - at Aldi 11 days ago and at our local grocery store 3 days ago. This week I've been working on an order that Walmart will deposit in  his trunk this coming Sunday afternoon. In two days our Governor is going to announce which counties are going into the "yellow" phase on May 8 (2nd of three phases). I believe our county WILL meet the criteria to move to yellow. We have had zero deaths and less than 100 positives. The criteria is to have an average of fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 over the past 14 days, and we've had an average of 30 something new cases per 100,000 over the past 14 days. Several of our neighboring counties also should be moving to yellow next week. I do know for sure this means that the libraries will be reopening. YAHOO! Beyond that I'm not really certain. We still will be limited to gatherings under 25 people, which definitely excludes church. Movie theatres, gyms, eating inside a restaurant are some things he has explicitly said will not be permitted in the yellow phase. I'm wondering about things like amusement parks, museums, Reptiland (a small zoo near our house), and summer camps. I figure it will likely be awhile before he moves any county to "green," so I am hoping there is a way to do social distancing in such a way that at least some of those places can open in the yellow phase. I'm hoping we receive more details on Friday about what will/won't be allowed to reopen during our time in the yellow phase. I think we'll mostly still be at home, but hopefully some types of outings will be permitted aside from picking up books/DVDs at the library once a week. The concert we planned to attend in late March that was moved to late June has now been moved to "Fall 2020" without a specific date. Since the concert is to be held at a very large venue, my guess is that it won't actually happen in 2020. So far we haven't shed any tears in our house over COVID-19 or the government's restrictions, but I'm pretty sure tears will be shed if camps and some other things planned in July and August are cancelled. I'm waiting a few weeks to decide if I should pause our membership with Six Flags. They are offering incentives to those who don't put their membership on pause, but those will be meaningless if the parks don't really open this summer. So I'm waiting a bit longer before I ask for a pause just in case the parks can open in June or July. 2020 is such a strange year!!