The month started strong, coming off of a busy February with dance! Grandma Deb and Randy came up to visit us the first weekend of March! The Friday of their visit, the news here in MN was reporting the first case of Covid-19 in our state. It was a little jarring to hear, but we were still able to go to the stores and eat out in restaurants! I was worried about our stash of hand sanitizing wipes, so during our trip to Target with Grandma Deb, I went to grab some to find the shelves completely empty. YIKES! This was when it started to hit me that this Coronavirus was going to impact us even here in MN. I was very worried about the wipes and felt like I NEEDED to get some. So, I ran to the CVS Pharmacy near my house and was able to snag the last 3-pack of Clorox Wipes. That felt like a small victory to have those darn wipes. I should have been grabbing hand sanitizer too! That stuff is impossible to find now. We look each time we are at the store and the shelves continue to be bare.
(Note that I have zero pictures from our weekend with Grandma Deb and Randy - oops!)
Also in early March, Ms. Ruby Pearl got a haircut! We went to a new groomer in Lakeville and it was a fabulous experience. She looked so cute and her fur was super soft. Looking sweet and smelling fresh...
I mean...could this be any sweeter?
(I am terrible at getting a good dog picture)
March 16:
The last time since this started that I commuted to Minneapolis
The last time since this started that Jay commuted to the Best Buy corporate offices
The last day Ms. Ella walked the halls as a student at Meadowview Elementary
The last time since this started that I commuted to Minneapolis
The last time since this started that Jay commuted to the Best Buy corporate offices
The last day Ms. Ella walked the halls as a student at Meadowview Elementary
Feels like ages ago that I set up my office at the kitchen table, Ella set up the card table in her room and Jay took over the office. We were working from home and Ella was going to soon be learning at a distance. The governor announced that Minnesota would be under a stay at home order for all but essential workers. Restaurants would be closed. Most retail stores would be closed. Most offices went to a work-from-home situation and then the gauntlet came down when the governor announced that schools would be closed and students would do "distance learning".
Home office (Sara)
Home Office (Ella)
I mean, she is the cutest. She wanted her home desk to be like her school desk, so she added her name and assigned school number and look at her room door (below) - she took great pride in being a PAW Rep at school this trimester, so she added that to her door.
I mean, she is the cutest. She wanted her home desk to be like her school desk, so she added her name and assigned school number and look at her room door (below) - she took great pride in being a PAW Rep at school this trimester, so she added that to her door.
I thought I had a picture of Jay's office, but I can't find it.
His name tag: Jason Abbas, President and CEO
(obviously I just let him *think* that is true) LOL!
(obviously I just let him *think* that is true) LOL!
Everyone was talking about Coronavirus and how everyone is adapting to life and work and school at home. A radio station talked about a daily schedule to help kids adjust and thought that sounded like a good idea for Ella. Our MN schools had 2 weeks of planning before the actual digital learning was supposed to start and since Jay and I were both working from home, we needed her to be able to keep busy during the 2 weeks. Here is the original schedule I found from which we made Ella's daily schedule during the 2 weeks before digital learning started.
It really worked well for her, and is still loosely following it today but adjusting it to allow her actual school work into the mix.
I don't think any of us knew that we would still (in mid-May) be working from home, staying home and learning from home. But, we are. And we are doing pretty good! Staying healthy and trying to think of things to keep us busy and from getting too stir crazy!
Some days it really felt like this!
One of the first weekends of the stay at home order, Hallmark started to play Christmas movie marathons on the weekends. It was so perfect! I watched one of the movies and then remembered that I had been gifted my all time favorite Hallmark Christmas movie - Christmas Cookies!! So, I took an afternoon and watched that one too. I will say that the cozy Christmas movies really helped to reduce stress and make all the togetherness seem like the holidays! I noticed that social media was blowing up with people getting on the Christmas in March trend - some even baking Christmas cookies!
Social media was also giving me some great mantras to remind myself that this too shall pass
S
Obviously I have been baking!
I made birthday cake coconut macaroons which were really tasty, but the recipe made a LOT and Ella doesn't like coconut....so, that was sort of a flop because most of them went to waste.
A big hit though were these PB&J bars.
They were fantastic! I believe almost the entire pan was eaten up by just the 3 of us!
YUM!
Because I don't want to forget, our dance program had to adjust to some virtual lessons while everyone was figuring out how to move forward with a dance season in the midst of a pandemic. JFK started out doing live classes which Ella participated in. These were instructed by the Brainerd team, so it wasn't her regular coaching staff, but it was kind of cool that she got some different perspectives and instructions on dance. It wasn't interactive, but was a great way to keep dancing!
And then, Kenny Rodgers died.
An author that I follow on Instagram posted this statement below. It rang so true because of how terrible the world seemed at this time, how dire the pandemic numbers were becoming and how isolated we all are! It was moment of comic relief that I needed!
Our schools were closed and Ella was missing her friends and teachers and just "school" in general, but our teachers were missing us too! They organized a big parade that went through all of the neighborhoods near the end of March and I may have been more happy about it than Ella! I tear up thinking about it now! It was something to look forward to, to get outside and see our neighbors (from a safe distance) and just wave and cheer and say HI! One of Ella's BFFs (Julia and her mom Michelle) drove over to our house and joined us to watch the parade from a safe distance.
It was a really neat event and was so appreciated by us!
We put a big message on the driveway for the teachers to see as they cruised past!
We've been burning through sidewalk chalk here! Scrolling online for things to do, I came across a cool idea of making mosaic chalk art on the sidewalk! So, I designed the first square of our walkway to the front door and Ella designed the second. She worked super hard to chalk it all in and it turned out so COOL! Ella received many compliments from neighbors and others walking the neighborhood!
And that friends, is a recap of the longest month ever. March 2020 will go down in the history books and it's so surreal to know that we are living through this Coronavirus pandemic which will become something that future generations will read about and learn about. I wonder what they will think about how all of us navigated through it all?!
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