COVID days...

Our days have slowed way down.  No school, no work, no errands (except for essentials), no workouts, no after school activities, no church, no nothing.  We start our days later and later every day.  Distance learning started this week.  The kids get their school work done in a couple of hours.  We try to take a family walk every day but are not 100%.  The rain and occasional grumpy kid has kept us inside.  

I have a lot of gratitude for this time right now.  I feel like life had become so harried and busy for the world, we had to be paused by nature.  I know it is causing problems with the economy but I am letting Will worry about that...he is really good about worrying about the economy.  

Here are some things I want to remember, little snapshots of our days this week.  The weather is typical March/April for Northern California.  And typical is windy, cold, blue skies, rain, puffy clouds, sun, hail...basically, its a mess.  We enjoy walks when we can.

The tooth fairy has NOT been practicing social distancing.  Adell lost a tooth over the last weekend and Colter lost a tooth this week.  The tooth fairy pulled up the very next night with dolla-dolla-bills y'all. 

Chores are kind of happening.  Kinda.  I did laundry on Thursday and discovered Adell is the only person who is still getting dressed every day. 

Zoom video conference calls have saved many companies bacon.  Clare started ballet in the kitchen this week.  You can't see it but her ballet teacher was on an iPhone propped on the bar.  Her teacher called out improvements and critiques to each dancer, including Clare.

Colter is usually the last one to get his school work done...sometimes he starts after dinner.  He asked on Thursday for a more concrete schedule for school, including recess and snack time.  

I miss my Orange Theory Workouts SO MUCH!  I feel like a slug and have been eating my feelings in brownies and banana bread.  Feelings taste delicious.  Orange Theory posts online at-home workouts every day but they aren't the same.  I miss my classes.  I did find a good app to time my runs but it is hard to keep a steady pace and push myself on the road. 

Friday is house cleaner day!  But we aren't having our cleaner come...social distancing and all.  This Friday I told the kids, if they did all the work our cleaner usually does, I would pay them.  They agreed and got to work.  It didn't take long before they each acknowledged how hard Ana's job is and how much work she does for us.  When Colter was wrestling the vacuum cleaner in the hall he exclaimed: "I feel bad for Ana!  She has like the hardest job!"  I agreed. 

We watched the 80's version of Clue the movie.  It was so good!  I'd watch it once a week and have a laugh every time.  Colter was not in love...the stabbing scene was too much for him and gave him nightmares. 

Rain and cold temperatures have kept us in more than I'd like.  I'd like to kick the kids outside every day for an hour or more. 

Sometimes we can make PE happen inside.  I picked up a couple of super bouncy balls at the grocery store when I went out for bread one day.  The kids played kick/pass/soccer with their hands in their pockets. 

Life was so slow..Adell decided to spice things up with lice.  It was easy to find when I started to look so she's probably had it for a while.  Also, her best friend also has lice...so they probably gave it to each other when school was still in session two weeks ago.  Ugh, two weeks is a long time for lice to party. 

When the kids fight, I try to bring out a simple game I can play with them for a few minutes.  I am a terrible game partner.  Usually, the kid gets sick of playing with me and wants to play with the sibling they were just fighting with.  Works like a charm...most of the time. 

One last memory/acknowledgment.  This is hard.  Some days are harder than others.  I miss my house being empty for a few hours every day.  I love my family.  I love this slowed pace and its many blessings but I miss plenty about "normal" life.  It is good to have perspective.  Some days I need two Cadbury Creme Eggs, a glass of milk, and to eat them hidden in the laundry room.  

14 trips around the sun!

Oh, Clare Bear!  You are 14 years old today.  Some years there are hiccoughs on your birthday, for example, it falling right before spring break so your friends are out of town.  But this year really takes the cake...we are at the beginning...middle...end...who knows...of our social distancing home isolation thanks to COVID 19.  We are stuck at home with everyone else, except everyone else is also stuck in their homes too.  We did our best to make your birthday special.  You are a good sport.  We tried to go to the bishop's storehouse but there were too many people and not enough work.  So we had a regular homeschool day and partied at home, together.  

I know I have your birth story recorded in your baby book and you can read it any time you want.  But it might be nice to come across your story here in the blog every so often.  I don't think I've told your birth story on the blog yet.  Maybe...but I don't want to check.  So your story (or what I can remember right now of your birth story)!  First of all, you were late.  Daddy was in his second year of business school and had two weeks off for spring break.  You were due at the beginning of those two weeks, which would have been awesome because Daddy would have been home to help every day.  But you wanted to wait.  On a Thursday I had a doctor's appointment where they tried a couple of little things to get labor started and sent me home.  I did all the tricks I knew at home but you were not interested in being born on my time schedule! 

Finally, Saturday morning I started having real contractions.  Lorien had gone with a friend for the day and they agreed to keep her as long as labor took.  I was frantically trying to get ahold of any of my friends to take Wyatt so we could go to the hospital but no one was answering their phones.  At last, we were loading up the car with hospital bags and Wyatt shrugging at the idea of a two-year-old attending the birth of his sister when my visiting teacher, Katherine, screeched around the corner of the road and into our parking lot, windows down, yelling: "I'm here!  I'm here!"  We didn't have to take Wyatt to the hospital with us after all. 

We made our way to Stanford Children's Hospital, which is so fitting since you would become the biggest Stanford Football fan on the face of the planet.  I was checked and admitted in short order.  I'd say we went to the hospital around lunchtime.  It didn't take long for things to get going and for me to know I needed an epidural for this labor.  Stanford is a teaching hospital and we had interns in and out of the delivery room for all of your delivery.  The man who placed my epidural was an intern and it took him a few tries to get it right...that was not fun.  But the medicine kicked in and I felt much better.  It only took a few pushes (once pushing time arrived) to get you out.  I remember thinking in a flash what two scenarios faced us: a little boy or little girl?  It was exciting!

Out you came and up you were placed on my chest, you immediately peed all over me.  Nice.  You were perfect!  Sweet and tiny, soft and squishy!  You wiggled and peered up at me with big, baby eyes and I was in heaven.  You were the only child to be born in the day time!  The only child I got to be rested and enjoy being with for the day before it was time to sleep (not that you had any concept of day or night).  It was lovely to spend the afternoon with you in the hospital. 

Will left that evening to collect the big kids and bring them in to meet you.  They were happy to see their new baby sister...but did not like the way you smelled.  And just like that, we were a family of five!  It has been a blessing to have you as our daughter and sister Clare Bear.  We love you!

I'm glad we get to be braces twins...although you'll get yours off way before me...if the orthodontist ever opens up again.  We might be braces twins FOREVER!

Oh, you did get an actual working smartphone with a phone number for your birthday!  That was a pretty exciting present.  

 What a day to turn 14!  You will remember this birthday forever, I am sure.  On one more side note, just to note things about our Clare Bear: you started accutane for your birthday too.  You are excited about that too.

Corona Entertainment...

We have been home for a week now, trying to practice social distancing while the virus COVID 19 makes its merry way around the world.  Monday we were put on a shelter in place lockdown and even Will had to come home from work.  

School is canceled for the week while teachers, councilors, and administrators try to figure out distance learning for the kids.  We've found time to take walks as a family.  I actually love this time and love seeing other families out doing the same.  Several times a day we see families walking up and down the hill together.  Usually, there is a surly teenager leading the pack or trailing several feet behind.  I love seeing these families together and getting out with my own family.

On Saint Patrick's day we walked the neighborhood and dropped some candy off at neighbor's houses (no knocking or talking...just dropping and ditching).

Saint Patrick's is also our anniversary!  We celebrated 20 years of marriage with take-out from Panda Express for the kids and Albatross for me and Will.  It was a quiet, lovely night.

We are learning a little bit about two countries a week.  One day we studied Japan.  We watched an animated history of Japan on YouTube.  Made salt art for a craft and made Udon noodles for lunch.  The whole lesson seemed to be a success for all age groups!  Wyatt's salt art was the biggest hit!

We have been playing video games, watching TV or YouTube, reading, and crafting.  Adell and I worked on these cute fabric carrots for a springtime garland.

We are making it work.  I feel a weird panic every time it is meal time.  We have plenty of food and most of it is food we really, really, like to eat!  But when I look in the pantry I get panicky feeling like we should go out to eat instead.  I have a little worry that things are going to get much worse and I shouldn't use the food we have to eat as long as we have money to eat out.  It is weird and unnecessary.  I have to force myself to make meals at home.  Thursday, I took a 100% depression fueled nap.  It is a little overwhelming...this idea of a pandemic sweeping the globe.  Deeper than my food panic is a feeling of calm.  I know it will all be ok and we will be safe...I just don't know what we will have to endure as the world figures this all out.  Will is also very worried about the economy.  He is predicting a lot of gloom and doom.  That worries me...a lot.  For now, I guess I'll focus on the next meal and the next craft.  Online education plans are supposed to come out next week.  We can do this!

Love of my life...

Oh, how thankful my heart is for this wonderful husband of mine.  We have been through plenty in the last twenty years together...but a COVID 19 lockdown kind of tops them all.  

When we were newlyweds Will would ask me: do you know how much I love you?  I would answer one of three ways:

Heaps, and piles, and loads,

More than cucumbers, steak, and cheese.

So, so, so, so much  

I can confidently say the answers to that question haven't changed over the last twenty years.  I am so glad we are together and willing to love each other through good times and hard.  I love you, William James Anderson!

Little normal things...

Colter and Adell made Leprechaun traps Monday night to try and catch a Leprechaun on Saint Patrick's day.  

The five counties around San Francisco announced a lockdown, closing schools, and all nonessential businesses.  So that is really not normal...but since Will missed Pi day (it falling on a Saturday this year) at work, Colter and I made a trip to get pie for Will's work on the day they were trying to close the physical office and move everyone to online/at homework.

I got my hair cut Monday morning...the shut down was announced that afternoon and would take effect at midnight.  Is it selfish to be so, so, so, grateful I got that hair cut in time?  Will and I joined the Transformation Challenge at our Orange Theory gym.  We were supposed to work out at least three days a week at the gym for eight weeks.  Will broke his leg three or four weeks in, soI was left to carry the torch alone.  I managed to never miss a week (you were allowed to miss two weeks) and I lost 5 pounds.  Not too shabby, I guess.  I ate a big hamburger meal right before I weighed in so I feel like I cheated and didn't actually lose any weight.  It's ok, I don't like competitions anyway.  Will kept Colter at the office while I ran to the gym to get my weight in done.  Then I had one last workout in the evening before the gym closed for the shutdown. It was weird and sad but I ended up losing an extra pound in sweat...so I made them redo my final weigh-in.  Is that still cheating?  Maybe! 

Goodbye normal life.  You've had a really good run.  Now we will face the weird, uncertainty of being on a State Government enforced lockdown.  Cool.  I think we can handle it. 

It's the end of the world as we know it...

Wow.  What a turn the world can take in just a few days.  Where do I even begin?  Is that how I start every other blog post, where do I begin?  I might...

Last weekend I went to the dance convention with Clare.  A few days earlier we had heard there was a confirmed case of COVID 19 in Santa Clara County (just across the bay) and that person had contacted the illness through community spread, not by traveling or being in direct contact with a person who had traveled to countries where the illness is.  At the convention, I had a lot of conversations with worried moms.  We talked about hand washing, not touching our faces, and keeping bottles of hand sanitizer at the ready.  I wasn't worried about getting the illness but I was worried that everyone else was worried. 

Monday morning dawned and I knew we needed toilet paper.  We were down to our last six-pack from our usual Costco pack and I wanted to get to the store for a regular run.  I had a workout class and several Marco Polo conversations with my friends, Anne and Ashley.  They convinced me to stock up on a few essentials in addition to toilet paper while I was at Costco.  Not a problem, since it is the beginning of the month and there were staples I needed to replenish anyway.  While I walked around Costco, it was busy but not as busy as it is on a Saturday, I noticed what other people were putting in their cart: 15 packages of canned chicken, a package of every canned good in the store, Lysol, Clorox, and any kind of disinfecting cleaner the store had.  You could tell, people were shopping in a way that was unusual and driven by panic.  Everyone had a case of toilet paper in their cart...everyone.  I grabbed one toilet paper...and then grabbed another because the panic got to me too.  The rest of my shopping was really just regular food we were going to eat over the next few weeks: goldfish, cereal, brownie mix, Diet Coke, milk, eggs, bread, fruit, etc.  Nothing that felt too crazy.  I checked out and made my way to the receipt checkpoint.  The receipt guy had his hand out ready for the receipt and his marker ready for the swipe.  I said, "Oh man, your like the boss of a pit crew, ready to get people moving along."  He stopped in his tracks and put his hand on my shoulder.  I corrected: "You're a pit boss at a post-apocalyptic Costco?"  He looked me in the eye and asked if I had been there the day before on Sunday?  No.  He said he worked open and when he got there an hour before open, the line was over 700 people long to get into the building.  It snaked more than halfway around the outside of the building!  He said it was all people for toilet paper.  Madness!

The next day I made a trip to the regular grocery store after planning a few meals for the next week or so.  The grocery store was also busy but not so many people buying canned goods and panic supplies.  I had to make one more trip to Costco on Friday when a friend told me they had toilet paper back in stock.  You see, on my Monday run, they only had Charmin brand and it was almost $10 more than the store brand I usually buy.  I wanted the store brand and to save the money!  So I was going to return my Charmin and swap for store brand.  Alas, when I got to the toilet paper section...it was completely empty!  I also needed tissues as it is the start of allergy season over here and we are just about out.  No luck on that one.  Another employee told me the same story of people lined up around the block to get in at open. 

Over the course of the week, I talked with friends and neighbors about what was happening around the world and now arriving in our neighborhoods.  This COVID 19 was shutting down cities and people were panicking.  Meanwhile, all of us were totally baffled by messages coming from the government.  There is a list of single sentences Donald Trump has said from his various speeches and public addresses and it is a head-scratcher for sure.  Also as the week progresses different life events got canceled.  It was recommended any groups of over 300 should be canceled.  Sports were canceled, from kid-level to professional level.  Church was canceled.  Proxy temple work was canceled.  Talking with friends on the east coast, their schools were canceled.  The world was shutting down to try and slow the spread of COVID 19. 

By Thursday morning, I felt confident we had all the stuff we would need to be safe and comfortable at home.  I wanted our school district to cancel things.  In fact, I was starting to get worried that they were going to wait a week or more and by the time they did cancel I would be low on supplies again and out of luck if I needed to shop.  I kind of had a panic freak out on Clare when she and a friend drank almost a gallon of milk in one day.  As Thursday went on, one announcement after another kept rolling in.  More things were canceled and it seemed to get more and more serious by the hour. 

Friday was tense, I decided to keep Wyatt home from school and sent the other kids.  Clare's play was scheduled for Friday morning, which happened, but parents weren't allowed to attend.  We went the day through and heard the school board was holding an emergency meeting to decide what to do.  By 4:00 we knew they were closing the school for a month (including a week of spring break).  They are going to try and get online/distance learning up and running in the next couple of days. 

I feel like we are prepared and don't need to be afraid of being safe and comfortable in our home for a few weeks.  However, I am so worried about the economic impact this is going to have.  Will is beside himself with worry about the economy.  I don't know what to do.  I think it is going to be important to keep some distance for a few weeks.  I think this illness is serious and contagious!  I think if we don't have to be out...we shouldn't.  However, I also know we have a world to run and contribute to and staying home might result in more damage down the road. 

Saturday we spent the day at home together watching movies and dancing in the kitchen.  Will and I ventured out to the grocery store to try and get more milk.  The milk was gone but there was plenty of other food.  It was interesting to see what had been ransacked (broccoli, carrots, and bagged salad in the produce department.  Canned goods of all kinds, ramen noodles, rice, milk, and bread.  Frozen vegetables) and what had been untouched (every other kind of produce, especially organic.  Pasta, baking supplies, candy, dried beans, soup mixes, nuts, cereal, peanut butter and jelly, ice cream and frozen pies).  It was interesting for sure.

Sunday was lovely actually.  Since we knew church was canceled and we had been given permission to have the sacrament at home we were ready.  Will and Wyatt blessed and passed the sacrament.  Clare put together little programs along with a little table and a picture of the temple.  Adell planned the Come Follow Me lesson.  All of it was lovely.  It was actually the first time I've ever had the sacrament outside of a formal chapel setting.  I loved it so much.  We spent the rest of the Sunday together as a family.  At the end of the day, we watched an old movie called Its a Mad, Mad, Mad World.  It was long (2 hours) but funny and everyone watched the whole thing.  There were so many good laughs.  It was a great end to a few scary days.  Now to see how the world reacts to social distancing and other measures to try and slow COVID 19.

Hollywood Vibe Dance Convention...

Clare had her second dance convention this weekend.  I got to go with her this time.  She had another one earlier but I was in Mexico.  We were all a little worried about the global spread of COVID 19 but the convention wasn't canceled so we went.  We washed our hands and tried not to touch our faces.

Clare and I drove down Friday night and spent the night so she could be there for the earliest classes.

Clare's team performed at 10:00 Saturday night.  Will drove over and we took Clare to a fancy restaurant for dinner.  Her call time got moved up and we almost missed her performance rushing back.  Thankfully, they had some technical difficulties that gave us just enough time to get Clare on the stage. 

Guys, let me tell you, as soon as she started dancing...I burst into tears.  Like full-on weeping.  Clare is so beautiful and she has worked so hard on her dancing.  Seeing her up on the stage, watching her stunning presence, her dancing skills, all of it, was just so amazing!  She really is a fantastic dancer.  I was so proud and happy for her!  To see her up on the stage doing all the things she worked so hard on so perfectly was really emotional for me.  I was just so proud! 

Will and I left Clare in the care of a friend so she could spend the night and attend dance classes the next day. 

Last day plus an extension...

We were going to get on the road home really early Tuesday morning but Colter was too disappointed.  We didn't go to Lego Land and we had offered the Zoo as an alternative.  Then we weren't going to the Zoo either (thanks to a five-hour timeshare sales pitch).  We decided dance and our other after school obligations could wait.

We got another batch of donuts for breakfast!

The San Diego Zoo lives up to every bit of its high reputation. 

We saw as many of the animals as we could.  We asked each kid what their top animals were and tried to see them all.  On the way to each animal, there were plenty of other cool animals to see.  After three hours at the zoo (just about the right amount of time), we went to get lunch at Subway, collected a forgotten backpack at the hotel, and hit the road for home. 

Our drive was uneventful, other than a road closure due to an accident on the grapevine that sent us on a windy 30-mile detour.  We made it home by 9:00 pm safe and sound.  We all got to see some new things, learn some new things, and have a vacation that wasn't centered around work or family.