Day 1- March 14, 2020

March 14, 2020
I spent much of this morning cleaning.  And I mean cleaning.

The floors were mopped with Murphy's Oil Soap, so my whole house smells lemony-fresh, like some 1980's television commercial.  I disinfected every doorknob and light switch, and cleaned the counters.  I then painted over a spot in the living room from where the electrician opened the wall a month ago to install a switch for our new recessed lights (it's been on my to-do list).  The laundry, which we have been trying to do religiously, finally shrank down to a manageable mini-pile (I always think of the trash heap from Fraggle Rock when I look at it- most days, I half expect it to start chatting with me in a sweet old-lady voice).  The girls' rooms were vacuumed and dusted, and all clutter found a place (some of those places were recycling and the garbage, but I digress).

E's boat

The kids rediscovered Legos.  I had put the bin in the attic months ago, when we had the floors redone (our tenants' pets had done a number to the original hardwoods and they were so old, we had no choice).  After carefully ducking to avoid the ceiling nails (no insulation under the roof, so the nails come right in), I had retrieved the large plastic bin, and the tiny plastic pieces were sloshing around as I made my way to the guest room.  Within an hour, R. had crafted a giant version of one of the Lego people, and E. had made a boat with a kitchen, triple bunk bed, and ladder.  Considering E.'s obsession for rearranging her room, create unusual homes and vehicles with Legos, and her desire to always work with Jeff or myself when we are building something (a greenhouse, a bar, a shelving unit), I expect her to someday have her own HGTV show.  That, or she's going to be on the US Women's Soccer Team.

We made fresh bread (something we plan to do daily, since we aren't going to the supermarket until April).  Jeff purchased copious amounts of baking products a few weeks ago, when it started to look like being quarantined was inevitable.  Knowing my love of gluten, flour was a large part of that acquisition.  I started using the breadmaker we received for our wedding twelve years ago, something I used to do all the time, and rediscovered about a month ago when I unpacked boxes from our move home.  The girls love watching the yeast bubble and hiss, and the dough rolling around the bread pan (Ella decided it looked like a fat hamster last week, and I now can't think of it as anything else when I check on it.  We have named all dough balls Humphrey).

Jeff has been planting seeds for the spring.  We have all sorts of sprouts coming up in our sunroom, where rows of upcycled cans, egg cartons, and containers now house spinach, beans, tomatoes, and more.

I spent some time on the computer (as one does), posting resources I have curated over the last few weeks to Facebook and sending them out to friends.  I'm attaching them below this post, so that others can remember some good options while stuck at home.  The main thing was the idea of using the online resources that libraries offer- check your hometown library's website, you might be surprised by all your free online movie, book, and music options!  Librarian rant over.

The girls spent much of the late afternoon outside playing soccer.  The air was cold, but the sun was bright, and I could hear laughter through open windows. I went outside to play with them, and lost a close contest, 10-9, which resulted in a piggyback-ride-turned-falling-down-gigglefest for the girls.  We worked on shooting drills after, which E. has been focused on for her travel team.  She's extremely proud of her ability to hit the goal from distance, and occasionally kick it OVER the goal (yesterday, she even sent one up, over the goal, over the fence, and down the sharp hill into our neighbor's driveway.  That resulted in some very loud celebrating).  She's seven, so I'm hoping that eventually, she realizes putting the ball into the goal is more impressive than sending it over the goal.  Until then, she plays a lot of defense anyway, so being able to kick the ball high and far with one touch is a major asset.

And in proud parenting news, we only yelled at the kids once*, after we had spent 15 minutes of intermittently reminding them gently that they needed to go outside.  They had been on their Chromebooks for school, checking out their assignments for Monday, and asked for time to start on a few of the online suggestions, like playing Prodigy Math.  We had allowed it, but after they put down the computers to run upstairs and change for outside, they got distracted by the aforementioned Legos, and needed to be sat down and read the riot act.
*twice.  I started writing this earlier, and then bedtime happened, and there was much Lego playing instead of teeth brushing and pajama changing.

Overall, a good first day.  I'm hoping others are faring well, and that we all can stay healthy, calm, and happy as we weather this storm.

Good Online Options for Learning:

Local libraries have a TON of online resources. Go to your library's home page, and you will discover a ton of options.  In my town, we have Rosetta Stone (learn a language), FREE movies and music through Kanopy and Hoopla (also has tv shows and audiobooks), ebooks (thousands- for your kids AND for you), and magazines (over 250 of them). 

Second, Scholastic has twenty days of interactive lessons and fun activities for kids, which are divided up by grade levels:https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

Third- if you have cable, you can probably download the app for a number of your stations, log in, and then see a slew of back episodes of shows.  We've been watching Kids Baking Championship a lot using Food Network's app, and it is GLORIOUS.  My kids are inspired.

For the athletes among you (or your children)- I got my daughter a Dribble Up soccer ball for her birthday, and it's a ball with a chip in it, and goes along with an app so she can do drills using a phone, ipad, or tablet.  Here's a link if you are interested:  https://dribbleup.com/products/smart-soccer-ball. They also have a basketball.  And of course, if it's nice out, head outside and practice :)

Finally, Youtube has a USWNT Soccer channel.  It's free, and has games (FULL LENGTH GAMES!) going all the way back to 2012, when my kids were babies.  This direct link should work (or look for USWNT Soccer channel)  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEuAiCKLH5F86is1N9QgW-Q. I've watched several with E. since we discovered this a few weeks ago, and it's a lot of fun (especially seeing some of the players who have retired when they were in their glory days).