Remember back in March with the whole Covid craziness started? Yeah, me too. And we heard that they suspected things would be back to normal by the 4th of July... Yup, I remember that too. Here we are almost an entire year later and it still doesn't have an end in site for things turning back to "normal." Some things are slowly turning back to normal with the vaccine available to some. We are getting used to stalking up on items that we may need months in advance instead of going shopping a few days before like all the like minded procrastinators did. Birthdays and holiday shopping happen to take place WAY sooner than usual now. Anyone else dread that Amazon Prime no longer has 2 day shipping? It may be a first world problem, but dang, that is still hard to get used to.
There have been several things that living during a pandemic and raising children during
this time have taught me:
-Soft toilet paper all of the sudden feels like clouds on your tush. I forgot how scratchy the cheap kind is. But you buy what you can buy because who knows if the store will even have any the next time you go.
-Masks hanging from a mirror is totally normal. And it sends you in a mini panic attack when you realize you left your mask at home.
-Gas prices were the lowest I can remember. Even after the election and a new president in office they continue to be around $2.25/gallon now days.
-Home school was rough. Seeing all those students watching their teacher on Zoom felt unfair when Covid was not even in our state. Although I did love not having to get Kenidy up and ready early each morning.
-My breakdown moment was driving through the end of the school year pick up route. It was drive through style to see all the teachers waving to their students while the students had posters hanging out the window telling their teachers how much they loved them. It still brings tears to my eyes. Kenidy was lucky enough to have her own grandma as her Kindergarten teacher and got gypped out of several months of school with her as her teacher. It will still probably go down as her best year of school ever though.
-Cancelling our family's trip to Disneyland. I finally let the kids wear and get use out of all the Disney themed clothes we had bought for the trip before they were all too small. Disney still has no end in sight to open back up...
-Learning that a slower paced living actually ended up being my favorite part of 2020. I loved not having so many distractions and obligations that we spent time doing things as a family we never would have. Quarantine was long and mostly cold weather so we got creative with fun things to do at home. We had our first living room sleepover in the tent and made shadow animals on the tent until everyone fell asleep.
-The kids are still asking when "darn Coronavirus can go away already..."
-We were so blessed and saw little changes in our work lives besides now having to wear masks
- We dusted off our craft supplies and spend many hours crafting
-I finally had a minute to catch up on our photo books and actually read a few books for myself. I almost forgot what chapter books even were. I forget how quickly I went to reading adult books to only picture books. And thank goodness for the photo books getting a bit of attention. Can someone come catch me up again? Dang it's so easy to get behind.
-I loved watching how businesses adapted to make things work but differently. I went to my first broadcasted concert. Blake Shelton's concert was showed on the outdoor movie theater in Soda Springs. I went with my mom and some of her friends.
-Zoom high fit was my jam! I was in the best physical and mental health in years during quarantine time. I truly miss it. My morning routine of journal, scripture study, and high fit was the best start to my day.
-Instead of going to the swimming pool, backyard pool parties became the new "pool day"
-We spent so much time on the lake this summer on our boat and kayaks.
-My mom and grandma serve as the primary choristers and blasted primary songs while they delivered ice cream to all their primary kids and made a pit stop at our house too.
-Home church was a blessing and a curse. 9 oclock church was rough on my night owl children. We loved being able to do it whenever we wanted to on Sundays. It also made it harder for them to listen and pay attention when they were just at home and mom was teaching the lesson.
I can't wait to see how many other lessons we learn during this pandemic and how it gets written down in history books for our kids and grand kids to learn about. As hard as it has been, I count it as a huge blessing for my own family. I know how much of a struggle it was for so many that I feel guilty even saying that. But this home body introvert loved all the attention spent on my little family. We luckily did not have TV stations during the time of covid (Hulu fans for life) so the many stresses of listening to the news was not an issue to us. We still heard many things from friends and family and on social media, but the news reporters didn't have a spot in our home.
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