SD: All the days from the last post up to today. Whatever day that is.

True. And speaking of cocktails...

Because we couldn't go to Puerto Rico on Friday as we had planned to do months ago, we paid homage to the good times we didn't have by drinking Caribbean drinks at a time and place not entirely appropriate to be drinking Caribbean drinks. Friday morning. On my couch. In my family room. The coconut rum almost tricked me into believing I was poolside applying my first layer of sunscreen. Almost.

In other news...

Camryn Zoomed with her classmates one day. It was as awkward as you would expect it to be. Nearly two dozen first graders were logged on with half of the kiddos unknowingly making weird faces as they stared at themselves on the video screen while the other half were getting yelled at by their parents when they wouldn't sit still or refused to talk. I'm sure that was a one and done event.

Our family has been taking lots of walks. We have been exploring different routes around our neighborhood and are averaging about 2.5 miles per outing. And it usually takes about 15 minutes before I become the coat check. 

And because we aren't the only ones out walking, our neighborhood coordinated a chalk the walk event yesterday (or was it last week?). Anyhow, this was our contribution. 

We had a socially distant visit from my parents as they dropped off loot to keep the kids busy. We were thiiiiiiiisssssss close to actual hugs. 

Said loot keeping the kids busy. Some for longer than others.

And then we reached the next level of boredom in which you are excited to count the coins in your spare change bowl. The kids were told that they could each keep 10% of the total amount as long as they didn't fight while counting. They almost succeeded. But captive life is all about second chances, and after they were all able to harness their emotions they forged ahead and each walked away about $17 in quarters richer.

And I discovered that we own roughly 20 pairs of sunglasses. It begs the question of just which pair would you like to wear on your 45 minutes of outdoor time each day?

Now for the grim statistics:

The US has now reported the most cases of the virus in the world, and officials are warning that this could cause upwards of 200,000 US deaths in the coming months. Cases continue to soar and NY remains the epicenter (with makeshift hospital beds set up in Central Park), though scientists are predicting that Chicago will become the new epicenter by the end of April. Great. Workers are currently preparing McCormick Place to be the local triage unit should that become necessary. Our town now has 13 confirmed cases (which has scared Mason almost to the point of proper hand-washing hygiene), and medical professionals are now suggesting that anyone going out into public could be further protected through use of a face mask as there is uncertainty as to how this virus is transmitted. It is recommended that we self-isolate until the end of April, but we are awaiting official word by our governor at this point. Scratch that. As I type this, the governor announced schools to remain closed through April 30. The kids are technically on Spring Break this week, but e-learning materials await them for their first official day of online learning set for Monday. If my sources are correct, then deaths from the virus have nearly tripled within the five consecutive days shown below. It is unclear how many additional people died from the virus before an official diagnosis was given. It appears as if things will be getting way worse before they get better.

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*Shout out to NBC for this graphic.*

And as for the Dow Jones:

March 25: 21,200.55 (up 2.4%)

March 26: 22,552.17 (up 6.38%)

March 27: 21,636.78 (down 4.06%)

March 30: 22,327.48 (up 3.19%)

Unemployment is soaring with 3.3 million claims filed in the recent days, and with the economy crashing around us, talks of a recession are very plausible. The government did, however, pass a stimulus package providing checks to most Americans during these tough economic times. There is no official word yet on when we will be receiving the money, but if ever there was a time to be excited that we went for three kids instead of throwing in the towel after two, this $500 per kid kick back is it! Just kidding. I love my kids. And most of the time I like them, too.

Now if you will excuse me, I have big plans to take a shower and apply makeup just to see if I still remember how.

SD: Days 9-10

We have begun to socially distance within our house, and are seeing things. Lockdown just went next level. 

{Mason thought he saw a giraffe running through our back yard. You heard it right. But, nope. Just a tree branch that has been there longer than we have. Is delusion one of the phases of quarantine?}

{Camryn set up a parent-controlled messenger app on her iPad to connect with friends from school. And when she isn’t spinning around at a nauseating speed while on video chats with them, she is calling me. From her room.}

{Mason very patiently taught me my first Tik Tok dance over the course of way too long, and I became an overnight sensation with 9 likes. Only three of which came from devices within our own home.}

{Mason wanted to try a new recipe for dinner. He picked out a cookie recipe and we compromised on having them for dessert instead. Five stars from this crew!}

We also managed to walk four miles each day, and I learned that I can jump on a trampoline three times before peeing my pants. Like three bounces. 

I imagine that the next few days will be oddly similar to these few days. 

Now for the stats:

Monday: The Dow Jones closed at 20,704.91 (up 11.37%)

The number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in the US is at 52,600+ with 692 deaths.

NY is the epicenter of the virus with nearly half of all US cases. Oh, and the summer Olympics were rescheduled to next year.

Tuesday: The Dow Jones closed at 21,200.55 (up 2.39%)

The number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in the US is at 64,000+ with 897 deaths.

 

SD: Day 8

Monday. I think.

We woke up to several inches of great packing snow, which called for a two-hour delay start for our home school so we headed outside to enjoy winter in spring!

After making a socially distant group of snow friends we headed to the sledding hill where we had it all to ourselves. Well played, lock down. 

Upon completing our teacher-assigned school work for the day, we put on our finest springtime attire to go for our daily walk around the neighborhood. 

Yes, all pictures were taken in the span of a few hours. Yes, all children were dressed appropriately for all the weather. These are confusing times indeed!

Daily breakdown:

The Dow closed down 3.04% at 18,591.93. There are 41,000+ confirmed cases of the virus in the US and more than 500 deaths.

SD: Days 5-7 The Weekend Edition

The governor announced Friday that our state would be on a "stay at home" order beginning Saturday evening lasting through April 7, which meant nothing more than what we had already been doing: stay at home unless you need to go out for essential items. With nothing else to do, it was time for a bathroom face lift!

{This setup brought back my PTSD from when we finished the basement.}

{By Sunday we were in dire straits. Camryn resorted to reading, and Mason finally grew tired of his iPad. It seemed as if we had hit our rock bottom.}

{Caleb was on hour who knows of his assumed weekend challenge: To see how many consecutive hours he could play Fortnite before his eyeballs actually burned out of his head. Notice the boys playing with him? Me neither.}

{My view from inside looking out on Sunday night. Was not expecting the 4+ inches of snow we got!}

Daily Coronavirus update:

Friday: 17,000+ confirmed cases in the US, with at least 220 deaths

The Dow closed at 19,173.98 (down 4.55%)

Saturday: 23,600+ confirmed cases in the US, with at least 302 deaths

Sunday: 30,000+ confirmed cases in the US, with at least 390 deaths

My thoughts exactly...

SD: Day 4

{Can I get an Amen?!}

{The male residents have resorted to fart humor to pass the time. No different than life pre-Corona.}

{I changed out the plug-ins. This one seemed fitting, only because I couldn’t find one called “Groundhog Day.”}

In other news, the California governor locked down all 40 million residents in the entire state, and the City of Chicago extended school closings through April 20. 

The Dow Jones closed at 20,089.17 (up .95%)

There are now 13,000+ confirmed cases with at least 185 deaths.

In unrelated news...

Let’s rewind the clock to a couple of weeks ago. It was a Friday night close to 7PM—and dark outside because we hadn’t sprung ahead yet. Mason asked to head down the street, 7 houses to be exact, to play with his best buddy. My answer is almost always yes regardless of weather or time of day. I didn’t think twice, and Mason was out the door as fast as a kid with focus issues can get out the door.

About three minutes after his departure, I get a group text from his buddy’s mom.

Police? Searching for a guy? Stopped Mason?

Enough information to make my hair stand on end. I needed to get to Mason, but no way was I going to walk the unsafe streets of our very safe neighborhood to get there. So I hopped in my car—before opening the garage, of course. I didn’t need any uninvited passengers hopping in on my 200 yard journey down the street. When I arrived, Mason was pumped full of adrenaline. “Mom! The cops were chasing me down the sidewalk in their car. They tried to pull me over, but I wouldn’t stop. Not even when they said, ‘come here, we need to talk to you.’ But then I slowed down because I realized they were real cops and they needed to ask me if I saw someone wearing a green coat and khakis.” So proud of Mason for handling such an unexpected situation so well, and in the dark night by himself nonetheless. His account may have been a bit outrageous, but as the texts came in throughout the night, it all seemed plausible. 

And that was that. Not a single mention on social media or local papers regarding the incident. Fast forward to yesterday around lunchtime during the pouring rain when Camryn casually mentions that there is a guy in a green coat in our backyard. 

Green coat and khakis! If this is the fugitive the police were looking for, they could have probably called off the search and just called the local internet company. Case closed. Geesh! 

SD: Day 3

With rain on the way, we escaped our house early for an hour of outdoor play before being held hostage indoors for the remainder of the day. 

{My walk takes 25 minutes. I challenged the boys to see how many times they could lap me. They bought into the challenge and raced their little legs off!}

Baking, cooking, K’Nex, and board games rounded out our day. I did leave for a quick minute because we needed chicken. Thankfully, our store was stocked with both meat and cute firefighters. That was a perfectly planned grocery run! 

Sickness is spreading like crazy around us, with a nearby nursing home reporting 46 cases of the virus (up from 22 yesterday). Rather than become numb from the constant and looping news information, Camryn and I have resorted to watching “Cheer” on Netflix, which may actually be worse. 

The Dow Jones closed today at 19,898.92 (down 6.3%)

The US is reporting 7,760+ confirmed cases of Coronavirus and 140 deaths. 

Social Distancing: Day 2

We woke up to warm air and a shining sun, so after completing all of our daily school work and trying our best at fighting to the death (looking at you Mason and Jacob) we headed outside to enjoy the day. There was a lot of foot traffic around our neighborhood this afternoon. Who knows if it was because it was so nice outside or if it was because we are all feeling isolated and needed to get out. My guess is both.

{I'm not sure that this satisfies the six feet of recommended social space, but exercise is important so we play.}

{Camryn and I went for a walk around the neighborhood looking for shamrocks hanging up in windows--a scavenger hunt of sorts that was organized by our  school's neighborhoods as a way to get out and about. We found a handful of clovers before heading back to isolation headquarters.}

{Caleb and I did make it out to vote. There was an abundance of voters but not an abundance of hand sanitizer.}

{Meme of the day. And feeling a little bit more than sad that today I officially canceled all of our Spring Break plans to Puerto Rico set to kick off late next week. I guess we will look forward to going later in the year...}

The Dow Jones closed at 21,237.38 up 5.2%.

There are more than 5,700 confirmed cases of the virus in the US and more than 100 deaths to date.

*Side note: All of the news traffic reports into the city this morning were in the green today. I am hopeful that people really are staying home so we can quickly get through this.