SD: 38 days and counting.

And counting we will do until at least May 30, as today our governor extended our stay-at-home order through next month. In the meantime, our state has increased the number of testing sites and ramped up the number of tests being administered daily to reach its 10,000 per day test goal. Our death totals continue to ebb and flow. Earlier this week, we reported 33 deaths in a single day. Today we reported 123 deaths. The data is all over the place and mind numbing to try to sort through, so I will just heed the advice of the governor and stay home. 

And also, this...

{Mason has been trying to trap the chipmunks that have been destroying our flower beds. This squirrel was so close to meeting the same fate. Not pictured: The momma robin that keeps laying and abandoning her eggs in our rose bushes. Pro-choice knows no borders.}

{The three boys in the house have been playing a whole lotta Fortnite. Mason mainly likes to play with Caleb and Jacob on Friday and Saturday nights because it excuses him from normal bedtime hours and routines. Smart cookie!}

{Socially distant field trips to my parents' house. The boys tore it up on my dad's mower while Caleb finally dug Sadie's headstone into her grave. My mom grows asparagus, and despite what his face looks like, Jacob enjoys picking and eating through her garden! We also set up a picnic lunch on their deck where we all sat and ate awkwardly distant from one another. A sign of the times, I'm afraid.}

{We have been including my parents on our neighborhood walks. Three generations. Unified by our face masks. Speaking of face masks, the governor is mandating all people wear face masks while out in public beginning on May 1. Happy birthday to me...}

{This tough guy got his baseball pictures back for the season that likely won't happen. Looking the part nonetheless.}

{An anonymous photographer snagged this pic of Caleb and me doing what we all do most anymore: chilling on the couch.}

{Also what we do: bake things. Last night for dinner we made homemade donuts from scratch, and by all accounts they were Ahhhh-mazing! Homemade churros have also topped our list of new favorite things to eat. It's crazy just how many new things we have tried now that we have absolutely nothing else to do!}

As for the facts:

In the six days since my last post, our country's case total has increased just shy of 165,000 cases to 864,678. The death toll has risen just more than 12,000 to 48,845. In Illinois, we have an additional 9,300+ cases bringing our count to 36,934 and 554 additional deaths for 1,688 total deaths thus far. In our Village, we are currently reporting 79 cases. A neighbor of ours posted on our community Facebook page that his live-in mother-in-law died from COVID-19 after everyone in their family suffered from it, including their daughter who is in Jacob's grade. Things are beginning to hit a bit closer to home. 

SD: 32 days, maybe.

Cutting to the chase:

That's that. Today our governor announced that the school year will be finished remotely. And while I am a bit sad knowing that Jacob won't get to say a proper goodbye to everyone that mattered to him in elementary school before heading off to middle school in the fall (hopefully), it seems like this is the decision that had to be made. So I will take a deep breath and power through the next few weeks as e-teacher extraordinaire before school is officially out for summer.

Also this. Through their studies of pointless crap on the internet, Jacob has found the source of the virus. Bam!

And some art. The fourth grader likes to snag my phone to take and alter random pictures that I find at a much later time. The following were snapped during a CNN broadcast of Trump on his daily blame rage. Nailed it!

And finally... Camryn and her shelter-in-place BFF have channeled their inner vagrant by setting up their own tent city in our front yard. I'm not sure this structure is HOA approved. 

Now for the numbers. While we would all like to get back to normalcy (whatever that might look like going forward), the number of cases being reported for a vast portion of the states suggest that it's just not the right time yet. Our governor is currently working with several Midwest states to devise a plan to slowly begin reopening our economy when that time comes, and Federal guidelines were published yesterday that suggest there be a 14 day downward trend in cases before this can happen. It appears as if our numbers are far from aligning with those guidelines. Illinois was optimistic that it might reach its peak on the curve last weekend, but today the governor admitted that we still have not reached it. Today our state reported the most cases recorded in a single day at 1,800. Yesterday's death toll was the highest it's been at 125. And though it's discouraging to hear that our cases continue to rise, today's fatality was much fewer at 62, so I am hopeful that is a trend that will continue. Over the course of the past eight days (4/9-4/16), our country has reported more than 200,000 additional cases and has more than doubled its fatalities with 17,000+ additional deaths. In the same amount of time, Illinois saw an additional 9,300 cases and more than doubled its death toll with 544 fatalities in eight days. Though the governor assures us every day that our doubling rate is increasing (which is a very good sign), those numbers are still scary and a reminder that we are far from through this. In our Village, the number of cases has jumped from 52 to 71 in the same time frame. Fatalities are not currently reported. 

The Dow Jones:

April 9: 23,719.37 (+1.22%)

April 13: 23,390.77 (-1.39%)

April 14: 23,949.76 (+2.39%)

April 15: 23,504.35 (-1.86%)

April 16: 23,537.68 (+.014%)

And now I must go Google recipes I can make with yeast packets and string cheese.

Confusing times, indeed.

So... did I accidentally sleep through summer? 

This pandemic is screwing up everything. 

Idle Time

The problem with this lock down is that Caleb and I have a hard time doing nothing (me more than him, actually). So we caught up on some house projects that we didn't even know we needed to do.

{Our hallway office space is now painted the same gray as our kitchen island. Looking so fresh and so clean clean.}

{We painted the kids' bathroom vanity the same color as our basement cabinets. Navy blue for the win! And then we used some leftover materials and spray paint to update the mirror and lights. I'm sure the kids are going to love spilling globs of toothpaste in their revamped bathroom!}

Currently trolling our house to see what other projects we can use our paint sprayer on...

Easter: The One Where We Were Stuck at Home

Despite weather reports calling for a crummy weekend, we were able to dodge the rain (mostly) both Saturday and Sunday, and spend a bunch of time outside enjoying sunny and warm weather!

{We were one of about 40 (ish) cars in a birthday car parade for a neighbor. Can we all agree that this needs to be a tradition that sticks even after the lock down is lifted? So. Much. Fun!}

{We dyed eggs last night. And at least one child dyed his hands.}

{2/3 of our kids were up and ready to egg hunt this morning. The other 1/3 was woken from his slumber because the anticipation was too much for the others to contain any longer. All of the kiddos had a great time hunting for all 70+ eggs!}

{The kids dug right in to their Easter loot. The three of them got silly string in their basket. I was set up with my camera ready to take pictures of them attacking each other. I was not expecting them all to attack me!}

{We ditched the daily walk for a family bike ride instead. If my calculations are correct, we biked at least 75 miles. No? Closer to 10? Either way it was exhausting!}

{Then we tested out our new super bright chalk. Camryn commissioned me to make a rainbow with a cloud and a pot of gold. This is about all of the artistic talent I have!}

{The rest of the day was spent hanging out.}

We missed seeing our family today, but enjoyed making our own Easter dinner (for maybe the first time ever) and went on a Face Time Easter egg hunt with my parents, who porch dropped the kids' goodies and eggs earlier this week. Doing the best with what we have!

Easter Break is in Session

After knocking out four consecutive days of e-learning, the kids have a pre-scheduled four day weekend that begins today. The sighs of relief coming from my cute little students made me laugh because, well, they just had a four week weekend.

SD: Lots more days.

If my Common Core Math is correct (which it probably isn't because who the hell knows how to do Common Core Math?) then today is our 24th day of isolation under the Stay at Home Order in Illinois. 

And though I feel as if we are stuck in a never-ending continuum, we continue to keep busy.

Hairs need cut. And when you are Mason and demand a cut every two weeks, then you let your dad clip your locks with his beard trimmer. Desperate times, folks. Mason is the only dude in the house who isn't looking a bit shaggy these days, and he was so pleased with his do, that he suggested Caleb be his new stylist. Delusion is becoming more apparent as our isolation continues.

Spring has sprung. It's so nice to see flowers popping up around the neighborhood. And when you combine the nice weather we have been having with our current lockdown status, we have had plenty of time to get our yard in order. 

We now have a one-room schoolhouse. E-learning and Zoom meetings are in full effect, completely reinforcing my stance on never willingly homeschooling my children. What I have learned: Camryn has the most daily work, Jacob can quickly and independently complete his work, Mason cannot do anything without melting down, and I have never not understood first grade math more than I don't understand it right now. 

Sometimes we go outside to learn. Camryn has practiced her word wall words outside using chalk several times this week. She is also compiling a list of words that end in -ack, -ick, -ock, and -uck. Keeping it clean has become quite the challenge, because we all know what rhymes with "tick" and "duck."

Caleb and I have been navigating our way through these confusing times. I think we have finally found our new normal. 

Celebrating birthdays is challenging, but our local fire department has stepped up as the local birthday parade grand marshal within the community. Our next door neighbor turned 13 the other day, and a huge car parade accompanied by a fire truck and police car drove past. We see and hear parades within our neighborhood every day. Making lemonade out of lemons!

April showers. The weather has also been a source of entertainment. The beauty of nature is not lost on us!

We have been going for walks every day. Our loops are now about 3.5 miles, and we all look forward to this time each day. The kids have seen many school friends while we are out, which is probably why they are so eager to hit the trails. Time spent together on these walks may be the silver lining to this whole Stay at Home order as we have made some great family connections through our walks. 

As much as I would rather have him home with us, Caleb is an "essential worker" so off to work he goes. But his volume at work has decreased, so he gets to spend some extra long lunch hours with us.

Meal prep has never been my thing. And now that I am on the hook for all meals every day, we have been trying to get creative. So trampoline picnics it is. The kids have been making their own lunches each day (with the same things they would pack in their school lunch), which means they don't complain about what they have to eat for at least one meal each day!

We had a couple of actual hot days this week. And what better way to pass time than by dumping hundreds of dollars worth of city water on yourself and the trampoline? The kids spent so many hours outside, and have the tan lines to prove it! Side note: All of the children in the right picture have hung out every day since lockdown, and Caleb is the only one who leaves the compound. Germs should be minimal, but I keep my social distance from all of them as a precaution...

It's no coincidence that Martha Stewart and I have the same initials. I have been busy baking sweets, sowing seeds for our gardens, and sewing. I made a couple of masks for everyone in our family, some scrunchies, and a Barbie backpack as a special request. That completes the sewing portion of this lockdown. I made the masks specifically for me to wear to the grocery store and for Caleb to wear to work. Caleb refuses to wear his because he claims they don't work. Maybe he is right. But you know what also doesn't work: Doing nothing to protect yourself. But I have learned that I can't change stubborn.

And now for the ick. Yesterday, Illinois reported its highest one-day death toll to date at 82 deaths. In response to the increasing number of deaths, the state has turned a refrigerated warehouse into a makeshift morgue in the event that our current morgues reach capacity. McCormick Place is prepped and ready to accept patients beginning as soon as next week should the need arise. Our Village has reported an increase of 18 Covid-19 cases, from 29 to 47, between April 5- April 7. Our city is much bigger than the Village limits (and expands three zip codes), so it is unclear just how many people in our actual city are infected, but for now, this increase seems scary. Though I hope I am wrong, I believe we are just about on the brink of very bad things, so I spent Monday grocery shopping  (panic buying, actually, because we now own a dozen yeast packets) in what I hope to be my last time out in public for the next couple of weeks. In my limited time spent at the store, I could probably count on one hand the number of shoppers who did not have some form of a mask covering their face, which is both encouraging to think that the Governor's warnings are being taken seriously and surreal to be living this lifestyle.

Though the number of cases have not plateaued and deaths continue to be on the rise, yesterday during his daily 2:30PM update (The Pritzker Spritzer as it is now known), our Governor suggested that we could reach peak demand for hospital beds as early as April 11. According to some models produced by the University of Washington, Illinois hospitals are no longer projected to be overrun with cases and deaths are forecasted to be closer to 1,600 instead of the previously predicted 3,600 (There are currently 528 deaths). Only time will tell if these projections are accurate, but until then we will all continue to do our part by staying home and staying safe. Nationwide, confirmed cases have more than doubled in the past eight days, and deaths have more than tripled. That data is a bit difficult to digest.

And about the Dow Jones:

March 31: 21,917.16 (-1.84%)

April 1: 20,943.51 (-4.44%)

April 2: 21,413.44 (+2.24%)

April 3: 21,052.53 (-1.69%)

April 6: 22,679.99 (+7.73%)

April 7: 22,653.86 (-.12%)

April 8: 23,433.57 (+3.44%)

Caleb and I are currently catching up on all of our usual shows and binging new shows that make our own lives seem a little boring. Looking at you, Tiger King.