(Day 6) It’s funny to me, after a full and scheduled day, the kids often spend the next day very much on their own terms. The bigs woke up today and immediately immersed themselves in craft making in our loft. I’ve been saving a few things – toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, etc and placing them in the freshly cleaned loft in preparation for a day like this. They were super happy for most of the morning, crafting all sorts of different things. They made telescopes, binoculars, key cards and locks for their rooms, and much more. I worked on my own stuff in the morning; cleaning, cooking and texting with friends while they played and learned. Cassandra was the only one that needed me intermittently – she had lots to say and things for me to pay attention to. She’s a little extrovert like her daddy and is always full of words to get out! She asked to talk to her Yaya, so we did a video call a little later in the day so she could chat with them. She is fiercely protective of “her” calls with them! She shushes everyone else and chats away.
Lover baked us up another delicious quiche for breakfast! Keilana also wanted to build “The BIggest Tower that she could” with duplos. She attempted several – calling me over a few times to measure me and see if it was taller than me yet. Then she asked for help building it as high as we possibly could. I think we did a pretty good job! Everyone helped for this one!
It was Taco Tuesday and Taco Bell was giving away free Dorito Loco tacos! So we loaded up and went through the drive thru, and then ate the messy tacos in our front yard. Taco picnic! Then Lover walked over to church to volunteer at the Food Pantry. We ended up splitting the shift so that each of us had some time out of the house and with other adults. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon and the pantry helped out about 20 families!
Lover and the kids walked to pick me up at the end of the pantry shift, and we walked home by the high school so they could play on the track. There were lots of people exercising and enjoying the 70 degree weather – at a safe distance of course! We saw our neighbor and said hi, and laid on the grass and watched the clouds for a while too. Declan and Javi got into an argument about something, and were both redirected to different activities – we’ve definitely had more sibling squabbles recently as everyone is trying to sort through their emotions in this new (but hopefully temporary!) situation.
In the evening we tried out a livestream event that we had heard about – how can the Church respond in this time of Crisis, but didn’t find it to be terribly helpful. But – our pastor asked us to share this Sunday on how people can be praying for families that are home with young kids, so we are talking to our friends and compiling a list – reflecting on how life has changed and what challenges we are facing these days.