In the middle of February our spring break plans included a whirlwind trip to Texas: Austin, San Antonio, and Padre Island National Seashore before driving 24 hours back home. By the first week of March our plans changed to South Dakota (since it was closer to home) for hiking in Badlands National Park and the Black Hills. By the time spring break rolled around we knew we would be quarantined at home to do our part to help flatten the curve.
Spring break 2020 will forever be coronacation for me. One I'll never forget. I had a stress headache for half of it, the minis were in heaven with their daycare friends back, our vacation was cancelled, I lesson planned like a pro, and we got outdoors as much as possible without coming into contact with people. I had the minis and I start journals toward the end of break because this has been a surreal experience; one that will be studied in history classes years from now.
We started SB2020 with a social distancing weekend, then three days of crazy with daycare:
Sunday night we received word that our school wouldn't be back in session until April 13 at the earliest. I announced it to the kids in the morning with this on the table (pictures above). While the kids played, I began lesson planning for the coming weeks. I felt it was important to give the kids their scheduled week of fun for Spring Break and made plans to begin homeschool lessons the following week. The bonus to having a house full of kids: I get tons done somehow. The bad: they eat soooo much food!
Coloring, playing outside, Peeps playdough, and having a living room picnic lunch were the highlights of the day.
The cats thinking "here we go again" as the house was run by big kids.
Somebody's kid ran around the yard in a nightgown and bathrobe all day. Geez lady. (hint: that lady was me. Shocking, I know).
We could still see the eyes of the Peeps in the play dough. Creepy!
Our magical leprechauns came for their annual visit (they even left their foot prints on the wall, bookcase, and ceiling. Spoiler: the paint did not wash off easily at the end of the day) for St. Patrick's Day along with our other activities. The kids loved the scratch art shamrocks in addtion of the annual fruit tray and sensory activities. The highlight of the day was a full afternoon of freeze tag in the backyard.
The leprechauns hid
Two kids made an anniversary cake. No one is sure what anniversary they were celebrating, but the cake was on point. It featured two "hot tubs" on top, one with a couple, the other with two girls, and then two guys looking at the girls in the "hot tub." I barely held it together when they explained the cake to me!
Wednesday was a much needed calm day. The youngest mini asked to do some math, the boys checked out some of the virtual Museum tours, and then we got to the main event of the day: painting rocks from the rock painting kits for later use.
I kept the rock painting kits from Christmas. The kids spent an hour decorating the rocks and later this week we'll put them along the bike trail to bring a smile to other's faces as they get fresh air.
The rest of the week was all about self care and filling my own cup after a week of stress. Thursday I did an interview for my sister in law about how we're dealing with all of the changes and then I got out of the house. We stopped by the drive thru of a local coffee shop, dropped off groceries and special treats for friends and family who are quarantined to their own homes and can't/shouldn't leave. It was just what I needed and the perfect start to my spring break "vacation."
The van was packed with groceries!
Dropping off bananas.
We played lots of games, did puzzles, and Friday was Movies With Mom. We rented several movies, grandparents sent popcorn and candy (initially the minis were supposed to spend one of their spring break nights with my parents, but we have quarantined ourselves from grandparents for awhile, so my dad dropped a sack of goodies and the few groceries we couldn't find the day before on our porch). It really was a great stress-free day just the minis and myself.
Grandma and Grandpa sent cards, which were a highlight.
And naturally, while I showered for the day, the minis broke into the homeschool goodies I bought the day before. They also made slime. Apparently I took world's longest shower.
Before Movies With Mom got underway, the kids got to Skype their friends for a bit. It was a big mood-pick-up for us all.
Our movies for the day included: Detective Pikachu, Clue, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Jumanji: The Next Level. The minis insisted on a living room slumber party and Hubs and I watched The Invisible Man. We've been trying our hardest to support local businesses as much as possible during this time, so our dinner was Jethro's BBQ 'n Bacon Bacon. I had plenty leftover for breakfast the next day!
Now that spring break is over we're headed into a new chapter of our lives: free schooling. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on how it's going. It's bound to be interesting.
