Today, like many other days of this quarantine, Ezra dressed himself. But today he opted for pajama pants, and I’m sure not one to argue with that in these circumstances.

We made it outside briefly in the morning before the afternoon storms rolled in.

Take a long look at this kid. He’s only five, and sometimes he looks like he’s 13 to me. Man it goes fast.

It was 50+ degrees today and my god, it was glorious.

At the Plesserville Preschool, we went for a nature walk to see if we could find signs of spring (science!) and we talked about how trees grow and we pulled back leaves and fall yard waste to peek underneath at what was growing.

It was so nice to have the fresh air!

And in Physical Education today, Ezra learned how to climb a tree!

Banner day over here, I tell you.

We also made one last trip to the hardware store for supplies before the Stay in Place order that kicks in tonight. Two more weeks at home. Deep breaths.

Also, please note that as soon as we were back inside I trimmed up that kid’s fingernails and made him wash his hands for 45 second. Gross.

I spent the morning with Ezra working on some sidewalk chalk since the weather is finally starting to warm up (high of 48 today!). We loved this project and have similar ones in our back pocket for next week as well.

The rest of the day was spent preparing. With the official lockdown happening tomorrow afternoon, I needed to swing by the studio and pick up all my gear. I did this in case I get hired for a studio shoot while everything is shut down (product shots done remotely) and because I’m a little nervous about crime in commercial buildings right now.

It was a sad errand to run on many levels. I think you all know how much I love my studio and the peace it brings me to work there, so I left it today with a heavy heart, not really knowing what the future will bring or when I can return.

Then I came home and snuggled with Ezra in his giant fort while we listened to Taylor Swift and I scratched his back. It was nice.

We also had our last batch of groceries delivered for a long time along with a trip to the hardware store (curbside pickup) for the tape in these art projects. If you are having things delivered or are picking up curbside, this video is fantastic at teaching you how to keep your house free of the virus.

By the way, if anyone has a lead on disinfecting wipes, please let me know. In most cases soap and water are fine, but I would like some to wipe down my cameras/phones on occasion, and I think those are best for electronics. Thanks!

Well here we are. Staying in place. Until May.

Today, the Governor announced a 2 week stay in place starting on Friday at 5 pm. He also said he hopes school can resume on Monday, May 4. YOU AND ME BOTH, FINE SIR.

I mean, I’m gonna be honest and say that our family is SUPER lucky that we have a pretty easy-going kid who has been a delight to hang out with 90% of the time. He’s not hard. It’s just that we don’t have the time to ourselves any more to catch up on email, work on our careers, listen to podcasts etc etc etc. I just miss the normalcy. And play dates. Hot damn, do I miss play dates.

But, I’m trying to think positive about this and the additional time I’m getting with this amazing child who is reading like crazy, who gets real mad at me for making him practice his piano over and over again and who spit out his brussels sprout last night at dinner with a look of horror that I would even try to get that one past him. You know what kid? I agree. Frozen brussels sprouts are terrible compared to fresh. I won’t try to trick you again.

The photos today are of Jamie and Ezra during our daily Mac Barnett story time on Instagram. It is truly one of our daily highlights, and I loved the hats my boys wore today. Enjoy.

I believe that up there is what Montessori School calls “Practical Life Skills”. And yes, we are focusing on those a little every day as well.

I gotta say, one of my favorite part of this whole “teaching” gig is coming up with the 15 minutes of chores every day. When he’s in school, we really do not have 15 minutes to spare due to dinner, piano practice, baths, and reading time. But now that we’re all working from home and inside all day every day, you better believe this is a thing.

So far, he’s still excited to learn these things. I remember when I was young how I was the same. I’ll never forget how eager I was for my parents to teach me how to clean the bathroom. Boy oh boy did that fade fast!

Usually his chores involve picking up toys, Lysol-ing the door knobs, watering plants, wiping down tables and chairs, cleaning the stair railings etc. But he does love the vacuum, so here we are.

Ah, it’s Monday and we’re back at work. As much as we can be, anyway, while schooling the children and preparing SO MANY SNACKS.

I snapped this image this morning in between “encouraging” Ezra to work a bit more on his art project, cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast and making a mental to-do list for my own company.

These two clowns are nothing if not entertaining through all of the madness. I’m so glad we have Hazel to keep things interesting in these days (and days and days and days) at home.

Otherwise… today was ok. The good news is that I can come up with to-do lists for DAYS on things to improve my own site and my own business. The bad news is that none of these things pay the bills (yet).

While family sessions will be completely possible from 6-10 feet away using a zoom lens this spring and summer as we venture outside, I do have concerns that we won’t be allowed to do them depending on the spread of the virus etc and the shelter in place orders that are coming down around us. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I’m trying to stay positive and think about the effects I can have with what I can do with this skill set in the meantime.

How about you guys? Are you slammed with work? Getting creative on what’s next? I’d love to hear about your own coping mechanisms!

While we have very scheduled out days M-F so that mom and dad can get some sort of work done (calls, meetings, writing, etc), the weekends we left as a family free-for-all. And it was splendid.

We stayed in our pajamas past noon, we made slow, leisurely breakfasts, we did loads of puzzles, read books, and even went for a drive. At dinner, Jamie was cutting up onion, celery and carrots with a knife and I pointed out how much faster it would be with the food processor. His response was, “But what else am I going to do with my time?”

In all honesty, this is the silver lining of this whole lock down. The time. The slowness. It’s phenomenal.

Anyway, here are some photos of our activities today. The puzzle up top that’s solved? I need you to know that *I* was the one who solved it.

But don’t Sunday evenings feel weird now? Like, I’m not figuring out my clothes for Monday or the week ahead. I’m not packing lunches. I’m not dreading X, Y or Z at the office (but let’s be real — I’ve been avoiding that feeling for the last 6 years since I started my own business). But you get what I mean. Sunday night dread isn’t really a thing so much now… or is it?

Also, I sent out a note to our block saying we would throw some puzzles on the front porch and if others wanted to bring by their own puzzles we could do an exchange — which was SO GREAT for today! I love my neighborhood. I love how my city has stepped up. I think my Governor is doing a bang up job. I’m just really happy that locally things are great. Because nationally? It’s a total shitshow. And we all know who to blame.

I created a 13-min tutorial yesterday on how to get better photos of your pets and kids at home on your mobile devices. Because of this, I had to (gasp) shower! And put on lipstick! Which, to be honest, felt good.

I sent the tutorial out to everyone in my newsletter today as a little “Hi! I see you! Here’s something fun to learn.” And if you’re not on my newsletter list, you should be. And if you want to email me and admit it, I’m happy to send you the link to the lesson. No hard feelings! (Also the photos above are from that tutorial.)

Ok, but enough about that. Today was better.

I got in a really good, really hard workout, we had a slow and leisurely breakfast, there were a lot of legos, a walk with the dogs, a new TV program that we all enjoyed and after bedtime Jamie and I had a few drinks with friends over the internet (thank you Zoom).

We are now trying to figure out online grocery ordering and if we want to go with shipt or instacart. We have plenty of food to last us at least another week, but we are low on milk and a handful of other fresh fruits and veggies would be nice. And chocolate. Have I mentioned how I am missing my dark chocolate?

If you have a favorite service or tips, please share them with me. So far it looks like Kowalksi’s via shipt offers the most selection (by which I mean my favorite yogurt). Thanks!

And yes, we are doing delivery because I am forcing my family to a strict quarantine for at least 14 days. To us, that means no face-to-face contact with other people. The three of us have been fighting headaches, congestion and mild fevers on and off, and while I’m 98% certain it’s allergies, I’m not taking a single chance of getting anyone else sick with this madness. Call me crazy, I’m good with it.