And March...Went to Sh**

Pardon my French. The rest of February was nice, Valentine's Day and such. Even the beginning of March the boys went to another NASCAR race and spent time with family in town. We just started Spring Break so the first week we had gone out to different places, including Aaron and Preston each getting their own Build-A-Bear! It was after that, things went downhill very fast.

For starters, I lost my craft job with Green Kid Crafts. That felt out of the blue and I didn't quite agree or appreciate how it went down. But, little did I know it was probably more of a blessing in disguise to have one less job to worry about, even if I was losing a bit of money. It was also at this time that I had met with my publisher of the magazine I write for, and also happened to turn in a column that I felt took a good chunk of time to do (gave it back). That also happened to work in my favor, even at the loss of money. 

Since January, I have been very, very busy with my teaching job. It was to be typically busy because of the Chinese New Year holiday. However, it was soon after the New Year that China came down with a sickly virus. It spread like wildfire which caused schools in China to close down to prevent spread.  Kids were stuck at home. Parents decided to throw their kids hard into lessons. I have been teaching morning and night classes since that time, most weeks and only just recently tapering off a bit. Kids are still not in school there. It was in the beginning of March that this sickly virus made its grand way into America. 

As of today, our schools are officially closed for the year. FOR.THE. YEAR. The rest of the school year. Our state went into lockdown mode. Restaurants have closed their dine in operations and adapted to take out, delivery and curbside. The flippin stores are out of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, paper towels, meat, pasta, eggs, milk. It's complete madness and it's predicted it will only grow worse. We are to stay in our homes for the most part unless it is essential. 

So now, as a result, we have no idea when life will return to normal but boy are we banking hard that it will return one day. The boys are bummed because we canceled a planned Spring Break getaway to theme parks -- just as they decided to close. We had plans to attend my sister's nursing graduation in another city and canceled those plans. We were to go on a trip to Mexico in May to celebrate, but the border is now closed. We are to go to Europe in June and now there is a high chance it will be canceled, too. Life is up in the air and it's scary and it's frustrating. I don't want to be home anymore than the kids do. 

The kids have started e-learning this week, doing assignments online. As the weeks go on, I imagine it will change how these assignments work. I'm just so sad for the kids missing the rest of the year, especially Nate as I had images of his graduation, ceremony, his last day of school clap out....all canceled. I hope the school figures something out, but regardless we will. This will be the first Easter (holiday) we will not be celebrating with our families. I miss the socialization A TON. I thought I was home a lot before...literally my saving graces are baths and walks, which thank goodness for mild weather and that we are allowed outside. China was not.

I have no idea how to teach for real, but here we go!

New activities for "centers"

Immediately I bought some new things for the boys, grasping onto anything that would make them happy. Since we can still receive delivery and takeout, I have been supporting and using local businesses as happy parts of our days. 

Have to support my favorite coffee shop. Local businesses are hurting :( 

PE time

Supporting local business with a fancy date night at home

Our new life - FaceTime

I love the honesty of kids. Aaron's note to his cousin,Autumn , who still had a birthday party...

So, for the coming months we will be balancing working from home (I'm very relieved Josh is working from home and not traveling), schoolwork, entertaining the kids...same as everyone right now into summer. We really hope the kids will go back to school on time in July, but that is far off and remains to be seen.

In the meantime, we will just keep thinking and wishing for the rainbow days to return. It really does make you appreciate all the small things, like just being able to catch up with a friend for coffee. I had just met up with friends right before spring break. 

I'm also very much wishing for the safety and health for our family and friends during this absolute crazy time. We will not forget 2020 and what it teaches us. 

Nathan is 12!

I officially have a tween. He is definitely a tween. In lieu of a party, Nate had a family get together with Josh's family where they went car racing and out to lunch. One of our presents to him was an airplane simulator experience, as the fact that he wants to be a pilot has not changed. Josh took him to lunch afterwards and he seemed to really enjoy it!

Some facts about Nate :

--His eating has expanded beyond kid food, hooray! It took 12 years...he's willing to try a variety of food (he even likes sea food) so that has been really fun. He hadn't even tried a burger before, but now that is one of his favorites. In N Out, please. 

--He got a phone for Christmas. He loves to listen to music and have the ability to communicate with family.

--He definitely remains our responsible and reliable child. Trustworthy. Understands the ability to make and save money, as he recently did to buy an electric scooter. He's at that age where he would rather have money and gift cards than toys or anything else. 

--We've started to give him an inch (and responsibility and trust) in beginning to go around our neighborhood on his own. We're taking those baby steps in that he will likely be taking himself to school next year either by walking or biking, so he is excited for the freedom of this. 

--Has a girl "friend". Will have to come back to this later. It's cute, they have professed their love. It's very down low. Nate would never want to draw attention to himself.

Generally, he just keeps evolving. It's fun that he is turning into more of an adult now, in ways. For his 6th grade graduation, or for it at some point, I wanted to just take him out for a "fancy adult dinner". How nice to enjoy conversation without having to worry about him acting up as a child , haha. And now that his eating has evolved, I'm excited to really open those doors to good food. 

Happy New Year! (or not...)

In typical fashion as we like to do, we went out NYE to dinner at a restaurant we have started to make tradition. It's nice because they decorate for the occasion, it feels fancy for adults but friendly enough for kids.

Noon Years Eve early. The boys had a playdate over noon time with their cousin so we did not do our traditional balloon drop this year. 

Of course, we discussed 2019 and our hopes for 2020. Wow has 2020 thrown some curve balls our way. To be continued...

Christmas and Birthday Celebrations

Besides the trip out of town with my sisters and mom, December was a great month. We celebrated with the Christmas spirit.

We went to the Phoenix Zoo for our annual trip to see lights. One night, I took the boys to a drive through light display which was fun for a change. Again, we spent time with our families over Christmas Eve and Day. My sister had her annual holiday party.

In love with our Christmas cookies we contributed from a local vendor

The boys had their annual Jingle Jog at school which my sister participated in with us! That made it more fun.

Nate's 6th grade teachers - his teacher is Santa!

The running gang

My birthday was great, too! I spent the day doing a lot of my favorite things. It began with a bath, a drink from my favorite coffee shop. 

We went out to breakfast following my bath. I had a massage that afternoon. 

I'm lucky these days to have 2-3 a year, so I really appreciate them.

That evening, I had dinner with my family out after Preson was down for bed. Just an adult dinner, which we have never done before since having kids (lucky for us, Nate is old and responsible enough to babysit now). The following day, I had games and cards with my family and they made me an incredible cake!

Candy!

My sister came over one day so Josh and I could have a date night in celebration of my birthday, just the two of us. We went to one of my all-time favorite date night spots.

December was a great month. During winter break, the boys played with their LEGOS they received (check out Nathan's below!), their new video game equipment...it's a great time for the kids to be entertained with what they received at Christmas and to have Josh home. 

It took him 3-4 straight days to build it. This is the beauty of LEGO!

Winter Girls Trip to Waco!

Ever since I had the spring trip to Waco with my sisters, my mom talked about wanting to go there as well. We saw the special event Christmas at The Silos that was happening in December, so we surprised her soon before leaving with the announcement that we were going to Texas for their special weekend! Again, I look back on this with bittersweet memories because we don't know when we will be able to travel again, so I am thankful for the time with my sisters and mom on this fun getaway we had again.

Of course we had to take mom to Magnolia Table a few times!

Lavender donuts-mmmm....

We took her to some of our other favorite eateries (such as the delicious steakhouse we visited the last time) and of course, shopping at our various spots multiple times!

A new coffee shop added on to our list

Can't forget the bakery

Shopping!

I met Joanna Gaines' mom at Magnolia Table while she popped out a minute

It was a great few days of eating, taking naps, shopping and quality time. I'm definitely looking back very fondly at these memories currently! 

November Events

Time to catch up a few more months.

I believe I mentioned how our school does a special Thanksgiving type meal for the school. Here are the pictures of Aaron going, as Nate felt under the weather.

Aaron's teacher, Mr Morris and students

We love this school tradition.

Jaxon started at a new doggie daycare. We love it. We wanted to get him used to it for future travels...now whenever those will be. They have special events which we love, too. Makes it fun for the pups.

Thanksgiving Feast day

They both go to NASCAR twice a year now

 We hosted Thanksgiving for Josh's family and went over to my sister's for my family. To look back at spending holidays and time together is now bittersweet. More on that a few posts down the road.