Six weeks of shelter-in-place

I’m not going to lie… the last two weeks have been rough.

Being in Canada is a wonderful adventure. But not during lock-down. The quarantine has made us really appreciate all the things you gain from a community: we miss our house, we miss our yard, we miss our swing, our climbing tree, and our basketball hoop. We miss our friends. We miss the opportunity to ride by a friend’s house and wave, or yell back and forth with friends from our respective yards. We miss our shared school community. We miss the opportunity for drive-by birthdays, neighborhood concerts, community strength. We miss, we miss, we miss.

We miss our family. We MISS our family!

It’s also been cold- winter cold -so we have been inside for nearly 6 weeks now. Remember we’re in a rental: no home improvements, no garden, no yard to speak of, and 2/3 of our possessions are back in PA. Ennui had set in. How to banish it? We celebrated Dad’s birthday, and that was a bright spot. But even with schoolwork, lots of screen time, and extra reading, we were floundering. Sinking into sadness. Boredom. Loooooooosing our miiiiiiiiiiiinds.

Dave and I decided we needed some projects around here: dioramas, cooking & baking, and turning ordinary things into something a little more special. We still have days where we stay in pjs all day. I still have days where I want to stay in my bed all day, but…. moms don’t get to do that. So, projects it is!

Dioramas

Maria and Danny loved this project. They each worked for daaaaays on their worlds. Jack wasn’t as interested, but ended up joining in and having fun. Was this project worth spending $70 at the dollar store and having a tornado of a room for a week? Absolutely!

Maria’s Pony World:

Maria loved creating all the little accessories to accompany each pony: a barrel of apples and an apple tree, books, flowers, a cake, and a butterfly in a cage. She also enjoyed figuring out some engineering aspects, like how to make her building support the roof, but also make the roof hinge open, and how to have a waterfall, but still allow the ponies to access the cave behind the waterfall. She took great care with all the details! It was fun watching her come back to the project again and again over the week to keep adding to her world.

Danny’s Volcano Rainbow Dinosaur World:

Danny was laser focused on a volcano/meteorite/lava dinosaur world… with rainbows, tulips, and happy snails :) I loved seeing the determination to get the details just so, such as the care he took to make each meteor have black spots, the blue eyes on one of the happy snails, and the lava on the volcano rocks — labors of love due to his cumbersome (but adorable) 5-finger pencil grip! He added sparkles to the pond, because the sun makes water sparkle, and he was careful to not have the lava too close to the cave, because that would scare the dinosaurs. He also told me the volcano was far away, which is why it was so small- perspective! It was a joy to work with Danny!

Jack’s Fortnite World:

Jack was set on making a realistic Fortnite world, and was initially very frustrated. Once he let those expectations go he had fun. He spent a lot of time creating the Deadpool Bear (I forget his name) and the taco stand, and even made little stuffed tacos and a cash register that slides open and filled it with money! Very impressive!

If you’re looking at these dioramas and thinking your kids couldn’t create something as wonderful, please think again!

The goal at the dollar store was to buy structural things (straws and popsicle sticks) and then look for little things that could be made into something else or used as decoration. Some were obvious: the astro turf and plant moss I was sure would be ground cover. Most were open ended. I’ve attached a shopping list at the bottom of this post.

We looked at some dioramas online together, and then brainstormed which little people/animals they wanted to use and what those worlds would look like. Then I put everything we bought at the dollar store on the table, all spread out nice and neat :) and right away they started discussing how to use each thing. I helped each child choose a box as a starting point, suggested they look in the recycle and loose parts bins, and then let them get to work!

Cooking and baking:

Maria is really enjoying baking. She has made bread several times by herself, cooked muffins, made pancakes a few times, and even had a shortbread-making play date through facetime! She’s also been cooking dinner with Dad quite often. She’ll definitely grow up to be a better cook than I am!

Making bread:

Shortbread play date:

A very special friend sent Maria a recipe for shortbread, and they baked together. The cookies were delicious! Maria made them a second time because she liked them so much. These two sweet girls also had virtual play dates to make Barbie clothes and draw cute animals- love how they’re making the best of a tough situation!

Mima’s 70th Birthday

We had an awesome surprise planned for Mima’s birthday AND a weekend planned at Aunt Merced’s and Uncle Ralph’s with the whole family to celebrate. Needless to say neither happened, but we did sing happy birthday to her… of course she cried :)

Family Movie:

Maria made family movie night a little extra special by creating a movie theater. She made tickets, set up a concession stand (dinner, popcorn, and hershey kisses), set up a bank for us to withdraw money, made a “curtain” over the tv, sold us and than ripped our tickets, and then sold us dinner. It was great!

My projects:

And finally, my projects. Nothing super exciting, but… I’m keeping busy.

While I love organizing and purging (minimalist wanna-be), we really didn’t come to Canada with a lot, so there’s not much to organize/purge. With no activities or social outings, we have so much more time on our hands. I’ve read a few books and sewed Danny some curtains to enclose his bottom bunk bed, but… I need a challenge. I joined a FB group called Quearteencasa. The members recreate famous works of art using what they have at home. Here’s my contribution, a recreation of Piet Mondriaan’s Still life with oranges, circa 1900. I’m going to try another one this coming week.

Overall, it’s been a good six weeks. We’ve had a lot of fun, spent a lot of quality time together, and had a chance to slow down. While we so dearly miss our family and friends, restrictions will open up soon, and in the meantime I’ll count my blessings for technology that keeps us all connected across 400+ miles, several states and an international border.