Sunday: pulling back, again

Well, we've made the decision to pull back activities again.  Michigan COVID numbers are spiking Ottawa is averaging over well 50 cases per 7days (roughly equal to 25 per 100,000) and that was the number we arbitrarily set several weeks ago that let us resume some activities.

To be fair, the only thing that changes this time is that we'll be doing karate on-line again.  I hadn't started going back to the grocery store, the kids are still in virtual school (not that we could change that), we're still watching church from home, and we're only doing take-out from restaurants.  I'll still be going to work, Ben will still be going to work, and we'll need babysitters.  (Side note: I realized that I didn't write about going back to karate...I had been curious to know how long the dip lasted.  Based on Ottawa county numbers it looks like five to seven weeks, but the data I'm looking at doesn't show the 7day average.  This is a depressingly short period of time.)

I'm optimistic that this spike won't be as bad, but I've also read that it is mainly hitting the 10-19 age bracket.  They didn't have many cases in prior spikes and most can't get the vaccine yet, so I also feel like it could be worse than I think.  Luckily it's also starting to warm up, so some activities may move outside and I feel much more comfortable with that.

Saturday: Happy Birthday!

 Today it was Joshua's loveys' birthdays.  It was Grey Bear's 50th and everyone elses' 1st.

We had mug cakes to celebrate.  It was the highlight of both boys' days.

We also packed some bags for Kids' Food Basket.

After we got home Joshua was a bit sad, but willing to snuggle on my lap as a rock.  Normally he just hides in his room, so I'm hoping this is a new thing we can do.

Friday: games

 We had games with our grad school friends!

This was my favorite T-shirt competition.

We also booked a vacation with them for this summer!!  Woo-hoo!!

Wednesday: Leprechan's Day

 Isaac finally pulled out some gummy Legos and made lots of things with them.  Before I realized it he had sent about six pictures to his teacher, which was a bit excessive.

Joshua was excited to find a piece of gold in his Leprechaun trap.  (It was a coin from an arcade that I had sitting around.)  He made a pot of gold to hide it in.

Tuesday: muffled

Sunday night was capped by the death of a coworker.  While I wouldn't call her a close friend, we did always stop to chat for a minute in the hallway when we saw each other and there was a relationship.

Grieving yesterday felt muffled.  I was at home and the family didn't know her.  They went about their day as normal.  I've noticed this with the few deaths that have happened this year.  It seems as though there should be more mourning, but it can be hard to do so when circumstances are already so weird this year.

Today all feelings felt muted.  Oh, except for the time Joshua spilled water on our good laptop.  Those feelings were loud.  (It is currently drying and I'm optimistic, but we'll see.)  It's been a hard few weeks, and so not having many feelings was a relief.

Every day is different, so we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Sunday: ...

I started the day out in a funk.

The day went downhill from there.

Saturday: made it

 The boys decided to do Lego fights with me this morning.  They always look a little different, but always consist of some Lego item coming upstairs to attack me.  Today I also got a lot of loot from them.  So much loot that it was about two handfuls.

At one point I started hiding in between attacks because...well, it isn't really a fun game.  Joshua decided to hide with me because at that point he was on my side.  So he took a blanket from the couch and put it in a place where it normally isn't.  Then he proceeded to put his head, but not his arms, under the blanket to hide better.  I just smiled and took a picture.