I hope you are all enjoying the #StayHomeChallenge, or at the very least finding bright spots and reasons to be thankful every day. As the corona virus spreads, our lives have changed dramatically with Safer at Home orders.

Admittedly, we are doing okay. It’s not perfect, life never is, but it’s manageable and many times fun.

Full disclosure: it’s spring break for our kids, so they are sleeping in, watching tv, but they are finding time to get outside, and do some non-technology related activities.

Here’s a peek into our home life over this past week or so.

Family Activities

While Daddy O. was working, I dug out the Kinetic Sand and Play Doh from the depths of our craft cabinet. While the kids molded and created, I took the time to go through each container to make sure it was still pliable. Some of this Play Doh was likely eight years old (if we first had it when Big Sister was two years old), so some spring cleaning was well overdue. Even the bright colors in the garbage looked kind of cool – check out the picture below:

From top left: old Play Doh, cool snake, Big Sister hard at play, Little Brother building a sand castle.

Rolling out the snake was a huge hit. An added bonus – the kids helped sweep the floor and clean up the mess!

Puzzle Time

Later, Daddy O. broke out a puzzle to work on while we watched tv. We moved the kids “virtual learning table” into the living room. I had also decorated our mantel for Easter, which you can also see in the pictures.

Deep concentration during puzzle time

Spring Cleaning / Organizing / Remembering

Even though we’ve moved four years ago, we still have some boxes that have not been opened. Now some boxes contain old photo albums, so no worries there, but some had kitchen and serving pieces. It felt great to open up boxes and re-arrange some kitchen / serving items based on how often we use them.

I also started a box with items to donate. I’m sure more will be added to this box as our time at home continues.

I decided to toss this wine preserver (with the stoppers missing)…as if we need this during cocooning!!

Forget you, wine preserver!

Another plus: I found my grandma’s china:

I’m grateful to have her set of china, some fiesta ware, other serving pieces and even her kitchen table that they got in 1969.

This is my grandma’s writing on a label underneath a kitchen chair.

Anytime I see her writing, I just smile, thinking of her and her meticulous documenting. My dad’s mom lived for 94 years, passing away when I was in high school. This time at home makes me think back to her childhood around 1910 (she was born in 1904)!

Hmm…maybe that’s another blog post that I need to write.

You can read about my other grandma, my mom’s mom here: In Loving Memory of Grandma. Born in 1930, grandma was the matriarch of our family, raising three independent daughters while working on their farm for over fifty years.

Sweet Treats

We have been enjoying good food in our cocoon. Some of it has been so good that I have not had time to take pictures of it. It doesn’t last long!

Daddy O. made his infamous pumpkin bars.

I made my Great Aunt Bernice’s chocolate chip banana bread.

Together, the kids and I created chocolate dipped pretzel rods and cookies with a kit from our local chocolate shop. Here were our show cookies:

They were delicious!

Art Activities

The week before spring break, our wonderful art teacher shared this link about Op Art.

Little Brother and I tried some. Mine is the top one and his is on the bottom. It was a fun little project!

Op art projects Go Mama O.

Pretend Play at it’s Best

What brings me most joy is that my kids are playing so nicely together. Their favorite game is “ferrets” right now. They have ferret names: Ashes and Embers, ferret homes and play area in the basement, food and water bowls in the kitchen, and their own language.

This activity has occupied them for hours. This morning they watched a YouTube video to draw pictures of ferrets.

It is adorable.

Ferret pretend play Go Mama O
It’s a ferret’s world in our home.

I hope they look back on COVID-19 and remember the fun moments like this – not the fear and uncertainty.

When my daughter was five, I wrote a blog post, Spring Break from my Daughter’s Eyes, and I reflected:

As parents we try to do all the big, fancy things with our kids. Sign them up for all sorts of classes and activities, take them to children’s museums, zoos, aquariums, etc, and what they remember most is playing outside with us in our very own backyard.

Go Mama O. April 2015

I hope you are all making memories during this #StayHomeChallenge.

Be safe. Be well.