Unicorn Log from Covid

Hellllo, it's me. 

I've been wondering if you have been waiting for me to see.

That I,

Haven't blogged.

I've been busy working/cooking/cleaning/teaching/trying to me put some sense into me.

Hello, can you hear me?

I'm just here, 

In my house.

Been here for awhile, (how lucky am I?) 

So why...

 do I want to cry (sometimes).

It's no wonder that there's this stress.

We are working, trying to teach kinder, and I thought I'd raise a puppy-what a mess (sometimes).

But you know what,

Things are well. 

Dempsey just said "she loved me so much," and Kevin, went to his crate-without raising hell (barking).

SO HELLOOOOOO from the Fruvellhoffsssssssssssssss

For real.  Hello.

COVID 19 has flipped everything upside down.  But we are so freaking lucky.  The kids are at home, with a device per-person.  Russell and I are both employed, and working from home as well.  We have a wonderful new house.  Our cars work.  We have masks when we go out, which we only do minimally.  We are able to get take-out on occasion. 

 In the beginning of this, I was extremely cranky and mostly in denial.  I told myself that I already did quarantine when I was on crutches in January and February.  I was ready to go out/get out/walk out.  The week that everything went into shutdown mode I had my annual NBA basketball game with my Dad, an awesome Denver date with Russell which included seeing one of our fave bands, and then a plan to head to California for 3 night date on the beach for us.  It was our way of celebrating me being able to walk and all of us surviving the saga of the ACL.  So...it took me awhile to get over myself.  Make sense of it all, if you will.

As with most things, I didn't stay in this mode for too long because it's ridiculous and COME on Megan.  So we have made the most of quarantine.  We've learned new things--I started keeping track on a list...let's see....

1.  How to use a cd player (AJ), because we needed to clearly blast PinK!

2.  How to focus on the binoculars so we could see all 3 peacocks at our neighbors house.

3.  How to drift (Dempsey) on the bicycle!  Dempsey has white tires and this was REALLY exciting to see the white marks instead of the black marks like the boys.

4.  How to address letters and where to put the stamps.  We did this while writing gratitude letters to our two friends who work in hospitals.

5. How to assemble/disassemble/fix/find rockets including figuring out wind direction the hard way.  This lesson included our tallest ladder and a mission with AJ and Russell that resulted in getting the FalconX back, phew.

6. How super glue dries fast, thank goodness this lesson wasn't painful!

7.  How to type (Dempsey)-this brought me back to my childhood.  I still remember sitting at the computer in my house and playing the falling letters game to practice my typing skills.

8.  WebEX.  Oh my gosh.  All kids know how to join a Webex/mute themselves/reverse the camera.  Funny how it took me til I was 36 to join a Webex and they are doing it at age 6, 8, and 9!

9.  How to play minecraft!  Dempsey is totally in it.  The boys have mostly moved on, but they will assist her and even play with her on occasion.  She has learned to tame all the animals, and you will find her house CROWDED with cats/chickens/wolves/horses/etc.  #futureveterinarian.

10.  Guitar.  ME-that's me.  I've learned how to play guitar.  I had started during my ACL journey, and then Fender offered 3 free months so I started.  I've slowed down recently, but I can play a few rifts that Russell actually could tell what I was playing.  I also played "Happy Birthday" for my dad on his birthday, which was cool.

11.  Puppy Care.  OHEMGEE.  Yea;  Kevin.  I've learned 5 million things so far on how to raise a puppy.  It's going really well, and some days I question what I did.  But I would say it's getting better and better and better.  I keep telling myself I raised 3 children, I can definitely do this.  (Correction:  I'm raising 3 children-geesh- not done yet.)  Plus the kids are learning so much responsibility and although I really wanted a puppy, so did they.  So it was nice to make a dream happen for them!
12. More connection with friends!  It's not the in-person connection that I want and crave, but we have a standing Tuesday evening chat with friends from Nebraska.  WE HAVE NEVER done something like this and it's been so darn nice to see and talk to them more!  I also Facetimed with a friend, WHO NEVER facetimes!  So there has been some pretty cool ways to chat lately!
13.  How to dye eggs with something other than those darn tabs, because I just didn't want to deal with the store!  Turns out kool-aid, tea bags, and other random things work well!

12.  Apps.  We have had some MAJOR fun with the CLIPS app-creating videos regarding our family and sharing them out to friends.  I also helped to figure out the green screen app and that has been uber fun!

In the end we are really doing well.  We all have our own rooms, Russell and I have our own offices, and it is really nice to have somewhere to escape to.  When the weather is nice-it is SO nice to get outside.  We take daily bike rides.  When it's cold and snowy, we build forts and play with Kevin outside because he LOVES the snow.  Honestly, it almost feels like my ACL injury prepared me for this.  I got used to taking a breath in my own ways.  Slowing down.  Being less hard on myself.  Being grateful and focusing on what I/we can do, instead of everything I/we can't.

Life is good.

Feel very lucky to be with these cool kids. AND with my Russell.  AND these two mutts.

Love,

Mom