A month has come and gone and here we are still at home every day. Some days are fine, some are hard. You fight exhaustion which I’m sure is just depression in disguise. I’m doing my best to make sure the kids are on track happy, learning, and having fun. Since our girls are so little, it’s easy to control the message. Some people are sick, we need to stay home, we are safe. We’ve kept it simple. What we weren’t doing though, is letting them be frustrated and finding out what they felt they were missing. We talked about that once or twice, but we have been trying to be positive and keep conversations about what we liked about being together since we’re happy to have the girls home. We had a family meeting last night and they all talked at length about missing their teachers, friends, and variation of their typical days. Everly missed ‘the hallway’ at school since it looked different than our home. The hallway. They also longed for their activities and the special spring events they’re missing. Harper finally understands that her late May birthday will be one with just us. She had been asking if she can invite just a few people or have it outside. It sunk in and she’s grieving that loss which is a big one when you’re 7. Letting them get it out was so helpful and we could see the weight lifted from them after they vented. It was a good reminder that talking about the negative has its place.
We needed the car parade to cheer us up. Our neighborhood had another Easter car parade complete with 30+ cars and an Easter Bunny! I made a little video (below!) and it’s so nice to see people come out of their homes waving, with and without kids, in costumes, and with smiles on their faces. I didn’t get footage of everyone who participated, but you get the idea of how much joy this brought everyone.
‘Planning’ this was just a comment I left on our neighborhood’s Facebook page and people just came out! I included a parade route for those who wanted to wave, and a start time and place to meet (my house) for those wanting to parade. That’s it. Plan something in your area- a car parade, a birthday brigade for those having a birthday during this time so others can drive by and sing happy birthday, and other little bits of happiness that don’t cost anything but keep morale and community spirit high.
Find me on Instagram and let me know what fun ideas you have for this crazy time. Stay safe!😘