The shelter-in-place and the school closures have been extended until the beginning of May. It's hard to think about a whole additional month of this but we have no choice. There is a real possibility the schools won't open back up at all in our area this school year, but we are trying not to dwell on that. Right now we are trying to focus on the things that will get us through. Those tend to be the puppy and eating. Here are pictures of those things.
Someone decided to cover the dog in a dish towel while he took a nap.
Looking wise beyond his years.
On Friday, he had a vet appointment for his next round of shots. I had to park in the lot and call the office to let them know we were there. They sent out a vet tech that whisked him into the clinic with no human physical interaction.
Serafina had a video chat with her besties on Saturday and she did a little self-care with a face mask while on the call. I'm not sure if any of the other girls did masks too.
My self-care was making snickerdoodles. They turned out nicely.
Here's the Mousse.
On Sunday I told them to "play outside". I came out to find them playing in Nana's car.
Mousse got to be out front too. He was able to meet the neighbor dogs from a distance. He can't interact with other dogs until he's had all his shots. Everyone involved found this very interesting.
And for an exciting change of pace, he got to eat plants from the front yard instead of the back yard.
We are participating in a neighborhood egg hunt. Families hang decorated paper eggs in the window for kids to walk by and see at a safe distance. It's sweet and kind of sad at the same time.
Tom made meatballs and sauce for Sunday night dinner.
We are having some warmer weather this week. Here's Mousse sunbathing in the most graceful way.
He's still not sure about that pool.
What happens when you leave the bathroom door open? Serafina learned that Mousse steals your bath pouf.
Yesterday was National Puppy Day. Here's our adorable puppy.
The kids love their puppy even though he does a lot of puppy teething on their hands and feet.
Today we did our usual drawing along with Mo Willems. Yesterday we had asked the viewers to dress up but we forgot. Mo encouraged us to pause the video so we could dress up so the kids ran and grabbed some stuff. Serafina got a tutu and Leo got his steampunk top hat.
Time for a puppy progress picture. He's getting so big!
We survived our first sheltering weekend. Of course, our main man Mousse made it easier.
Serafina was supposed to attend her dear friend Millie's birthday party on Saturday but since that couldn't happen, she got to do a group chat with Millie and a few of their friends.
While she was chatting, I tried to take groceries to my mom but her senior living apartment complex is being extremely cautious and isn't allowing visitors. It made me upset that I couldn't see her but they were very nice about it and took the groceries to her apartment right away for me. We were able to FaceTime her later in the evening and that helped.
Leo pulled out his guitar and the dog found it very surprising. His reaction was funny and adorable. Serafina decided to pull out her cello and Mousse was equally perplexed.
Today started out sunny and beautiful. We spend time outside. Mousse loves to steal socks and he found both of Serafina's socks and was in heaven.
The kids decided they would made some boats and test them out in the pool.
It floats!
They both float.
The weather was so nice and the pool was so inviting that it inspired Serafina to do this crazy plunge.
Of course it was freezing.
After lunch, we went on a bike ride. Grey clouds were rolling in but it wasn't too cold. We went by our neighborhood park that we've been to countless times. It was closed off.
It was a short ride but nice to get out.
As we were arriving home, there was a roll of thunder and it started to spit rain. We went inside and it sounded much louder than rain. That's because it was hail!
Mousse wasn't sure what to make of it but he didn't get upset.
He had a big day of experiencing new things - Serafina going in the pool, thunder, hail - and he took it all in without getting upset.
It's been a weird week. Yesterday the governor of California order the whole state to "shelter in place". Our county has the highest rate of infection in the entire state so that's not great.
But here's the sky on Wednesday morning. It was pink and pretty.
On Monday, my beloved gym closed and it was a very big blow for me. I usually go five times a week and the one hour workout classes help me physically, emotionally and mentally. Since it closed, I've been running in our neighborhood and the gym started posting online workouts on Wednesday. Here's the kids trying it out with me.
We've also been following along with Mo Willems daily "lunch doodles". He's very quirky and engaging, and the drawings are fun to make. Here's the first one we did on Wednesday. We've done it every day since.
You know what makes us feel better too? Mousse.
He absolutely loves being outside. LOVES IT!
Here's Serafina showing him off to her class during their online morning meeting.
Today the sun was very nice so Serafina read outside with Mousse keeping her company.
Our neighbor is an art teacher and she dropped off some clay today. The kids were very excited. Earlier today, I downloaded a stop-motion app on my phone. Leo combined them to make this video.
Tonight my friends and I had a virtual happy hour. It was a highlight of my week. We plan to do plenty more before this is over.
Happy St. Patrick's Day. This is as festive as we are getting around here. I hope it put the mail man in a festive mood because he's the only one who saw it.
In case you were wondering, the dog is getting plenty of attention during this crisis.
He's also growing like crazy. Here's last week on the left and today on the right.
We attempted to follow the schedule today but got a little off track. This afternoon Serafina was able to chat online with her teacher and most of her classmates.
A little after that, Leo logged into a chat with his social skills group.
At the same time, Serafina was following along with her dance teacher's live stream.
And this is the new normal. Tomorrow, Serafina will chat with her class again and Leo has a doctor's appointment that will be conducted online as well.
Today our governer announced that it was possible school wouldn't resume the rest of the school year. That would be incredibly difficult on us so instead of thinking about that, let's just watch some videos of the puppy.
