Easter 2020

It was a little unusual just being the 3 of us at home without other family and no friends. The year before we spent Easter unexpectedly in Fort Lauderdale when we got stuck there after our Spring Break in Miami. So 2 unusual Easters in a row for us. But this was our first Easter at home in our current house and we made the best of it.

I saw this meme on social media and had to save it. I think it is so appropriate
for the time.


Ally and I made Easter cut out cookies. She decorated the eggs and flowers below.





Ally got an edible arrangement from Grandpa Frank for Easter.


it even had a pineapple shaped bunny.


we dyed Easter eggs.




Easter morning Becky and I decorated the 3rd floor for Easter, and hid 43 eggs for Ally. Some plastic some real. And of course put out Ally's Easter basket.
I also made carrot muffins.






These paper eggs are from many years ago. It was fun to put them out.


We made a trail from Ally's room to the 3rd floor where the egg hunt was.




13 is not too old for an egg hunt.


Or to get stomped by the silver egg hidden atop one of your trophies! best hiding place ever.



Ally was pretty happy.


Cloey was not - she really wanted to food. But no chocolate for dogs so Becky had a tight hold of her.



I love how Daisy is eyeing the candy.


Ally got some therapy dough in her basket - she loves this aromatherapy putty as a fidget.


I got a couple of peanut butter eggs.



But the big surprise was that Ally got some face care products from Mario Badescu she has been asking about for weeks.



13. I'm telling you.




later in the day Eliana came for a quick visit - she and Ally had some time on the back porch while moms talked on the front porch. It's the best we can do during this time.



And our Easter dinner - its a repeat of last year when we were in our studio hotel room, we had Turkey burgers and potato chips. Smoothies this year instead of carrots. But it was yummy.

all in all a pretty good day

Coronacation Week 5 April 12 - 18

Really this is April 13-18, since Easter was April 12.

One thing I forgot to mention in earlier posts is that our family has been supporting our Churh's homeless shelter during this time by making meals for the shelter.
There is a sign up to provide dinner every night for 16 people. We have signed up and dropped off 3 meals already and have a couple more nights to do. We had pizza delivered the first night, because we only learned about the need that day and it was the best we could do.
One week I made 3 pounds of home made macaroni and cheese with cauliflower, and cake. Another week it was chili, cornbread and cake. Next time it will be spaghetti and meatballs with brownies.

It has felt good to do something for others during this time. Between the shelter and the masks it has been nice to have some other things to focus on.


A sample of the 75 masks Becky has sewn and some pictures of our friends wearing them!

I stole this one from Ally’s Instagram. Week 5 was kind of rough here for a while.

But jumping while holding Daisy was a fun distraction.

Becky was finally able to bake some sour dough bread with the starter she created and fed for 10 days. It was so late (1030pm) when it was done we forgot to take a picture but it was delicious.

 Saturday morning Cloey got a facial.

Then Becky and Ally went up to the 3rd floor and played games and created a marble run. They were up there for over 3 hours. It was like when Ally was a younger girl. They had a blast. 

And some tumble shots from this week. 

Becky made arugula pesto and we had it with pasta and purple carrots and chickpeas. Yummy

Ally had plain pasta. 

Coronacation Week 4 April 5 - 11

Holy Week. It was a strange week to still be living without seeing others and no work and no school and no gymnastics. The governor of Massachusetts opened up the economy for construction, so my company started working again. The field guys with a lot of additional policies to keep everyone safe. But I was still not working much, without being able to go into peoples homes and visit and meet there is very little for me to do. I check in on my sites every day via phone or video and of course there are emails and texts throughout the day.

Church asked that you have some props set up for Palm Sunday.

Later on Sunday Ally and I went out to visit friends. We delivered masks to 2 families and stopped at 3 other friends' houses to chat for a bit and see people.
We stayed in our car while friends came out to see us.
It was lovely.

Clemens and his family


Willow and her mom


Ally with Xela and her dog in the background - its a buddy "social distance selfie"


Becky has been drinking Kombucha to help her digestive system and I found a HUGE bottle for her at Whole Foods. She was thrilled.  She has an egg sandwich on a homemade pretzel roll!


Ally meanwhile with her breakfast in bed.


And sometimes cereal for dinner in her room too.


This was the week of a medical emergency. What do you do when you have a medical emergency and cannot go to the hospital because there is a pandemic underway?
Old School. You call the doctor's office. Explain that your partner is having severe chest pains and is screaming in pain.

yes - Becky had sudden onset chest pains, that quickly became pain in her back - so bad all she could do was lie down on the ground and writhe in pain. Cloey took this opportunity to hump Becky. She does this to Becky (and to Beth) pretty frequently - but never to me or to Ally.

So I called the doctor's office and the nurse asked me a bunch of questions said she agreed this did not seem like it was a Covid symptom or a heart attack but that I should massage the area, which made becky scream more. And then have the doctor call me.

The doctor called back, and Becky was doing better then. Still in lots of pain and unable to do anything but lie there. We had just ordered a blood pressure cuff to be able to monitor Ally's while she has a medication change, and so I took Becky's vitals for the doctor and she said she thought it was a gas bubble lodged in Becky's intestine that was causing the pain.

Yes - gas. It has been a great story to tell.



Later that night Ally and Becky played Minecraft in our living room - well actually its now a gym/workout room.
Ally confessed that she wasn't comfortable working out in the 3rd floor because the floor is so creaky and shakes so much. So we rearranged furniture and made a space on the 1st floor.


We also have been binge watching movies - 1st we saw the Tomb Raider trilogy and then the 5 Jurassic Park movies. Ally has been loving them.


A perk of spending time on the 3rd floor during the day (when I would usually be at work) is that the sun hits the sequin pillow and looks like magic on the ceiling.

And another note is that Ally got new glasses. On the 3rd floor she needs glasses to see the TV - or she gets a headache because the picture is blurry. She kept saying her glasses gave her a headache and hurt - so we ordered a new pair from Warby Parker and they work much better. Ally has not had contacts in this entire Coronacation.


Cloey in the bean bag


Ally and the pets - its all the time. And when we rearranged the living room, our C-table that was near one of our couches got relocated to Ally's room and she LOVES it with her new room set up.




Masks masks masks



Cloey all dressed up and no where to go.



Ally and I did another mask delivery - Becky has sewn 75 masks to share with friends. We don't ask for money but some people have paid for them. She says it pays for her beer money.



In very exciting news, we ordered an Air Track for Ally. This is an inflatable tumbling mat. She put it to good use right away.





The things we do for the children we love.