The Question Game

When Brad and I started to date we played what we called the question game. It was a fun way to ask any question you wanted to and a way to get to know each other. We have been trying to think of new things to  do with the kids. There are times where we try and have the tv off but the kids just sit and look at us the whole time. Brad thought of the question game again. I found a lot of random questions and would you rather's and put them in a jar. Now times when we are just sitting and not doing electronics, we can have someone pick a question and get to know each other in a different way. 

Quarantine

 Since COIVD started,  I have never had to be under quarantine, so when we had to when Emery tested positive, I wasn't too upset. We found out Thursday and my work told me to take until Monday to make sure I don't have symptoms. I was feeling good the first few days, so I took that time to enjoy the mandatory quarantine well. I cleaned the house (that maybe was to remove some stress that finding out brought), read a book, and did things with the kids. Emery and I made a cake. She wanted to try her new frosting bags. 

The frosting was a little too thin, so in the end she just dumped in all on. It may look weird, but it was pretty good. 

Saturday we were still feeling pretty good, Brad was starting to feel bad, but nothing bad. So for lunch we did a best pizza test. Thanks to things like Door Dash and contactless delivery, it was the best to do. We had small slices and tried 5. We got 4 smalls and one large. By the end, like all of them, we swore off pizza for a while.  

We did 2 well known and 3 local one. Little Caesar's won, by a lot. It could be because it's one we eat a lot, or it is just good. Chicago Connection was the last one we did, but I would have put it 2nd or 3rd for me. Johny's Pizza was the worst, bad crust and bad cheese, but really good ranch.  

Cam mowed the lawn Saturday and totally turned the mower off before he went into the garage and didn't run over the tube of paint that was on the floor. It just happened somehow. So we spent a while cleaning this up, and it didn't all come up. 

Each year the elementary sends home a letter at some time warning of head lice and what to watch for. Every time I read it, I itch. That how it felt from Friday on. Brad and I woke up feeling little bad, but nothing big. Saturday mid afternoon Brad really started to feel sick. He had some muscle pain and just didn't feel well. By that night he had a fever and just wanted to sleep. Sunday I woke up not feeling great and Brad was worse, we defiantly thought he had COVID. I started to get a cough but nothing bad. Brad messaged his manager who said we needed to get tested and should through employee health. So he made an appointment for us Monday. While I didn't feel well it wasn't that bad. Before I went to bed I had decided if I felt the same in the morning, I was just going to work and not go to get tested. My body took that on a challenge and made that night horrible. I coughed all night. It felt like strep throat, but the pain was when I coughed vs swallowed. Last I saw the clock it was 4:30 am, and must have finally fallen asleep sometime after. Then I jerked awake at 7:50 am and felt horrible. Later that morning we went and got tested. The test wasn't that bad. The one we got only went about half way down your nose and twisted about 5 times. 

Then it was a waiting game. We got the results back the next day. Brad positive, Kilie negative. When it came to Emery I would have sworn it wasn't COVID, then when it came to me, I would have sworn it was. I guess I was 'lucky' and got some other upper respiratory infection the same time COVID hit out house. It's now day 5 for Brad with symptoms and he's feeling pretty normal. Through the course of our week we had pretty much every symptom there is, but they came in waves. Muscle pain for a while then felt really sick and nauseous. Other times we got a small fever, things tasted off, headaches over and over and begin tired, however sleep didn't come. We'd be super tired, but couldn't sleep. The only thing none of us experienced was loss of smell. If my test wasn't a false negative then my blood needs to be tested because I have some major anti-COVID blood. Since it seemed like I had it as well, Brad and I shared everything. BUT if I didn't have it and I get it later..... (insert angry face)

The hardest part has been the boys. Camden and Beckham are pretty good at keeping distance and not sharing things. Jackson however, he is only 9 and loves being around mom and dad. On Saturday he grabbed Brad's drink and took a sip. I came upstairs and he was laying on my pillow and using my blanket right next to Brad. I told him that for a few days he can't be on out things. He came into our room a little later and just stood by our bed not saying anything. I gave him a pillow we haven't had on our bed all week and let him lay at the end of the bed.  

I for one will be very excited for our quarantine to end, for the COVID to be out of hour house. We at a week out now. While I really have liked the time to just be home and not go anywhere, I am ready to get back to life, the new normal of life. 

Too Close to Home

We have been in this COVID pandemic since March. While I've never really feared COVID, I did get it wasn't to be taken lightly and something to be cautious about. My personal experience with it has been different that most, but I'm not sure there is a right or wrong  way to experience it. I was never able to just stay home, or work from home, in fact I did the opposite, I traveled between two towns. We have always taken the needed precautions, and while I do try not to judge people, I do get mad when others don't. It's really very simple and we have a lot of family who are high risk, so I want them to be safe. COVID is just a thing that is happening, it's just a statistic, it's just the reason life is weird now. It doesn't have anything to do with me, until it does, and that's when it hits. 

Sunday we went to Twin to take the kids back. Emery said her body hurt. I didn't think much of it because they swam all weekend and did 2 hours of jumping the day before. Then Monday she still hurt. Again, didn't think much. No fever, no other symptoms, maybe just a long weekend of not sleeping caught up. Tuesday she was supposed to go to school but said she hurt. I thought maybe she just didn't want to go, and if we did send her, she'd be sent home anyways for body aches. When Wednesday came and she felt the same and finally got a little warm, we got her tested. They tested for flu and COVID. Flu was negative and I would have bet anything that she just had a virus but not COVID. I fun birthday present, a COVID test that is shoved down your nose. As I was driving to work today I got a call from an NP. I should have known right then, but didn't. He told me Emery's test came back and she was positive. I was shocked, I still am. I called work and am not going today, and not sure when I can go. I had to go pick up the boys and all of the kids are out for 2 weeks from school. Thankfully they can do some online. We had to call everyone we came in contact with over the weekend. The domino effect of COVID is intense. Emery was in her bed when I got back home and I asked how she was. She was upset saying she is scared and is scared the boys will have to get tested. I let her know She will be okay. She may only feel bad for a week or so, and then she will feel better. After calling everyone I finally sat down to think. The rushed unpacking of Jacksons backpack to get onto school when he found out he can't go. I hope no one else gets sick, but we are a close family, so the odds aren't good. Emery is now part of the numbers, and COVID is more real than it ever has been 

 

Pre-Teen Girl

Yesterday Emery turned 12! She is officially a pre-teen, even though she has been acting like a teen for a while. One thing she wanted for her birthday was to have her cousin Adarah come and stay the night, she lives in Twin, so we picked a weekend and had her and Jarom come and visit. They swam everyday for a few hours each day. Friday night we had cake and presents. Emery loves cupcakes, so we went with that over just one big cake. 

The fun of having another girl over. Emery and Adarah did the younger boys make up. 

Saturday we went to a trampoline park. Emery always wants to go to one, and her birthday was the perfect excuse to go. They jumped for about 2 hours and were all dead by the end of it. The had a blast thought. 

Jackson needed a breather. 

I am grateful every day to have Emery as my daughter. She is so loving and caring with everyone. With moving she has been a little shy, but she just recently got put into the YW presidency for the 12-13 year old girls, and she is excited for that. It has taken a little bit for her to get out of her shell, but she is slowly meeting other people and making friends. School is a little harder to make friends, they have to be 6 feet apart at all times. She isn't so sure about school this year, as all the kids are. It's hard to go back and forth and also to be separate from other kids.  Emery loved to play with Jacks, when they get along. Both of them are a little stubborn and sometimes don't give in and play what the other wants them to. Then they both end up board and mad. She is a good reader and when she likes a book series, she reads them pretty quick. She was one of the few who actually finished their summer BINGO. Emery LOVES make up. That may be an understatement even. She always wants palates and loves to put it on. I need to get her in a class that shows her how to put it on right. I am no help there. I don't even wear anything most days. She loves the bright bold colors, which I'm usually not so sure about, but it is fun seeing her transform into who she is. She loves to bake. I know if I need help cooking or need muffins made for dinner, she is my girl. She got a frosting kit for her birthday so she can make her cakes look even better. She is really into her American Girl doll right now too. She saves a little money to get a new outfit or accessory to go with her. She even got a bed for her doll for her birthday. While Emery and I get along great, if she gets annoyed with anyone, it's usually me first. She still doesn't talk at all when she is mad. She will just look forward and not say anything. I try and tell her every time that talking is the best thing to do (little does she know, I am the same way).  Emery is a little mom. At the Barnes reunion she loved being around the babies and helping out. I know our family is complete, but seeing her with babies almost makes me wish she had baby siblings. (very very small almost) Emery is a good sport when it comes to brothers. We have Tuesday movie nights after dinner and we just finished the MCU. Super heroes really aren't her thing, but she watched them all without much complaint. We said next series should be something she would like. She is a daddies girl and knows if she goes to Brad, she will almost 100% get it. He denies it, but it's true, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Emery's favorite subject is art.  Her favorite food is Fried Chicken. Her favorite toy or game is American Girl dolls and her favorite COVID activity has been painting. 

Random

For Jackson's special night he wanted to do Build a Bear. He doesn't remember doing it as a younger kid, and had to try it again. He wanted Emery to come with him. I think he loved it. They both chose just normal bears. Emery's is Josh and Jacks' is Pablo (the didn't intentionally name them after uncles, or so they said)

Later that day I caved and Emery and I went and got our nails done. I usually don't paint my nails but Emery keeps asking, so we tried it out. About two weeks later and the gel polish is still on. Emery loves her and wants to go again. 

We did some redecorating the past couple of weeks. Got out some Halloween things and put a few things on the planter shelf. While the shelf isn't all of the way done, we did do a painting. We tried a drop or pour paint. We didn't get it thin enough, but I still like how it turned out. To get it to move, we had to use the shop vac to move it around. 

It was a big canvas.

All the paint poured in. we slowly took it off. 

And got this. We moved it around, but it wasn't moving well enough to cover the whole canvas. 

One pair of sweats and a shirt ruined later, we had a finish product. Not exactly what they look like on line, but its different and we made it. 

Beck has a lot of hair. He likes it, and as long as he keeps it clean and looking semi decent, I'm okay with it. We told him he should do pictures like this tomorrow. I don't think he will, but really you never know with him. 

New Schools

School has finally started. It is a very different look, thanks to COVID, but they are going. The first week it was all online. Since we usually do their candy poster while they are at school the first day, we had to put it out the night before when they were asleep. 

We started the morning off with a bang. At registration we weren't given Camden and Beckham's log in and all of the sites we went to for help just said to use last years. Being new, we didn't have one. We finally got those, the boys were only about 5 minutes late, but we sent them to their spaces to do school. 

Emery started shortly after. 

It didn't take long to realize the first day was not going to go easy. The TEAMS application and the school laptops were not working. I messages Paul to make sure we weren't the only ones, nope, pretty much the whole district was going through the same thing. All of his kids gave up and were on tablets. So we got them all up on different things we had at home. 

Emery was first on my phone.

 

Camden was able to get on the desktop. There were 8 in his first class. 

Out laptop doesn't work to play sound, so Beck did work on the laptop while listening on his phone. 

Jackson started last and we got him on a tablet. He thought he was in trouble because he could 'raise his hand' like some of the other kids could who were able to get the school ones working. Jackson came to me worried, so I let the teacher know we were working on it. His teacher was amazing. there were about 10-12 of the 25 ish students that were able to get on during the day. In TEAMS you can chat and send Gifs, which pretty quick the teacher had to ban because that is all that was being sent. 

By the end of the day we had 2 lap tops that worked pretty well. By the end of the week the school figured out the laptops and most were able to join easily. The this past week the kids are doing a hybrid. They go to school every other day and home learning the rest. The kids hear a lot of interesting things on the online learning. They've all heard a few kids and parents swear. Jackson's class, in their innocents, corrects each other. Someone typed wat and Jackson replied, 'did you mean What?'

The first day going Brad and I were a little worried. It was like kindergarten when you didn't know who they would sit but, if they would have someone to talk to or eat lunch with. Jackson said he made a friend and talked with him a lot. Emery said she talked to a few people, but one boy wouldn't stop talking to her at lunch. She was annoyed she only had 15 minutes to eat and the boy was bugging her. Cam and Beck didn't talk much at all. At lunch, some came up to Beck and said Hey you're in my class. Beck said yup and didn't talk the rest of lunch. The boys stayed there and they ate in silence. Hopefully tomorrow when they go back for day 2, they try and talk more. I think they are ready to get out of the house finally, but still makes them nervous to meet all new people. Monday was the first day Brad was alone during the day in months. He sat with the dogs a few times to keep each other company. They are all ready for COVID to go away so they can see all of the kids and only go to school, not home, and most of all, no masks. 

Hiking

On Labor Day we went out past Bogus to got on a hike. We went up one pretty steep hill but it was worth it. The views were so pretty. They would have been even better if there wasn't as much smoke as there is, but it was still nice. 

The before picture. Brad and I are behind Paul's head. 

We had a picnic after the hike. Everyone was ready for a snack after the hike. 

Some pictures from the top of the hill. A little over half up Emery got a little stomach ache then was breathing heavy. I told her to go to the side. She started to say she couldn't breath the got really worried. She didn't drink enough water and the hill was pretty steep, but I think she had a little panic attack. I held her face and had her breath with me and she was able to calm down. After that the rest of the hike was okay for her and she had fun with her cousins. 

We took the dogs and they did great. They were tired in the end. Luna decided Cam was a good seat on the way home.