Done is Better than Perfect

I used to strive for perfection on my blog. I would blog something as soon as it happened. Literally. I didn't want to let the moment pass without memorializing it. Then, somewhere along the way, hello there life and children, I ran out of time. It started feeling funny writing about moments that happened months ago. But why does it matter? After all, this blog is for myself. And it's "paid" for itself over and over when I went back and made the kids baby books easily with all that I had blogged about their baby days (and I'm now starting on toddler books for them). But it still feels silly to write things so much later.

But here's the thing. I've realized done is better than perfect. One of my goals during the pandemic was to make a photo book of our vacation in 2018. TWO YEARS AGO. Two years. When I started, I realized I hadn't even gone through many of our vacation photos. They all weren't saved in one place. It was a bit of mess. But I did it. And it felt good. Now my kids will be able to look through the book and remember...or the pictures will be the reminder.

I also started picking up my camera more and capturing our day to day life. It's something I used to do a lot when Connor and Isla were little. And honestly, those are always my favorite memories to look back on.

So here's to not striving for perfection, remembering done is better than perfect and remembering to document so the children have something to look back on...because who doesn't like looking back at old photos? But also, making sure I do something with all those photos I take, as they don't do anyone any good rotting away on old hard drives.

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Scenes from Quarantine {week 11}

^^ I said goodbye to one of my closest friends, as she moved to Montana. I can't help but feel Covid stole valuable last times to do things together that we enjoyed. 

The week of the heat wave, all the swimming and the end of distance learning. 

This is going to be my last scenes from quarantine. Things are starting to open up. Though the kids have not been in public, I anticipate we will slowly and smartly start seeing some people. It seems odd to even think about going out again. Mass hysteria started when there were only a couple confirmed cases in our county. Now there are around 700 and things are opening up again. Makes no sense to me, except that people are done being scared and being at home. 

We finished up the school year, aka: distance learning, on Friday. It brought a routine to our days that I am going to miss. But I will not miss the struggle with distance learning. Of course, I hear rumblings that school will not be going back to normal in the fall, so I shouldn't get my hopes up too much. But even having the kids in school part time would be nice. 

It got, hot, hot, HOT this week! Our house has basically no insulation, so that means the air conditioner running all the time and still not keeping up. It also means it was hot enough for me to get in the pool...I don't like cold water! We went swimming every day. It was fun, albeit slightly chaotic with four kids in the pool at one time and only two of which can independently swim. Callum is getting close though and I am thinking this is his summer to swim. 

We are certainly at an odd crossroads with this whole Covid-19 thing. With things opening back up, many people are excited to be out and about. Many no longer seem to be practicing social distancing while out in public or even wearing a mask. Which, seems odd to me, given it hasn't gone away. My understanding is just that the curve has been flattened. Of course, we all are reading different news and believing what we want, making the whole thing all the more confusing. It definitely is a time that will be in the history books though. 

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Scenes from Quarantine {week ten}

Let's call this the week we broke quarantine. On Friday, we had an outdoor playdate with Isla's best friend and her family. We chose outdoors to be safe. And both sets of kids (ours and theirs) haven't been around anyone else. Let me tell you, it was glorious to be around other people. To watch the kids be kids. To watch them play with other kids. I missed that.

Isla got her "flat teacher" in the mail and did some fun things with her, like making and playing hopscotch and walking to Yogurt Mill. This was also our first time back at Yogurt Mill since this all started. The girls and I walked there, were able to order at the door, then took a walk back down the trail by our house to sit and eat it.

I guess it was an exciting week with all sorts of things happening. We also got to pick up the kids belongings from school. It was a drive thru where they handed you a garbage bag of your child's possessions. We went through twice, at each kids grade level time so they could see their teacher one last time.

Callum had what was supposed to be his last day of school this week. I celebrated by taking his last day of school picture like I normally would and reflecting on what would have happened at the end of his school year.

Look at all that outside household interaction that happened this week! We are trying to figure out how to safely proceed from here. It's all so muddy and weird. Especially with things opening back up.  I know we are more cautious than many in our community. But we just want to be safe and smart about it all.

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Scenes from Quarantine {week nine}

There have been complaints from the peanut gallery that "everything is changing" because I keep requiring more and more of them around the house. Admittedly, I should have been requiring a lot of this a lot sooner, but didn't necessarily have or take the time to do it. And being stuck at home seemed like just the time. Well, I now know that things like making your bed, putting away your clean laundry and picking up after yourself is just "too much". Too bad for them, too much is here to stay!

The weather turned a little cool on us before heating up again for summer. I haven't been able to decide if it was a nice reprieve or just cruelly showing us what we are missing out on. But the 100* heat is headed our way.

Our yard (both front and back) has never looked better. Having nowhere to go and nothing to do means we are dedicating the time to pull the weeds that we always needed to do. I can't decide if this is a good or bad thing. I mean, of course it is a good thing our yard is looking better. But at the same time, it means there haven't been adventures...whomp, whomp, whomp.

It also looks like things may start opening up again...slowly. And I haven't decided how I feel about this. I am cautiously optimistic. Excited for things to seem more normal again, but also concerned. It's hard to know how much to venture out. I guess we shall all see with time.

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Scenes from Quarantine {week eight}

^^ "fort comfy" as Isla named it

^^ our unintentional coordination game was strong that day! 

One of the kids had a meltdown this week and screamed "I hate coronavirus and I hate the heat!" I have never felt more the same with any of my children.

My kids have been troopers. We haven't gotten together with anyone during quarantine. That means, my kids have played with no one except for each other for eight weeks. And sometimes, they just really, really want to play with someone else. When we have done birthday parades, Callum has cried seeing his friends in other cars and not being able to get out to be with them. Isla misses her friend Amelie so much. Sure, they can video chat, but that's just not the same as a good ole in the flesh play session. Connor, on the other hand, is living his best life, as the introvert that he is.

I didn't have a childhood stopped in tradition, so holidays during quarantine haven't bothered me at all. In fact, I enjoy the slowness and ease of them. On Mother's Day, we drove to pick up some rims Ian found. No one except for Ian even got out of the car. Then, on the way home, we stopped and picnicked and played at a normally busy stop that was closed. It made for the perfect outting and stop. And it felt oh-so-refreshing to get out of the house.

Early in the week, Ian noticed the windshield on my van shattered. We don't know when or how it happened, as I hadn't gone anywhere in a few days. But getting it replaced has turned out to be quite the process. Insurance processes separately the window and the censors in it for dive assist. So stupid.  But here we are, a week later, still not having the whole thing done.

Since it has been warm, the kids have played in the pool a bunch. But the weather is turning a bit cooler again and I am certainly not saying no to that. I would take 70* days any day over pool time. Our house just gets so hot when it's hot out and that seems especially torturous when it's time to go to sleep.

That's all I've got for you today.

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Scenes from Quarantine {week seven}

It was my birthday week. I remember when this all started thinking surely we wouldn't still be under quarantine by my birthday. Obviously I was wrong. I don't like attention, so a birthday in quarantine was actually perfect for me. Ian ordered dinner from my favorite restaurant and we ate it at home. It was nice.

Then some of my mom friends realized it was my birthday and everyday for the rest of the week, people dropped things off, which seriously felt so great and made me feel so loved. On the morning of my birthday, someone left flowers and an adorable gnome book. Then later, someone left wine and toilet paper...oh coronavirus, how you've changed our view on tp! The next day I got some chocolates and watermelon jam. Then, a big cake (which I saved to eat on Friday with the kids in celebration of making it through another week of school). Lastly, I got some goodies from a local shop. It was so fun having my birthday last all week long!

Schooling from home just felt extra this week. Managing the video calls with so many other people int he house is quite the chore. And just having to help Isla with so much of the tech aspect of things just leaves me feeling drained. I've started making daily lists for her of what she needs to accomplish and she can generally go from one task to another in the same program, but she still struggles with toggling between programs. And sometimes a task might last a minute, so I just have to stay close to her the whole time. Only four weeks left until summer break!

Callum got a packet of crafts to do in the mail from his preschool. He apparently was in the crafting mood (last time they sent some, he was NOT) and did all of them in one morning. His school has also been posting videos of the teachers reading stories or singing a song and he totally has been into that. He has asked to go back to "playdough school and church school" and it breaks my heart a bit. Out of everyone, he does not understand what is going on the most and doesn't get why his life has changed so much.

Now the burning question is, how much longer will this whole quarantine situation last and will we all be hesitant to leave our homes and gather with others with this is all over?

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Scenes from Quarantine {week six}

Well, warmer weather is here. The kids went in the pool for the first time this year...even if it was far too cold for me. I put my feet in and it was freezing. The warmer weather also means more ice cream and other cold treats. And no one is saying no to that.

Connor and Isla started doing twice weekly video calls with their teachers. They love these calls. I feel for the teachers though and having all that chaos coming at them at one time! Connor held up Willa for his class to see. And Isla shared our bearded dragon with her whole class. The kinks with school seem to be getting worked out and all is going much smoother.

I started feeling stir crazy. Like EXTREMELY stir crazy one day. I guess only going to Winco twice in a month plus and nowhere else finally got to me. I just wanted out. To go somewhere. For the most part, I am totally fine being at home. But sometimes, I just want to do something. We did get Connor a new/bigger bike and have gone on several family bike rides. So, that's been nice.

Every time someone comes to my porch and talks to me from a distance feels life-giving. That sounds so cheesy. But the human interaction outside of my children really is nice. I dropped some hand me downs off on a friend's porch and stood at my car talking to her for half an hour...while the kids went crazy in the car, haha. But it was totally worth it and nice to have that face to face (from a distance) adult conversation for a bit. Turns out this introvert really enjoys seeing people in the flesh from time to time!

It's weird though, everyone keeping their distance. People being sort of friendly, sort of standoff-ish. A post man delivered a package for someone else to our house, so when he came back to get in his truck, I ran it out to him. You could tell he really didn't want me getting close. I almost offered to toss the package to him. It was just another reminder of how much things have changed over the past several weeks.

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