March 2020: USA, Meet COVID19

Career Day at SLC

Shamrock Shakes, before they are gone!

 We welcomed March this year knowing our schedules would open up a bit!  The musical was a great success, and youth travel team basketball was fun, but now both are over for the year! 

Lexi and Stella

When Big Sister is at a sleepover, mom
agrees to make slime!

The girls watch an Australian YouTube family pretty regularly, so they have heard about the Australian Bush Fires.  They also learned about them at school, particularly how many animals have been impacted.  So, when Stella approached us about raising money to support the relief efforts, we could not say no.  She and her friend Lexi were given permission to solicit the neighbors and our friends at church while delivering Girl Scout cookies.  They raised $75!  We donated it to the World Wildlife Fund Australia Bushfire Crisis campaign!  They worked with Mr. Hirschy at school too, on a podcast to ask for support from their teachers.  But, this was not something that became a reality for them because our worlds changed on March 14th.

Office Mates!

Virtual Battleship with the Britton Girls

It was a Saturday afternoon when we heard the notice that all St. Lawrence County schools would be closed until April 20th due to the COVID-19 virus threat.  Shortly after that Franklin County made a similar announcement.  Our little school quickly arranged for safe pick-up of chrome books and launched fully online instruction for our kids.  SUNY Potsdam made similar arrangements, and by March 20th, I too was telecommuting.  The USA has seen this virus devastate other parts of the world, so creating social distancing and hygiene guidelines to "flatten the curve" became a requirement for many states, including ours.  A new norm set in:

Video Chat Play Dates

At Home P.E.

Yoga Bingo

 There are all kinds of learning apps for the kids, and because they all chromebooks regularly at school, our girls are very familiar with navigating the different platforms.  They picked up their online curriculum independently, which has allowed Randy and I to do our work during the day without the need to attempt to be Elementary teachers too!

 On Saturday, March 28 we headed out for the golf course to get some fresh air.  It was really nice to be on the course so early in the season and we all had a good time.  Claire may have enjoyed rolling down hills more than hitting golf balls but we had fun!

Church

 SLC hosted spirit week to try to keep the kids connected.  Here's 'show your pet day' and 'twin day'!

With social distancing guidelines preventing us from being with friends, or really leaving the house unless we need food or supplies, we've had lots of really great family time together!  We've had many game nights, and movie nights too.  And it has felt so good to get back to family dinners at the kitchen table.

We've been talking for a while now about installing a utility sink in our basement and creating a crafting area for the girls away from our kitchen - which they regularly transform into an art room, paint, glitter, glue, and all!  With all sports on hold across the nation, Randy spent two weekends in a row cleaning out our basement and creating this special space for the kids.  Mom couldn't be happier to have the mess moved and the girls are pretty excited about it too!