Greetings from quarantine.

Gotta be honest.

I am quietly grateful for this time.

So much of our lives have been turned upside down. We’ve canceled trips. We’re not going out to eat. We’re not hanging with friends. It looks like summer is a bust, and in all honesty, we’re downright avoiding the outer world. Which leaves us with five people- our little, sacred, special family unit.

While I know I’m going to be pulling my hair out and go store crazy being home-ridden, I'm trying to make the best of it.

Truth be told, we are being forced to be with no one but each other. And that’s something that will probably never happen again.

I already work from home, so the transition to having the kids 24/7 is leaving me staying up late and working early mornings to catch up on my professional duties. But during the day, we're playing school. In fact, as a kid, it was my favorite thing to play.

I have three little bodies that are relying on me to get creative. I have three little boys looking at me to learn. I have three sweet sons who think nothing of this time short of fun... to them, it’s something as simple as that: fun.

While I am adapting a homeschool-esque schedule, I am doing things my way. I'm not a teacher, and not trying to be. So I'm adding my mom-twist to this whole thing; I want to school them outside, do scavenger hunts, and have picnics. I want to indulge in pajama day, build forts, snack on popcorn and read books via flashlight. I want to keep them up to speed with learning- prepping my pre-k’er for kinder, and getting a head start on first grade sight words for my kindergartener. And then there’s my baby; my two year old. There are so many things I haven’t done with him because I’m constantly distracted by our busy lives- he’s simply been accustom to coming along for the ride.

Our lives are so busy. We have activities, playdates, trips, obligations. We have to rush out the door every morning, wait in school pickup lines, and stress over getting to baseball, swim or soccer on time. And we never seem to slow down. Never. Until now.

And for that, I’m grateful.

I want to teach my oldest to play piano. I want to do art projects, getting messy with paint and markers. I want to go through old pictures- of them and of me. Show them more about what they’ve done and where they come from. I want to savor this time- my boys are young, but constantly amazing me with daily growth- time goes by so fast already... this might be my only chance to truly press pause.

Mostly, I want to see past the chaos and panic and instead focus on teaching them how to adapt- how to adjust- and how to see the good in things, the good in people, the good in each other and the good in themselves.