How do you stay sane when you're forced to stay (mostly) inside for months with no one but your siblings and parents to interact with? Here are our best ideas:
1. Terrorize said siblings. Feel absolutely no shame about running over your baby brother with your (technically his) new bike:
2. Mass sleepovers EVERY NIGHT. Sure, you could each sleep in your own room, but why do that when you can pile four kinds into one room?
3. Campfires (actually just fires in our fire pit on the back patio, but whatever). Burning things is always a win for kids! Unless you burn your baby. We kept him like 5 feet from the fire, but somehow he still managed to crawl through hot coals. He burned his wrist pretty badly as well as some smaller burns on his legs where it burned through his pajamas. I felt like an awesome mother and was sad because I had to trash my favorite Elijah pajamas:
4. Teach your kids how to give themselves instant, thunderous headaches by having them blow out eggs for a Russian history art project! Bonus points when Aaron drops his and you have to start all over (Catherine blew another one for him because she's a sweetheart).
Elise was the only one who posed with her finished egg:
5. Try to go camping, but then realize that it is either too cold or raining literally every night for the foreseeable future. Opt for camping in the basement instead:
6. Realize you need a mask ASAP since you have to take baby to an appointment and masks are now required everywhere. Sew a crappy but functional mask. Show it to husband, who says, "Don't we have a mask somewhere in the paint stuff?" Find not just a mask, but a coveted N95 mask in your paint supplies. End up wearing ugly handmade mask over the top of N95 so no one will think you are a thief/hoarder who took it from a poor nurse...
7. Decide you want to try out writing with quill (feather) and ink (acrylic paint). Quickly discover why no one uses quill and ink anymore:
8. Attempt to make bridges using marshmallows and spaghetti. Fail, but have a great time trying (and eating marshmallows):
Elise opted to forgo the bridge part and put her cars into a lake of spaghetti & marshmallow:
9. Make questionable fashion choices like wearing a skirt for a top and...nothing else:
10. Become obsessed with making your own paper and drive Dad insane with all the blenders/strainers/towels covered in paper pulp:
11. Spend the entire day in various states of roleplaying. This Princess Anna/Superman combo was a big hit. Other favorites include Elsa (of course) and "The girl who lives in the forest" (the trees behind our yard).
Hoping that all of you are surviving this isolation with as much enthusiasm as our kids!
