Home ยป Family Friday (vol. 116): The Surge and Things I’m Loving

Family Friday (vol. 116): The Surge and Things I’m Loving

As I’ve shared on recent posts, COVID-19 has affected close family and friends at this stage. What work looks like continues to evolve – Mark being at home for the foreseeable future and healthcare getting pummeled. The rates of positive test results is soaring throughout communities and throughout healthcare systems. It appears 2020 is going out in a big way – in all the bad ways. Mark and I pull out our calendars each day and plan for the next – late starts, bus schedules, half days, it’s a mess. No 2 days are the same and we’ve had to orchestrate a lot of teamwork. The kids have gotten really good at self-entertaining and as nice as that is, it induce mom guilt like whoa.

Work has been plagued with COVID-19 scares. Test turnaround times are growing and that’s obviously unhelpful. So between childcare gaps, COVID-19 scares, and busy jobs…it’s stressful! The weather has officially turned here in Michigan (last weekend, Piper was in the lake!) and we’re now waking up to frost and sending kids to school in winter coats. It’ll be less enjoyable to get out and about, so I welcome any and all indoor activities! I might’ve looked up indoor bounce houses on Amazon…

I went to the dentist for the first time in nearly a year (because of COVID cancelations followed by demand) and alas, I have a cavity. I had no issue until they poked it with the devil of a pokey instrument and promptly scheduled me for the next available appointment…on February 9th. It now hurts constantly. Lovely. Note to self: make Piper a dentist appointment because at this rate, it may be 2022 before she can get in.

Shea is thoroughly enjoying school. Her most favorite friend is in the school’s other kindergarten class and on her bus. Her name is “Sayla” (I’m spelling that phonetically) and Shea just adores her. There’s also a little guy named “Will” in Shea’s class that recently shared with her that he has a CRUSH on her. Adorable. Meanwhile, Piper has been bit by the love bug. She talks about “Gabe” all the time. Gabe attends daycare on Monday, Wednesday, Friday (a.k.a. “Gabe Days”) and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she’s not so keen on daycare. Should Shea’s public school go virtual, our plan is to re-enroll her in Montessori, which goes up to 1st or 2nd grade (can’t recall). We’ll see how this all plays out. I’m also beginning to brainstorm what Shea can do over the summer. Parents, this whole school year thing without summer coverage is…challenging. 

Mark and I are still unsure as to whether we’ll travel at some point in the next 2 weeks. We’ve now canceled Cancun twice and were hoping to sneak in a trip to the Florida Keys instead. We were feeling a bit safer being in the US. There’s so much unknown and our concern, aside from general riskiness around travel, is that we’ll get to Florida and everything will shutdown. 

We attended our first live, virtual cooking demo straight from Mexico City last week in celebration of my sister-in-law’s birthday. It was so much fun! We made homemade flour tortillas, in addition to margaritas and guacamole, and honestly, I’m not sure Mark will ever want a store-bought tortilla ever again! They weren’t difficult to make, either. Very simple and took just a bit of time to combine, roll, and cook. As the cooler weather sets in, I’ll look forward to more opportunities like this. It was hosted through Airbnb for anyone interested in checking it out. For her birthday, we heard she was in need of workout pants/capris and so of course, I sent my new favorites — the Lululemon knock offs from Amazon at 1/4 the price. I’m obsessed with them. More on my obsessions down below 😉

Mark and I decided to pull the trigger on a Peloton treadmill (aka the “Tread”). We were scheduled for install back in October, but canceled with the announcement that the new Tread was coming out in early 2021. Come to find out, “early 2021” is after March 31st, so we’re going to be without a treadmill this winter. SUCH a bummer – we’re big at-home exercisers. Perhaps we’ll need to start a new HIIT series or something to keep engaged in exercise. Fortunately, we’re still playing hockey at this stage. We’ll see if that sticks around…

Gymnastics and dance for the girls are still in session, however we’ll be pulling them. It’s just a little too risky being indoors with littles who wear masks pretty poorly. Similarly, we wrapped up swimming lessons a few weeks ago. The swim instructor in a face shield…only in 2020.

Illini football…woof. So painful. COVID-19 plaguing our team isn’t helping – I believe it was our 4th string QB playing the past few weeks. Needless to say, it hasn’t been pretty. Hate to say it, but we’re looking forward to the basketball season. However, I’ll still be watching football and I’m still mid-chili contest! Keep an eye out for all of those 11th annual chili contest recipes that will continue heading this way!

Gina and I are soon to be entering year THREE of the podcast. I can’t believe it. We’re pushing out episode 75 this Sunday and it’s hard to believe how far we’ve come! We have our next planning session for the next 6 months coming up – please send ideas our way!

Christmas is right around the corner…here’s some possible gift ideas. Or, just things I’m loving that may be worth checking out 😉

Have a GREAT weekend!

Be well,

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7 Comments

  1. Amy
    November 12, 2020 / 9:34 pm

    My friend just got back from Puerto Vallarta and felt like they’re doing a WAY better job of handling COVID than the US. Resorts are being super diligent with precautions, everyone is wearing a mask, and stores/places require you to accept a squirt of hand sanitizer upon entrance. She said that there are even people patrolling the streets and if you aren’t wearing a mask you could be ticketed. Honestly would trust a resort town in Mexico way more than Florida.

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      November 13, 2020 / 9:06 am

      Amy, that’s so interesting. Thank you for the feedback. I also know several people who traveled to Mexico in the past few weeks and who also had good experiences amid the pandemic. I think our concern is in healthcare, should we need it. It’s so hard to know what’s worth the risk because sadly, the answer is nothing at all! Oh, 2020!

  2. Jacky
    November 13, 2020 / 9:43 am

    The dentist has been my COVID project, been there so many times and still not caught up. COVID test on deck today, pre-procedure requirement. It is crazy how different our days are – living not so far away. School and work remain remote here, so no impact from the recent spikes. No fun, but certainly makes planner easier. Hang in there, this too shall pass.

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      November 13, 2020 / 1:41 pm

      Shoot! Hope all is OK, Jacky. Thinking of you!

      • Jacky
        November 14, 2020 / 3:25 pm

        Thanks, all good. And uh, those pants are the best. Thanks for recommendation.

  3. Shelly
    November 17, 2020 / 11:07 am

    We work out at home too and have been loving Sydney Cummings on YouTube! Your girls are SO cute, love these pics! Thanks for the recommendations!

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      November 18, 2020 / 2:51 pm

      Thanks so much for the suggestion, Shelly! Will for sure check her out!

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