Monday, November 16:
To say this week didn't go according to plan in an understatement...
It all started off last spring when I received my second-ever notice of jury duty. It has been 22 years since I turned 18, registered to vote and was officially placed on the list of potential jurors for my (then) county of residence. A couple of years later I received my first notice. At the time though I was a student at U of M and was able to get out of jury duty because my county of residence was almost 500 miles away. After that I went almost another 20 years without receiving another notice. Then last winter I received my second notice to appear for jury duty in mid-March. However, like everything else last year the courthouse shut down and my jury duty was postponed. In late summer I received another notice telling me that I would be required to appear in November.
On Monday, November 16 (the start of this week) I parked at the courthouse, pulled on my mask and headed inside for my first courtroom experience. I had no idea how the day would go and part of me was excited to see how the process works while the other part of me was hoping to not be chosen so that I could get back to work and not loose out on income for the week. After making my way through security and COVID monitoring I was socially-distanced and seated in the courtroom. At the time it seemed that I was no different than everyone else in the room, but as the process got going I soon realized that half of the room were potential jurors for the case while the other half of the room were potential replacement jurors. I was seated in the first half, so already my odds of being chosen for the case were better than half of those attending.
When the official jury selection process began I also realized that the trial I would potentially be observing was for an old man accused of sexually assaulting two children. Upon learning this, my desire to see how the courtroom process works was diminished by my desire to NOT have to sit and listen to the disgusting details and accusations. I questioned whether I could even sit through the trial and provide this man the fair trial that he deserved, but at the same time knew that I had no more of a reason not to than everyone else in the room.
We went through all of the jury questioning and I watched as several people were excused for various reasons. Then we waited while the lawyers made their final juror selections/rejections. When they were finished they called the numbers of the selected jurors and like 13 other individuals, my number was called. I was officially a juror for the trial.
Afterwards, I drove up to work for the remainder of the day wondering how I would stomach the details of the trial and praying that God would help me to be unbiased and to get through it fairly. At work, I told my boss that I would be out of the office for much of the remainder of the week and then attempt to get some work done while pushing aside my anxieties about the trial to start the next morning.
That afternoon I received a call from Kenosha Unified School District. Upon answering it I learned that someone in Asher's class had tested positive for COVID and the entire class was now required to quarantine for 2 weeks. My brain was already spinning from the news of the court trial that morning and now I had to figure out what we needed to do with Asher heading into quarantine and switching to virtual school. After a few tries, I was able to get ahold of Eric (who was in a meeting). He called the school to get more information, while I communicated with our daycare. We learned that Avery was considered "a close contact of a close contact" and was therefore still allowed to attend school while Asher was in quarantine. Hazel on the other hand, was required to stay home during this time as her daycare did not want to take the chance of contamination until we had Asher tested and received a negative test result. I then called the courthouse to see what they wanted us to do. I said it would be difficult to be a juror as I would need to care for our son and daughter at home, but that I was still willing to show if they wanted me to. After the office manager talked to the judge though I was told that she had excused me from the trial. Thus, at the end of the worked day (which was incredibly unproductive) I prepared to work from home and headed out for the unforeseeable future. Before leaving I texted Eric to pick up dinner as my brain couldn't handle any more for the day. Then I left to pick up Hazel and headed home to our quarantine bubble. Once home, we ate a fast-food dinner, started at the TV with and without the kids and then after putting the kids to bed I downed a massive bowl of ice cream to calm my nerves. What.A.Day.
After the chaos of Monday, Tuesday was better but still rather chaotic. While we had worked from home for three months in the Spring, I had forgotten how difficult it is to work with a toddler in the house. I tried my best to focus at my computer while having Hazel constantly wanting my attention, my assistance and my lap. Eric had to head out that morning to pick up some things and I was grateful when he returned with a frozen coke. However, it really just made life more difficult as Hazel was quite sure it was for her and I had to constantly battle her from taking it from me.
On Wednesday morning the chaos of our week continued. When we had received the notice that Asher had to go into quarantine, Eric picked the boys up right after school that day so that Asher wouldn't have to go to the after-school care and potentially infect others there. Immediately after, they headed out to get Asher a COVID test. When Eric had informed his bosses about what was going on, they asked that he get a COVID test and negative result as well before returning to work. Thus, Eric got one too. Early on Wednesday morning we received the results that Asher's test was negative and so we were thrilled to be able to bring Hazel back to daycare. We never considered that Eric (who hadn't been exposed to anyone that we are aware of) would receive a different result. Like everything else this week though, the COVID results also did not go according to plan. Instead, we received notice that afternoon that Eric's test had come out positive. He had no symptoms, yet we were all now required to quarantine together at home for 10 days after Eric's tests/symptoms improved and then an additional 14 days to see if any of us developed any symptoms. *sigh* Additionally, the evening before the KUSD School Board had met, so on this morning we woke up to the news that the boys' school (and the rest of the the Kenosha schools) would be switching from in-person to virtual starting at Thanksgiving break until January 11th. *double sigh*
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| Our littlest crazy trying to climb into her crib at bedtime! 😳 |
Thursday, November 19:By Thursday I was feeling a bit lost. Asher was home doing virtual school. Avery was home NOT doing virtual school because he had to now stay home due to Eric's positive COVID test but the rest of his class was still doing in-person studies until Thanksgiving. Hazel was home...being Hazel. Asher was frustrated that both of his siblings were running around and playing while he had to do school and Eric and I were doing our best to take it all in stride (but not succeeding). Additionally that morning I took Hazel in to the children's clinic to get a COVID test after her daycare requested that we do so, and I scheduled one for myself that weekend.
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| Eric masked-up at home with a positive COVID result. |
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| FB Post: ‘Recess’ ...gladiator style |
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| Hazel found tape and thinks it is hilarious to put it on her face. |
Video: Gone Fishin'
Saturday, November 21:
Eventually the weekend arrived and we were thrilled to have the week behind us. We tried to enjoy a lazy weekend home together and to NOT think about the fact that we still had a LOT of time stuck in the house together ahead.
FB Post: Christmas just came early for Asher! I told him he could clean out and reorganize the spice drawer and he excitedly responded “OK Mom!” As he ran to wash his hands
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| FB Post: The highs and lows of 2020 depicted in one simple picture. |
Monday, November 23:
When the next week began, we did our best to continue the work/school/childcare from home while looking forward to the long Thanksgiving break weekend ahead.
FB Post: Losing my mind this morning. Prayers appreciated.
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| The boys were excited to see the first snow falling and quickly ran outside to play in it. |
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| Hazel also had to join in the fun. |
(2) Videos: The First Snow
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| Today (Tuesday) we received a fun surprise from my H.S. BFF: A quarantine package with a game and some snacks. |
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| Hazel found more tape. |
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| Sassafras. |
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| That night Hazel helped me make dinner: Chicken Pot Pie |
Wednesday, November 25: Today was the last day of school before Thanksgiving Break and even though we couldn't go anywhere we were all excited for a little change of pace.
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| Avery made a Santa hat fro us to 'try on' |
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| Balloons are always fun! |
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| I saw these matching sweaters from Old Navy and thought they'd be cute for baby girl and I, but I wasn't really a fan. :( |
On Thursday it was Thanksgiving Day. It was our very first Thanksgiving not celebrating with one of our families and while we were sad about that, we decided to do our best to make the most of it.
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| Cleaning toilets together 😂 |
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| Scrub-a-dub...getting cleaned up for the day! |
It's never truly a party without some decorations, so the kids and I worked together to decorate the dining room table.
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We made a table runner and wrote/drew what we were thankful for.
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| FB Post: Like the entire year, this Thanksgiving was different than we are used to. Still we had some good food, some good fun and some great family time and for that we are forever blessed. Happy Thanksgiving |
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| Eric and Avery worked together to make a leafy centerpiece for the table. |
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| The kids and I also worked together to make an apple pie for dessert 😋 |
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| Hazel also helped Daddy make some crescent rolls. |
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| Eric and I worked together to prepare the rest of our thanksgiving meal and as we neared the end Hazel started to get impatient. Eric had placed M&Ms on the table (another thing that is required for a party in our house) and Hazel decided to help herself! |
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| When we were ready, the boys set the table and then we set out the food. |
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We ended up with turkey, stuffing, (LOTS of) mashed potatoes, rolls, orange stuff, cranberry sauce and cranberry salad. It was exactly the stuff we like for the holiday and we all enjoyed it thoroughly.
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| Hazel immediately went for more M&Ms. |
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| I wasn't really sure what Hazel would eat, so I gave her a little bit of everything. |
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| She tasted pretty much everything but wasn't overly impressed with anything other than the roll. Typical Toddler. |
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| She even tried combining some foods! 😆 |
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| We were pretty excited to finally have a reason to use our gravy boat that we got for our wedding! :) |
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| My plate. Yum! |
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| Hazel's favorite part of our meal. |
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| Hazel's plate at the end...largely untouched. |
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| Our finished pie! It was delicious!! |
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| To close out the day, Eric and Hazel shared a Daddy-Daughter Dance. |
(2) Videos: Daddy-Daughter Dance
Friday, November 27:
On Friday, with Thanksgiving officially over, we quickly got into the Christmas spirit. Since we're never home for Thanksgiving we never decorate this early, but this year we can use some extra joy and spirit in any way that we can find it. Since Eric's quarantine was officially over now we decided that we could venture out briefly for a Christmas tree.
Once we'd picked out our tree, we headed back home to start decorating. Once home we also found that we had received another package from my HS BFF...a fun family relay game!
Video: Kissy Faces
Saturday, November 28:
With the tree decorated, we spent the remainder of the weekend getting the rest of the house in order, inside AND out!
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| Banana face. |
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| Hazel helping me with some of my Christmas shopping. |
Video: Hazel Taking Care of Baby
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| Hazel decorating her own tree. |
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My newest Christmas decoration (that Eric's sister made for me last year...I love it!)
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Sunday, November 29:
On Sunday night, the kids and I finished out the week decorating our pre-assembled gingerbread houses together.
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| This is what happens when a container of sprinkles accidentally falls to the floor...you get to spend the next hour cleaning up the entire room. |
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