Happy 9th Birthday, Ennio!

Happy Birthday to my brand-new 9 year old! It was definitely a one-of-a-kind birthday (or so I hope!!!) and a bit strange to celebrate in quarantine, but we had fun anyway on this very special day! We even had a theme: Roblox, Ennio's favorite video game these days. He got Roblox figurines, a Roblox T-shirt, a Roblox coding book and Roblox Robux (= "bucks" or money to spend in the game) but the highlight was playing a game Marcus had designed especially for him "Ennio's Cake Day" in Roblox together with Lily, his cousins Robbe, Amélie and Jolien in Belgium, and Opa Gerhard in Germany, while uncle Wouter, tante Charlotte and Opa and Oma were watching via WhatsApp. I'm so thankful for social media, it's amazing what is possible nowadays! It makes the distance less... well... distant! Oma Eva sang Happy Birthday on the phone and I think Ennio really enjoyed his day, but do hope he can have a normal party again next year!

Lily brings out the cake!

Present from Pamela!

Fun in the sun!

It was hot this weekend (over 90℉ or 30℃) and unfortunately we don't have a swimming pool so we tried to cool off by filling up buckets and ice coolers with cold water. It helped! I also decided to give Ennio a haircut - it was the first time I did this in my entire life! I had ordered a hair clippers set on Amazon and after dutifully watching a couple of YouTube tutorials (this one and this one) I went for it! It wasn't easy, I can tell you that. Somehow, Ennio didn't trust me as much as the hairdresser, so he kept on wiggling and moving, which made it really difficult to trim his hair evenly. Some patches on the back of his head are a bit... balder than the rest - oops. Good thing hair grows back, but, to be honest, it could've been worse, I think. It's at least good enough for his video meetings 😂. Marcus is also in need of a haircut but he politely declined when I offered to cut his hair. Maybe he'll change his mind in a couple of weeks when it's shoulder length 😁. 

On Sunday, we went on a social distance walk with Ford, one of Ennio's schoolmates, and his family. They have been in strict quarantine (like us)  since the beginning of the lockdown so we felt it was safe to do so, and by now the kids are used to wearing their masks when outside (although Ennio is still complaining a lot that it's too hot). 

Ennio and Ford

Lily and Poesy

Homeschooling while working from home!

The struggle is real...

Ennio's teacher keeps on smiling!

Reading the Graveyard Book

Zoom class for Lily

Lily's teacher teaching from home!

Work Zoom meeting

Happy Easter!

Cute corona-bunnies! This is a stock image, we didn't get these bunnies here.

A very different Easter this year! We usually have an Easter brunch with friends, but of course that was out of the question this time. Because the store where I usually get my Easter chocolate goodies for the kids (Cost Plus World Market) was closed since sometime Mid-March, I didn't really know if the Easter Bunny would be coming this year... until I remembered that CVS, which also has a pharmacy inside (and so is OPEN), usually has holiday-related goods for sale. I went in to see after work on Tuesday and Hooray! I was right! I found plenty of Lindt chocolate bunnies, carrots, chicks, etc. Mission accomplished! Together with Oma Eva's Easter mail, it made for a nicely filled basket on Sunday morning! The kids had also painted and decorated some eggs and that's how we celebrated Easter this year!

HAPPY EASTER!

ZALIG PASEN!

FROHE OSTERN!

Life in times of Corona...

I am sorry I haven't kept my blog updated for such a long time. Many things have happened in the world and I have to say I'm a bit overwhelmed to say the least. Suddenly we have to stay home and keep our distance, wash our hands frequently and wear face masks, all in the hopes of avoiding catching the Coronavirus and ending up with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The outbreak which started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 12, 2020. Italy suffered hard in February and by mid-March the rest of Europe and the United States had followed. In California, schools closed on March 16 (LAUSD district) and a mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued by Governor Gavin Newsom on March 19. The mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, ordered all Angelenos to stay in their residences and limit all activities outside their homes beyond what is absolutely necessary for essential tasks through May 15 (going to the supermarket, pharmacy or work for essential employees). It is surreal.

I have been going to work 1 or 2 times a week (the office is a government service and stays open) but otherwise work from home. Schools are closed so we have to homeschool our kids which is a crazy thing to do in combination with work. More on that in another post. In the meantime, I try to see the silver linings. It is nice to spend so much time with Marcus, Lily and Ennio. There's no more morning rush, and no traffic when I do have to get on the road. And I keep on telling myself: this won't last forever and one day, we will be able to travel and hug our friends and family again.