Month: April 2020

The Macaroni Mama Blog

10 Easy Quarantine Birthday Ideas

Christine

We have a May birthday at our house and I want to make it special for her since we don’t know if we are still under a stay at home order.

We usually celebrate lavishly at our house and this year will be no different. I have been seeing creative and out of the box ideas on social media, so I thought I’d compile a list of some of my favorites:

  • Cards-Put out the word on social media and ask friends and family to send birthday cards to your child. I know my kids love getting mail.

  • Birthday videos-Have friends, family send birthday videos of love, or have them sing happy birthday to your child.

  • Virtual Party-Arrange a Zoom or Google Hang Out birthday party. Arrange a time for your child’s friends can get together virtually and celebrate! You could even make some cupcakes and deliver them curbside to their friends so you can all sing to the birthday child. Plus their friends get a sweet treat as well.
  • Baking Fun-Make the birthday cake together, get your child in on the decorating. Kids love using icing and sprinkles.

  • Birthday parade-ask friends and family to drive by with signs, balloons, and honks of birthday love.

  • Crown the birthday child-Make a special crown for the birthday girl or boy and have them wear it all-day. The birthday child gets to pick which game to play, what’s for dinner, the movie pick, etc. The birthday king or queen is the decision-maker for the day. (Within reason of course-think cruise director type decisions.)

  • Decorate-Make the house look like it’s a party zone, balloons, streamers, party hats, the works.

    • Gifts-Order birthday gifts online, better yet, try to support a small business that offers curbside pick up or delivery.
    • Wakeup call-Gather the rest of the family and surprise your child with an early morning rendition of Happy Birthday.

    • Now Showing-Print faux tickets to a movie, make popcorn, and have a viewing of your child’s favorite movie.

    The Macaroni Mama Blog

    Power of a Shower/Bath

    Christine

    Being a stay at home for over 12 years, I’m no stranger to being at home with my children.

    It took a while to get into a routine, with my firstborn, I was in sort of a whirlwind for a long time.

    One golden piece of advice from a seasoned mom was to take time for me and that meant showering, doing your hair, and getting dressed.

    Trust me, you will feel so much better, it’s like the making your bed theory. You remember hearing that if you want to change the world, start by making your bed, right?!?

    So even though you are staying home, not going anywhere at the moment, shower, do your hair, make that bed, I promise it will make you feel better and more productive.

    The Macaroni Mama Blog

    Talking to your kids about Coronavirus

    Christine
    How do you talk to your kids about the Corona-virus?

    I have a 12-year-old, an eight-year-old and a five-year-old. If you are like me you are trying to navigate through this pandemic and how to talk to your kids about it.

    My older children sort of get it, they know about the virus, why we are staying home and the purpose of washing our hands frequently.

    That doesn’t mean they are not struggling with staying home, missing their friends, not going back to school for the rest of the school year.

    They are mourning and it’s alright, we are trying to encourage them to discuss their feelings and take some alone time if they need it.

    We are telling them it’s OK to be sad, it’s OK to feel confused. We as parents are feeling all that as well.

    Our preschool has sent out some great resources for my five year old and how to discuss all this with him.

    I wanted to share a storybook that I’ve read to him and I think it has been helpful.

    Coronavirus-Borst-Final-2-2Download

    Another great resource is a Coronavirus time capsule that your child can fill out. It was sent to me by our preschool and I think it’s a great chance to discuss this time with your child. And a great item for their memory boxes. I’m so grateful that our preschool provided these tools for us.

    2020-Covid-19-time-capsule-sheets-1Download

    I pray that these resources help you and your children! Please share in the comments how you are talking to your children and ideas that have helped you.

    Health

    Quarantine Lessons

    Christine

    I’m trying to be positive and trying to see this as a glass half full type of situation. I know this is not permanent and I can get through this day by day.

    That brings me to the first lesson I’ve learned through all this, I need to take things day by day, sometimes hour by hour. I can’t focus on the worries of tomorrow, or when this will end, it will not do me any good. I need to focus on this day and be thankful to have a roof over my head, enough food to eat and a healthy family.

    We can live on less. Fewer things to purchase, fewer activities that take us away from the home. Fewer ingredients to make the perfect meal, right now it’s what we can substitute and still make the meal work.

    I can appreciate the small things. A beautiful sunset, the sound of my son’s laughter, a cozy home that I get to spend ALL my time, Minecraft to occupy my kids, and a strong Internet connection to name a few. All these things make quarantine doable, am I right?

    A strong family unit will help get you through the hard times. Sure my kids are fighting amongst themselves but I know at the same time they are growing closer. My husband and I can enjoy our family without all the shuttling the kids from one activity or another.

    I need to be thankful for what I have and not focus on what I’m missing. A strong marriage, kids that are adaptable, my husband’s job, time to focus on myself and my hobbies. Time to find out what my hobbies are besides watching reality TV. All these blessings and more are a reason to be thankful.

    Another lesson I’ve learned is my faith will sustain me. I need to lean on Jesus when I get overwhelmed, I need to trust that He has a plan

    Please share somethings you have learned during this time in your life, comment below!

    The Macaroni Mama Blog

    A Different Type of Easter

    Christine

    I hope you all had a nice Easter with your families. I know it’s strange to not get up and go to church, celebrate with your fellow Christians, exclaiming “He Has Risen”!

    Our Easter did look different, we were missing my mom and dad, who we celebrate with and see quite often. Attending church online was different, I’m used to hugging my church people, loving on their kiddos. sharing laughs with my fellow volunteers.

    We usually go out to eat in the afternoon, have someone else do the cooking, always a nice break.

    Attending numerous Easter events around town, egg hunts, egg decorating parties. Sitting down with my kiddos and painting eggs etc.

    We did not paint real eggs this year because my family doesn’t eat hard-boiled eggs or egg salad and honestly, I didn’t want to waste our eggs.

    We decorated paper ones and hung them around our house. We went on virtual egg hunts around our neighborhood.

    It’s OK to mourn the usual, we are all in unprecedented times and our normal is not normal, it’s our current reality.

    Some things that remained the same this Easter, “He has Risen!”, it’s Resurrection Day!! I got to give praise to Jesus on this day. I got to worship with my church family online, maybe not face to face but we were together nonetheless.

    My favorite part of the day, making resurrection rolls with my children and listening to the children’s sermon together, on the couch, in our pajamas

    We always make some sort of bunny-themed breakfast, and I will do this for my children until they are adults. This year was bunny pancakes.

    I was surrounded by loved ones, were we in our Sunday best, no, were we in a restaurant, no, but we were together.

    My kids got to go on an egg hunt in or backyard, thankfully, I had plastic eggs in my basement and various other Easter goodies from past years and candy from Amazon.

    There is an option: the glass half empty vs. half full. I choose a half-full philosophy on this Resurrection Sunday.

    The Macaroni Mama Blog

    Easter Fun at Home

    Christine

    Easter 2020 will definitely be different than past years. We try to teach our kids that sometimes plan changes and that’s OK, so as adults we need to practice what we preach.

    Parents are getting very good at being creative and making lemons out of lemonade. So how are we doing Easter 2020?

    Instead of attending neighborhood egg hunts, we are going on virtual ones, as we walk our neighborhood, we can spot eggs that neighbors have colored and placed in their windows.

    It’s simple, download the Easter egg coloring sheets, color them, cut them out, hang them on your windows to display and you are good to go.

    Here is a link to some egg coloring sheets here.

    Print, color, cut and hang, it’s that simple.

    Share with your neighbors and and start hunting today!!

    The Macaroni Mama Blog

    Three Weeks of Quarantine

    Christine

    March 2020 will certainly go down in the history books. It seemed like so much changed so fast. At the beginning of the month, things were changing daily then as times went on, it was changing hourly.

    Like many travelers, my husband and I were planning a trip for Spring Break and family was going to watch our kids. We’d been planning this vacation for over a year and BAM, things came to a halt.

    As a travel advisor, the travel business has been and will be deeply affected by all this for some time. I know that we will travel the world again and I can’t wait to start planning client trips instead of sitting on the phone for hours on end canceling and rescheduling.

    I truly believe that travel advisors will be more popular than ever, don’t you want an advocate for you if something unexpected comes up? This past month has definitely shown us unforeseen events can pop up anytime. Who do you call, where do you start, a travel advisor is there for just that and at no extra cost to you.

    At this point, I am just posting virtual vacations on my Facebook business page and dreaming of the sun, sand, and sounds of the ocean. You can follow me here.

    Our family has been home for almost a month now, I went out one time to help my parents grocery shop. I couldn’t help feeling anxious as I ventured out into the real world. As I approached the first stoplight, I couldn’t help but think “Am I too close to this car, do I need to be 6 feet apart from the car in front of me”. Do we need to practice social distancing while driving?

    We have enjoyed our Spring Break together, cleaning, organizing, playing games, having tea parties, enjoying Disney Plus, eating ALL meals together and then distance learning started.

    Movies, chalk art, piano songs, gymnastic class, lots of legos, family walks and books. thriving in our 1st three weeks.

    This has been the last three weeks of our lives. What have I learned? My husband and I are still compatible, my kids each need extra hugs and a sense of normalcy right now, we are a strong family unit and it’s OK to have good days and bad days.

    Mostly I’ve learned that life can slow down, we can be stripped down to the bare essentials and we will be OK as long as we have our faith, our health and each other.

    Stay home, stay safe and take it one day at a time!!