The Kelly’s found their green thumbs during COVID-19

Chris and Ashley Kelly are raising a quartet of young, rambunctious children through the COVID-19 pandemic. The family includes 6-year-old Grayson, Jayde, who is four, and two-year-old twins, Oaklyn and Aspyn. Typically, the group of six was always out doing things and enjoying time with family and friends, but like everyone else, social isolation quickly put a halt to that. Over the last couple of months, the Kelly’s have found new ways to pass the time together and have made memories they will never forget.

As a school bus driver, Ashley was immediately worried about her job, and once the schools closed, her worries came true. Her husband, Chris, is a paramedic in Edmonton. She said that having a first responder in the house brought an extra level of stress to an already stressful situation. “There were times where I would wake up in the night and have a tickle in my throat and think the worst, or if he coughed at all, I would get paranoid.”

She said that hearing people call the illness a hoax, or not taking social distancing seriously, was hard. “It’s been very much real for us. You start to take it personally when you have a frontline worker spouse and an immune-compromised toddler at home.” Ashley said that the changes have been hard on the children. “At first, it was awful. We had a lot of emotional breakdowns, and they missed school, friends, and routine. Not to mention, the weather was pretty terrible too.”

Grayson vocalized how dumb he felt corona was, which was perfectly understandable coming from a youngster who just had his world flipped upside down. She said that the other kids had difficulties switching to online schooling. “It’s been a challenge to get my grade 1 French Immersion student to be engaged in online-school. He doesn’t mind it, but he doesn’t thrive like he did at school. My preschooler has a severe speech delay, which has made her extremely shy, socially. Preschool was bringing her out of her shell, and when it ended, that rocked her world. She now has virtual speech appointments online, and she doesn’t love them.”

Over the last while, they have all had the chance to get more comfortable, and Ashley said that things are much more adjusted now. “We get all our online school done in the morning, so we have the rest of the day for play, chores, scenic drives or any other adventures we may go on.” She said that she had taken her older children out with her to stores, one at a time, to get them outside for quick outings. “It’s amazing for them to see the public world after no being out and about for over two months!”

Ashley said that the children know more than she thought they did. “Sometimes they would talk about when the virus ends and when they can go back to school or that they hope there are no new cases that day. They would talk about “the corona” and social distancing as part of their new normal.”

Since the weather has finally warmed up, the Kelly’s have been getting outside and getting their hands dirty. Ashley said that they recently worked on their front flower bed together and visited a couple of greenhouses. “I took Jayde with me to a local lady’s home greenhouse, and she picked out some flowers to plant. We worked hard as a family on taking weeds and rocks out of the garden and watering the flowers inside until it was warm enough to plant them. It’s been great for my mental health, and it’s been fun to have the kids help, as much as they can, with it all.”

She said that they also travelled to Barrhead to visit the local greenhouse there. “We got more plants, shrubs and flowers, and we’ve even upgraded ourselves to several house plants. Aside from my puppy trying to dig up my strawberry plants, every chance she gets, it has been great, and I look forward to doing even more next year!”

The family had planned to venture out to New Brunswick in July, but the plans are now likely on hold. “We were going to drive there to visit all of our family, and the kids are still talking about when they will get to go visit their Nana’s and see the beach. We do not think it will happen this year now. So, hopefully, we can make the trip next summer instead. We are going to try to fill our summer with camping trips as often as we can instead.”

Ashley said that she has noticed how much her children have missed being able to be social. “My kids were so desperate for social interaction; they would stand back from the mailbox by our yard to talk to the mail lady. They would wave frantically and yell, hello, to all the cars driving by or people walking. It was cute and funny, but also sad at the same time.”

As with every family that the Press has interviewed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kelly’s have learned things about themselves that they did not necessarily know prior. “I have a hard time giving up routine, but I think it’s been good for me not to be so scheduled.” She said that she has also realized just how much she touches her face. “I’m definitely much more conscious of that now!”