Wednesday, July 01, 2020

June 2020

By and large, June has been a much less exciting month. Sadly. I hardly even took any pictures. I think when the shut down for Covid was novel, and especially as I knew the kids were supposed to be in school, I made quite an effort to make things positive. As it has all dragged on, especially into the summer, it has become more and more of a drag, at least for me. We had planned on a summer filled with fun things. Several days a week at the water park. A family reunion trip to see both sides of the family in Utah. A Minnesota friend reunion in Tennessee. Right now we can't even go to the library. *Sigh* We knew this would be a long haul, but it is still a time filled with disappointment and boredom. But, we are still very grateful for the blessings we do have. Logan is able to work from home and got his class to teach this summer. We are together and have found ways to keep busy.

This boy lost not one, but two teeth!!

Our garden continues to grow and is beautiful.


Our friends brought us some of the most delicious peaches. We planned on making peach ice cream, but they were too good all by themselves to last long enough to make it.


We finally got Janie's Free Little Library plaque.


I was able to talk with my family on Father's Day. They are such a fun group of people and I feel more and more blessed by them everyday.


Had to get a picture of the Sahara dust haze in the sky. At least it's keeping hurricanes at bay...


Carli's wish is her dad's command. She requested this shelf and just like that, he had it made. We have big plans for foliage and the like to decorate it. He made Janie a craft table and a bedside table too. He really is becoming quite the carpenter.



May 2020

Here we are, still in quarantine. But we're not letting that get our spirits down. We are still loving home church. The kids look forward to getting all dolled up every Sunday.






Dad had a great idea to drive around and look for wildflowers. He and the kids put together a lovely little bouquet.



The best part of baking is licking the spoon!



The laundry room was one of the selling points of our home. We finally had the time to really let it fulfill its destiny. Such a satisfying project!




My traditional Mother's day breakfast in bed. I am a truly blessed mother. 



When you tell the kids it's time to get off their rears and get out of the house... They at least got out of the house...



What the ??? I've still been sewing masks (with Janie's help) to donate to the local hospital. This is one that came through. Who designed this fabric?? (Disclaimer: I neither choose nor cut out the fabric. I just sew what I'm given...)


Grandma sent the kids these fun jewel kits. They have loved putting them together.



Grandma and Grandpa also sent this working train puzzle. It may have taken Logan a little longer than it took the kids to do their jewel kits.



Grandpa turned 71, so we put together a little picture and video for him. One member of our number one was a little less than cooperative.


I have to add this picture because it is so perfect at describing the time we're in now. My friend's daughter turned 16 and my friend wanted to make it special, so she set up Zoom dates with young men across the country. One of those young men happened to be my cute nephew. Quarantine speed dating.


Janie and Logan worked together and built her long-awaited Free Little Library. What a cute girl to raise all the money and put it together. Unfortunately, we aren't able to put it at the school due to the pandemic, but we're hopeful we'll be able to soon. In the meantime we have loved watching people come by and seeing the books come and go. Janie wrote about the process and submitted it to The Friend magazine. It would be fun to see it in there!



We tried making rock candy again. It didn't work - again. But, we made Kool-Aid out of our failed experiment, so it wasn't a complete waste.


Fort building time!


We did a drive through on the "last day of school" to pick up the kids' things and say goodbye to teachers, etc. The kids all got high honors. Carli and Janie were on the Principal's Honor Roll. Carli received high marks in ELA and was recognized for her advancement in the Young Georgia Author's competition. Janie received high marks in Math and Milo in reading. It was a melancholy feeling knowing that the school year was supposed to end so differently and feeling like they all missed out on time with some amazing teachers. Of course, the next day I found Milo on the couch reading Carli's science notebook.


We had a family council and decided that we'd like less screen time, especially in the morning. Since the boys are early risers we were letting them watch shows so the rest of us could sleep. Janie took it upon herself to make sure they had an "entertainment kit" every morning to keep them occupied instead of having screen time. She came up with some very creative ideas that the boys looked forward to every morning.


The school librarian donated a lot of books to Janie's library. Let's just say the books go through a very rigorous testing process before they ever make it out to the library.


Our little friend that we always watch out the back window decided to rest right outside our backdoor. We were worried about how long he laid there, but eventually he got up and hopped away.


Carli was very disappointed about Girls Camp being cancelled. So, we tried to cheer her up by having our own camp activities all week. It started out with a craft day, where Carli made a cute book pillow. Next we did facials, manis and pedis. She was such a sport to let everyone join in.






Tad was not really into the mask, but he was happy to join in for mani/pedis.



The next day was water sports day.


The last night the girls planned a very fancy dinner. We all dressed up and it was such a fun experience. The boys gave the girls flowers and escorted them to the table. My escort was especially dapper. 






The Stake Primary challenged the kids to learn this beautiful song.

I Will Walk with Jesus

A little more family fun...

Karaoke

We challenged Carli to start learning hymns. She has been accompanying us in our home church meetings and doing a fantastic job. 

Wednesday, June 03, 2020

April 2020

My cute neighbor who works at a hardware store brought us some craft kits to help keep the kids busy. Logan cut the wood up into Easter eggs and the kids painted them to decorate for Easter.


As part of Milo's homeschooling we started reading chapter books together. We started with The Tale of Despereaux and he really loved it. You could tell that he was thinking about the book at random times throughout the day. We found evidence of him reading by the light of the nightlight. And when he was getting to the last couple chapters he got up and said, "I just have to find out if it's a happy ending!" He finished it and we watched the movie. He was pretty disappointed to find out that movies are not the same as the book.


General Conference was a beautiful and memorable experience this year. We spent a lot of time preparing for it as President Nelson challenged us, and we definitely felt the benefits of that preparation. It was an especially special experience to be able to participate in the Hosanna Shout in our own home. And neat to pull out my grandmother's handkerchief for it also. We felt that our home was like a temple to us in these precious moments.


Our cute Mr. Tad turned 4! He asked for an airport cake. I wasn't really sure what that meant (and I'm not sure he knew either), but he seemed happy enough with the result.




Our sweet friends drove by in a birthday parade to celebrate and sing to Tad. These quarantine birthdays are an interesting phenomenon that I wonder if they'll stick around even after the pandemic is over.


It was wonderful to have a family phone conversation with my family. I sure love these people!


These brothers are true partners in crime. We have to hide all the screens and access to them in a locked bathroom. If someone ever forgets to relock the door, these two have a sixth sense and are in there within seconds. But, it's pretty cute to see their teamwork, even if it is deviant. 


Who doesn't love it when Dad designs a giant train track?


We woke up Saturday morning to find we'd been "egged". It's such a fun tradition our friends have for Easter.


This was already my paradise, but we did some big projects to put in garden beds and build benches for our fire pit. Now we can't get enough time in the yard.




Happy Easter! We are grateful for our Savior who lived, died, was resurrected and now lives again. We're so grateful for what that means for us individually and as a family.


Empty tomb rolls.


So happy these arrived in the mail so I can make masks! I ordered this elastic back in March and Amazon said they'd arrive in May. 


These tomato plants also arrived in the mail. Who knew you could buy live plants from Amazon?



My friend told me about a woman in our community who is heading up volunteers to sew masks for local hospitals and health organizations. So, I joined them and have been making masks by the dozen. It feels good to have something to contribute in this time of uncertainty and sometimes hopelessness.


One of the first things we did when everything got cancelled was to make sure exercise was on our schedule every morning. It has been a fun habit to make with the family and everyone has really enjoyed it. Especially Logan, who has been happily channeling his inner aerobics instructor.



Everyone has been finding ways to stay busy right now. Including Tad, who figured that weaving floss in and out and through the laundry basket was the best use of his time...


Our sweet musical number for church:

King Tad


Since there wasn't enough excitement, the weather decided to stir up a little. This was our first tornado warning here, so we hung out in the mudroom for a bit. The kids thought maybe we should plan on moving in...


My favorite part of growing a garden is watching the little seedlings push up out of the ground. There is something so magical about it. Growing a garden gives me a better perspective of God's plan and designs.


That Milo...


Logan has done a wonderful job of keeping busy and finding projects for him and the kids. They put together a cute bird feeder. We have tons of birds. But, apparently they are mostly carnivores, or at the very least not interested in what we have to offer...



Our quarantine lip sync:

Janie's swing flips: