March Quarantine

So the middle and end of March was a lot of staying inside at home because the pandemic shut everything down, but here are a few fun memories.

Ethan and Lydia got some hand-me-down scooters from their cousins and have love riding them around and down the hill across the street from us when the weather was good enough.

When she can't ride outside, Lydia finds new ways to ride inside. Doesn't every kid do this? It has to be some universal kid experience. I usually did it in sleeping bags, but Lydia took it to a new level. :) What you can't see is that is ends abruptly into wall, so we had to mandate pillows and cushions at the bottom to prevent injuries.

Lydia was going to two preschools. One was a co-op preschool with three others moms from Jason's MBA program and we took turns teaching the kids. This was super fun and they all became good friends. This was a lesson at our friends' house about caring for your teeth. Lydia also attended Treasure Tree Academy two days a week in the afternoon from January-beginning of March and was really starting to make a lot of friends. Both of those wonderful experiences ended pretty abruptly, but we're still glad they happened.

Starting March 15th we had church at home and taught lessons from the Come Follow Me curriculum provided by the Church. We miss actually going to church, but we have enjoyed this time together as a family as well.

This was from our last family dinner before the governor gave the "Stay Home, Stay Safe" orders.

Ethan did set a trap for the leprechauns for St. Patrick's Day, and they didn't disappoint him. :) Thanks goes to the Huxels for teaching Ethan about Leprechaun traps. ;)

Sometimes it can be like pulling teeth to get Ethan to write much. That was the one thing he improved a lot on in Kindergarten since he could already read and is excellent in math. But I thought this was a good piece to show his first draft writing of a book summary. He completed it for a Kindergarten assignment that we submitted to his teacher. I was pretty impressed since I hadn't seen him write this much before and I didn't help him at all. He can be a perfectionist so that has held him back in his writing.

With school now being online, it has been fun to see Ethan work on the Imagine Learning program. I worked for Imagine Learning as an Instructional Designer up until Ethan was born and I've had the pleasure of seeing several of my designs and activities/books that I improved or edited as he's been working through the program. So cool that my work is blessing my own child!

Just a typical day in the life of Lydia :)

We did sneak down and visit my mom on her birthday! We gave her lots of our beautiful artwork. It was so fun to spend the afternoon with her!

 

Ethan wanted to make a sculpture of Enos praying. He made it so I could submit it to the Friend magazine. If you never see it in the magazine, here it is!! ;)

Lydia's play dough creation

It so happens that if you're walking by your neighbors at just the right time, you can take a spin in their ATV before they put it away for the day. :) My kids loved this impromptu ride and Lydia has been wishing for one "with 6 seats for our whole family" ever since.

And finally more creations by Ethan and Lydia. I pretty much only take pictures of the ones they request now, so these must have been favorites.

March--A Visit to Arizona

It's hard to imagine now, but way back when at the beginning of March, before the world fell apart in the pandemic, we got to fly to Arizona in a normal world without masks, without fear, and without social distancing. Now we see this getaway to Arizona as a last hurrah before life would change drastically.

Unfortunately Jason didn't get to enjoy this trip with us since he was buried deep in classes, assignments, and projects. So Ethan, Lydia, and I flew by ourselves, and the actual flight was short and sweet in comparison to our flights from Kentucky.

 Tootsie Pops make the wait for the plane to take off go much more pleasantly for everyone! :)

We loved every minute of our stay in Arizona. We stayed with Melody and our kids' ages match right up so everyone had a friend. March weather in Arizona is perfect and we enjoyed playing inside, outside, and at nearby parks everyday.

 Ethan loved playing soccer everyday with his cousins in the backyard.

One day we visited Schnepf Farms and saw some goats, chickens, peacocks, played on the playground, jumped on a big pillow of air, and took a train ride!

We also had fun at many of the nearby parks. Melody always took us to coolest ones!

 We watched Frozen 2 for the first time and we weren't disappointed. :)

One day Melody made a big batch of play dough and the kids got to pick their favorite color. They all loved it!

So really, we just had a ball together! We played and talked and ate good food and played some more. The kids got along really well and we're so excited we get to see them again later this summer. Yay for Spring Break, yay for cousins and family! So grateful we got to go on this trip before the world as we knew it rapids came apart. Even as we flew home the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 as an official pandemic and within the next three days, all schools were closed, all churches closed, all athletic everything cancelled, and pretty much any and all of our plans were cancelled, postponed, or became virtual for the next few months. So as you can see, this trip really was the best thing that happened to us in March. We are so, so grateful it happened!