I know this Safer at Home stuff has been really tough for a lot of people. And while we definitely have been feeling plenty of the weirdness of it, I can't deny that overall it's been kind of great. Home is my favorite place to be. And with these peeps, life is just good. I have so much to be thankful for. Here are our April Quarantine highlights:
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| 4.1.20 (first time biking on the path to the Lake View Cemetery - he did awesome on the hills, but some were just too big to pedal!) |
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| 4.1.20 (Cal prefers to walk (actually she prefers to ride in the Burley but sometimes I make her move herself to get where we are going) and Sam always chooses his bike) |
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| 4.1.20 (I already shared these art projects on my quarantine distractions post, but I'll include them here, too - this was our attempt at salt painting. You draw an outline of something with glue and then sprinkle it with salt, dust off the excess, and then let the whole thing dry. Then, you use watercolors to paint on the salt and it's supposed to spread the color in a fun and magical (sciencey) way. It sort of worked. Haha. But the kids and I had fun trying anyway.) |
bonus video!
4.1.20
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| 4.1.20 (Callie's colorful heart of love was my favorite!) |
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| 4.1.20 (I even got in on the fun) |
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| 4.1.20 (next up - and I'm looking back thinking I was rather brave to attempt two "special" art projects in one day - was "cheater watercolor" using markers, a ziplock bag and a squirt bottle. You scribble on the bag with a washable marker, then squirt the bag with a bit of water, then lay it down ink/wet side down on your paper and rub around then lift up. Again, Callie's turned out way better than mine! We had fun decorating some cards to send to Grandpas and Grandmas for Easter.) |
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| 4.2.20 (I can't remember if we finished our first Corona puzzle - this Eric Dowdle rendition of Yellowstone - on this day or if I just wanted to take a pic of it before we took it apart on this day.) |
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| 4.2.20 (most of my reading lately has been via audiobook on Libby - we've been enjoying the Sarah, Plain and Tall series, which I had only ever read the first one before. They're all worth a read (or a listen - read by Glenn Close!)) |
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| 4.2.20 (we got a call from Callie's optometrist a couple weeks ago saying her glasses were ready, but we were sick for a few days and everyone was telling everyone to "stay home if you're sick" so we were trying to be obedient. Then everything shut down. Which was fine, since she really only needed her glasses for seeing the board at school. But when they called and said they'd be open limited hours and we could pick up orders in the parking lot, we decided to go for it. It took a couple tries to get them to (sort of) fit with Cal and I sitting in the car and the glasses worker running them in and out of the building to make adjustments. They're not perfect, and actually slide down her nose quite a bit. I don't know if that's because they are just too big for her face or if we just can't get a good fit standing six feet away and through a car window. At any rate, they do work and she's been surprised to notice details of the world that she hadn't really seen before - like houses on the mountainside or a mailbox down the street. Plus I think she looks darn cute!) |
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| 4.2.20 (today was a "I need cookies" kind of day and Grandma Elwood's recipe (you should check it out - I've updated that post!) was calling my name!) |
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| 4.2.20 (here's a top down view so you can see the pink sides of her frames) |
bonus video!
4.2.20
(our friend, Moriah, was bummed to have to turn six
without a party so her mom asked people to
send her video messages and make posters to hang on
her house so they could drive around and see the love.
So we did. Also please note Sam's headlight attatchment
to his bike helmet, haha! It has stayed on with just
scotch tape for a remarkably long time and makes me
smile every day!)
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| 4.3.20 (birthday morning for friend Moriah) |
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| 4.3.20 (oh what a beautiful morning in our backyard!) |
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| 4.3.20 (the seven sisters looking mighty fine on this bluebird day) |
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| 4.3.20 (lunch of champions!) |
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| 4.3.20 (our new roasting sticks from Grandpa Elwood doing a mighty fine job!) |
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| 4.3.20 (I think I have photographed this view countless times - it never gets old to me!) |
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| 4.3.20 (after an earlier solo-sleeping attempt in the teardrop that lasted all of five minutes (literally!), the kids convinced their dearly devoted dad to spend the night with them - it was a cool one so they kept the trailer in the garage, but a great time was had by all (or so I heard - I was sleeping soundly inside all by myself!)) |
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| 4.3.20 (texts from Gregg during the sleepover) |
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| 4.4.20 (General Conference breakfast! Cinnamon Chip Scones and Mini Quiches) |
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| 4.5.20 (books are finally coming due after the library closure/extended due date thing that happened a few weeks ago. I have 51 items checked out on my card! These are a handful of extra good picture books (mostly nonfiction here) that we especially loved) |
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| 4.5.20 (Cal has a pile of early chapter books that I picked out for her to try something different than her usual Heidi Hecklebeck or Junie B. Jones (she's read every one of those that our library has, multiple times). She enjoyed these ones.) |
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| 4.5.20 (Sunday morning session of Conference - we dressed up to participate in the Hosanna Shout at the end and that was pretty special.) |
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| 4.6.20 (back at it with the home school thing - she doesn't love it, but she does tolerate it most of the time) |
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| 4.6.20 (Sam helped me vacuum this morning!) |
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| 4.6.20 (so proud!) |
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| 4.6.20 (time to take 'em back! Now that's a load of library books!) |
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| 4.6.20 (we took a scooter ride/walk along the bike path from the Spring Creek parking area to the Middle Inlet parking area - we got caught in the rain on the way back, but a good time was had by all) |
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| 4.6.20 (Sam was getting some good practice at gliding with his brake) |
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| 4.6.20 (of course we had to pay a visit to the "hollow tree") |
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| 4.6.20 (this thing is so cool) |
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| 4.6.20 |
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| 4.6.20 (while boiling eggs for dying I was reminded of a game we used to play at my Grandpa Thornley's house with egg cartons like this and marbles - naturally I had to text my family and see if they remembered, too) |
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| 4.6.20 (I don't even know!) |
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| 4.6.20 (ditto!) |
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| 4.7.20 (on our walk back from a North Arm hike I just heart-eyed over the clouds and the barns and the grass and the snow-capped mountains) |
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| 4.7.20 (I heart Eden) |
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| 4.7.20 (Cal had read a recipe in one of her High Five magazines that she figured she could make by herself. So she did (with Sam's help and my assistance in getting things from high cupboards)!) |
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| 4.7.20 (She learned about reading carefully to know the difference between teaspoons and cups, how to adapt a recipe with ingredients we had (lemon juice instead of orange juice) and how to share turns with her brother) |
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| 4.7.20 (and the final result was a delicious little blueberry pie! She was so proud and we were so happy for a yummy dessert!) |
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| 4.7.20 (the "super pink moon" from our kitchen window) |
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| 4.8.20 (we wrote/drew in our Easter cards to send out) |
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| 4.8.20 (Sam always always always draws a train) |
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| 4.8.20 (oh, hello! There's that view again!) |
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| 4.8.20 (Cal and Sam found these old shingles in a junk heap and asked if they could paint them. I was happy I could say yes to so many of their ideas this week, this being one of them. Why not?) |
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| 4.8.20 (Cal was determined to turn hers into a sign complete with post and hole in the ground) |
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| 4.8.20 (it was the most glorious springtime day (at last!) and I just NEEDED to have grilled burgers for dinner. But I didn't have any buns and I'm not doing the whole, "I'll just run to the store and grab some" thing these days. So I made my own. YUM!) |
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| 4.8.20 (ta-da! She did it! (The sign says "Jungle")) |
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| 4.8.20 (she also treated us (and quite a lineup of cars) to a puppet show after dinner) |
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| 4.8.20 (a little after-dinner soccer game sounds great to me) |
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| 4.8.20 (effective goalie strategy) |
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| 4.9.20 (I done did the mask-making thing. Just this one. But I did it.) |
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| 4.9.20 (my sister-in-law Lea sent me the instructions and it came together quite nicely, if I do say so myself. I like the bendable nose piece made with twisty ties sewn in a little pocket!) |
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| 4.9.20 (I put some birthday money (that was originally earmarked for new church shoes) to use on some new walking shoes instead. They came today!) |
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| 4.9.20 (also arriving today was our much-anticipated "special Spring Break surprise" game of Guess Who (it was only a week late!)) |
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| 4.9.20 (look who showed up in this new-and-improved version! (Katie and Liz are sisters and Cal and Sam's cousins!)) |
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| 4.9.20 (and Megan and Emily are cousins (and Megan is my sister)!) |
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| 4.9.20 (I'm trying to read these discourses from the book At the Pulpit and have found a couple gems. Eliza R. Snow is pretty awesome. But it's hard for me to focus on words on a page these days (and I'm so bummd!) and I'd much rather listen to the Latter-Day Saint Women's podcast version and discussion about them. |
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| 4.9.20 |
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| 4.10.20 (Cal's reading minutes for March (and some April) - she's done plenty of that, for sure!) |
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| 4.10.20 (it was a fantastic afternoon to sit in the sun on the deck for a few minutes) |
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| 4.12.20 (Cal was busy during a hangout with the grandparents - she came up with this all on her own) |
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| 4.13.20 (First I roasted my first turkey and then I boiled the carcass with with some veggies and made my own turkey stock! Feeling super home-ecky over here!) |
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| 4.13.20 (classic fun! And the narrator for this was especially great! We had actually started listening to Homer Price in February but didn't get it quite finished before it had to be returned on the Libby App. It finally came back to us and we finished up the last 20 minutes while working on another puzzle.) |
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| 4.14.20 (Cal wanted to show her teacher her new book so we snapped this pic to send in her daily email. Mrs. Anderson writes to the kids every day with something fun to try or learn or work on and a few updates from some of the kids in the class. Callie writes back almost every day with pictures and fun things she's doing and learning (and plenty of emojis). I need to compile them all as a little corona journal for her when this is all done!) |
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| 4.14.20 (another one done!) |
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| 4.14.20 (Cal wanted to try flying her kite. And so she did! All by herself! (I'm sensing a theme this month!)) |
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| 4.14.20 (I finally have some happy sourdough start! It's actually growing! (Yes, I am doing the whole quarantine sourdough thing, though I must say it has been on my bucket list for a long time! Now just seemed to be a good time to finally check it off the ol' list! I started this process on March 31st and it has taken a long time to get going, but here it is! My sister Heather has answered countless questions and put up with numerous article links sent by me about sourdough during this time. She's a true champ!)) |
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| 4.14.20 (I spent hours out here this afternoon hacking away at the dead limbs and gnarly growth between these nasty old trees in the backyard. Why? I guess because I was bored and it felt good to do something with my body outside. Haha. They're really not that special of trees, but they do look a lot better than they used to! (I wish I had taken a before and after shot!)) |
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| 4.14.20 (I thought this was an after shot, but then that huge horizontal limb on the plum tree that is growing along the ground ended up breaking off!) |
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| 4.14.20 (so here is the true "after". For now.) |
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| 4.15.20 (bubble and grow my little friend!) |
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| 4.15.20 (today was supposed to be STEM Day at school and I was supposed to be teaching kids there how to extract DNA from split peas. So we brought the STEM Day home and my kids were my pupils for the morning) |
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| 4.15.20 (They did a great job, even if it was over their heads! Also note: Sam said I should wear my DNA shirt for the occasion, which I gladly did, and he insisted on wearing this shirt "because it looks like DNA". It actually is more STEM-like because of the solar system connection? But I think the color scheme matched my DNA shirt and that's what caught his eye. At any rate, I thought it was cute he had a special outfit picked out for the day!) |
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| 4.15.20 |
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| 4.15.20 (my little DNA extractors! They kept saying "we MADE DNA today!" haha!) |
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| 4.15.20 (then we kept the science stuff going with a little video Megan shared with us about measuring the speed of light using stale peeps in your microwave. We didn't have stale peeps but we did have some marshmallows, and while our calculations were a couple hundred million mph off of the true speed of light, we at least got to salvage the marshmallows in rice crispy treat form so it was not all a bust) |
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| 4.15.20 (he's reading my first favorite book!) |
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| 4.15.20 (the photography on this is just not good, but the sandwich itself was amazing and must be recorded for posterity!) |
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| 4.15.20 (melted turkey, bacon, ranch, and cheddar - yum!) |
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| 4.15.20 (Grandma and Grandpa book club - they're reading Billy Mink by Thornton Burgess together, taking turns reading a page since we have a copy and they have a copy. So fun!) |
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| 4.15.20 (and a little chit chat after the storytime) |
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| 4.15.20 (Continuing on with the Sarah, Plain and Tall Series. I've been surprised how much I like them all. They've made perfect puzzle-ing stories for us during quarantine.) |
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| 4.16.20 (This morning's rain gauge reading was our highest yet! Oh-so close to that 0.2 inches!) |
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| 4.16.20 (my baby is making pancakes for breakfast!) |
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| 4.16.20 |
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| 4.16.20 (and my first sourdough bake is underway! Can you guess what I'm making?) |
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| 4.16.20 (waiting their turn for the griddle) |
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| 4.16.20 (after the first flip) |
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| 4.16.20 (and complete! English muffins for the win!) |
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| 4.16.20 (just another scooter trip on the bike path in the dreary weather - why do we always end up getting rained or snowed on when we do this?) |
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| 4.16.20 (I knew we were in for something but we scootered on anyway) |
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| 4.16.20 (a stop at the "hollow tree", naturally) |
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| 4.16.20 |
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| 4.16.20 (that water line is creeping closer!) |
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| 4.17.20 (we decided to do a little social distancing socializing and spread some birthday cheer (it was my dad's birthday but we visited his parents first). We decorated their sidewalk with chalk, delivered some English muffins and swapped books to read and had a good chat on the front porch. Much needed and enjoyed!) |
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| 4.17.20 (then we stopped at my brother Nate's house to do the same, with the only difference being giving them cookies and them giving us a dozen home- grown eggs from their backyard chickens! That's a trade if I ever saw one!) |
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| 4.17.20 |
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| 4.17.20 (finally we met up with the birthday Grandpa and had a fun picnic in his backyard in the sunshine. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, especially since the day before they had snow covering their lawn!) |
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| 4.17.20 (so we didn't always keep to the 6 feet rule, but we did our best and we stayed outside) |
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| 4.17.20 (last stop was a bit more chalking and visiting and cookie dropping at Kylie's house in Hyrum. All in all a fun tour of the valley and so good to see people in person, if at a distance) |
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| 4.17.20 (dinner! sourdough baking project number 2 check, check! verdict: it was good, but I think I still like our usual recipe best of all.) |
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| 4.17.20 (The last one! We listened to this in one sitting on our drive to Cache Valley this morning.) |
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| 4.17.20 (I was taking some evening laps in the backyard after the kids went to bed when I heard some buzzing overhead and saw this (and another) ultralight zipping around) |
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| 4.18.20 (continuing on with the social distance socializing, we had Gregg's parents over for a campfire hot dog dinner in the backyard. Also note our new and improved fire ring - Gregg took the bricks from the inner wheel ring and stacked them up around the outside instead, then stacked more rocks on top to make it wider and taller than it was before. It is so nice!) |
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| 4.19.20 (I got my Thanksgiving spread anyway, just wasn't on Easter. First time making gravy! It was spectacular! haha) |
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| 4.19.20 (yep, I can get behind this tradition! we even had a lesson in home church about gratitude, which went along with King Benjamin's sermon, but I think actually fits in really well for us during coronavirus time. Like I said at the top, we have a lot to be grateful for, and focusing on those thankful feelings really helps me balance out the worry and frustration and fear and uncertainty that we're facing.) |
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| 4.19.20 (we took a walk down to the lake for a little kite flying action. the sky turned a lot stormier than we were expecting so we didn't stay long in case we got caught in some rain. but it was fun while it lasted!) |
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| 4.19.20 |
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| 4.19.20 |
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| 4.19.20 |
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| 4.19.20 (Sam got a turn!) |
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| 4.19.20 |
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| 4.19.20 |
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| 4.19.20 (moody sky on the walk back home) |
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| 4.19.20 (while the wind continued to blow and we saw a rainbow on the mountain, we didn't actually get wet, so we made a pit stop at the park on the way home for more kite flying.) |
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| 4.19.20 |
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| 4.19.20 (you better believe I retold The Kite Story!) |
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| 4.19.29 (this is whipped evaporated milk. I had no cream for our crustless pumpkin pie cupcakes. It worked! But I don't know that I'll ever use it again. It had the consistency of melted vanilla ice cream, but didn't taste as good. And funnily enough, melted vanilla ice cream was what Gregg suggested we use in the first place!) |
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| 4.20.20 (a perfect "bluebird morning" for riding our bikes to the school to return Cal's library books) |
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| 4.20.20 (another one bites the dust! This one of Vail Village was tricky with small and oddly shaped pieces. But we did it!) |
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| 4.21.20 (Callie has been wanting to learn cursive for a few months now. I wanted to print off a sheet like this when our quarantine/home school started, but our printer didn't work (like I thought) and since the library was closed we were out of luck. I finally thought to ask a grandma for help, and Gregg's mom printed one off and dropped it off one evening after the kids were in bed. When Callie woke up in the morning and saw it on the counter, she knew who had brought it because of the fruit snacks that were sitting there, too!) |
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| 4.21.20 (this dry erase in a sheet protector trick is one we used in kindergarten (and Sam has been testing out a bit as of late for his normal letters) and works just as well for cursive, too!) |
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| 4.21.20 (Cal's school librarian made a fun video for all the kids of her reading a book called Scribble Stones and then inviting everyone to decorate a rock and bring it to the school and they'll use it in a new walkway for everyone to remember the homeschool time with. Sam isn't in school yet, but he painted one, too, and we left them near the little free library at the entrance to the school anyway) |
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| 4.21.20 (this was another project from her school-at-home slides. the students were supposed to come up with an invented ice cream flavor, draw it, and write to their teachers answering a few questions about what they invented, what their real favorite is and whether or not they would share (this was to go along with Mo Willems's book Should I Share My Ice Cream?)) |
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| 4.21.20 |
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| 4.21.20 (Sam even got in on the action with this assignment, too! This might be the first non-train drawing I've ever seen out of him! ;) |
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| 4.21.20 (a little backyard baseball with my boy - he can whack the ball pretty far, but we haven't got a home run (aka over the fence) yet!) |
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| 4.22.20 (Callie was SO excited for a class chat today - her teacher taught them how to draw Donald Duck and she got to see and hear from lots of her friends. She even read a poem she wrote about spring and shared her list of quarantine books she's been reading) |
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| 4.22.20 (next up: a bag o' bugs. I put this one out on the table and turned over all the pieces and just left it. The kids came to it by themselves and started piecing things together. And this one is extra hard because it's not really a scene - just a bright blue background with lots of beetles scattered about! I'm impressed with their progress.) |
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| 4.22.20 (dinner helpers - we had Cal's specialty: Football Meatloaf! And it was mighty yummy.) |
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| 4.23.20 (she finally lost her second tooth last night - and "lost" is an accurate description! She was twisting it in the bathroom while she was getting ready for bed when it flew out of her mouth and landed on the floor in a corner near the tub (and under the shower curtain). She let out a squeal of excitement/ anguish and came running to the kitchen saying "I lost my tooth! I mean it's LOST!" We hunted in the bathroom for a few minutes and Gregg actually saw the tooth but didn't realize what it was at first, when finally it was discovered and placed safely under her pillow. The tooth fairy brought her a dollar and she and I folded it into a little elephant the next morning!) |
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| 4.23.20 (it was a rather rainy day so we made "muffin tin lunch" (and popcorn) and watched Frozen 2 on Disney+ for some lunchtime fun) |
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| 4.23.20 (should I eat it or plant it?!) |
bonus video!
4.23.20
(I just wanted a clip of Callie reading - she still does a great
job with expression, but it isn't really evident in this shot. You do
get to see her cute little dance when she reads
"carrots and potatoes, peas and tomatoes" though.)
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| 4.23.20 (I met up with my friend Sariah for a "circle the wagons" chat in the parking lot near Middle Inlet, but we ended up taking a socially distanced walk along the bike path into Huntsville first. We stopped at the sheep house to admire the itty bitty babies!) |
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| 4.23.20 (and the sunset wasn't half bad, either!) |
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| 4.23.20 (seriously, though! I live here!) |
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| 4.23.20 (then we headed back to the cars and ended up talking for another couple of hours - it was late when I got home and I was so chilled from sitting in the wind that night (and possibly stressed about whether our visit was breaking any "rules") that I ended up having a panic attack. I thought I was having a heart attack! My chest and back and arm were hurting, and I worried about causing a ruckus by calling an ambulance or dying and causing a bigger mess because I was too scared to call 911. It was a crazy mind cycle! I kept waking Gregg up because I was shivering so bad and going down the googling hole and freaking myself out. He finally told me at 1 am to take a warm shower and see if anything was still bothering me. Trust him to think of a shower! But it worked! My body got warm, my mind stopped racing, and I finally fell asleep.) |
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| 4.24.20 (hanging out in our new "nest" - the right half (that Callie is climbing on) is (mostly) live plum tree while the left wall is newly woven branches that we've cut off of other trees in my recent attack on the backyard trees (see above 4.14.20 photos - I blame quarantine boredom for that!) Gregg had the idea to turn the branches into a nest and I must say it was quite satisfying to build! The kids have made it into a little fort of sorts with the salvaged lawn chairs we found in a heap near the little shack in the yard.) |
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| 4.24.20 (a view from the other side - it's like a tunnel and is tall enough for Gregg and I to walk through!) |
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| 4.24.20 (they're getting braver about going higher!) |
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| 4.24.20 (the "nest" side) |
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| 4.24.20 |
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| 4.24.20 (we've made a habit of reading a chapter or two together on the hammock after lunch - best part of the day!) |
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| 4.25.20 (he didn't love the fact that this puzzle was missing two pieces OR the pattern, but we did finish!) |
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| 4.25.20 (and then we started and finished a new one in a Saturday morning (before we even got dressed!) (Callie took this picture - and wanted me to tell you that!)) |
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| 4.25.20 (one of our many fun events of this Saturday was little one-on-one dates for each kid with each parent. We started off with Cal and I making the giant chocolate cookie while Sam and Gregg took a bike ride, then we switched to make the snickerdoole with Sam while Cal went riding. So fun and so yum!) |
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| 4.25.20 (also: corona haircuts happening here!) |
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| 4.25.20 (so much shorter and ready for spring!) |
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| 4.25.20 (Sam's turn!) |
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| 4.25.20 (what a dashing young fellow) |
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| 4.26.20 (after home church on Sunday we took a long, long drive over to Coalville and then on a back road called Chalk Creek Road all the way to Evanston! We came back on the freeway. We were driving for around 4 hours just listening to Henry Huggins on audiobook and enjoying the clouds!) |
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| 4.26.20 (we took a wrong turn on a dirt road and this was our "let's stop here" spot) |
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| 4.26.20 |
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| 4.27.20 (I hadn't been shopping since April 10th (over two weeks!) and while we were doing really quite well with most things, we were getting low on milk and bread. So I took matters into my own hands and mixed up some dry milk to make some bread. This isn't my usual Oatmeal Wheat Bread recipe (which is so delicious, but not my favorite for sandwiches). Instead, I went back to my 4-H roots to make "Staff of Life" bread, the first bread I ever made way back in the day! It took WAY longer than I remembered/anticipated, but the result was totally worth it! Great sandwich bread and super yummy to boot! I will be doing this again, just planning my day better to accommodate all the rising!) |
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| 4.27.20 (I thought after waiting all day for it to get done that I had burned it! But it wasn't burned at all, just a lovely dark crust!) |
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| 4.27.20 (the kids were SO patient waiting for the bread to finish up so we could go hang out at the beach (I told them we could come back on Monday after seeing it so crowded over the weekend). We finally made it down there, and met this large creature stretched across the path!) |
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| 4.27.20 (it was rather windy and cloudy and even cold for a while, but we mustered through and the kids had a blast playing in the sand for a couple hours!) |
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| 4.27.20 (I couldn't wait for sandwiches to taste it! Look at that! It was magnificent, if I do say so myself!) |
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| 4.28.20 (Sam has been practicing writing his letters while Callie does her computer school) |
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| 4.28.20 (we got to ride over to the school to pick up Callie's entries in the Expressions Art Show and were so delighted and surprised to see she won a blue ribbon on her essay, Plants) |
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| 4.28.20 (here's the essay - she first wrote this in the car one day on a drive to Logan to visit my parents. I had her rewrite it on a nicer piece of paper and enter it into the contest. I'm so thrilled she tried and had a fun reward!) |
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| 4.28.20 (speaking of plants, we were inspired by Heather's post about egg heads and decided to give a sprouting project a try. We used wheat berries, which was kind of fun!) |
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| 4.28.20 (friends! Erin texted me suggesting we have a social distance play date one afternoon for Charlie and Sam - they brought a dry erase marker and stayed outside and we grabbed our marker and stayed inside and doodled back and forth for a while. It was hard to hear each other talking, so we ended up moving to the living room so we could open a window and talk through the screen. How great it was to see them after so long!) |
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| 4.28.20 (another day, another trip to the beach! This time was much sunnier and warmer . . . and more crowded, though it doesn't look like it in this pic.) |
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| 4.28.20 (they cannot wait till summer! I told them we can swim when it is in the 80s so wading to their knees (which became waists, basically) would have to do for today.) |
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| 4.28.20 (the walk home from the lake was especially nice) |
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| 4.28.20 (the library called and said I could pick up my holds! Best day ever! When I got there they told me I could just take the crate home since I had so many books to bag haha. I've been putting things on hold for a month waiting for this day! They checked them out to me over the phone and then when I got to the library I called and they brought them out and set them on a table. Contactless library service! I've been so blah about reading lately, but I feel this will give me new umph!) |
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| 4.28.20 (after the kids were in bed but Gregg wasn't back from playing his round of "post bedtime disc golf" at the Wolf Creek Course, I looked out the window and noticed the sky was turning pink. I took a few laps around the backyard to enjoy the sky.) |
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| 4.28.20 |
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| 4.28.20 (I see the moon, the moon sees me. God bless the moon, and God bless me.) |
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| 4.28.20 (it always surprises me when the sky is prettier to the east than it is in the west during a sunset!) |
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| 4.28.20 (our little row of tulips with a few daffs scattered in - still going strong!) |
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| 4.28.20 |
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| 4.28.20 (the grand finale!) |
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| 4.29.20 (they begged to go to the beach again, but I wasn't up for another day of dirt/sand, so I caved on my 80 degrees rule and let them set up our pool.) |
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| 4.29.20 |
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| 4.29.20 (HA! There is more kid than water in that tiny thing, but I did order a new bigger one that is set to arrive next week) |
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| 4.29.20 (I sat in the shade and read my new library book. see what I did there? ;) |
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| 4.29.20 (and after dinner and bike rides we had ice cream cones!) |
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| 4.29.20 |
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| 4.29.20 (our exotic looking fritillaria going strong!) |
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| 4.29.20 (doesn't it look like something Dr. Seuss would draw?) |
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| 4.29.20 |
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| 4.30.20 (happiness is homemade apricot jam (a Christmas gift from a friend) on a toasted homemade English muffin, eaten al fresco) |
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| 4.30.20 (we enjoyed learning about Louise Smith, one of the first women NASCAR racers and the inspiration for the car Louise Nash in the movie Cars 3!) |
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| 4.30.20 (Cooper likes his towel I made him!) |
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| 4.30.20 (the kids and Gregg had a sleepover in the trailer Thursday night, so I took advantage of some me time to take a nice, LONG walk to the end of Stringtown Road and back) |
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| 4.30.20 (the bugs were thick along the sides of the road and they totally ruined my scene!) |
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| 4.30.20 |
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| 4.30.20 (not the best sunset pics, but it was a gorgeous, calm, warmish cool evening, just me and Bill Nye and Alan Alda chatting about science communication in my earbuds) |
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| 4.30.20 (I spy two hawks in a tree - the lower one was watching me walk by on a powerline on the other side of the road and after I passed flew over to this tree right across from me!) |
Thanks for tuning in to this round up of our life in quarantine mode this month!
Other Quarantine Low Downs:
March
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