April

April surprisingly flew by.

And since I am with the kids 24/7 I have a million pics to document our daily activities.  

There didn’t seem to be much of a middle ground, either we were deliriously happy to be home and spending time together, so grateful for everything we have.  Or depressed and angry with no motivation and at each other’s throats.  Such seems to be the life of quarantine.  

School:

a highlight of the month was the teacher parade.  

We love and miss these teachers desperately.  

There might of been a few tears shed, but mostly there was happy smiles and yelling, as some of our most beloved people drove by.  

And I have realized how much I count these teachers and staff as my friends and I miss getting to talk and laugh with them a few days each week. Not to mention what I know these kids are missing out on and now they instead get me glaring over their shoulders to write their dang essay instead of the amazing, kind, loving, and patient teachers they all had.   

2 children have been very difficult to do homeschool with and 2 have been much easier.  I am sure everyone knows who falls where.  

Miles spends the first half of his day raging about how he can’t do anything and then most days pulls through and gets it done, no problem.  

Ruby is just non-stop all over the place.  We got a good solid 3 weeks of homeschool in and then it was hit and miss after that.  

This is me every single day since March 18th.  

Here she is with a story she wrote about Fang, opening up a gift bag her teacher dropped off (highlight of her month), Drawing a portrait of Fang (she puts him in “place” and then moves him all over to get the proper angles), and lastly Olaf is a common homeschool companion.  

Crew sits down every morning and just goes through his daily assignments like a boss. 

I have no pictures of Macey doing her school work, because the other 3 kept me so busy running between them, I never even had to give her a glance.  And if she did have issues (which she did from time to time), we just waited until the other kids were in bed and Paul was done working to help.  

Kitchen helper of the day still going strong and hopefully added some learning to the days where I could get nothing else out of these kids.  

The long hours between school and bedtime:

We spent a solid week delivering bunnies around to our friends, it proved to be an amazing way to pass some long afternoons and get some miles in on our bikes.  Thank you Nana Navasard!!

The girls and I took an entire afternoon to dye our hair.  It made those after 2:00 hours fly by.  

Are you even in quarantine if you don’t do something drastic to your hair? 

There was a fly over of fighter jets.  It was a very exciting few minutes.  So grateful for the all the people trying to keep these kids entertained and happy. Crew found a nice comfy seat while waiting.  

I tried my hand at custom doormats.  It was fun and I’m always trying to find new sayings to put on my next one.  

Kids have been getting in on the craft action too, when I have the patience to let them pull it out.  

So many games.  We had to buy new games, since Paul and I could no longer mentally handle playing the games we already had.  We got Ticket to Ride, Dominion, and Carcassonne.  

We can often be found at the school, but never on the playground equipment. :)  Ruby likes to look in her classroom window.  And we’ve had so many good kite flying days.  

The kids have pretty much turned into wild animals who always wear their pajamas and never comb their hair.  

so many scraped knees, elbows, and toes that almost need stitches.  

The absolute best part about quarantine has been that these kids have become best friends again.  No neighbor kids, nothing else going on.  

Crew and Miles have always had a complicated relationship.  This has been nothing but good for the 2 of them.  They have bonded over Animal Crossing, Beanie Boos, Pokemon, and basketball.  They are constantly coming up with new ways to entertain themselves and I have loved watching it.  

And these 2.  I feel like Macey has gotten to extend her childhood out just a little bit longer.  She spends her days organizing games, producing movies, breaking up fights, and hosting dance parties with her siblings.  

I pray this is the main thing they remember about this crazy time. 

And even though Paul is working extremely crazy hours, he still takes the time to make us some awesome breakfasts.  Always a great way to start these crazy long days.  

Constant trips to Sodalicious to keep ourselves fueled.  Fang has also developed an addiction.  

We’ve tried to be really good with social distancing, but sometimes you just need to talk to your friends in person. 

trying out our new masks and catching up with some favorite neighbors.  

Sometimes a driveway car chat does the trick too.  

Of all the kids Macey has had the hardest time with the social aspect of this and these small interactions helped her push through some very hard days.  Grateful for good friends.  

And one evening this group of long lost friends got together and very were patient with me constantly coming out to check that they were keeping 6 ft apart. :)  

And I of course have had my share of social distancing meetups that have kept me sane through all of this. 

I have learned about a million things during all this, one of the main ones being,  my village is huge and amazing and I am glad I am not in this all alone.  

I hiked and hiked and hiked.  

Macey found my old orange BYU sweatshirt from college that was a perfect fit.  

And sometimes Crew looses patience with Ruby and kicks her out to go live in the closet under the stairs.  Surprisingly she listened and hauled all her stuff down there.  

It finally got warm enough to play in the water!!

and life got much better after that.  

We had a fun filled day with a bounce house. We were sad we couldn’t invite any friends over to play with us, but these kids managed to have a blast together.  

**Weekend Warriors
**
We have still been trying to take advantage of our weekends together, since everything is more fun when Paul can hang out with us.  And it’s been nice going back to simple things, like finding ways to entertain ourselves without spending money, since there’s no where to go and spend it.  

Picnics and baseball in the mountains.  

Scooter Gang Rides

Murdock Trail. 

 And BYU. 

Everyone took many turns down the hill to get their tricks just right.  

Lots of Bocce Ball. 
This has become a new family favorite and has yet to involve yelling, crying, quitting, or bad all around sportsmanship.  A miracle of a game.  

Gerald is extra exciting.  And these 3 had a blast camping out in him in the backyard, while we were suppose to be camping in Snow Canyon for Spring Break.  

Lots of bikerides!  Paul finally got me this sweet helmet, since we have now ventured out of our 1 mile neighborhood radius and can be found riding in bike lanes on actual streets.  #safetyfirst 

Yard Work!!!

I couldn’t be more proud of my flower pots (my boxwood trees didn’t survive the winter).  Makes me happy every time I go on my porch and they are still alive and growing!!
Turns out S’Mores at the fire pit without friends is almost as fun and not nearly as stressful. 

And a few times Paul and I have abandoned kids at home on a Saturday morning to hike.  

Easter Happened. 

Easter is one of our bigger holidays with big egg hunts and lots of friends over for dinner.  

Everyone was a little sad the night before, but luckily nothing is ever boring with this group and it turned out to be an amazing holiday together.  

My parents sent us this Easter Sack Race game.  

It was amazing and entertaining and extremely exhausting.  Made me realize that I am in the worst shape of the 6 of us.  

Paul’s parents sent confetti eggs, which is always messy and entertaining.  

And I was able to find everything I needed for dinner and baskets. 

And our backyard proved to be a great place to have an egg hunt.  

And i still got my porch picture!!

Plus, it was a million times easier because I didn’t have to get everyone in church clothes and hair combed for church. 

It is going to be a harsh reality when I actually have to get this group in church attending shape.  One thing I have not missed for one single moment is getting everyone ready and out the door for church. :)  

It was an amazing day, where I wasn’t stressed, and I just got to enjoy the holiday with the people I love most and talk at our own pace about our Savior and all he has done and is doing for us.  

We also played The Newlywed Game with my family over Zoom.  It was super fun and Paul and I were the big losers and realized we should spend our quarantine time getting to know each other better. :) 

And that is kind of what our quarantine days looked like for the month of April, but with lots more crying and yelling and swearing and stress eating. 
Don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea out there.  

Typical weekly grocery haul minus all the soda that is stored in the garage.