Wow! What a month this has been. It started out as a pretty normal month and then things got CRAZY! We are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. The Corona Virus has taken over. We have suddenly found ourselves staying home 24/7. We are now doing online school, we can't attend church and Brian is even working from home. If this wasn't crazy enough, we also had an Earth Quake! Crazy times indeed.
The month started out pretty normal, with my Birthday! I enjoyed lunch at chick fil A with these cute girls....
Then cake and ice cream with these crazy kids. (Brian was at a young men's activity)
I even ran into Grandma at target!
It was a good day. When you get old like me, birthdays are kind of just another day with cake thrown in.
Ava has been wanting to show me the museum she went to with her preschool field trip, so Ava, Lyla and I headed to check it out. It really is a cute little place. The girls had a great time.
The kids had a day off of school so we spent the day at Thanksgiving point, butterfly biosphere and the farm.
Lyla's 1st pony ride
I took Ava and Lyla to story time at Altitude, a trampoline park. We had fun jumping and they even had Elmo there. Lyla was Elmo's stalker and followed him everywhere and calling his name.
The following Friday the kids has another day off. We met Dad downtown and went to the Church History Museum. We watched the 1st vision movie that they have there. We have been preparing for the 200th anniversary of the vision and thought this would be a good way to think about it.
Then we checked out the new children's exhibit. We always love the fun things they have in the children's exhibits. This time it has a focus on temples.
We stopped to check out the construction on the temple.
Finn had a birthday! I can't believe he is 7 years old!! We had planned to have a little party with two of his friends with going to dinner and thanksgiving point. However this is when the virus was starting to pick up in Utah and suddenly they were encouraging people to stay home and avoid social gatherings. We decided to play it safe and we just has Benny and Austin come to our house for pizza, games and cake. They had a fun time.
Wendy came for a visit! I don't think it was exactly what she was hoping for.
Schools originally closed for 2 weeks. So we began online home schooling. I feel lucky because the kids are pretty good about doing their work with minimal complaint. Sadie is pretty self sufficient and does all of hers without any help. Finn just needs a little help. Finn has discovered if he gets up and gets right to work he is done pretty fast and can then get on to other more fun things.
I watch Sadie's friend, Phoenix 3 days a week while her parents are working.
Finn's class had a class meeting online. This was the cutest/ craziest thing all the kids were so excited to see each other and they were all just talking over each other.
The kids have been trying to keep in touch with friends by having video play dates. Finn and Benny have been playing games through the computer.
Ava's little people zoo
She has also been doing at home preschool.
She is getting ready for kindergarten. She is getting really good at writing. She wrote this all by herself....
They have cut down on how many people are at work at a given time. Brian works from home a few days a week and goes in the other days. I got this picture of him "working from home". He keeps busy with work things like watching training videos, online meetings and making sure things are being taken care of at work. We are thankful to have a stable job through all of this. There are many that have been laid off because of the virus.
Finn and Sadie both ended up with a fever for a few days. They really know how to stress a mom out! When your kids are sick during a pandemic everything goes through your mind. Luckily they were both just a fine after a few days.
On Wednesday March 18th we were woken up by a 5.7 magnitude earth quake just after 7am. Brian was awake working, but everyone else was still in bed. It was pretty scary. Luckily there was no damage and everyone was safe. I was able to see many tender mercies. I was thankful that Brian was home that morning and that the kids didn't have school. Had we been on our normal schedule I would have been sending Sadie out the door for choir. Wendy was here for the earth quake. Though I don't think she was happy about it, I was thankful that she was here and downstairs with Sadie and Finn. She was able to help calm them during the quake. I just couldn't believe with all that we are already dealing with and now an earth quake too!
The angel Moroni on the Salt Lake Temple even dropped his trumpet in the earth quake!
With the kids home so much more now, and we can't play with friends, or go anywhere, I find myself trying to find as much as possible to keep them busy.
We made these 1st vision watercolor stain glass windows. In order here by age...
lots of arts and crafts...
We tried a science experiment making elephant toothpaste.
legos
wii fit
lots of outside time
Our neighborhood has been great too. We have kept busy by going on a shamrock hunt, a bear hunt and Easter egg hunt. People put the hunt item in their window and we walk around and see how many we can find. We also did a chalk your walk day. Many people in the neighborhood
drew with chalk on their sidewalks and we walked around and enjoyed all of their fun drawings and sweet notes. This saved us many days and we just wanted to get out of the house. It also has helped us feel connected with our neighbors that we don't get to see anymore.
Life really is different right now. This is my view waiting to go into Costco. The line is out the building, there are cones to keep people 6' away from each other. People have gone crazy stocking up on toilet paper, water, and hand sanitizer. They limit how many people can go into the stores at a time and how much you can buy of certain things. I have been so thankful for Walmart grocery pick up that saves me from having to go in to the stores.
Sadie made this poster at school about washing your hands. It says "Wash your hands, it gets ride of germs and you get to rock out to the ABC's at the same time"
Grandma Terry had her 74th birthday, but because of social distancing we were not able to celebrate with her. We heart attacked her garage door as a birthday surprise.
Random....
Oh Lyla, We can not get enough of this girl. She is so cute and is learning so much. She talks so much and keeps us laughing when she says things like...
"Be back soon", "tickle bum" (stinker bum), She loves to get out of the tub and run around in her towel saying "naked girl"
She loves to wear the stethoscope, she wears it around her waist and says "heart beep"
She loves sour cream and one day managed to get into the tub of sour cream that was on the table....
She had her 18 month check up. I loved the stickers they had in this exam room at the Dr. office....
Ava's preschool class made a robot out of recycled materials. They named it Olaf.
Sadie has been working hard on stretching and getting more flexible. This is at her dance class, she has come so far on her wall splits. She can do the splits on the right side and is trying to get them on her left.
My mom hack...hide your girl scout cookies in your robe pocket.
Special Sadie
Ava loves play doh.
"how tall am I now, Mom?"
Finn and Brian built the tallest tower out of mega blocks...
Silly Ava
Ava loves playing with these paw patrol toys in the tub.
Sadie loves to read to her siblings...
Ava meditating.
Thank goodness for memes. These have kept us laughing through all of this and all day we sharing them with family through text messages.
I saw this on social media and wanted to save it so that we can remember how life is these days...
Just so I NEVER forget.....Today is April 2, 2020
Social Distancing/Self-distancing measures on the rise. No gatherings of 100 or more then 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or more all within less than 1 week.
Schools were cancelled - March 13th -May 4th
(so far) Online classes started.
(so far) Online classes started.
Proms & Graduations cancelled
Tape on the floors at grocery stores, gas stations and other places to help distance shoppers (6ft) from each other.
Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors.
Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.
Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.
Entire sports seasons cancelled
Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.
Weddings, Birthdays, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled.
All Churches are closed.
Funerals- no more than 10 people can attend
Mothers giving birth alone
Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.
Children's outdoor play parks/school playgrounds are closed and roped off with “crime scene”/caution tape.
Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our First responders, care center and hospital workers.
Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.
Panic buying sets in - we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.
Shelves are bare
Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make hospital PPE, visors, masks and hand sanitizer.
3D printer companies making medical PPE for hospitals.
Government closes all borders to all non-essential travel. Interstate travel closed to all non-essential workers.
Fines are established for breaking the rules. Here in Utah, that order was cancelled within 24hrs - but stands in many states.
Cruise & Military ships, Stadiums and Recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.
Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.
Government incentives to stay home.
Government incentives to stay home.
Barely anyone on the roads.
People wearing masks and gloves outside when they do have to venture out.
Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.
Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families. Many sleeping at their work place as to not get their family members sick.
This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.
It has been a very long month. One day Ava said "Mom, we haven't been to a restaurant in a really long time." I began to tell her that we hadn't because of the virus and before I could answer she said "I know, I know, because of the virus". Though through it all I find my self counting blessings. I have felt peace in my heart and I am thankful to be quarantined with my favorite people. (even if we drive each other crazy most days) I am thankful that we are healthy and that we have the things we need. We don't know how long this will last, life will probably never be what it used to be. I am thankful for the slower pace of life. I am thankful for the time spent together. We have read more, watched more movies, played more games and just spent more quality time together. Hoping and praying that we will soon be able to get back to a somewhat old normal. But for now, we will enjoy our time together.
