Dad is working from home, which is awesome for all of us! He spends his lunch break with us and as soon as he clocks out for the day, he walks down the stairs just in time for dinner :). We also finished homeschooling this week (to mine and Austin's surprise and excitement!) Apparently we finished all of the first grade curriculum already and Mrs. Westra said there is nothing left to teach! So hello early summer vacation! We have had park days, and tea parties, sewing lessons, movie nights, and lots of bubbles on the porch! I'll let the pictures do the talking, but to sum life up lately, it has been beauty amidst chaos. We are still quarantined to our house but the government is starting to open back up and we are in phase one of being allowed to resume life. This requires masks and social distancing but boy does it feel good to be able to exercise at the park with my friends! We are 6 feet away from each other, but still! That's better than nothing! I have been wracking my brain daily for crafts and ways to entertain the kids and it has actually been pretty awesome! We are learning to sew, and made our own homemade number crayons! It is the best of times, and it is the worst of times. But I can honestly say I am grateful for this time to slow down and just connect as a family at home. My eyes have been opened to how important it is to live a simple life and to slow down. God is showing us so many things right now, but the most obvious is how confused we have all gotten with our priorities. Family is all that matters. Not jobs, not money, not sports, not vacations. We have our health and we have each other. I can't ask for any more than that right now. And praise Jesus that we both still have our jobs! I have cut down working to only once a month because I am now homeschooling on top of being a stay at home mom, not to mention all the daycares have closed due to the Coronavirus. So Josh has picked up the pieces career wise and I have to say, it has been nice! I have so much more time to be the Mom I've always wanted to be! And I work just enough to keep my license and bring in a little extra cash. However, our economy is in shambles because nobody has been allowed to leave their houses for work and we are on the brink of another Great Depression..... so I am taking each day I have at home with gratitude and enjoying every minute. Because who knows what tomorrow will bring.
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| Helping Daddy work from home :). This has been so good for the kids to see what Dad does for work! The kids have also learned the value of money and to be grateful for all of our many blesings because there are so many who are struggling right now. |
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| We bought this for the pool and then the pools all closed down :(...... so this is the alternative. |
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| Tea anyone?! |
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| The kids love our tea parties and I honestly do too!! It's so fun to imagine! |
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| This was Isla's first tea party and she was intrigued! |
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| Their furry friends came along for the party too! :) |
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| Learning to sew :) |
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| Despite school being out for the year, we are continuing with daily reading. I am so impressed with Austin and how smart he is! He is so good at reading and loves math! |
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| Morning snuggles outside on the porch with my early riser :). |
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| Learning how to sweep! |
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| This is probably the hardest chore for them to learn.... I need to get a smaller broom.... |
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| Each morning we drive to Silverado High School to pick up free school breakfast & lunch. Mostly because we need to get out of the house and that is basically the only thing we are allowed to do. But also because I no longer have to cook! ;) |
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| Making nectar for the hummingbirds :) |
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| Filling the bird feeders. |
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| Our Hummingbird feeders are hung up and ready for some bird action! I love our front porch so much! |
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| Austin's last day of First Grade!!! Homeschool style.... ;) |
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| I was teaching Austin how to write an opinion piece and this is what he came up with ;). It gave his teacher and I both a good laugh! |
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| Celebrating May 4th with a little Star Wars project! |
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| Such a beautiful day at the park as a family! |
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| Isla loved hanging out on the picnic blanket and watching the kids play soccer. |
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| Going for lots of walks these days! It's allowed as long as you stay 6 feet away from everyone else. |
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| Isla's first experience with bubbles! She didn't know what to think :). |
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| "What the heck is that?!" hehe |
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| Another fun park day in the books! We have LOVED having Daddy home with us! |
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| Evie has gotten so good at riding her bike! We do almost daily bike rides! |
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| My whole world right here... |
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| Evie got to have a Daddy Daughter night and stayed up late playing video games! |
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| Meanwhile, Austin got to have a Mommy & Son night watching movies and eating junk food! |
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| Our next door neighbors are close friends with us and have a daughter, Bella, who is Evie's age. The kids love to walk over to their windows and have a "play date" since we technically aren't allowed to socialize right now. |
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| They also love to make potions and play restaurant out on the front porch |
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| Getting a little reading in while Austin makes me some lunch ;) |
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| We melted old broken crayons and made our own colorful number crayons! It was such a fun project! |
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| All melted together, these crayons draw the rainbow! |
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| See! Is that cool or what?! |
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| Not every day is lovely and simple, but we are making it through together just fine. :) |
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| Exercising from home since we haven't been allowed to have group workouts anymore |
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| We have rain in the desert!! Always a moment to celebrate! |
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| Sweet baby girl after her bath! Don't you just want to eat her up?! She loves bath time but hates the getting dressed part.... |
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| We have weekly family home evenings and have started nightly scripture study (when we remember). Austin has gotten so good at reading and can read the scriptures to us now! |
