There were certainly moments when Blake and I looked at each other in disbelief, thinking: the world has shut down! But mostly, we moved forward feeling grateful for our health and the health of our extended family members. Wishing Blake could open back up, but also recognizing the challenges and difficulties that lie therein. Wearing masks when we go anywhere at all is now required. The kids still haven't left the house... only Blake and I to go grocery shopping or to Lowes. Parks and beaches JUST opened this past week and we are eagerly awaiting the gradual reopening of our little community in other areas. The past two months have been like nothing we've ever experienced!
Keeping us busy in the day to day: walks around the neighborhood (even in my pajamas), baking ALL the time, puzzles, watching General Conference, making big huge pancake, french toast, waffle and/or crepe breakfasts a few times a week, painting and coloring, mindfulness training, rope swinging in the front yard, scootering in the backyard, pickle ball, camping in the tent, SWIMMING all the time-- really.... all the time, drive by birthdays! laughing at coronavirus memes, growing a garden, cleaning out closets, practicing piano, shows on netflix, ted talks, and lots of soccer.
We miss our friends but gratefully still feel connected in many ways-- sometimes through zoom meetings for young women or young men, school or art classes. I zoom with my sweet niece June to help her with her challenges (even if she is a giant poop emoji for the entire session). Evelyn even watches movies with her friends on zoom! Zoom is now a way of life for all of us. Small gestures from friends mean the world right now when we are all so isolated. For instance, friends "egged" us on Easter weekend and it was about the brightest spot in the week for the kids. They were so thrilled to run all over the front yard looking for hidden easter eggs! It warmed all of our hearts. The kids and I bought a bunch of Easter candy and wrote out tags that said "we miss our peeps!" and left those treats on our friends' doorsteps. On Easter Sunday, we felt spoiled by flowers on our doorstep, Easter baskets and treats from a few friends returning the favor- spreading cheer. Our Easter baskets and breakfast were wonderful, but having friends drop by was the highlight for sure. Our good friends even "chalked" our front driveway with loving sentiments-- such a cute idea! We'll take all the cheer we can get!
Anna's drive by birthday was a huge success even if it wasn't exactly what she had hoped for initially! It really is fun to see everyone-- makes you realize how much you love giving your friends hugs, when you can't do it and can only wave! It's crazy! I am so grateful to have a texting thread that runs constantly throughout the day. We pick up grocery items for each other, we share what we are watching on TV, reading and what we are making for dinner. It seems like no big deal, but it is very very fun and leaves me feeling connected when otherwise I don't see a soul.
With no real responsibilities outside of homeschool and raising my children, I've definitely been able to put much more of an emphasis and focus on each child. Social, church, work, sports, school volunteer and "errands" typically filled up my every moment. But now my every moment is just completely centered on them. Although last week I was given a few church assignments darn it! Haha... I created a virtual singing time for our primary kids (THANK YOU Evelyn for teaching me how to make a cool video and upload to YouTube) and also went around to each primary family to video tape their children for a mother's day video my primary president and I will put together for next Sunday. It was fun to get out of the house and see all of the kids on their front porches-- from 6 feet away! But aside from these few duties I love the extra time I have. I've used it mostly wisely, although I admit to staying up way too late to watch netflix TV series I never would dream of watching otherwise! But I also read, practice piano, plan school, cook, bake, exercise, watch Yale happiness podcasts and connect with each child WAY more than I had opportunity to prior to the shut down. I love it. I actually don't miss all of the duties and social engagements if I'm being super honest. I love the home based everything! I really do. I miss being able to take the kids on fun adventures though. That's for sure.
During quarantine, there are many good and many not so good memories sand moments. Good moments happen all the time. Some have arisen when the kids have accomplished a big project and/or when I have accomplished a project. For instance, with no housekeeper-- the kids and I have had to deep clean our entire house. It's been a lot of work, but we've felt excellent afterwards. I've taught them all of the specifics of cleaning a bathroom, mopping, vacuuming, dusting. It's been great. During spring break, the kids and I cleaned out closets.... even my craft closet that had needed to be cleaned for YEARS because it was such a disaster. The kids helped and found all sorts of things they wanted to create and/or play with. I loved it because I was able to read many letters from my past, look at old pictures and show the kids these old pictures/memories. It was really so sweet. Highschool senior pictures, cartoons that my college roommate had drawn me for my birthday each year to describe the various boys that were always coming around, even an article that Jamie and I had read right after Jillian died and I was there taking care of her. We had cried all week. We hadn't cracked a smile, not one. It was a dark and sad time. But at the end of the week, we sat down to read this crazy women's world magazine and happened across this article stating that the type of donut you choose also details your personality. When we read this article, somehow we both found it absolutely hilarious and started to laugh hysterically. We laughed for 20 min straight which we really needed. I can't believe I had saved that article! It brought back so many memories. See? Good, good moments! When the kids have excelled at school work, stayed on task, and then we have the opportunity to relax and play outside.... that is a good moment as well.
But I must say, there are bad days! I get frustrated when everyone needs me at once. I get frustrated when the technology doesn't work right. I get frustrated when the kids put me off and don't want to work/would rather be on a device. I get frustrated when they give up easily. In fact, in evidence of said-- hard moments. Look for a picture of Buzz Lightyear that Anna was asked to draw. After drawing Buzz, she was to write a short story about him. She started writing the story and I tried to help her. We've been through this many times. But she was melting down and after 2 hours of TRYING TO HELP HER------ I grabbed the paper and wrote the darn thing myself. Hahahah! I couldn't take it anymore. I mean-- we were technically "writing" it together because we both had the ideas but.....
Also evidence: a text I received from Evelyn at 9:30 pm at night in regards to persecution and the effects therein. No.... I'm not able to help you with an essay at 9:30 pm when I'm in bed watching my show with all the lights off!!!!
And lastly, a text to Blake about Dane's math problems. Sometimes my brain just doesn't work when everyone is asking questions at the same time. I'm sure I could've figured it all out perfectly if I was in my right mind! I'm a smart person! But it's sometimes just easier to text Blake and ask him to solve... ha!
Now to give just a small glimpse into the life and times of each child during quarantine. Evelyn is living her best life. She misses hardly a thing. She is a homebody with incredibly few social needs. She talks with friends via zoom and text and instagram and she is quite happy. Not missing school or after school activities at all. Just last week, she was able to spend a little bit of time with her two besties. We had all been quarantined for almost two months so we felt it would be safe. So fun to see Evelyn laughing and enjoying her buddies. They made a plan to fix up the tree house. They went to work- cleaning it out, washing it up, painting the walls! Then they swam and made s'mores. On Caylie's birthday, the girls did a drive by birthday party and then a photo shoot on the golf course. For Amaya's birthday, the girls did a zoom birthday party and created a sign for Amaya-- everyone holding up a letter to spell out happy birthday! It was really sweet. Evelyn works out in her room every day, she does her seminary for an hour daily, she practices the piano, tans in the sun (much to my chagrin), plays with Anna, takes care of the cats (poor Louie was neutered this month), she bakes, does photoshoots with her brothers, and creates obstacle courses with her sibs in the pool. She is watching "Once upon a time" and trying to avoid sugar. She stays in her room a good percent of the day which is hard on me. Quarantine times are difficult times to parent a teen. I'll leave it at that!
Dane has spent a lot of time playing soccer out back, he planted a beautiful garden- remembering everything that Papa had taught him the past two years. He does his home school very diligently, although he'd much rather be playing on his switch and he does have quite a few questions! He's more like me in this way-- lots of questions! Evelyn is the opposite, she's so independent. Dane can drive me crazy at times with his constant questions, but when push comes to shove, he's an excellent student and a hard worker. He gets his to-do list done early and works hard all throughout the day. He and Blake spent HOURS building a catapult last week for his technology class (heaven help me- technology class? I know nothing about building machines and coding on a computer.) Dane loves playing pickle ball out back with Blake and I, foosball, ping pong, swimming. He loves making himself a big bowl of popcorn and then sprinkling it with seasoning and watching his new favorite show- Psych every night. He has lots of fun ideas for dinner-- a few weeks ago, he decided we should make foil dinners and he helped me figure out how to do that just like he had at high adventure. Dane is a fun kid to have around most of the time and he actually doesn't miss too much about school or activities.
Grant misses his buddies and soccer and getting out of the house and being busy. Grant is my busy bee. He wasn't meant to stay at home indefinitely. I would say of all the kids, Grant misses the old life the most of any of us. He is doing SO well with his homeschool work. I'm proud of all he does. He truly is a hard worker and very disciplined. He likes to get the job done so he can have free time. It's wonderful. Aside form his schoolwork, Grant loves to cuddle the cats, practice his piano, he's taken up the ukulele and he practices at least an hour a day, he loves riding his bike, soccer, pickle ball, swimming, and watching Marvel movies in the evenings with his "set up" of a bowl of popcorn and then ONE treat- sometimes he'll dip strawberries in chocolate, sometimes he'll make cookies or banana cake. He bakes more than anyone in the house! I've taught him everything I know at this point and he's a real natural. So independent and loves the idea of making his own food from scrambled eggs, to brownies. Grant and I read biographies for 30 minutes a day because it's a school requirement and he could read alone but I adore reading biographies with my children because I think it's such an incredible learning experience about what makes someone special-- typically it is the fact that despite many failures, they never give up! I hope my kids leave our home remembering this lesson!! Grant and I, during quarantine have read all about Walt Disney, Walt Disneyworld, Milton Hershey, Levi Strauss, and Steve Jobs. It's been fun. Grant has decided that when he grows up he'd like to be an engineer designing roller coasters! One fun memory of Grant this past month.... he's not the biggest fan of Come Follow Me-- although he's usually a good sport. Last week he was my volunteer to stand up on the stool and pretend to be King Benjamin. He even memorized the scripture to do it. But let's just say it's not his nor any of my children's favorite part of the week. Last Sunday, right as we were about to start Come Follow me, Grant held out a 20$ bill and said, "how much could I pay you to get out of this?" Ha!
Anna has missed her friends and school quite a bit, but she's a flexible little girl and she takes things in stride for the most part. She is loving the extra time to play in her room, be with the cats, ride her scooter around the yard, swing on the rope swing, or out back, swim draw, color, paint, learn to flip in the pool with Daddy, learn to bike, record music with Evelyn, try on outfit after outfit and come out to show us all. She struggles with her school work and it is not an easy task each day. This month Anna worked hard on her Bio Buddy google slides and video. She was Clara Barton- founder of the American Red Cross. This was not an easy assignment. Generally speaking, there are lots of moans and groans and lots of attempts to get out of work. It does worry me a little bit. School does not come easy to this little girl and it breaks my heart. I think I might need to hire a tutor as soon as that's possible. She could use a little extra help! But she is happy other than this and she always does her dancing zoom class every single day. She loves to sing around the house and watch her new favorite tv show: Hannah Montana. She even saved her money to buy a few wigs like Miley Cyrus. She just adores this show! Love this little girl more than anything in the world and so grateful for her fun little spirit in our home whatever life may throw our way.
Well... that about sums it all up! I'm as curious as can be to see what will happen next month in terms of our country and world and the health of everyone around us. These are scary times. But we are so grateful for our blessings and pray that those who are suffering will be watched over and that all of us will be God's hands to care for His children in these times.
Grant's zoom art class did a drawing of a first responder/angel. I about died laughing at how cute this drawing was. Grant is not very confident about his artistic abilities.
After soccer outside- very hot and sweaty!
