Hey friends. I kept waiting to update this because I keep thinking: SURELY! Things will get back to normal around here and I'll have something more exciting to post than #quarantinelife.
But alas, here we are.
Same song. Same dance.
But alas, here we are.
Same song. Same dance.
Gearing up for work.
Standing in line (6 feet apart) with a mask on, waiting to be let in the doors at Costco.
Even the littles are having to adjust.
Some days I feel very BLAH. But we are doing what we can to live into this new normal (even though it doesn't feel normal at all) and learn from it. Instead of focusing on what has been taken away (all the one million things we took for granted!), we try to look at what we have MORE of:
More challenging ourselves
More love
More learning
More playing
More cooking
More giving
More togetherness
More learning to get along
More snuggles
More opportunity to work through differences (aka: referee fights)
More space
More reading
More awareness of our world and the people in it
More antiracism
More advocacy
More creative ways to connect with others.
........
More puppy snuggles:
More gardening:
...and stopping to smell the flowers:
Some call them weeds, we call them a fabulous centerpiece :)
More improvising:
(when all the dishes are dirty and you need a spoon.....)
More patio date nights:
More trying new things and giving back:
We packaged meals for "Something to Eat". I highly recommend this to families of all ages and sizes. It's a great way for everyone to participate and help in a tangible way to meet the immediate needs in our community.
And the ice cream was pretty delicious, too! (there has definitely been a LOT more of that over the last few months....)
More cousin time!
(gosh, I love seeing my brothers as dads!)
More lake time!
One of our all-time FAVORITE things about the lake is our bestest Ms. Leslie!!
It was such a treat to catch up with her and Kevin! They even passed on some wisdom regarding how to operate an RV, and the art of making armpit farts with a straw. LOL never a dull moment!
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More pool days!
More dress up! (I mean, this is the girl who learned to ride her bike in wedges. so dressing like a mermaid princess on a Tuesday morning is totally expected.)
More inventing by Ellie!
Her homemade mask:
And backyard spring-loaded rabbit trap:
More breakfast in bed. Actually, scratch that. Who am I kidding?? Quarantine with 4 kids is hardly relaxing. But we did do breakfast in bed exactly twice. Mother's Day and Father's Day.
More of William dominating in monopoly!
More figuring out how to exist in the same space ALL. THE. TIME.
Some days it looks like this:
Tessa is learning to write letters and spell small words so she put these new skills to work by making a homemade sign for her door.
It says simply: "NO".
Quarantine has us all trying new things, some with better results than others:
1. Dan learned how to cook a carrot cake (from scratch) on his smoker, and it was beyond delicious!
2. I developed an alter-ego named "Lisa Baker", the fabulous host of a virtual cooking show!
Ellie and her friends competed in a virtual bake-off episode of "Nailed It":
And Caleb's friends competed in a Chopped Challenge!
Round 1: he created an appetizer of toasted bean tostadas with ramen and basil.
Round 2: Dessert was a yogurt-filled orange with marshmallows.....(dad got the privilege of being the taste-tester)
3. Rearranging the house and creating a home office. Dan is working from home for the foreseeable future, and officing in the playroom just wasn't working out (can't imagine why??). So we transformed Tessa's old room into "the office".
Before: (getting that decal off the wall was a BEAST)
After:
We moved Tessa in with Ellie, and redecorated their shared room!
4. I added "ear-piercer" to my resume!
5. We raised butterflies!
6. Ellie developed her famous "monster cookie" recipe! They made a killing at the lemonade stands:
The kids donated most of the earnings to our "No Kid Hungry" fundraiser! They set a BIG goal to raise enough money to provide 10,000 meals during the pandemic. I wasn't sure we would make it, but we EXCEEDED our goal!
"Kindness is free..Sprinkle that stuff EVERYWHERE!"
To meet our goal, we also "sponsored" the kids when they cooked a meal. They did a great job!
Tessa made donuts (with pink frosting and sprinkles, of course!)
and blueberry muffins:
William made Sunshine Toast:
The kids created dinner together, using ingredients we had on hand:
(more accurately, Caleb, Ellie and Will cooked while Tessa supervised):
Ellie's contribution:
Wonder where she gets it?!?!
7. I tried my hand at trompe l'oeil cakes:
8. Tessa channeled her inner Tarzan and decided to swing from the curtains, while leaping from the windowsill to the bed...
It didn't go as planned, and required lots of ice packs and puppy snuggles to recover.
And most of all:
More togetherness...for better or worse!xoxo Lisa
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