Precious Aunt Cherry

Today my sweet Aunt Cherry arrived in Heaven.  After a battle with cancer that left her depending on others for everything, I'm so thankful to know she is finally healthy and healed, living life at the feet of Jesus!  For the past ten plus years, Aunt Cherry filled in for my mom . . . she has been present for so many precious moments (especially for the kids), encouraged me, put up with my indecisiveness in picking out paint and furniture, been there when I needed advice, and always loved me fiercely.  Oh, how my heart aches today, but I find hope in knowing I'll see her again.  She fought a good fight and finished the race well.  How exciting it is to know she is already rearranging furniture in Heaven, but I'm pretty sure her mansion was more glorious than she could have even imagined.

During Week SIX of quarantine

 It's been fun seeing them work together and come up with creative ideas of things to do!  One day I looked out and they were attempting to fly a kite in the front yard.

It wasn't constantly windy, so after awhile they took a break on the driveway.

One day we ventured all of the way to the JMR track.  I didn't realize they had planned to practice Preston's field goal kicks. He actually made two!

Thanks to Uncle Denny's Amazon prime account we were able to get some new shrinky dink paper.  The kids enjoyed many new creations in their mini oven.

Today they have enjoyed having Dave home.  We played several games as a family, went on a long walk to the ATM for Savannah, and then they started a game of Monopoly!  

Although they announced Friday that schools are closed for the rest of the year, we are going to make the best of our stay at home situation.  I LOVE seeing the kiddos work together.  Granted there are still lots of disagreements and moments (okay hours) of boredom, but I'm hoping we look back one day and can be thankful for this time together as a family.  These are the moments I hope to remember! :)

Spring *Broken*

This is Spring Break week . . . supposedly the week of non-stop fun adventures, a break from the routine of school and homework, a chance to hang out with friends at Carowinds and more, but it isn't that at all. :(  We are making the most of it but it is not exactly "fun".  Along with many walks and games at home, we have attempted a few crafts.  Yesterday we tried to marbleize paper with shaving cream, fail.  There was a zoom family game night with the church youth group that we enjoyed last night, but it was brief and interrupted by connectivity issues. 

Part of the game night was basketball shots, Dave hit the most in our house!

Our kahoot was a disaster for game night. :(

We were planning to go to the Lazy Five ranch today, but when the kids found out it was an hour away, they vetoed that as well.  I ordered shrinky dink paper from Michaels for curbside pick up, but the city shut them down just an hour before I was scheduled to pick up our order.  So that left the easy bake oven for today's fun. HA!

Easy Bake oven disaster

Savannah gave up halfway through the cooking, but Preston persevered.  He wasn't too sure about the outcome, but after slopping on some peanut butter and jelly the cookies weren't that bad. :)

I guess we'll just be sticking with our tons of games to keep these kids busy. It's definitely a broken break to remember, but at least we are all healthy!!

Easter Traditions at Home

Easter this year is certainly different from years past!  Since we are still in quarantine, we won't be able to spend the day with our family out of town, but we made the most of some of our traditions. The morning began with the kids searching for their Easter baskets.  Preston was first to find his basket and was overjoyed to get a new bike helmet.  Savannah's basket took a bit longer to find, but she was also excited to get a gift card to Stitch Fix.  The Easter bunny knew what she has been begging for. :)  After opening the baskets, we went for a quick walk before coming home to shower and get ready for online church from the comfort of our living room.

In an attempt to avoid the massive rains forecasted, we hurried to hide the eggs for an Easter egg hunt in our yard.  The kids were a bit disappointed that Pawpaw wasn't here to participate and donate tons of money, but hey, at least they had the surprise of candy and some quarters. :)

Surveying the loot!

After our egg hunt and lunch, we enjoyed a zoom call with Papa's relatives from up north that we haven't seen in years.  It was quite comical to have so many people in so many states on one call!  Our second zoom call with just Dave's close family went much smoother.  And of course, we made some of Dave's homemade macaroni and cheese to enjoy with our CFA nuggets for Easter dinner.

Although the day was quite different than normal, we still celebrated our Risen Savior.  Actually, it was a bit more meaningful since we could slowly experience Easter and enjoy the day without rushing to drive here and there. 

Saturday Arts

The kids have been wanting to do their own sidewalk chalk mosaic for a while now . . . but sadly we didn't have any chalk or masking tape.  After some research, we placed our order online for chalk and I ventured out to Wal-Mart on my one necessity run of the week for tape. Friday afternoon was the big start.  It turned out to be a LOT more work than they thought it would be and they were covered from head to toe in chalk, but we all agree I turned out awesome. :)  It was even more awesome that they worked well together and that it took the entire afternoon to do!

 We took a final picture this morning when the lighting was better.  They were very proud of their work!

Another activity Dave and the kids have enjoyed working on is Savannah's Star Wars puzzle.  It too is taking quite a long time to do.

I'm just thankful we are finding things to do that are fun and can keep these children busy!

4 Weeks and Counting . . .

Today marks exactly four weeks of being quarantined at home.  Now let's be honest, I've been out several times for necessities but the kids have literally been out of the house ONE time (see below).  We have no idea how much longer we'll be at home, but at least another month.  So here are a few glimpses into the past week.

One day we built a volcano and conducted a science experiment.  This kit was a gift and has been in our toy closet for probably years. . . saved for a perfect time like today!

First, they built the mold of the volcano, then it had to dry.  Next was painting and letting that dry.  Surprise, we had plenty of time to let things dry! :)

They loved watching the acid and base react!!  

Then, another day, we worked on dying Easter eggs.  Thankfully we also did this outside because someone accidentally knocked over the blue cup before we even started.  It was a fun activity for a beautiful day outside.

Sadly, this week we got the news that a dear friend of mine has been referred to hospice after a long fight with cancer. We used to live in the same neighborhood, still go to the same church, and have kids the same ages. This woman is amazing!  Her faith, trust, and love for the Lord continue to be unexplainable.  As a surprise, a mutual friend organized a parade of love past her house.  Word got out quickly and in just 2 days notice we had over 250 cars qued up in the school close by to parade by her house.  It was led by the local fire truck and our pastor followed behind to begin the parade with a prayer for their family.  We all had signs and decorated our cars to show our love for this precious family.  This was the kids' first outing since March 13 so they were thrilled to participate and show some love for their friends, the Mahaffeys.

We're praying for you Amy!!!

Another Week at Home

This week has been . . . interesting.  We are managing the stay at home orders okay and are trying to find ways to stay active and be creative.  I'm not going to lie, there has been a LOT of screen time.  Between attending zoom meetings, reading ebooks (out of regular paper ones to read), watching shows, playing games, texting, etc we've all spent a lot of time on devices.  However, we've also been on tons of walks and spent a lot of time playing outside too.  Here is a glimpse into the past week!

Buttercup keeps us entertained at night as she does the most random things, including rearranging her cage.

Preston continues to spend a lot of time playing with Patrick.  This week his long-awaited mp3 player arrived and he has enjoyed using that.  The boys also have made their own youtube channel with several uploaded videos on busting water balloons.

In one of the videos, Preston was Mr. Hotdog and Patrick was Mr. Pizza!?

I introduced the kids to Scrabble this week and we have loved playing the game together.  It's a nice addition to our regular weekly games of Mancala, Pass the Pigs, Exploding Kittens, Uno, etc.

We continue to play nightly kickball and/or ping pong (although it was less this week becauser Dave had month end), but Preston's allergies are a nightmare right now.  We are trying to find a balance of medicine to help him through this nasty season.  We've also enjoyed watching Frozen 2 as a family and look forward to another movie on Disney Plus, what a great gift that was from Aunt Cherry!

I made my last in-store shopping trip for a while and have resorted to delivery only orders for Shipt.  I think that is a lot safer, with no interaction with people at all . . . and I can still get out, be helpful, and make some money too. I stocked us up on groceries and have made it a goal not to go into Harris Teeter for 10 days.  It's going to be tough! 

This week we hope to enjoy Easter egg dying and some virtual church activities preparing our hearts for Easter.  We're going to make it.  I think I can. I think I can.  I think I can!