Quarantine Week 11

Posted by My Heart Song

5/29/2020 


Another week has come and gone. 



We had lots of hot weather this week 
and spent a lot of time outside.


Helping Daddy put dirt and flowers into our pots.


The little boys enjoyed their first watermelon of this season.


And this little guy tried fishing, in our ditch :-)


We ate supper outside at least once this week. 


And all of the kids find themselves swinging on this saucer swing throughout the day.


We caught more chipmunks this week. 


The kids and I visited a nearby camp one day this week. This is the camp where Daddy and Mommy met, so it is special and dear to our hearts. What fun to introduce our kids to the place now!



Inside, we played with toys and puzzles but I don't think we played any board games this week.


We huddled in the basement one evening while a tornado warning was issued. It didn't last long and all was well.


My husband continued to work on our bathroom project - putting up window trim and the shower curtain rod. 
Looks good.


We attended a surprise birthday for a family member turning 16. She received a car as a gift. A memorable party!


The highlight of the week was my husband and I celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary! We got away for one night to a nearby hotel. We pulled my wedding dress out of 20 years of storage and tried to re-create a fun wedding picture.


And we enjoyed a date night and a chance to just talk about life, love, and 20 years... without the chatter of the children interrupting.

This week we saw more people face-to-face. A few friends came by with anniversary cards/balloons/greetings. It was nice to get real hugs again! Our state is on stage 3 of 5 in reopening from the coronavirus lockdown. Most restaurants are open at 50% capacity in their dining areas. But people here seem to be cautious about getting out again, taking it slowly. We are regularly hearing of businesses (big name franchises and small local shops) that are closing for good, not able to recover from the economic toll of this year. 

But the number of virus cases in our area remains low and is steadily increasing but not surging. We've been in the reopening stage for one month now. Our church remains closed, but some are opening now. Playgrounds are closed but will open in the next stage. But county fairs and many local pools are cancelled for Summer 2020. 

We'll see what next week holds!

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Quarantine Week 10

Posted by My Heart Song

5/22/2020


Just wanting to start off with something beautiful. 
Some incredible sunsets this past week. 
Pictures never do them justice.

 Another week of "quarantine" is over. I realize this is not technically the right term. We are not sick. We are just self isolating. But for the sake of these Quarantine Chronicles, we'll keep up the name calling. :-)

A few more nature pictures from our week. 

I love this little dogwood tree. We planted three of these in our yard in the last year. So great to see them bloom this week!

We caught two chipmunks this week. We're trying to keep them out of our yard and garden. When we catch them, the kids gave them names (like Alfred or Junior or Jumpy) and we take them for a little ride out into the country and let them find a new home. We're compassionate like that. :-)


 Then we saw this squirrel in the garden! Grrr!

Our front porch is looking great with these flowers.

We put up a hammock this week. Getting it up was a whole story of its own, but here's my 6 year old enjoying the final product. All smiles!

These two little boys had fun playing with water and gave their toy lawn mower a wash.

And the two of them worked together to move a little ladder. Great teamwork, boys!

A round of popsicles on a hot day. We're so thankful for the warm weather that allows us to be outside!

Just a sweet picture of me with my littlest boy. I'm usually behind the camera so I'm glad one of my older kids caught a shot of me and this little guy.

Inside we had some major train track building going on this week. We left this one up for a few days.

And we played a few games. Here's Q-bitz Extreme. 
It's challenging!

And a game of Scrabble with this serious player.



And some puzzle action.


And the littlest ones playing with some foam shapes.

God provided a FREE used washing machine for us this week, from a neighbor in our neighborhood. So here's my hubby walking it home with the hand truck. What a sight to see him walking down the street like this! But we thank God for this free gift, right when we needed it! (Ours had broken down just that very morning. Within hours, we had this free one hooked up and working away. Amazing God!)

And just because, this girl wanted her picture taken with her sandwich. Okay.

 My husband had his first full week working back at the office. All is well there. Even though it's a public library, they are not open to the public - only staff there working behind-the-scenes. So very slowly we are seeing more businesses and churches open their doors. We are so thankful that the virus has not been as serious as originally predicted. That is the mercy of our God! 

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Oldest Daughter's Creative Side

Posted by My Heart Song

5/16/2020 


 
My oldest daughter was inspired to be artsy a few days ago. 



Through some creative photography and Photoshop, she created these. 


Very creative mind!

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Quarantine Week 9

Posted by My Heart Song

5/15/2020 

Week 9 of the quarantine / lockdown is done. 


We started the week off with homemade monkey bread. Yummy! Everyone loved this very rare and very sweet treat! My oldest daughter also made some garlic herb bread in the bread machine, which turned out amazing (sorry, no picture).



We played a few games this week. My older kids played Password. 


And my 6 year old had a Korean game called Yut Nori that we played (from a geography/craft kit to teach us about South Korea).


My little boys enjoyed some puzzles.


My 2 year old likes this "fishing" magnet puzzle where he can catch the pieces with his magnet stick and then fit them into the puzzle.


My younger daughter did some puzzles too and requested a picture with all of them.


One night I checked on my daughter after she was tucked in for the night and she had fallen asleep in this weird position. All tuckered out!

This was a strange week. We had a more than one bloody nose and a bloody lip. Multiple spills and potty accidents to clean up. Lots of opportunities for being a servant!

My husband returned to work at the office this week on Tuesday. Masks and social distancing are required in any public place, which includes his work. 

I took all of the kids to the orthodontist this week (their first time out in public for 9 weeks). Masks were required. I was able to stay outside in the parking lot with the little ones to keep them from being confined in a waiting room. 


We ate snacks in the trunk of the van. 


And we were quite entertained by an Amish horse and buggy that were parked in the same parking lot.


My husband extended some shelving in our basement (this is our pantry for all of our food and bathroom items, as well as small kitchen appliances). He also rearranged his workshop in the basement to make it more functional.


My oldest daughter finished up her Junior year of homeschooled high school a week or so ago. This week we had "Box Day" where we open up the new box of next year's school curriculum and check out all of the books she'll be reading. 


We had some nice weather again this week and were outside every chance we got. Here the two littlest boys were playing with bubbles. 


And here they were using shovels to "help" dig in the backyard. We have an area that we allow them to just dig in without fear of ruining anything. It's fun for them to feel like they are helping and to dig up bugs and worms!

With the nice weather, we took multiple walks around the neighborhood this week as well as some bikerides. The three oldest kids biked over 4 miles together one evening!


We have a friend Sarah who works at Chick-Fil-A. She brought us lunch one day, which was a wonderful treat. We love Sarah and we love Chick-Fil-A! Her visit was the first time in 8-9 weeks we had a visitor in our home. 

Slowly our state and county are opening up again. This week restaurants were able to offer dine-in options again (maintaining social distancing and requiring masks). Some churches have reopened (not ours). But the general sense from most people is to be hesitant, to not try to return to normal too quickly. 

We made a trip to visit my in-laws this week, with all of us going into their home (again, first time in 2 months). It was nice to really "see" them, not just from a distance. 

Our summer vacation plans are totally up in the air. However, we are very thankful that my husband still has a job and still has vacation time to use (at some point). Except for the broad economic impact of the quarantine, we have not personally been affected by all that is happening. We feel for those who have lost jobs and are facing real need. 

Unless there is a resurgence of the coronavirus, the phases of the reopening will keep moving forward. The goal is to be completely FREE again by July 4th... how appropriate!

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