Month 2 of COVID-19 Life

We have now been in quarantine or "social distancing" for two months. 

TWO VERY LONG MONTHS!

We are surviving digital school but we are so ready to be done.
We have been enjoying our "Come, follow me" lessons each morning together.
For as awful as this situation has been, I'm really enjoying this time together each morning as we learn from the scriptures together. I wake up early and read and study the scriptures on my own for 30 minutes, then I turn around and teach what I learned to my kids. It's been kind of amazing. I've really enjoyed getting to listen to my kids testimonies grow and listening to them retell what they learn to their dad each week during our at-home sacrament meeting. 

Also, during one week of digital learning Tanner's teacher did a "Harry Potter" unit and she dressed in HP robes and did a whole writing assignment on the different kinds of wands. Tanner loved it. It was so cute. He even wore his own gryffindor  robes to do his school work in. It was adorable. 

I've also been staying sane by doing some social distancing dinners with my girl friends. Its the only thing keeping me from becoming an awkward introvert. 

Also, Nanny came over one day to help Aunt Sarah when she had to have emergency surgery. Before leaving NWA she came over to visit us. We hadn't seen her since the last weekend in January and so we were so excited to see her. The kids couldn't stop smiling. 

We've also been spending a lot of time at our fixer upper house. Chris works so hard all the time over there and I'm so proud of him. He's there almost every night working. I stay home and put the kids to bed while he works. It's been rough but we are chugging along working hard.
One day after spending the whole day working at the fixer upper house, we rewarded the kids with a picnic dinner at "Park Springs". It was so fun. We drove through to get some burgers first and then played at the springs for a couple hours. 

The water is so cold. It's a spring so you can imagine how crazy cold it is. But the kids played for hours. It was so fun. 

I love that the weather is getting warmer and we can spend our evenings outside together.
It was a great reward to a long hard day. 

We also got to celebrate one of our favorite days of the year. Really, if you are a big star wars fan, then you know what I'm talking about. "May the 4th" day is always fun.
We enjoyed a small little dinner party and the kids wore their Star Wars Halloween costumes from last year. They all looked so cute. 

They loved our little "Han Burgers"

and "Palpatine's Pizzas"

It was a fun night. We ended it by watching a Star Wars movie together. 

We also went to pick strawberries at a local berry patch. Most of the berry patches didn't open for "U-Pick" this year. But "Appel farms" opened and we got there as soon as they opened one day to beat the crowds. We took home three little crates. It was pretty fun. 

How cute are these berry picking kids? I just love them!

Another day, Aunt Laura came over to visit for a few days. She had also been at Aunt Sarah's helping her recover after her surgery. But before she went back to Mtn. Home she came up to visit for a couple hours. We hadn't seen Aunt Laura since dropping off her car to her at the airport mid-March. The kids had a great time doing sidewalk chalk with her. 

Lastly, before we hit our 2 month mark of quarantine, I put together a fun little color run.
Aunt Sarah and her family came too. It was pretty great. I setup our bluetooth speaker and played music and as the kids ran around the track we threw colored powder on them.
Here they are at the start of the run. 

They ran a couple laps around the track and then we let them be done. Tanner ran 4 laps which is only a mile but he was worn out and the other kids didn't make it nearly that far.
After we finished the run we let the kids have a color dance party. It was so funny. They were covered in color from head-to-toe. 

I love this shot of Tanner. Look at that color! He was a tie-dye mess. 

The kids had so much fun together.  The Drake cousins couldn't come but we had fun with the Allreds. 

Benson was too grumpy to stand still for a picture. 

And I had to snag some family shots. It was the perfect afternoon for a run and we had a blast together. 

We had a great afternoon together. 

It's now been two months since the world shut down and while there is talk of parts of the world reopening, it still doesn't feel like there is an end in sight. They are working to develop a vaccine but its still months and months away. We are doing our best to keep our chins up and make our own kind of fun, but I'm really hoping our pools open this summer or we might go crazy!

Here's to another month of social distancing and keeping ourselves healthy and happy.