Goodbye April

April is the cutest of months and it always goes by so fast--even when you have nowhere to go. But I am so excited for May that I am okay with it being over.

Erica missed her friend Finley from school so much we arranged a video call. At first they were awkward and didn't know what to say but by the time they had to hang up an hour later, they were giggly and silly. Finley will be going to a different school next year because of a boundary change so Erica is sad about that.

 

This is my month. During a nonpandemic month, I have something on nearly every day. Besides a video-call piano lesson for Sarah on Thursdays, we got nothing.

 A couple of Fridays ago we drove to "Little Moab" on the west side of Utah Lake. It was so nice and a little weird to see so many people out and about camping and jeeping.

 We found a lot of cool rock formations to climb. My kids are too brave.

 Justin let the kids take turns steering on the dirt roads. I am so glad James doesn't drive for 13 more years. He was turning the wheel back and forth as fast as he could and get pushing Justin's hands away.

 This is our TV after the kids knocked it over. They had built a fort around it and when they took the sheet down, they pulled the TV over with it. I wasn't too mad since it was really old.  We discussed not getting a new TV since Justin and I rarely watch it but I didn't want us to be "that" family that didn't have a TV.

 We were that weird family for 48 hours. All is right in the world. (I have since straightened out my pictures on the wall, don't worry.)

Social distancing be d@#$%& we went to Justin's parents' house to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. It was sooooo nice to be outside and away from our house. The kids got to play on a swingset!

 I've been taking turns baking with my kids and trying really hard to only make something just once a week. One Sunday Erica chose to make Funfetti Bars. They were really easy for her since there was no measuring and this girl loves anything with sprinkles. They were okay--definitely a kid dessert.

 Erica made these flowers for Justin. I took a picture of them after a couple of weeks and threw them away. (We can't keep everything!)

 Pretty sure Erica took this picture of Henry.

 Because we 💗 smores and eating outside, we went up the canyon last Saturday night. There were tons of cars but the picnic area was empty.

 The kids kicked the ball around, the boys did some fishing, James got "really good" he says, at hitting a baseball.

 My good little smore maker.

 Here's more of cute Erica doing her homework. Schoolwork has been going well--especially after hearing stories from others at what a battle it has been in their homes. My kids seem fine about doing it and it doesn't seem to be to onerous (I keep expecting to hear from their teachers that they aren't doing it right or not doing it all but so far so good). Erica asked when she would get to go clean out her cubby and when I told her that her teacher would bring all her stuff out to the car, she started to tear up and then I started to tear up. This is hard. We mourning what we have lost. The losses dawn on them a little at a time and pile up. Field trips, track meets, kindergarten graduation, no mother's day crafts, never got so-and-so's phone number, all the good-byes.

 I hope that once May 22 rolls around and school would have been dismissed anyway, we will not feel the loss.

Speaking of school, look how cute my mom was in 1st grade! She's on the left in the dark dress with the lace ruffle across her dress.

Flashback Friday: When I looked just like Erica

My kids have a hard time distinguishing between each other's baby pictures. My kids also have a hard time distinguishing my childhood pictures and Erica. 

Here are a few from when I was about 6 years old.

I got this outfit at King's in Logan which is gone now. You wouldn't be an 80s kid if you didn't rock a sweatsuit.

We all had that stage where we couldn't take posing for a picture seriously.

 This stuffy is Huggins from "The Hugga Bunch"--a moderately popular cartoon from 1985. And by "moderately popular" I mean my grandma had the videotape and no one besides my cousins and siblings had ever heard of it. But they made toys so we weren't the only ones. I even still have this doll.

 Here's the video for you! I had a good segment of the show memorized and would recite it on command. And even not on command and just annoyed people.

I don't remember loving to bake or even wanting to that much when I was a kid so this isn't one of those "I've been baking all my life" photos. I'm pretty sure whichever sister took this picture also made me put all this one and pose next to the mixer.  This mixer was a bit broken and had to be held down while it was stirring or it would just lift up. My mom would often call someone over to hold it down while she did other things. I remember leaning over it and peering into the bowl. But what's really funny is that even we got a new mixer that locked, I still mixed while holding it down. And I still find myself doing it in my own kitchen. And I sometimes see my kids do it while they help me out.

 This doll is a Magic Nursery Baby. I got it for Christmas. You had to dissolve an envelope in water and inside it would reveal if your doll was a girl or a boy. I got the jackpot when my certificate revealed that it was twins and mailed away for the second (free!) doll. I named them Christopher and Christena. I think I still have the girl.

 No memories with this photo but I am noticing how good the finish on the edge of the table looks. My parents still have this table and the finish is pretty bare. The top is Formica and I really appreciate that as a table surface now that I have 4 kids that ruin everything. My mom didn't stress about what we did on her table (cookie cutters, playdough, etc). I wonder if they make Formica tables nowadays....

 Here's a good example of my curled bangs. Erica laughed when I told her my mom would curl my bangs and I think she was imagining vertical ringlets. Did we always keep the peanut butter next to the cough syrup?

 I remember those yellow cups, the Raiders glass, and the brown bowls. Makes me want to take pictures of inside my cabinets for my kids to geek over later. I would love to see inside all of these.

 I'm pretty sure my mom made this shirt.

Here's a few pictures of my mini me, just for comparison.

I think I'm going to curl her bangs. Just for fun.

April Beginnings and Easter Fun

Before my parents came back from their Hurricane house, I took my kids over to their house here and we raided their books and board games. I snagged this family classic, Masterpiece. So many good memories playing it at my grandma's house and I'm so happy my mom ended up with it.

 We've been playing with a lot of the block sets. Erica made an elaborate house for her princess dolls and cried when it got kicked over. (It was built in the highest traffic area of the house.) I got a picture of what I could so she'd stop crying and put it away.

 Dying Easter eggs stresses me out. All those cups of dye just begging to be knocked over. This year I bought some wood eggs on Amazon and we painted them instead.

 I think I'll buy 6 every year and see our collection and artistic abilities grow.

Erica got a pot, soil and seeds from her teacher. She planted it all herself and gets to watch it grow and draw and record her observations in a little book. Funny thing is we don't know what kind of seeds it is so we have no idea what it's going to be. Mystery plant!

 I bought a pack of pipe cleaners at Walmart and my kids have never gotten so much use out of $4. I loved seeing what crazy things they came up with. These are fox ears. Sarah and James made rabbit ears and they played some sort of chasing game.

 (Notice the pipe cleaners around his head?) James crashed on his bike in the road and skinned the inside of his ear. I still don't know how that happened. He must have landed perfectly on a rock. 

 One windy afternoon I took the kids to fly kites. I thought James would have a conniption when he saw the playground but couldn't go over there but he did okay.

 The cheap kites did not work well and Sarah got frustrated that hers didn't work much at all.

 James and Henry were having a blast though.

 Sarah has been working on passing off her states and capitals. Here's a practice test she did and I just had to laugh at her spelling.

 We tease her that for someone that reads as much as she does, you'd expect she could spell better.

We made this collage for FHE. We found all these pictures in old editions of the Friend magazine. James was our designated gluer.

We went to Salem Pond to fish. No one caught anything but we did see a wedding.

 See the wedding party across the pond in someone's backyard? After the ceremony the bride and groom got in a paddle boat and headed across the water.....

 To the crowd of people cheering on the other side.

 It made me happy and sad at the same time. Happy to see something good (and out of the ordinary) during all this but sad that the couple had to settle for a wedding at a pond with no party.

Happy that they made the best of the situation but sad to see that when they got to the crowd on the other side, they got out and hugged everyone. What was the point of the separation then? Oh well.

If you ever need your line reeled in, I know a kid. Favorite job ever.

 "I'm fishing, Mom!"

 

 My nephew had a birthday and was bummed he couldn't have a party. So we made him cards and brought a present and placed them all on his porch. When he answered the door, my kids sang the Tootie-tah song and did the dance on his front lawn. It was hilarious. Erica forgot her card so we took a picture of it and texted it to him.

"Hear ye, hear ye! Today is Mason's birthday"

Boring times call for creative measures. Henry has been reluctant to shoot Justin's .22 so I thought we needed to start off even smaller. I remembered that my dad gave me a couple of BB guns a few months ago. Henry was intrigued.....

 So of course Justin had to go to the store for a bottle of BBs and a case of soda to use as targets. Having a hillside for a backyard has it's advantages.

We are getting used to being home all the time. I should say most of the time we are okay with it. I get a little panicky if I think too far ahead so I have to remember to just take it one day at a time. The kids are good about doing their schoolwork. Luckily the big kids can do their work all on their own and Erica just needs a little guidance which I don't mind. James even pulls out coloring books and flashcards during school time so he doesn't feel left out. He knows all but 5 letters of the alphabet.

My kids miss their friends so much. It's hard when they see kids playing outside but can't go play with them. I am so glad they have each other. And the trampoline. That trampoline has saved our sanity. James is happy that everyone is home. It will be so weird for him when everyone goes back to school and work.

We talked about the virus a lot at the beginning so our kids knew why they couldn't go to school or play with their friends. I didn't want to scare them but they did need to understand the virus was being taken seriously and these were extraordinary circumstances. We may have done a little too good of a job with James. When we were driving to get dinner in Provo, he looked out his window worried and asked "Is the virus out there?"
We told him we wouldn't be going to Nana and Papa's for dinner for a long time because of the virus so when Nadine (Nana) came to our door to drop off something, James ran away from the door and asked me "Is the virus here?" He really wanted to hug her. Stupid virus.

 Erica and Sarah made these cute little bunnies from paper plates. They rock when you push them.

Because of social distancing guidelines, we had a modified Easter ggg hunt this year. Call me irresponsible if you want, but the thought of having our own hunt in our own yard, just us, made me die inside. My parents aren't worried and neither was my sister so we got together on Saturday for a hunt then went our separate ways.

And they're off!

 My parent's one-acre yard has so many good hiding spots.

  I thought I was so clever to hide the carrot-shaped eggs in the garden boxes.

 This tree is my favorite place to hide eggs. It's also great for climbing.

 Easter is sooooo cute!

 And then the emptying of the eggs and the sorting of candy.

 And the snitching of candy by the parents.

Then we went to visit Justin's parents in their backyard for a little while. It felt so good to see family. I regret nothing.

Easter morning! My kids put on their new Easter church clothes. I don't buy them any presents--new church clothes and some Easter candy is it.

 The girls

 And the boys.

 Then instead of heading off to church, we went back inside for the sacrament and a short lesson.

 I used the idea from April's Friend to put objects in plastic eggs tell the story of Christ's Atonement. It went really well. The kids held up the tiny object (nail, cup, fabric, etc) and read the slip of paper that told that part of the story. Then we sang some Easter primary songs that made Justin and I choke up. Good times.

 That afternoon Henry conducted an Easter egg coloring contest. We were judged on many elements. I colored mine to look like a Jazz basketball but I did not win that toilet paper trophy on the bookcase. But Henry did keep my egg to hang up in his room so maybe I did win, in a way.

 The kids were playing family pictures with their squishmallows. It made me laugh.

 For our first ever Easter dinner at home, I made these paper utensil and napkin holders. I made them in a bunch of colors and wrote words from Easter songs. This is the only one that survived.

We had ham, funeral potatoes, asparagus and homemade rolls. For dessert I made a chiffon cake for the very first time. It turned out great but I don't think I love it more than just regular cake.

Happy Easter! Next year I'm going to all the places and seeing all the people.