Random Happy Things

This is a mis-mash of some lovely things going on. 

I have been wanting forever to get a stamp for our little family library, and this week my dream came true! I really think it's lovely.

Grace has loved "Mexican Poppies" since she was a little thing living in Arizona, we'd heard of this little patch of them just a few minutes from our house, and went to check it out. Sure enough! She was in heaven.

This little bird feeder Lilla is filling has brought me so much joy. There are a nice variety of birds that come to eat here, and it's right outside our window where we can see them easily. I bought a bird identification card-it has been so fun! I can remember Lazuli Bunting as one of the birds we used the card to idenify.

These foxgloves I bought on a whim have far exceeded my expectations! Incredibly gorgeous, and come to find out, toxic. So don't eat them. Can you believe this blue though!

Just this week the lily pads on ponds started blooming! Hello, dreamland! Such a delightful surprise.

And these ferns! I love the way they uncurl as they grow-it's so fascinating. Ferns seem magical to me.  I think I could have been a botanist.

It really has been an incredible blessing to live in this house this Spring. So. many. beautiful surprises. Sigh. 

Here's Nate and the adorable Kit, peeking around. Note the fields of wildflowers. This little hike is literally just out our door.

Last Day of School: Covid Style

Well, this week the kids finished up all of their school work- I'm so proud of them. For the most part, they were all very diligent and self-motivated. I have to admit that I got tired of them being on those computers SO MUCH! Online learning is not ideal. Though, I'm grateful to have it as an option, and I know the teachers were doing their best with a crummy situation. (I mean teachers are just awesome-right?) 

This was Gibson's last day of elementary school. I'm pretty sure I shed tears on the way to, and from, the school. I'm not sure Gibson shed any tears.  Each student drove to their teacher's designated station and handed over their laptop and other items belonging to the school, and the teacher delivered a bag of the students belongings, a yearbook etc. I tried to make it fun by blasting party music on the radio, it helped a little, I think. I made Gibson get out so I could at least get a decent picture of him with his teacher. 

Gibson did have a social distancing campfire at a friend's house last night, I think it was really good for him to see his friends from school. They each brought their own stuff for smores, Gibson brought his Cafe Rio dinner. So as not to share food and thus germs.

And here's Lilla and her sweet teacher. (I should of had her get out of the car for a pic.) I of course cried during this too.

Well, things seem to be simmering down here in Utah as far the the pandemic is concerned. Most of the state is in the Yellow phase of the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green strategy the state has set up, and in the news yesterday I started to see talk of us being able to go back to church. It's great news. We even cautiously let the kids have play dates this week. 

Some parts of this whole thing have been horrible. Of course, there's the obvious that many people have been very sick and thousands, 92, 333 in the US as of now, have died! But just in my day to day going in pubic often makes me tear up. It's just hard to see everyone in masks and feel the anxiety in the air. It's stressful. The times that are the saddest for me though usually involve the kids' schools. This is Anderson going to clean out his locker for the last time in 8th grade. He was greeted by people in gloves and masks who were keeping their 6 foot distance. Ugh. I get it, I do. I just feel such a sense of loss over it. No friends, no signing yearbooks, no fun assemblies or final concerts. 

There have also been some good things though. I'll have to write about them later, as a little person is in need of me. :)

Creative Projects

One of the things that a played a large role in me maintaining my sanity throughout this time of quarantine (which seems to be slowly but surely coming to an end!) is creativity. I pieced together this little quilt for Kit of scraps we had in the house. I especially like using my hands. And I really like mixing and matching colors and patterns. And quilting brings back fond memories of my childhood. As a younger child I remember quilting with my cousins, making quilts for refugees. I believe my Grandma made over a 100 quilts during that time! I remember a floor to ceiling stack of them at her home in St. George. As a teenager, I went and stayed with those Grandparents and, with Grandma's help, made another quilt, that I still use today. 

I embroidered Kit's name in the corner, which I have never really done before. I'd like to learn more about embroidery.

Gibson is keeping the tradition alive and started his own quilt. He came to me and asked if he could make  a quilt--of course he can! So we sat down and he chose some fabric online. So far he's cut out all the squares, layed it all out and started piecing it together. 

Yesterday I finished removing the wallpaper in my bedroom. That makes 7 or 8 rooms that we removed the paper from in the 5ish months we have lived here. Thanks Covid-19! My neighbor was kind enough to let me use her steamer and that has made a big difference where the wallpaper is especially stubborn. 

Growing Up & Looking Up

This lovely little one had a birthday this week. Covid restrictions wouldn't allow us to have a party large enough to invite everyone we would have wanted to, so we didn't invite anyone. We just had some balloons, sang a little song and gave her a couple of gifts. And of course took a million pictures.  She is growing up. 

And then just this morning she took a couple of little steps all on her own. But I didn't get any pictures of that. 

 

The kids are finishing up school this week for the most part. Grace had an AP test today. She took it at home. It was open book and only one hour long. Next week they turn in all their laptops, library books etc. And then, summer!!

Today we did get some happy Covid news. Most of the state of Utah is moving from the Orange Phase to the Yellow Phase on Saturday. Not sure exactly what that entails, but it does allow groups of 50 to gather.  So yay!

In other happy news I think we got a match for the exterior house paint! Fingers crossed!

Flashback to Easter (The Pictures Return!)

And, I just noticed that, suddenly, the pictures that had gone missing returned. Very weird, but Welcome Home! :) And so I'm going to post some pictures of Easter a couple of weeks ago.

We took family pictures in front of the house and they actually turned out pretty good.

We had an egg hunt and each child got to find a golden egg.

 Kit enjoyed the jelly beans.

 The kids put together an egg hunt for my parents, since we couldn't get together with them. We each wrote a little note to each of them and then the kids hid the eggs in their yard--in broad daylight and without them noticing no less! Very sneaky.

A Little Bit of Normalcy

Well, we're 10 days in with looser restrictions due to Covid-19. Last weekend was the first of the looser restrictions. My sister, RicAnn, and her family had come into town from Illinois and so we spent some time with them before they left. And yesterday we had my other sister, ValaRae, and her family over, along with my parents to celebrate Mother's Day. The kids played outside most of the day.

The boys played recklessly on the scooters--zooming down the hill without helmets and some of them in flip-flops (Gibson!). Luckily there was only a minor injury: Anderson got some pretty good road rash after crashing a neat trick in which he and his cousin Camdyn ride 3 scooters side-by-side, each with one foot on their own scooter and one foot on a scooter between them. They actually rode very successfully down the hill, it was the dismount that caused the wreck. Ander tried to get off before Camdyn and they both went down.  All four boys also played a lot of air soft, off and on throughout the day. The dad's took the boys on a hike to one of the nearby waterfalls.

Lilla and Maylen also played outside all day, though I'm not totally sure what they were doing, just playing under the trees. They did paint several rocks to look like dogs and were playing with those.

Grace and Aimery hid away in Grace's room most of the day, except when Nona took them on a Fiiz soda run.

Kit and Everette shared a popsicle and played cars.

For dinner we had huge Italian feast-so much food! I made three loaves of our favorite "Boston Bread" That pretty much took me all morning. We ate on the front porch. It's my favorite spot!

We ended the day with some Mother's Day pampering for Nona and a campfire.

Now if we can all just continue to avoid Covid. Nate was alerted last night that one of his employee's mother has it and now the employee has a high fever. People he works with have most probably been exposed. And I really worry about my mom. Most of the death's have been in people over 60, many with underlying health conditions, which is my mom exactly. :( And in my opinion, she is being quite reckless in going out regularly and traveling to see grandchildren. Sigh.