We are now a good six weeks into quarantine and it's been a real adjustment for all of us. There's no clue how much longer this will go on, but there seems to be no end in sight. The number of cases and deaths keep rising, and as long as they do, we are to continue social distancing and only going out for essential items and while wearing a mask in public.
The month started out with April Fool's Day. We decide to prank Dallin by putting these dyed eggs in the chicken coop and sending him to check for eggs. He came back with amazement that the chicken had laid these colored eggs! Then we dared him to smash them over his head. Unbeknownst to him Carmen had hard boiled one and not the other, which Aliza thought they both were hard boiled. She offered to smash one over her head at the same time as Dallin because she was confident that it was hard boiled. Turns out hers wasn't! It was a pretty awesome April fools joke.
The next day was Carmen's 15th birthday. It was super low key since we couldn't go anywhere. She was disappointed because this year was going to be the first time ever that she had school on her birthday...and then Covid.
I decided to start a new birthday tradition and have a piñata! It was fun and an excellent distraction from an otherwise boring day.
Our neighbor was offering to do "Front Porch" pictures and giving the proceeds to the local food bank. We took her up on her offer and quick fancied ourselves up as best we could, for we literally haven't been anywhere in weeks! These turned out pretty cute!
David finished grad school!!!! We are so proud of him and very disappointed that we didn't get to have a big hoopla celebration due to Covid-19. He didn't even get to walk in a graduation ceremony. So the end of anti-climatic, but still....what a huge accomplishment.
Dallin was dared by his sisters to spend 24hrs outside in a tent. He couldn't leave for anything. He took the dare seriously and stuck it out!! He did his math homework in there, was stocked up on snacks and water and even slept all night outside by himself! I was so worried about him, but after checking on him around midnight, I figured he was going to be okay.
Zoom church is something we've had to get used to. Sunday school is twice a month and other classes are the other 2 Sundays. There is no primary, sadly. Bronco Mendenhall is not only a good football coach but also an excellent gospel doctrine teacher.
My Grandpa Teerlinks health has started to decline rapidly and we took several opportunities to go visit him whenever we could. He is such a stalwart man but so ready to be reunited with his sweetheart.
This poor little yellow finch flew hard into our glass door and was lying on the back deck. I was able to pick it up and hold for a long time. He eventually flew off. This unfortunately happens a lot at our house.
For my birthday, the 4-0, David got this fun fire pit and chairs for our back patio. We immediately set out to make s'mores!! The marshmallow between two fudge striped cookies it the best way to eat them.
On line school has started and it's kind of hard... teachers and students and parents have been forced to change everything so quickly and no one is really prepared for this kind of learning... lucky, students are all getting a "pass" this year!
It took every ounce of energy and creativity to keep everyone entertained and happy. We bought a little pool to cool off in. The weather is starting to turn warmer and the beaches and all public pools are closed. Sorry kids, it may be a long summer if this continues much longer.
The kids got kites in their Easter Baskets and those were pretty entertaining for a few days.
I got Scrabble in my basket and Dallin was pretty decent at this game! And I could never beat Carmen, but she also liked to cheat...
Easter Sunday family picture
At some point we decided that we were going to have a cake every Friday to celebrate making it another week in a global pandemic. I think this was the only time we actually did it.
More board games and puzzles....
We had a very thrown together Easter egg hunt in the front yard. Aliza was the last to find all her eggs. We had to give her some extra help after a while. Here she is practically staring right at her egg and she still couldn't see it.
Another benefit of being stuck at home, was all the chores the kids had to learn to do. They've become excellent dishwashers, and we even had some good conversations while doing so.
After living here for ten years, I finally connived the whole family to go to Raven's Roost for the sunset. It was blustery cold, but we stuck it out. And it was worth it to see the sky tranform from blues to pinks and oranges.
Collecting the eggs in the morning. We are getting a dozen a day!
More school zooms. It's pure chaos when the whole class is on there together. My favorite was a conversation I over heard about picking your nose and how it's actually "illegal" to do now!
We started going over the elementary school everyday after dinner to just get some fresh air. We'd take bikes and ride/walk around the track. It was so eery to see the playgrounds all taped off because playing on them was prohibited.
The "new normal" is to wear a mask everywhere, my car is cluttered with them. I've been in search of the perfect ones and haven't found it yet. We've made some and bought some and our collection is rather large now, but I still don't love having to wear one. Also, signs are posted everywhere reminding you to keep 6 feet apart from anyone.
By the end of the month we very much were feeling the impact of living in a bubble!
