May 2020

First bike ride of the year!

And George's first time without training wheels! Such a champ!

Enjoyed lots of bike rides during quarantine.

Mother's Day Parade

Joe and the kids pulled off a wonderful Mother's Day surprise for me, 

organizing the basement for a kid friendly corner for play and schoolwork.

Love watching this tree blossom each year for Mother's Day.

Celebrating Henry's 9th Birthday!

It was such a special day. Family organized a birthday parade for him, 

and then we ventured down to Riverside Park to watch the Blue Angels fly over.

Claire's Science Fair Project - Solar Oven S'mores

All three big kids did really well with their virtual schooling. It was difficult at times, 

but I'm grateful for their perseverance and for their wonderful teachers!

April 2020

Easter Sunday!

DIY Easter Tent 

Our church traditionally hangs an Easter Tent in our santuary, beginning in Lent through Easter. It symbolizes God's care and covering. Since we weren't in our sanctuary this year, we were encouraged to make our own Easter Tent for our home.

Charlie wore Joe's old Easter outfit, 38 years old!

Springtime Fun - painting the driveway and coloring rocks.

Neighborhood quarantine activity: "Going on a Bear Hunt". 

We supplied plenty of bears, just in case one wasn't enough.

Lots of walks and bikerides as the weather warms up.

Another DIY project

There's been a lot of quarantine fun, but of course, there's plenty of school work too. The kids did their annual Mystery Guest projects. Claire was Jane Goodall. Henry was Caesar Chavez. George was Dr. Seuss. 

March 2020

March 2020...what can I say? From what I remember, it started off pretty normally. The big news in our home was that we were getting a new roof. And then, as we all know, Covid-19 setted in and things changed pretty quickly. Initially, we were excited to be getting a long weekend off school. That turned into a couple months of virtual school, and then ultimately a year of homeschooling. Wow. Did not see that one coming! But I won't get ahead of myself...for now, here's our March.

The aforementioned roof

The kid can barely stand up. Yet he found a way to drag the stepstool over to the fridge and rummage for a snack. Can't imagine our food bill when our boys are teenagers.

He seemed satisfied with a bottle for now. 

Gotta keep him my baby for a little while longer at least.

And this was right about when things started to shut down because of the pandemic. Hard to believe I can't quite remember all the details anymore, but I think it started with a 6 week quarantine. Thankfully, Joe and I were both able to work from home. So we had a lot of quality family time. Well...some days it felt more like quanitity than quality, but anyways, I'm so grateful we could be together!

Quarantine Week 1: I felt like I was living in a perler bead sweat shop. My kids made good use of the jumbo bucket of beads we bought last year. I thought this one, made by George, was especially cute. But at one point, I did swear that if I kept stepping on perler beads all over my kitchen floor, we might not make it to week 2.

Diving into the world of Virtual School. 

George works on a project for his class.

Claire in her class meeting.

Charlie enjoying his happy place - the great outdoors.

A craft from our church's "Virtual Children's Worship". 

God Keeps His Promises!

The perks of together-time.

And the perils...

Oatmeal here, there and everywhere!

Quarantine Week 2: The kids are trying to escape! That didn't take long.

February 2020

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..."more pics from 2020". 

And now some February fun.

Claire turned 11...and I didn't even get to spend the day with her. That was a sad first! She actually left for camp with her school class that morning, so we had a special breakfast, and then she went on her way. Thankfully, Joe was a chaperone, so he went up to camp in the evening where he was able to check in on her. Of course, he found her having a great time.

And while the cat's (i.e. Claire) away, the mice (i.e. George & Charlie) will play.

Charlie, wondering why his orange has a chewy shell.

Valentine's Day dance at school. Claire with her friend, Brooklyn.

January 2020

The 12 days of Christmas usually starts with "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree." But in my version, I'm thinking the 12 days cover the 12 months of 2020 that I never got around to posting pictures of. So here it goes...Day #1: January 2020

Really the main event in January was our annual trip to Pokagon in northern Indiana. Always great memories in the craft room, on the tobaggon run, and playing games, taking hikes, and swimming in the pool.

Ready or not, here we go!