Covid Spring 2020

So much was closed in the Spring. School was all online. People kept their distance from one another. It was a weird time for sure. I was glad that the weather was warming up so I could spend more time in my garden. 

I built a wall along the side fence so I could backfill the area and plant more flowers. I had lots of help from Matt and a little help from the kids. 

Sean built a tower all the way to the ceiling!

One sunny afternoon, I took the boys on a date since we hadn't been anywhere for a while. We got lunch at Wendy's and went to a park to eat and read books in the car full of blankets and pillows. It was fun to have a change of scenery for an hour or so. 

There were hardly any cars on the street by us, so I told Sean to sit in the middle of the road. We joked about how long he could be out there before being in danger. 

Matthew's teacher assigned an Egg-Drop Challenge. Sean, so generously, offered to climb the roof to drop his package off. Matthew's egg was wrapped pretty well in an old peanut butter container. It dropped 2 or 3 times before breaking. 

Sean designed a big glider to throw off the roof (since he was up there anyway). 

I kept up with Forced Family Walks, although sometimes the boys were on roller blades or a unicycle, and I was the only one walking. Being outside was the important part!

Little Bird continues to be a joy to everyone

March 2020

Funny reading positions I found the boys in:

For Jon's birthday, we took flowers to float on the water again. Matthew wanted to bring his unicycle to the park there too. He likes practicing his new skills anywhere he can! Later that day we also had a few friends over for a fire and to roast marshmallows. It was a good day.

In early March, we found out that school would be closing down for a while so our state could "Flatten the Curve" of Covid-19 cases. Sean had a big field trip cancelled. Matthew's Outdoor School trip was cancelled. A cousin's play was cancelled. It was all a big bummer having so much shut down without much information about if or when things would get back to "normal." There were definitely some tears shed all around. 

Sean was able to have one final performance with Orchestra. The sky that day was beautiful, but ominous.

I decided to take the boys to Vancouver to spend some time with Matt since we weren't quite sure what else to do. Because we had so much free time during the day, Matthew practiced on his unicycle a lot. 

I found places to take the boys outside almost every day. Battle Ground Lake State Park was really pretty. We liked it so much, we brought Matt back later in the week.

We thought this tree looked like a reindeer.

Another place we went is Frenchman's Bar Regional Park. There is a long stretch of beach on the Columbia River to play on. There is also a long paved trail on the other side of the parking lot, so Matthew brought his unicycle on that outing too. Seriously, it was unicycling every day for that kid!

Watch for upside down horses!

The last park I took the boys to was Salmon Creek Park. We walked under I-5 and found several places we could get right to the water. It was really pretty.

Once we returned home, I still wanted to get outside with the kids as often as possible. I started having Forced Family Fun and Forced Family Walks. 

Pinecone fights definitely help the "fun" aspect of our outings.

And umbrella fights help too.

Winter 2019-2020 (December-February)

December started with Matthew's birthday.  We celebrated a day early with most of his grandparents. He requested crepes for dinner and lemon meringue pie instead of cake. The boy has great taste! 

 

He got to have leftover crepes for breakfast on his birthday and rolled them to show that he's 11!

Creed was kind enough to text this picture to me because I was having surgery that morning. Nicki sent me a care package that included a super cute cross stitched gift. (It says "Gone, but not forgotten")

Time to get into the holiday spirit!

I got a little excited about stockings this year and bought more than we needed for the number of people in the house. Oh well. 

Ella is an excellent decorator. 

This was our Bah Humbug/ Merry Freaking Christmas photo.

Surgery recovery lasted forever, so I had lots of pain and wasn't as cheerful as I could have been. Luckily, plenty of cheerful people filled the house with fun and happy sounds. 

My sister came up for Winter Solstice and we made cookies and floated flowers at the waterfront for Jon and just enjoyed each other's company.

And we always make our candle holders. They are my favorite. 

Sean's digging hole in the backyard turned into a giant pond! 

Christmas Day arrived:

January:

For my birthday I wanted to check out Vashon Island. Matt was up and we got to take Ella with us too. Being January, it was a bit of a blustery day, but still a good adventure.

This is a pretty winter-blooming flower that brightened a dark January day.

Mid-January brought a LOT of snow. At least, a lot for our neck of the woods. The kids were in snow-heaven! 

February

Dear Sean became an official teenager! 

Matt was up visiting and found a scooter to buy. It was so fun to have when we had cousins up for a birthday get together.

Matthew started going to Unicycle Club again and his skills were improving a lot!

My little family.