A COVID-19 Easter

Covid has changed everything about this year. Nothing is normal. This year there was not big Easter egg hunt on base. There was no festival with food stands or activities for kids. There was no picture with the Easter bunny. So many things were missing but it made it so much easier to focus on the true reason we celebrate Easter. We enjoyed our quiet sabbath day, had at home church and talked about the Savior's resurrection. It was a beautiful and uplifting day.

We took our Baker Sunday Selfie and didn't realize it right away but when I uncropped it we noticed that the Easter bunny had snuck into our picture! Eva was so excited and so surprised!

After at home church we were surprised when we heard a noise outside. When we checked we saw that the Easter bunny had filled the kids baskets! It was perfect timing because they needed their baskets for our egg hunt. This year we decided to do 2 golden eggs. Rich always puts money in them so the kids are super excited to find them. Aidan has been the one to find it the last 2 years so Maya really wanted to find at least one of them this year.

They looked and looked and looked. Rich did a good job of hiding them. 

Arabella found the first golden egg!

It took another 5 minutes before AIDAN found the grand prize golden egg for the 3rd year in a row!!!

Even though nothing was as it usually is it was still really great. I love all of the family time we have been enjoying with no distractions. It was a happy Covid Easter.

A Covid Summer ~ May

Well, the Corona virus cancelled everyones plans all summer long. The kids finished distance learning and it has basically felt like summer for 3 months already. I'm definitely not complaining! While there was a definite rough patch, we happily spent the months of April and May social distancing at our home. Because of all of the fear and unknown that came along with Covid, we spent 99% of April almost completely isolated. As May came along most people were done with the isolation and stopped taking such drastic precautions. We continued to be fairly cautious.

We started May with family walks on base. 

Oklahoma has the most awesome storms that blow in incredible clouds! Any time a storm is blowing in we all run outside to see what the sky looks like and are never disappointed.

The second week of May we got a visit from the Rockwood cousins! Their favorite thing to do when they come visit is hike. There are so many fun places to hike around here too. Julie and I always request safe, easy hikes but somehow they always end up being scary. The big kids love them though!

This first one wasn't too bad...

Look at that view!

I get a bouquet from Eva on every single walk and I love it!

Our second hike ended up being a little more scary but it was such a good one.

My bouquet🌸

We celebrated Mother's Day while the Rockwood's were visiting. Rich made Julie and I an awesome breakfast. He is so sweet and thoughtful! I love that he made sure to treat us both.

The girls always collect boxes when there is a birthday or holiday coming up so that they can fill it with homemade gifts and cards. I seriously love that they do this!

My Mother's Day cards were on a different level this year! Eva cut out all of those flowers and a bow and Arabella found this cool idea on Pinterest and executed it perfectly!

Isn't this card so awesome?

On another note...I was walking by and did a double take. Boys are weird...and funny.

The Rockwood's left and we carried on with our summer. We had some things to do at the base in Lawton and the military lifted some restrictions so we were able to run some errands as a family. This is what that looked like.

A few random pictures...

We ended May the way we started it, with a family walk. Maya got rollerblades like dad so I rode on the rocker scooter. My hip hurt for 2 days after because apparently I'm getting old, lol!

Eva collected pinecones and made me a necklace when we got home😆 I've committed to wearing it on our first Sunday back to church. I'm sure all of the new move-ins will be excited to get to know me, haha!

Here's May in a nutshell!

COVID-19 ~Week 3~

Week 3 was our best week yet! We were on a great schedule that kept the kids busy and entertained and made my life so much easier. It took the constant, "I'm bored! What can I do?" out of our day. 

Homemade play dough was a favorite this week. All 3 girls played with it every single day.

We've continued piano lessons and daily practice. Now that they have nothing else filling their day they have a lot of time to practice and are making great progress.

We've had lots and lots of crafting going on. Eva is a rubberband bracelet expert. She makes them all day every day.

Maya has watched half a million rubberband bracelet tutorials and can make some really awesome ones!

Maya also really got into crocheting which makes me sooo happy! She decided that she wanted to learn to make a beanie so she found a tutorial and made a beanie! I was so proud of her.

I have always LOVED all crafty things and nothing makes me happier than seeing my girls love it too!

Aidan isn't much of a crafter so he spends most of his free time messaging his friends or playing video games with them.

The kids have been doing a lot more daily chores since they have more free time and since they also make a lot more messes. Aidan and Eva do chores too, I just didn't catch them.

Sunday was General Conference. I caught all 3 girls crocheting in the morning but the best part was Maya teaching Eva how to crochet!

Eva caught on and spent a lot of time listening to conference and improving her new craft.