The end of March.... we finally made it!

Tomorrow is April Fool's Day and while I normally love to celebrate this holiday, I'm kind of deciding in my mind this year, the April fool's joke was that March 2020 was the longest month in the history of the world!

But we made it through and while today was a bit tough... everyone is getting tired of this groundhog's day life, we are thankful for our health, grateful for those on the front lines and determined to do what we can to help lower the curve... we are staying home.

We go outside for 2 walks a day... 2 laps around the block and then back inside.

 The kids are wound up like a spring, and we make them exercise but they are desperately missing their normal routines, and with the announcement they won't get to see their friends for who knows how long, everyone was kind of in grumpy camp today, especially mom.

Hope you made it through the day.

Until next time,
Angie

Living her best life...

While the big kids seem to be missing their friends so much and have decided Mom School is for the birds, Madelyn seems happy no matter what.  She likes to go to school but pretty much she's happy no matter what.  She is so easy going, cheery and loves to play.

So with the orders to stay home and play a lot more than we normally get to, Madelyn is living her best life.  She dresses up as Elsa everyday, and at night she transforms into her Elsa pajamas, with her cowgirl hat and her high heels.  She then tucks them under her bed at night so that when she wakes up in the morning she can resume her Elsa duties.

I have so many videos of Maddie loving life these last few weeks, I could fill up all the data in my phone....

Here are a few videos to capture some of the fun she's been having...

Today she was Cowgirl-Elsa-Fairy-Queen... and here she is testing the strength of her wings to fly.

She insists on wearing a dress everyday.  This dress she had gotten chocolate on and I told her I was going to have to wash it.  A few minutes later, after insisting she didn't have to take it off, she came in to tell me she had solved the problem herself.

One project I had the kids do for Mom School was to make a news broadcast.  Madelyn served to introduce the newscast and she happened to forget what her name was.

And then there's the fun she has with Jennings.  He loves to play with her and she loves to play with him.  Just hearing their giggles makes my heart so happy.

Yes these days of staying home are kind of challenging but I am reminded to be so thankful for this time.  

Until next time,

Angie

Stay at Home... Stay away Corona Virus

These are some of the most interesting days of my life thus far.  Never would I have imagined even at the beginning of this month that we would be sitting home here now for several weeks and that the news playing on our TV's each day would be so sad.  I could go on and on and on as this really has consumed me for the last few months, but because I'm short on time (school is so time consuming, along with having the kids home all day everyday), but it feels like it has been a year since I've gotten on here and wanted to write....

Home quarantine is going I would say well.  I actually LOVE the idea of having to wake up and not go anywhere. My introvert personality feels quite comfy at home.  Everyone is getting used to being all together, all the time and while we do get on each others nerves and I think everyone will someday enjoy getting back to their normal routines, for the most part I would say everyone has been enjoying it.  ( Well, except Jack... he's gotten used to his quiet (peaceful) days when he's the only one home.  He's been sleeping in my closet most days, I think wishing we would leave.

Here are a few photos of just some of the many things we've been doing each day!

We decorated the drive with inspiring messages!  

We have daily "mom school" which the kids think is for the birds!  They can't wait to see their teachers again!

Madelyn loves the activities but she misses her class too and keeps asking me "Is today the day I get to go to school"  She knows about the "corona" and that we have to wash our hands ALL the time, but she doesn't understand why that means she can't play with her neighbor friend Connor or go to school

There has been LOTS of playtime, LOTS of dress up and LOTS of Frozen play!

Speaking of play... the house is kind of destroyed... this was one fort pillow!  47 pillows went into the making of this "fun"  I've started instituting 15 minute pick ups throughout the day, so that at the end of the day the house doesn't seem like 7 people are living here 24 hours everyday!  

We also build exercise into our daily schedules, well because the kids have A TON of energy and they need to get it out!  The girls do yoga or PE online each day and the boys created a home gym.  

This morning I made them run with me, they thought it was going to be easy because well mom your old and out of shape... turns out one quit before we were even 5 minutes in and the other one only stuck it out because he was determined to earn video game time.  I might be old and out of shape but I can still hold my own with them!

How do you like those milk jug bar bells?  Pretty resourceful if I do say.

And then there's this little guy who is growing and changing daily.  He's an expert crawler... He pulls himself up on everything and loves his walker (man can he go)!  I feel like he's so big and it makes me sad to think my baby is getting so so so big!

He's a big helper for mom when I'm working!  

He's also wiped out... the house is definitely not conducive to having quiet naps!  

We hope everyone stays safe and healthy.  This is definitely not something to take lightly and when they are telling us to stay home, please do so.  Your health and that of your family's is worth more than any money can buy.

Until next time,
Angie