Still Here

Well, we're still here.  Social distancing.  No where else to go.  Trying to not lose our minds.  Trying to figure out if this is really even happening for any good reason.  Probably we'll never know the answer to that.  We definitely have a routine going on, which is good as I can't survive without routine.  Breakfast at 8, then the kids get going on school work.  Kate and Sage are usually done around lunch time.  Zack finishes at some point in the afternoon.  He's much happier when he's busy, so I'm not complaining that he spends so much time doing school.  Sometimes the afternoons get a little long, I'm not going to lie.  We've been doing this long enough that any newness has worn off and we're maybe starting to get on each other's nerves a bit. 

We continue to do puzzles.  The Johnson's gave us a puzzle that was almost harder than I could do.  I say I , because I've realized when the puzzles are hard the kids don't help much.  We've been working on the pond area getting that finished.  Finally.  We've got lights installed, pumps installed.  Almost done!  We're all trying to grit our teeth and just push through and finish so that when this is all over we can go play instead of working.  Fingers crossed.  We went to the salt flats for the first time last week.  Definitely a been there, done that, kind of thing.  But still cool and we had fun playing.  Until we all got we too hot and thirsty.  It was a good field trip.

Sage has probably been struggling more than any of us.  Extroverts definitely have more of a struggle with all of this.  Who knew it would some day pay to be an introvert.  Anyway, she tends to break down in tears at some point every day.  One week she was really struggling and told me she had lost her smile.  She decided she wanted to plan a family party.  She figured out what she wanted to do and then we ordered supplies on Amazon.  Unfortunately, they weren't going to get here until May sometime.  Two days later she came into my room so excited that her party supplies had already come!  It was a miracle!  I truly think God knew she needed a boost and got those supplies to us quick.  She told me she found her smile and put on a great party.  We had pizza, played games, danced, and watched a movie.  It was just what we all needed!

Jake continues to work, mostly business as usual.  Definitely grateful for that.  He feels like it's a little slower and customers are a little more patient, so that's a good thing.  I am enjoying the extra family time.  I feel like we're all getting to be better friends, which is awesome.  And I'm getting used to having nothing on the calendar.  So much so, that the rare moments I have something I almost forget and can barely get myself there.  Grateful for the chance to decide what we want to keep doing, and what we want to stop when this is all over.  I think everyone's hoping that as we enter May things will slowly start opening.  I hope that's the case.  Anyway, here are some pics of what we've been up to.

What I look like at work right now

Sage made delicious muffins

Lots of mountain biking happening.  Thank heavens for good weather and not a lot of snow this year!

Doing Grandpa's challenge

Sage got a new bike

Pump track fun

Sage painted this shirt

Our kids wrote down all funny covid jokes they could think of

We got chickens.  We'll see how long it takes Chester to eat them.

Party time!

Another Grandpa challenge

Jake and Kate are growing all kinds of seeds to eventually go in our garden.  

Salt Flats

Our family's efforts at jumping in a picture.  Hilarious

Kate and Sage keep experimenting with cute hair dos

The puzzle that almost won