Friday, April 24, 2020

Easter 2020- Photo attempts and Easter baskets!

Happy Easter! It was bittersweet this year, because we really missed not being able to get together with family, but we are thankful for the many blessings we do have- Kley's job, our family, safe house, etc. We really do have MUCH to be thankful for, and we are trying our best to have positive attitudes during this COVID-19 time. Most thankful for the greatest news of all that can never be taken away- Jesus rose from the grave and is alive! 

Here are our best attempts at Easter photos this year! We got a bunch of snow on Easter this year, so we took them inside.





Norah is looking so grown up!







Opening Easter baskets! The girls each got a few small things, like sunglasses, coloring book, paintbrushes and watercolors, book, bubbles, and a new dress. 





Easter always makes me think of the Christ the Lord is Risen Today hymn that we used to sing growing up. :) Alleluia, He is risen!

Monday, April 20, 2020

Easter 2020- Egg dye and egg hunts!

While we definitely missed spending Easter with extended family this year (because of COVID-19), we still had lots of fun as just the five of us! The girls handled it, and all of this virus stuff, quite well. We are proud of them! They haven't complained much and have done a good job staying busy at home. It's definitely helping that we've had some warmer days (aside from actual Easter where we had a blizzard!), and getting outside helps a lot! We knew snow was coming, so we were thankful to get in our egg hunt and egg coloring in on Friday and Saturday. Holiday traditions are so fun! The girls loved it. We also did Resurrection Eggs for the 12 days leading up to Easter as well again, and it's so fun how they understand more each year. 



We just hid a bunch and let them free for all! They loved it. Norah found the most (obviously), but Lucy and Ellory are young enough that they didn't even notice and everyone was perfectly content with what they found. Ah, to be young! We don't eat tons of candy either, so I just put a couple small pieces in each egg, so we let them eat a few eggs worth and saved the rest for later.










There is usually a big community egg hunt, which was cancelled, but they still did a drive through hunt where you looked from your car windows and the Easter bunny waved to you, and they gave you a little treat bag at the end. It wasn't the same at all, but fun they still did something and tried their best!


Love that we were able to dye our eggs outside! We are still in the "each egg gets one color" stage (no fancy designs for us yet), and that is just fine with me!





Happy Easter to everyone! He is risen!

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Easter 2020- Our three cute bunnies!

We escaped one morning for some much needed fresh air (to a park where we did not go on the playground but just walked around the pond and were completely alone- Norah has prayed several times for coronavirus to be done, and I agree!) and it was so nice to get outside! Even though this season isn't what we all hoped or expected, we still have much to be thankful for! Very thankful to spend my days with these girls!





Monday, April 6, 2020

Spring times during COVID-19.

What a crazy time we are all in with the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic happening! Norah's preschool and the girls Kindermusik classes have been off since March 16 and are doing online learning for the rest of the school year, and church has been live streaming services for a couple weeks now too and will through April at least. 

Norah and I talked the other day about what a memorable time this is/will be, like people will be talking about this for years to come. This time could be written in history books someday! So crazy! I don't know how many specific memories Norah will have of this, but we talked about how she will remember that she was alive for it and lived through it, and can tell everyone that she was 5 when this happened in the future. We are definitely missing seeing family/friends and getting out, but overall are doing well. We are thankful for health, a safe home, and that Kley is still working and busy. (His office is closed, but he is still going in to work each day, which is very nice for everyone to keep routine and he can definitely be more productive there than here at home. He's just doing a lot more phone meetings and such, as no clients are coming in.) Praying this ends soon and for health for everyone, many sad stories of sickness and death. I have gone to the grocery store a couple times, but we are just staying at home and trying to do all we can to stay healthy and have this pass as quickly as we can. 

Our old sand box was getting too small for the girls, so Kley build a new one that is taller and fits them much better. They have been loving it! Our neighbor friend, Elizabeth, was playing too. We are trying to keep distance from everyone, but they have played with her (only outside) a couple times, as our backyards are right next to each other. Hard to keep them apart!


The last couple days have been pretty cold/rainy again, but earlier in the week we had a couple amazing days! Wednesday was 73 degrees! So nice to be outside. The days are definitely easier when we can get out to play!







Painting outside- trying our best to keep busy and think of fun activities!


The best attempt at a sister photo. :)


The girls love to make sand/mud creations in all the sand/kitchen toys!


We ate almost all meals outside too during those couple super nice days! So great! The teachers did a drive by parade on Monday too, and the girls thought that was so fun and Norah loved waving to her teacher!


Sun is out, legs crossed, upside down sunglasses on top of her real glasses, digging all the chip crumbs out she can. Love this picture of Ellory!


We broke out the water table and Lucy and Ellory loved it and played for a long time!




Norah got roller skates for her birthday, and she tried them out for the first time! Definitely very wobbly and have a long ways to go before she can use them independently, but she was excited to try!


Hope you are all doing well and staying safe and healthy!