March

Brynn and Ivy helped me make some snickerdoodles one Sunday afternoon.  Later, we had Come, Follow Me study.  The combination of princess dress + baseball hat made a cute combo on Brynn.  And Ivy with her dress all spread out around her-I know I will miss these days and moments.

This is a pretty picture of Molly that I found on my phone.

 

Stockton had a one-day, three game tournament in Salem on the first Saturday of March.  It was also Brynn's birthday and so she got to do that for her birthday.  (Don't feel too bad for her-we celebrated plenty!)  They played three 50-minute, back-to-back games.  I can't remember the scores of each but they did well!

on the pitcher's mound

We stopped and got him a burger on the way home-he deserved every bite of that bad boy.

This is the picture Molly drew for an assignment for art class.  The assignment was "patterns in nature."  She sat at the kitchen counter and sketched it and then colored it in class.  I think it's probably one of her best pieces of art that she has produced.  Her art teacher was very pleased and put it in the art show (which ended up being a virtual show.) 

Molly had a late practice one night and Justin was at Young Men's so I put the girls to bed and had Stockton wait on the couch for me to get home before going to bed.  He conked out before I made it home and my heart melted to see him sound asleep on the couch.

Can you tell how much Stockton loves playing the piano?  It is actually torture for him.  And kind of for me as well.  I told him he had to play until he picked an instrument in middle school.  He's always wanted to play the cello so I was going to register him for orchestra this fall but he refused.  I did talk him into taking a mallet percussion class so we'll see if I make him continue with piano with someone else as his teacher.

Ivy went to the rec center back in February with Molly, Stockton, and Brynn and she was anxious to go back.  She talked about it non-stop so one morning I took her there and let her run around.  She played soccer, basketball, ran around the track, and anything else she could think of for one hour.  I got her a smoothie at the fit stop before we left.  She loved it and I'm so glad we were able to squeeze it in since they closed it the very next day because of coronavirus.

I finished reading the first half of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (book 6) to Stockton.  Since it's such a long book, I told him we had to split it up.  He's going to wait for his turn again and have me read the second half.

Justin's 38th birthday will be one that we remember.  The day before (Friday, March 13th) everything changed when the governor of Utah announced state-wide school closings due to the coronavirus, or COVID-19.  Over the next week, everything considered "non-essential" would also close.  People were supposed to stay home, not gather in groups larger than 10, all in an attempt to "flatten the curve."  We learned what "social distancing" meant and were supposed to start to live it.  So, Justin's birthday felt weird and I felt bad that it wasn't more of an exciting day.  I made him a breakfast casserole for breakfast.  I can't remember what we did for lunch.  We had been planning on going to eat at Bombay House for dinner but, although restaurants weren't closed yet, decided we had better be responsible citizens and stay home.  We ran to Walmart and Lee's to get what supplies we could (the store shelves were literally empty-something I have never seen before) to make coconut shrimp, coconut rice, and parmesan zucchini for dinner.  After dinner, we had his homemade twinkie tower and sang happy birthday.  As far as birthdays go, it felt pretty lame but he was a good sport about it.  We love him!

Church was also canceled (more than 10 people gathering, obviously) and we were told to worship at home.  Justin was given permission to bless and pass the sacrament in our home.  We dressed up and the kids planned that first "home sacrament" which included: opening and closing prayers, family business (of which there was none since our schedule had just become very open), opening, closing, and sacrament hymn (accompanied by me), the sacrament, a talk by Brynn, a scripture by Stockton, a scripture by Molly, a song by Ivy ("Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus"), a thought by me, and a talk by Justin.  Each week has looked similar-we just take turns doing talks and scriptures and testimonies.  We don't try to do a Primary or anything-we usually take a break for lunch and then gather for Come, Follow Me.  While I do miss gathering at the church with our ward family, I am grateful to have these experiences in our home and the chance to still take the sacrament.

Sometimes the hoverboard comes outside, although we mostly keep it in the house.

This is a game the kids play on the trampoline called Snake in the Grass.  They used the trampoline almost everyday during quarantine.

Justin got the kids together to build a back for the dart board-to protect the wall from darts that miss the target.  They made it out of a large pile of barn wood that we have and each got a chance to use the nail gun.

Still Day One-the kids built a fort in the loft and slept in it.  They did their best to make separate rooms.  Molly didn't participate this time and slept in her own bed.

St. Patrick's Day-

We don't do much for St. Patrick's Day-it seems like a silly holiday to me.  But, since they had so much time on their hands, they worked on a leprechaun trap the day before.  Good thing I had enough foresight to pick up some chocolate coins at the store the week before.  They found the coins that morning and the milk had turned green.  Stockton didn't bother to wear green but the rest of us did!

In the afternoon, the kids wanted to go outside and do art under the tramp.  Brynn and Ivy also had a tea party.  We made graham cracker-frosting sandwiches with leftover frosting from Brynn's birthday cupcakes.

Brynn was on laundry duty that week.  She found it easier to crawl in the dryer to get the clothes out rather than just reaching in like normal people do.  (Day 2)

Molly had an assignment for her art class that Stockton and Brynn wanted to try.  Molly even let them use her special markers (that she bought with her own money) for the project.

When first told that we were going to be staying home for a couple of weeks (which turned into several), I got online and bought a few puzzles-a 100, 200, 300, and 500 piece puzzles.  The girls wanted to do the Moana puzzle first (200 pieces).

The Toy Story puzzles (100 pieces) was next.

Molly finished her required art assignment and then drew this.  Does it look like Stockton?  It should, because it is!  I knew who it was right away.

I am a creature of habit and routine so I always feel like my day goes much better when there is structure.  I taped a daily routine to our fridge the first day-including homework, chores, mealtime, free time with no screens and, yes, Kindle time when everything else is done.  I put this at the end of the afternoon and it's was a good time for our family-timed just right when kids are needing some down time and time to themselves.  Also, I needed some time as well.  It worked for us.

Justin wanted to make a cat house for the cats.  They had been staying in the garage but were making a mess of it and we needed to get them out of there and someplace else.  He was thinking it would be a family project, but it ended up being only Molly who helped him.  But that worked for her because she was able to use is as a project for one of her classes.

They continued to work on it the following day (Saturday) and got most of it finished.  Justin has finished it since then.  Ivy turned it into her stage, borrowed Molly's ukulele, put on a concert for us, and sang us lots of songs.

 

I had spent that Saturday cleaning the house top to bottom.  The kids had done their chores but nothing productive the rest of the day.  At 4, I made everyone go outside and play until dinner.  We got out our rollerblades and went on a walk (roll?) and then the girls completed a photo challenge that Grace had sent us.

 

Stockton made us some peanut butter no bake cookies for dessert that night.  They were good and didn't last very long. (Day 6)

We thought we would try to do a family Sunday selfie every week.  We actually only did a few-and only one at home with our church clothes on.  That afternoon we went to a park to play baseball.  Justin took a picture of our dinner that night-nothing too fancy but the picture looks pretty. (Day 7)

Molly put jedi braids in Brynn and Ivy's hair.

Stockton suggested making a picture collage (from a list of quarantine ideas I had made) so I got out the bin of pictures and let them look through them.  Stockton ended up getting bored really quick and never made one but Brynn and Ivy both did.  Molly liked looking through photos from high school-she found Justin's senior picture (she couldn't believe her dad was such a stud) and the photo from our first time ever doing the unicycle trick (at a ward talent show when we were both freshmen at USU).  I found a whole bunch from my growing up years and took a trip down memory lane for a couple of hours.  It was a nice afternoon diversion.  (Day 8)

Circa Fall 1999-I fell hard for this guy in September 2000.

Fall 2000

Ivy's on top, Brynn's on bottom

 Brynn wanted to do a YouTube workout.  In the afternoon, we made marshmallow/toothpick towers.    Stockton made up a Star Wars board game.  Brynn taught a gymnastics class.  How many more days do we have of this?  Many, many days.  (Day 9)

 

On Wednesday of that week, we woke up to snow.  Lots and lots and lots of snow-big, fat flakes that piled up and didn't melt for a week.  Justin had this day off so we decided to take the kids on a field trip.  We loaded up the car with snow shoes and cross-country skis and I got out all the snow gear from the basement.  We took them to Wasatch Mountain State Park where there was an easy trail good for our family.  It was the same trail I had gone on with Stockton's 4th grade field trip.

Monopoly with Brynn to close out the night.  I don't remember who won because she got distracted by something else and we never finished.  (Day 10)

Ivy drew a picture for one of Justin's tellers, Avory, who was moving back to California.  She and Ivy had a special bond-Avory even came to babysit Ivy once!  This is a picture of the two of them camping. (Day 11)

Molly tried to do soccer work everyday.  She tried to go on a couple mile run a few times a week.  We joined her once.  Brynn was actually pretty good at keeping up although the next time Molly went out, Brynn rode her bike alongside her instead.  Mostly, Molly liked to do her runs solo.  I think it was a way for her to escape a little and have some peace and quiet.  Also, she would run by Sloane's house and talk to her over the fence. (Day 12)

Brynn helped me make homemade bread for the sacrament on a Saturday afternoon.  We were fasting in response to President Nelson's request and had started our fast that afternoon after lunch.  The smell of fresh bread was very tempting and tasted so good the next day when we broke our fast.

Brynn, Ivy, and I played with the dolls that afternoon as well.  They each got a new outfit and hairdo.  (Day 13)

A Sunday outing is good to break up the day.  The Sunday after the snowstorm, we drove up to Strawberry to see if the lake was still iced over.  It was.  We walked out a little but didn't stay too long.  Some of us were a little nervous being on the lake, and it was freezing cold. 

 

I had thought that I would have the kids try a little journaling about this time in their lives and what was going on-someday it will be history that they can tell their kids about.  I got good journaling from Molly, a little from Brynn, and this from Stockton:

What life is like right now..."It is not fun."

The thing on the left side that kind of looks like earth is a virus.

I can only laugh-he is definitely Justin's son because there is no way I could get Justin to take that request serious either.

 

This is some sort of family huddle.

Ivy has to find some way to occupy herself during Come, Follow Me study.  It's not always tailored to her attention span.  This week she made lots and lots of "maps." (Day 14)

The gymnastics mat that Brynn got for her birthday actually came at the perfect time.  It came out a lot those first few weeks of social distancing/staying home/quarantine.  I also had her go through some gymnastics exercises a few times each week.

The 500-piece puzzle that I bought was my favorite.  We finished it together after family home evening one night. Justin and I had stayed up the night before working on it and had got quite a bit done.  Ivy made us display all of the completed puzzles. (Day 15)

The elementary school had a parade but only Brynn and Ivy were interested in going.  They didn't come down our street (that would have been tricky since it's a dead end) so we drove over and found a spot to park in front of a field.  We played Brynn's new game (Sushi Go!-so fun) while we waited, waved at the teachers, and then headed home.

Molly was chosen as Student of the Week for the attribute of strength.  Her math teacher nominated her.  Math is her least favorite and hardest subject so I think it made her feel good.  When we got the certificate in the mail, her teacher had written on the back something about Molly continuing to try and give her best effort even when something doesn't come easy.  So, way to go to Molly! (Day 16)

 

Molly Goodrich is the TMS student of the week for the area of strength.  Molly has persistently shown strength in working hard and not giving up when it is difficult for her to understand the concepts we are learning in math.