April 2020

After spring break we hit home school up again and got more serious.  Some days were better than others. Jaron got sick of all the videos he had to watch and the girls got sick of all the worksheets they had to do.  But they also had some fun activities they got to do.

Market Day - This is usually an entire 2nd grade all day activity where they set up a store and have fake money to go buy things/do games, etc. and then they sell their stuff as well.  So the girls were a bit sad they had to do this at home but we actually made it really fun. All 5 of us set up a store and so they had a fun morning going to each store and selling their stuff.  Siena sold some cookies and washcloth bunnies and Aria made up 3 different horse games and gave out prizes for them.  Jaron set up a couple games and mom and dad sold 'coupon's' for some things they might enjoy (dates with mom, late nights, toenail painting, bike rides, etc.)

The girls learned about Picasso and drew and colored a Picasso bunny.  They learned about the water cycle and cloud formations.  It was fun for them to do some different things besides just work sheets and I'm sure if they were in school doing these it would've been more fun.  Some days these posters and things just took up time but I appreciated the teachers trying to give them all the experiences they would have had in school.

Jaron wrote a cute newspaper article about someone that has taught them something.  He wrote it about his soccer coach he's had for a few years and was sad he couldn't play soccer this year because of Quarantine.

The school had a 'School Teacher parade' the Friday before spring break which was so cute and fun.  All the teachers, staff, bus drivers, etc. all decorated their cars and drove through each neighborhood waving to all the students.  All the kids made signs and it ended up being such a fun morning and we all felt loved and remembered during such a crazy time.

Grandma and Grandpa didn't forget about us either.  We've been sad not to be able to have family dinners but they've been stopping by with treats, spaghetti sauce, etc. and lots of virtual hugs.

Easter was of course different this year but we were happy the Easter Bunny still found us. We didn't have any city egg hunting to go to but we still did our own hunt, Egg dying.  It was nice to have our own home church on Easter and then we had a big and long family zoom meeting which was fun to see everyone and get caught up on things happening with other family members.

Just so we can document it, we've been asked to start wearing masks when we go places around people.  It feels so weird wearing one and sometimes just want to laugh at how funny we all look wearing these masks.  Many people won't do it but if it keeps my family and I safe and slows down the spread of this then I'm all for it.  Let's just do it and get back to normal.  I ended up hand sewing a mask for me and the 3 kids and then we got a couple more various places so we have a few for Shane and I.

We've been doing lots of puzzles during quarantine.  Here are some we did this month. Jaron has been into it the most but everyone has had fun working on it from time to time.

Siena has been wanting to learn to cook more.  So slowly I've been teaching her how to make things.  She's trying to do more on her own as well.  One Sunday she found a recipe online she wanted to try by herself and she did a great job and was so proud of her creation.

Jaron got his v-tech watch for his birthday and several months ago we couldn't find it.  We have looked everywhere for that watch and I was convinced he had left it at a friends because it was no where in this house. Well one day Shane was cleaning out a closet and looked in an old backpack of Jaron's and found it!!!  Hallelujah....Jaron was so excited and hasn't stopped wearing it since.

Siena lost a couple more teeth.  She's trying to make up for lost time but is excited every time she has a loose tooth.

One afternoon we had a family football scrimmage at the park.  We've also had a family soccer game as well.  Jaron sure has a lot of energy and is always begging someone to play catch, soccer, throw the football, etc. so it was fun to do some things he enjoys even it I'm getting old and makes me sore the next day.

On Earth Day we took a field trip to Bridle Veil falls.  It was nice weather and felt so good to get out of the house for the afternoon.  Amazing what a change of scenery will do for everyone.

We took the kids to the Highland bike park one afternoon and had a great time learning to up and over dirt hills.  Jaron loved it, the girls were a bit more hesitant but got the hang of it after a while.  The 2nd time we went Jaron started from almost the top of this steep hill and I was nervous he was going to crash but he didn't.

Spring Break - Covid19 Style

With Utah and almost the rest of the world in lockdown, there was no way we could go anywhere for spring break.  We had talked about maybe doing a few things but didn't have anything set.  I was grateful we didn't have airplane tickets or other things like a lot of people did and had to cancel.

So we did a true 'stay-cation' this year.  Usually stay-cations mean going places locally but this stay-cation was literally staying at home.  I thought of an idea though that I thought turned out really good.  Each day I had a different place that we 'traveled' to virtually.  Each day we did an activity, made a craft, ate something with that theme and watched a movie.  Each day was a surprise and they would wake up to the white board showing where we were traveling to that day.  Here's what we did each day.

Monday was Disneyland.  We ate some Mickey Mouse pancakes, rode some virtual rides, made a Mickey and Minnie craft.  We then watched Fun and Fancy Free Mickey Mouse movie and ended the day watching home videos from our past trips to Disneyland and Disney World.  That actually made me feel so sad because I so wish we could take them again sometime soon.  The only bummer of the day was Jaron woke up sick.  How does someone who has been home straight for 3 weeks get sick?!  He ended up having strep throat so it was good to get him on some anti-biotics and he perked up again fast.


Tuesday we went Camping.  We did a 'hike' around Highland Glen park and lake, climbed some trees.  We made these cute tents out of paper and popsicle sticks.  For dinner we ate hot dogs and then made smores in the oven.  Then we set up our tent in the basement and the kids watched Mr. Trooper Mom about some summer camp something or other and then they slept in the tent that night...and the next night because they thought it was so much fun.


Wednesday we went to Hawaii/Beach day.  We went on a bike ride, had ice cream shakes, tried to learn to hula, made Hawaiian lays, listened to Hawaiian music, and played with water squirters.  We then had a picnic on our beach towels at the park and then they watched Lilo and Stitch that night for our movie.


Thursday we traveled to Scotland for National Unicorn Day...Aria's request of course.  We went on a Unicorn Hunt, listened to bagpipes playing, made a big rainbow on our window out of tissue paper.  I made rainbow layered jello and then they watched Black Beauty for their movie (not a unicorn but a horse is close enough right?)


Friday we went to the Olympics.  The kids were sad that the Olympics that were supposed to happen this year has been postponed.  So we had our own.  We made our own medals and torches, watched the torch run and told about Grandpa's story of carrying the Olympic torch when it blew out.  We had some competitions, long jump, running, jump rope, high jump, rollerskating race and hula hoop contests.  We then had our own medal ceremony to the Olympic theme song.  We made sugar cookies and decorated them with M&Ms representing the Olympic rings and watched Cool Runnings that night for our movie.


Considering this was a last minute idea in my mind, I think it turned out really cute.  It wasn't that hard to plan, didn't take all day and I still had to work but the kids looked forward to it each day and it kept them busy enough that they didn't think about missing out on any vacations we might have really gone on.  I think it will be one we all remember for quite a while.