Home Church

One of my favorite parts about this whole social distancing, "stay home, stay safe," and corona quarantine business is home church.  We've now been going about 5 ½ weeks since our church literally shut everything down.  We have been doing sacrament meeting and Sunday school at home each week and it has been the coolest experience!

The sacrament feels so special and sacred and really makes me think more about what I want to be watching and listening to in our home so that the spirit can be here.  We spend time Saturday night cleaning up and getting the house all ready for a special Sabbath.   Zac blesses the sacrament and then Teagan passes it.  

The kids have enjoyed taking turns doing music time, but aren't quite as excited about giving talks.  We've had some great experiences with feeling the spirit.  Fast and testimony was my favorite.  Hearing each of my kids' simple and sweet testimonies really built mine.  It was Eloise's first time fasting and she was really struggling with being hungry and thirsty.  We all tried to stay reverent when we noticed that Zac had given each person about ¼ piece of bread for their bread and a full 2 oz cup of water.  It made me tear up to see that he was trying to help her make it to the end of her fast.  

It will be hard to adjust to going back to the church building and doing a calling again.  It's been nice just completely catering to our own little family.  Some people really struggle with the social isolation, but I am honestly really enjoying some parts of it.  I feel like like is just so much more simple now and I love the extra time we get as a family to really focus on building relationships.  

Loooong Hair and Shoooort Hair

Well, Everly has been neglected long enough that she got into some serious trouble.  With me homeschooling the big kids, Everly is getting much less attention then she is used to.  She is also watching much less TV which is probably a good thing, but it has left her bored and mischievous.  She has colored on herself and the table, gotten into candy and bread countless times, taken her sibling things and broken them and peed her pants 4035821 times.

Her latest stunt was cutting her own hair.  Of course she decided to chop the very front super short so that there is no way to hide it.  And every hair salon in the world is completely shut down right now so we just get to watch the funny hair grow out in all its glory.  It reminds me of the time Adeline chopped her hair off a few years ago, right before family pictures.  I saw these pictures of her long, beautiful hair and decided it's all good, hair grows fast.  But we are going to try to keep a closer eye on this wild little woman.

Coronavirus Funnies

The madness of coronavirus started in the beginning of March and escalated very very quickly between March 1st and March 15th.  People went crazy trying to get supplies and the stores shelves became empty.  Luckily, my brother Brian was way ahead of the game.  He started talking to us about the virus back in January so I did a big stock up in February.  I went down to the storage room and just ordered 12 of everything that was running low on the Walmart app.   I went and picked it up and filled the back of my van.  It was a few weeks before everyone else was rushing the stores so I try to tell myself that I wasn't part of the problem, but maybe I was.  I only got 48 rolls of toilet paper. haha. That sounds like a lot, but with 4 girls, we go through it quick!

There were some times where I was feeling pretty panicky and scared, especially when Utah had their earthquake.  I finally decided to redo our 72 hour kits that day.  Finding funny memes and sharing them with my siblings was definitely how I found some comic relief to help me relax and have some faith in the big picture.  

It took a week or so, but I eventually came to the conclusion that the 2nd Coming is on the way and this is just part of the process.  We know that the economy will have to plummet, that nations will go against nation (I feel like there is going to be some finger pointing that could turn violent at the end of all this), and earthquakes in diverse places.  That brought peace.  This is all happening exactly according to plan.  Each day I know exactly what to do, I have an amazing brain that can handle anything.

I thought that it would be fun to see all these ridiculous memes in 20 years with this book becomes a historical center peace, or fire kindling or whatever.

Mom and Dad's Birthdays

Mom and Dad had birthdays, just like every year.  Dad turned 37 this year!  We ate peanut butter bars  for the cake which was so yummy.  Teagan had a soccer game that night so we didn't get to do anything too terribly exciting, luckily, we have many more years to make up for the lameness.

My birthday was also lame because we were quarantined at home for coronavirus.  I actually didn't mind it at all.  We got Texas Roadhouse takeout for dinner, Crumbl cookies for my cake and Zac got me lots of fun presents and flowers.  I got lots of calls from friends and the Heaths even came over and sang me an awesome version of "Lean on Me."  It ended up being an awesome 

Post-Poned Baptism

Eloise was so excited to get baptized!  Her birthday was on Wednesday March 11, and she was supposed to get baptized on March 14th-Pi Day!  It was all planned, pies were going to be made and we were counting down the days.  Her birthday came and went and that Thursday before her baptism,  the first presidency of the church came out with an announcement that church and all church related functions were canceled until further notice because of coronavirus.  

We were so bummed, especially Eloise, but I guess it will make it even more special when she is finally able to get baptized.  Zac and I are thinking about just setting up a pool in the backyard, but Eloise would rather wait until she can have an official baptism at the church.

Hopefully her beautiful dress will still fit by the time we are able to have her baptism.  We will just keep being patient until then.

Happy 8th Birthday Eloise!

Eloise turned 8!  She is so smart, fun and sweet.  We love having her in our family.  Eloise loves to play and has recently started getting more into tennis.  Instead of spring soccer this year she wants to take tennis lessons.  She loves gymnastics and seems very bouncy and she does her tricks and flips around the house.  

She works hard in school and we get lots of positive feedback from her teachers about her constant willingness to help and show kindness to other children in her class.  She loves everything about school, except being chased by boys at recess, but I think she likes that too.  haha. She does stay in at recess from time to time or go to the office and call me for random things to try to prolong going out to recess.  

Eloise was able to have her first ever friend birthday party and she loved every second.  First, they all came over and we had pizza and cupcakes.  

Then Eloise got to experience the magic of opening presents from her friends.  She was in heaven and loved everything that they gave her.  What a treat!  Next we headed to Elite Gymnastics Studio and they got to run around and play for a while.  It was so much fun!  The kids were all exhausted when we finally left.  We made everyone shower when we got home because coronavirus is starting to spread around this area!

Then her actually birthday came and she was so excited to get a romper (jumpsuit, one piecer??? I don't know what to call it).   She also got a swimsuit and goggles and a fun swim party lego set.  She loved getting breakfast in bed, which she ended up eating at the table during scriptures.

We didn't have any family over because they were all planning on coming a few days later for her baptism...if only we could have known that it was going to be postponed...

Random Winter Pictures

Addy learned about boxes at school and was supposed to take a box and make it into something new. She made this one into a shark which was super fun!  

She also has started to love writing and writes the cutest little notes.  This particular one was for Zac and I and it says, "I have been waiting for you all of my life."

I got to help at Eloise's class Valentines party and it was so fun.   We played cup stacking and raced each other to build and knock over the tower of love.  The second grader  were so much fun!

Adeline and Everly love their quiet playtime in the mornings after the big kids go to school and before Adeline gets on the kindergarten bus.  I always make them sandwiches for lunch but they always end up trying to steal my delicious sunflower crunch salad.  I guess there are worse things than my kids loving salad so I usually share...unless I'm feeling cranky.

Everly is....Everly.  She is very opinionated and loves to let her opinions be heard...loudly.  She knows what she wants to wear, what she wants to eat, who she wants help from and so many other things.  we are definitely in the stage where she is having to learn that wanting something doesn't equal getting something so she gets to have lots of timeouts for throwing fits.

She is definitely sassy, but also so so so funny!  We all laugh at the funny things she says and does every day.  She loves to give hugs and snuggle and especially loves to help me do anything in the kitchen.  She is a daddy's girl and always wants Zac to put her to bed.  Here she is fast asleep after a little snuggle with Dad.  She also loves this dress and wants to wear it all day every day.  And if you're wondering, potty training is still a struggle.  She figured out her #2 thank goodness, but #1 is a problem about 8 times a day.  I'm starting to wonder if something is medically going on because she is just not getting it.  One day she will read this and hopefully we have it all figured out by then.