Little did I know at the time that this YW activity, and the race I was about to run would be the last social outings of (what's starting to look like) the year. Luckily both events were super fun and I now spend my days laying on the couch replaying the last interactions I had with the outside world in an effort to escape my children's screams.
The YW activity was a Bob Ross paint night (actually done with the YM, too)! It was something I've always wanted to do and I loved giggling through the video, hoping something recognizable would appear by the end. I wasn't too impressed with my piece, but as soon as I walked in with it, Carson said, "You bought a painting from that guy on the TV?"
Carson and Eli once had a fascination with Mr. Ross and would watch his videos here and there, and yes, he thought my masterpiece was a Bob Ross original. Then Jeff piped up and said he didn't believe I actually painted this. After finally convincing him I was the artist and not Bob Ross himself, Jeff said he was going to take the painting to his office and hang it up there. Ha!
Who knew a 30-minute moment of smearing some paint around and giggling uncontrollably would launch my world-class painting career?!? Bob Ross. That's who.
My running friends roped me into another race. This one was a relay, which I've always wanted to do but I've always been afraid of the running-through-the-night-and-not-getting-any-sleep factor, so I've never given one a try. This relay, the St. George Lake to Lake Relay, was perfect because it was a 50-miler, all done during the day, broken up amongst 5 runners (and one coach for moral support).
We had the best time! It's so motivating and inspiring to be around and to be a part of a group of women who are positive, supportive, and encouraging. We all decided this is our preferred way to do a girls' trip. Our ideal "day at the spa" girl's weekend is pushing ourselves through a competitive run and then enjoying an indulgent meal together afterward. It was such a fun weekend!
When I returned home, it was all about that quarantine life, which led to the cancellation of our next race, the Mt. Charleston Half Marathon. I had been looking forward to that race all year and was so sad it was canceled. Fingers crossed Corona is a thing of the past by next April?
Not only do I need Corona to be a thing of the past so I can race again, I also need to not be my kids' teacher anymore. I have to be 100% on my game to keep everyone on task and even then it's completely hit or miss. We generally start the day very studiously and by 11:00 certain people are drawing faces on the computer, other people have figured out how to rewind one of their readings just right to make the computer say "toot" repeatedly, and two other little people are tornado-ing through the upstairs making it clear they've been unsupervised long enough.
Between our morning studies and our afternoon Zoom meetings, we've been going outside for a mandatory moment of sanity-saving sunshine. The spring weather has definitely made quarantine manageable.
Oh wait, did I already post this picture? No? Oh this is another day? Same thing, though? Yeah. Welcome to
Groundhog's Day quarantine.
Sometimes we spice it up with some televised extracurriculars.
But usually, we're powering through our schoolwork to get to some late-afternoon Lego building.
And in the evening, we date! :)
Never did I realize how useful my book would become to the entire world, but I am highly amused by the coincidence. Quarantine doesn't mean date nights are over! (Actually, don't tell but they are momentarily over for me because after homeschooling and being around un-muteable noise for 12 straight hours a day, the only thing I like to fill my evenings with is utter and complete bedridden silence.)
We are officially home churched. It has taken much training and bribing to have them take the sacrament seriously while sitting in their living room but I think we're finally starting to get the hang of it.
Quarantine life is easy as pie!
Quarantine couldn't have come at a better time for this fashion statement.
It went on for days.
How do I buy stocks in chalk? Is it a sponsor of Coronavirus yet? It should be.
All that drawing on the sidewalk led to more drawing on the house.
The best kind of drawing is the kind done on paper. This is the work of Carson and as usual, it tickled me with its cuteness. I mean, come on, just look at that giraffe driving the bus. I die.
The wrapping paper sized coloring paper I bought in preparation for conference lasted us through the first talk. Then it was screaming for snacks and punching brothers for the other 9.75 hours.
Actually the boys have done really well with quarantine.
They love not having to go to school, they love being home, and they are unexpectedly content just being. It's the adults in the house who most often go stir-crazy or find ourselves up late at night in fits of anxiety reading too many news articles. But these guys have quarantine life figured out.
To prepare for Easter, we made a trip to the temple.
All week I had the song "Peace in Christ" in my mind. With the world in uncertainty and fear, it's been evident the moments of peace we feel come from Christ and having faith in Him. I also had the scripture 2 Nephi 25:26 in my mind, "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."
I enjoyed the week of Easter intentionally focusing on Christ and teaching my kids about His life, death, and resurrection. I'm grateful to be able to teach them about Him so that they know where to look for peace, comfort, and power throughout their lives.
I tried something new this year by making a flatbread for Good Friday. I messed up the recipe, but it was fun to *try* to try something new.
One week into quarantine we thought, "Hey, we should take a family drive up the mountain to get out of the house for a few hours. We've got nothing else to do. Let's go EXPLORING!" Let me tell you. If your family is sick of being stuck in a house together, just about the worst thing you can do is throw all those people into a more confined space for two hours. If people are bugging you from the next room over, those irritants will only further fatigue your patience once you're all seated within arm's reach and are now screaming directly into each others' ears. Car excursions and quarantine are a false sense of freedom!
Once you've realized the car will not bring you the adventure and excitement you're beginning to crave, you'll resort to making hundreds of online purchases so that every afternoon the mailman graces your family with a new surprise to keep things fresh. Buying board games will seem like a good idea. Hours of entertainment, family bonding, repetitive use...
Before I sell you any further, you should know that board games, particularly Monopoly, will do nothing for you but expedite the contentions in your house faster than cramming your loved ones into a box on wheels, and will end with hotels crashing into playroom walls, hundred dollar bills flying through the air, and echos of little children shouting, "IT'S NOT FAIR!"
A quarantine activity that eased our contentions was creating mosaic chalk art. As we started this, Eli said, "Mom. What did you see on Instagram?" How well he knows me.
Another Instagram shout-out! The only way to differentiate holidays from regular days is to rearrange our food to take on festive shapes.
Instagram/Pinterest inspiration take 3, shaving cream eggs. At the time it sounded less messy and more creative than the standard dip-an-egg method, so we gave it a try.
More messy, but yes, more fun.
And now you're all caught up! Just keep rereading this post every month until quarantine ends and you should have a good idea of what we're up to.
