The Quarantine Life

 Here's just a little picture update of what is going on with us right now and the things we have been up to.

The girls love to craft and Baylor has really started to enjoy painting. She usually starts with a paint brush and then always ends up using her fingers to paint. Messy but cute and keeps her entertained for while.

I love seeing their relationship grow and how much they love each other and seeing them play and interact and their sweet sister bond. It just melts my heart and makes my desire to have more kids kick into overdrive. :)

Baylor drew her first puppy at church. It is simple and perfect for her. 

Paige started going to primary activities for the girls the start of this year. She has absolutely loved it!

She drew this picture of the First Vision for one of the activities and I just love it so much.

Then for another activity there was only one leader there so I stuck around to help out. Her leader planned a little science experiment where they had straws and tape and had to make a contraption with them to see how many pennies they could hold in a little cup without their contraption falling over or apart. They first brainstormed ideas and drew them on the board and then they created. I loved seeing how the different girls all had slightly different ideas and watching them create and problem solve. One of the girls created one and got quite a high number that I didn't think anyone else could beat. Paige was one of the last ones done and kept adding more and more things to her and her perseverance paid off. Her cup got filled with 100 pennies and you could have put more in but the cup was full. I loved watching her create and think through it and I was glad I was there to witness it.

Recently with the corona virus our church has been cancelled until everything clears up and goes back to normal. So we have been doing our own church at home. It has been a really neat thing to experience with just our little family. They aren't nearly as long or reverent as normal church but I have loved them. I love that we can do our own sacrament meeting and that Nate holds the priesthood and can do this ordinance for us. I have loved our simple lessons and listening to Paige help Baylor with the prayers has just melted my heart. Using the Come Follow Me resources has really helped us focus in on topics and helping teach doctrine and stories from the Book of Mormon. One Sunday for part of it we talked about testimonies and each of us drew about something we believe in. I love Paige's artwork and her simple testimony that grows with time and experience.

The week before school was cancelled for the rest of the year because of the virus, Paige's school did their spring fundraiser. I loved this fundraiser. For about a week and a half the Apex company did fun activities with them in their classrooms and taught them leadership skills. They had prizes and fun things to help get the kids to share what they were doing online and to get people to donate to it. It was a pledge system and at the end of the week they did a big dance party. All of the kids got a shirt and glow sticks. It was like a big zumba dance video where the kids did so many moves and they got paid per dance move that they did. Paige let me volunteer at the school for the first time this year and help mark their shirts off. It was really fun and I am so glad that I got to go!

Paige turned 8! I really can't believe she is that old. She is such an incredible daughter and I am so grateful for her in my life and that I get to be her mom. She had a lady bug party and had a little friend party a couple of days before the governor gave the shut down of everyone needing to stay home. So on her birthday it was just Nona and Pops that came over and she blew out candles on cupcakes so that she didn't get any germs on her actual cake that we all ate. Her baptism was planned in April but will be moved once everything is back to normal so she can have all her friends and family that she wants to be there. It is disappointing that everything is changing for her at this time but she is handling it well and we will all just have to be patient during this time of unknowns.

 With the corona virus there are a lot of missionaries coming home from their missions and the couple whose house we have been staying in is one of them. They got home April 1st which is a couple of months earlier than planned. So the last week of March we did a lot of packing and cleaning. It was overwhelming for me and the chaos and messes got to me often but we made it through it. The girls loved playing in the moving boxes and Baylor was constantly taking advantage of the fact that I was busy packing or cleaning and got into all sorts of messes herself. :)

We moved in with Dale and Margaret and a lot of our stuff is in the garage. Baylor pulled out her baby car seat the other day and was playing in it and so I had to do this side by side picture of when she first was in the car seat for the first time to now.

 Just chilling and enjoying her "bapplesauce."

We have enjoyed the most gorgeous weather this past week and I have seen this chalk idea online and so one day we tried it out ourselves. Using painter's tape and chalk, you can create some amazing art. I helped Paige with the initial outside rectangle but then Paige created all the triangles in the middle.

 It turned out so good and I love is so much!

 Since living with Dale and Margaret we all often go over and walk on the Soos Creek Trail. It is so close to their house and has the most perfect walking trails and places to explore.

We loved spotting all the trillium and seeing how many we can find on each walk. 

For Paige's home school we made bread in a bag and it turned out so good that we made it again to go with our dinner the other night.

 Warm weather=this porch swing being hung up. The girls love it especially Baylor. It was so cute watching them pretend to sleep and the other day Baylor sat out in it for at least 15 minutes just swaying away while enjoying some smarties. 

 We are striving to get used to this new normal of the quarantine life. Paige misses her friends and school but we are enjoying having more time together as a family and enjoying our new slowed down lifestyle.