Farm Fun

Well we decided to switch up the scenery for the day and we headed up to the farm.  We had the MOST BEAUTIFUL day and were totally spoiled with fresh air and well behaved children!  I think they were just so excited to get out and do something that it made them that much more appreciative and happy.  Everly had been talking for weeks about wanting to go to the beach.  Honestly, I don't even know how she knows what a beach is (we haven't taken her to a beach yet) but she was adamant she wanted to go.  Well, the fair has a "beach" area (read: sand) so we decided now was the time.  She LOVED it, and I don't think she cared one bit that there wasn't an ocean in front of her.  There was a lake (a very cold lake) so that was just fine in her book.  We also spent some time on the tire swing and the pictures below are some of my favorite ever of them together.  You can just see their pure joy in the pictures and I can almost still hear the shrieks and chants of "under dog, under dog, under dog".  What a great little get away indeed.

Easter

 Well, we were still "locked up" for Easter so it definitely looked a little different this year.  Meaning we never got out of our Pajamas (except the princess and that was only to dress up like a princess).  We didn't see any family and we didn't have some big Easter meal.  BUT the Easter Bunny did leave some special treats for the kids so we had a fantastic little egg hunt and we also had a special scavenger hunt from Grandma Struckmann who left some envelopes with clues for the kids to find a special prize.  So all this to say, we made the most of our quarantined Easter and it was very enjoyable.  There might have been naps involved even!  I mean we really know how to party. 

Fake It...Until You Make It

Well, with everyone being in quarantine for Easter this year I decided I wouldn't torture the kids and make them dress up BUT Little Miss loves nothing more than wearing a "pretty dress".  In fact, most days (even if we are just staying at home) she requests a "pretty dress" to wear every morning when she wakes up.  Who would I be to deny the princess this request?  Also, she's never had a real "Easter Dress".  Last year we were at the Cardinals game for Easter and the year prior we were on an airplane to Colorado.  So let's just say I jumped at the chance to dress the princess up and snap a few pictures.  Sure it wasn't actually Easter, but we can fake it for a little bit and that's just what we did!

The Coloring of the Eggs

 Back to my favorite time of year, even if we are stuck in the house!!  Time to get the Easter season started, first up...eggs.  Everly had so much fun this year and thought the whole experience was just mesmerizing.  All the colors, making a splash, her brothers playing with her...she thought it was awesome.  And secretly...so did the boys.  We ended up with some beautiful eggs which turned into special eggs (family recipe, with a super unique name), which makes Mom and Dad happy :).  

Lock Down

 Have you heard of this thing called "Coronavirus" or maybe "COVID-19" if you're fancy?  Well it put everyone into quarantine for a couple of months, but you know what?  Life doesn't completely stop just because you're locked up in your house.  In fact, you just have to get that much more creative to keep the time passing and to keep from not going insane.  I think for the most part we were "successful", but that doesn't mean it was always pretty either!  I tried to capture some of the things we did because we did actually do quite a bit and looking back I won't lie...I'm kind of proud of our energy!  We baked, we played games, we had school, we did chalk, we went on hikes, we rode bikes, we did experiments, we found a new love of Starbucks, we went on walks...lots of walks, we snuggled, we did puzzles, we (tried) to work, we had birthdays, we had virtual happy hours, we had water fights, we got the "Dad Special" haircut, we did crafts, we WON the "Coronalympics", we took on house projects and most importantly...we survived!  We made it, we had some fun...we had some meltdowns, but at the end of the day we made it.  I only HOPE that the kids look back on this time and have SOME fond memories, but I'll tell you this...they went back to school last week and they were AWFULLY excited to leave us :).