Life in Quarantine

I know there are many people who are struggling through this Covid-19 chapter, but we are relishing all our family time and this slower pace of life.  We’ve been blessed with beautiful weather and have gone on lots of walks.

Texas bluebonnets!

Bridget learned how to ride a bike without training wheels!  

Lydia, Isaac, and Evelyn earned some money by weeding an elderly friend’s garden (even after I explicitly asked her not to pay them).  The kids decided they would pay it forward to someone affected by the downturned economy.  They chose the twin brothers (from maybe Tanzania, I can’t remember exactly) who own our local frozen yogurt place.  So one afternoon Mike and I stopped in to buy two cups of frozen yogurt to bring home and put a $20 bill in the tip jar.  The brothers were grateful and I was so proud of my thoughtful children.  

I’ve always wanted to buzz my head and figured the quarantine was a perfect time.  Mike and Lydia wielded the clippers.  It’s rather fun!

Then because I couldn’t let Mike have longer hair than me I let him buzz his own head. 

Besides, I usually let Mike shave his head for a big run.  Lydia, Isaac, and Mike had plenty of time to train for a 5k BlueBell Ice Cream Fun Run.  This year it became a virtual run.  We cheered for them when they crossed the finish line.  In the mail they received a t-shirt, a medal, and a coupon for a free pint of Blue Bell ice cream!

Evelyn has loved having lots of time to bake!  (We all win!).  Here are her Boston cream cupcakes.  Super good!

Lydia made us a double layer peanut butter brownie cake.  Wow, it was intense!

Isaac made us a pavlova!  It brought back lots of wonderful Australian memories.

This year for May 4th, Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you) I wanted to make something a little cooler than the Pinterest ideas.  In my opinion one of the most stunning scenes in Star Wars is on the planet of Crait near the end of Episode 8.  The planet’s surface is white with salt, but below the thin salt crust lies a red crystalline substrate.  The image of red explosions on white is just gorgeous!  So I made my first ever red velvet cake!  Complete with red crystal shards around the sides.  Not bad for a first try, but I already have plans to refine it for next year.

Oh yeah, we do school work too.  This has been our weekday normals.  Lydia in the dining room on an exercise ball..
Isaac in the pink chair on the laptop.

The girls at the table.  We’ve been lucky to pick up packets from the elementary school every week.  Alice does lots of coloring and working in her little “school books.”

And Mike has claimed the library as his office.  (He also has his own exercise ball.). I can’t tell you how much we’ve loved having Mike join us for every meal.  Or for a mid day walk.

I LOVE to hear Isaac practice his cello.

And I’ve loved having a puzzle in the dining room.  We’ve gone through several.  Sometimes even mommy needs a 5 minute puzzle break.

The only sewing I’ve done has been putting together some masks for shopping.  My favorite (before my haircut).
Another, after my haircut.

The only ones in the house wearing the masks are Mike and myself, since the kids still can’t go anywhere.  The only places we go are the grocery store and Home Depot.  In fact, this is from the grocery store.  This is Kaur, my favorite cashier lady.  I just took this picture today (look, Daddy, I bought Klondike bars!).