Happy Easter and More Qurantine

Easter looked very different this year. No Easter bunny pictures, so we improvised with Lou and bunny ears! We are still quarantined, and will likely be throughout May! Things will slowly open back up, but we are far from things being "normal." So, for now, we are really enjoying our time at home. Even our isolated Easter!

We dyed Easter eggs to get ready for the big day. The Easter bunny brought some goodies, and I bought them a few things too...mainly because they have been such good sports through this ordeal. Homeschool, staying home ALL the time! They are rockstars, so I rewarded them with some outdoor fun activities.

We found Easter eggs and the kids loved their baskets. I made a delicious breakfast and we watched church online. Brunch with church! It was a slow paced morning, an easy day with simple pleasures. We went to swim at Beau and Kates! Lou jumped in, it was adorable! Hunter got a recorder music book, and he is enjoying learning some songs. He can definitely cross music off his to-do list....lots of recorder playing going on!

 Hours and hours a day with our new frisbee golf, a new family favorite!! Faith Ann loves her fitbit watch, she looks like such a big girl these days! Quarantine life is good, slow, simple, yet its challenging at times. We are really craving a change of scenery. But again, these kids are such rockstars. Still eager to learn, patient with each other, and complain very little

 I've also dug into some old pictures. Scott and I danced to our wedding song "Cross my Heart" the other day. The kids were playing in a fort while we danced. The house was messy, but we paused to laugh through this interesting time. So, I dug up my wedding album and compared dancing pictures. Love this guy!

The kids get a little stir crazy, which makes for some very entertaining moments. They are delirious with being stuck at home! We have built some projects, looked at million old pictures, read lots of books, and homeschooled on the daily!! Along with the old pictures, I came across this oil painting app! It turns pictures into oil paitings. So, I saved a few that I loved. Happy Easter...it was an Easter like no other. We will probably never have another one like it. So, as history continues to write itself....Happy Easter quarantine 2020!

New Dog (LOU) and Bentley

Meet Lou! Our new chocolate lab. We decided, since we are quarantined and stuck at home...why not get a puppy?! We found her thru some hunting contacts, claimed her and admired our text updates. We got her the day before Easter, she was just over 6 weeks old. Lou! We love you SO SO much! Welcome to our family.

Bentley....she is okay with Lou! She is not okay with the haircut I gave her. Shaving a dog is way harder than you would think. Again, quarantine means everything is closed. Well, Scott kind of fixed the haircut, but she feels better with the hair thinner! We adore Bentley. She tolerates this playful puppy that is always biting her ears, ha!

She slept most of the time the first couple weeks. But, she is just now starting to really wake up. She is so adorable and playful. She is a great mix of rowdy and peaceful. I love her temperament. Loves cuddling and hopping in the grass.

 She had a couple nights of adjusting to her crate, which we placed right next to Bentley. After about a week, Lou sleeps thru the night with no accidents! And she is mostly potty trained...if we do our part of taking her out often. She will run to the grass and do her business. Such a cool dog!

Trent made her a doghouse. The kids are always messing with her...cuddling, carrying, playing. She get exhausted from all the interaction. She is a treasured addition to our family. We miss Zoe terribly, but Lou has brought new joy that we were ready for! Welcome, Lou!

CoronaVirus (History being Made)

Where do I start??? Coronavirus is officially in the history books as a pandemic. The contagious, airborne virus is spreading and shutting down the country, the world! Restaurants, professional sports, businesses, malls...all closed.  And that includes SCHOOL! School is closed, so this means I am homeschooling the rest of the school year!!!! I started by stocking up our kitchen. Grocery stores are considered contaminated, so we try to limit our time out. We have a stocked kitchen, kids are doing more chores, and Scott is working from home, and I am ready to teach! Let's do this!

We spent time organizing cabinets and closets. We prepared the backyard lodge to be Scott's office. We are in for the long haul. The entire country and most of the world is in quarantine. It is crazy!!!! History in the making. People are getting so sick. Hospitals are overflowing. By law, we have to "social distance"....which means stay 6 feet away from everyone!! We are not allowed to go "out and about." We must stay home!!! They are trying to level out the rise of the spread. So, March 23 documents our first day of homeschool! I have truly treasured this time with the kids. I am still training clients, one at a time, and VERY far away from them. So, my mornings are busy. But, I am tackling the tasks and learning a lot along the way!

Scott has actually loved his backyard office. He still has to run to meet clients for signatures, etc. But, we are hunkered down. We go on walks and bike rides around the neighborhood. That's IT! We don't play with friends, only wave HI when we pass their house. We are now on week 3 of this. And it will continue the ret of the month!! Maybe longer. This is a strange time, a hard time....yet, also a simply perfect time. We are REALLY enjoying our time together. No rush, no place to be. Just together and present. There are lessons to be learned from all this! We are also streaming online for church on Sundays, which is so different but keeping God so very present in this time.

We will continue to ride this out and hope that things return to "normal" soon. Scott is closely watching the market, and I'm closely watching the kids. Literally, every second! Once the coronavirus levels off, and busy life resumes...I plan to take some of this simplicity with us. More family dinners at home, less activities, more good 'ole togetherness. We have no clue what is ahead. Taking it one day at a time. And I assure you , these kids will never forget the coronavirus! A footprint in history.

Spring Break (RV TRIP!)

Spring Break!!! We were supposed to go to Disney World in an RV, but big things happened. Coronavirus has become a pandemic!! Disney World closed, so we had to reschedule our trip! More on the coronavirus later. For now, I just want to document our RV trip for Spring Break 2020.

We kept our RV rental and headed to Gulf Shores. He had a blast. It was so perfect. The coronavirus is picking up fast, so people are avoiding crowds. So, this trip was perfect. We were secluded and enjoyed our low key vacation. We stopped in Dauphine Island and rode the ferry over to Gulf Shores. We stayed in an adorable park, walking distance to the beach and restaurants.

We spent a few nights and enjoyed no schedule! Scott was busy taking work calls with the markets reaction to the coronavirus. So, the kids and I took lots of walks to the beach. Trent fished the entire time! He is such an outdoorsman! We played football, bean bag toss, and built sand castles for hours. We enjoyed a little diner near by. We ate most of our meals in the RV, but we sure loved the cute diner milkshake!

There was a racetrack course, so we went to check it out. We were the ONLY people there, literally! We had a blast. Sky lumping, go carts, and mini golf. Such a perfect outing. This was a different type vacation for us. It was quiet, low key, simple, and yet...so perfect.

We got hermit crabs as pets to bring home. The kids freaked out when I said "yes!" We got 2. We names them Gulf and Shores! hahaha!!! We loaded up and headed to Louisiana on our way home. We stopped in the Atchafalaya area in Beaux Bridge. The RV park was AMAZING!!! We for sure want to go back when it's warmer. The swimming park looks awesome for kids. They have fishing pond too. So more fishing for Trent!

We went on an airboat swamp boat tour. This was Scott's favorite part of the trip. We saw alligators and just cruised the swamp. All alone. Quite. One with nature. Totally Scott's element. And the perfect ending to our easy going trip. We LOVED the RV. It is a really amazing way to travel. This is not our last time at Gulf Shores, and definitely not our last time in an RV. Good times as we brace for the catastrophe of the coronavirus.