Quarantine | Vol. 1

Our last outing with my mom to the Eagle Green Belt before we quarantined from everyone (including family) for a couple of months. It was back at the beginning of March and still cold at the time so we were all bundled up to skip rocks in the river.

This picture shows their personalities so much! haha Liam, always with a stick in his hand and in some form of a wizard world. Then there's Lyla who is accidentally tripping from trying to get somewhere quicker than her legs will carry her!

One of Liam's favorite things right now are gemstones. He'll hunt for rocks wherever we go that look shiny or have different colors to them. Nic is the best dad and taught him that you can break open rocks and discover that sometimes they contain special fragments inside.  

Trying to get Lyla to slow down for two seconds to get a picture with Sita was an obstacle!

It's even better going off the beaten path in nature and finding fun things to explore like this fort ...

Then quarantine began and it was still cold outside. Liam's love for beanies grew and his disappoint for no playgrounds did too. 

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day by working together to make a leprechaun trap with all of these fun colorful things!

This is what they came up with ... LOTS of "shinies"! Just like last year, they woke up disappointed when they discovered no leprechaun had been caught but the Lucky Charms for breakfast made up for it. ;)

There was a whole lot of homeschool in the form of fun activities! We practiced counting to one hundred by tens with colored unifix cubes ...

We talked about the color wheel and blending the primary colors to make new colors by melting crayons together into fun shapes. They also practiced colors and fine motor skills by stringing fruit loops on a necklace! Lyla got 4 or so in and gave up to eat the rest. ;) 

We did a lot of coloring and painting together. I love these pictures of Liam's "Hulk" hands!

We practiced identifying shapes and creating fun things out of them. Liam built this whole turtle family all by himself! Lyla was all about the pepperoni playdoh pizza ...

We sent a whole string of hilarious quarantine memes back and forth with Nic's dad. This was one of my favorites and pretty accurate if you ask me! haha

We started having church at home and it has been some of the most sweet, sacred, unforgettable, and challenging at times (haha), memories we will have from this whole experience. Listening to Lyla learning to say prayers by herself and watching Nic bless the bread and water followed by Liam passing it are among some of my most favorite moments. I adore this family of mine!

When we get outside for a walk sometimes Liam will bring along his remote control car he got for Christmas (those are fairly slow walks believe it or not haha). That wiley car sure likes the grass a whole lot more than the sidewalk. ;)

Still more stick collecting too, sometimes even in our pajamas but especially in leggings. haha My little momma giving her dolly a stroll around the neighborhood ...

Can't forget the bottle in the stroller!

We've played at a close by school a lot ... stuffing together in the pink car when their legs get tired or wearing costumes and pretending to be a bat! 

Using the schools vaulting pit for a sandbox. ;)

Keeping our spirits up with sweet messages in chalk on our driveway and surprises from family members and friends!

It's not over, it has had its challenging moments but it has also held a lot of really treasured ones too. 

Before the World Closed Down

Hi you guys!!
I don't have any idea what day it is anymore. haha Throughout this quarantine I've had several moments that led me to the realization that things might not ever go back to the "way they were" before what has felt like, the world closing down. In some ways that's a good thing! I imagine there will be extra measures taken in cleanliness ... restaurants, libraries, grocery stores, even airports. Hopefully it will result in less germs being spread around and less sickness. In fact, I was scrolling through my camera roll the other day and saw that the last time one of our kids were sick was February! While I miss the sweet snuggly spontaneous napping that comes with it, I don't miss seeing them feel yucky.

I do however miss eating in a restaurant!! Even with kids! One of our last meals out was to our favorite lunch spot, Cafe Rio. We tried doing a pick up order with them once since and it was an epically long wait in the parking lot as I sat on hold with someone from the franchise who told me I needed to go inside to get my order? This was only a couple weeks in to the stay at home order, we didn't have masks yet, and I wasn't about to grab that door handle that had been touched by hundreds. Not to mention wait in a not-so-socially distant line inside the building. But this sweet memory of Lyla making a smile with her orange slice is enough to make me miss it!

I also miss the park ... our kids REALLY miss the park! Keeping them off of the neighborhood ones has not been an easy task. Our walks and bike rides have often ended in disappointment when I have to remind them that the parks just aren't ready to be played on quite yet. The last time we went, Lyla had just mastered climbing up this tunnel all by herself. Something she desperately wanted to do to keep with her best friend. Liam might not be quite as proud of her now that he can be chased. ;) haha

The second the temperatures began to warm up in February we did the hike to Table Rock on a Saturday morning. Lyla walked a lot of the way up and I was so proud of them both for making it to the top. It is about a 2 hour hike round trip! Their little legs were getting pretty tired near the end and we were both taking a turn packing one of them for a bit.

The view of the city is always worth the climb!

I feel so thankful that my aunts were able to squeeze in their trip to visit us before the virus made it so travel wasn't possible anymore.

We spent an entire day of girl time ... going out to lunch and shopping together at the village! I miss them already!

I found this bat costume for Liam on clearance for $7 at H&M while we were shopping and he absolutely adores it!

Right about January Lyla cut out her nap. It was really hard on me at first. She was a whole year younger than when Liam dropped his so it felt unexpected for me but also because she showed very little interest in quiet time. I'd try to put on a movie for the two of them to watch together and she would only last 5 minutes and then come find me. Luckily there were a few random days where she'd get so worn out she would crash and I'd take full advantage of having her sleep in my arms.

We also miss the Children's Museum. Seems silly now since it has hardly gotten used, but my brother got them a season pass for Christmas and we went a couple times before it closed for a while.

"Momma wook! I'n brusheen da disaur's teef!"

My little shopper ... we both miss Target! haha

Making me a pizza. <3 p="">

My favorite part about the season pass is you get to go an hour before it opens to the general public so it usually is empty from 9-10. They had this whole pizza restaurant to themselves and played so well together! Liam made a pizza and Lyla made the salad.

How cute is that little fisherman!!!

It was hysterical watching these two fish together off the side of the boat! Both cheating and stuffing their fish inside the paddle with their hands. haha

Her favorite part, a pony ride!

Then there was Kindergarten orientation. At first I was thinking, isn't this awfully early to be having orientation in February when school doesn't start until the end of August?! But now looking back, I'm SO glad it happened when it did. I can't imagine sending Liam off to Kindergarten on his first day without him ever seeing the inside of the school. The orientation was so comprehensive and so well done. They even let the kids take a ride on a bus around the school parking lot to try it out for the first time. Looking at this picture of him makes me emotional but here we are. That tiny little 6 pound baby that I had yesterday is now 5 going on 6 soon and riding his very first bus.

I got teary as he climbed on and sat down in his seat and only the tippy top of his eyes showed over the bottom edge of the window. Lyla and I will feel a little lost without him in the mornings next year but I feel like this quarantine time has been a blessing that I needed. Just a little bit of extra time with him every day before he spreads his wings. He is so ready and I am so proud of how much he learned during his preschool years. He went from only saying one sound on his first day of preschool and now, three years later, he is reading! The world is ready for you to take it by storm, Liam Rex!

Water guns in February? Sure, girl!

Liam went through this adorable phase where he would ransack our recycling can every day and get to work imagining and creating all of these amazing things. Giving life to the saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure!" Love his creative heart so much!

Being cooped up with nowhere to go but outside has led us on a lot of family walks around the neighborhood. She always brings something from home with her ... her unicorn backpack, a baby, or in this case, a fairy wand and asks for a ride on daddy's shoulders.

We continued a spring tradition I started with them last year and painted wooden eggs to add to our collection. They both wanted EXTRA glitter on theirs. ;)

God bless magnet blocks and legos! We've built a million things out of them over the last few months and they both always want me to "take a picture of what I made"! <3 nbsp="" p="">

We haven't been the perfect parents and our patience has worn a little thinner than "before the world closed down" but we've had a lot of redeeming moments too. A lot more getting down on the floor and saying yes to the airplane ride and setting aside an extra hour from work to build a pirate ship out of a box, duct tape, and rope. So things may not ever go back to the way they were before the world closed down but I'm okay with it because I am embracing everything that this season of life has taught me. Thankful for a chance to slow down with them because they are only little once.

where we've been

Hello from week 210 6 of quarantine. It has been a journey ... one the whole world is on. At the beginning, the Corona Virus was one of those stories you hear about from another country on the news. You pray for the lives it is effecting but don't imagine it would effect your own. And it hasn't to the degree that some face, especially those who get the virus who are already immune compromised or over the age of 60. But the more it spread through travelers in airports, the more it effected the world and the closer it got to home.

It started in China and had been there for a couple of months, followed by devastating numbers released from Italy, and eventually cases were popping up in the United States. As the numbers grew, grocery stores emptied and things began to shut down. First it was non-essential businesses like clothing stores. Then it was the schools, followed by parks, restaurant dining, and any social gathering over a group size of 10 people. Everyone was encouraged to stay home and social distance themselves from others as much as possible. Having to cross the street when you see a neighbor coming to adhere to a 6 foot distance requirement is a strange experience. It has been a weird time. 

I'll never forget when it was just barely beginning and I stopped into Walmart for my typical weekly grocery shop. Nic was working from home that day because Liam had Kindergarten orientation and we all wanted to go as a family that afternoon. I left Lyla with him so I could drop Liam off at preschool in the morning and pick up what we needed at the grocery store. My kids had just finished a round of a cold and we were out of Motrin so I stopped at the medicine section first. The kids medicine was completely EMPTY. I thought, no problem, they have another hidden section that maybe not a lot of people know about over by the baby clothing department. I wandered over there passing people with heaping carts and found those shelves empty too. I felt a wave of fear wash over me like, "Did I miss something? Is this the start of some form of apocalypse?" and guilt for not being a little more prepared with one extra bottle hit me too. I carried on with my list but it wasn't a ton of use because I came home from the store that day with black beans, pears, corn, frozen peas and broccoli, oatmeal, flour, etc. crossed off my list but not in the sacks hanging from my arm. The shelves were just empty. I needed that hug I got from Nic when I got back home. It was an eery feeling and made me sad for the mom's who were walking into the store that day with a child who was sick right now and need of that medicine. Or a family with dietary restrictions because of health problems and couldn't find what they needed. It felt like high anxiety those first couple days we came to the realization that this was going to be bigger than we thought.

Since then it has been filled with a lot of beautiful moments too. Like my kids becoming best friends and playing together (something they didn't really do before). They'll go off into our play teepee or Lyla's closet and read books together. They appreciate each other in a way they didn't before when all they have is each other to play with. We've put together every puzzle we own at least 3 times. We've taken "a virtual ride" on several of the popular rides at Disneyland. We've checked in on the animals at the San Diego Zoo through their live web cams. We've taken care of 10 of our very own caterpillars and learned about the incredible process they go through to become beautiful butterflies. We've torn up our yard to make the vision we have for it come to life. We've re-read our library books a hundred times since they aren't due back when they originally were. We've used the middle school's track vaulting pits for sand boxes. We celebrated Easter as the 4 of us and still made it feel special. So many memories and pictures to share.

Nic went back to work today after working from home the last 5 weeks and what I've realized the most is that we were intentional with our time. Funny thing is, circling back to that first day when we took Liam to his Kindergarten orientation, I remember leaving the school feeling a little bit sad that I would be letting go of so much of my time with Liam as he starts Kindergarten in the fall and I feel like I've gained some of that time with him back with no preschool right now. Yes, it has been hard keeping two kids entertained without being able to take them anywhere and has made for long days but it has also taught me we have everything we need right here in our very home. And these memories of where we've been these last 6 weeks all lead to this beautiful time together that we'll never forget. 

Hope you are safe, healthy, and happy wherever you are reading this from. I'm thinking of you. XO