AG School

Time to turn the tables, and be the teacher! The girls got really into playing with American Girl dolls and made school for them one day complete with tiny assignments and a full schedule. Turns out school is a lot more fun when you get to be the teacher and make up the rules. :)

Corona Cuts

When the world shut down because of the Coronavirus that included salons and barbers. People were freaking out...how in the world would they get their hair cut? Sadly, the answer was the back yard. Here the girls were just playing salon with their American Girl dolls, but this set up led to Luke and Brian having me cut their shaggy hair out in the yard. It was a disaster! I watched a video online on how to do it, but it was much harder than I imagined. Luke's hair turned out crooked, and Brian's hair turned out fluffy. :)

I asked if Brian would mind if I drank a glass of wine while I cut his hair (it was stressful doing his- he still was going to the office and had to look professional!), and that answer was a big fat no. Neither he nor I had any confidence in my abilities with the scissors.

Just one more thing the Coronavirus took away from us...good hair!

Sister Slumber Party

They always talk a big game, but when it comes down to actually having a sister slumber party- their own cozy beds always win out! 

Masked Up

Oh, the early days of the Coronavirus were scary. Back in April, we still weren't sure how the virus was being transmitted and at first, we thought it might be through touching the same surface as someone with the virus. Then the medical community discovered that the virus was more of an airborne threat and that it was important to cover your mouth and nose so you couldn't transmit to others.

At that point, people were just starting to wear masks in public which seemed SO STRANGE. Never in a million years would I have guessed that it would become totally normal to wear a mask all day long anywhere you went. But that's what happened. 

Let me explain this picture. Our sweet neighbor, Anne, started sewing masks as the mask movement built steam. She made kids' masks for family and friends and wanted our kids to try them on for size. Because everyone was still being very careful about the surfaces they touched, we had Addie try one of with a paper towel just to be safe! Yes, a ridiculous look, but at that point you just didn't know. And we didn't know that this mask would be the first of many to come...

All Remote

When schools shut down that included preschools so Luke was left without an end of the year in Ms. Kelly and Ms. Karen's 2's class. He had gotten really tight with all the boys in the class, and it was hard to understand why he couldn't see them anymore. Kelly and Karen were sweet to try to put together some zoom class meetings, but you can guess how well this works with 3-year-olds. They were all over the place! People not muting their microphones, kids running off the screen, not paying attention to anything the teachers were saying, etc. Pretty much chaos. :) Sweet Luke would sit still and listen, but didn't want to talk. It's just not easy being all remote.

Getting Ready for Easter

The kids get really excited about Easter. It's not quite on the Christmas level of excitement, but it's pretty darn close. They were so ready for the egg hunts, the egg dying, the musings on the bunny, the pastel-colored treats- bring on ALL THINGS EASTER!

Baby Steps

Baby steps to shoe independence!

Addie learned how to tie her own shoes in the Spring...

 

and Luke learned how to put him shoes on by himself. 

I'll take these important baby steps!

We Got a Bunny

Who knew a giant plastic bunny could be so much fun? As the Easter season came upon us, we all knew it was going to be a weird/hard/different holiday this year. So our fun neighbors came up with a way to make the weeks leading up to Easter a little more exciting- our first Blenheim Bunny Hunt! Neighbors would hide bunnies all over their yard/houses, and all the kids could go on a scavenger hunt to find the bunnies. We had over 40 neighbors participate so finding all the bunnies was no easy task! 

Here is our bunny (Edgar) who the kids LOVED. I remember when we were little, we had a set of three small inflatable bunnies that we put in our yard during Easter and I thought they were the coolest things ever. So here we are with our kids' version of the plastic Easter bunny...

We decided to hide him high up in the magnolia, and it was a hoot. Of course he kept falling out, and Collins would have to climb back up the tree to reset him. That Edgar was a tricky bunny. 

Thankful that we had something extra to get excited about during Easter because we needed it. And now our kids will always have a plastic bunny memory thanks to a desperate purchase on Amazon due to COVID!

Cooking Up a Storm

Just like everybody else, we spent a lot of time cooking while we were at home. You really didn't have many other options because most restaurants weren't open at this point. Lucky for us that we enjoy getting in the kitchen and making something homemade, and the kids even got into it. Collins learned how to make dinner rolls...

 

Luke learned how to make hummus...

and Addie learned the art of making a pretty parfait. Being at home was a chance to learn some new kitchen skills and try out some new recipes. Turns out that this would become a new way of life- who needs to eat out when you can make just as good of food at home?

The Most Glorious Spring

God knew what he was doing. He knew we couldn't handle a pandemic, having our lives change overnight, being isolated from others AND have bad weather. So he gave us the most glorious Spring of all time. The months of April and May last year were the prettiest and most pleasant (and the longest lasting before the heat of summer came on) that I can ever remember. So if we had to keep to ourselves and "be safe"- at least we could do it outdoors in the warm sunshine with an explosion of colorful blooms around us. It was impossible to not be happy when you were outside.

Even a stroll around the neighborhood (which we did approximately a million times during quarantine) was a pleasure. I felt very thankful to God for giving us the gift of a beautiful Spring when we probably needed it the most.

Go Team

G-O, G-O, G-O, G-O, LET'S GO! This is the cheer that Addie nailed on this football afternoon in the backyard. 

These two got real excited about playing cheerleader and football player, and had to hop in their car to go to practice...

Collins had zero interest in cheerleading or football because all her focus was on Harry Potter. She became obsessed with this series early on during the Coronavirus. An afternoon where everyone was happy and occupied- go team Fork!

A Tricky Decision

Of course, we always love going to Sea Oats. But when life shuts down unexpectedly, and you are told not to travel, and you are told to only be around those in your immediate household- taking a weekend trip to the beach becomes a bit of a tricky decision. At the beginning of the Coronavirus, there were still so many unknowns and so many questions, and we didn't know if it was safe to be around Donna and Marty. We knew this virus was affecting mainly older people, and we didn't want to unknowingly transmit the virus to them. 

Ugh, we went around and around this decision, and in the end decided to go. They insisted they were comfortable with us coming, but who knows if that was a smart decision? It would be the first of many many times we would ask ourselves, "Are we comfortable doing this?", "Is this the right decision?", "Are we going to hurt the ones that we love?", "What is safe?". All the questions and anxiety that this pandemic produced were horrible. But in each situation, you had to make the best decision for you and those around you. So that is what we tried to do. And that first weekend in April, we ended up at the beach. Thankfully, everything turned out fine and we had a great time, but plenty of guilt came along with deciding to go. While everyone else was up to their eye balls in Corona stress and news, we stole away to the beach and took a nap on a swan float...

After we set eyes on the beach, we had a tasty dinner which ended with Addie wearing her ice cream. Surprised? Thought not.

The next day we got the bright idea to buy a float for Lollipop Cove....

so of course, Collins picked out an elegant swan.

While she relaxed with her new friend, Addie and Luke went crabbing...

Then she decided to take her out on the water (remember it's barely April)...

and of course, this was a risky venture which would end up like...

this! Collins is our polar bear plunge girl for sure. 

The rest of us used good sense and planted it on the dock...

A good way to get a final burst of energy out before bedtime...

The next day, Brian decided we should rent a boat because he loves being out on the water so much. We all do.

We took a long joy ride, let the kids try their hand at driving, and enjoyed the pretty scenery.

Bonus when we saw this tug, a sailboat and the Figure 8 bridge on one trip northward.

Exploring the islands around Wrightsville is my favorite part about having a boat...we had a fabulous day on the water.

We managed to finish a whole puzzle this trip- this time, Chicago. 

Luke's after-dinner jacket. :)

Our last morning, we arose to this action. Luke could not hardly stand the excitement!

The decision to go to Wrightsville Beach that early weekend during COVID was not an easy one, and we felt plenty of guilt for going. But I will say it turned out to be a mini-vacation from the Coronavirus. For a few days we almost forgot a pandemic was going on around us, and we just enjoyed being beach bums. It felt so nice and gave me the extra energy I needed to go full-force into remote learning with all the kids once we got back to town. It was a temporary vacation from our problems.