Easter 2020 Preparations

Easter happened, and we did indeed prepare the day before. I've just been busying myself with other tasks than the blog. Sad day. But fun times getting reading for the Easter bunny. Check out Madeline's cake -- best decorating job ever!!!

Easter Is Coming!

We didn't do school work today because Sam's birthday is tomorrow. But we did do some arts and crafts. We decided to put paper Easter eggs in our windows for the modified Easter egg hunts kids can do this year. We shouldn't do hunts where everyone gathers together, but walks in your own neighborhood are fun, and the kids have liked hunting things down in people's windows. So now our windows are decorated. I hope the HOA is not in full form right now.

They also got to play outside today. It was a little miserable ... but not to Sam and Madeline. They came in wet and happy.

And last but not least, the blue hair. This is the officially sanctioned picture.

But I do not feel that this picture does the color justice. So I asked for another one. And was declined. Punk kid.

Oh, and yes, we did have pancakes for dinner tonight. Pancakes make me happy. And they are easy if you have pancake mix on hand, lol.

Incoherent Minutiae

I've tried all day to organize my thoughts into something coherent.

I had grand plans for this blog post. Fun picture of the kids, or maybe something about the family history I've been working on.

But nothing has really gelled into place.

I walked 5 miles this morning. The weather was a bit cooler, and I'm just so grateful that my ankle has healed and doesn't give me any pain any more so I can go on an adventure ... the only one I'm allowed outside of my house right now.

We are trying to get into the swing of schooling at home. I've been homeschooling Sam and Madeline, of course, but now Rex and Sariah are home as well. The school district is gearing up to return to grading next week. Should be loads of fun.

Yes, that was a bit sarcastic. I've already been overwhelmed just by adding Madeline's schoolwork (learning numbers and ABCs) to Sam's school work this year. Adding two more kids to the mix is a lot. It'll even out eventually. But right now I feel like all I do is school work in one form or another.

I guess I did have an additional adventure today. I ventured out to the store. I had an order to pick up at HEB and then a prescription to pick up at Target (plus the things that didn't make it into my HEB order because the store shelves still have issues and the HEB curbside order limit can be challenging for a family of 8). It's exhausting to shop these days. There are fewer people, but the emotional toll is greater ... I get anxious about the things I touch and the air I breathe and the things I might be taking home to my family. And as much of an introvert as I am, it's just plain awkward and depressing  to keep so much distance between myself and others.

But, bright side: the store shelves are showing signs of catching up and being fully stocked again. AND this way I'm forced to plan ahead and not fly by the seat of my pants and be at the store eleventy times in one week.

I sat down tonight with my scriptures to prepare for Easter. This was probably the smartest thing I did for myself all day long. Right up there with pumpkin bread from Kneader's that I didn't share with anyone tonight.

I brought Madeline home a new baby doll. She's been loving on one who is at imminent risk of becoming decapitated. She wanted to fix it with tape today. Sadly that's probably a no-go. Seeing her face light up at the new doll was priceless.

Also, Caleb is turning his hair blue even as I type.

Tomorrow should be fun!

Some Right-before-Samuel-Arrived Pictures

And the only Easter pictures we have this year. :)

(I'm just excited to have so many pictures of my beautiful oldest children.  They've been sadly neglected lately.)

Happy Easter

Last Wednesday was Activity Day for the 8-11 year-old girls at church.  They made hippety-hoppety cupcakes for their families, and I was pretty proud of Elisabeth's, if I do say so.  They were really yummy, too.  Sometimes I wish I had time to be more creative in this way, but really I'm not detail-oriented enough to pursue the thought of producing something like this.  So I'll just continue being proud of my daughter!