Quarantine: Week 2

Kim and the big kids had lots of fun on the trampoline last Sunday afternoon

 We have had lots of rain off and on,  which means rainbows

Kim and the kids started some spring cleaning this week

Happy to be cleaning

For some of that time Henry got a piggy back ride

Wednesday we woke up to snow (boo). We also had the Idaho Governor issue a stay at home order. That means we are supposed to stay at home (with few exceptions for activities like grocery shopping and outdoor activities with social distancing) for the next 21 days.

The next day the kids were fascinated by the men working outside of our house installing the new fiber internet service in our neighborhood (we can't wait!). They were also concerned that the men were not always 6 feet apart from each other

Nixon's kindergarten teacher asked the class to come up with a national holiday and share it with the class. Nixon chose kissing day!: "My favorite holiday is kissing day"

One of the unexpected benefits I have seen from working at home is being able to watch animals in the backyard all day. I have been suprised at just how much activity there is back there. There are lots of robins and squirrels. There are lots of little song birds that are too small to photograph. There are also occasionally other cool birds like quail and the mourning dove that I see almost daily.

I would be embarrased to admit how many pictures of robins I have taken.

The squirrels have also been really active

I caught this one mid-jump

It is really entertaining watching them chase each other. It always reminds me of Sleeping Beauty Sword in the Stone (I got this wrong in the first version). I mentioned that to Kim while Lyza was with us and she reminded us that they are probably mating because it is spring time 😉

I also really love when they jump up in the air and tumble for no apparent reason. Maybe they are practicing for squirrel olympics? Parkour?

The one downside to the squirrels is they dig everything up

I have also seen lots of worms getting eaten by robins

Look at this wonderful creation Mason made

He must have been pretty tired by that night because this is how I found him sleeping

On Friday morning Kim found the kids an online exercise class and they LOVED it!

Nixon was helping Henry on this little slide and it was adorable!

A while ago the kids put dried beans in ziploc bags with wet paper towel to get them to start growing. They got to plant them this week

Now its time to grow

Henry loves dried mangos

Another one of Mason's creations

This is a fun game that Henry got to play

Yesterday morning after an amazing breakfast (huckleberry pancackes) I got to take the three big kids out hiking. It was so nice to get out of the house! When we got there the parking lot was empty. A couple hours later when we got back to the car the parking lot was near full.

I have worked from home for two straight weeks now. I also have not shaved for two weeks :)

The boys got to do some coloring this morning

 Didn't we do a good job?

Take care

Quarantine: Week 1

Last Sunday before we had our sacrament meeting I caught Mason playing ring around the rosie with Henry. They were having so much fun!

Nixon also joined in on the fun

Henry found these slippers and was so proud of himself for wearing them

That put the costume bug in Mason so he decided to layer several costumes at once

Then Henry got a lesson in how to jump

Lyza looked so beautiful and in the natural light the color of her eyes really popped

We had a pretty nice sacrament service and then Kim did a lesson with the kids complete with an activity after

Henry even had something to color

Kim and the boys spent some time deep cleaning their room including washing all the walls

On the 16th Nixon made a leprechaun trap but it didn't work. Maybe next year. 

He (and the rest of us) did wake up with lucky marks

And his cereal turned green

Fact: it is easier to do a puzzle if you are sitting on the table

As I have been working from my home office I have had lots of opportunity to watch the many birds in our backyard. Mostly they are robins but there are also some others at times. This robin has a cool hair style

This one did not like having its picture taken

This one worked really hard to get a worm and could never get it out of the ground

This video is actually made entirely from single photos taken at high speed

We had green Jello for dessert on St. Patrick's Day

Henry has been enjoying playing with these dried beans

With four kids home all day every day it takes a lot of activities to keep them busy

Henry learned how to go down the slide by himself this week

Mason had to show off his skills of course

The three amigos (sans D'Artagnan) at the beach

There he is!

We set up the bouncy house to give the kids more things to do in the backyard

Like Lyza's new hair style? It is electric!

With warmer weather comes lunch outside

And reading on the trampoline of course

Reading to Henry before bed is so much fun. I had to document it because it seems like he is growing up so fast

On Saturday I got up on the roof to take down Christmas lights and do some pruning

The kids got to try out this huge new ball

We made a fire in the backyard

And did out first hot dog roast of the year

Henry was so polite eating his cheese balls with his fork

We of course has s'mores

That evening Nixon lost his second tooth

And this beautiful baby got another bath photo shoot

Since I have been working from home and not going anywhere I decided to also suspend my daily shaving routine. I am not sure how long I will be able to keep it up. Lyza is very direct in telling me I look ugly with a beard. Kim hasn't been so direct ;)

As part of the lesson after our sacrament service Kim scattered puzzle pieces around the house and the kids had to find them. They has so much fun that they took turns after scattering and finding the puzzle pieces. The cutest is when Mason hid them all and then joined Lyza and Nixon on finding them. Even though he hid the pieces, he was so happy every time he found one.

Henry cleaned up behind them

We also recorded the kids singing one of their favorite songs "My Savior, My Friend"

Take care