Nope - Not Another Year Passing Us By

AHHH, May is terrible - we come to the end of another school year which marks another year closer to our kids flying the coop, and WHY do the birthdays keep on coming?!  This is painful!  No more please!  This was an unusual school year for sure, so it was a strange way to have it end.  We pray for this Covid-19 to be behind us.

For Addison's class, they were able to build a fort and watch a movie "together" through Zoom.  she thought it was great fun to have her popcorn and be in the fort on the couch!  Kaleb did an "at-home" scavenger hunt and then poor Zachary in 7th grade just did school work until the very last day.  

The church hosted an "end of the year water fight party" that was supposed to be drive-thru, but many of us ended up getting out and standing apart to chat for a bit.  The kids don't social distance well, but the parents did our best

Throwing water balloons at old classmate in the back of his truck as they very slooowly drove by

A water gun was no match for the water hydration truck that the Landers brought!

the older boys just wanted to hang around and talk - so happy to see each other!

And these two "sisters" walked around arm in arm - so delighted to be together again.  Praying for safety from Covid but thankfully each family has done pretty well with staying at home so hoping we don't have the germs!

Seeing other classmates brought big smiles!

Pure joy

As school ended, we did a drive-by to the school to pick up school supplies etc.  Afterwards, the Cs invited us to come to Sweet Frogs with them for a treat.  We did social distancing, but it was fun to eat ice cream together!

May also has Amy and Karis' birthdays as well.  Karis was so sweet and put paper written with a message for Amy on the floor when she got up.  He is amazing!  That Saturday, our extended family with Mom, Grandpa Lyle, Jeff, Niesha, Sadie and her mom came over to celebrate - we ate out on our back deck (outside seems safer) but it was so miserably hot that eventually we came inside.  We are decided that we are getting new fans that will be a wind storm out there to keep us cool!

With the fact that we've been trying to stay within the social distancing safety boundaries, the last few months have been very quiet for us.  But we've enjoyed getting to do family games and time:

Only Addison could convince Zachary to dance with her - he did have a smile on his face, not just somberness! :)  He was trying to look formal!

 And then we got Kaleb a new desk for his room to make Legos on - he was looking forward to that for a long time!

 And then of course there is Skip-Bo and Clue!

Zachary is the undisputed master at Clue - he wins most of the time!

Sad, it has come to this - TWO pairs of reading glasses on Amy's head!  

She was practing her spying this day looking around the corner to where Amy was working

One day we went to Tijuana Flats and ate supper outside....

Sibling love.... these two are sweet.

Mother's Day

We had a lovely Mother's Day, it was a full one starting off with Keke's on our back deck with Mom and Lyle and then visiting.  The afternoon saw us out on the lake and then a supper in (thanks to Uber eats, which is a little more expensive than I would like...) from BurgerFi.  End the day with Little House on the Prairie and it was a success!

The family did a prayer for Mothers for the Church Mother's Day, so am posting it here

The Saturday before Mother's Day, the church had a mother's day parade / drive-through.  It was wonderful to be able to see the church family and friends outside.

Getting a birds eye view through the sunroof as we drove up.

First stop - a plant!

Talking to our pastor's wife

Second stop - Cupcakes!  Third stop - Children's bag for things to make for mom and Fourth - a prayer stop (beautiful, Amy almost cried!)

Twins - some good friends of ours, the Reiner family, have the same Expedition as we do (although they have light colored seats).  We stopped to take a picture together! :)

While hanging out at the house we discovered that Grandpa Lyle can play pool, so he played a game with Zachary!

Mom and Grandpa Lyle came boating with us

 In other news, Kaleb has grown a TON this year, and is just soooooo close to being taller than his mom!  He is so anxious for that last little bit!

Stretching his neck as tall as he can!

While out at the park, we went for a bike ride and came across this fence with different people painted all along it - it was super cool!

Random pictures:

One afternoon we went to the park and shot rockets with the Cs - super fun!

Addison loves to figure things out, so she really enjoyed the rocket!

Umm, a very 'water balloon pregnant' Addison.  Who knew.

As rare as a the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, all three of our Z kids in the pool!

Sweet - sibling love!

Piano Recital & Teacher Appreciation!

As we continue to finish the school year in our distance learning format, the teachers and students have become creative in how they are interacting with each other, it has been neat to see.  One recent week, Addison was asked to do a "recital" for her class on their daily 9A call.  She was super excited to be able to do it - not nervous at all!

Her class also did a really sweet teacher appreciation week gift by each student videotaping a short message to Mrs. Finch - by describing her and saying thank-you.

Speaking of creative ways to keep life interesting, Addison's weekly ballet class (through Zoom) has been doing spirit weeks - so a recent week was the 80s!

Rocking the leg warmers and the side pony tail!

And sometimes Addison has a little friend join her at school! :)  This is her chair that she sits in beside Amy in the dining room after her 9A teacher class while she does her other on-line learning.

Taryn is her Canadian Maplelea doll

In other news, on May 4th the governor started to lift the "safer at home" order and people could start moving around more.  We haven't yet jumped back into regular life - it is a little nerve-wracking to start socializing with a bunch of people but there have been limited times in which we've had some friend sightings.

One such time was when Karis went over to our friends house to help fix their broken window. Karis is incredibly handy and can just about do anything!

And one Sunday evening, the Cs came over to drop off birthday gifts and we had a social distancing supper out on our driveway - we were on one side of the table and they were on the other side.

Nice to see friends!

Speaking of incredible, he also decided that the playground set that we have in the back yard that hasn't been played with in years should be moved to the front by our garages - and sure enough, Addison has been out there playing on it more in the last three weeks than she has in the last three years!

Some friends of ours in the neighborhood brought by the super huge bubble makers - so the kids had a grand time.  It is hard to see in the pictures, but the bubbles are easily as long as Addison is tall.

It is hard to see, but Addison wrote a friend's name on the back of the Volvo - her best friend at school Sebastian. She told Amy the other day that she really missed school because she missed recess (!) and missed seeing her friend Sebastian every day.  She didn't spell his name right, but on the left hand side of the license plate it says "Sab" and on the right hand it finishes with "astian".

Quarantine Projects - House Painting!!

With the fact that life has come to a complete standstill, we decided it was time to get ourselves moving on several projects that have been lingering for the past year!

The project on the list was to repaint the house.  We have been trying since last May to decide what color we would go with, and finally just decided that we'd stay as close to the original house color as we could with shifting just slightly less green tones to the house. 

All done!  We hope to replace the front door with a wood look-alike.  Next project the door and new carriage lights!

Finished product

the right hand side has been painted with the new colors, and the left hand with the garages is the old color.  

Karis is an amazing man, who can just do about anything.  Painting a house is no different, and so he got out his tools and went to work.  In two weeks (while working his normal hours still), he has completely finished painting the house, trim and all touch-ups.....on a very large house.  He is incredible!  He got the kids out there helping him as well (not much, but a little to at least contribute and learn a little about painting)

In addition to house painting, the rest of us have been keeping busy with work (Amy) and school (kids!).  You'd think being at home would make for a more relaxing work day, but Amy has been putting in very long hours with how much is going on at the hospital to try and appropriately care for our community members, keeping patients and employees safe, as well as figure out how to survive financially long-term.  The company has really done an incredible job trying to responsibly lead through this time - so proud to work for them!  And so very thankful to still be employed as we know so many are suffering - we lift our prayers that this will pass and "normal" life can resume.

One funny story is that the keyboard Amy bought as she set up a way to work at home is wireless, and in the afternoons she often takes just her laptop into our bathroom to work because it is quiet from the kids making noise (as they're usually done school and playing by that point).  One day, she was typing away and all of a sudden her laptop literally went crazy with gibberish being typed on the screen and programs opening and closing.  It was like a virus had taken over her computer!  She took a video of it and send it to her IT executive, so he called back and in 1.2 seconds said "Do you have a wireless keyboard?"  Well, of course the answer was yes, so Amy went out into the dining room where she has everything and sure enough - Addison was out there playing on the keyboard having a grand old time!  Hacker found! :)  Now she turns off the keyboard before playing with it if Amy is in the bathroom, thank you very much!

This is Amy's morning workspace - the ergonomics were so bad early on that she had to get a kneeling chair, separate keyboard, and then lift up her laptop on boxes to try and get the screen at the right height.  Thankfully this helped with her back pain tremendously!

One day Amy went back into the office in the afternoon (which that is super hard to try and do back to back calls, and then all of a sudden have to get dressed into work clothes while on calls, jump in the car etc) - so thankfully she hasn't had to do that very much!

Two sad shrivelled apples left over from before ski trip.  Amy keeps these for afternoon snacks but these were abandoned!

You have to wear a mask now and get your temperature checked before coming in

The kids are busy with school of course along with the extra piano/voice lessons -- everything virtual of course.  Our schedules for the kids are as follows:
1. Addison has a Zoom class every day at 9 and then various online programs that she does the rest of the day.  She then does the hands-on schooling with Karis in the afternoon when he gets home because Amy is literally on calls many times back to back from 8A - 7P every day.  So far she is doing very well with her schooling.  Ballet lessons are on Tuesdays at 4P on Zoom and then she has piano lessons on Thursday at 1:30 via Facetime.  She sits for her class at a little desk that Amy crafted in the foyer, and then does the rest of her mornings in a little soft chair beside Amy in the dining room.

2.  Kaleb has a Zoom class at 11A, 1P (3 days a week), Oboe on Wed at 3P, and his ACE program on Thursday at 9A.  He has piano on Mondays and voice lessons on Thursdays.  Kaleb does his classes in the office or his bedroom.

3.  Zach has a bunch of classes every day through Teams starting at 8:30 through about noon.  He also has piano on Mondays and voice lessons on Thursdays.  Zachary does all of his classes back in the bonus room.

We are thankful that we've got enough space to allow everyone to spread out and not be sitting right on top of each other!

Doing school at her little desk in the foyer where Amy can be close to help keep her on track!

Animal edible cell project

Nice job Kaleb!

Doing a pathfinder honor

Speaking of normal life - even in the midst of a quarantine people need haircuts! We had not had any visitors over to our place, but Mom came over one day (gloves and masks on) and gave the boys a haircut out in the yard.  She and Lyle are older of course, and she has had chemo in the last year so we are trying to be very careful that we do not spread any germs to her.

Other activities:

Legos are always fun!

Amy loved Little House on the Prairie, and after many years now the kids have finally decided they liked it too!  We are now binge watching (one show per day, 10 seasons to go!).

Little House on the Prairie

Random pictures:

Sleeping beauty with her eye mask

Gorgeous sunset!!  Amazing