April 2020

The most recent advice is that everyone should wear masks anytime they are around other people to help stop the transmission of COVID, since scientists believe that it is spread through air born particles.  Disposable masks are very expensive, and the U.S. Center for Disease Control says that a double layer fabric mask will help, so I found a YouTube tutorial on mask making, dusted off my sewing skills, and made masks for each person in our family.  I had fabric on hand, but no elastic and most elastic is sold out, so I had to improvise using hair bands.  Emily looks cute; I look like I'm about to rob a bank...

Emily's school is trying to come up with things the kids can do and post online to make it seem a little like they're still part of school.  This week was spirit week and Emily really enjoyed dressing up each day!

Day 1: 'Merica Monday
Day 2: Team Tuesday
Day 3: We Will Rock You Wednesday
Day 4: Throwback Thursday (pick an era - Emily is Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly)
Day 5: Favorite Time of Year Friday (Emily chose Valentine's Day)

Much of the world may be shut down, but we can still celebrate at home!  Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020:

1. Emily posing next to their Easter basket
2. Now that Brendan is older, he had fun playing "Easter Bunny" and hiding all the eggs for his sister to find!
3. Enjoying down time to play together, April 26
4. I have been enjoying walks during my lunch break; enjoyed seeing this blue heron catching its lunch!
5. & 6. One of Brendan's school assignments was to make a mask - he did a great job!

Schools' Closing: Pandemic COVID-19

Today we got an email from the school district saying that schools would be closed as of this week due to the pandemic.  Steve's school's last day in person was Thursday, so Steve will be home with the kids while they switch to virtual learning.  We have been hearing about COVID 19 since late 2019.  It was first identified in China and has been spreading throughout the world.  Last week, we saw reports that Little Rock was seeing a high number of cases, which made us nervous since we had just been to the zoo there.  Fortunately, none of us seem to have caught it.

From Wikipedia:

The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed, allowing the virus to spread to other areas of Asia and later worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020.

Happily, even though indoor activities have been shut down, we are still free to enjoy the outdoors!

Little Rock

Brendan qualified for the state math counts contest!  Math counts is for kids in 6th - 8th grade.  He had a good time participating, and the speed round was really exciting to watch. 

We made a mini-vacation out of our visit to Little Rock, and stayed overnight at a hotel.  I chose the hotel specifically because it had an indoor swimming pool.  Unfortunately for us, they had a heater problem and the pool was closed.  Also, the internet was down in the whole city, so of course our hotel didn't have the free wifi they advertised either.  The kids were REALLY disappointed about the pool.  I wish I had known in advance - I would certainly have chosen a different hotel!  Oh well, the next day we had decided to visit the zoo, so between math counts and that, the trip was still a success!

Brendan took some amazing pictures at the zoo.  We sent them in a Facebook message to the Zoo and they even published them on their Facebook page with a shoutout to him!

February 2020

This month, we decided to visit the animal shelter and walk some of the dogs.  Emily is too young to walk them by herself, but Brendan is old enough.  We went as a family, so the age restriction didn't matter since Steve and I could also walk the dogs.  We had a really nice time and met some very cute, nice dogs.  The most difficult part was leaving them all there when it was time to go home to our sweet boy, Rocket.

Emily decided she wanted to make her very own dress.  I had gotten some patterns, and we went to the fabric store and she picked out fabric she liked.  I helped her a lot, but she did some of the sewing all by herself.  It turned out very cute!

1. Pattern and fabrics

2. Finished dress

We ended February going on a bike ride with some of our best friends.  Here's Emily and her best friend Charley.  It was a great month!

12th Birthday

Poor Brendan. Today, February 20, 2020, he turned 12! He's been in bed with a massive migraine since yesterday after school. The special muffins I made him for breakfast are still sitting here, he hasn't even seen his gifts waiting for him on the table, and his DQ cake will be staying in the freezer tonight. I hope he is feeling better tomorrow so he can enjoy everything!!

Feb 23 - He still has a fever and severe sore throat - but ice cream cake sounded like it might feel good on a sore throat, so we finally got to try some and sing happy birthday to the 12 year old. Happy birthday, Brendan. - 12 years of love and sunshine from this sweet boy!

January 2020

The day after new years, Emily had fun playing disc golf with Steve.  

After school started back up, Brendan received awards at school for getting straight A's and a special "Excellence in Math" award for his academic performance from his math teacher.  Way to go, Brendan!

Fall

 Autumn is here and that means the pumpkin patch!

Brendan took a cute picture of this smiling piglet

...and this GIANT pumpkin

Emily wanted to go to STEM day at Crystal Bridges

And I got some help this year making lots of applesauce with my favorite MacIntosh apples.

Emily went hiking with her Girl Scout troop at Park Springs Park

And carved a cute pumpkin which was enhanced by the plastic teeth their Uncle Lee made using his 3D printer

Emily lost a tooth and was very concerned that the Tooth Fairy would take good care of it

For Halloween, her school had a dress up day but the costume had to be a book character, so we scrambled together a quick "Fancy Nancy" costume that turned out really cute!

We also did a volunteer shift packing nutritious food for countries that are in food crisis

Another Girl Scout meetup; this one at Ozark Natural Science Center.  Brendan tagged along with us to this interesting place!

Veteran's day at school; Emily brought a photo of her Grandpa with several of his brothers and sister who served

We got a tiny dusting of snow

Went to see a movie at the theater with the Wittenbergs, and squeezed in some other fun with them, too!

Thanksgiving - Brendan used his timer to get some much needed family portraits

Ready to get on their float for the Christmas parage

Making gingerbread cookies for Santa (and maybe a few for us, too)

Christmas Day Nerf gun war!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!