2020 :: week 17

April 19

It is amazing how much longer Sundays feel when we aren't traveling to and from a physical church, or attending various other meetings. I am starting to really miss our friends and fellow worshipers, but also feel like we are hitting our stride with how to use the extra time. We have started playing jackbox games with our John cousins for about an hour on Sunday afternoons and it is something the kids really look forward to each week.

April 20

Now that we have been doing school-at-home for about a month we seem to have figured out a schedule that works for us. I struggle with wanting to have flexibility, but also needing structure to make sure I accomplish all that I need to each day. One of our family goals was to get out and go for a morning and evening walk, but after the first week we were struggling to all want to go at the same time. The kids want to go before they get too involved in their school work and I want to go after I get my morning "tasks" completed and right before Miles' nap. Sunday night we made a schedule and now go at 9am every day.

April 21

We spent a lot of time outside this week. Elliott has rediscovered baseball and our tee. Will helped him draw a baseball diamond on our driveway and the older three kids played baseball outside for hours. Will "coached" Lauren and Elliott and led them in drills. He worked with Lauren on her catching and helped Elliott improve his stance. It warmed my heart to see the three of them playing so well with each other. They started calling themselves the "Blue Crew" and put on Blue Crew jerseys and other paraphernalia from years past. I let Lauren and Will walk up to the park a few times to practice running the bases and whatever other drills Will thought they needed to do.

April 22

We got out Elliott's old ride-on car and it was a huge hit with Miles! He loved it and I love that there are so many of us that can take turns pushing him around as he has a nearly insatiable appetite for rides. It is hard to say no when he is clearly so happy.

April 23

I have said it before and I will keep saying it, I really love how creative people are about reaching out and showing support during this strange time. Thursday was our friend Stevie's birthday and we joined in a parade of over 40 cars to drive by and honk happy birthday to him. Miles did NOT like all the honking. We assembled at the school parking lot and then drove in a line over to Stevie's house. It was so much fun sitting in our car and waving out the window and yelling hello to our friends. It was great to see everyone, but it reminded me how much I miss seeing them too. It's just hard to replace face to face interaction.

April 24

Miles loves to sit at our piano and pound the keys. He seems to have many of the same likes as our other kids: music, sports and being outside. It makes me wonder if he likes those things because our family enjoys them, therefore he has been exposed to them? Or does he enjoy them because he has a natural affinity? Nature or nurture? Either way, he enjoys listening to Anthony play and gets excited when we let him sit on the bench and make some noise himself.

April 25

Nana and Papa helped us order a pickleball net and we set it up to play Saturday afternoon. We had such a great time! We decided since we have a lot of young players that are new to the game we will first work on getting the hang of hitting the ball over the net and getting a streak of volleys.  Yes, we were in our next-door neighbor's driveway. They are out of town until July and their driveway is slightly larger than ours so it made a better court.

2020 :: week 16

April 12

Happy Easter! Even though we have not always attended church on Easter Sunday due to General Conference, it was a bit different to have our entire Easter service be at home. It rained the better part of the day so we had to postpone our annual outdoor egg hunt to Monday afternoon.

April 13

I posted this photo on my social media accounts with the following commentary: Today marks the beginning of our fifth week of social distancing. As we were getting ready for lunch Lauren complained, “I’m ready for a play date!” I can’t say I disagree with her. That being said, I am LOVING how creative and adaptable these kids are during this time of uncertainty. A few weeks ago they started watching The Masked Singer on TV. Their viewership has evolved and now they are dressing up and making their own “Masked Singer” show. Pictured here are the Princess, Rotweiller, and Batman. They are pretending to be family members and giving each other clues about their person to help the rest of us figure out who they are. In this iteration the knight (Will) was Weston and the clues he gave were “likes drawing and Pokémon.” The Rottweiler (Elliott) was himself and the clues he gave was he “loves his mom and likes to wrestle with his dad.” The princess (Lauren) was Camille and her clue was “she’s not going to let her 2 older sisters boss her around anymore.” I’m pretty sure that creativity and humor (and patience!) are what will get us through this strange time. Grateful for imaginative kids who make me laugh and keep me on my toes!

April 14

Miles is getting quite adept at climbing up the stairs. He still has a way to go on getting down himself, but thankfully he has been cautious enough not to fall.

April 15

Going for walks at least once and sometimes up to four times a day is helping me stay sane. I feel caged and find myself wanting to get out of the house as often as possible. Miles is always good for a 20 minute walk and when I stopped to smell our neighbor's lilac bush he waved at me. We have been blessed with an absolutely gorgeous spring this year. It has been my saving grace.

April 16

Lauren's teacher, Mrs. Martin, has done a great job of creating fun ways for the kids in her class to interact with each other. Last week she had them sign up in groups of 5 to tell jokes to each other and before that she had them get together in small groups for a virtual show and tell. This week she added a "directed draw" where she guided them in drawing a baseball player. Mrs. Martin has also recorded herself reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School and Lauren listens to that for about 20 minutes a day as well.

April 17

This week I was feeling very blah about most things. The news seems mostly gloom and doom with ever-changing rules about what we can and can't do and how long we won't be able to do them. I am more engaged in social media because I want to know what is going on with my friends as we are all distancing ourselves from each other in person but there are SO MANY OPINIONS. I told Anthony that I related to the passage in Joseph Smith History where he says "Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?" By the end of the week I knew I needed to disconnect and limit my time on social media. I focused on doing things that I enjoy and find relaxing. I spent the better part of the day Friday watching shows with Elliott, reading with my kids, and cross-stitching. And I felt so much better! Obviously I can't hide my head in the sand, but I also don't have to watch the news all day or read my facebook friends' varying opinions and posturings about what is right and wrong during the time of COVID-19. (Also, Anthony and I are watching McMillions on Hulu and would love to discuss the case with anyone else who has watched it).

April 18

This is our view every morning and night for about twenty minutes. Anthony and I take turns watering the sod we laid in our front and side yard. It is a long narrow spot with trees, and using a sprinkler ends up wasting a fair amount of water. Even though it is time consuming, watering it by hand is most effective. It is exciting to see the sod take root. The few times it has rained the grass is absorbing the water that used to rush down the side of our yard and erode the incline.

2020 :: week 15

April 5

We went for a walk Sunday morning before General Conference began. Our neighborhood is in full bloom and I love it! It is a reminder to me that even though the people of the earth are in a bit of chaos right now, creation is constant. All things last for a season and then pass. After the dormancy of winter new life springs forth and is bursting with beauty. Also, I think I missed a lot of spring last year because I was in the throes of life with a newborn, feeling a bit overwhelmed and not getting nearly enough sleep. I enjoyed watching conference, and Sunday morning I especially appreciated Elder Holland's talk. A neat experience for Anthony and his family was seeing his grandparents in the conference center audience singing a pre-recorded version of The Spirit of God (from October 2000) after the Hosana Shout. The message that I seemed to hear over and over was to turn my heart over to the Lord, and immerse myself in good things, dedicating my life and daily devotion to Him.

April 6

Ahhh! Miles can now climb up the stairs. Getting down is another story. Thankfully with everyone home all day we have a lot of people willing to spot him. Hopefully we will be able to teach him how to safely come down soon. No such luck yet. In the meantime we have put up a gate at the bottom of the ground floor stairs, and have used pillows to block the bottom of the basement stairs.

April 7

We have started watching a few new shows since we have been social distancing. Elliott's favorite is the Masked Singer. He watches at least one episode a day, and sometimes the other kids watch as well. Lauren and Elliott have played together so well this week and have taken to playing their own version of the masked singer on our trampoline. Lauren is wearing my beanie and has fashioned a dish towel into wings, transforming her into a butterfly.

April 8

Wednesday started out hot! I think it might have been the hottest day of the year. My phone said it was 88 degrees in the afternoon. Since we are constantly watering our grass these days, I pointed the sprinkler towards our trampoline and Elliott and Lauren jumped in the water for quite some time. After dinner that evening I took Miles for a walk and Lauren and Elliott came along too. Lauren played her harmonica as we walked along our usual mile long route. The temperature had dropped about fifteen degrees and it was a gorgeous evening. I wanted to bottle up the moment, my sweet daughter, wearing her swimsuit and playing the harmonica without a care in the world. There are a lot of things I don't like about life right now, but the slower pace is helping me to live in the moment and notice and appreciate the simple joys of life.

April 9

Modern problems require modern solutions. Our book club typically meets the second Thursday of the month. Due to the stay at home order, this month we met virtually, via zoom! The book we read and discussed was Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. I actually didn't read it, because my hold at the library didn't come in before the libraries closed. It is the first book club book I didn't get around to reading in about a year. I have been reading some good books lately. I finished reading My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray (about the life of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, wife of Alexander Hamilton) and Lovely War by Julie Berry (YA novel about love and war, that takes place during the Great War).

April 10

At the Saturday evening session of conference President Nelson asked members of the church to participate in a day of prayer and fasting on Good Friday. We spent the day fasting, and while it was challenging it felt good too. That evening I went on my weekly grocery trip. Grocery shopping is so strange now. Reduces hours, one way isles, limited number of shoppers allowed in the store at a time, only one person per cart, reduced varieties and/or limited quantities on pantry staples, decals on the floor six feet apart denoting how close you can be while standing in line, etc. I am very much looking forward to grocery shopping without so many restrictions!

April 11

So far the best thing to happen to our family in the COVID-19 era is hosting the Salazars for about 12 hours as they passed through on their way to Utah. Both of our families have been practicing social distancing for about a month, so we figured it was safer for them to stay at our house for the night than to stay at a hotel. Not to mention more fun! Lucas and Miles weren't quite sure what to make of each other and touched each others faces more often than is socially appropriate. I think they bonded over their mutual enjoyment of our car ramp and look forward to getting them together again whenever that will be allowed.

2020 :: week 14

March 29

On Sunday we celebrated my Grandpa Crane's 115th birthday. My family never lived near my grandparents, so I didn't know him very well when he passed away when I was thirteen in 1996. Over the past few Sundays I have spent time reading from our family histories and this Sunday I spent time reading his. I learned that he caught the Spanish Flu in 1918 while in Salt Lake City for General Conference and was quarantined for several weeks after. His father passed away when he was twelve and soon after that he left formal education to became a rancher and sheep herder, first working for family members before branching out on his own. He married my grandma when he was thirty-four and my dad, the youngest of their ten children was born when he was fifty. I looked in our Crane Cookbook and found a recipe for a Sour Cream Chocolate Cake that was one of his favorites. We made it for dessert in his honor. I miss the camaraderie and fellowship that I feel when we meet with our ward, but I have enjoyed the extra time to delve into family history.

March 30

Monday marked our first official day of "Virtual Learning" and it was a little underwhelming. I went to the school in the morning to pick up Lauren's ipad. All three of our children's teachers (even Elliott's preschool teacher!) have been so great about sending lesson plans and supplemental activities. Unfortunately, the entire student population trying to access the network and the same time caused the VPN to crash. The kids were able to check-in, but not actually do much school work on Monday. We took a walk to the school sign to get out picture taken with the sign. We were able to walk through the grounds, but noticed the next day when out for a walk that the district had chained the fences. Apparently people were ignoring the signs to stay off the playground equipment and so the district took things to the next level.

March 31

When I picked up our weekly grocery haul over the weekend I picked up a box of toothpicks. We had a lot of mini-marshmallows left over from a Valentine minute-to-win-it games and we paired the two items to build "snack structures." We talked about how triangles are stronger than squares and which marshmallows worked better (we had some fresh and some dried out). Lauren got really into it and spent hours building. She is pictured here with her rocket, but I liked the thinking cap she made best.

April 1

This week will probably go down as the most gorgeous week of the year. We went for several walks throughout the week. On Wednesday I went for three walks, including an evening walk with Miles before putting him to bed. I'm not sure what type of bushes are behind Miles but they are so fragrant. I look forward to passing them each time I walk go out.

April 2

Thursday was our friend Max's birthday, and we joined in a parade of friends driving by his house at 11:30 that morning. While we were driving home we saw the Ules playing outside so we stopped and said hi from the window. They gave us some window markers and as soon as we got home the kids started coloring. It was fun to see each child's personality come out with their doodles. Will's were sports themed, Lauren's were friendly, and Elliott wrote words he knows how to spell. As our life has slowed down, it is easier to appreciate simple joys.

April 3

Friday was the first day that "John school" (as the kids have started calling our distance learning) went according to plan. We got up, had breakfast, went for a very short walk (it got cold and was only about 35 degrees) and then got down to business with their daily tasks.

April 4

On Saturday afternoon we continued our quest to improve our yard. Earlier in the week I ordered 4 cubic yards of pulverized topsoil to help even out the erosion our yard has experienced over the past few years. Next week we are going to seed and sod. Tony and I are learning as we go, and my dad has been so helpful with this entire process. Last summer he helped us kill the vines, weeds and overgrowth. Over the fall, winter and spring he would come over when he could to help us clean everything up. He fixed our wobbly fence and installed simple sprinklers in our backyard to make watering easier. He told me where to order soil and buy sod and will pick up the sod for us in his truck next week. You are never to old to need your parents.