So the first part of March was all about getting our house ready to sell. Here is Lily enjoying our beautiful new dining room floor. It is unfortunate how the house never looks better than when you're selling it. Proud of our hard work tho, she looks beautiful.
Why do kids love to eat meals with each other? They play with neighbor Sydney for hours every weekend but allowing her to stay for lunch is super fun. I remember feeling that way tho.
Meet President Zachary Taylor - our 12th US President
Millie worked REALLY hard learning about him and preparing a report about him. She also had to dress up like him and present the report to her class! He was a farmer and military officer (see the overalls and the military jacket). He died 16 months into his term because he ate some bad cherries...were they poisoned?! We will never know...
She was in such a good mood before school because she had really practiced and felt so confident. Love seeing her that way. So thankful she doesn't have stage fright, like I do!
Family movie night
with all five of us, of course
she gets so much attention now
I feel like my girls are going to remember this about me, but man, I really enjoy exercising and finding different ways to challenge my body. My friend Katie is the same way. We tried a few different classes at a new yoga studio and had so much fun!
Last day of school before Spring Break is also spring picture day! Well done, ladies. So chic.
Syd has started therapy with Ms. Rachel and has gone to a couple of sessions so far. She seems to enjoy it! Hope over time the anxiety lessens for our sweet girl...look at that face!
We've packed a lot of our belongings, so the girls are having to get creative. Puzzle time is more Syd's speed than Millie's ;)
Girl Scout cookie booth was moved indoors due to monsoon rains! Syd did a GREAT job of interacting with customers. Proud of her effort: she sold over 250 boxes this year!
Millie had an impromptu sleepover at Nana's, so Syd chose to sleep in Millie's bed...with Blankie! (*gasp*) We sent these pictures to Millie and I can't quit laughing at them. Syd really hammed it up, and Millie was so concerned about Blankie's welfare.
She was very bored with Millie gone, so she strung all of her scrunchies together and had the best time playing with herself. She really is the best at pretend play all on her own!
House is officially on the market and things get interesting when we have to drive around with Lily for 2 hours!
NWA's best agent, neighbor, and friend <3
So right as we went on Spring Break, things were getting a little crazy in the world. There was an outbreak of a virus called the Corona Virus (aka COVID-19) that started in China and spread to Europe. It quickly spread to the US and then the talk started of whether to shut down schools and businesses for a while. It has turned out to be a global pandemic, which we are still in the midst of, and it is really scary. People are dying daily, and we are now told to quarantine at home. We can't be within 6 feet of other people, which the government is referring to as social distancing. We are only supposed to leave for groceries or to go to the doctor. The girls school is shut down until April 17th, but there is a possibility it could go longer. All restaurants have closed their doors, except for take out or delivery. This is the first spring break we've had that we have to stay home - no kid places are open, not the movies or the amazeum or bowling alleys...nothing. It's been a challenge, but we are so thankful we are all healthy so far!
One afternoon, we did go hiking with neighbor Sydney. It was a bit chilly, but it felt great to be out!
With our house on the market, a social distancing order in place, and the girls out of school...we decided to move in with Nana for a few (or five) days. Honestly, it was a gift. I haven't had that much uninterrupted time with my mom in years. The girls love it over there, and we had Lily with us, so it felt like a stay-cation!
Nana still had to work from home, so we kept ourselves busy during the day with ipad games, workouts in the garage, lego building, playing house, making a town on cardboard for matchbox cars, roller skating trips around the block, and even a trip downtown for ice cream. It was a great five days of togetherness.
Millie has a spring break bingo board from her teacher that we've been trying to fill the squares - this one is chalk self-portrait and it says "there is always hope"
Lily being there was good for the girls...and the girls being there was good for Lily.
Another square for the spring break bingo board - this one is painting a flower pot
social distancing is hard - yes, we were 6 feet away from others
Why is Easter candy so good? I would argue that it's better than Halloween or Christmas candy. Robin Eggs for the win this year!
Lots of roller skating while at Nana's - thankfully, she allows it in the house too!
JKK still has to go in to work every day, but at night, he came to Nana's for family time. We played Yahtzee many times over that five days! The girls are really good at it now.
On our second bag of Robin Eggs ;) Hey, remember that time Syd ate A REAL ROBIN'S EGG WHEN SHE WAS TWO?!
I do. I remember. Here she is right before it happened way back in 2015! Good gravy, I miss this baby!
Millie put together this entire lego hospital and ambulance set all by herself! She was very proud of herself!
Sonic run. Hot dog too hot. Resourcefulness at its best.
Another day, another Yahtzee!
Nana took advantage of JKK and I being there to clean out her liquor cabinet. We had a taste of everything to decide if it was still good. It was a fun Friday night activity ;)
Before we knew that the virus germs can live on playground equipment for an extended period of time, we went to a nearby school playground. Syd is really good at the monkey bars these days! Sadly, all playgrounds are closed now for the time being. It's all been very hard for the girls to understand and such a huge adjustment.
Hopscotch
Llama painting
The girls took turns sleeping with Nana at night. Special memories.
Our house is under contract, hallelujah! So we took Lily and headed home. Very grateful for Nana and her generosity...and our ability to be out of the house while it was being shown. It made the whole process way less painful! PS - Lily doesn't like car rides.
Syd lost a second tooth! The tooth fairy came!
So life under social distancing rules is weird. This is the second week of spring break for the girls, and they are bored. Thankfully, the weather has been gorgeous this week and we stayed outside a lot of the time. We've ridden bikes daily, taken many walks, and wave at people from a distance. No gathering tho. It's definitely not what I thought our last few weeks in this wonderful neighborhood would be like.
We set up the girls ipads with their own Apple IDs, so now they can facetime and text people directly. We've basically let Millie live on facetime with Dylan and James this week because our girl is so social and she misses her friends! Here she is holding a fashion show with Dylan while eating dinner in the sunroom. It's sweet to watch.
Millie said she is writing a song...
Spring is finally here and we LOVE it! Hopscotch and hula hooping on the daily also.
This week, we went to Devil's Den to go hiking with neighbor Sydney. Unfortunately, the rest of NWA had the same idea. It was a bit crowded and the bathrooms weren't open, which made for some interesting situations with the girls...but it was still gorgeous out there. Feels good to be outside after winter! We took a picnic lunch and the girls spent a lot of time just running around and being kids.
There's this huge sideways tree on one of the trails and it gets really high. Millie was a bit cautious.
Syd, on the other hand, scampered right up there. She's a naturally confident tree climber, it turns out!
Throwing rocks in the creek. They could've done this for hours. You know how it goes though, Syd stepped in the water up to her ankles a few times and then complained about her socks and shoes being wet. ;)
These guys tagged along on our hike. Girls.
This has been the theme of the week, hahahaha! Quit asking me for stuff! Next week there will be a whole new sheriff in town though (still me)….when we start homeschooling. Ack! I'm scared about how this will go down, but I've given the girls a lot of warning: we have to get back to a school schedule, quit eating snacks all day long and living on our ipads. The teachers will give us instruction on what to do from afar, so I hope to get in a bit of school each day. But like Millie, my favorite part will probably be lunch, PE, and recess.
See? No rules at this point.
This girl is even bored and just stares at me. She can't get enough of fetch.
Very thankful they have each other to play with at this time. Lots of barbies. They've even made up a horse game for outside. It's tough to be told we can't go anywhere or see anyone, but there are some positives to it also. It's been good family time and kind of neat to spend the last few weeks in this house together and enjoying it.
The sunroom is beautiful and has made the perfect yoga/workout studio.
And this view is lovely! Being able to go outside has made all the difference. If we had this virus come through in winter, we would all be going stir-crazy. Not sure what the next couple of months holds...will the girls get to go back to school? Will we go to total lockdown where we aren't allowed to leave our houses at all? The government is trying to stop the spread of the virus so quickly so the hospitals don't become overwhelmed like they have in other countries. I hope we are able to get back to normal quickly. It's been a little sad at times thinking about what the girls will miss out on if school is cancelled for the rest of the year. Millie was having such a great third grade year - I pray she can go back and enjoy the end of it with her friends and teacher, whom she loves so much.
We've lived here for 14 years and have never fished in this pond. But last night as we were going out for an after dinner walk, we spotted our friends at the pond. They were so sweet to let the girls fish and Syd caught one! I will forever love this pic of her.
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