March 2020

Another beautiful Colorado sunset from our front deck!

Puppy Lovin'!

Mac seems to think that since Macy is close to his size that she's another puppy or playmate that he can chew on and wrestle with. Macy is not such a fan of being chewed on, so for now this is her favorite way to play with the puppy.

COVID-19

The world wide Corona Virus has officially hit Colorado. Starting the middle of March we have basically been self-quarantined, only going out in public occasionally to go grocery shopping (and let's be honest - Lowe's so Dad can work on projects). They set up this temporary tent outside the Memorial North Hospital where Dave works to divert the sick people with the virus away from other people. There is a state-wide stay-at-home order in effect currently through April, but we will see what happens after that. Church has been cancelled, we're home-schooling, all extra-circular activities are cancelled and gyms are closed. The only extra things we're doing are piano lessons via Face Time and a few church meetings online.

When all of this started there was a run on the grocery stores. This is the toilet paper and cleaner aisle. The first things to disappear were toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes, followed by cold cereal, eggs, cheese, yogurt, pretty much all canned goods, basically everything was wiped out. I have never seen anything like it.

Gold! Thank goodness I have a phobia of running out of TP and had a big stash at home before all this started. I have definitely been made aware of the holes in my preparedness though.

COVID-19 Memes

There are so many awesome memes going around on Facebook right now that I just had to save a couple of my favorites and re-post them here.

Calhan Paint Mines

In an effort to get some fresh air we took the kids to the paint mines in Calhan. It was a fun outing!

 

Kami was a good sport in playing "Splat" (a play dough game) with the girls. They LOVED it.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt, but this is another baby quilt I made.

One of our neighborhood walks turned cold fast!

Macy found an ornamental deer in the parking lot and had to go up and pet it and give it hugs. She was so happy it was holding still for her.

Catching Grasshoppers in the backyard.

With quarantine came family Lego time. Thanks to Grandpa Beutler, we have plenty to go around.

Lexi is learning about different kinds of communities in her class right now and built a farm to go along with it.

Cole is more OCD than I am - he probably spent more time sorting and organizing the many bins of Lego's that we have than actually building with them.

We spent a morning at Garden of the Gods exploring a new trail in the beautiful weather. Unfortunately other people are having the same idea as us and I don't think we will venture out into the public parks again until all of the COVID-19 stuff is over.

Dad spent a lot of time welding this manifest for his in-floor-heating system he's putting in. He was quite proud of it. Soon to be painted and valves all put in.

I painted Macy's fingernails for the first time and she was thrilled. I think there will be a lot more nail painting in my future. Big sisters got theirs painted too.

The kids tried banana splits for the first time. It was mostly a hit, but they prefer the ice cream and sauces without the banana.

Another tooth bites the dust!

I was exercising in our gym and looked out the viewing window to see Lexi reading to Macy like this. Melts a mama's heart!

With the whole social isolation thing going on, there has be A LOT of baking going on, usually with lots of helpers (and usually with at least one of them pouting for one reason or another).

We decided to give the milk jug garden concept a try. Updates to come later.

The kids finished reading "James and the Giant Peach" with Grandma and got to watch the movie as a reward. We are so lucky to have her here with us!

Reading the next book with Grandma in the kitchen during snack time.

Dave and Dad's project for March was welding an iron structure to put plastic over to help our raspberries grow sooner so we can have an earlier harvest. It's quite the structure!

We are blessed enough to have some open space in our neighborhood. One of the kid's new favorite places to visit is the bluff that overlooks the stream for a picnic.

Dave's helping Macy touch the water without getting muddy and falling in.

My brother Russell and his family recently acquired some chickens and we have spent lots of time this month checking in on them and watching their growth (and making bets on which one of their boys will kill one accidentally first).

Unfortunately Dad had major wipe out on one of our Easy Rollers going down a big hill. He flipped head over heals a few times and was pretty beat up. We are grateful that he came through it with all of his teeth and bones intact!