Five! Five!

With all of the chaos of the spring, I haven't even posted the twins' birthday post yet.  Our "babies" turned five on March 9th!  What an experience the past five years has been!  Having twins really amplifies all of these milestones and it is such a blessing to watch each of them grow and develop.

Everly really enjoyed PreK this year and interacting with her teachers and friends.  She was sad to not see them regularly after school ended but also enjoyed having extra time at home with her big sisters.  Her personality is as determined as ever and she lights up each of us with her sweet compliments. She loves audio books, learning to read, playing outside, singing songs, and scary stories. Her favorite food ever is chili and she asks for it daily.  She would happily wear pink and purple every day. She is great on her bike and loves racing around the cul-de-sac with Grant. She is her brother's greatest defender and the two of them are partners in crime.  She delights us with her one-of-a-kind attitude and we are so glad she's our girl.

Grant continues to be our rough and tumble boy.  He tolerated school mainly for the chance to play with the other boys there and to knock down blocks there.  He did love his teachers and reading stories there also.  He's not a big fan of rules in general--school or otherwise.  He cracks us up with his silliness. He loves the specific colors of dark green and light red.  His favorite toys are fire trucks, remote control vehicles, and anything sports-related.  His current goal is to eat a jalapeno at each meal so he gets used to the spice.  (He also loves cereal, broccoli soup, and chocolate in any form).  We just love his sweet hugs and everything else about our boy.

We had a a wonderful time celebrating their birthday in Michigan with our family there and were especially grateful we were able to fit in their party before the stay-at-home orders started.

Last Day of School

It looked so different than usual so I wanted to capture our last day of school for 2019-2020:

Last PreK Zoom meeting

Closing Chapel via Zoom

Last Day of 5th Grade

Last Day of Second Grade (Delaney did most of her school work from a station in our bedroom)

Last Day of Seventh Grade

Last Day of Eighth Grade! 

She's in high school now!

Mali's class organized a class parade to thank her wonderful teachers.  The kids were so excited to decorate the cars and then climb through the sun roofs!

Summer!

All of a sudden, summer is here!  I still have some spring happenings to post about, but here are some summer pictures until then.  The kids are relieved to be done with distance learning, even though the end of the school year did not have all of the main fun events.  We've been enjoying warmer weather, swimming at Hoyt pool, and eating lots of ice cream.  We had one fun vacation to Michigan already and a few more to look forward to. We are all thankful for God's gifts in the changing seasons, for our good health, and the time together now.

COVID Week 7

This week Mali and Brinnly finished their final confirmation exam!  They also had their interview with our pastor and we finalized the plans for their confirmation.  

 This week we took advantage of the one day of amazing weather and took our first family bike ride!  It took HOURS to prep for it--getting the correct helmets for everyone, adjusting seats, installing a bike rack, packing supplies, etc.  But it was worth it! We got in six miles--and the big girls fit in a few more.

 We have been cooking and baking a ton!  Mali made her godmother's recipe for Chocolate Chess cake. It was wonderful!

 The kids had fun picking flowers outside.

 The EGL kids got to come in to school with me one day this week and help film a virtual tour. It was so bittersweet to see them in their (otherwise empty) classrooms!

COVID Week 6

This week the twins attempted to "relax:

We decluttered and rearranged the basement and love it!  Right away we had a dinner and movie night down there.  The kids asked to do church there the next morning!

 Carrigan got a new haircut!  (From her dad!)

The weather is still really cold! We manage to get regular walks and runs in and the kids spend hours a day on the trampoline.

Distance learning continues for all of the kids.  Here's an example of one of the weekly packets for the twins.  They also have a very sweet PreK Zoom meeting each morning.

COVID Week 5--Easter

He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!

We did our best to celebrate Holy Week and Easter together at home.  There were so many things we missed, namely going to church and also being with all of the rest of our family.  (And celebrating the March and April family birthdays that we also do over Easter weekend!)  But we kept a few traditions in place.  Jonathan helped the kids decorate eggs and they turned out beautifully! While they did that, I prepped a quiche to have for breakfast the next morning. The Easter bunny, aka Grandma Deni gifted us with a new blender so we've been having lots and lots of smoothies. The kids loving coming up with new recipes!

On Easter morning we dressed up for our church's online service, and then later did an outdoor Easter egg hunt.  We hid the kids' baskets inside too for a little scavenger hunt.  Our neighbors were by themselves for the whole week (the husband is still traveling for work) so we invited them to join us for a social distance picnic outside.  Our menu was ham, cheesy potatoes, asparagus, pineapple, green bean casserole, cupcakes with fondant frosting, and coconut pie.  And lots of Easter candy!