April 13 - April 19

    What do you do when for someone when their birthday falls during a social distancing quarantine? You text their friends parents and invite them to drive by between 2-3 to honk and wish Rachel a Happy Birthday! Rachel has been pretty bummed about not being at school to celebrate her birthday, she had it all planned out that she was going to help me make cinnamon rolls and take them to her class. She was going to sleep in and enjoy her last day of Easter break and then go back to school with all her friends. When I announced a couple weeks ago that school was finished for the year and they would be finishing with home school e-learning, she shed a tear, because she would not be around her friends for her birthday. Well her friends came out with a bang, and she said it was one of her most favorite birthdays. A couple of her friends even told their parents that they wanted the same thing done for their birthdays! It was a cold day but just the right temp to run out and wave at her friends and gather their signs that they made for her. Monday morning I made breakfast and then Rachel got busy in the kitchen making her angle food cake, she wanted to make her own birthday cake this year! We enjoyed Ramen noodles for lunch and Mike was able to order and bring home sushi for dinner that night. Rachel loves sushi and was so happy with her California Roll and Happy Roll. We then had a zoom Happy Birthday call with my sisters, Mike's brothers and all the kids. We enjoyed cake and Rachel opened her presents that came on the UPS truck that day. Overall we had a great day and I can't believe my oldest is 11 years old. It seems like just yesterday we celebrated Easter Sunday with the Creamer's and Leake families and then went home, installed the car seat, and headed to the hospital to be induced. Angie brought Mike popcorn and movies and stayed just long enough to get us settled in. The next day we started at 7 and by 1:13 Rachel was born. Angie was the first to come and visit and we enjoyed so many visits from our friends before Mom and Dad came down the day we went home to help for a couple days.

   Tuesday we did school work and stayed inside as the wind was horrible and the air was cool. Rachel loves days that we stay inside for PE as she loves doing Just Dance 2020. I will have to admit it is a really good workout and I usually burn about 300 calories in 30 minutes. I made roast for dinner that night and the kids loved it. Wednesday we did school work and laundry in the morning while Mike was working. After lunch Becca, Alec, and I headed to the Simon ground to help Mike finish up the fence. Rachel wanted to just stay home and have some time to herself. Becca and Alec spent the whole time playing in the tree's while Mike and I worked. I had a Walmart grocery pick up at 3:30 so the kids and I took off for town and we picked up some Runza for dinner before heading home. I then dropped the kids and groceries off and headed back south to help Mike get everything finished and cleaned up before the weather got bad. Rachel stayed home with the little ones and they all enjoyed some time to relax and just watch TV.
   Thursday it snowed all day and we did school work. Mike was home in the morning then went to town for a noon meeting and did some work at his office in the afternoon. I made a taco back for dinner that night and we got finished eating just before Becca had her zoom call and I had a zoom call with all my aunts and my mom. We have really enjoyed our Thursday night chats and Laurie said it best this last week, when she said that she had seen and talked with us all more since we started these zoom calls then she normal would. 
  Friday the kids woke up and couldn't wait to get outside and play in the snow. It was 10 degrees when they got up and I knew it was going to be an nice day but they just could not wait to go play. I finally convinced them to get their work done quickly and they could go out and play at 11. They got most of their stuff done and had the best time playing in the snow. The day warmed up so fast that the ground was covered and the kids were making snowmen at 11 and by 3 all that was left of the snow was the snow men! Mike and Rachel ran to town Friday afternoon to pick up a trencher to put in some new hydrants and water lines. I was not very motivated on Friday and enjoyed just relaxing and reading my book.

Same place in the yard 3 hrs apart

   Saturday I let the kid just watch TV and their computers until noon then they had to be outside the rest of the day. It was a beautiful day and I worked all day on the landscape around the house. I even cleaned the basement deck and all the corners. I have been wanting to get the back and side yards cleaned like this for some long but just have not taken the time. I was so tired by the end of the day and still had one corner and the north side of the house and next to the shop left for Sunday but by the end of Sunday I had it all done. Complete with building 2 deck boxes for the patio cushions and we were finished by 5 so we could get showered and watch church before Alec had his zoom call at 7. Mike was still finishing up the water lines (after finding 2 leaks at the joints) when a thunder storm rolled in around 8 so we didn't get a movie this Sunday but the kids were tired from being outside all weekend and we enjoyed reading some books before bed. 

First time to get the volleyball net out this year