Another One Bites the Dust!

Well, it happened again.  Twelve days after Logan ended up in Urgent Care from a bike accident, Ella did the same thing.  We are not on a good roll these days thanks to the Coronavirus.  Since my kids are not in school getting their exercise during recess and P.E. and during their after school activities that are all currently cancelled, I have made a point of getting out of the house once a day for some sort of exercise.  Today was no different.  After lunch, the four kids and I jumped on our bikes and rode up to the top of the hill.  After discovering a new and much easier way into the junior high grounds, we found ourselves at the top of the large hill that Logan normally likes to ride down.  Since this was a spontaneous discovery, we all happily decided to go down the hill.  Logan went first, Ella second, Emmett and I next, and Lia last.  Although Ella has gotten very comfortable riding down hills at fast speeds these past weeks without her training wheels, she is still a beginner at all of this.  At the bottom of this hill, the path makes a sharp, left turn which leads onto the school track.  If Ella had been allowed to ride down this hill onto a flat, straight section of the path, she would have been fine.  Unfortunately, she started to lose control towards the bottom of the hill as she tried to make the left turn going too fast.  My stomach dropped as I saw her swerve back and forth several times before crashing really hard.  I knew that it was going to be bad the second I saw it happened.  Within a matter of seconds, I was next to her.  Ella was screaming and crying really hard and I had to wait until Lia reached us so that she could hold my bike with Emmett sitting on the back before I was able to assess Ella's situation.
She immediately showed me the large scrape on her knee and then pointed to her elbow that she said really hurt.  It was at this point that I saw an excessive amount of blood on her arm.  I immediately checked her face and that is when I saw the big gash in her chin.  Blood was pouring out of it and I had nothing to wipe it up with.  After using my hand to clear away a bunch of the blood, I decided that we needed to get home as soon as possible to take her to the doctor to see if she needed stitches.  After encouraging Ella to get back on her bike so that we could make the ride home, she announced between sobs that she just couldn't do it and that she would need to walk her bike back home.  Knowing that this would take forever for her to do, I made the split second decision to leave a crying and injured Ella sitting on the ground with Lia while Logan, Emmett, and I raced home as fast as we could on our bikes.  It felt so strange to leave my injured girl behind, but I knew that this was the fastest way to take care of her.  Logan and I pedaled our hearts out and got home about five minutes later.  After pulling into the garage and getting Emmett out of his bike seat, I came bursting into the house yelling to Ron that I thought Ella needed stitches.  He rushed out of his office in unbelief as I quickly told him what had happened while I grabbed my purse, car keys, and a pack of wet wipes.  Within in a minute or two, I was back at the school yelling to Lia and Ella that I was there (since I wasn't able to drive the car past the barricade at the front of the parking lot).  After rushing out to meet them, I pushed Ella's bike back to the car and loaded her up before telling Lia to ride her bike back home since I couldn't fit hers in the car, too.  After wiping off a lot of the blood, I quickly drove Ella home where Ron and I were able to give her chin a thorough look.  We both decided that we wanted to err on the side of caution and take her to Urgent Care to give her chin the best chance possible to heal with the smallest scar possible.
After bringing Ella inside to take off her bloody jacket and wash her arms and hands, I put her in Ron's car with a hug and a kiss and a fresh wet wipe for her bleeding chin.  Luckily like last time, Ron and Ella were able to be seen relatively quickly at our Urgent Care.  The doctor decided that Ella's cut was not deep enough for stitches.  Instead, after numbing it and washing it thoroughly, the doctor glued up the cut on her chin and then covered it thoroughly with multiple Steri-Strips.  We now need to keep Ella's chin completely dry until the Steri-Strips fall off in about a week or so.  After a trip to McDonald's to reward Ella with a McFlurry for being so brave and strong, a very quiet and subdued Ella returned home later today.  My poor, little girl looks so sad with her big Band-Aid on her chin, but once again, I am just so grateful that her injuries didn't include broken bones or a concussion or deeper cuts anywhere on her body.  I hope and pray that we will make it through the rest of this quarantine without any more serious injuries.  I don't think that my nerves or our pocketbook can take much more!

Sweet Ella waiting for the doctor to examine her injury in the exam room.

Ella bravely showing off the cuts on her chin.

A close-up of the two large slices on her chin.

Ella waiting for the numbing creme to dry.

And waiting for her cut to be cleaned after taking off the cotton balls.

Ella back in the car ready to head to McDonald's.

Parades and Weddings: More Signs of these Strange Times

In our current world of repeating the same schedule day after day, we had an unusual morning with two unique events on the calendar that really set this day apart from the rest of the days this week.  First off, the teachers and staff from our children's school participated in car parade where they followed a route of designated stops throughout most of the neighborhoods in our school boundaries.  Since our kids are waivered into their school, we asked if we could wait at one of the stops in our friends' neighborhood just two minutes from our house.  The kids were so excited to make signs this morning and to see their teachers.  We got to the stop a few minutes early and enjoyed talking to the two other families who we are good friends with from a safe six feet away.  Within a matter of minutes, a parade of cars led by a policeman (who is actually the husband of Logan's 1st grade teacher) turned the corner and drove into the neighborhood.  All of the cars were honking and most of them were decorated with streamers, floaties, signs, and other paraphernalia.  It was so fun to see everyone after a five week break!  I had no idea how much I had missed the staff of my kids' school and that overall feeling of community.  After several cars drove past us there was a break due to the second half of the parade getting separated by a red light.  However, after waiting several more minutes, the second half of the cars (including both Lia's and Logan's teachers) never drove by.  We quickly realized that they had missed our stop while driving through our the neighborhood.  So all three moms decided to hop in our cars with our kids and chase down the parade in another neighborhood later on in the route.  After getting situated on another street corner with all of our children, we only had to wait a few minutes before we heard the sirens of the police car in the distance.  Within a minute or two, the entire parade drove by us.  It was so fun to get to see everyone this time around--especially the two teachers who we had missed at the previous stop.  Although Lia's teacher just waived and drove by, Logan's teacher, Mr. Strand, actually slowed down and said 'hello' to Logan before driving on.  Seeing his wonderful teacher do this almost made me start crying.  I have loved Logan being in Mr. Strand's class this year and have really felt bad about him missing out on three months of school with him.  I was just so grateful that his teacher took the time to slow down and give him a personal greeting like that.  Oh, this quarantine business really is tough stuff at times!

Logan, Ella, and Lia all holding up their signs for their teachers at our 'first stop.'

Lia's good friend, Sienna, standing with her family.

Lia's other good friend, Mollie, with her mom and sister.  Since they live right up the hill from us and are also waivered into the school, they drove down to watch the parade with us.

The kids and me.

The police car leading the parade.

One of the teachers standing through the sun roof of her car.

The kids watching the parade of cars drive up the hill at our 'second stop' of the parade.

All three kids with the parade of cars in the background.

Logan's teacher driving by with a large Orca whale and dolphin floaties sticking out of the top of his car.

Lia's third grade teacher, Ms. Mitchell, driving by.

Another teacher driving by in her car decked out with streamers and lanterns.

After the parade was over, we had to dash back home in time to watch Spencer's wedding on Google Meets on my phone.  One of the saddest parts of this pandemic was having to cancel our trip to Utah to be a part of Spencer's wedding.  Since Spencer is the first grandchild on my side of the family, I have always been super close to him.  I was 21 years old when he was born and so I spent the first ten years of his life as an involved aunt before I started having children of my own.  And even after I had Lia and the rest of my kids, we remained really close since Spencer has always been such a well-behaved and nice boy, teenager, and young adult.  I just adore him and was so looking forward to attending his wedding in the Oquirrh Hills Temple and his reception in Salt Lake City later that day.  Plus, I was also looking forward to going back to Utah for the first time in 10.5 years with my family to stay with my dear friend, Sarah, in her mountainside house walking distance from the Sundance Ski Resort.  I was also so excited to show my children BYU and Temple Square and to see a few other friends in Utah that I haven't seen in years.  But, alas, the wedding was cancelled due to the closing down of all of the LDS temples and the reception was cancelled due to the restriction on groups of more than ten people being allowed in Utah.  As a result, my nephew and his fiance decided to just go ahead and get married in a small and very short civil ceremony on the grounds of the SLC capital yesterday.  Since Spencer's uncle, Jared, is currently a bishop in his ward in Boise, he was able to get last minute permission from the First Presidency to marry Spencer and Hannah which made the ceremony a little more special being performed by a family member.  At 12:05 our time, we gathered around my phone in the kitchen to watch Spencer's wedding through Susie's phone.  As sad as we were to not be there, we were all just grateful to be able to watch him get married "live."

Spencer and Hannah kissing at the end of the wedding ceremony!

The happy couple raising their hands and cheering.  I am sure that they were just so relieved to get married after such a rocky and stressful engagement.  Congrats, Spence!  We are so happy for the two of you!

Breaking Out to Blake Island!

Ever since our governor announced the stay-at-home order after the first week off of school, I have been pretty diligent about social distancing.  With the exception of having my parents over for Ella's birthday on March 31st, the six of us have not socialized with any of our friends and family.  We have not had any playdates with friends or gotten together with any family members.  With the exception of talking to people in our neighborhood on our daily walks and bike rides, the six of us have been each other's only company for the last four weeks.  However, after kind of hitting a wall after Spring Break, I decided to take my brother up on his offer to go over to Blake Island with him today since the weather was going to be absolutely gorgeous and I just felt the need to get out somewhere and do something fun!  So against Ron's wishes, the three older kids and I left our house today at 2 p.m. after waiting around all day long for Emmett to go down for his afternoon nap.  Since I knew that it would be very difficult to take a baby out to the island for the afternoon and evening, I decided to go later in the day so that I could leave Emmett home with Ron who was able to get his day's worth of work done by the time he woke up from his afternoon nap.  The three kids and I then drove out to Port Orchard where we met up with Chris and his family an hour later.  We drove down to his new property where they are currently building their new house so that we could hop in his little boat that he now keeps moored right off of his beach.  Since this boat is so small, we had to make two trips out to the island.  Chris and Natalee were kind enough to let my kids and I go out in the first group so that we could get an extra 30 minutes on the island while Chris went back to pick up the rest of the group.  We then spent a glorious 3 hours running around on this beloved island of ours soaking up the sun, breathing in the fresh air, and playing in the sand before roasting hot dogs for dinner.  We had to pack up and leave the island by 7:15 so that we could get home for Emmett's bedtime by 8:30 p.m.  Although I know that we were technically breaking the rules, it just felt so good to break out and go spend a few fun hours outside with my brother and his family!

Lia and Ella sitting on some drift wood waiting for Chris, Natalee, Brynn, Riley, and Trenton to arrive on the island.

Logan walking down the beach at low tide.  As you can see in the picture, there was NO one on the island besides a few people that came onto the beach for a few minutes from their sailboat moored off of the shore.  We basically had the entire place to ourselves which was amazing.

The three kids posing on a big, dead tree that had washed ashore some time this winter.

A close-up of my cuties.

Although it is hard to see, this is a picture of Logan and Trenton riding the giant, seesaw that someone made out of a long piece of driftwood.

A picture of the giant, bald eagle I spotted on the top of a very tall tree.  A few minutes later, another bald eagle landed on the tree, but I didn't get a picture of it.  It was pretty cool to see the two of them sitting side by side together.

Logan, Trenton, and Lia playing at the water's edge.

Brynn, Ella, and Lia riding on the other seesaw we found off the beach.

Two sisters at play!

Logan playing in the sand.

Lia putting her toes in the soft sand!

Mama and her kiddos.

Another shot of us before eating dinner and leaving the island.  I heart Blake Island.

Spring Break in Quarantine

Today we wrapped up a ten day break from school for our Spring Break.  As silly as it seems to be taking a Spring Break when our kids are already not going to school, I was actually grateful for the break from being my kids' teacher and from running a homeschool program at home.  Although I was a teacher for several years, homeschooling has never appealed to me for a variety of reasons.  As a result, I was glad to be able to take a break from working with my children for several hours a day assisting them with their assignments and activities.  Since we were supposed to be in Hawaii this past week and since we are not able to do most of the fun activities that we normally do when we spend a Spring Break at home (like going to the movies, or spending a day at grandma's house, or visiting the zoo, etc), I asked my family to sit down last Saturday night to brainstorm a list of quarantine-friendly activities that we could do during our ten day break.  After coming up with a long list of ideas that we wrote on sticky notes, I put together a schedules on two pieces of paper and hung them on the back door of our kitchen.  For the most part, we stuck to our schedule and checked off most of the activities that we had wanted to do.  Although it was no where as fun as being in Hawaii, we managed to make the most out of our Spring Break that we finished up today and enjoyed the incredible weather that we were blessed to have after two cold and wet weeks.  Here is a quick rundown of our week off at school...

A picture of the schedule I made from Monday, April 6th, through Monday, April 13th.

The first thing we did for break was pitching the two tents in our backyard on Sunday, April 5th.  After the kids helped Ron put them up, they spent most of the afternoon setting up their beds and playing in them.  It was the perfect way to pass the afternoon outside.

Lia, Logan, and Ella all spent the night together in the large tent with Ron in the smaller tent on Sunday night.  Although it had been a very sunny day on Sunday, it turned out to be a very cold night.  As a result, Ella came back into our house in the middle of the night.  I was so surprised to wake up Monday morning and find her inside.  Here is a picture of Lia and Logan all tucked into their sleeping bags at bedtime.

Ella snuggled into her own bed.

Ron winding down in his own tent.

We woke up to a beautiful day on Monday morning.  After Emmett's nap, Ron loaded up all of our bikes on the car and we drove down to the trailhead that runs along the Puyallup River.  We have not biked this trail in several years, so it was fun to be back there again with Ella on her own bike and Emmett in the seat on Ron's bike.  Here are the three older kids and me with the river in the background.

Ron and all four kids crossing the bridge.

My three boys riding down the trail.

The entire gang in front of me heading back to the car.

Ron stopping for a picture with an adorable, baby Emmett in the back.  Since we have gone on several bike rides since the lockdown started, Emmett has now become a pro on riding on the back of Ron's bike.  He absolutely loves it and never makes a peep!

Although Tuesday, April 7th, started out cloudy and cold, we decided to just stick with our plan and headed out after Emmett's morning nap to drive to Steilacoom, a quaint, little town right on the Puget Sound.  We have not visited this town since Lia was a toddler and so I suggested that we go back there to have a picnic lunch on the beach that we visited years ago.  After driving the thirty minutes out there, we discovered that the beach park that we had wanted to visit was closed due to the Coronavirus.  Luckily, after driving down the road a minute or two, we discovered another small park that was still opened.  Although it wasn't right on the beach, we decided that the grassy area would be ideal for our picnic.  Here are the kids and me enjoying our lunch.

Luckily, Logan had decided to bring his remote control car and he had a great time driving it all around this grassy park after lunch.  Emmett was mesmerized by his car and kept on following it everywhere.

Emmett loved walking all over this park.  He is always so happy to just cruise around outside whenever we let him "loose."

The kids and me with the Puget Sound in the background.

After finishing lunch and spending some time at the park, we decided to drive another minute or two down the same road to where the ferry terminal is located.  We discovered that we could access the beach by walking right under the large, ferry dock.  After parking our car, we wandered down to the beach to climb around on the rocks and look for crabs.  The one downside of this rocky beach was that it was not the ideal area for baby Emmett who is still getting comfortable walking outside in shoes.  As a result, he ended up tripping everywhere we went so we didn't end up staying at the beach for very long.

Ella and Logan climbing around in the large rocks above the beach.

Emmett cruising around.

Ella and Logan flipping up rocks looking for crabs.

Ron and the kiddos posing for a picture before heading back to the car.

On Wednesday, April 8th, the kids participated in a scavenger hunt around our house and yard.  Since I have been in charge of every scavenger hunt our kids have ever done here, it was a treat to have Ron write the notes and hide them everywhere while I worked on lunch.  He wrote and hid ten clues that were all Coronavirus themed that turned out to be quite funny.

Lia reading a clue to the kids that they found at our mailbox.

All three kids running past me as they headed to their next clue.

Logan reading a clue that they found inside the large tent.

The last clue took them to Ron's Suburban in the garage where they found a box of a dozen doughnuts from our local, doughnut shop in town.  We were all so excited to dive in!

During Emmett's second nap on Wednesday, the girls and boys divided for an afternoon activity.  I had promised the girls that we could have a cake decorating class the week before when I was decorating Ella's birthday cake and Wednesday turned out to be the perfect day for it.  I baked a cake for each girl and made a double batch of butter creme frosting so that the girls would have plenty of colors to choose from to decorate their cakes.  They both had such a fun time learning how to use different frosting tips to make different designs on their cakes.

When we were done decorating cakes, Ella decided that she wanted to decorate two graham crackers (to eat) with a fish theme.  Here she is showing off her finished product before eating it!

Ella's finished product.  She chose to write the name "Ariel" along the top since this mermaid is one of her favorite, Disney princesses.

Lia's finished product complete with her American Girl Doll YouTube and Instagram name:  AGD Dare To Dream.

The boys headed out to the shed for the afternoon to work on Logan's pirate-themed, pinewood derby car that they started months ago.  Although our ward does not even have a pinewood derby race on the calendar, Logan decided that he wanted to make one after seeing Lia race hers last April at our church.  Since Ron only finds the time every few months to work on it with Logan, it has taken quite some time to build!

On Thursday, April 9th, we were planning on driving to Tacoma to bike along the path above Chambers Bay before Logan crashed his bike as Ron was loading up our bikes on the car.  Needless to say, plans changed right away and Ron and Logan rushed off to Urgent Care to get his face stitched up.

Our poor, beat-up boy heading home after getting three stitches above his lip.  After some needed quiet time watching TV on the couch, Logan agreed to let us color Easter eggs during Emmett's afternoon nap.

Here is Lia decorating her egg with permanent marker before dying it.

Logan dying one of his eggs green.

Ella coloring away on one of her eggs.

Ron dipping an egg in the orange dye.

My beat-up boy and me dying our eggs together.

Our finished products that were all turned into deviled eggs three days later for Easter dinner.

Emmett woke up from his nap before we were done coloring our eggs, so he happily sat in his high chair enjoying his snack while watching us finish up.

After thinking it over for a few hours, Logan agreed to face his fears the very next day on Friday and let us go on our family bike ride along Chambers Bay.  We were all so grateful that he allowed us to do this as we all enjoyed this amazing bike ride with stunning views of the Puget Sound along the way.

The kids riding down the path.

Ella following Lia and Logan.

Ron bringing up the rear with baby Emmett in tow.

A close-up of our cutie in his bike seat.

The kids and me standing in front of the stunning view at the end of our bike ride.

Another shot of us and the Sound.  It's not Hawaii, but it will have to do!

On Saturday, April 11th, we all stayed in our pajamas and spent a lazy morning playing games around the kitchen table.  Here are Lia and Ron playing Ocean Labrynth.

Logan, Ella, and me playing Logan's new pirate, Lego game.  We also completed our "game day" by playing several rounds of hide-and-go-seek on all three levels of our house before bedtime later on that day.

Sunday, April 12th, was Easter.  As a result, the day was full with the kids enjoying their spoils in their Easter baskets, attending "home church," going on an Easter egg hunt, and eating Easter dinner.

Since our school district decided to make today, April 13th, a teacher work day, we had an additional day off that we had not planned on having.  Since Ron had to work all day long, I decided that it was the perfect day to get the kids to help me clean the house as it has been very neglected these past four weeks since every has been home full-time.  The kids helped me vacuum the entire upstairs and clean their bathroom.  I also cleaned the powder bathroom downstairs before taking everyone outside to complete a cool, chalk art activity that Ron had found online a few weeks earlier.  Here are all three kids working on their art after I made geometric shapes for each of them with paint tape.

Logan coloring in his shapes with various colors of chalk.

Lia working hard on her chalk art.

Ella proudly showing off her finished product!

Emmett and me sitting by his little chalk art that we made together.

And that's Spring Break in a nutshell.  We managed to stay happy, healthy, safe, and busy during our ten days off from homeschool, but I sure hope that everything is back to "normal" by next Spring Break.  Who knows.  Time will only tell!