QuaranSpring 2020

I am finally finding time to finish/share some blog posts... so while I normally prefer to post in real time, I'm going to share some stuff from the last 6 months.

Phewww! It has been quite the Spring. I look back over the last couple of months and it feels like it has been a long time, but also like no time has passed at all. My department sent me to work from home about the same time school was closed so a lot happened all at once. I took my weekly trip to the grocery store on Saturday morning and it was shocking to see the empty shelves in person in my usual grocery stores. After the grocery trip, we hunkered down at home.

I was sick for the first couple of weeks of staying at home (tested negative for Covid, but had all the symptoms and was exposed to an international traveler) and about a week after feeling better I threw out my back. So health-wise, this Spring has not been the most enjoyable for me. I had outdoor projects on my to-do list that I'm no longer able to do without lots of help. However, the forced rest has been really good for me. We spent a lot of that time inside, watching tv, crafting, and baking (homemade pizza was a quarantine essential),

With the warmer weather, we did our best to get a couple hours outside every single day. We have construction happening next to and behind out house... At the beginning it was just as entertaining as it was irritating. We did our best to enjoy outdoor picnics, gardening (more on our garden later), soccer, and walks as often as we could. 

Easter this year was weird. Normally, we do a big family get together and spend a large chunk of the day together. Instead we had some swing by Easter egg hunts, waving from the porch to family members, church online, and Indian food for dinner. The day was bittersweet. We enjoyed being at home and celebrating Easter in a new way, but missing our family.  

We celebrated Cora's birthday in May. She got to hug my parent's and siblings for the first time in over a month and that was a real treat. A couple family members stopped by my parent's house for a social distance happy birthday and present drop off. We had a great lunch time hanging out with my family then headed home to meet a couple friends swinging by for social distance happy birthday ice cream. We had some more cake decorated like a soccer ball (Cora declared her birthday soccer themed). Cora's final birthday wish was to have a date with mommy watching Full House and eating pizza rolls. She said it was the perfect day and I couldn't agree more.

Schooling was also weird. Online school was hard for our family to juggle with us both working full time and no childcare. Cora still needs a good amount of assistance with her schoolwork, so we did our best to struggle through. The school had a drive by teacher parade and we were lucky enough to be on route (and close to the beginning!).  Cora loved spotting some of her teachers and Ida loved waving to all of the cars. School ended unceremoniously, so our neighbor friends ordered shaved ice for the neighborhood kids. We were all happy that we would get to take at-home schooling off our to-do lists.

It was a weird season. We had a lot of hard things, but we really enjoyed all of the uninterrupted time together. We have always loved having an open schedule, so while we missed a lot of the regular spring activities (spring festival, soccer, end of school year events) we still had lots of fun.

Christmas 2019

The Christmas season was a whirlwind.  We started Christmas early with Cincinnati Zoo's Festival of Lights opening night. We put our tree up in mid-November and slowly decorated it slowly over the following month... so slowly that we actually never finished hanging up all our ornaments this year. Over the years, I've learned that starting things early allows us to enjoy all of our favorite things about this season without becoming too exhausted and cranky. Ben and I both work full time and with both the girls in school, we already have a lot of things going on even before adding in the crazy holiday activities.

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the opportunity to DIY easy things and creating a handmade holiday in our home. A couple years ago, I purchased a bunch of clear plastic ornaments from Michaels and we decorate a couple each year to gift and hang on our tree. We start by painting them, followed by drawing designs with paint pen, and finish off with a clear coat. It is fun to watch the girls' styles evolve over the years. Cora used to end up finger painting her ornaments and now that is something Ida does. I also love making sculpey handprint Santas each year and I can't wait until my tree is full of them.

Every couple years, I like to add some handmade gifts to our list. When Cora was 3, she painted a nutcracker for my dad... so this year it was Ida's turn. She had so much fun having painting time with mommy and was so focused on covering every single spot of that nutcracker. I don't think I took any after pictures (oops), but here is the step-by-step of how I did this with Cora.

Ida's school has a Breakfast with Santa fundraiser every year. Cora had plans to see Frozen 2 with my Aunt and Uncle, so Ida and I had a little date. We ran into Cora's friends (that Ida loves) so we ended up spending the whole time with them getting face painted, crafting, and snacking. Ida surprisingly liked seeing Santa and ran straight up to give him a hug. It was nice to get extra time with just Ida and I know Cora loved getting spoiled hanging with our extended family.

Over the last couple years, we have made it a tradition to decorate gingerbread houses as a family. It is nice to get together, have a little project, and snack on candy. 

Every year, our extended family makes potato sausage together. Cora was really interested in the process this year and loved diving in to help during each stage.

Christmas Eve and Christmas were both full with lots of family time. Our extended family celebrates on Christmas Eve with church, dinner, and exchanging presents. The girls were wound up on all the together time and treats and loved running around with cousins. We didn't make it home until close to midnight. Cora ran in the house to set up cookies and milk for Santa and went to bed so fast so she wouldn't be awake when Santa arrived.

On Christmas Day, both girls slept in until around 9:30, so we had a lazy morning opening presents and hanging out. My parents stopped by for a bit and then we went over to visit my Aunt and Uncle. We spent the afternoon being lazy, making Indian food, watching tv, and napping. In the evening, my extended family got back together and enjoyed food and games and hanging out. 

I had the week between Christmas and New Years off of work. I had a to-do list of projects and outings I wanted to do, but we totally ignored the list and spent most of the week in our jammies hanging around the house. Cora insisted that we make a trip to the Cincinnati Art Museum, so we stopped by for a little bit one weekend morning. Overall it was a really great/relaxing holiday. We enjoyed all the extra time we got to spend as a family and activities we got to attend... but boy were we excited to get back into our regular routines.

Wisconsin Vacation

We made our yearly journey to our family cottage in Wisconsin at the end of July. We packed up the girls Friday evening and drove overnight to arrive around breakfast Saturday morning. The girls were so excited to spend the week hanging out at the cottage and swimming.

Each morning, we would putz around the yard and enjoy the quiet mornings. One of the mornings, my dad, Ida, and I went over to the neighbor's yard and walked around their boardwalk area. There are mounds of moss all over the ground and it is so neat. I would love to have a moss garden like that.

Cora learned to swim this summer, so she was most looking forward to swimming in the lake. She swam all day every day. As soon as it was warm-ish enough to swim, she would be suited up and ready to go. Ida would take a bit longer to warm up to the water, but also loved spending our afternoons in the water.

Towards the end of our vacation, we took our army of kayaks out and Ida really loved riding along on kayak adventures. There is a little cove close to our cottage and I love going over there and checking out the lily pads.

Cora was always off hanging out with my parents and brother, so I spent a lot of one-on-one time with Ida... which is also why most of my pictures are of Ida. I loved getting to spend so much time with her goofy self and watching her enjoy everything the cottage has to offer.

Towards the end of the week, my Aunt and Uncle invited us over to pick blueberries at their cottage. Cora loved running around grabbing all of the berries in sight... and Ida loved tasting all of the blueberries.

We had a wonderful relaxing week. The girls had the best time running around, swimming, and enjoying all of the family together time.

See previous Wisconsin vacation posts here.