Welcome Spring! The World's in Quarantine.

In early March, before everything was shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was able to meet a couple of my favorite cousins in Wimberly, TX for a girls' getaway weekend.  It was my cousin, Emily's, idea and she generously paid for the vacation costs, just because she missed spending time with us!  We had the best time together, and it was so relaxing to take a break from being moms for a few days. I really think that getaway weekend helped me have a better attitude to handle the "stay at home" mandate that began shortly afterward!

My cousins on my mom's side, Tricia (left) and Emily. We've always been close, and it was priceless to get to spend time and catch up with the two of them. We shopped, cooked, ate, watched chick flicks, played games, and stayed up talking until the early hours of the morning.

Later in the weekend, we were joined by Emily's sisters-in-law, Tara and Remy.  We had such a great time and kept each other in stitches with funny stories!

An added bonus of the trip was that my return flight had a long layover in Nashville, my hometown. My two best childhood friends, Michelle (left), and Melody picked me up from the airport and we spend two hours chatting over brunch before I had to fly back to Virginia. They're still such a blessing to me!

After our visit together, Melody sent this photo of the three of us from our college days at Union University. Good memories.

My friend, Lori, and I had registered to run the Cherry Blossom 10 mile run in Washington DC this spring, and we were so disappointed when the race was cancelled.  But we met and ran 10 miles together anyway, since we'd already trained for it. We were able to defer our registrations until next year's race, so we'll look forward to running along the beautiful Washington DC monuments next year!

There have been lots of positives from being at home more. With his trusty sidekick, YouTube, Dan's transformed into Mr. Amazing and has used his extra time to learn new tricks and improve our house! 

Our main plumbing line backed up, but Dan and my dad rented a "snake" from Home Depot and unplugged it themselves.

When we bought our house, we inherited this dilapidated old shed in the backyard that needed to be removed and replaced.

Dan took down the shed, cut it up and disposed of the metal and wood. To replace the lost storage space, he installed two large overhead racks in our garage.

He rewired the electricity in our bedrooms and installed ceiling fans and lights.

We previously had no central lights in our rooms, and it's amazing to just flick a switch and have plenty of light!

Although our yard was green, it was mostly covered by moss and weeds. Dan rented a tiller and spent a full day plowing everything up, with my dad and I raking and cleaning up. We're planning to level the ground before we plant grass, so our yard is just a big plot of mud with all the rain we've gotten this month.  Eventually, it'll be green again.

Dan also sold his old Isuzu Rodeo this month (for scrap parts), since fixing the transmission would cost much more than the car is worth.  It was a bit like saying a sad goodbye to an old friend.

Easter was certainly different with no church or organized Easter egg hunts.  But we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus as a family and enjoyed some time with my parents that day.

The girls had fun dying eggs that morning.

And we had lunch and an Easter egg hunt at my parents' house in the afternoon.

Emma celebrated her 7th birthday in April! Dan and I decorated the house for her birthday the night before to surprise her.

She had no shortage of presents to open, thanks to Amazon! My parents came over to eat lunch and watch her open gifts.

We also made a special trip to Williamsburg so she could celebrate with her cousins, Uncle Tim, Aunt Dawn, and Dan's parents.

Mostly, life has been very quiet and simple. Dan still goes to school to get his work done. I work 24 hours per week from home instead of going into the office, since the girls' school is closed for the rest of the academic year and they're distance learning from home. Indoor play places are closed, so we're thankful the weather's been nice to get outside most days.

We visited a farm to see animals and gardens

The girls love exploring anything that's near water, so we've visited the local beach, lakes, and rivers.

We've introduced them to several pretty walking trails in our area, too. 

We had one outdoor play date with Emma's classmate, Elisha, right in between Emma's and his birthdays.

 The girls' teachers dropped off weeks worth of schoolwork and they have weekly online class meetings.  Emma has assignments to turn in online, so we're much more diligent about doing her school work each day.  We figure Hallie will figure out a lot of her 3-year-old preschool skills along the way. 

But we do involve Hallie in the fun assignments, like science experiments!  In this photo, she made "rain" with a cup of water, a "cloud" of shaving cream, and some drops of food coloring.

Emma created "ocean currents" by blowing on cinnamon sprinkled on top of a bowl of water.

We created some colorful water volcanos, too!

Emma has loved science ever since she started school. She has the best reactions!

She's become an excellent writer and artist, too!  She won first place in a school art show for her fish drawing.

We're very thankful that our girls are young enough to enjoy being at home with their mom and dad, instead of feeling cooped up or trapped.  These simple days have been special in many ways, and we hope that we'll continue to trust God and honor him during this slower time in life.