April 30

Elliott, Lucy, and Kat have less than two weeks until they’re done with school!!!! We are trying to finish strong. 

We are having a Little Debbie bracket challenge. Swiss cake rolls beat peanut butter crunch bars and the frosted fudge cakes beat cosmic brownies... so far. Everyone gets a bite of the two competing cakes and then votes. I am not voting so that we have an odd number. I had never heard of some of these! 

Last night is was Elliott’s turn to make a menu and prep dinner. He made pickle-brined chicken tenders, sweet potato fries, and applesauce.

April 29

Julia, Elliott, and I enjoyed watching the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds fly over NYC in honor of the healthcare workers fighting Covid19.

It was Kat’s turn to cook dinner. She made delicious kabobs. I did the grilling. She hasn’t been taught to grill-yet! 

April 28

Our first telehealth appointment was yesterday. Julia FaceTimed with her dermatologist. Man, it would be awesome if we could do this from now on! It saved me about an hour of driving! 



Apparently we deal with this quarantine by baking/making desserts. Elliott and Lucy made dirt cake for us. It’s layers of crushed Oreos, cream cheese/powdered sugar, and cool whip/pudding. 


Lucy’s been drinking vanilla milk lately. It’s pretty yummy too. Heat up milk, add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and sugar, and top with whipped cream and cinnamon. The whipped cream and cinnamon were her own additions to the recipe.

Clay got new running shoes for himself, Kat, and Elliott yesterday and then took them (and a couple of tagalong neighbors) for a run last night. Assuming sports happen next school year, Kat plans to run either cross country or track and field for her school (gotta get that high school PE credit). Elliott is thinking he may run cross country. 

April 27

Someone likes having his people home for church.

Clay got another item taken care of on his Honey Do list. Useless and ugly gas fireplace? Gone!

While fumbling around in the basement behind the furnace, Clay came across this large, framed screen. He brought it upstairs and we figured out it goes to our storm door! I can now get fresh air while cooking in the kitchen and can hear the wind chimes. Love it!




Lucy and I made buttermilk biscuits from scratch. Oh. My. Word. They are very similar to Cracker Barrel’s biscuits. Soooo good.

April 26

2005 vs 2020

2007 vs 2020

2008 vs 2020

2008 vs 2020



2009 vs 2020

2009 vs 2020

2010 vs 2020



2012 vs 2020

2013 vs 2020

Clay and Elliott went for another run yesterday morning before the rain started. I went to the grocery store. Then the rain started. It rained all day. We had some fun last night recreating some old photos.

April 25

Look! Kat FINALLY took a shower AND styled her hair! 

We had beautiful weather yesterday. Lucy and Elliott spent hours outside playing with neighbors. This week I started letting them play outside with neighbors. The poor things can’t go basically anywhere in public. If they are playing outside and neighbors happen to play with them, I see no reason to stop it. 

April 24

Lucy finishing up the last chapter in her science book.

Gus the Fortnite coach

We had this for dessert last night- caramel banana cream pie. It. Was. Awesome.

April 23

I got my workout yesterday by doing some yard work, including removing two bushes from the front landscaping. One was totally dead and the other had been dying a slow death for years and just looked awkward. 

I planted a new bush and some flowers in our planters. Hopefully everything survives. I am not known for my green thumb!

Clay and Elliott went for a 1.9 mile run yesterday. That’s the second one this week. Elliott enjoys running and is good at it. He’d never run before this week and he kicked Clay’s butt! 😂

April 22

Yesterday was Rylie’s 12th birthday. We participated in a birthday parade for him. Then we circled back around and sprayed him with silly string-from a socially distant 6 feet away. 

April 21

Elijah’s 7th birthday was yesterday. Decorating cakes makes my friend Tracy crazy, so I volunteered to make the cake. He requested an Easter egg cake for his Easter-themed party. Tracy sent me a picture of one and I did my best to recreate it. I went a little overboard with decorating, but Elijah said it was “perfect” and that’s all that matters!

Someone hijacked my phone.

Clay is their favorite playmate.

It was announced yesterday that public schools will continue NTI for the remainder of the school year. No huge surprise there, but I know Julia misses her school friends. Hopefully summer will resemble a somewhat normal summer. We shall see?