Headed towards Spring, and then a sharp left towards crazy

The week after my birthday (the last time I posted) was just as packed as every other week (and then some):

And now this week, our calendar has really cleared up!  COVID-19 has put everything in the world on hold in a way!

Some things are still happening virtually and about the same time as usual (like Carolyn's violin/orchestra lessons, the kids youth night, and Rob's work), while other things are happening whenever and however but still at home (school for all kids, Sacrament meeting/Sunday School, and time with friends). Thank goodness for the blessing of technology!

Thankfully, our family has not had symptoms or exposure (as far as we know!) to the COVID-19 (coronavirus), but we are always cautious with sickness anyways. No one wants to bring home germs when it's going to take weeks to go through all 8 of us! We've taken our hygiene up a notch this month though!

So, what did we do earlier this month before the world turned upside down and everyone started socially distancing themselves??
We visited with family and held baby cousins

 (Actually only these kids have held the newest baby cousin. Gideon was very snotty when she was born, so I decided not to hold her so we wouldn't give her his cold. I also didn't have Alee hold her since she shares a room with Gideon, and Kaitlyn was at a meeting when they visited. Now, we are all keeping away from babies and older people, so I probably won't visit them and hold her for a while longer.) :(

We went to preschool (and participated...sometimes):

We went to the zoo (Free Fridays in Jan/Feb if you live in Lex/Rich counties). Carolyn enjoyed the "field trip" as she has been overloaded with school work. It was fun to hear her recall things she knew as we went through the aquarium; her most recent unit was invertebrates, fish, and amphibians.

We went on school field trips. (Alee is trying out an old toy colonial children would have had at the state museum class.)

We had large gatherings (like this wonderful meeting with an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ who came and spoke directly with the youth). Carolyn was busy talking with friends when I took this picture after the meeting.

Still trying to convince Gideon to eat anything other than the 3 favorites (chicken nuggets, pizza, and applesauce).  (Actually, he also loves smoothies, oatmeal, breakfast cookies, strawberries, and ice cream.) I made it cute. He agreed. He still didn't eat it.

We had sleepovers. (They're wearing matching sweatshirts with sparkles from Grandma.)
 I still allow the kids to see their cousins even with the pandemic...so far. (I hadn't decided about friends....I was thinking no...maybe just the neighborhood kids...? When I said told Alee ok, the other parents said no. Decision made! Cousins only for now.)


Some things don't change; like family scripture study. Most nights we just read and discuss, but for this night, we did pictures about things to pray about. These are our pictures about prayer. (It's like pictionary - can you guess what they mean? I know they're going fast; sorry.)

Kaitlyn misunderstood the assignment, so hers is a thought about prayer rather than what to pray for. Since it has a lot of detail, I pulled it out separately so you can see it better.

Gideon is not a huge fan of all things spiritual (like scripture study, church, anything where he has to be quiet), but he does like nursery. Funny quote about nursery and other funny quotes:

US: "Do you love Evie?"
Gideon: "I don't love Evie. I love Hazel."
US: "Do you love Henry?"
Gideon: "Henry is out in primary."

     Context: (Evie, Hazel, and Henry are friends from nursery. Henry aged out of nursery and moved up to primary in January, so Gideon is stuck with a bunch of girls at home AND at church! And for the record, Beth loves Evie, Hazel, and Henry!)

Not that it matters right now since we aren't actually attending church in person during the pandemic, but Beth was released as nursery leader and called to be primary pianist the week before everything shut down. (Both sad and exciting because they are both favorite callings.)

Natalie: "Am I your favorite sister?"
Gideon: "Seth is my favorite sister."
Natalie: "Who's your favorite brother?"
Gideon: "Alee is my favorite brother."

      He doesn't understand boy vs. girl yet, obviously.

Gideon: "I'm a big muffin!"

 Carolyn learned about  How Anthocyanins and pH Help Determine Leaf Color in a recent lab; we are now in the botany units. She enjoyed it so much, she duplicated it for her sisters who are home this week. Basically she boiled some purple cabbage, which got the anthocyanins out of the cabbage leaves and into the water. Then, she alternately added vinegar and an ammonia solution and watched the water color change from purple to green to pink. (I think the acidic vinegar turned it green and the alkaline ammonia turned it pink.) It was fun to watch, and so far her favorite of the experiments. (She is not a biology fan, I have found, but I have a guess that she's going to enjoy chemistry next year!) The pH affects the color the leave presents because of the anthocyanins (which are pigments in the plant)...I sped read through that chapter so I only half know what I'm saying! The next chapter is more interesting (plant reproduction); I learned about pollen. How appropriate!

Gideon likes to sleep with things. He has for a while, but I remember when he didn't even like stuffed animals at all. Now he requests them. It's come slowly over time. As the pacifier use decreased and disappeared, the toy need increased. (Thankfully, like our other kids, he rotates among his choices, so there isn't a favorite stuffed animal that we have to keep up with and protect at the cost of bedtime being ruined without it.) He often chooses non-stuffed toys to come along for the sleep too (cars, rubber ducks, llama-corn... Like a llama-unicorn combo).

Gideon loves going for rides. If we stay somewhere a while (like parked outside dance where he is contained in the van with a movie while I work on something in the front seat), he likes to be unbuckled so he can sit in the middle seat of the middle row, which he calls the little seat (because it is smaller than the others).
"Buckle me out. I want to sit in the wittle seat." "Push the red button." (Releases buckle)

Kaitlyn was going above and beyond (because she's Kaitlyn) and making an optional 3D project work of art with her friend (who is also above and beyond and loves to create). Sadly, it will have to be shown in picture/video format to the teacher until school resumes in person. She was very excited about her project. Whatever she does one day, she will be a sought after [friend, member, employee, etc] because of her all-in attitude.

 Friday was a day off of school and work, and we had planned to go camping, which had to be cancelled because we all had too much going on. Turns out, that was a good thing because Rob spent part of the day managing communication as the coronavirus started shutting things down. So we kept it simple and went to Pine Island and grilled out for lunch and park time. Just the six of us (Seth had gone to a friend's house).

We were the only ones there, and as it turns out it was actually closed, but we didn't know that since there were no signs posted, and the gate was open, and a few workers were driving around the place.

 It does explain why the bathrooms near the playground were locked, now that I think about it.
Natalie found some other ones to use farther  away from where we were, but I didn't want to buckle Gideon in to drive to them, take him out, use the potty, change him, buckle him again, and then go home. So, I just helped him take care of business outside in the bushes. It was his first time to pee in the bushes. (Monumental first right there!)

Rob went with me to get some things we might need if items were limited or out as people are going crazy and clearing out shelves. Gotta join the crazy, right? Thankfully, we have toilet paper, but check out the toilet paper aisle at Walmart Friday afternoon!

Gideon often hears, "That was ______ when s/he was little."
He said recently, "That was my ball when I was big."

Monday was also supposed to be a day off from school, but it kind of got mixed with school since they announced over the weekend that schools in SC would close for 2 weeks, and the girls started working on math. We went to the tennis courts to let Seth practice. It seems a safe enough public place since it was basically abandoned, and it's outside. Gideon had a car, sidewalk chalk, and a playground ball. Seth and Kaitlyn like tennis; I like tennis; Alee likes it a little; Carolyn and Natalie do not like tennis. Most of us are not very good at it. :)

School at Home (which is different from homeschool)

A lot of computer time going on around here, but we did take time for a walk on Tuesday. We didn't have time today, and probably not Thursday, but hopefully Friday.

I took Seth's phone to add a bookmark in his gospel library app (because he takes forever to find where we are studying each night and we all wait on him to get ready). I was confused and then humored at his bookmark system.  He literally NAMES his bookmarks. See photo:

How we dress when only the top half shows up on the virtual meeting and it's hot upstairs:

Look, we're twins!

My brother made this over the weekend, and sent it to my dad, who sent it to me. Funny Jacob; he calls Seth the Mayor.

Hope this gave you something fun to read while we're all trying to stay mostly at home!