Healthy At Home

We are starting week six of being healthy at home. It hasn't felt like six weeks to me. I think we stayed so busy that the slow down was much welcomed and embraced. Of course I wish the circumstances were different but I've enjoyed the ability to get my housework, regular work and Masters class work done while still fitting in time for family and myself. No complaints here!

I never want to forget that at seven, she loved reading through recipe books. She will take them outside if it's a pretty day to read them or read them inside if it's cool. I love this about her.

This boy is just anxious to get his school work done every morning so he can get outside ASAP. That face says it all! We have continued with the paper plate letters and numbers and he has made a lot of progress. I hope we have a normal Kindergarten year to prepare for! There's so much unknown right now.

After she reads her recipe books, of course we have to try them out.

She still loves making her cooking videos but now that her recipes have become more complicated, our videos end up being pretty long. A friend told me about iMovie on your iPad that I'm going to try to edit the clips down. She hopes to produce more cooking videos soon!

The day daddy and pa went to pick up our new toy. It's an odd time to make purchases like this with so many places closed but we found a good deal.

I found this in Georgia's room last week. Give her all the babies.

Owen went on an errand outing with us last week. He whimpered until we allowed him up front which ended up being him nearly in the driver's seat! He has no idea how big he is.

I found my garden notes from last year to help us prepare for this year. We are hoping to plant tomorrow. I can't wait!

Easter activities blended in with birthday fun this year but we did dye eggs one afternoon. 

The Easter bunny came and brought a few goodies, mostly fun things we can do this summer.

The kids have enjoyed our days at home and having neighbor friends to play with has definitely helped! I thought this was so sweet to see when I looked out my back door.

Owen has been pampered while we've been home. He looks annoyed but he really loves it.

Of course the four-wheeler found all the mud. This was sis after she helped pull her brother out of the garden spot. He was worse but a picture didn't happen.

Our yard officially has ruts, that didn't take long ;)

Family game night of Dominoes has been fun. Some nights we do a game and some nights we do a movie. The kids switch teams based on who is winning ha!

Georgia had a zoom meeting with her class this week. She loved seeing her teacher and classmates!

A few of her classmates and Mrs. Willoughby. We were officially told today that school will not resume this year. My heart goes out to Kindergarten parents that won't get to experience their child's full K year and of course high school seniors. I'm sure we will learn more in the days to come about how we will finish the year from home. 

I have been putting the family recipe book I received for Christmas to good use over the break. I'll share more about this book sometime but it's probably my new favorite possession.

Kids approved of my version of Gram's fried potatoes!

I FINALLY perfected mamaw's cornbread. It has taken two years of practice but I finally achieved appearance, taste and texture all in one. I don't think it's a coincidence it happened during a time that we can't see my mamaw and taste her cornbread on Wednesday nights. 

He smelled sausage and G is a pushover for feeding him table scraps!

He also found his way to my cornbread sitting on the kitchen island and helped himself

Jack's letter progression. The top are the ones he still needs to work on and the bottom he has learned! I am so proud and feel much better about his start to Kindergarten in the fall.

Jack saw this cow on the side of his CFA bag and asked me to cut it out because it reminded him of himself with a mimi. The kids decided to name him and I thought it was clever.

I'm sitting on our porch on a beautiful spring day as I type this. We are all healthy and safe. I know how quickly those circumstances can change. I have a very thankful heart today <3

Jack Turns Five!

We celebrated another quarantine birthday in our family. We had already decided to have a pool party in May like we did last year so he wasn't bothered by the COVID crisis and we didn't bring attention to it. He was unphased and I'm so thankful for that! 

I always take a picture of the kids the night before their birthday. His last night as a four year old.

As soon as he was in bed, Georgia and I started on his homemade cake. He wants a pirate pool party and told me the day before his actual birthday to use the pirate decorations we already had. We improvised and did the best we could with limited cake decorating skills.

Jack's birthday was on Easter this year which he was so excited about! When the pandemic started and we realized we would not be attending normal church on his Easter birthday, we still wanted to make sure he knew how special this day was and how blessed he was to share the day with the resurrection of our Savior. Our sweet, new neighbors surprised the kids with an egg hunt Sunday morning. They made us personalized eggs with their names on it and "He's Alive". Thank you Inmans for the act of kindness and giving him a gift that celebrated both things! 

His family party of four decorations. He was excited!

Lots of accessories to hide lots of imperfections :)

My favorite picture I've taken in a long while. How lucky are we to have a happy and healthy five year old boy to celebrate!

My birthday gift has become his new love and mom and dad's new form of anxiety. Goodness he loves it so much already. We almost got him one for Christmas but it didn't work out so we decided we would look again for his birthday. We found a good deal and pulled the trigger. We were told they are no longer making 50 size four-wheelers and that 2019 would be the last model. I was set on nothing bigger than a 50 so I'm glad we finally found one!

Just look at those eyes! I also love that underneath his camo coat and boots are his Easter bunny pajamas :)

Since we were home all day, he shot some hoops with Dad on his new ball goal from Ma and Pa. 

A few screenshots of him riding from videos that I have taken. He seems to be a very good driver. He took off and hasn't looked back. We already have ruts in the yard and rules for where he can and can't go. 

I have to include this for documentation sake. This happened within the first five minutes. Talk about giving us a heart attack. We promptly dialed down the throttle to the lowest setting. Raising a boy isn't for the weary.

He fell asleep at 5:30pm. That never happens. Such a tired boy after a day of celebrating!

Our local online newspaper started featuring "Good News" during the COVID crisis and I was excited to see this pop up on my news feed! Thank you BtN for remembering the good things too!

Even though we remained #healthyathome for his birthday, that didn't stop our friends and family from helping make the day special for him. He received several texts/messages, facetimes, birthday videos and even some porch gifts and "drive-by" visits. He was so excited when someone new would show up for him! I'll never forget these acts of kindness during a difficult cirumstance.

Happy 5th Birthday, Jack Porter Harrison. I hope I never forget as he was making the final lap in the yard on his birthday night the words "Remember mom, you're sleeping with me tonight". He's tough and tender, and this mom thinks he's the perfect mix. We love you so much! Thank you God for the blessing you gave us in him.

A Quarantined Birthday

Our lives continue to be halted as a result of the coronavirus. This marks over a month that we have been at home (the last day of school was Friday, March 13th). There have been beautiful things come from it and very sad things come from it. Our nursing home has had an outbreak with over 50 cases and so far two deaths. Their director Amy is a friend of mine and she has been on my mind and heart constantly. God chooses his biggest battles for his strongest soldiers. We are praying the end is near.

Speaking of a good thing from this, we have had time to get the garden tilled and ready to plant! This is our second year of having a garden and I have been looking forward to this day since we tilled it up last September. 

I love this picture of my man working. Mamaw and papaw gave us a new tiller for Christmas. It looks like it may be too cold this weekend to plant so I am hoping for next week.

Even though we are social distancing, mom still had an egg hunt for the kids in the yard. We all scattered and stayed outside but it was nice for the kids to have something to look forward to.

I'm not sure why she looks like a pre-teen here :(

Of course it was a competition but it didn't get too nasty lol!

Sweet Easter babies. We will probably hide eggs for a month.

This whole growing up thing is happening faster than I was prepared for.

Getting him to smile for pictures is so hard. I've decided to just start snapping.

I helped them hunt a while then I rocked a while.

We had a really warm day and I let him play with the waterhose. I looked outside and saw this.

Then I saw this. This kid belongs farther out in the country with no neighbors ha!

My birthday was Tuesday and the day started with a breakfast feast in bed-so sweet and thoughtful!

We've learned from previous breakast in bed experiences to bring enough for them too :)

We took a drive through the country as we were out running a few errands. I love driving through the country so this was a nice treat with limited birthday celebrating options.

Mamaw and Mom made sure I still had my birthday strawberry cake no matter what! I love this tradition and them for making it a special day regardless of the situation.

A sweet facetime from my nephew and niece was the best gift! Lottie Kate is in the middle of potty training so I got to hear all about her progress. Love my babies!

My thoughtful best friend Rachel made my day special with a homemade card and a flower for my garden. She knows me!

And one of my other best friend's Ash made me a sweet chalk birthday wish that included my boy Ben! So so sweet.

20 weeks-halfway there!

Bump pictures are a little more crowded these days

We couldn't leave doggy brother out!

I had a gorgeous day to celebrate my birthday. Temperature in the 70's, sunshine, a chartreuse green landscape and everything in full bloom. I love my spring birthday.

Silly faces of course

These peace signs are all I get these days. Not sure where they learned them but I'm already tired of them ha!

We ended the night with supper over the fire-can you spot my little camper?!?

I sat back and relaxed and the fam took care of the rest. Now that's living.

A campside supper with these three four is better than any restaurant

My birthday is unique because it's always during Spring Break and has often been glamorized for that reason. I've spent birthdays at Disney World, NYC, Savannah, a couple of beaches and even shared the day with Easter a few times. I have spent a birthday 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant. Despite all of that, this one might be the most unique. A simple birthday at home where we're healthy and safe is the best birthday gift anyway. 

My quarantined birthday was a blessing in disguise.