Jibby Jabbing: 2021

I wish I could come up with better post titles for these, but I'm a year and a half behind, and I just don't have the energy to be cutesy.

Anyway, May was just like April--staying at home, trying to stay sane, looking for creative ways to pass the time, trying out new hobbies, etc.

We also watched a bunch of movies, including...

The kids liked them! We watched 4, 5, and 6, and then 1 and 2. We thought they'd be too scared by 3, so they haven't seen that yet.

We did manage to keep away from screens enough for there to be a lot of cute sibling interactions involving Clara. Everyone just loved spending time with her. Carter particularly enjoyed being the big brother.

He actually accidentally burps Clara in this video, hehe.

I also got into the sibling matching thing with Aubrey and Clara. It's just so fun!

We got around to actually planting our garden. We did yellow squash (which worked really well) and bell peppers (which did nothing whatsoever).

One day the kids decided to write chalk messages in front of people's houses to make them feel good (So cute!), and some of them were hilarious.

Here's one that speaks to me personally...

And my favorite:

I don't know if the house she wrote it in front of even has a dog. Carter also put some sort of flower (maybe dandelions?) on people's doorsteps. Hehe.

And speaking of doing nice things for people, Aubrey was super sweet to Carter when he had to get stitches... again. I made cookies for him and put a message up on our letter board sign, and Aubrey did a whole big display for him to see when he got home.

I love the note. It says (and yes, I've edited for punctuation and spelling), "Calm down Carter; it's okay. Mommy will help you today. I will snuggle you." She kept adding to the display, and this is what it looked like when he got home.

This is all of us the next day. You can see the bandaid on Carter's eyebrow.

Oh, and do you like the purple hair? Not long before the second stitches debacle, I dyed Aubrey's and Carter's hair. I actually got some process shots. As you can see, it wasn't a great dye job, but they still loved it.

Here's Carter with the dye in. And yes, he's holding a vacuum attachment. Don't ask me why.

And the final products!

Anyway, in the month of May we made sure to continue getting out of the house for hikes, and we found some pretty places.

The way it usually goes is that Daniel leads the way, with Aubrey close behind...

... and Carter dawdles in the back, usually dragging a stick in the dirt.

Every time!

And, of course, Clara is always just along for the ride, being cute.

On this particular hike, Aubrey brought her camera and took a bunch of photos. So cute!

See, isn't it pretty?

Cool tree...

And, of course, the kids had to do some rock scrambling.

Speaking of rocks, I don't know if someone made this or what, but I thought it looked like an angel, or the way a snow angel looks.

And then there was this cool rock formation.

In addition to hiking as a family, Daniel and I also starting getting out on our own, each of us taking turns staying with the kids so the other could go for bike rides. Yes, I went on bike rides! I even went mountain biking! Daniel's mom gave me her old bike, and I was super uncomfortable at first. I was so cautious and nervous. But I kept riding and then forced myself to try some easy mountain trails.

The first one I did was Dawson Butte. It was challenging but totally doable for me. Plus it was pretty!

Proof that I was on a bike...

Pretty wildflowers...

And here's the butte itself.

And tired, sweaty me...

And more photos of the trail...

Pretty!

Okay, done with that. The outside fun continued with more back yard time, and the kids even had a friend from the neighborhood to play with for awhile before he moved. He was actually in Aubrey's kindergarten class and lived just a few doors down from us.

Clara enjoyed sitting with Mommy and watching the fun. Doesn't she look so happy here?

And then we did more hiking. We followed a trail close to our house and never imagined how far it would go or how pretty it would be.

We found a little collection of water that the kids had to throw rocks into, of course.

This is the trail...

And here's the top of the... Mesa? Bluff? I don't even know. But it was cool (even if I was worried about someone falling off the cliff to their death)!