April didn't bring much of a change from March. We were still on what everyone called "quarantine" or "lockdown" to "slow the spread" and "flatten the curve." Thankfully, Easter was early in the month and brought some much-needed diversion. On Saturday we did a little Easter egg hunt in the front and back yards. Because of Covid, a large group hunt was out of the question. The kids still had a lot of fun though.
Not sure what Aubrey's face is about in this photo, but it was the best one I could get of the two of them. Clara was napping. Plus she couldn't walk, so an egg hunt would be kind of difficult for her.
The eggs were filled with jelly beans, so Carter was very happy. Exhibit A:
On Sunday we did our Easter baskets. Clara was too young for any real treats, so she got a little bath book, a spinny toy, and a crap ton of baby rice husks.
Here she is eating them!
Aubrey was a good big sister and read Carter's clues to him when it was his turn.
He was excited when he found his basket.
And so was Aubrey.
And then, even though we didn't have church, I made the kids dress up in the Easter clothes I had bought for them pre-pandemic. I love how Clara's looking at Aubrey in this one:
It really does figure that the year I bought all three kids matching Easter outfits, we didn't have anywhere to show them off. Don't they look so sweet?
I even popped in for a picture with them.
After awhile of not being able to attend preschool, Carter was finally able to reconnect with everyone on Zoom. It was so cute. Here he is waving at everyone!
Aubrey also did Zoom meetings for school, but I never got photos of her... I was usually spending the whole time trying to keep Carter from distracting her or trying to convince Aubrey to sit down and actually participate. (Oh my goodness, the struggle. Half the time she would scream and yell and run away to her room. So fun.)
Anyway. Even with school somewhat resuming, the kids had a lot of free time. It led to some interesting play. Poor Clara was very patient...
Huh. Apparently they really liked covering people with toys...
In an attempt to cut through the monotony and have fun as a family, Daniel and I decided to have a Nerf war with the kids. It was boys...
... versus girls. A good time was had, and no one even got hurt! Win.
Well, no one got hurt that time, I should say. There was plenty of sibling-on-sibling violence, some intentional and some accidental. One of the times Aubrey at least apologized for hurting Carter. That's something.
Aubrey was surprisingly dainty about the whole thing, but Carter was willing to really dig in and get his hands messy.
Then, at some point, I got the kids little punching bags to get some of their energy and frustration out. It didn't take long for them to get broken, but the kids loved them all the way up until they popped.
It wasn't all fun and games though. We occasionally put the kids to work as well. (This photo is kind of a lie though... they asked to do this.)
And we attempted to get the kids moving with things like kids yoga on YouTube. As you can see, Carter decided it was more of a spectator sport for him. Hey, at least Aubrey did it.
And despite the fact that things were complicated and uncertain and difficult, it was nice to have forced down time to spend as a family. I definitely took as many snuggles as I could get...
And we got outside whenever we could.
Then, since we couldn't go to the neighborhood pool, we got our own.
I love this video of Aubrey and Carter. I know that Carter's fall was on accident, but I'm not sure about Aubrey's. It was still spring weather outside, and the water from the hose was pretty darn cold, so either way it's entertaining.
I will say, we got some good use out of our backyard during "the pandemic." We had picnics...
... took lazy afternoon naps...
... engaged in fun, active play...
... and even managed to build the planter box we had planned on putting in ever since we moved in.
And, of course, since we were in the back yard so much, we took the opportunity to grill lots of yummy food and ate way more than we probably should have. Oh well... it was worth it.
By the by, those are homemade brioche buns that I made. Game changing for burgers. Also, I decided to try my hand at making bagels. I mean, baking bread became the big thing everyone did during these weird months at home. I've been baking my own bread for years now, but bagels made me nervous. Glad I went for it, because they were delicious.
Anyway. I'm going to start a new post now, because this one is long and has somehow become about bread.
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