Happy At-Home Easter

Yesterday we celebrated our first (and hopefully last) Quarantine Easter. It was memorable. And quiet. And long. And beautiful. And a little boring. But still nice. But mostly long. These days are really long!

When Santa Claus visited in December, he accidentally left a few things behind, so we decided to save those items for a later event. They came in handy for Easter. Scotty's mom brought us a bag of candy and some eggs for the kids, so with all of that, we felt like we had plenty of things to help out the Easter bunny. The Easter bunny came and sprinkled the bag of candy around the house, hid the eggs, and hid the gifts from Santa Claus from himself. The kids woke up at 6:30 (unfortunately) and spent a while searching for Easter goodies.

Someone left a scattering of candy and eggs on our front lawn (as well as many other lawns in our neighborhood) so that was a fun surprise! (and it kills me not knowing who it was. We have our theories, of course, but no hard evidence).

Easter flowers from my friend, Annette

For breakfast we made Ham, Egg, & Cheese Wafflewiches. They were really good, but not worth the work (the recipe makes them out to be "easy" but they were pretty time consuming. Blogs lie).

The kids spent a while digging through their candy and playing with toys.  We decided to do church a little later than we usually do, so I spent my morning doing some personal study, and watching a Methodist Easter service. Scotty and Nicky watched a documentary about Yellowstone on Disney+ (Nicky was exposed to the mating rituals of bison and wolves, and he watched a bison give birth).

We got dressed and ready for church with Frozen II playing in the background. Some of those songs just hit me to the core right now. We started our Easter church around 11:00. Scotty's dad and step-mom gave us an Easter creche, so we put it out and talked about all of the figures and the roles they played in the last days of Christ's life. In talking about Thomas, I realized that I have Jesus FOMO. So many thoughts on this, but I will save them for another time. The quick version: my heart breaks for Thomas; that he wasn't there with the other apostles when Christ came to them. I need to study his experience in more depth.

Easter creche - as placed by the kids

Eva's primary teacher made us a laminated Easter story, so we also used that. We sang "Jesus Has Risen" from the Children's Songbook and tried "Before I Take the Sacrament" (which was new to us) (and it was rough). Scotty blessed the sacrament and Nicky passed it to each of us. Then we talked a little about some questions the kids had from the scriptures. Nicky and Daisy have asked a lot of questions lately that have led to some fun discussions. This has been one of the greatest blessings of teaching the gospel at home.

After church, we made lunch (nothing fancy, just leftovers and stuff that needed to be used up in the fridge and pantry). Scotty and I went and sat in the backyard for a few hours. Yes, hours. The kids came in and out of the house at will, the sun came and went so we were warm and cold and warm and cold, and the wind blew every now and then and made our tree rain blossoms on our heads. Both of us have red, sun-burned faces now.

Easter lily in our window

Scotty's dad and step-mom stopped by to bring the kids a treat, then we went up to Scotty's mom's house for a while. We stayed outside in the backyard but were able to visit for a while. I broke up several fights between the kids on the trampoline, and Eva and Zoe both fell asleep for a while, which is highly unusual.

After we came home, I made Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes for dinner. At this point, we weren't sure how it could possible still be Sunday. We read scriptures as a family, and then the kids watched a movie downstairs while Scotty and I watched The Fighting Preacher upstairs.

Easter cake my mom made for us

Finally, we put everyone to bed and retired for the night. 

Even though we are social distancing, we still had a lot of wonderful involvement in our Easter celebration from family and friends (as you can see from some of the photos I shared in this post). I love how everyone is creatively reaching out and trying to remain connected.

Easter was memorable. And quiet. And long. And beautiful. And a little boring. But still nice. Very nice.

Easter Excitement

I'm really excited for Easter! That's not a normal phrase for me. I struggle a bit with holidays because they are too busy. Now that every holiday obligation has been eliminated, I am sincerely looking forward to Easter.

There is something to be said for the timing of this pandemic. Here we are in the midst of Holy Week getting ready to celebrate the Living Christ. And a world-wide fast is being observed today, which is Good Friday. Here in the United States there are signs all around us of the earth being renewed. Within the last week, especially, there has been an increase in flowering bulbs and blossoms in my neighborhood. 

Blossoms on my backyard tree

Forget Me Nots from my friend Lynsie

All things testify of Christ!

For Easter this year, I'm excited to stay home - to take it slow. Our weekend isn't full of parties and egg hunts. We don't have to rush to get ready for church and get out the door on Sunday. We can wake up and worship and celebrate at our own pace and with our own balance between secular and spiritual Easter traditions. No guilt. No FOMO. No oversheduling. No having to choose between families. Just us doing our Easter thing. 

On that note, I thought I'd share something we did last year that was kind of fun. I was trying to think of something Christ-centered we could do for Easter at home, and this is what I came up with.

I usually have a stash of inexpensive battery-operated tealights in our holiday stuff. I use them for jack-o-lanterns, Christmas candles, and more. I also occasionally use them for activities during singing time in primary. They are quite handy!

On the night before Easter, we all wrote some phrases on plastic Easter eggs having to do with the Savior. Then we put tealights inside, and we put them in our bedrooms so they glowed through the night. 

We used the larger sized eggs so they could fit the tealights inside. 

It was really fun to make them, and it got us thinking about our individual testimonies. I loved seeing what my kids came up with. 

I went to bed on Saturday night feeling like a champ. Then on Sunday morning, Nicky informed me that he didn't sleep well because the glowing eggs bugged him. Oops! But he's a big boy and has every ability to get out of bed and cover the eggs or turn them off.

This is not to say that anyone needs to do what we do (I don't have plans to repeat this activity this year). But I thought it was a fun idea to throw out there. Chances are, you don't have the stuff on hand to do this exact activity, but I think there are a lot of cool ways you can incorporate testimonies into your Easter celebration. 

Whatever you do, have a good one! I hope you are all safe and well. 

Nicky and the Pandemic Life

Nicky is the perfect candidate for social distancing. It hasn't phased him much. On the first day of distance learning, he said, "I think I'd rather be at school," but that's the only comment he's made that would even remotely suggest that he isn't just fine with the situation (don't get me wrong - he complains about plenty of other things, but none of them have to do with socializing). He's been really happy to be able to return to his wardrobe of choice - Hawaiian shirts and gym shorts - rather than the school dress code of polos and khakis. He's good at getting his school done. He starts as early as possible because he wants to be done as early as possible. I have to help him with assignments every now and then, but I never have to nag him to get his school work done. He's a fantastic self-starter, and he's pretty responsible about it (I cannot say the same for his daily chores and household responsibilities).

I've really lucked out with Nicky. He is a great kid and a wonderful helper. I have to nag him to do his chores, to read, and to practice the piano, but when I ask him for help with other things, he is always willing.

Nicky and I butt heads a lot because he's always in my space. I get so annoyed with him because he follows me everywhere and is always within three feet of me. He constantly says, "Watch this, Mom!" He makes the most annoying noises, and he never stops talking to me. I always have to remind myself to be grateful that my teenage son wants to talk to me, but I often have to ask him to be quiet. He wants to be seen and heard at all times, so he is always tapping, talking, or singing, and I am forever pleading, begging, and threatening for him to STOP MAKING NOISE. He makes this horrible pig squeal sound that makes my blood boil instantly, and for some reason, he walks around saying, "Hamburger," all day. I don't think it's appropriate to yell "Shut up!" at your kids, but I confess, as of late, I have been yelling, "Nicky! SHUT! UP!" There is a chance I'm going to snap soon, and it's going to be a result of Nicky making noise.

Nicky is really creative and inventive, so he is always making things out of whatever he can find in the house or garage. He makes a lot of videos on the iphone and then spends hours watching his creations (and forcing us to watch them). He likes riding his bike, but for some reason, keeps his helmet on between bike rides. The other day he did a pacer test with his helmet on, and a few nights ago, he was messing around in the front yard and hit his head against our house while he was wearing his helmet.

Of all my kids, Nicky seems to be the one who's most interested in things I am interested in. We have some good conversations, and this might be why he is so keen on being in my space and talking to me all the time. I see some of my good qualities in Nicky and some of my bad. He is a lot like me, but he is also a lot like Scotty. Nicky has some of Scotty's best qualities, and if he grows up to be just like his dad, I will feel like he is truly a gift to this world (he is anyway, but will be so even more when he outgrow the pig squealing thing).

Sometimes I watch Nicky and think, "Yep, I've got the weird kid." I suppose all teenage boys are unusual in some way, but Nicky is very different from his peers. He's not interested in the same things. Mostly, I'm okay with that, but every now and then it makes me sad because it affects his sense of belonging - or MY sense of his belonging (I always have to discern between his true feelings and feelings I project on him out of my maternal fears and worries). He handles it okay overall, but there have been a few times where he has come home from social events (usually young men activities), and I can tell his spirit has been crushed. In that regard, it has been really nice to have all social events eliminated right now. I'm definitely not going to complain that some of my son's time in junior high is passing by with him not being able to go to school (can we have another pandemic when it's Daisy's turn? Because I can't even begin to deal with it).

If I have to be stuck at home with my kids, I'm glad Nicky is one of them.

(Especially when he's quietly sleeping).

Nicky with his homemade

basketball hoop

Quarantine Update: Day 23

Right now I'm sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by laptops, so I might as well add mine to the mix and do some blogging. We're hanging in there - taking this quarantine* life one day at a time. The days are really long, but the weeks go by fast.

My kids are starting to sleep a little later in the mornings. Only by about half an hour, but it's still a shift from our norm. I would love for them to sleep in just to waste some of the day away.

This week I found myself drifting mentally and emotionally, so I started forcing myself to get out and walk in the mornings while my family is still asleep. It's amazing how much that helps. I've realized I thrive on having productive time to myself in the mornings. Everything goes so much better if I can take some time for me before I have to start taking care of everyone else. One of my hangups with this has been that on the morning of the earthquake, I was going to go for a walk, but I forgot to set my shoes out the night before. I ended up staying in bed. If I would have gone for my walk, I would have been out of the house during the earthquake, but because I was just a little bit lazy that morning, I was home with my family. I have to say, that experience made me a little hesitant to leave the house in the mornings, but I know I can't live in fear. So I've been making myself go out, and it has been good.

One of my neighbor's houses I often walk past

On my morning walks, I pass a pair of ducks at the local elementary school. It has become a highlight of my day to greet the ducks each morning. They run away from me, but I feel like we have a bond anyway. I literally say "Good morning," to the ducks everyday. They never return the sentiments.

My friends running away from me

Even though I've started talking to ducks, I'm not entirely without human interaction. Every day I sit out in my driveway recliner while my kids ride bikes and play, and if I hang out there long enough, someone will come by, and I'll get to say hello from afar.

Rosie comes by every day. She calls me by my last name, 

and I think it's hilarious.

Yesterday was particularly uplifting because I saw so many humans! A lot of my neighbors were out doing a neighborhood scavenger hunt. Some were walking and some were driving, but all of them who went past our house stopped to say hello. We also saw some of our family because we coordinated a birthday drive-by for my mother-in-law. There were windows and/or several feet of distance between us all, but we still got to be together for a minute. Last night Scotty and I chatted with some friends on Zoom and had some good laughs. I also got to see my friends Carlie and Lynsie this week. And Teresa and Chad. I love my people.

Our contribution to the scavenger hunt

(the theme was Disney movies)

It's been weird for me to not have anything scheduled and to almost let go of time completely. There are some rare events like class meetings that are "scheduled," and Scotty has a work shift to maintain, but other than that, time doesn't matter much right now. We can't be late for church. We can't be late for school. We have nowhere to be... ever. And that's something I'm not exactly hating. There are some things I miss, but there are a lot of things I'm happy to have a break from.

My kids are doing really well for the circumstances. Things aren't all sunshine and rainbows, but I can't complain. They have been really good (for the most part) about doing their school work. We have moments of frustration, and I've deliberately let them skip an assignment or two, but overall, they have been champions. Eva is a little neglected and kind of runs wild all day while I work with the older kids. I decided to not even bother with Eva's school. We do lots of activities as a family, and I think my kids are learning as a result of those activities, so I'm not going to worry about Eva. As long as there is a lot of creative play going on and everyone feels safe and loved, I'm good. Anything beyond that is a bonus!

Bonus learning activity: letting my kids put every single bow

and scrunch that we own in my hair

Speaking of bonuses, my bread turned out decent this week.

My last two batches have been edible but not great. This batch, I would feel okay about giving to a neighbor... but I'm not currently taking baked goods to neighbors. And it kills me. I made six dozen cookies and three carrot cakes the other day (I had a boat load of shredded carrots on hand because, for some reason, when this whole thing started, I kept panic-buying shredded carrots. And no one even tried to fight me for them!) So now I have a freezer full of cookies and cake. And I just keep baking more crap to not share with neighbors, lest I sent them the coronavirus in a cupcake. 

On Wednesday we had our April Fool's dinner.

Here is our menu:

Sticky Sticks - toaster waffles (cut into sticks) and syrup

Giant Red Zits - strawberries

Wiggly Jiggly - Jell-O

Gold Teeth - corn

Justin Timberlake Hair - Ramen

Stackers and Grease - saltine crackers with melted cheese

Oompa Loopa Fingers - baby carrots

Muddy log - celery with peanut butter

Dirty Snow - cookies and cream icecream

Scotty and I served the kids three courses, and they loved trying to figure out what each menu item was.

I'll tell you what, these kids definitely aren't suffering right now. I think they will look back on this time very fondly.

Scotty has relocated his "office" to the basement. He surfaces every now and then to see how things are going. I provide him with food and an occasional butt slap. Sometimes I convince him to change the laundry while he's working, which seems appropriate since he shares office space with the washer and dryer.  It's kind of cool to think that some of the work of building temples across the world is now being done from my home, but I definitely don't need this to a be a permanent arrangement. Home church, though, I think I could get behind permanently. I've always believed in the importance of collective assembly in worship, but I might be changing my mind. Let's just say I'm in no rush to go back. I'm really glad that Scotty and I aren't on the ward council or involved in the inner workings of the ward currently. I mean, we're always involved in the inner workings of the ward, but right now it's at a level that allows us to step away a little, and I kind of need that.

The other day we went through a bunch of old church magazines and made testimony collages. I made this one in anticipation of this weekend's General Conference:

My friend Apryl (whom I met through blogging) does some of the artwork for the Friend magazine. I always love seeing her illustrations and can recognize them easily. In the collage, the picture of Joseph reading by candlelight, the hand writing James 1:5, and the picture of Joseph praying are all Apryl's. Apryl has a book coming out later this year! She also does some of the artwork for Grandpa Beck's Games. I basically want everything Apryl has ever done to be compiled in a book just for ME! But I digress...

While we were going through magazines, I came across this picture:

It seemed so perfect for what I'm feeling right now. I have turned a lot of things over to the Lord lately - and not just things involving the current state of the world. Personal things, too. 

TRUST.

It's all I can do. And even though I am experiencing a roller coaster of emotions right now, there is always a feeling of peace that I come back to, and I know where that peace is coming from. 

*I realize we're not technically "quarantined," but that's pretty much the easiest word to use for "social distancing under a county-issued stay at home order." 

Around the House in 8 Photos

Since we're all home and trying to do school and work, we've had to make a few modifications to our living space. At first, we had Scotty's "office" set up in the kitchen. We took the leaf out of our table and turned the table the opposite direction so Scotty could set up a small table in the bay window for his computer. 

When the kids started using laptops for their schoolwork, we needed to put the leaf back in the table so they would have more space. Today, Scotty moved to the (still unfinished) basement because it was too hard for us to maneuver around the table and his "office." But the basement is where my kids do piano lessons via FaceTime on Mondays. So Scotty's office was taken over during his shift. 

We're just being very adaptable and figuring it out as we go. 

Today I was looking around my house at all the signs that we have been trapped here for a while. Here are some of them:

We have some Forkies on the shelf and some leftover shamrocks from when we celebrated St. Patrick's Day.

The sidewalk and driveway are covered in chalk. We are on our third box of sidewalk chalk since school was dismissed. 

One night, Zoe invited us all to a pajama party in her room. She decorated in snowflakes and letters that spelled "Parte."

All of the rooms in our house now have numbers, thanks to Eva and Zoe. They are pretending we are staying in a hotel (I'm still waiting for the housekeeper to make my bed). 

There is artwork. Everywhere. 

EVERYWHERE!!!

We have a pandemic board. It's main purpose it to keep the kids from asking me "what are we doing today" and "what's for breakfast/lunch/dinner?" 

The thing that makes me laugh the most, though, is this:

The collection of empty toilet paper rolls (for art projects) being stored under the sign that says, "It is so good to be home" (interestingly, the only thing that fell off the wall during the earthquake). 

April Fools' Fun

April Fools' is this week. 

I'm not a big fan of pranks or being made a fool of, but I'm all for fun and good memories. Especially when we are cooped up and trying to maintain a safe and positive environment for our children. So today, I thought I'd share our April Fools' tradition because it's simple and fun and something you can scrounge together quickly if you want to do something with your family for April Fools'.

I've always thought mystery menu dinners were super fun. We did a few of them with my church group when I was growing up, and it was always one of my favorite activities. I know a lot of people do mystery menus around Halloween, but our Halloween season is so packed with parties and activities, that I've never felt like I could squeeze in a mystery menu dinner at Halloween time. So I decided to make it an April Fools' tradition instead. It was a great solution because A) we get to have a mystery menu dinner, B) we get to do it at a time of year that isn't already overly scheduled, and C) the food doesn't have to be centered around a holiday theme.

Here is our mystery menu from last year:

If you're not familiar with mystery menu dinners, all you have to do is make up silly names for foods, create a menu, and then have your dinner guests select food items in "courses." I typically do nine menu items and serve three courses, thus having my kids pick three items for each course. 

I use what we have on hand already. I can't remember what everything on the menu was last year, but "triangle delight" was quesadillas, "wedgies" were Mandarin oranges, "mouse poop" was a scoop of chocolate chips, etc. When the kids are older, I'll probably add more to the menu to make it sillier - they might have to order their fork or a butter pat, therefore, ending up with everything served at the wrong time. But for right now, all the menu items are just food (the littlest ones wouldn't understand and would just be frustrated by the more intricate silly menu). 

In our current circumstances, this will definitely be the highlight of our week!

Another fun April Fools' dinner idea (that's even easier!) is to serve dinner on silly dishes. Instead of using the usual plates, cups, and forks, you can serve your meal in frying pans, pie tins, pyrex etc, drink out of measuring cups, and eat with giant serving spoons or tongs. We haven't done this, but a friend of mine told me that her family did this when she was growing up, and I think it would be a lot of fun. Plus... easy peasy! I'm all for simplicity!

Coronavirus Coping

It's another melatonin night in the Brittish household. While I'm waiting for things to kick in (if they kick in - I'm still not sure if melatonin works on me), I want to write. The problem is, the coronavirus is occupying my mind so heavily that it blocks out everything else. And I don't want to write about the coronavirus right now!

So I will just say these few things:

Overall, I feel like my family and I are handling things very well.

BUT... I have been in a constant fog for the past two and a half weeks. My mind is a jumbled mess. I can't focus. Half the time, I don't even know when someone is talking to me. I've also had a headache for weeks. It's not a really bad one, but it's always there. I rub peppermint oil on my temples pretty regularly right now. I keep trying to read, but it's pretty pointless.

I can't read.

I am 70 days soda sober, and everyday I have to remind myself that I've made it this far, and I shouldn't give up. Deep down, I just want to guzzle all the caffeinated soda on the face of the earth. But even deeper down, I know it wouldn't be worth it. I've been here, like, 87 times before. I know what happens if I drink a soda.

I can't read, and I can't drink soda. 

Today I cried, but it wasn't coronavirus crying. It was "other stuff" crying. I was hoping that it would transition to coronavirus crying, but it hasn't happened yet. I feel like I need to be alone and cry like a baby for ten minutes for coronavirus purposes. I have gotten teary eyed twice in the past two weeks, but it wasn't enough. Nothing flowed. I need tears to flow. I need to shake for a little while and get all puffy-eyed and snotty. But it just isn't happening. At some point, I need to break down. It would be healthy.

I can't read, I can't drink soda, and I can't cry.

In other news... I ordered another board game. If my usual coping mechanisms aren't seeing me through, I might as well dabble in some new ones. I'll try to keep my board game purchases to one per week.