Haircuts during the time of Coronavirus

This week, I am grateful for the years and years of practice I have had in giving haircuts to Michael and the boys.  Lately, I have been taking them to the local salon for haircuts and Michael goes there as well. This past month, Mom's salon was open for business!

April 16, 2020

May 1, 2020

Thankfully, my hair stylist works out of her home.  Emily and I were able to get haircuts this past week as well.
May 4, 2020

Our Quarantine Routine

If I’m being honest, this social distancing/quarantine life isn’t too hard for me.  I love being home and I have everything I need.  I feel very blessed that Michael and I can both work from home (though Michael does go into the office a few times a week) and still get a paycheck.  I know not everyone is so lucky and they are in our prayers.  I’ve always had a routine for the kids on Saturdays and a similar one in the summers.  So, it wasn’t too hard to adapt to this new “homeschool” routine.  

I have what I call a “hook” system.  I had planned on using something other than paper clips and magnets, but I never changed it and now we’ve been using it for years and it works.  The idea is, they come up to their list and mentally check off that they did everything in that category and when they are done, they hang the paper clip on the hook.

This is what they look like in the morning before they start

This is what they look like with their hooks are done

I change the list based on whether they are in school or it’s the summer.  The pictures above show my new list for this Covid-19/quarantine time. 

Our usual schedule on Saturdays and summers looks like this:

7-9am Media time, once red hook is done and hung up

9am-1pm  Work on hooks, play games, go outside, etc.

1pm Media time again, and the rest of the day depends on what we have planned

Now, our schedule looks like this:

7-9am Media time, once red hook is done and hung up

9am-3pm  No media unless it’s school-related, exercise, read, etc. (see pictures above)

3-5pm Media time again

5-7pm Dinner, clean up, read scriptures as a family, etc.

7pm-bedtime Watch movies or TV together, play games, etc.

At 9am, we have what I call a “staff meeting.”  The kids always laugh when I call it that.  We talk about what everyone has planned for the day, like Zoom meetings, etc.  It makes the day go more smoothly.

At 2:45pm, we sometimes need to take a few minutes for cleanup

On Saturdays, they only have to read for their yellow hook, unless they are behind on schoolwork.  We also start media time at 1pm on Saturdays.

On Sundays, there is no media time and no yellow hook.  We do sometimes watch Disney animated movies together.

Hooks:

Red: this is their morning routine, and it needs to be finished before they get on media in the morning.  They are not allowed on any media before 7am.  If they want to eat breakfast later, that’s fine but they need to be dressed and brush their hair, etc.

Yellow:  Everyone needs to read, exercise, and write in their journal every day.  They are also responsible for checking for assignments from their teachers and managing their own schoolwork.  There are a few things I check in with them about, but mostly they are pretty good about handling it themselves.  They all play an instrument, and they manage their own practice schedule. 

Jonathan and Daniel were not taught cursive in school, so I bought each of them a cursive workbook and they have to do two pages a day. 

Green: these are their daily chores and piano practice

Blue: read scriptures.  I’ve gone back and forth on making this seem like a “chore,” but I like making it a habit for them.

My routine:

I make sure I’m up by 7:30am.  I ride my stationary bike while I read my scriptures.  I get dressed and do my hair and makeup.  I often listen to podcasts or church talks while I get ready.  I also do a few Duolingo lessons every day to learn Spanish.  In the afternoons or with dinner, I often make green smoothies for the kids.  They are really good.  My goal is to get them all to eat more fruits and vegetables.  I also write in my journal every night. 

I have a lot of other goals for the kids and things I’m trying to teach them:

Adulting skills: Andrew loves string cheese sticks.  One day, he found a package of cheese sticks that had a stick missing from the packaging.  I told him he should contact the company to let them know.  They didn’t have a phone number, but he looked them up online and we filled out their questionnaire together. 

I've also been trying to find other ways for the kids to learn new skills.  For instance, I needed to renew the registration for one of our cars, so I gathered all the kids (and Michael, who helped me) and taught them about how we register our cars when we buy them and renew them yearly.  We also talked about the importance of knowing where your registration and insurance card are in your glove compartment (we also had a little side lesson on why it's called a "glove compartment," lol) and how to exchange information in the event of an accident.  Our teenage drivers know this, but the other boys are growing up fast so we taught them as well.  

Cooking: each kid has a night to cook.  I ask them a week ahead of time what they want to make and we figure out what I need to add to my grocery order so they have all the ingredients.  Sometimes they just heat up easy stuff from the freezer, but I’m also trying to teach them how to follow a recipe.  We also have done more baking.  We’ve made up our own recipe for “Jell-o Fluff.”  It’s just Jell-o mixed with Cool Whip, but it’s really good.  I use 2 cups of boiling water but only 1 ½ cups of cold water instead of 2 cups for a 6oz box, and then I stir in a whole container of Cool Whip and refrigerate it like normal.

Laundry: each of the kids does their own laundry.  I wash my clothes and Michael’s on Monday, and I also wash the whites for everyone, but the kids do everything else themselves.  They wash, dry, fold, and put away their own clothes.  I used to tell them when it was time to do their laundry, but a few weeks ago I told them they need to be responsible for that on their own.  They usually do laundry on Saturday.  Today was the first day that I didn’t remind anyone.  Emily likes to do hers first, and the boys took it upon themselves to do their own.  Parenting win!

Cleaning chores: each kid has a weekly cleaning chore.  They have until Saturday afternoon to get them done.  These are things like: wipe down bathroom counters and clean toilets, empty small trash cans, wash/dry/fold towels, dust certain areas of the house, etc. 

I’m so proud of the kids for taking the initiative to handle their own schoolwork!  I get constant emails and reminders from their teachers, and almost every time I ask the kids about it, they say, “Oh, I already did that, Mom.”

Here are their little study areas:

Emily loves to do her schoolwork at the dining room table.  The other boys sometimes use it, too.

Andrew has a great set-up on our puzzle/game table in the playroom. 

Daniel likes to get his exercising and reading done at the same time. 

Jonathan and Daniel share this desktop, and they also have a laptop they can use.

Nathaniel works wherever he can have some quiet.  He is doing some work to support our sales team at Wisdom.  He goes into the office occasionally, but he can also do quite a bit from home. 

Well, that’s about it.  We’re doing the best we can to stay positive and get along and enjoy this time together.  I personally love it.  I never get bored.  I always have a list of projects I would love to do.  I’m a bit of a homebody anyway and I’m grateful that we have a big house to spread out in.  I’m so glad to have Nathaniel home!!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter at home!  On Saturday night, we decorated Easter cookies.  We bought another kit from the lady who taught us how to decorate Christmas cookies this past Christmas.

 Mom

 Emily

 Daniel

 Andrew

 Jonathan

 Nathaniel

 Dad

On Sunday, we had family church, like usual.  We started at 11:30am and ended just before 2pm.  

After church, we changed into comfy clothes and listened to some of Handel's Messiah, sung by the Tabernacle Choir on Temple Square, while I prepared dinner.  We had our regular menu of ham, potatoes, veggies, and rolls.  Michael and the kids cleaned up.

Then we had an egg hunt.  Jonathan thought he was going to be the only one, but Daniel wanted to join in.  Jonathan even filled the eggs!  Emily and Andrew hid them.  Emily was so careful to count the eggs to make sure we found them all, but Andrew didn't count his and so I'm sure we'll find some around the yard over the next week (update--we did!).  Thankfully, we didn't put any chocolate candies in the eggs.  

In the evening, we decorated Easter eggs.

Overall, it was a wonderful day and I feel so blessed!  I know the Lord loves us and He suffered and died for us and was resurrected on the third day and He still blesses us today!

Nathaniel's Birthday and Homecoming Parade

I can’t believe Nathaniel is 20 years old today! This afternoon, Jonathan really wanted to go swimming.  Nathaniel didn't really want to since the water was cold, but he was a good sport and went swimming with the boys for a little while.

He wanted Olive Garden for dinner, so I made a takeout order. We had dinner and cleaned up and got ready for the homecoming parade. 

The parade was awesome! There were so many families who drove by! Nathaniel is the 10th missionary from our ward to come home.  Two weeks ago, they had a homecoming parade for four different missionaries who had just returned home.  Then last week, they had one for five missionaries.  Nathaniel was the only one left who was coming home and we weren't sure when he would arrive.  So, tonight Nathaniel was the only one on the route.  Since he was the only one, they drove around twice. 

Carol and Erin came to see Nathaniel--at a distance, of course

After the parade

The Akers came over a little later. They stayed and visited with us for a little while. 

Once everyone left, we went inside to have cake and presents with Nathaniel.  He was pretty happy about the Lion King play tickets and the AirPods and his Amazon gift card. He also really liked the book I got him called A Case for the Book of Mormon. We had cake and then read scriptures, Doctrine and Covenants section 110. Then we cleaned up and ended the night watching Avengers: Endgame. Nathaniel was really looking forward to watching it! 

Happy Birthday, son!  We're so glad you're home!

Elder May is Home!!!!!

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

We found out today that the church was able to get all of the North American missionaries who are in Bolivia on the Embassy flight tomorrow afternoon. They’ll let us know tomorrow morning what time he’ll get into Phoenix. He gets into Miami tomorrow night at 10pm and will stay in a hotel. We talked to him for 20 minutes. He gets to take two suitcases and a carry-on and a personal item so it won’t be too hard for him to pack but he will have to leave some stuff behind. We told him he would just have to use his best judgment. I’m sure he’ll figure it out. I think he’s getting over the sadness of leaving early and getting excited to come home. I know we’re excited for him to be here! We got an email from the church office in Peru after midnight that had Nathaniel’s itinerary.  He leaves Miami at noon and changes planes in Detroit and arrives in Phoenix at 7:01pm.

Thursday, April 2, 2020

A little after noon, I decided to go on Delta.com so that I could sign up for flight alerts tomorrow, and the Miami to Detroit flight was cancelled!  I replied to the guy who emailed me the itinerary and also emailed President Stanford.  He told me I should call the travel office so I did.  The lady was very nice and she helped me look up his flight information with his confirmation code.  They had already put him on a different flight leaving Miami at 2:30pm and going through Atlanta and arriving in Phoenix at 6:47pm.  Yay!  Crisis averted!  I was concerned about him being told about the change but President Stanford said that someone would be in Miami to tell him. I found out later that President Stanford was actually able to tell him at the airport in Santa Cruz before he left. There was another missionary from his mission going to Phoenix so they both knew about the flight change.  

At the church offices, getting ready to leave

Santa Cruz airport

Elder May with President and Sister Stanford

Someone posted a video on Facebook of all the North American missionaries leaving Santa Cruz.  I was so happy I cried.  I couldn’t find Nathaniel in the crowd but Michael spotted him right away.  Nathaniel later said that the video was on the news and there were reporters there interviewing the missionaries. 

Their flight was supposed to leave at 3pm but it didn’t leave until after 7pm.  They won’t get in until almost 3am.  One of the parents on our Bolivia Santa Cruz Missionary parents Facebook page posted some info from the mission president for the Santa Cruz North mission.  He said, “Heaven and earth were actually moved and the North Americans took off around 7pm.  There were no problems other than fatigue and hunger after many hours standing in line at the airport while two airport officials wrote boarding passes one by one, by hand, for 400 passengers!  About three hundred other lucky folks got to travel with the missionaries on a flight chartered by the church.  Imagine the influence your noble children are having along the way!”  I kept my phone on all night in case Nathaniel called but he wasn't able to. 

Friday, April 3, 2020

I was thinking Nathaniel might call us from Miami but he didn’t. I’m sure there were a lot of missionaries so it would be hard to find someone to let him use a phone since there are more missionaries than other travelers. I had a long list of tasks to get done and I got it all done. We all got ready to go and left the house at 4:45pm. We made it to the airport by 5:30pm. Everything was super empty there. 

We easily parked in the closest spot to the door.  We hung out there for an hour waiting for him. Once the plane landed it took a little time for him to get to us. We had our tripod ready and our signs. Daniel was in charge of pressing record and he did a good job. Elder May was one of the first ones off of his flight and we spotted him right away and waved. He smiled when he saw us. As soon as he passed the Do Not Enter and came out, I ran over and gave him a hug. I was in tears, I was so happy! So were Michael and Emily.  Michael gave him a big hug and then all of the kids. He looked a little shell-shocked but I know he was glad to see us. 

We took some pictures and then went down to get his bags which we were able to do very quickly because they were already there. I took a couple more individual pictures with Nathaniel and the kids and me and Michael. 

The kids had fun talking and laughing with him on the way home. I told him the next thing he needed to do was decide what he wanted to eat for dinner. I had even put “Whatever Nathaniel Wants” on the Mom, What’s for Dinner board.  

He was having a hard time so I started suggesting places and he said he wanted to go to Panda Express. I ordered the food so that we could pick it up on the way home. As we drove home, he tried to re-familiarize himself with where everything is. He remembered quite a bit. I told him it’s hard for us to remember what is new since he left. We stopped at McDonald’s for Jonathan and Daniel since they don't like Panda Express.  While we waited at the window for our food, Michael said something funny and Nathaniel started laughing that laugh that he does and it made me so happy because I really missed that laugh. Then we went to pick up the Panda Express order. 

When we got home, Andrew put Maggie out back. Nathaniel changed into some jeans and took off his suit coat and went out to greet her. I thought she was going to freak out but she was shockingly calm. It took her a minute to figure out who he was and then she kept kissing him and hugging him.

Then we went inside to eat our dinner. Nathaniel changed from his shirt and tie into a more casual polo shirt, but he still had his name tag on it.  Michael asked him to say the blessing and he said it in Spanish. After dinner, we cleaned up and read Doctrine and Covenants section 135. That was Nathaniel’s suggestion. He talked about how he often used that in his teaching, that Joseph Smith has done more for this world save Jesus Christ than anybody else who has ever lived. Then we had a family prayer. 

The kids really wanted to play Jenga so they did that for a few minutes and then everybody got ready for bed.

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Apparently, Nathaniel woke up at 5am. I guess he still on Bolivian time. He said he studied his scriptures. We all enjoyed the conference sessions this morning. There were so many great things said. President Nelson said that as important as food, water, supplies, and savings are, even more important is our spiritual preparation.I especially loved when Sister Joy Jones spoke about what President Nelson said to a group of children. One little girl asked if it’s hard to be the prophet and he said it was. He said, “The Lord loves effort, because effort brings rewards that can’t come without it.” 

After the session, we sent the kids upstairs so that Nathaniel could have some quiet and privacy downstairs when he talked to President Cardon on FaceTime. Nathaniel went up to change into his shirt and tie. President Cardon called at 11:15am. It's so strange that Elder May was released as a missionary over FaceTime.  I know it was hard for him to say goodbye to his life as a missionary, especially since it ended too soon.  I know he was a good missionary and that he will continue to be one in his everyday life as he serves and teaches others.  We hugged him and I could tell that it was pretty surreal for him. I know he was a good missionary. And he still can be.

Jonathan has to sit wherever Nathaniel is sitting, haha!  He's his new little "companion."  These are a couple of pictures taken while we watched General Conference today.  Daniel wanted to sit by him, too!

We gave Nathaniel his new phone this afternoon.  He hasn't held a Smartphone or video game controller in almost two years!

We love you so much, Nathaniel, and we are thrilled to have you home with us!