Life Lately (4/13/20)

Hi friends!! It has been a while, since the end of February in fact.  I actually never even did a post for Arianna's 4th birthday :( It's on my list of things to do, but I honestly haven't felt much like blogging with everything else going on.  Today, I thought I'd catch you up to life lately around here.  First, I hope that you had an amazing Easter Sunday, despite the circumstances.  I have hope that God is in control and felt comfort in the live Easter Sunday ceremony we watched as a family.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.  

Like the rest of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has had our family on lockdown, and today is officially one whole month that we have been home together.  If you had asked me mid-February if I thought something like this was ever possible, I would have laughed in your face.  My emotions over the last 31 days have been all over the place.  From anxious, angry, sad, and depressed to grateful and happy.  I have felt it all, which I guess is really one of the biggest lessons this isolation has taught me.  To just feel, and know that what I'm feeling is valid.  

Here are some of my favorite moments of the last 31 days.  

Day 2 - Vincent lost a tooth and Arianna snuggled with a new friend

 

Day 4 - Navigating a new assignment at work while having the kids at home for "Spring Break"

Day 5 - Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

Day 6 - One minute we're smiling, and the next we're having a tantrum (I felt the same way!) We were supposed to go to Orlando with our friends for Spring Break this day, but that ultimately was cancelled

Day 7 - One of our neighbors set up a bow hunt in the neighborhood.  The kids had so much fun searching for bows 

Day 8 - Mommy broke the kids out of the house for Culver's and they had a sleepover

Day 9 - Play-Doh and sunsets

Day 10 - Chalk art and group facetime with some of my best friends

Day 11 - Family yoga and the best $20 I had spent at Target in a while, sprinkler fun for the kids 

Day 12 - Arianna got to see her dance teacher and practice dance while Vincent chose baseball for PE

Day 13 - We started our day with two costume changes before 8am and are learning that navigating online school is an entirely different new challenge of its own

Day 14 - Westchase Elementary School teachers did a parade through our neighborhood, and it meant so much for Vincent to see his teacher from afar

Day 15 - Mood - stay home and chill

Day 16 - Mommy's scavenger hunt, turned art project for later 

Day 17 - Bike rides, neighborhood "bear hunt" and sweet deliveries from friends 

Day 18 - Vincent has his first Zoom meeting with his class and Arianna got some "homework" from school

Day 19 - Reading together and "frozen" walks

Day 20 - A new month, where did March go? It gave a whole new meaning to "March Madness"

Day 24 - Arianna got to see her dance teacher and classmates live, and I finished a great book!

Day 25 - Arianna wanted me to curl her hair and homemade pizza for the win

Day 28 - We're down another tooth!

Day 29 - Working well together on their school work, and taking surprises to friends that we miss so much!

Day 30 - Dance parties and braids to end a long week

Day 31 - Curls, more sweet friend deliveries, egg hunts and dying eggs.  We're ready for our first quarantine Easter!

These pictures are the "highlights" of the last month.  I can tell you that there have been some very low moments as well.  One of the things that is keeping me strong and steadfast through this time is my daily gratitude practice, and trying to find joy, Every Single Day!  If you look for joy, you will find it friends!

I hope that you are home, I hope that you are safe and healthy, and my biggest prayer today is for the world to heal so that we can resume our new normal.  Life will never be what it was before March 2020.  

XO

Shari