5th Grade Pledge

 Every year at Fir Grove, at the end of year assembly, the 4th graders stand up and take the "5th Grade Pledge", a commitment to be a good and responsible leader in their last year of elementary school. It is a special tradition at our school and it is a BIG deal to 4th graders!

Obviously this year is different (thanks to COVID), but our Principal and staff still wanted to give the 4th graders the honor of doing the pledge. So today there was a "all 4th grade" zoom call and Mrs. Miles led the kids in the pledge. 

I both filmed and took photos.. all while crying. Shocker..haha! Sad tears that Matthew doesn't get to take this pledge the "usual" way, and happy tears of pride and thankfulness for this boy. I cannot believe he will be in his LAST year of elementary school next year!

Love him so much!

Ping Pong

We have talked as a family about things we can do to keep us entertained while we are in quarantine. The kids mentioned getting ping pong table. Well.. with our lego table and ALL of our legos there really was no room in the basement. The kids started talking up ideas to clean up and store legos, and how they didn't need the lego table anymore and would happily trade it in for a ping pong table. It was a fun idea, but trying to find a decent ping pong table at a decent price was tough. 

Well..early last week we were on a walk and saw our friend JB. Matthew briefly mentioned us possibly getting ping pong table. I told her my struggles to find one. She smiled and said, "Do you want ours?"

WHAT??

They had one that has been sitting in their garage for years and she and her husband would be more than happy to let us borrow theirs for as long as we wanted! What a generous offer and what a blessing! We all were excited!

The kids made good on their promise and cleaned up and organized ALL of our legos. We gave our lego table to our worship pastor at church for his young kiddos to use.

We picked up the pool table today.. and we love it already!

I anticipate MANY fun games happening here!

Thank you so much Hickman's!

Mother's Day 2020

I had a lovely Mother's Day today!

Breakfast brought to me outiside on our red plate. It was a beautiful morning!

Church

A visit to see my momma!

Being their mom is my one of my greatest joys!

Dinner take out from Roxy's

This pretty much sums up how the cat feels about me..haha!!

Thankful for the gift of motherhood!

 

May the Fourth

 Today is "Star Wars" Day and Matthew made sure to celebrate!

A free hand drawing of the Star Wars logo and his R2D2 piggy bank and Stormtrooper Clock were the main focal point of his "desk" for school. (And by desk I mean the kitchen table..haha)/

And this is how he showed up at his class zoom meeting today! It was perfect and it gave his whole class a chuckle. Me too!

May the Fourth Be With You!

Ant Hill Studies

 Matthew was outside playing this morning and came running in the house. "Mom I found a bunch of ant hills.. come see!"

Indeed, at the end of the driveway was one big ant farm with several different entry points. He spent a good hour or more watching them. He got some bread and watched how they worked together to move the pieces into their home. I watched with him for a bit and it truly was fascinating!

Later that day he looked up a bunch of stuff on ants and found even more interesting facts. I'll take that as a home school science win..haha!!

Easter 2020

Since we are sadly still in "shelter in place" mode due to  COVID-19, our usual large Easter celebrations were not happening. While this was sad and disappointing, we knew that the reason we celebrate Easter hasn't changed (thank you Jesus for saving us!). We pivoted the best way we could and our day ended up still being special, even if it was different. 

I woke up early and made some gluten free donut holes... for the very first time! They fried up a little darker than I had wanted but they were really yummy and enjoyed by all of us! 

One thing the kids were sad about is that there would be no "cousins" Easter Egg Hunt, a tradition all of the Morris cousins enjoy. Well, after we were all awake, I opened the front window shades, and to my surprise found this...

I called for the kids and they were both perplexed and excited. They quickly thru on a sweatshirt and shoes and headed outside. 

Out collecting eggs in the morning sunshine.. they had so much fun! I love that they still enjoy stuff like this even as they age. 

The Easter Bunny was very COVID- friendly! :) 

Doug and I even got a little something from that sneaky bunny! :) 

(So... Doug's brother and family know how much our kids love this tradition. They decided to drive over from Gresham IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT to surprise us with this blessing for Easter morning. It moved me to tears and I am so thankful for the way they loved on us in this way!)

I decided that our family  would still dress up, even if church was online and we would just be a party of 4! 

I may be bias, but I think they are fantastic!

More Easter fun came the kids' way during the day..

Doug's Aunt Mary made a big basket full of goodies for Evelyn and Matthew. Needless to say it was well received..haha!

I usually cook a big meal for our extended family. Since so many local businesses have been hurting due to the Corona virus shutting things down, we decided to instead get Easter dinner from a local bistro, La Provence. They had a great special on Easter dinner packages and it was great to support a local place. 

It was such a beautiful day so we decided to eat outside. It was strange only setting the table for just the 4 of us, but I think it turned out pretty nonetheless.

Cheers to Saving Grace!

...and cheers to an amazing and delicious meal! We had salmon and a chicken/bacon mac and cheese. It came with lots of sides and was perfect for all of us!

After we ate we got to spend time with both sides of the family via zoom, which was super fun. 

A great, abeit different, day to celebrate our Risen Lord!

Happy Easter!

COVID-19/Quarantine

The deadly COVID-19 virus has become VERY active here in the US and because of that our state (and most of the country) has been shut down for the past few weeks. Only essential businesses are open, and we are only going out if we have to. "Quarantine" is the new buzz word. Masks and not getting close to people is encouraged and in some places required. It's been concerning and surreal. Toilet paper and clorox wipes are IMPOSSIBLE to fine (good thing I went to Costco and picked up those things right before this all went down..sheesh!). 

The biggest thing for us is that we are ALL home! Doug's company has all employees working from home and schools are closed. The school district first added another week to spring break to see if things would blow over (they did not.) Now we await the Governer's decision on schools, which should come this coming week. Teachers have provided some things and have had a few video meetings (man, I wish I would have bought zoom (the video meeting platform) stock..haha!) but I have been basically home schooling the kids. 

This means LOTS of togetherness. Which somedays is great, other days, not so much. We've all had our moments and are learning to be more patient and gracious with one another. We have been trying to keep things light and fun around here as much as we can. Here are a few photos of our time in quarantine!

Snow. In March. Spring break snow brought lots of excitement.. especially for Matthew. Per usual, it did not last long. 

P.E. - Home school style! Both kids had "PE" assignments from school. Mostly to just be active. So we made PE a daily thing here, and were out walking or out doing something every day before we started school. 

The kids played basketball... and Matthew has been shooting hoops A LOT during the day as we can't play with friends right now. :(

We have been to a few new walking trails..

.. and have seen some pretty wildlife. 

Love these two!

Puzzles. We have done TONS of puzzles and it has really been fun. My mom and a neighbor gave us a bunch to do and we average at least one a day. Good for the brain and a good activity to do together!

Matthew has had fun with his RC cars

Last weekend the kids and I did some encouraging chalk on our sidewalks. Gyms are closed, so a lot of people are out walking (thankfully we have had pretty good weather!). We thought we would leave them some messages of hope as they walked by our house!

Bible Study via zoom! SO good to have this way to connect with our friends!

Monopoly, of course!

Evelyn has been doing some GF baking and made her first cheesecake. It turned out SO good!

Doug went to his staff zoom meeting like this one morning... hilarious! He is trying to keep things light for his team.

The kids miss their friends so much. Once again zoom and creativity to the rescue. Evelyn and Matthew are playing Uno with their friends Ellie and Sam over video. They had the BEST time, and it made my heart happy too!

This was the first class zoom for Matthew after school shut down. I got a bit teary as I saw so many faces I miss so much. It was good for Matthew to be "in" school even if he wasn't in the building!

New to us bikes for BOTH kids! 

Lots of movies have been watched and lots of wine has been had. 

These two apparently took up wresting...haha! They have been getting along so well and I so very proud of them!

We took a walk in our jammies to find a good view of the Super Moon

We have tasked the kids to make dinner together once a week. It's been good for them and they are doing a great job!

Matthew REALLY wanted to get a new game. We decided on Life and it has been a fun addition to have and to play. 

Bodie. Well.. let's just say he is a little annoyed that he we are around ALL the time, but he also has been extra snuggly, which is rare for him. I'm sure he'll be happy when this is over. 

So will we. Until then we will wash our hands, stick together, and stick to Jesus.