Ups and downs of the 4th of July

We were so excited to have Leah spend the week of June 28th here!

The kids had a great time playing at the lake, in our small pool, and

getting Chick-fil-a milkshakes! The girls really didn't like me taking pictures of them!

We went up to Linville on July 2nd and 

Justin was very

excited to see Isaiah and do a puppet show with Hoppy and Teddy Ruxpin.

Video of a bit of their show!

The kids on Deda's deck!

Swimming in the Land Harbor pool!

Hallie said she and Isaiah pretended to be seals in the pool.

Justin got in, swam, and jumped in from the side (holding my hand),

which was a bit intense and my arms were sore!

Unfortunately, our time together was cut short.
We had to leave on Friday afternoon since Jason's coworker's son
tested positive for COVID-19.

Honestly, I was heartbroken and devastated. The kids don't get to spend much time together
and now couldn't. We didn't get to see Charlie, Arlo, Nolan, and Ellie either.
We all missed out on valuable, unreplaceable time.

But it did occur to me that kids seem to only remember the time they had,
not the time they lost.  So, I know they will remember all the fun, good moments.

But I'm an adult and do know how much time we missed out on.

For the 4th of July, we were home (of course), and I found these poppers
the kids enjoyed!

The week of July 6th has been different.
Jason was told to quarantine and get a COVID-19 test (his coworker did too).
He's been staying away from us as much as possible since we aren't sure if he was truly exposed or not.  The kids and I have been sleeping in the other bedrooms.

My work told me not to come until the test results came back and thankfully, I've been able to work from home from a bit instead of having to use all my sick time.

The kids were supposed to go to YMCA camp this week but I had to pull them out.
They love being home, so we've been doing some school work, watching movies, and Hallie and I have been playing the card game "War" and  playing in our pool!  Glad that I got it!

Virtual VBS and Big events for Justin

Here are some pictures from a virtual VBS our church did.

This was where you wrap tape around your head and stick object to the tape

This is where you did whipped cream as a beard and saw how many goldfish would stick.

Justin decided he wanted to ride his bike without training wheels again and started doing really well the weekend June 26th.

Then he started swimming in the pool!

I think having our smaller pool helped him get used to

putting his face in the water!

First part of June

I took off a bit the first week of June and we enjoyed going over to Corinth again to do some riding and roller skating!

The kids have enjoyed doing water balloon fights and being sprayed with the hose!

My coworker sister had this Women of NASA Lego set she gave the kids...they  enjoyed putting it together!

The week of June 15th the kids spent the week at Nana and Papa's  along with Athrun and Abel. They dug this hole to hide in themselves!

We got a pool from Amazon ! The kids have really enjoyed it....this was the first day!

Flashback to April and wrapping up May!

Pictures that Becca took before Dean had his brain surgery in April.

His friends did a car parade for him!

A tent that Becca gave to Justin for his birthday!

We have a garden and the kids painted some rocks for labels!

Jason built a car port for the green car!

Hard to see but we have a bird's nest with 3 baby birds!

We went to the lake area near Deda's on Friday afternoon (May 15th)

Hallie took some pictures of Sawyer

 We went to Lee and Der's on Sunday and the kids had a blast 

playing with the water.  Der would hold the hose and then let it

lose and the kids loved it!

Nana got a new kitten named Biscuit!

Hallie enjoyed his cuddles!

They had been watching this show on Netflix called "Miraculous..Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir" and created their own characters!- Snow Bunny and Salamander Joe!

Hallie's teacher had them do a google doc for uploading school work 

during the remote school.  She wrote a journal entry just about every day!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jfi6ruhB4E5oFgWkZII4bcHVZCSG6mxtZngi0i7sVkI/edit?usp=sharing

Friday, May 29th was the last day of school.

Hallie's teacher did a Zoom where she gave awards to everyone.

Hallie got "sweetest attitude".

Then had them talk about the memories they had.

She said that her favorite memory was

on the day before school ended up being cancelled the kids sat

on the carpet and were talking to each other about their concerns regarding the virus. 

She said that they were so kind and encouraging to each other!  

This technically happened on Saturday afternoon....Justin did sleep through some of his Zoom classes since they were at 1:00...guess it's a good thing school is out!

We got a watch live the Space X rocket launch...first manned launch done from the Kennedy Space Center in nine years and the launch pad was the same one used for the 1969 moon launch. 

Also, the rocket was built by a private company! Hallie saw it live but Justin was still asleep!