February 2022- Covid finally found us

Despite the heading of this blog post, February actually was a really good month (just the last week was not my favorite). 

Ava is always coming up with ideas. She decided to create a "library" in Brent's office and organized all of the tiny books and set them in a rainbow order, along with other things we could check out, like stuffed animals. She made each of us library cards and we all checked out books while she played librarian. 

I did Audrey's hair on my day off and took her on our back porch to take a few pictures. They turned out so cute I thought! 

Audrey was in a really good mood. Here's a video of her enjoying her cereal:

Coen wanted me to take a picture of his dinner. I can't remember why- I think because he organized his plate. We had chicken spaghetti and Brent made homemade bread this night. I try to put something in the crockpot on Tuesdays because we get home from gymnastics at 6, so it's a late dinner for starving kids.

Coen reading to Audrey- he can be so sweet with her! 

I took the kids to the park so Brent could work on a lot of grading. We hadn't been to this park in years, even though it's only 5 minutes away from our house, but Matilda's mom takes the girls here all the time since it's great for little ones. We pulled up to the park and Audrey gasped and said "Matilda park!" 

I teach Sunday school to the 16-17 year olds. For a few months they didn't have a teacher for the 14-15 year olds, so I had all the youth except for the youngest kids. It was about 20 kids! Brent is my 2nd person in there, so it's fun to have him there. He took this picture when we were playing a word scramble game which is why they look animated! My challenge with this age has been to get them off their phones.

Brent was in charge of the youth activity and did a team building lego night. This was one team's temple- can you see the baptismal font?

Happiest day- the Olympics started! I LIVE for the Olympics. Brent was working late at school but we had Karen and her sister come over for an opening ceremonies party. The kids picked out a few decorations at the dollar store including special glow wands, and they made decorations for our wall. 

Every night for 2 weeks after I put the kids to bed (or a little before) I would watch the primetime coverage of the day (we bought Peacock, so I could scroll through to find the ice skating, skiing, and anything else I wanted). It was so fun to have something to look forward to each night.

Audrey absolutely loves the park. She has no fear for anything.

We had the Peaslees over to dinner and Ava played the piano for them and Coen read a book to Sister Peaslee. This started Sister Peaslee coming over each week to read with the kids, in what she calls her Grandma Gig. She doesn't have grandkids yet, and we don't have grandparents here in town, so win win! 

I found Audrey sitting on top of our air conditioner outside. This little girl loves being outside and it's so nice to be able to let her go out our back door and play (we have padlocked both gates so she can't leave the yard).

The kids were excited about their Valentines cards in the mail. Thanks Gramma!

A day practicing the piano with Ava. She was sad because she didn't want to move her hands away from C position. Ava continues to be a little patience exercise machine- stretching our abilities to have patience. Some days she really gives me a great work out. 

I took Audrey to register her at Busy Bees preschool, which is where Coen went last year. Our friend and neighbor owns it, and I'm so excited for Audrey to go there next Fall. She was super excited to go check it out and they even let her do the craft for the day.

When we got home from preschool we made cupcakes for Audrey's half birthday! 

Here's Ava happily playing the piano the correct way the next day. Sometimes you just need to take a break and try again the next day.

Ava made this sign for the cupcakes which made me laugh. 

We celebrated Audrey's half birthday by watching the Unbirthday song from Alice in Wonderland and eating cupcakes. 

She was so happy about it!

Matilda's mom sent me this picture of the two girls in the bed together.

Cute pigtails! 

While I was watching the Olympics one evening (after Ava and Coen were in bed), Audrey was being too quiet. I went upstairs to see what she was up to, and she had gotten a hold of some of Ava's chapstick and finger painted on their mirror. Can't take your eyes off that girl for a second!

Brent met with one of his dissertation committee members at the end of January and they created a timeline for getting his dissertation done by September. This meant that Brent was really going to pick up the pace and work intensely in February and March to complete his research and then start writing. During February Brent worked from about 9am to midnight, or often 2am, taking just a couple breaks for dinner and seeing the kids after school. He also worked a lot of hours on Saturday and Sunday. Besides working on his dissertation, he also teaches a film class at the U of O on Fridays and teaches two online courses for SLCC. 

So, this Saturday I took the kids by myself to Skinner Butte park since the sunshine was out. 

That evening I had a girls night at my house and several women from my ward and we watched Marry Me. It was super fun to have a girls night and chat and giggle late into the night. Brent was so nice to take the kids out to get hamburgers and then put them to bed. 

On Sunday we had beautiful weather so we stopped at a little park on our way home from church to walk around the reservoir. The kids were not so impressed and asked so many times how much longer, because their legs hurt.  

I tried to take Ava's 9 year old pictures, to update for the frame in my office. It was too sunny though, so I couldn't get very good ones.

Valentines - with it being on a Monday I didn't plan anything special, but Ava said, aren't we going to have our special Valentines dinner? Oh yeah, I usually put hearts at everyone's spot, and write reasons why I love them on their heart. Just doing that made it a special dinner :) 

The kids were particularly happy when I picked them up from school one day.

Sometimes if I just have a little work to do when I have Audrey, she can sit on my lap and look at pictures on my phone and last about 15 minutes. She also likes to take pictures of herself and do silly faces!

Ava had a special tea party for Primary activities so I curled her hair and she got dressed up. We tried taking her 9 year old pictures again, and this time they turned out much better! Look at this beautiful girl.

Ava has such a big personality and can be so challenging, but she also teaches me so much. She has the sweetest heart and is always looking for how she can make others happy. 

When a boy in her class kept having to leave school early because he was doing things like having tantrums and throwing desks, I asked her if there are other kids who are being mean to him and setting him off. She said sometimes kids teased him, but it was really because his kitten died. She told me, "I'm going to create a 'let's be nice to Aaron club.'" 

Ava has had a really hard year with her best friends moving, and she often comes home so sad that no one would play with her at recess, or angry about some things kids in her class said to her. I've had a lot of talks with her about asking kids to play with her, and to keep asking others, even when some kids tell her no. This week at school (in April) all third graders were finally allowed to play together at recess (before, each class had to stay together in a certain areas of the playground and they couldn't mix). One day this week she told me, "I made a new friend at recess! I always see her playing alone, so I asked her to play with me and she said yes!" She has seen this girl in the other class, but wasn't allowed to play with her until now. Ava told me that no one wants to play with the girl because something is wrong with her eyes. That broke my heart, and I hope Ava will always look out for those who need friends.

We were watching TV and Coen had my phone and started taking pictures of Audrey. He giggled and said, "you are SO cute!"

On Saturday I really wanted to go to the coast because I feel cooped up, but Brent couldn't be gone all day so instead we went on a walk at the Delta ponds which are in town. 

Everything was still kind of dead, but it was nice to get out! We even saw a dead nutria on the path, eeek.

After our walk, we went to the mall and got some new clothes since it's been so long since some of us have gotten anything new. I got this new shirt:

Ava and Coen wore their new clothes to church, and it turns out the kids kind of coordinated on colors.

My friend took this picture after church and I love how cute everyone looks! 

My cute little ones!

I love these three little people! 

Reading time! 

On President's Day Karen came and played with the kids for a bit so that I could work, and then she even spoiled them and took them to McDonalds! 

On Tuesday when I picked Ava up from school I noticed her nose running a little bit. I asked if it was just running because it was so cold outside and she said yes. Later that night I noticed it was still running a little, but she didn't act or feel sick. On Wednesday morning Audrey woke up with a runny nose so we cancelled her babysitter and she watched some movies, as seen below... 

I signed my kids up for a weekly covid testing program at the beginning of the school year because I thought it would be nice to know if they ever got covid, or if a cold wad just a cold. They spit in a tube on Monday night, turn it in on Tuesday, and then I get the results on Wednesday. So Ava had spit in the tube on Monday night (before her runny nose started). On Wednesday, I got the result: POSITIVE.

I had still let Ava go to school on Wednesday since it was just the mildest runny nose. Oops! Coen came home from school on Wednesday with a runny nose, so I assume he had it too, even though his Monday night test was negative (I'm assuming it was too early). I'm also assuming Audrey got it too. So we immediately started quarantine, and I was grateful that it was reduced to 5 days now. The crazy thing about covid was that aside from some runny noses, the kids felt 100%. 

Here's a video of Audrey singing while all in quarantine:

Brent and I tag teamed working and being with the kids on Thursday and Friday. In the middle of the day Ava declared a parade and the kids marched around and sang songs.

As you can tell, no one felt sick haha!

Audrey took care of her baby:

I actually didn't mind staying in for the weekend and not going anywhere! I would have gone crazy if quarantine was any longer, but on Monday Ava was able to go back to school, and Coen was able to go back on Tuesday. 

I took Audrey on a walk on Tuesday and it felt SO nice to get out. As I was pushing her in the stroller, she shouted pinecone!! I stopped and saw she was pointing at this tiny pinecone:

I picked it up for her and she cradled that thing, happy as can be for the rest of the walk. I love how little ones can remind us to slow down and enjoy the little things. Because sometimes, it really is the little things :)

Ava was begging me for a birthday party and I was hesitant to plan anything in case Brent and I came down with Covid. We both tested on Sunday (about 5 days after being exposed) and came back negative. Whoa! I thought I might be asymptomatic, because Audrey literally wiped her nose all over me all week, but I guess our booster shots helped us stay healthy! So, I planned a party for Ava for the following Saturday. Here's the invite, and more on the birthday party in the next blog post!