Pictures from two weeks ago!

Like all of you, we've been holed up at home.  I kind of love it.  I've realized that I'm basically an extroverted homebody.  I really don't love leaving the house, and now I don't have to!  But I'm surrounded by kids and I've got Craig around, so it's never boring!  AND, for the first couple weeks, our neighborhood all agreed to let kids play together if they're outside, so the kids have been spending more time outdoors than ever before!  This has now been downgraded to only allowing them to ride their bikes together, so that's a bit of a bummer, but still better than nothing!

We're incredibly lucky right, and I'm trying not to forget it.  Craig can work from home (Zoom meetings-- SO MANY ZOOM MEETINGS) and he's still getting paid.  When I do need to run to the store (like when I hear that Costco has eggs AND toilet paper back in stock!), I can dash out and there's still a grown-up here!  It's almost too easy!  I do sort of wish that I could carry a sign that says, "I'm not hoarding; I have 5 kids and we eat this much EVERY WEEK."  But honestly, if people have been giving me the stink eye over what's in my shopping cart, I haven't noticed.  I did explain to the checkers and they just laughed and said my haul only counted as a medium order in their book!

Since he has more spare time than usual (although not as much as I originally thought), Craig has decided to fix up our deck.  It's needed it for a while, but our deck is a massive and complicated structure, so completely overhauling it would cost WAY more money than we care to spend right now.  (A new deck probably isn't in the cards until... maybe after Camille graduates from college?)  So we're looking at more of a band-aid solution at this time.  Craig has been replacing any boards that have warped and the main handrail, which was super rough and starting to lean precariously.  Then he powerwashed the whole thing (with lots of help from Kendra!) and today he just started painting.  The boards are so rough and chewed up that we're using special paint designed to help cover up flaws.  It literally said, "Put a good face on a bad deck"-- it's like they know us!

Kendra is such a good helper!

Ryder, too!

In order to paint it a different color, the HOA rules state that we need to clear it with our neighbors.  Trust me, our neighbors to our left who never speak to us did NOT look happy to answer the door!  In fact, he wouldn't even open the door until I took several more steps back away from him.  (And no, I wasn't standing particularly close or anything.)  Fun times!  Once I explained why I was bugging him, he just looked perplexed and muttered how stupid it was that I needed his permission.  Later, Craig pointed out that I was supposed to get his signature or his email address or something, but I told him there was no way I was knocking on his door again.

Meanwhile, this is my view while I'm making dinner!

One of the mornings when Craig had oodles of Zoom Meetings, I took the kids with me up to Culpeper to borrow that power-washer from his parents.  Then on the way home we stopped at Yoder's.  Donna gave all the kids lots of quarters so they could feed the goats and chickens, so EVERYONE enjoyed this.  Plus-- bonus!-- it was cold and rainy so there was no one else there, so we didn't even have to worry about social distancing!

Baby goat!

Colton was a little nervous about this kid trying to eat his coat!

Even a surly teenager can't help but smile when surrounded by goats!

Ryder was even more excited when a pig (hiding the behind that goat) came over for some food

The colors of this peacock were just SO beautiful!

Another pig!

Bentley bought himself a sandwich for the ride home and after I saw it, I was totally jealous and wished I'd gotten myself one, too!

Another fun thing is that Craig finished the tree house, so the kids have had a blast playing in it with their friends!

Ryder and Owen working together (before everyone decided on the 6 foot distancing rule)

Colton and Camille together!

Nice view of the treehouse

Here it is from the other angle with our house behind it-- it's quite high up on the one side!

And for a few days all the neighborhood kids LOVED playing here, until the quarantine rules got tightened up

And of course, we've been going on walks and just spending a lot of time outdoors.

Neighborhood hike

Camille was painting rocks with her friends

And finally we have Ryder "racing" the timers.  He figured out that the big one is 15 minutes!  But yes, occasionally the kids are a tad bored.  But that's okay, too!

And I have lots more to post soon!