We got to celebrate our special little girl yesterday. I think she had a great time but she is really missing her family and friends. It’s hard sometimes that we can’t really make her understand that people can’t come see her and give her hugs.
We had cake, presents, and a hike complete with jumping in puddles.
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and deliver gifts from across the fence. We sure can’t wait to hug them again!
Emerald’s second birthday is tomorrow and it will look a little different than her birthday last year. I am a little sad that we won’t all be together and getting to do something to really celebrate Emmy but given situation going on in the world I am just glad that the four of us a healthy and can spend the day together. I never got around to sharing Emmy’s first birthday so I thought now would be a good time.
Emmy’s birthday last year fell the same week as Easter so we had lots of celebrating to do. We decided on a Peter Rabbit theme to go along with Easter and had a egg hunt for the kids who came to her party. We did also visit the Easter Bunny.
Emmy was NOT a fan.
We set up her treat table and got her a bunny smash cake.
The egg hunt was a success and it was warm enough to enjoy cake outside.
This year will be different, we have family and friends coming by to sing happy birthday from appropriate social distance and leaving gifts in the back yard. But we will do our best to make Emmy feel as special and loved as she is! I can’t believe my baby is turning two!!!
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Anyone else celebrating birthdays during this time?
Since so many of us are stuck at home now I thought I would share some of my favorites that make staying home just a little bit nicer.
My coffee consumption has gone up quiet a bit lately but I still rarely get to drink a cup before it gets cold. I am LOVING my new Yeti Rambler Mug. It keeps my coffee warm and holds a lot of it! I really like that I can take in the yard with my and not have to worry about it breaking.
Our Bounce House from Little Tikes is getting some early season use as I am trying anything I can to keep these kids busy and happy. We got this for Cannon’s first birthday party.
It has held up really well!
I am using the plan from Krissy Moehl’s book Running Your First Ultra. I am trying to be more “coachable” this round, more on that later.
We have been using more Sidewalk Chalk than ever! Messages on our sidewalk and playing in the backyard. We got THIS washable set from Target.
I just ordered this sweatshirt for both Cannon and Emerald. I don’t have them match often but I loved this so much. The bright colors are so fun and someday we will be going back to Disneyland. Gap is having a big sale right now so go grab one fast!
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What have you been loving if you are staying at home?
Any good hand cream suggestions?
I can’t believe April is half over already, somehow time is crawling and speeding by at the same time. I do have to keep track of what day it is so I know when I am teaching and also when important dates are. But after Emmy’s birthday on Sunday I will probably forget what the date is.
Currently Getting Ready For – Emmy’s second birthday. It’s definitely not going to be what I envisioned for her but we will do our best to celebrate this special little girl.
Currently Loving – Running in the light! The mornings are so much lighter and now that Cory doesn’t have to commute I can run a little later in the morning.
Currently Attempting– To do “Homeschool” with these kiddos. Even though I am a teacher, I teach adults so this is a completely different ball game.
Currently Eating – Outdoors as much as possible. This was short lived as we are getting 8 inches of snow by tomorrow night.
Currently Wearing – this Ginger Runner “buff” as a face covering, it much more comfortable than you might think.
Currently Visiting – We can’t hand out with my parents but their dog was really missing “his kids” so he came over for a play date and it was very sweet.
Currently Choosing – A grey to paint our kitchen cabinets, it’s been much harder than anticipated. Who wants to be my interior designer?!?
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What’s current with you?
How are you holding up in these times?
Anyone else feel like so much is out of control and unknown? I don’t know when it will be safe enough to get “back to normal” or if there ever will be a normal as we used to know it. We had a couple trips planned for this year and for sure we won’t be going to Oregon in July. It is possible that the economy will be re-opened by then but it seems that without a vaccine it would be irresponsible to travel when it’s not necessary. The 50 mile race I signed up for has not been canceled and who knows if it will be but we will most likely not be there for the start. =(
I am really bummed that we won’t be traveling to Oregon in July. This is how big the kiddos were when we were there last time.
When it became clear that this virus wasn’t going away anytime soon it was hard to think about really making big running plans. Who knows when it will be safe and responsible to race again!?!
I love having a goal on the schedule and not know what the future held for me running wise left me feeling flat and no very excited. I really felt like I needed something to help lift my spirits and something to look forward to.
I finally decided that what I needed was something that was within my control, that I could do regardless of what Covid-19. I decided to run a 50 miler in September, my birthday is in September so that seemed like a good time to shoot for. I am not planning on specific event because I don’t want to depend on something running or not. There are a few local races that I might sign up for if it’s safe by then. But that depends if I can get in as well.
If not I will just do a family supported run somewhere fun. Possibly Leadville but if that isn’t safe then just around out home. Or if things have really improved we will look at a fall trip to Oregon and there are some great trails and races there too, I am keeping my options open.
Whatever works but I WILL run 50 miles somewhere in September, that I feel like I can somewhat control, even if it’s ten mile loops around my house 😉
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What are your future running plans?
I hesitate to use the word quarantine in this post because we are not truly quarantined, we are still allowed to leave our house. I just doesn’t feel like social distancing accurately describes what we are doing either.
We do leave our house most days for walks around the neighborhood or short trips in the car but most of the time we are staying safe at home.
Early on in the quarantine we had a scare that we might have caught Covid-19
Cannon and I both seemed to have symptoms that could have been Covid-19 (headache, cough, fever, runny nose, etc) but could easily be a common cold as well. We called the nurse line and they encouraged us to come in. We were hesitant to go in and risk more exposure but decided to risk it to get tested. Cannon was terrified of the staff in PPE and was pretty traumatized. We also didn’t get a test because they didn’t have any and you had to be so bad you needed hospitalization to get a test. The entire thing was pointless and scary. The doctor said there was no way to know for sure if we had it but it was probably a common cold.
Most days I get up early to run so I can focus on the kids the rest of the day. We then have a lazier than usual breakfast before Cory heads to work (home office). Usually I will spend a little time cleaning up while the kids have free play time. Early in the day they seem to be able to entertain themselves best and I can get a few things done. But that doesn’t last long.
Something that has increased a lot lately is coffee consumption. With both Cory and I home drinking coffee all day it’s killing the pot fast.
When free time is over we “walk to school”. I used to walk Cannon to school before in the stroller so this feels right and gets some energy out. We go out for a walk, come home and get to work.
We try to get some “schooling” in but with a preschooler and toddler we usually just focus on learning through play, like finding bugs in the backyard, counting and reading books.
Cannon did get to have a Zoom call with his teacher and classmates.
The best days are when we get to be outside and play in the yard.
We celebrated my Mom’s birthday with social distancing. We baked her a cake (Cannon decorated it). And sang her happy birthday from their porch.
They are so sad not to see their grandparents but were happy to eat cake.
There has also been a fair amount of screen time…..helps ME keep my sanity. Thank goodness for Disney+ (shout out to my big brother that got us our subscription for Christmas).
Overall I am SO grateful my husband can work from home, that I can be home with our kiddos and still keep my job. I am so happy that our family remains healthy and we will get through this together, even while we are apart.
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How is quarantine going for you?
We enjoyed Easter weekend as much as we could this year. We missed our family, friends and events that we usually attend but we made the most of what we could.
Knowing it was going to snow on Easter Sunday we started celebrating on Saturday.
We had bunny shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast, then enjoyed the sunshine.
Our community had a drive through visit with the Easter Bunny, the kids enjoyed the visit even if they couldn’t leave the car.
In the afternoon we had an egg hunt un our back yard.
It was beautiful and warm out so we played and enjoyed some candy.
On Easter morning the we did have a smaller egg hunt inside the house and let the kids enjoy their Easter baskets.
We got dressed up even though we had no place to go.
This picture best sums up my life right now….
Emmy walking off, not listening, and Cannon bouncing off in the other direction.
The kids got to color sheets made just for them from Grandma.
We had our traditional Easter dinner of ham, Shirley’s Potatoes (secret family recipe) and green beans. We finished it all off with carrot cake. We had so much food that we dropped some off at my parents house and visited them through the window for a little while until our hands and faces were freezing.
Overall it was a strange and little sad to not be celebrating with our favorite people. We spent a lot of time on face time, calling and texting photos with family and friends.
We are looking forward to better days when we can all be together but still enjoyed our time as the five (Humphry counts) of us.
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How was your Easter?
Well….the world has been turned upside down since I last posted and we are currently on day 18 of “social distancing”. My mom shared with me that some (older) kids are keeping journals of this time so when they are older they can reflect on what it was like. At one and three my kiddos can’t write journals but she encouraged me to keep so notes/pictures of this time. It seems like a good time to dust off the cobwebs and keep a little online journal for us to look back on what it was like for us during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Currently Loving – All of our family time. It’s a silver lining to all that is happening in the world.
We got out last weekend on a quiet trail for some socially distant hiking.
Currently Eating – Well maybe not eating but consuming SO MUCH COFFEE. And probably too many quarantine snacks.
Currently Researching – How long we will REALLY need to be socially distant. I think it will be much longer than we are all hoping.
Currently Training For – ????? I was very excited to race the Mt. Hood 50 in July but the way things are heading the race might be cancelled. Also since we would have to travel for the race it isn’t looking likely that we will go. For now I am thinking of focusing on a local race probably in the early fall but not really sure. I am running but I feel like everything is currently a moving target.
Currently Shopping For – This was early March before everything shut down but we decided to remodel our kitchen, went shopping for new counters. We started the demo and are mid project now so that has been interesting.
Currently Obsessed With- My treadmill. This thing is has many many miles on it and is amazing. So very grateful for it during these times. But also excited the that weather is getting better and it’s getting lighter so I can run outside =)
Currently Working On – Working. I am grateful in these times to still have a job. My teaching job has always been online so nothing much has changed. The program I teach for is geared toward nurses looking to advance their degrees (RN to BSN or similar). I appreciate my students now more than ever.
Currently Spending Time – In our yard. Thank god for nice days when we can play outside!
What’s current with you?
How are you holding up in these times?
When I was a kid I loved Valentine’s Day, I loved getting cards and exchanging them with friends. As I got older I didn’t NOT like it but it just wasn’t a big deal. When it was just Cory and I we would usually do something little or go on a getaway and it was fun but I didn’t like a day that ever felt forced. I much preferred getting flowers and a card on meaningful days from Cory.
Now that we have our kids to shower with love as well it’s twice as much fun to celebrate.
Both kids had parties earlier in the week, Emmy with her neighborhood friends and Cannon with his preschool class.
We gave the kids their Valentine’s baskets and they loved them. It’s always so fun to see them excited about little things.
They were also very excited about the cinnamon rolls they had with breakfast.
Cannon had the day off of school so we hung out, made cards for our friends and family and we to a indoor playground.
For the evening it wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary except we did have some brownies. But other than that it was dinner together (very important to us), bedtime hustle, lots of books and extra snuggles because we love them so much.
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What did you do for Valentine’s Day?
I thought I would take some time to share what has worked for us when feeding our little kiddos. Cannon is three and a half and Emerald is One and a half. We use all of these items with both kiddos.
Most of these Items can be found on Amazon and I will link them below. I also made a little video so I could talk about each item:
Stuck On You Bento Box and Cooler Bags
