April

Oregon is so lush and green right now. Wowza! April has been an incredibly beautiful month, with warm weather days. I took this pic of our field as we set off for a family walk this evening:

Then we crossed the street...

We only discovered this street right by our home about a month ago and I'm kicking myself that we've lived here almost two years and I didn't realize it was public! I thought it was a private driveway, but it's not. (It was confusing because there are three streets on this one entrance and they are all gravel and there's a "private drive" sign.) We walk it quite often now, and love waving at the home owners out mowing or weeding. We were even passed by a woman on horseback the other day. :) In fact, there she is in this pic below, on the left. There's a pretty creek and waterfall just to the right of where Josh is walking.

April is special month for us. We celebrated Jude and Selah's birthdays (which I'll share more about in a separate post), as well as other family and friend birthdays, and Easter! Jude turned 14, which I can hardly believe!! I love this teenager!

And Selah turned 12! I love this pre-teen!

Josh and I attended our friend Stephanie's 40th birthday over Zoom. It was a costume party, so Josh and I went as ourselves in high school. Josh even shaved to have sideburns. ;) Matt and Gina looked amazing in their costumes (on the right).

Back in the end of March, I took some pics of the kids at the farm for their birthdays. 

Dad and Janet were sweet to take a few photos of our family too.

Easter morning we tuned into church online. I have to say I'm loving church at home with all of the cozy blankets and snuggles! It's pretty sweet.

...and then we did our traditional scavenger hunt for the kids. Uncle Caleb helped Josh and me hide a bunch of clues around the property, which was a lot of fun and a great memory!

We got a couple of 75 degree days in April! We headed to the quiet river on one of those days.

The kids had so much fun!

Josh found our snorkel gear in the attic and brought it along and taught the boys how to use it. The water was too cold to go in all the way, so this was how they tested it out. It cracked us up. :)

My buddy Westley is so loyal. He loves to help me keep my feet warm, and I love that he'll lay by me wherever I am.

Even when I play piano, he's at my feet. What a sweetheart.

In mid-April the Pink Moon appeared. I was so excited to drive to the farm and watch it rise. Dad and Janet watched with us (at a six foot distance, of course.)

The moon was SO HUGE when it first appeared! I was practically squealing, I was so excited to see it!

The kids ran in the field... it felt like a dreamy world. God's creation is magnificent!

Josh texted me this and we laughed!! Oh man, this is sooooo true of us!!!

This week we started a remodel project on our rental house. I was pretty excited. It only took us two days to fill this dumpster 75%!

Ben did this while we said, "parkour!" like Michael Scott on The Office. ;)

Jude taking a break with Willow & Westley, after helping us take down a fence.

We've been soaking up lots of backyard time! I went out and jumped with the kids the other night. I wish I did that more often. It's a lot of fun.

The kids love to catch little fish in the creek.

Popsicles!

Jude and Josh mowing...

Roasting marshmallows...

We went for a couple walks in our new neighborhood, while we were there checking on things (we'll be moving into the house we bought in July).

It has lots of oak trees, which we love.

Westley at home in his yard of daisies. :)

Speaking of, Ben thought it was so cool to find a daisy like this one on the left!

I love this time of year because the wild iris flowers are in bloom and it reminds me of my childhood home. Such great memories!

In our spare time we completed a few more puzzles.

This one is Caleb's...

All these food puzzles must've inspired Selah to whip up a batch of banana muffins. Yum!

While out by the garden, Selah picked me this bouquet.

Jude is so gentle with the chickens.

I sure love our cute little orchard when the trees are in bloom.

Hiking...

The kids decided to turn a couple of old socks into puppets. They baked clay to make eyes and noses. Shortly after, Westley found Selah's cat puppet unattended, and he decided to eat a couple of it's whiskers. :( Selah thought it was funny.

I'll end with some good quarantine humor. This cracked up Josh and me. Ha!

I'm very thankful to be quarantined with those I love so much!! This time together is a gift.