I am amazed that April went by as fast as it did! That probably would not have been the case if my daughter Cara, her husband Paul, and my two granddaughters Helen and Edie weren’t staying with us during this period of stay-at-home. And speaking of that, every one of my favorites this month centers around activities with family.
Favorite #1
Because Cara and her family moved to Nigeria in February of 2017, it’s been three years since I’ve been able to celebrate the girls’ birthday with them in person. Helen and Edie were born three years apart, but both were born on April 1st. They arrived here from Nigeria on March 22, so they were still in quarantine when it was time to celebrate. Cara set up a card table outside the annex so we could celebrate with them while still social distancing.
Happily, I was able to get a pinata at Walmart for their little party. After singing “Happy Birthday” and blowing out the candles, it was time to bring it out! Here’s Helen taking a swing.
And here’s Edie taking a whack at it. All in all it was a pretty good party, even though it was just the six of us and no physical contact with us was yet allowed. What better way to start off the month? 🤩
Favorite #2
Around nine years ago, Big Eagle made some wooden garden stakes for me. Back then, his mom and Cara helped me decorate them.
Here’s a picture from that day. After all these years, the stakes have deteriorated quite a bit. Bonnie (Big Eagle’s mom) gave me some new garden markers for Christmas that are great. But since I plant more than one row of each veggie, making more was in order. I thought the girls might enjoy a painting project. So Big Eagle made some more wooden stakes and I bought some acrylic paint.
The Bovets were still in quarantine, so I kept my distance while I took this picture of Paul and Helen working on the project.
Edie helped, too, but I didn’t get her in a picture. Here’s their handiwork! I love that I have these to remind me of this time with them in the years to come when I plant my vegetables!
Favorite #3
We enjoyed a lot of walks together in April. Not long after the Bovet family arrived here, I learned about a virtual marathon opportunity that the city of Mansfield was offering. You could run or walk all on your own time. It didn’t have to all be in one session. Sounded like a great opportunity and motivation to stay active during this time! So Cara and I registered, and we recorded our runs and walks throughout April.
By April 9th, they had been out of quarantine for 4 days. That evening after dinner Paul, the girls, and I went on an evening walk. So this pic is just one of many walks in April.
Later in the month when we’d finished logging a marathon’s worth of runs/walks, Cara and I submitted our logs online. Then on the last day of April, we drove to Mansfield and picked up our finisher shirts!
And here we are sporting them! 😁
Favorite #4
One of the girls’ favorite things to do is play dress up. And I have fun watching them! So that was another favorite activity for the month. They raid my closet and jewelry box, and I love seeing what they come up with.
During this particular dress-up session, Edie is the Queen of Summer and Helen is the Queen of Winter. 😍
Favorite #5
Easter was one of my favorite days of the month! It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed being outside for much of the day. Of course, the Easter bunny visited the girls in the morning. I watched a church service online. We all got some exercise in the neighborhood. Big Eagle rode his bike. Paul walked while Edie rode her bike. Cara ran. And Helen and I walked Annie.
Here we stopped to get a picture of Helen and Annie in front of a yard full of bluebonnets. 🥰
Oh, and since I mentioned bluebonnets, let me update you on the seeds I planted last fall.
Out of all the seeds I put out, I think we got a total of 12 bluebonnets. And they were pretty wimpy-looking ones, too. Still, we’re letting them go to seed before mowing that patch with the hope they will come back stronger next year. Yeah…I was hoping more for something like the picture at the beginning of this post. Ah, well. (sigh)
Back to Easter…after we got back from our foray into the neighborhood, we all had lunch. Following that, Paul, Cara, and Big Eagle put out an egg hunt for the girls.
Here they are about to take off on their hunt! It was such a wonderful day!
Favorite #6
Another of my favorite activities of the month was showing the girls, especially Helen, how to use the sewing machine. We used scraps of fabric that I had on hand to make face masks.
She was so proud to know how to stitch, backstitch, and clip threads. She also helped me put the elastic through the ends.
Here we all are wearing our masks. I have to say they are not as comfortable as I would like. Wearing a mask isn’t comfortable anyway. We made them according to the CDC’s instructions except for one thing. They said to use 1/8 inch elastic, but all I had was 1/4 inch, so that’s what we used. Maybe that’s why my ears hurt after wearing it for a while when I was out shopping with Cara. Seems like a small thing to make that big of a difference, though.
And get a load of this:
I had two packages of this elastic at the bottom of the basket where I keep leftover material. I knew it was old, but I didn’t pay attention. Big Eagle was the one who exclaimed about the packaging. LOL! I don’t think I’ve even been in a K-Mart since we moved away from Florida. And that was in 1977! It’s amazing it still had stretch in it, but it was fine as far as that goes.
Favorite #7
I love a good cheese board! And on the last Saturday of April, the girls helped me put together a great one!
We had been looking at an Instagram account I follow to get inspiration. Edie was really excited to make the “salami river”! It was also her idea to clip some roses from my rosebush to add for garnish. I had some chicken strips to serve separately, and Cara made some delicious prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. We also enjoyed Paul’s homemade bread with everything.
Helen helped Cara with the asparagus. It was SO good! 😋
Favorite #8
One day I was sitting in my chair reading when Edie ran in from outside excited about a huge sprig of mistletoe she had found in the yard. I LOVE moments like these! 💗
Favorite #9
In the morning on the last day of April, it was time to harvest the beets. It was a lot more fun than usual since the girls were here to help me. Above are the 4 rows of beets they were about to pull up for me.
Helen was happy to help!
Edie gave it her all, too!
All was going so well, until…
Helen started noticing that beets weren’t the only things in those four rows of the garden. She wasn’t too thrilled at coming upon this creature. In fact, she let out a pretty healthy scream!
But she managed to get herself back under control, and her courage returned. She was once again pulling up beets one after the other. But then…
This fine specimen jumped out at her! We helped it down to the water in the swale. This time it took a bit longer for Helen to get back to her chore. Edie didn’t have near the excitement in the two rows she was working on.
Mission complete! But wait!
We still had to pull the leaves off and wash the beets. Edie helped as long as she could. She had to go inside to join a Zoom meeting with her teacher. So Helen and I finished up. It was an exciting time!
So that was April at our house! Onward to May. As things are slowly opening back up, I’m not sure I’m quite ready for all of it. Of course, I’d love to get back to a more normal way of life. But still seeing the number of new cases rising in Dallas County is pretty sobering to me. No, we don’t live in Dallas County, but it’s not all that far away. For the time being, we will still pretty much be staying at home.
I pray everyone is staying safe and as healthy as possible. Please feel free to comment about how things are going with you. How was your April? Are you venturing out as things are opening up? Let’s hope the numbers everywhere stay down or begin to go down and continue in that direction.