COVID-19 Quarantine, Week 5

Somebody’s spillin’ stuff. Wasn’t me. 

Lewis and I made pudding slime, but really it’s just goop that smells super good. You know, the classic cornstarch and water fun. 

I was SHOCKED when Elias played in it!

Lewis has moved from browning hamburger to cooking chicken. He did a great job!

Levi has very intense babbling when he plays with magnatiles. No idea why. He likes to pull them apart more than knock down buildings. 

I let Lewis try Levi in the Boba. They barely fit in it together. Lewis is so slim that the Boba falls right off of him, but they did well this time!

Augustine helped Elias make a lego mower for the birthday cake. Elias was enthralled both with the mower and that his big brother helped him. 

We played Mexican dominoes, and I taught Lewis how to play as well. 

Look at those matching lips!

The big boys bossed the crap out of each other and Elias while making this post office. They don’t usually get quite that bossy. I almost shut the whole thing down because I got so tired of listening to the bickering. 

Our Good Friday project is looking lovely!

We woke up in a winter wonderland the day after it snowed so much (Elias’ birthday it dumped a wet, heavy snow). It was all melted by the end of the day. 

He’s been playing with all of his fun gifts, and has been a master sharer. His big brothers could learn a thing or two from his beyond-his-years behavior. 

We brought multiple batches of snow inside. They went outside for a while, but it was just SO wet and muddy. 







Trying to soak in this view. The soft hair, the chubby hands, the crossed ankles. 

I filled a ziploc with shaving cream and a few drops of food coloring (red/blue) and let Lewis explore on the light pad. It was a hit. 

Levi preferred the boats. He cried about the shaving cream bag. I’m starting to wonder if he has some sensory sensitivities. 

We caught Pandy climbing into Elias’ bed to catch a little nap! Seriously. That’s exactly how we found him. 

Such a sad sight, especially this time of year. 

Tonight we had a picnic in the back of the car parked at the lake! Then we took a walk by the lake. We had to be very careful. There were a LOT of people who had the same idea. 

Elias’ 4th

Elias turned four today! Four years old seems like the pivot from little kid to big kid. 


Cinnamon rolls for breakfast (again!). 

His two requests for his birthday were a tiller rig (type of fire truck) and a panda. Turns out tiller rigs are a very expensive toy, so we settled for a fire truck with a bucket and Fireman Sam figurines. I did however find the softest, most cuddly panda bear. He named it Pandy, which I convinced him was short for Pontypandy. Pontypandy is the town Fireman Sam lives in. 



Pandy wanted a sling ride, took many naps, had shoulder rides, is bottle fed, and had a stroller ride today. 

After nap we planned to have a social distancing Birthday Parade! We invited friends and family to drive by honking and hollering to the birthday boy. We chalked the walk last night for the event. 

Then it did this in the middle of April. 

So we put signs up in the windows and bundled up!

It was so much fun! And very wet. 

Around 20 cars of friends and family drive by waving and honking. Lots of them made signs too. 





Fire Inspector Ken (and Lucy!) drove by and handed off a really cool hat! It says “fire/arson investigator”. He LOVES it. 

Elias got lots of cards and gifts from people who wish they could’ve come inside to celebrate!

We were exhausted after 45 minutes of cold wet snow falling in sheets on us, so we headed inside to warm up, watch some tv, and of course cuddle Pandy some more. 

Elias requested spaghetti for dinner, and grandma Susan dropped off a really nice mower cake. Augustine built the mower out of Legos, and grandpa Mike built the house. 

We hung up all the cards and signs. 

Fireman Sam and his crew came over for cake. Less than 10, don’t worry. 

We Zoomed the grandparents in for cake, singing, and gifts. 

Beth sent a very funny video for Elias keeping up a running joke they have going. The Vrana‘s sent a really cool video two of their own parade for Elias since they couldn’t make the real parade.

Two big brothers who shall remain nameless kept sneaking cake, so the cake is now quarantined. 

Happy birthday, Elias! We love you!

The big 3-9

A birthday in isolation wasn’t bad! I missed being with friends and family, but heard from them nonetheless. I decided to make myself something to go with morning coffee, and I wanted to try a yeast bread again, so cinnamon rolls it was. 

Very happy with my bake. :)

The best stretch of sleep I get in a night is from about 615-800am, as long as one of the big boys doesn’t come in and whisper

Augustine: can we watch tv?

Me: no. 

Augustine: you’re mean!

OR 

Lewis: i need you to come downstairs and help me. 

Me: there’s another adult in this house that is already awake. Ask him. 

Lewis: never mind. 

OR

Elias: mom. Mom. Mom!

Me: what?!

Elias: I’m up. And I went potty already. 

Me: good to know. Go cuddle daddy. 

But today everyone left me alone to sleep and I slept so hard that I was sure it was a whopping 830am! But nope, only 745am. 

I also woke up to birthday wishes via text from a few friends. It’s always nice to be remembered. 

Logan took Levi right away, which is such a nice break after feeding him every other hour all night and cuddling with him every second of the night. He told me to go downstairs. 

There was a sign that said “go into the right door” and the big boys popped out and said “happy birthday!” They also set a very nice breakfast table and WAITED FOR ME to eat their cinnamon rolls!

The rest of the day was fairly normal, and we ordered Jimmy Johns for lunch. It’s a huge gift to me when I don’t have to think hard about what to feed to everyone. 

We played outside for the afternoon and then my parents brought dinner for the boys, gifts, and a cake for me. Logan and I ordered dinner from The Oven. 

Carrot cake with dairy free frosting. It was SO good, and I don’t even like cake much.

More birthday greetings were received throughout the day...texts, emails, phone calls, cards, coffee, sparkling wine...and it was all really nice! 

Oh, and logan let me put in an IKEA order of things we’ve been needing for a while. So nothing specifically for me on my birthday but IKEA is always fun. :)

Elias Thoughts

Elias: Once upon a time there was a gingerbread man. He loved his family. That’s me of course. Sometimes he got consequences. The end.

Elias: *strikes his breast three times*

Me: are you thinking about “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault“?

E: no. I’m thinking about going downstairs after you’re asleep and sneaking a cinnamon roll. But of course I will not.

E: Is it bedtime? 

Me: Yes. 

E: But my game is not over! 

Me: Well I’m sorry it’s bedtime. 

E: Can I just finish it? It is as long as the night. 

Me: No, you can’t finish it if it’s as long as the night. It’s time for bed. 

E: It’s just as long as a polar bear! Can I please finish it?!

Me: how long is a polar bear?

E: A baby one.

Me: what does a baby one mean?

E: A baby polar bear I love. I love baby polar bears.

Me: but how long is it?

E: I don’t know!

Me: then how are you going to finish your game?

E: I will finish it in the morning.

Me: if you insist.

Elias has been asking questions like "how much does it cost to fight a fire?", "when does a fire inspector report to the fire?", "why does a fire inspector wear a badge when all they do is inspect?", and my personal favorite "how much does it cost to get a bad guy out of your yard?"

Me: did you just put ice cream on that cinnamon roll? Bc that sounds delicious!

E: yep. I did. 

Me: how do you keep the ice cream from making the cinnamon rolls soggy?

E: I just follow the recipe. 

After riding along on an adventure with Grandpa Mike...

Logan: what was the landfill like!

Elias: it smelled!

Logan: I bet it did. 

Elias: It smells like barbecue chips warmed up in the refrigerator. 

Elias: sometimes I pretend to see Jesus 

Me: how do you do that?

E: sometimes I open my eyes really wide and then I close them and I open them again and he’s gone.

Happy Easter!

Although we missed being with our family to celebrate, we had a nice Easter Day together!

We dyed eggs, but didn’t eat them because I forgot to put them in the fridge. 





I got a whim to try making Swiss Easter bread, but I’ve never been successful at yeast dough...UNTIL NOW! It worked and it was delicious! 

I can’t wait to try again and perfect it. 

It was moist yet flakey and a nice golden brown on the outside. 

I found a scavenger hunt on Pinterest that uses the Passion of Christ story with each clue that leads to Easter baskets, so we tried it out. 

It was fun! And it kept me from missing them seeing their goodies due to still being asleep. 

Augustine got Mexican Train Dominoes, Lewis got glitter slime, Elias got four new puzzles, and Levi got graham crackers. And chocolate bunnies of course. 



We had Easter Sunday Mass as a family, plus Logan and I listened to Fr. Robert Barron’s homily on YouTube. 

Augustine did a great job celebrating. 

Lewis did a great job reading 

After Mass the boys spontaneously set up adoration, so we went with it. :) Then Lewis suggested we make brunch instead of donuts, which was a great idea!

We decided to make lace pancakes because we recently watched the Great British Bake Off and this is what they made. I even found the show’s recipe. 



Lace pancakes, bacon, hard boiled eggs, kiwi. After brunch we had quiet time, a family drive, and a movie afternoon. The boys also set up an elaborate truck game in the playroom. 

For dinner I made pork chops, bacon wrapped asparagus, Easter bread with cinnamon butter, sautéed green beans, kiwi. 

He is risen!

It’s just so fun...

We’ve been having a lot of fun spreading Easter cheer around town.