Fall Fun: Coronavirus Week 28

After hours of sorting through nearly 1,000 pictures and narrowing them down for edits, the family pictures from 2 Sundays back are complete!  76 of the 81 members are present, with the other 5 present in a picture frame.  That's a lot of people all because of 2 people falling in love 70 years ago!

The whole gang...

The Grandkids (and spouses)

The Great Grandkids (and a couple of spouses), with a Great Great Grandkid in the growing stages.

and my family (those who could be there)

Many other photos were taken this day as well.  I am so glad we were able to all gather and do these pictures for Grandma!

Our week, last week, was much of the usual with some excitement thrown in for the weekend.  We planned and pulled of a surprise baby shower for Becci on Friday night!

After dinner, we went outside for some games, with teams chosen by Jay & Becci.  Games included a stroller relay race, balloon belly pop and a race to put balls in a circle while taking the other team's out.  There were loads of laughs!

Then we returned inside for fancy cookies, ice cream and gift opening.  Each of the kids had chosen a baby toy to decorate the diaper wreath with, so they made Becci guess which toy each had chosen.  She guessed all of them correctly!

Then the kids had to explain their piece of the wrapping that they had designed.

The box was filled with things from friends from church as well as Becci's friends, we had mailed invites out for a virtual baby shower and then collected cards and gifts to include in one big box!

Jay got a gift too!

Which had Becci laughing so hard the rest of the room caught on!

Saturday afternoon, we went to Crane's Orchard to pick apples and spend a beautiful fall day at the apple orchard with our friends.

After a couple hours of picking and sampling, we wrapped up and the kids checked out the Chestnut tree while we made our purchases and obtained some yummy cider.

After the orchard, we headed to Sandy Pines for a fire and ended up sleeping there that night.  Sunday we watched church and then went on a playground tour on the golf cards around the park with the kids.  After returning for lunch, we made our way home with a van full of very tired people who all went to bed early that night!  

A Week of Pictures: Coronavirus Week 27

 

Much of last week was our normal school routine in the mornings and typical work/play in the afternoons with some extra stuff tossed in along the way. 

Monday, for school, we made papyrus paper for history/art as we are learning about Ancient Egypt.  The girls thought this was pretty great!

Elam had a different approach.

In the end they turned out great and have since had cave drawings put on them.

Tuesday Evening, we were amazed as we watched the sun set.  Due to the wildfires tearing across the West Coast, our view of sunsets has been altered with some very orange and red tints.

Also on Tuesday night, a new bed came to our house for Elam, from Travis & Emmett. and he was so very excited!

Wednesday, we did school quickly and then went to Great Grandma's for lunch and a visit.

When we got home, I set to tackling Elam's room, to transform it from a nursery into a big boy room.  It was quite a lot of chaos and a whole lot of excitement that lasted well into bedtime hours, but boy was Elam excited!

Before...

After...

Thursday morning, we were greeted by an orange sunrise...

That afternoon, we discovered an Imperial Moth larvae. 

Thursday night, I was off for a maternity photo shoot with Jay & Becci!

Friday was the first MOPS meeting of the year, and very different from past years.  This year I was leading the group from my dining room via Zoom while others either joined in from their homes or as a small group gathering in one home.  This meant the kids got to watch a nice long movie instead of school for a while that morning. 

Satuday brought us a quiet day at home spent playing and working on photo editing.  Sunday was a whirlwind for our family.  We watched Minno together before getting ready to go to Great Grandma's house about 11:30, where I was scheduled to take photos of my entire extended family for a photo my grandma had been hoping to get for years.  Everyone except my brother and his family, 76 people in total, gathered that morning in waves as I took small and larger family photos, ending around 1 with a full group family photo of everyone!  It was a huge group and, while challenging, fun.  

Once photos were taken, Kathy and I were off to Hart to arrive late to a baby shower in honor of Becci.  We arrived in time to watch the opening of gifts and then, at the end of the shower, were back on the road toward home.  It was a lot of driving and a very long day, but very rewarding in the end.

We ended what turned out to be a busy week very tired and in need of some serious rest!