Giving Thanks in a time of uncertainty

My, my what a week. Amiright? It seems like the whole world is quarantined against Coronavirus and we're living a whole different kind of life. But it's not all bad, at least not for us.

After our last update things have changed. Paraguay has gone from 2 cases to 26 over the span of 2 weeks. They first closed schools, then set a night time curfew then decided to go on lockdown all within a week. Lockdown means stay at home unless getting groceries or for emergencies. So Scott's previous plan of doing weekly swing shifts has been halted. He is now at home with us, all day, every day. And we love it. It's nice to have Daddy at home. He and Kiersten have been taking turns being the "on-duty" parent and it's been going well so far.

Our friendly government reminder to stay home.

"I am a robot!"

So what have we done since lockdown started at midnight on Friday, March 20? Cooking, baking, playing, swimming, movie watching, popcorn eating, laughing, crying (the kids not us), screaming (again, the girls not us) and so much more.

Playing a banana game before bed.

Dress up.

Before the Embassy closed, the workers were seen keeping a 6 foot distance.

Hooray for Kiersten's home gym!

What a good reminder.

Watching the cars make waves in the puddles one rainy day.

To keep the girls busy, Kiersten has come up with many different activities. We made oobleck, a tent, musical instruments and cookies last week. This week we tackled making our own play dough which was SOO easy! We also did "school" where Mackenzie practiced spelling her name and recognizing letters and are growing a potato plant. So that's language, art, science and fun!

Indoor "trampoline" park!

Playing with ice.

Apple art. We are germinating the seeds.

Oobleck! 2:1 cornstarch to water. So fun and messy!

Voluntarily doing dishes.

We made a xylophone!

Ice rescue. She was convinced the gloves would help.

Salted butterscotch chocolate chip cookies.

Homemade Play Dough!

She drew her family and cousins playing at the playground together.

Coloring the tarp for their tent.

Finley is happy to tag along and chase after Mackenzie. She has been getting good naps (most days) and eating everything in sight. She also turned 17 months old on Monday!

We've also recently been introduced to Marco Polo videos. Mackenzie has loved sending little videos to her cousins daily and watching their videos in return. Gotta love technology. And our daily movie and popcorn! These girls love their popcorn. Finley pushed Mackenzie out of the way yesterday to get at the bowl!

Making her own pizza for Pizza and Movie night on Friday.

Friday's feature: Frozen 2! She loved watching from her tent.

When social distancing its important to have your own bowl.

Enjoying some down time and a silly movie with Daddy.

Sunday we had a Thanksgiving style dinner in March. We had 4 frozen turkeys in our freezer and we figured we need to use them so now we have 3 frozen turkeys! We'll probably cook one a month until we leave... if we leave.... But in all seriousness, we had a great dinner and even went around the table to say what we were thankful for and it really helped to set the tone for this first week of lockdown. The lockdown is officially for one week but we suspect it will probably be extended.

In the morning K made Monkey Bread.

Happy Thanksgiving in March!

After making a play tent we got out the real one.

The Allegory of the Olive Tree for Church.

The Mackenzie Update:

• She is really into the Calvin and Hobbes books. We have a few and she is always requesting us to read them.
• "I win!" Everything is a race, even eating.

  

  She got her wish with the wishbone! Swimming!

• Some of the lyrics she sings are better than the original. Like this one, "Rocking around the Christmas tree and the happy mess you made."

  

  Eating green pancakes on St. Patrick's Day.

• She says, "No one is stronger than I am" a lot.
• And "I love you super much."

  

  Our little missionary.

• So maybe this is an age thing and we certainly hope it is but one day last week she flat out lied to Kiersten. She said she was thirsty and went to get a drink. She came back with a full cup and said, "This is water." A few minutes later we went to the kitchen to make lunch and Kiersten saw the apple juice container on the counter. She confronted Mackenzie and discovered her cup was full of apple juice not water. Kiersten didn't care what she was drinking but the fact that she lied was not what she wanted.

The Finley Report:

• She has started to make an angry face. It's hard to capture on film but it's really cute and funny.

  

  This is not it. This is, "I'm covered in oobleck!" face.

• She is getting so much more vocal. Verbally and by sign. She can sign "more", "all done" and "please" we think. And when she sees a food she'll point to the food and then her mouth.

  

  Playing with play dough.

• 17 months old! Why and where has the time gone? She loves books, swimming, Mackenzie and chasing after her. She giggles and smiles all the time. She is running everywhere now and is so smart. Her favorite foods are bananas, milk, deli turkey, eggs and popcorn. She is always ready to blow Grandma a kiss and snuggle with Mommy and Daddy. We love our little Finley-girl!
  

The days are getting a little jumbled together but it's been good. We feel very blessed to be here and connect with family who are also doing well and doing their best to be the solution not the problem. We love you all! Be safe!!