Make-up tutorial

It's been nice to see Elena and Sam getting along better as they get older. It's possible the quarantine has helped a bit, too. At any rate, I figured I would share their latest shenanigans. The camera was a little low so it's pretty obvious Sam is doing the arms, but you get the idea.

Photo shoots

 Elena has been keeping up on taking pictures of Olivia:

Sam helps, too:

He also took this lovely selfie:

Random happenings during the "Stay-at home" order...

(This was written 2 weeks ago so the stay at home order is actually a bit different now...it just took me forever to get the pictures)

1) Apple tree hammocks! The kids have pulled out all of our old sheets and tablecloths that are too worn out for use, and converted them into hammocks on the apple trees. Their cousins next door brought out their sheets to join in! The only problem is that the knots tighten up so much when they sit in the hammocks that they are almost impossible to undo so the trees will likely look like this all summer.
(Side note: their back-yard friends are the only kids they are allowed to play with, and ONLY outside. We could technically bring the kids to 2 separate day-cares - (older kids and younger) under the stay-at-home orders, and we are opting to keep them all at home to limit outside contact. So...for those who disagree: I don't feel to guilty allowing them contact with one neighboring family outside vs. multiple daycare families inside.)

2) Olivia is teething. And those top two teeth are taking FOREVER to come in. She's handling it well overall, but she's needing Mama a bit more than usual. Normally while I'm trying to "help" Charlie do the homework that he doesn't really need "help" with but is convinced he cannot do unless I sit and watch him write down every word and number. She is also learning new tricks regularly to get those around her to laugh and smile. Her favorites right now are "So big!!" and Pat-a-cake. Oh, and being outside. She gets very fussy if we make her stay in for too long or don't let her stay out long enough.

3) We watched Tangled.  I was sure the kids would like it. And they did. Charlie was quite disappointed the ending, though, which I wasn't expecting.
Why? You might ask. It has a happy ending after all. The reason: (spoiler alert) he hated Rapunzel's haircut.

4) Fun quote from Frankie: (in reference to food) I like everything except for the things I don't like.
Frankie also discovered this week that girls pee sitting down, which was unbelievable to him. He thought I was making it up, and it took some convincing before he believed me!

QuaranTUNES

The kids' music teacher gave them the option of participating in the school's Virtual Talent Program instead of doing the regular music class assignments. The kids jumped at the chance, and I was excited to have an outlet for some of my creative energy. They recently watched the movie Annie and were playing the soundtrack a little too frequently for my taste. 

With all those songs stuck in our heads, this is what we came up with.

Even though we had rehearsed it perfectly several times in the days prior to the filming, getting this on camera was more difficult that I had anticipated. The main problem was getting everyone's heads in the shot. Charlie had to be in front because of his height, but if he leaned forward too much he blocked Sam and Elena. Then of course there were missed entrances and one line that Sam had sung perfectly 20 times before but just couldn't get the day we taped it.

Here's a glimpse of the struggle (which the kids probably found more entertaining than the actual performance):