March 2020 Highlights

March 2020 started out so normal.

Who knew everything would turn upside down just a week into it?! I haven't been doing very well with it, like at all, but putting together all of these photos for this month's recap has helped me see that we have had a lot of really good moments sprinkled in with all the uncertainty and stress.

We officially went into emergency Stay At Home Order on March 26th, even though we'd already been staying at home and practicing Social Distancing for over two weeks. If I ever have to hear the words "social distancing" and "coronavirus" and "quarantine" never again, it'll be too soon.

Trying to balance working at home full-time along with homeschooling on top of everything else has been challenging to say the least.

This is SO me. I wear sweats all day and change into different sweats at night. I don't know if I've ever laughed so hard at a meme that Chris has sent me:  (Because all morning we spent moving around furniture lol).
Before we knew things were going to get crazy, we purchased a few things to add pops of color in our home. Including a colorful living room rug: Another rug: And a new dining room chandelier which I assembled with the help of my cat of course. We replaced the chandelier ourselves and it looks great!

And we replaced our decade old ikea nightstands with these wooden ones. I've been getting around to doing some home improvement projects and hanging things I've meant to for years and years, including these plates in "Grandma's Room": I set up our Easter egg tree early to bring me joy.

And to top it all off I gave the main floor bathroom a makeover in the form of paint we already owned and self-adhesive wallpaper. Chris said to me, "Our house is not a scrapbook layout..." but he still lets me decorate pretty much to my heart's content :)

Chronological March moments:

Jane FINALLY lost her two front teeth! They were hanging on by a thread so she let Chris yank them out.

Pretty lighting.

Fox and Jane's last day of school for who knows how long.

We went and saw Onward before all the theaters closed for who knows how long.

We went to Freddy's for lunch inside before it closed for who knows how long.

We went to McDonalds for lunch inside before it closed for who knows how long.

Church meetings in-person at the chapel have been canceled for who knows how long. Instead we have online church with my family every Sunday.

I re-built our Lego Disney castle.

I got these cute earrings and had fun wearing them around before I stopped putting on make-up and normal clothes every day, because, #quarantine... I've read multiple places that sticking to a routine is helpful in these uncertain times so I'll try to do better next month. Jane went on a walk with me. She's adorable.

My sister had her baby, Jude!! He's a healthy and big little nugget born two weeks early and still weighed in at 9lbs 2oz! Can you imagine if she had gone to 40 weeks?! Watching Spring Baking Championship with the kids. We were supposed to go see a live Demo with Duff the last day of Spring Break, but it got canceled. Eric and Tanya and Zoe and Wes were supposed to come visit us for the first time here in Colorado over Spring Break. But they had to cancel their trip. Everything is ok. Everything is ok. Everything is ok.

We celebrated being boyfriend/girlfriend for 16 YEARS on March 14th! This was our very first selfie. I still love him :)

Fox got too big for his bike so we got him a new one for his birthday last year and have been taking advantage of the empty and flat school parking lot to learn how to ride it. Jane learned how to ride without training wheels, woohoo!

Lots of time together as a family!

We introduced the kids to Hook. Such a classic. We've been watching a movie together almost every night since lock down, including Frozen II, Mulan, Pocahontas, Princess and the Frog, Emperor’s New Groove, Little Mermaid, and Inside Out.

Rachel doesn't even know anything is different in the world. She's still happy as ever. We stay in our jammies pretty much all day every day. Fox & Jane are still getting along as good as ever which I am so thankful for.

Shooting hoops in the driveway.

Chris's last official day of work for who knows how long. This is what stresses me out and scares me the most. We'll be okay. But it's very scary, I can't put it into words. All wearing green for St. Patrick's Day.

We went on an evening stroll to see my favorite view.

The next day it snowed and snowed and snowed.

I covered my daffodils with plastic buckets so they would live. It worked! Bloom & grow little friends!

Besties!

Trying new recipes, mmmm.

Left: me 99.999% of the time. Right: I actually got ready for virtual church. Sunday family selfie.

The kids built a snowman.

We moved the TV and gaming systems to the basement. (This is the day Chris sent me that meme mentioned near the beginning of this post lol).

Then all the snow quickly melted and it was spring again!

I took these photos of Jane specifically for a layout I'll be sharing soon. See the pretty daffodils in the background? The bloomed! They're so pretty! The flowers and the girl :) Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum are back together again for a fashion-related show called Making the Cut! Only this time it's on Amazon - what budget?! They've kicked it up about a million notches lol.

Each of the families on my side of the family have taken a turn planning Sunday's lesson and we gather around my computer to meet.

Fox loooooves when I bake sugar cookies.

New hobby in the making?? :)

On the crafty front: 19 Days of Spring Cut Files are well underway! It's not too late to purchase them HERE. I sent out my 10th Newsletter which included this free cut file - you can sign up for all my future newsletters HERE.

I gave away 19 cut files in my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group. It's a time to join together and work through this worldwide pandemic.

Look at the advertisement I found in the Spring 2020 issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine! Bloom Street is coming to JoAnn soon! Clare Crawley WAS announced as the next Bachelorette, hooray! Super exciting! But filming has been postponed, you know what I'm gonna say next... for who knows how long. I made a whole bunch of new layouts this month, finished up a couple mini albums that had been on the backburner, and completed the stitched star I started back in October. From left to right: 1) You Make My Heart Flutter Layout & Process Video; 2) Magical Layout & Process Video; 3) Watercolor Fringe Background Layout & Process Video; 4) Ireland Mini Album & Flip Through; 5) Voodoo Doughnut Layout & Process Video; 6) Lisbon, Portugal Mini Album & Flip Through; 7) Stitched Star; 8) Happy Birthday to You Layout & Process Video I did a campaign with Paramount for the Sonic: The Hedgehog movie releasing digitally yesterday!

And last but not least, here is a sneak peek of a layout I've made for Altenew's 6th anniversary blog hop coming up on Sunday April 5th!

March definitely had its good moments between all the disarray. Here's to hoping that April finds life returning to a bit more normal.