April 2020 Highlights

Here is our April 2020 in review! A month and year like no other. My coping mechanism is to try not to focus on everything out of my control and instead devote my time and efforts to the things I can still do from home and try to make others as happy as I can. I still like taking and sharing pretty pictures like the one below of all my Pink Paislee collection coptic books :)

The documenter in me craves getting this all in recorded, so I've made a bundle of pandemic-themed cut files to use in my story-telling:

Just for fun, here are a few memes that made me laugh out loud this month:

 We have started our virtual home-schooling. I'll be honest, I don't like it, it's hard for me and the kids. I miss the 8 hours a day of time to get my assignments and work done and the kids miss their friends.

 Jane having a virtual class meeting with her sweet teacher and peers. Also, you'll notice in this post they wear jammies pretty much all day every day. Pick your battles right?

A few snippets of Fox this month. The top is him in one of his online class meetings, then playing Exploding Kittens, then taking over Dad's desk with snacks galore, tape, the Go-Pro, a Kit Kat, a mason jar of water to drink, markers to color with, you know, the basics of boyhood. He's so funny.

  More pics of Fox - opening his Easter eggs and writing a thank you card to his Great Grandma for sending him a book.

 Me and Fox.

Fox & Jane haven't complained hardly at all about the current situation. I've only heard them say "I'm bored" once or twice. They entertain themselves by playing together, watching movies, gaming, and lots and lots and lots of screentime. It is what it is.

 I got all kinds of crazy and cut my own hair. I just took a pair of scissors, pulled it back in a pony, and went CHOP!

 I needed pics for a layout so Fox snapped a few. Squinty McSquintertons lol.

 So we went inside and got a few more. These pics will appear on a layout on Monday so come back soon!

 Oh Colorado. I've never lived anywhere like it. This day mid-April it was a balmy 70 degrees so we soaked up the warmth and sunshine, Joey and Rachel included. Because we knew the next day it was going to snow. I just want to know, scientifically, HOW?!

HOW does it go from that, above, to this, below, in just 12 hours??

We set a few records for lows which did a lot of damage to crops, trees, flowers, etc.

We could spot individual snowflakes on our windows which was super neat.

The show must go on though, snow or no snow, so I worked away in my happy place.

Oh Rachel. She's over it :)

My favorite picture to post at Easter from our visit to the Osterbaum (Easter tree) in Germany 5 years ago.

Chris made a delicious Easter dinner the day before because we had plans for actual Easter dinner.

 I thought it was kind of funny that we were watching The Biggest Loser whilst stuffing our faces with candy whilst stuffing Easter eggs.

 We hid the kids' eggs in separate rooms and they found them all quickly.

 Eggcellent.

 A few snapshots of cute Jane throughout the month.

 We had our online church meetings every Sunday with my family.

Jane looking so pretty in her Easter dress from last year - it still fits!

 I shared a collection of past Easter projects on my instagram on Easter Day.

We went to Tom & Margi's for Easter dinner. I love Margi's epically cute Easter table decor.

And so the dance of bringing in flowers to save them from the snow begins! Luckily after this bout it hasn't snowed since! Knock on wood it stays that way!

Out for a walk to see my favorite view.

 OMG HEIDI'S SEQUIN DRESS! I LOOOVE! It was so fun to watch new episodes of Making the Cut every Friday. I hope they do another season.

We watched Lego Masters as a family. We loved it as much as the kids did. Rachel was up in the air about it.

We LOVE Lego and look forward to the new minifigures sets every few months.

Joey's looking a bit shaggy but there's nothing we could do because all of the pet salons were closed because they're deemed non-essential.............. As is dentistry........ Anyway, I caught Joey and Rachel drinking water at the same time which I thought was funny and cute.

 Fox and Jane have improved so much with their bike riding! We'll be coasting down Vail Pass together as a family before we know it!

I get really bad migraines so Chris gave me botox in my temples and forehead to try and relieve the pain and the best part is my wrinkles are temporarily gone lol!

 Salons on the outskirts of the bustling metropolitan area have re-opened as of TODAY so I have an appointment to fix my roots on Monday, yippee!

'Tis the season for FLOWERS! These have brought me so much joy this month.



I also kept myself busy with painting our bathroom. I painted the walls dark blue and the cabinets gray.

 We finished this powder bathroom makeover.

 Playing Fimsbee outside became a daily activity the last half of April.

Jane. She's too adorable.

Hello Mr. Squirrell! Whatcha doin' way up there?

 Hello pretty butterfly!

I noticed these flower blossoms popped in the next door neighbor's yard yesterday - hooray!

Last night Nana and Papa came over to chill with us and eat a delicious dinner prepared by Chris. We rode our bikes down to the school to help the kids practice.

ON THE SCRAPPY FRONT:

I have a new free class at Scrapbook.com!

Bloom Street is available at JoAnn!

The Bloom Street Project Pad is exclusive to JoAnn and I purchased three just for me because of the 10 solids that are included which match PERFECTLY with Bloom Street! I did a live flip through over in my Facebook Group so you can see exactly what's included in the Project Pad.

Speaking of JoAnn, I also have two sets of stamps available only at JoAnn!! Here are direct links to Set 1 and Set 2. I used them to create this Hello Sunshine Layout1

Check out all the other American Crafts Designer stamps too!

I ordered this custom "P" from Qll_Art a couple months ago and when it arrived all the way from Russia I gasped out loud! SO PRETTY!

I finished up sending out my 19 Spring Cut Files - it's not too late to purchase the entire bundle!

Here is the Spring in Flowers cut file so you can see how it looks cut out.

I gave away three free cut files in my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group in April - 10 more are being given away tomorrow for iNSD!

These layered flower cut files are my new favorite.

Look how Rosita used them to create this beautiful wreath!

I have been sticking to my goal of creating one new video every week for my YouTube channel along with assignments and now that it's spring and flowers are in season I am feeling more inspired than ever, especially because Bloom Street is the epitome of SPRING! Here are the projects I shared in April:
Hello Sunshine Layout
Family Layout
Bloom and Grow Layout
She Makes Layout
Murten, Switzerland Mini Album
Home Layout
Beautiful Sweet Kind Friends Layout
Fresh Easter Eggs Layout

TOMORROW is iNSD and I'm going live on the American Crafts instagram to talk about my 5 tips for making mini albums!

The news was also shared on Pink Paislee's instagram - I spy a sneak peek of my next collection!!!

I'll end with an epic sunrise.

That's April 2020 in a nutshell! What a nutty month! Things are slowly returning back to normal though and I couldn't be happier. Chris started working again last week, I started exercising again although in full disclosure eating healthy foods is still a huge struggle. I said goodbye to one of my dear friends who moved and the kids' favorite babysitter which was so hard, but my friend's parents still live here so hopefully they'll be back often. The grass is fully green once more and I love living in Colorado despite how much I complain about the snow :) I'm trying I'm trying! Actually Colorado only has 30-40 overcast days per year, leaving at least 300 days of full to partial sunshine. I'll take it!! See you again June 1st with our May re-cap!