It's Been a Year....

 It's hard to believe that it has been exactly a year since our lives were turned completely upside down by COVID restrictions. It's been almost exactly a year since John has traveled, churches were closed, schools were closed, businesses shut down, masks became mandated, social distancing became a commonly used term, handshakes are frowned upon and even gathering together with family ceased. It feels good to say that there is some light that can be seen at the end of the tunnel. The majority of schools and churches are open, businesses are open (though sadly there are some that didn't survive the shutdowns), we are gathering again, a vaccine is being rolled out and mask mandates are slowly but surely being lifted. John has some travel scheduled in the near future (which is so bittersweet for us) and life for us in general looks pretty similar to what it did a year ago. While the pandemic brought SO MANY challenges, we are so thankful for the family time it gave us and the fact that we and our families stayed healthy! We are also more thankful than ever for John's job and that he was able to provide for us in such an uncertain time.....not once did we have to worry about putting food on our table or making the house payment, and for that we are so thankful! The pandemic also provided a lot of added "perks" that will hopefully stick around....for example, just about every restaurant and store now offers curbside pickup and churches/athletics/schools are providing lots of things virtually (which is so awesome for family who don't often get to see our kiddos in-person, engaging in their activities). 

So here we are, a year later and doing so many of the things we love once again! 

Here's what we've been up to these past few weeks!

Charlie's preschool Valentine's Day party

2 Hour Delay...Johnny ready for school

Johnny likes to make sure Douglas is safe before leaving the car for school

Such a pretty sunset over all the snow we got

ornery boys!....all 3 of them :) 

This girl loves a selfie

Charlie's class was working through the letter "Ss" so they had silly sock day at school! 

Charlie and Griffin "twins"

Mellany with another selfie...this time getting her hair done 

Winston got a major hair cut last weekend

Another selfie....this time before Acro

We are officially old and really enjoyed putting this puzzle together

Another selfie at Johnny's ninja class

Charlie just hanging out....in between the legs of the barstool

Car line selfies

Charlie was helper of the day for school and decided to bring his excavator for show and tell. This is his teacher brining him out to my car at pickup :) 

This past weekend was the "Toy Tractor Show" in our town so the boys went to that and Mellany and I headed out for shopping and a movie!