The Bunch Celebrate July 4th and Try New Things to Avoid the Never Ending Boredom

It is really hard to believe that it is already July 4th. It seems like the slowest moving year ever. The kids haven't seen or talked to their friends since the second week in March and really would love to be able to do anything with them, but as we all know we have to stay apart. There isn't much that is open anyways. Hopefully, things will go back to somewhat normal soon, but I fear that the kids still won't be able to play sports, go to church groups, or hang out with people they aren't living with until next summer.

We had a "party" for the 4th. Basically, just my in-laws and oldest child came over and we loved it. Not only was it fantastic to see the people we love, but the kids were so excited to see someone (anyone) who doesn't live here! We grilled some turkey burgers and Nathan's hot dogs (the absolute best). My in laws made my favorite potato salad and baked beans. T is still really into his John Wayne cookbook so he made a recipe from there called red, white, and blue cupcakes, which were more like blueberry muffins with icing and a cherry, but were definitely yummy. L made fresh lemonade (one of our most favorite treats) and homemade vanilla ice cream (we used left over ice cream to make floats with the next day and it was FANTASTIC). The girls put on an aerial routine for everyone that they had been working on. Once it became dark, we set off our fireworks. We have had so much rain this summer that it was nice to not have to worry about burning down the neighbor's house. All in all we had a great day and it was nice to have something that almost felt normal happen.

We set up are chairs to watch the show D fired off

You can't hear the kids yelling at daddy to run so he doesn't get burned.

It got dark.

My sweet little 💓 Gwen 💙 is feeling much better. The vet says she still needs to lose more weight, but she has lost a lot and is moving in the right direction.

T was so excited to have his brother to play with.

L and A put on their routine they have been working on. Some how I didn't get any pics of A.

They love their new toy though A won't brave the heat as much as L to practice.

L is a little more daring than I would like without a safety mat.

They have gotten pretty good.

We had fun playing moose farkle while we waited for it to get dark.

D play guitar for his parents.

T's yummy festive cupcakes.

They also played the wii u.

Everyone had a fun relaxing evening.

Even though it was warm T and C still played Cornhole.

I caught him loving on the dog. Maisy actually stayed out the whole time. She is calming down in her old age.

In an effort to not just lay around watching TV all day and because we are really getting bored doing the same thing for weeks on end with no end in sight, we decided to start a Fun Jar. Basically, the kids and I each wrote down 10 things we want to do on slips of paper and folded up the pieces of paper and put them in a jar. D did not write any down because he works half the week and we knew we would end up drawing his ideas on days he was gone and then he still wouldn't get to do them. However, he participates when he is here. The ideas we came up with are all very simple things we can do in a pandemic while social distancing. A had been complaining she never had anything to look forward to, which is true. With no sports games, camps, friend outings, or vacations to go on, there is no real time markers. At least now we look forward every morning to what is drawn. We take turns drawing so it is fair. So far we have picked go walk at a park in town we have wanted to check out for 4 years, watch a never seen movie, make floats, and play board games. It has been a success. Since we decided not to tell each other what we wrote down, each day is a surprise, though I will say the girls were not at all excited when " watch Mission Impossible as a family" was drawn, but they were good sports and watched it. It made T very happy.