COVID-19: The kids room at Christmas

Well Thanksgiving came and Thanksgiving went and now it is the most wonderful time of the year! I used to pose her next to it and now she's helping me decorate it! THEY GROW UP SO FAST.

Here is the kids room in all it's festive Christmas glory.

I got Alice & Wally new flannel sheets from Target that are so cute. She got unicorns natch and he got dinosaurs. Here's her side. 

We got a new dresser for them! With Wally now full time using a potty (PRAISE GOD) we didn't need a lower dresser as a changing table. We found a new home for the old one and now have this behemoth that holds all their PJs and all their shorts and pants that were formerly in the closet. 

I dunno about you but it's not Christmas without a wreath on Darth Vader.

Matt's mom made this bulb garland last year and I finally hung it in a cute way. New advent calendar.. so cute.

Oh! Here is Alice's new school area. For the record this situation was bound to happen but I thought it would be years before she needed a real homework/desk area but distance learning in the time of COVID has made it jump to the top of the list. 

We been picking away at it slowly and now is it's most updated and I think final iteration. It has a magnetic board for displaying artwork, whiteboard calendar, corkboard with letters and reference numbers, a bulletin board for her friends pictures, and a hook to hang her... things. Everything a girl could need for a desk area. Who knows what will hang here in years to come...

It's just the little things that make things merry.

Ambre's family nativity set, now with our family.

And here is Wally's side.

I used some 3M command hooks to hang up some stars. Literally my favorite Christmas decorating tool. You have no idea how many of these hang in places around our house 

The kids 100% decorated this tree themselves. I think they did perfectly.

Nothing like Christmastime at home... 

My girl and my boy. Sharing a room. Best buddies. 

Happy Holidays Friends! I hope you got to deck them halls too!

COVID-19 Diaries: Halloween 2020

AH! How is it holiday time? How is this wonderful and insane year almost over? How illuminated and in a better place am I that I referred to as 2020 as "wonderful"? Look at God. Could my enthusiasm and and general feeling of hope be about the advent season, my rise above depression, my cool new job/promotion, the results of the free and fair election that gave us Joseph Biden as president and our first female elected vice president Kamala Harris from California?! ALL OF THE ABOVE! 

YES TO LIFE! YES TO STAYING IN MORE!

On the last season of the Fredrich Family show we had celebrated anniversaries, babies, and 2 birthdays. This season we've hit the high holidays. Halloween this year was different of course but in true EvY style I went a little bonkers.. maybe a LOT bonkers because this was the schedule for the day.

To make up for the lack of Halloween activities I made a "Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" carnival in the driveway. This year the kids have been obsessed with Nintendo Switch life so Wally was Mario and Alice was Princess Peach. 

The gated driveway of ours has been such a blessing this pandemic. It's often an outdoor movie theatre, it's a soccer field, a highway for scooters and tricycles, and a giant chalk canvas.

Leftover from our friend Corey's birthday are these blacklight activated chalks that works great for dance parties. 

I setup a craft/paint area and this one project that Alice went wild for which was "magic potion center" with baking soda and vinegar and glitter and just putting everything into a little jar. Entertained her for literally an hour I think.

This became snack and prize zone later.

And for games... all Great Pumpkin themed. 

COVID safe bobbing for apples. I had glued magnets on fishing poles and on the apples and drew stars on the winning apples they could earn prizes for.

I made an "I got a rock" game where you have to give Charlie Brown a rock.

The "rocks" were rock shaped bouncy balls I ordered online. 

And a lot of times I tell people, I'm really not that good an artist and I stand by that. But somehow this pandemic has made me accomplish things I find myself impressing even myself. Copying Charles Schultz's style onto toilet paper rolls to make a 'knock down can' game... come on.

Oh and a glow stick ring toss game.

I had made goodie bags for them with some dollar zone stuff and a few drive-thru trick or treat things gave us plenty of fun things and candy.

Our friends the Wishers came by and crafted with the kids too.

Seriously, these kids didn't miss a thing. We even repeated our carnival-ing the next day too.

After Halloween and before Thanksgiving I put up our new Christmas tree and did a mini "Halloween tree" thing for a few days. I'd always wanted to do it!

So that was Halloween Halloween Halloween Halloween at the Fredrich Family Farm! We celebrated Thanksgiving just the four of us at home and the house is now decked for Christmas.... ho ho ho.