April

Quarantine at the Lazy G isn't much different than normal and includes lots of outside time and critters!  The girls helped me get the leaves raked and flower beds straightened up around the house in preparation for a load of mulch (who knows when I'll get that!).

 

 

And we've been planting the garden.  Here they are helping me water the tomatoes.  Elsie on the left.

 

 

Grilling dinner with daddy.  Elsie on the left.

 

 

We've encountered lots of interesting critters this year and the girls are always ready to get a closer look.  Here they examine a fuzzy caterpillar on the horses' water tank. Leonie in stripes.

 

Leonie with a giant millipede. (we use gloves to handle these guys because they release a purple liquid that stains skin and clothes!) 

 

Elsie's turn.

 

 

These girls don't judge a bug by how it lives - here they are holding a dung beetle!  We then let him go by a convenient pile of manure. Elsie on the left.

 

 

One day this dragonfly ran into the barn and knocked itself out.  We held it until it recovered and flew away.  Elsie on the left.

Another day we found this Cecropia moth on the windowsill.  Elsie on the left.


















This month the toad population exploded!  The woods were crawling with these little guys as they made their way out of the puddles.  Elsie on the left.

















We took the girls down the road to the toad puddles and they had a great time trying to get the toads to go back in the puddles.  Good thing there were literally hundreds of babies so no single toad got too much attention.

























After a cart wreck in February (we were all ok) I haven't felt comfortable taking Peanut driving down the road with the girls by myself. Now we only take him out if Matthew is home to help lead Peanut and give me a hand if anything happens.  Luckily Peanut has been a good boy since the accident.



















The girls giving Shere Khan some love.  Elsie on the left.

















Playing kitties has become a new favorite game.  Here the kitties are sitting on a log.  Elsie on the left.

















And now the kitties are walking back to the house. We also build sand kitty food and water dishes and the girls pretend to cough up hair balls, haha.  Elsie on the left.

















Back to being cute little girls.  Leonie on the left.

























I don't have too many inside photos since we are outside so much but here are a couple. First, the car mechanics are busy giving these vehicles that my Grandfather made a tire rotation.  Elsie on the left.

 















And eating breakfast with new headbands from Nanny.  A much easier way to keep hair out of their faces and mouths!  Leonie on the left.

















Finally, a couple of videos from April.

Tumbling time at home, since that's where we're stuck!

Beach Ball Fun!

Morning Silllies.

Too much energy!

March

This month started out rough and ended up pretty underwhelming.  My parents came for a visit during the first week on their way home from Florida.  Unfortunately we were all sick with the flu and weren't much fun to be around!  It was quite helpful to have extra help caring for everyone though and miraculously my parents did not catch it.  We spent most of their visit like this.  Elsie in green.

 

Elsie perked up first and was able to play with Grandma and Grumps a little while Leonie and I rested in our bed.  Luckily we had great kitty nurses!  Matthew fell ill a little later in the week once the rest of us were starting to feel better. 

 

It took us about two weeks to all feel almost normal again and we missed out on a couple of planned events during that time.  By the time we felt better everything had started to shut down due to covid.  So we spent most of the month at home enjoying each other and nature.  Here the girls help me make tortillas.  Elsie on the left.

 

 

Baking is a messy business. Leonie

 

 

But so much fun!  Elsie

 

 

Thankfully the weather has been lovely so we've been able to enjoy outside a lot.  A cute sister hug I caught one day.  Leonie on the left.

 

 

Carrots from the garden.

 

 

Feeding the tops to the rabbits.

 

At the beginning of March Mow was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that is basically eating away at his teeth.  This very painful condition can be treated by removing the afflicted teeth so the vet came one day this month and took all six of Mow's top incisors as well as a premolar.  He will loose the remaining incisors after a few months recovery.  During the procedure the girls and I hung out in the yard and even had a picnic.  Mow is feeling better now and will be even better soon.

 

 

At the end of the month Matthew started working from home.  He is able to connect to his work computer and is actually probably more productive here!  Not to mention, we love having him home!  Here's Elsie with Daddy ready to start the day.

 Both girls helping Daddy get started.  They're really good about leaving him alone while working but we do spend a lot of time outside.  And phone calls have to be done in a separate room, haha.

 

 

Double pony ride!

 

 

A stroll around the property.

 

 

Critters from the farm.  Elsie with a caterpillar.

 

 

Leonie.

 

 

Elsie with a toad we found in the garden.

 

 

Leonie.

 

 

Lastly, the first G that Leonie drew!  Both girls can draw an E and L too but not much else.

 

 

A couple of videos:

 

Double swinging.  Elsie on the left.

 

 

 

And playing with soccer balls.

 

 



February

As usual, we spent most of our time outside this month but here's a cute photo of a bedtime story one evening.  Thanks for the book Nanny! Leonie on the left.

 

 

More sand adventures. Leonie on the left.

 

 

Playing horses in the garden grass and pretending to graze. Elsie on the left.

 

A cute twin moment. Elsie on the left.

 

Helping Mommy weed the flower beds.  I'm going to need another pair of gloves! Leonie on the left.

 

This month we also discovered and observed lots of bugs.  Starting with these rolly polly bugs from the flower beds. Here's Elsie holding one.

 

And Leonie using the magnifier to get a closer look.

 

Elsie with a giant stinkbug.

 

Leonie's turn.

 

One day while Daddy was chopping wood he found these huge beetles!  All bugs were safely released after observations. Elsie on the left.

 

We do play inside sometimes too, haha.  Here the girls are playing with one of the monthly Kiwi crates from Grandpa Gunzburger.  They are learning to make letters.  Can you see which ones they've made? Leonie on the left.

 

 

And we spend lots of time building with Duplos.  Leonie on the left.

 

Another Kiwi crate came with play dough - hours of fun! Leonie on the left.

 

 

Whenever we get a chance we try out new playgrounds too.  The girls are getting big enough that they can do most of the obstacles.  Here's Elsie on the rock wall.

 

And both on the ladder.

 

At the end of the month I got a little Mommy Time and took Mow to a dressage show.  It's always nice to keep up with my equestrian events.

Finally, some videos from this month.

 

Slide fun

 

 

Daddy swinging Leonie

 

 

Daddy swinging Elsie

 

 

And Elsie playing harmonica