What April Looked Like

April! In the correct order!

The month started off with COVID vaccines!

Hooray!

So happy the three of us could get the first of our two vaccine doses.

All of us had sore arms, but that was the extent of our symptoms.

So grateful for the miracles of modern science!

General Conference weekend!

I LOVE having a spiritual feast with my family twice a year.

And it's nice to have Andrew to ourselves, too.

I made us cinnamon rolls.

So, so good.

But also so time-consuming to make.

We worked on a lego creation as a family.

I bought one of those 3-in-1 kits that I like so much.

We made this lighthouse first.

Cute.

I made us roast, veggies, and jello for our easter dinner.

Andrew made deviled eggs.

On holidays, we miss B-train.

Dyed eggs after dinner.

I finished up the deck!

And I'm so, so happy with how it turned out.

I used the thickest, most heavy-duty stain I could find.

I should not have to do this project again for 

another TEN years!

Below are some before and after shots.

It REALLY needed it!

Another Bingus sighting....

Oh, spring. How I love you.

Care Bear doesn't ride her unicycle much anymore.

I'm glad she hasn't lost her skills yet. 

I got sick this month!

I never get sick.

I thought I must have COVID because I felt feverish,

had chills, and was super exhausted.

I had already had my first vaccine!

I ended up taking two COVID tests,

four days apart,

both came back negative.

But in the meantime, I had to self-quarantine for those four days.

The first two days were fine because I felt lousy.

The third and fourth days were LAME.

I had an adult coloring book that kept me company.

And I listened to audiobooks, which was fun.

My sweet friend, Ethel, brought me vitamins to boost my immune system.

I was so grateful to be done with that!

Youth video game tournament.

I love getting random pics like this from B.

Caroline had a random Wednesday off, 

so we went shopping.

She has discovered the pink drink at Starbucks and loves it.

We bought her a bike!

She had been trying to ride my old bike,

but it has seen better days.

The trees all have leaves again and it is so pretty!

I thought that was a random question mark cloud toward the right.

Poor Drew is still having problems with his heels!

Ugh!

His doctor now gave him steroids and an exercise regimen 

he has to do a couple times of day.

He has to ice his heels when it's done.

Hilarious to see these two ice packs strapped on.

Whitney turned SEVENTEEN!

Exciting!

She told her Grandma Sweat she wanted items

from small business owners,

like this peppermint soap. She loves it!

We were able to have a party this year!

Hooray!

Joya was sick and couldn't make it.

But she had a blast with these four friends.

Cutest gift bag!

She wanted an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.

It turned out to be a big fiasco.

The person who took my order earlier in the week

never passed it on to anyone, so the paper just sat

in a back office somewhere and the cake was never made.

Instead, I got to pick out a couple of cakes from the freezer.

And we "got" to make our own ice cream cone toppers.

It didn't work out so well. Ha!

We almost lost them while we were singing!

Love to watch her grow into a beautiful woman!

Me and my girl.

Her birthday self-portrait.

Love it.

Her business is doing well.

She has an order or two every week.

Caroline's tennis matches started this month!

So fun! (At least for her parents...)

She was technically supposed to play up in the 

next age group because of where her birthday falls.

But I didn't want her first experience with matches 

to be just getting her butt kicked.

So we kept her in the U12 age group.

It's a great fit for her.

She wins about the half the time.

And most of the match-ups are close and competitive.

She is mostly enjoying herself.

She just doesn't have any killer instinct.

At all.

Very happy to trade baseline shots with her singles opponents.

Her matches are on Saturday mornings.

They play one set of either singles or doubles.

They do no-ad scoring.

And then they switch the match-ups and 

play a second set of either singles or doubles.

She has good form and I love watching her.

Our backyard has come back to life and I LOVE it.

After I stained the deck, I decided it was time

for new patio furniture.

The girls wanted one of those egg chairs.

They are kinda hard to find.

And the quality of the ones I did find

was questionable.

So I ended up getting this hanging recliner instead.

I LOVE it! The girls still wish we had an egg chair.

And the weather has been SO gorgeous!

I can sit out there and read or play on my phone

or talk on the phone.

It is the best!

A happy girl,

enjoying her beautiful backyard.

We also got a more traditional porch swing,

which the girls and Andrew LOVE.

We had a table and chairs out here,

but only ate on them about twice a year.

So far, we've gotten A LOT more use out of our swings.

Yay!

We finished up our Parks and Rec Scavenger Hunt.

And now the Greensboro Arts Council is hosting 

an outdoor art scavenger hunt.

Perfect!

We went all over town finding outdoor art.

Statue of Minerva at UNCG

Dogwoods and azaleas.

So pretty

I thought this giant tree on campus was awesome.

This was an interesting art collection.

That building is the Industry for the Blind.

The artwork is designed to be enjoyed by visually

impaired people as well.

So on the wall under the visual art,

there is a tactical representation of the art 

as well as buttons you can press to hear a description

and a musical interpretation of the artwork.

Love going on this scavenger hunts for dates,

especially since Andrew can't play tennis right

now because of his heels.

On the way home from church,

Caroline said, "I just saw a fox back there."

We did a u-turn and the fox was still there.

In fact, there was a mama fox with three babies.

They were so cute!

Happy we got to catch a little glimpse of them.

Mama was ready to leave, waiting

for her babies to catch up.

We've moved FHE to Sunday nights since

Whitney works most Mondays.

For our activity one night,

Andrew picked outdoor hide-and-seek.

Do you see him hiding in the background? :)

It's not easy to hide when you're 6'6". Ha!

I love Dogwood blooms!

And I'm so happy that there are leaves on the trees again!

Spring is my favorite!

Our next Lego build with our 3-in-1 set:

An RV!

So cute.

Another scavenger hunt date.

Saw lots of cool murals.

This gazebo had taken writing from a letter Nathanael Greene

had written to George Washington and put it on the roof.

Except the writing was backward.

Why didn't they put it facing the right way?

How many people are going to be in the air

above the gazebo to read it that way??

Bamboo bike rack

This was a cool zen-garden type contraption that you could spin.

Hopscotch!

The Greensboro Four,

college freshmen from A&T who started

the Woolworth lunch counter sit-ins

We totally thought of B when we saw this Nipsey Hussle

mural. We sent him a snapchat showing him. 

We thought we would get pizza for dinner 

near one of the stops on the hunt.

But it was overpriced and the flavor selections were weird.

But they sold gelato there, so we got dessert first.

And it was GOOD!

I hadn't had gelato in a LONG time.

Love it.

We went to Brixx to get not-so-overpriced pizza instead. Ha!

It's strawberry season around here!

Yes!

Yum!

One of our family traditions is that whoever cooks 

dinner doesn't have to clean up the dishes.

The non-cooks work together to clear the table

and get everything in the dishwasher.

When it's Whitney's turn to cook,

she REALLY looks forward to that part of the meal.

She calls us all "campesinas!",

the Spanish word for peasants.

It's hilarious.

I thought of her when I saw this shirt for sale in Galveston.