COVID Flowers

(Really these have nothing to do with COVID except for the time frame)

I can never resist taking pictures of the flowers blooming in my yard each year.  Here are some of my faves...

Beauty of Moscow lilac

Klehm's Bechtle Crab

This crab apple's blossoms are my favorite.  I searched specifically for this variety to plant in our yard.

It has trouble with disease every year but so far it has survived.  The boys took some pruning shears to it after it bloomed this spring and really whacked it down to almost nothing.  We'll see how it does next year :)

I don't know the name of this peony but it's one of my healthiest bushes.

Coral Charm peony.

pink oriental poppy

Obviously this one isn't in my garden but one of my many orchids produced, basically, a siamese twin bloom.  These two are connected at the back.

I've mentioned before that I help a friend out sometimes with her floral business.

My next door neighbor's oldest daughter was killed in a car accident and I was honored to be able to help with the funeral flowers.  It was my first time working on a standing and casket spray.  Quite a learning and sweet experience.

This is just an arrangement I made for a friend's birthday.

I love flowers!!!

Quarantine Creations

The quarantine has brought out the creative side in us....

The boys really got into their Legos that they hadn't played with in a while.

I tried to take this picture stealthily of them both doing their Lego thing...noises were included :)

One of Matt's classes required him to make something nutritious so he made protein bites.

He's been baking a bit too.  He makes a pretty mean lemon poppyseed bundt cake!

   

I've been making a few baby blankets for friends lately...

    

My mother in law has been sending some packages with things to try and keep us busy and happy.  One of them contained a big box of modeling clay.  Most of us tried it out and enjoyed it!

  

At the very beginning of quarantine Andy went to Michael's and bought a whole bunch of painting stuff.

Again, most of us tried it out at some point over the course of the last three months.

We tried to do some Bob Ross style and then I went off and did my own thing with flowers.

I went hiking in the Scottish Highlands on iFit and fell in love with the Old Man of Storr.

I tried to paint it.

After doing acrylics for a while I wanted to try some water color on a few birthday cards. 

Here's Andy when he finally got around to trying all the supplies he bought :)

We have done a bunch of puzzles lately!

                 

I ordered this one as kind of a birthday present for myself.  It's a mystery puzzle...kind of fun.

This one was a birthday present from Mom...I loved doing it!

I thought I had taken a picture of every one of them but I'm missing 2 or 3.

I really like puzzles and have ordered several more.

One that I was super excited about arrived today, except it was the wrong one.  It came from China so I don't know if I will be able to exchange it or not :(

Anyway, it's been fun around here lately.

We continue to paint, puzzle and play...it's a good thing.