During early quarantine, it was trendy to have a family portrait taken on your front steps. A photographer would come, stand 6+ feet away, and send you an edited shot free of charge, with the request that you would make a donation to the food bank or another charity. It was popularized in our area by local photographers Jenna Stern and Michelle Gurner. But I saw friends getting their photos taken for “The Porch Project” all the way down in Texas.

Another thing that I saw a few families do was a FaceTime photo session. I wasn’t really sold on the idea until I saw Jordan Ashleigh‘s work. I loved how her vintage vibe worked with the quality of the FaceTime photos, rather than against it. I had to have some of her work!

We scheduled the shoot on Memorial Day, and that afternoon we had our first visit with another family since the quarantine began months before. It was the beginning of a new era–reintegrating with friends. These pictures are extra special to me, as they represent the end of the strictest of this (first wave?? hopefully only) quarantine and the ways that our little fam spent our individual quarantine time.

I was doing home decor projects, obviously. I did some oil painting, a lot of gardening, a lot of reading (as usual) on top of my childcare and home school policing duties. I also kept the house consistently at a level of livable cleanliness.

My husband is a talented chef, but pre-quarantine, he was pretty limited to special Saturday breakfasts and weekend cooking. He’s spent a lot more time in the kitchen since the pandemic began. We followed the bread-baking trend and he learned how to grow yeast and bake a mean sourdough, which is phenomenal with his homemade onion bacon jam. He’s mastered perfect homemade tortillas (and sopapillas!!) to accompany his already awesome tacos and satisfied our sweet teeth (and grew our waistlines) with delectable treats like white chocolate malpua, Baked Alaska and Alton Brown’s blueberry buckle. Yum!

He’s also been the long term favorite, so he’s done much of it with a little cutie on his hip.

My oldest was still working through home school when these photos were taken. He took breaks by listening to The Adventure Time podcasts while swinging in the backyard, drawing characters, and complaining. 

He had his desk set up in the living room so that I could keep an eye on him while he was doing home school. 

We all spent a lot of time in the backyard. Sword fighting with sticks, catch, and swinging were frequent activities.

We’ve got a little stream in the backyard, and hitting the water with a stick and throwing rocks into the water to watch the splash was the #1 activity for our littlest one. 

It’s funny how long ago these pictures feel now, and the ways in which our frequent activities and routines have changed. We’re doing our best to make the best of a weird, often scary moment in history and I’m so grateful that we captured this special moment in time.