*written by Maui*

Hello again! It has been a few days, so I'm excited to write on here again! Today was an active day in our household, filled with long walks with the dogs and lots of volleyball in the driveway. Noodle got his staples out today, and full clearance from the vet, so obviously his badness level has been extra high between his naps. Juneau and I played volleyball for at least a couple hours total, and then did some wood burning! The wood burning was a new experience, and I'll admit I was a little scared at first. We got the hang of it eventually, and I ended up getting something out of it that I really like.
Our lego project, the giant Cinderella's castle, is coming along well. We only have 2 levels left! To put that into perspective, we're currently on step 700 something and through 13 other levels. I think I speak for the whole family when I say we can't wait to see the finished product of all our hard work. Lubbock and Dallas bought 2 individual Nintendo Switches, and Juneau and I may be spending a lot of time on them. Juneau and I's school is doing a virtual spirit week, and today was "try something new Tuesday," hence the wood burning! Tomorrow is "work outside Wednesday," which will be perfect since we are supposed to have very nice weather. I love this, because it's a great way to stay entertained and connected through the school.
Until next time!
-Maui

*written by Maui*

Hello again! Today was a good day in our little household. Dallas came home from his quarantine after it was confirmed that he did not have covid-19, it was in fact just a man cold.
The weather in Iowa finally cleared up and it ended up being a beautiful day, which of course brought on a nice family walk in the sun with 2 out of our 4 dogs. On the walk, Juneau and I led with Noodle and Cupcake, while Lubbock and Dallas fell behind. As we were walking back toward the house, Noodle was alarmed at a group of walkers standing around chatting, and waited for Cupcake to safely pass before sprinting to catch up after he knew it was safe. Noodle has been a bit of a scaredy cat on walks lately, but he is much more comfortable when his big sister is there to reassure him. Juneau and I got to play some volleyball out in the driveway and get a little bit of physical activity in, which honestly hasn't been happening a lot during this lazy quarantine! I curled Juneau's hair, and it turned out very nicely. She keeps bouncing around the house to see them boing! Lubbock made some more cards for our friends, so if you get one, we hope you liked it!
That's all from me for today, until next time!
-Maui

Fun Friday

*by Maui*

Hello all! Another lazy day of quarantine in our household, complete with some takeout from Panchero's and Chick-Fil-A. Our orders from Chick-Fil-A were a little hectic, with some forgotten drinks and then Lubbock spilling my fries all over the driveway, but the food was good all the same. I retrieved my birthday reward from Chick-Fil-A, a lovely chocolate shake. This may not have been the best choice given that this is the laziest and most inactive I've been in a long time, but I consider it to have been worth the extra calories.
Noodle and I went on his first long walk since his neuter surgery, and he's trying to play in the floor with Flapjack as I write this. Cupcake went on a later and longer walk with Lubbock and Juneau, and of course the bulldogs don't enjoy physical activity so they got to lounge during all of this walking time.
Lubbock has been nonstop crafting and making cards to send to our friends and family, so if we know you send us a message and ask for a card! This has been a nice way for us to show people that we are thinking of them without necessarily having to be on our phones to do it. It also gives us something to relieve some boredom, and use our creative energy to feel productive.
I think that's all for today, nothing eventful this time!
-Maui

From the dogs

Hello everyone! My name is Flapjack, and I'm the white bulldog. That basset hound is my pet Noodle. I'm the hero, Fat Boy, and he's Long Dog, my sidekick.
My favorite things are: Momma, blalal (peanut butter), and sitting in people's laps. Now there's corona, and it's not the beer and lime. It's this virus that keeps my Momma and family at home, and I get snuggles all the time. I really like the corona. We snuggle on the couch, and then the chair, and then we go to bed. It's perfect! Sometimes Maui takes that Noodle for walks because he has extra energy, but I don't go on walks because I'm lazy.
The other bulldog is Butter, and she's the big sister of the dogs. She tells everybody what to do, and acts like the queen in charge of the whole house. And Cupcake is the big mastiff, she's freaking huge! I used to play with her but now we fight sometimes.
I hope you all like the first dog written post!

Lubbock weighing in

Good evening all. I'm Lubbock- Mom to this crew. I'm a stay at home mom - which usually means i'm running all over the metro area taking care of my families wants and needs. Now I bravely forage as infrequently as possible.

Today was a Maui's birthday.  She's and adult. Well, chronologically anyway. As she said, we had many plans to celebrate, but while things were different, they were still good. I am so thankful that the girls get along. Juneau even made her an adorable cake complete with a volleyball cake pop- very creative. And delicious!

My morning started fixing yesterdays calamity. Off to Home Depot for a washing machine pan and a hose clamp. Good news- once properly installed I was able to do a load of laundry without setting off the fire alarm.  So, progress.

We also spent some time on our new hobby- LEGOs! So far we've completed Mickey's Steamboat Willie Boat. And we're currently working on Cinderellas Castle. It's a huge set, so it should take up lots of time.

I've been spending my free (seriously still don't have a lot of that it seems) in my crafty space. I'm making lots of cards to send to our friends we can't see right now. So if I randomly ask for your address- well, pretend to be surprised by your paper hugs.

We're winding down for the evening, not sure what tomorrow will bring, but we'll handle it.

~~Lubbock

A Wonderful Wednesday

*written by Maui*

Hello again! Today is my 18th birthday, and I have to say this is not the way I thought I would be spending it. We had a great little painting party planned for this weekend, I was going to get my tattoo... but alas, coronavirus struck and my birthday fell in the time of self-isolation. However, despite what may seem like sad circumstances, I had a great day all the same. Juneau, my little sister, made me a lovely and delicious cake. My best friend dropped a present off on the porch that was so adorable and heartfelt I definitely shed a tear or two. My mom, Lubbock, is making me my favorite homemade meal: meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I've had a relaxing snuggle time with my dogs, and even got to video chat a little girl and teach her some fun science. So even though I had to spend the big 18th birthday inside and distanced, I think everything turned out just fine. I also realized that I am in no way prepared to be a real adult, but I feel like I don't need to worry about that until the real world starts turning again!
Thanks for reading!
-Maui

A Load of Laundry Gone Horribly Wrong...

*As we said in our introductions, we will not be posting our real names. However, we have come up with a clever alternative, and our "code names" will be our favorite city or a city we would very much like to visit. Dallas= dad, Lubbock= mom, Maui= oldest daughter, and Juneau= youngest daughter.*

*post written by Maui*

Today began nicely, with the sun slowly coming out and the weather warming. This is always a nice surprise for early spring in Iowa, where many days it is still cold and gray. Lubbock and I began our day by building a vanity for my bedroom as a part of the decorating process. Our family just moved in to this house, and today was another day of decorating my new room. After we had successfully built the cute vanity, I decided to wash my bed sheets. I took them off, threw them in our washer; no biggie!

Wrong.

During the wash cycle, Lubbock and I were downstairs working on some crafts in our down time, all the while hearing our washer's "unbalanced" alarm go off. However, each time after a few seconds the alarm would stop. So we would wait, and then go back to work when the alarm stopped. We took to joking, "Angry laundry!" After we were finished crafting, I decided to take our Basset Hound puppy, Noodle, for a walk. We went upstairs, I prepped Noodle for his walk, and Lubbock gasped. "The laundry machine walked itself away from the wall and leaked all over this floor!" Oh, no. I took Noodle on his walk since he was so excited, and came back to an upset Lubbock tinkering with the back of the washer. The hose had loosened from the machine, and every time water was pumped in or out, a huge puddle formed in the floor. For now, we've taken to blaming the person who installed it, since they neglected to put on a clamp that would have potentially been able to hold the hose in place. Despite the initial shock and inconvenience, we cleaned up the mess and managed to get the sheets in the dryer.

About an hour later, every smoke detector in our house sounded the alarms. After much confusion and searching for a fire that wasn't there, we had to evacuate us and all four of our dogs into the street until someone from MidAmerican could come see what was going on. As I sat in the back of our truck with the two bulldogs and Noodle, I of course put a video on Snapchat, cursing this hell-of-a-year that 2020 has been. Once the very nice and helpful MidAmerican man had completed his investigation, we were told that the water from the washer incident had run through the wall/floor barrier of the pantry, down into the socket of a smoke detector, and shorted out the detector, causing a house-wide smoke detector panic.

All because I wanted to wash my sheets.

I think it's safe to say I'm going to be a lot more precise and thoughtful about how I do my laundry with this fickle machine from now on.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

-Maui :)

Introductions :)

Hello everyone! This post begins our blog about our adventures during this time of self-isolation and social distancing thanks to COVID-19, hence the name of this blog being "Our Corona Lifestyle." Buckle up for some fun stories about our suburban family with four dogs, two teenage girls, and a lot of newfound free time on our hands. Stay tuned for today's descriptive post, which will be about a load of laundry going terribly wrong!
Give us a shout if you have suggestions for us, this is supposed to entertainment both ourselves and any readers we may have! Trivia, funny stories, movie recommendations; you name it, and we'll try to find a way to bring it to our page!


*for privacy reasons, we will not be using our real names, however all of our stories will be 100% true!*