Heading Into the Weekend Like...

It's all sunshine and smiles here. The weather is the most perfect, blue skies, fluffy clouds, a breeze, and right about 70. 

After Memorial Day and birthday stuff, this last hustle of school (one more week to go, but really just until Tuesday with real work) has been good but we are ready to be done. 

Happy Friday!

A Fun Birthday!

Well in weird times we made the best of celebrating a birthday. The best news was that for the first time in his entire life, it did NOT rain on his birthday. One little bright spot to make up for the other disappointments of the day. 

We spread out the fun. So much so that I was exhausted by the end of the day! 

He had breakfast presents. Including these new Garfield books from his sister. 

We got bagels for breakfast. Birthday boy's choice. (Good choice if I do say so myself, they were really tasty!) 

The other breakfast presents included his requested pedometer. Turns out mom and the gym teacher shop at the same place. Which is convenient since that's why he wanted one in the first place. 

And a Magic 8 Ball when you turn 8 seems right doesn't it? 

For lunch, we had the requested hot dog picnic. Hot dogs, popcorn, and fruit. He was very happy!

In the afternoon the climbing dome arrived. This was NOT a birthday present but it had good timing. I spent the bulk of the afternoon outside putting it together. C had a zoom with his class, like the regular class meeting but it worked out well. 

His best friend dropped off a treat and card for him! He really liked that. Later after our dinner of cheeseburgers and watermelon (may he always be so easy to please) he got to zoom with my family and open more presents. 

We also did his cake. (And I didn't take a single picture of that. Oh well.) And then after that, Husband and I went back outside to finish the climbing dome. We had to tighten all the bolts. 

And then we finished! And we let everyone stay up late to play for a while. I can already tell you that this was a great purchase for our yard. 

All in all, I think we celebrated well! He had a good day!

Birthday Wishes

C,

Happy birthday, Goose! This past year has been redemptive and wonderful. Which makes it hard to capture in a measly birthday letter. The growth and maturity I've seen from you are so wonderful, you're showing the world how fantastic you are. I am so completely proud of you. 

I am so sad that this virus stopped first grade in its tracks. It is not fair that you said goodbye to go on spring break and now you will never go back. Everything about this school year has been so radically different than kindergarten and I am so thankful. You got to be YOU this year and having other people see the wonder that is you is my favorite. 

You are so wicked smart. You read so fast sometimes your tongue has a hard time catching up, which is why we talk about "marbles" in your mouth. I get it. I was like that too. And don't for one minute think that because I tell you to go back and slow down do I think you haven't read it. 

It's funny, I so often talk about slowing things down and missing you. In some ways, this extra quarter of first grade has been nice. I get to hang with you every day. Obviously, this hasn't been without its faults and issues but I love that I get to spend your whole day with you, and I don't have to share you with school for seven hours. (Especially today!) 

Your imagination is one to behold. Many people have been wondering how I keep you busy during the days, and I am so so blessed that I don't have to! Other than a car trip, I don't think you've ever told me that you're bored. You just explore and pretend. Creating worlds, stories, books, and games to entertain you and your sister. I pray that you will use this skill your whole life with wherever your life carries you. 

And I am overwhelmed by your great faith. Spirituality just comes naturally to you, and whether it's playing Mass at home or creating your own metaphors for others to understand, I love watching your faith and trust in Jesus grow stronger every day.

8 is going to be a fun one! You're already excited for first communion and I can't wait to take that journey with you!! Happy birthday my sweet boy! I love you. Let's get this Star Wars/Mario/Garfield party started!

Love,
Mom

Bright and early wake-up with a Lego 8. 

Hello!

Greetings from here. There isn't a whole to report. It is cloudy. Again. Today is day 5 without the sun, and while it's not raining it certainly is gloomy.

I can't believe May is rapidly coming to an end. I can't believe the school year is almost over. We certainly have school year fatigue, but my good friend reminds me that even if everything was completely normal, we would be feeling the same way.

10 days. The last day of school for us is June 5. Technically, all of C's school is "voluntary" but I also don't want him to be behind in whatever the next year looks like. I don't think anyone really knows. We are all ready for a break certainly, but we will probably do some work this summer so we don't have the summer slump and we stay sharp.

M got a fairy garden from the Easter Bunny. But it was too cold to start it then. So we waited. And then we did start it but it took FOREVER for anything to grow. Even still, only one magic bean did grow at all. 

And she lost another tooth yesterday! One of her besties, not to be left out, managed to lose her second top tooth yesterday too! (She lost one of her top teeth on Friday, the day before M's first.) 

So these two friends are toothless before kindergarten. I love that they're doing things together even when they're apart. 

Things are slowly opening back up, and I am tentatively wondering how to best approach reentry. And there we are. 

Have a great day!

Worms and A Return to Panem

Yesterday was a big book day in our house.

First: the new Elephant and Piggie Love Reading book was released.

And you know us and Mo. Even if it's just for a few pages... we preordered it a long time ago and it showed up. Happily before C's zoom so he could bring it as his show and tell.

So all the kids in my house were happy.

Which is good because yesterday was also the release date of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

And oh my goodness. I spent all day reading it.

I admit, I originally did not think diving back into Panem during COVID-19 times seemed like an especially good idea. But man, Suzanne Collins is a good writer.

Snow's journey was complicated and beautiful. Do I like him as a character now? Not in so many words, no. But having a deeper understanding of him and how he got where he was going, well that clears up a lot of questions.

It was excellently written and well thought out. I think it was the perfect addition to the series. I especially loved the little details that connected the stories together. It really is brilliant. Knowing why Katniss cuts him to the quick so much makes the other three stories that much better.

I am for sure reading them all again now.

My Baby's Big Moments

Oh my goodness!

My baby lost her first baby tooth tonight. 

She is so excited. 

And even though I have known the tooth has been wiggly for a while. And even though I knew that it was getting extra wiggly in the past 48 hours. And even though she woke up 4 times last night to tell me that her tooth was "very wiggly and kind of annoying" resulting in her very tired eyes that you can see above, my heart was still not really ready for her to lose her first tooth just yet. 

C was 6 years and 5 months old when he lost his first tooth. 

M is 5 years and 6 months so I thought I had a good while to go. 

She does things on her very own schedule I guess. 

Don't worry, the tooth fairy visited!

Life Skills

On Monday, C learned how to do laundry. I admit, that of household chores, I don't have any problem with laundry. But still, he should learn. So he did a load of laundry.

Yesterday, he cooked his first dinner.

It was the ever fancy, boxed mac and cheese and green beans.

But with the exception of carrying the pot of water back and forth from the stove to the sink, he did it all! He even got the steamer basket out and set up the colander. 

He was very excited to help and I was happy to teach him. He did a good job! Life skills class has been a nice little addition to our time home. 

Today, things are officially open again. Which is good for the economy I guess. It's a little weird. School is still out. None of the fun places for kids are open and we don't know when they will be, so even though things are open, nothing has really changed. 

I am just excited for playgrounds to open back up. That alone will be so good!

Words, Shapes and Pancake Cereal

Yesterday we mostly played hooky from school. It was a really nice day. It wasn't actually supposed to be. But the rain wasn't coming until the evening and so I didn't want them to waste the nice weather.

C did his math. Because Fridays are the "no math" day. I don't love math, I never have. And somehow C has that too because he whines and groans about it every day. Here's the kicker: he not even bad at it. So I don't get it. Luckily, also like me, shapes and geometry math stuff seem to be exciting and minimal complaints occurred during the work.

His teacher also came by the house for another book exchange. And he was very happy about that. 

This little girl is working on reading and her sight words. So yesterday we did some music sight words. She wrote "This is me" and then we listened to the song from The Greatest Showman and pointing to the words when they sang them. 

We did the same for "So What." (Working specifically on This and What yesterday) She is my reluctant reader, which is frustrating for both of us. But she's been doing great and progressing. Plus she got to wear her Anna braids yesterday. 

So, she obviously put on the dress and had a Frozen singalong. 

Have you seen "pancake cereal" floating around the internet? Basically small pancakes in a bowl with syrup? Well, pancakes were on the dinner menu anyway and I love a good gimmick. So the kids each got a bowl of their proscribed pancakes.

Today brought the expected rain. But it is stopped for now, and we did school work so the kids are outside I am sure getting muddy as heck and I am just going to shrug my shoulders and let it go. 

Another Day, Another Baked Good

Tuesday has rolled around again. It's amazing how the days have blended together but each one still stands out as something different.

Schoolwork is over for the day and the kids are in the backyard. It is going to rain here for the next few days so I gave the kids the choice to help me clean or play outside. I would have been happy either way but I am glad they opted to be outdoors. It's been so chilly here lately. Not feeling like May, which does make the staying in a little harder on us all.

C has his weekly zoom call later today. That's always cute.

Yesterday I sorted through all of M's clothes and weeded out things that were too small. (Or, to be honest, shirts I just didn't like.) Not sure why I put the task off, it didn't take that long and I feel so much better about the state of things in there!

Mother's Day was lackluster in a totally expected way. The kids each made me a card, and Husband still got my traditional breakfast pizza even though I said it wasn't necessary. But that was about all that made the day any different than any other day. I am not disappointed by this at all. It just wasn't much fodder for blogging.

 Selfies with my munchkins at bedtime.

In other truly important news, I made some chocolate frosting on Friday. It worked just like a can of frosting. It looked just like a can of frosting. It tasted equal or superior to a can of frosting and it has only regular real ingredients. So total win.

THIS IS THE RECIPE. We had it on top of funfetti cake. (Our nephew turned 1 on Friday and had an online birthday party. Zoom parties are BYOC don't you know.) My favorite kind of homemade cake is funfetti from a box with chocolate frosting.

Aldi chocolate frosting is terrible. Probably because they're committed to not using weird stuff in their food, so to make it shelf stable a lot is required. Anyway, don't buy Aldi chocolate frosting. Don't buy frosting at all actually. Just make that recipe. You will be happy you did. (Also, don't use your stand mixers, just use the good old hand beater for this. Trust me.)

Okay, that's all I know over here! I hope you're well. 

End of The Week

Hello Mother's Day Weekend!

So, I don't even really have anything of particular interest to say. Our state is slowly reopening. I saw more adults this week than I have in the past 8 and it was so good.

Lots of things dropped off at my house. A bag of books. A small treat for M from a friend. My carpet cleaning vacuum being returned. Driveway drinks with friends. All socially distant but so so good.

C's teacher mailed each person in the class a mini her to go on adventures. She met Frog and Toad at our house. She has an affinity for those books, as it happens so do we! Plus it is the story in their reading book this week so it worked out well. 

Lots of outside time also leads to plenty of scrapes. With Abe Lincoln bandaids because why not?

M had her zoom call. It was just as hilarious as always. I take notes every time and I am so glad I do!!

 Have a lovely weekend!

Star Wars Day

Yesterday was May the 4th. Which made it Star Wars Day. Here's the thing: I have never seen these movies. Neither has M.

C watched the first one (A New Hope) and then he also watched part of the next one. But he has read a ton of Star Wars books. Anyway, he is kinda into Star Wars and we are definitely seeking things to make staying in exciting.

SO... anyway, we started the day with school work. Our typical schedule has us starting the day with our school's Facebook live announcements at 8:00 and we are usually done by 10:00. Sometimes we have a little more to work on.

M borrowed one of C's shirts so she could dress Star Wars-y.

The kids watched Lego Star Wars with their lunch. 

Afternoon snack was a Yoda apple and "lightsaber pretzels" (Pretzel sticks covered in Fruit Roll Up.) Yes, we made just one apple. M doesn't like to bite into apples, she prefers slices, so she got a sliced up apple, a marshmallow, and 2 mini chocolate chips on a separate plate. 

Then we made some Star Wars crafts and I made pool noodle lightsabers for the kids to "save the galaxy" 

All in all, it was a very fun Star Wars Day and broke up some of the "staying home doldrums." Still haven't seen the movies. Don't plan to see the movies. But hey, I can throw a themed day anyway!

Happy Thanksgiving

Because celebrating Thanksgiving right as the May flowers show up makes more sense yes?

Anyway, we did Thanksgiving yesterday. We watched the 1997 Macy's parade in the morning. We made a whole traditional feast. We made turkey crafts as one does.

We opted to switch pumpkin pie for key lime because it's May and warm and we are not monsters.

I highly recommend throwing a Thanksgiving. Going around the table and sharing what you're thankful for shouldn't just be once a year anyway right?