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?

It's Amazing

For Earth Day last week, C's teacher drove to all the houses and left each student a surprise. They each got a cup, a baggie of dirt, and some sunflower seeds. We planted them just about an hour after he got them.

Yesterday, I took this picture to show my parents the progress his little seeds had made. I was super impressed!

4 out of 5 seeds had sprouted! One was even pretty big. They had a class zoom call yesterday afternoon and for the first time, everyone was there! How wonderfully exciting for first graders. 

But then this morning, God has shown me in a literal way how every day brings new choices, miracles, and wonder. 

That little sprout in the middle had barely skimmed the surface of the dirt 24 hours ago. And look at it now!

Sadly, today is cold and dreary. I actually don't mind a rainy day, I just wish it was warm rain. But, the promise remains true: tomorrow is another day. Plus it makes it the perfect day to make a lasagna for dinner, which as it happens is exactly what we were planning to have! 

We also did some of the Disney Animator drawing videos today for art. 

They really enjoyed it. I don't know that the resulting artwork looks a thing like Lightning McQueen, Mickey or Rapunzel but who cares? Not us!!

Have a wonderful day. And if you just can't summon up the energy to do that, remember that tomorrow will come.

Wins from the Weekend!

In an amazing twist of fate, both kids got a new clothing item on the same day. C got this "Samantha?" shirt. (From Frozen 2, and if you don't know what I am talking about you don't have a little boy at home who's seen that movie.) M got some new athletic shorts. She put on her Olaf shirt to match her brother.

Saturday was the perfect date as you may already know: 

And that remained true. I got new tires in December. My driver's side rear tire had an unrepairable leak by the air valve and it was time Well about a month ago, at the very early stages of staying home, my low tire pressure light came on. And no big deal I went and got them filled up. 

But the man told me that my driver's side rear tire was significantly lower than the other tires. And if it happened again I should bring it in to have it looked at. Well on Thursday the light came on. Boo. We have barely driven obviously so that must be a slow leak of some sort. 

Oddly, my Explorer also had issues with the rear driver's side tire. Apparently, it's just that tire that causes me great stress no matter which set of tires. 

Luckily it was able to be repaired under warranty on Saturday and I got to walk around Costco while they got it fixed. I went in for croissants and laundry detergent and walked out with a lot more. But I feel like I actually showed a lot of self-restraint. Everything I picked out is stuff we will actually use! 

Yesterday brought glorious weather. So lots of time was spent playing outside.  And that is good for the soul. 

Friday Already?

I cannot believe it's Friday.

This week has been impossibly long but surprisingly not a whole lot happened. Such is the life of staying home right?

I became unbelievably invested in the house sparrows that live in my neighbors eve. That's Henrietta. Her bird husband's name is Clarence. I love them. We can see them from my kitchen table so I just spend my days watching them build their nest.

We've played a lot of Catan Junior. I love Catan and this is the best substitute. Our kids aren't quite strategic enough to play adult Catan and you need three players so Junior will have to do. Spending some one on one time with each kid for the 2 player version is good. So is playing as a family. 

Tuesday was the Queen's birthday so I threw a little tea party. But instead of tea, we had hot chocolate. And my tea party food was sourced from my pantry and not at all authentic. But they liked it anyway. 

Wednesday we went to a birthday parade for M's friend who turned 5! It was so wonderful. I am 99% sure the moms loved seeing all the kids and moms as well. (We got to go around a cul-de-sac so we really could wave to our grown-up friends and still social distance.) My heart was so so full.

Then we came home and M made her own birthday parade with her Barbies. They even decorated the cars/tractor/scooter/train/carriage. (The Barbie birthday girl is sitting by the table leg.)

I found this meme and yep. This is my life. My kids are SO loud. Even when they're happy. 

Yesterday was Husband's birthday. I threw him an obscure theme party that was easy and staying home friendly. And because I had loads of time to online shop he probably got more presents than normal. That's fine with me. I enjoy celebrating him!!

This morning M had another class zoom. I loved every second and I even took notes of the cute things they said.

This afternoon we will be saying goodbye to our friends. They will come over and we will stand social distancing length apart in the yard. We learned they were moving to Texas at the end of February, or right before the world shut down. They had always planned to stick out the school year while their dad went ahead for work at the beginning of April. But now there's no reason to stay. 

My heart is so heavy that they're leaving in the midst of a pandemic where I can't hug them goodbye and we weren't able to do "one last" anything. But thems the breaks. It's a heartbreaking ending to our chapter with them as local friends.  

And that's that. I hope you're all well! 

A Dessert Worth Waiting For

Once upon a time, in January, I went to see Kinky Boots with Husband at our local dinner theatre. Typically when I go to shows there, I get the chocolate cheesecake for dessert. It’s delicious and a fun treat. But the “dessert of the show” was red velvet cake. Which I also enjoy. So I ordered that instead. It was disappointing. The frosting tasted like an old fridge and it didn't have a very red velvety flavor at all. I spent the entire second act wishing I had just gotten the chocolate cheesecake.

I spent months lusting after chocolate cheesecake. Never actually doing anything about it. Though we did price out buying those exact cheesecakes from Husband's work. (A restaurant food supplier.) They are expensive as heck!

Enter staying home and having nothing else to do. Two weeks ago I made my first basic cheesecake since I had never made a cheesecake before. It turned out okay.

Yesterday I took the lessons I learned from that experience and I made a chocolate cheesecake. After its sleepover in the refrigerator to set or do whatever magic takes place in the fridge, we got to enjoy it today. (In full disclosure, I may have had cheesecake for breakfast. But I have been waiting since January and these are weird times.) Months of longing for a dessert did not disappoint.

And because we have nothing else to do, we also made whipped cream and took a fancy picture of said dessert. On my grandmother's cake stand because these days call for pretty cake stands. I think it's a rule actually.

I am very happy with how it turned out. No pictures of the top because my ganache didn't look as pretty as I wanted it to. But the good news is that I have learned even more lessons this time around and so the next time I really want to have chocolate cheesecake I can make it happen.

We even took a piece to a friend, leaving a slice on her front porch. Because why not spread the joy?