4th of July - 2020

As we continue to muddle through the Year of Coronavirus, we kept our plans for the holiday simple.  We headed down to the park for the annual celebration, with sanitizer in hand, knowing that the activities would be more muted than in the past.  We social-distanced, while being more conscious than ever of what we touched and what food we consumed.  Steve opted out of the Cornhole tournament and the kids stuck together in their close-knit group to build sandcastles and run around in the sun.  It felt nice to be around more people and we were thankful for the beautiful weather.

Each year, we bring our patriotic colors ... and I love it!

Bikes decorated and ready to join in the parade.

Blue shirts just emphasize those beautiful blue eyes of his!

My hibiscus plant is really starting to take off and in no time, it will be at least another 18" taller.  The same can nearly be said about this girl.  She continues to be in the 80th percentile for height.

The same goes for Samantha.  Those legs.

These two have the most special bond.  Maybe it is because they are my two blue-eyed babies.  Maybe it is because they are both the younger gender among the kids.  Maybe it is the age difference (5 years).  Whatever it is, I hope that it always stays that way.

I purposely made sure that Jimmy wore his bathing suit because he was in the water exactly 3.2 seconds upon arrival down to the park.  I don't blame him one bit.

There was some serious sand-castle construction taking place.

And ditch-digging.

And it was worth every last minute of it because this group WON the sand castle building contest!

Later, Grandpa joined us for some 'grilling and chilling.'  We did fireworks in the driveway ...

These boys LOVE their fireworks!

... and then ended the night watching the spectacular fireworks over the lake in our boat.  This was the first year that we watched from out boat (we usually watch them in our driveway), and it was certainly a night to remember!

Jack's Quarantine Birthday(s)

 Jack's 7th birthday fell during the Covid-19 Quarantine.  The Stay-At-Home-Order was still in effect, so the idea of celebrating on time with family and friends was not an option.  Instead, we celebrated on his real birthday (May 17th) with our immediate household -- the same people that we have been spending every waking moment with for the last several months -- and I did my best to still make it special for the Birthday Boy. 

All along, I had planned on a NERF theme.  Jack LOVES NERF guns, darts, targets, etc.  And I thought that it would make a great party idea to celebrate with a bunch of other 7 year old boys.  While we didn't end up celebrating with his friends this year, I still used the blue and orange colors and pulled a few things together.

Traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast:

All of the gifts from us were wrapped with standard NERF colors -- blue, orange and white.  And the target was something that I made simply using a bunch of concentric circles and orange tape.

I couldn't possibly love this picture more if I tried.  And, I love how Sam took the liberty of writing "from your favorite sister" on any of the gifts from her.

Spiderman joined us and can never pass up an opportunity to help someone else open their gifts ...

Jimmy was pretty excited about the mask that he picked out to give Jack (it is used during NERF gun wars).

Sophia was still in her pajamas -- that's what happens during quarantine -- but showed up with smiles for the Birthday Boy.

Samantha surprised Jack with something special -- a ticket so that she would play any game of his choice with him.  Definitely a thoughtful idea!

Steve's gift to Jack was a great one!  It was a tackle box with anything and everything in it that a fisherman might want.  Truthfully, Steve won the filled box during a raffle last Fall and we saved it for Jack's birthday.  It was perfect timing because Jack has now started to really LOVE fishing.

One happy boy!

And, of course, I made him a cake -- an oreo cake, per his request.

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Grandpa came over one day to go fishing and to give Jack his birthday present.

Once again, Little Brother was on the scene to assist with the package-opening.

It was a 2-pack of salt guns for shooting bugs!

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Finally ... at the end of June ... we were able to celebrate Jack's birthday with family!

With the warmer weather, we opted to set up the taco party in the garage!  

Jello in cups, designed to look like NERF darts.  Wow, the kids loved those!

New googles for diving this summer!

And white sunglasses, which seem to be one of his dad's signature items -- along with camo.

And, there is another favorite thing -- a camo tank top!  Yup, this boy is ready for the Summer months now.

Lighting his OWN candles.  

Happy birthday, (again) Jack!

Springtime Randoms

It's been a while since I did a "randoms" post and I have several pictures floating around that need to be shared.

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Jimmy asked our neighbor, Mr. Harley," if he could make him a wooden gun.  I'm not exactly sure where the idea came from, but every single time that he saw him or heard his named mentioned, he asked about it.  One night, the doorbell rang, and there was Mr. Harley with the gun of Jimmy's dreams.  The look on his face was priceless.

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This Spring started what I hope becomes a lifetime hobby for Jack -- fishing.  He grabs his pole whenever he has a chance and heads across the street to fish off a dock.  He is patient at it and is successful more often than not.

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My mom found a few special recipes that belonged to my grandma and sent them along for Sophia to have for her recipe book.  The very first one that we tried out together was a recipe written, quite haphazardly, on the back of a random piece of paper.  

It was lemon bars and they were a pretty big (and rich-tasting) hit in our house.

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Right before the pandemic hit, Jack went on a field trip and came home with a container of dirt and two buried bean seeds.  We set it near the kitchen window and watered it every day.  Eventually, it spouted and Jack was able to harvest a few beans from it!

One of the beans was purple and one was green -- both were from different plants and a great surprise!  (Note that the pandemic meant that Jack was in dire need of a haircut!).

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While the bigger kids are working on school work, Jimmy likes to be included with his own "work."  We are learning to use scissors to cut both straight lines and curved lines.

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Springtime means that my plants are in bloom!

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Mother's Day with my brood.  It looked a lot different than years' past -- no Mother's Day lunch out at a restaurant, but I was happy that they all agreed to take a picture with me to acknowledge the day ...

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I keep looking at this picture of Sophia working on her essay for school (on my laptop) and can't believe how much older she looks ... in just a few years, she will be typing away, faster than ever, and ready to enter high school.  Gulp.

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Jimmy's preschool teachers stopped by one day with a surprise for him: A Spiderman balloon, some M&Ms and a diploma.  He was pretty bummed to see his school year come to an abrupt halt in March, but this certainly put a smile on his face!

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Samantha started her first job!  Our neighbors hired her a couple days/week to babysit their little guy.  Nick was born 3 months early (at the end of January) so he seems like a newborn.  I insisted that Samantha watch him for the first couple of times at our house, but now she is watching him at his own house across the street.  She usually brings him to our house for lunch and then I, too, get to snuggle with him!

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It's time for our garden!  I opted to do a smaller one this year, and cover the dirt with untreated wood chips to help with the weeds, and the boys were anxious to help!

Yup, a shovel and some dirt ... and my boys are all smiles.

Teamwork!

Fresh haircuts and fresh dirt!