Hannah's 16th Birthday on Thanksgiving Day in a Pandemic

 What do you do with that?  We had a small backyard party a few days earlier with her closest friends from school complete with s'mores, crafting, wings, and a movie on a projector.

She didn't really want anymore than to hang with her friends that she rarely gets to see these days.  I did all I could to make it special though.  Brian handled the frying of the chicken wings, the setting up of the movie and sound system, and the making of the fire for the s'mores.  Thankfully, the weather was very mild!  I handled the cake, the other food, drinks, and bringing things out at the right times to help everyone be able to stay outside except for bathroom trips.  

Hannah set up the craft on a tray before the party.  She got out our jewelry making supplies and set up for bracelet making.  She came running inside in the middle of the party asking for a dictionary.  Turned out they were pointing to random words and putting them on their bracelets with the letter beads.  Very cute!

Hannah wanted a fancy rich cake and I chose a flour-less chocolate cake with a ganache.  It was very popular!

For the movie we put blankets on the trampoline to make them a comfy place to lounge.  I'm pretty sure they barely watched the movie, but it was cool to have the projector out there nonetheless.  It came in handy on her actual birthday as well for football watching after the Thanksgiving meal.

When I brought out the cake the girls sung to her and used their phones to hold in the air and sway which was kinda sweet in an Gen Z kinda way.

Not far before her party we had concrete poured to extend our patio.  We love, love, love it!  At some point, we'll probably be putting a pergola or roof on it.

The new uncovered part is all the white concrete.

The existing covered porch with the furniture that the previous owners left for us.  The two chairs rock and are wonderful!  Our outdoor rug just happened to match beautifully too.

On her actual birthday, Thanksgiving Day, she requested that we host Thanksgiving dinner and so we had a houseful.  I was a little worried about the dog who is afraid of my brother and brother-in-law and barks every time they move, so we tried something new this time.  Normally, we can't put her upstairs because she isn't allowed up there due to the cat being afraid of her and the dog wanting to play with the cat.  We took her travel cage upstairs in the girls' room, covered her up, and put a loud sound machine next to her.  I also may have bought some CBD drops to help her calm down.  My nephew's afraid of the dog, so this was better for everyone.

Genevieve made an apple pie; Brian did the fried turkey, and I made cornbread stuffing.  All the rest was brought by my sister, mom, and brother.  

Hannah's not quite ready to get that license yet.  We've been trying to get her to earn, but she's not that into it.  She's very nervous even on our neighborhood streets.  We'll get there, but it may take her younger sister getting her permit (in less than 5 months) to get her motivated, just like with riding a bike and so many other things in her life.

Her 16 year old privilege, after great deliberation among Brian and I, was to gain the ability to text her friends.  Previously, the girls both had a phone that only had 100 texts a month and they were only allowed to text us or family.  We signed up for Mspy and can see everything that she does on her phone and when by logging in and checking.  She has limited times that she is allowed to text, and she turns her phone in to the kitchen counter every night before bed.

We love you, Hannah!  

Sweet Bob

Bobby is preferring the name Bob more and more these days.  I call him all three names, Bob, Bobby, and Robert.  Sometimes I call him Roberto too.

Bobby brought me his erasable tablet because he had written me a message all by himself.  "Mom I Luv You" with the L backwards and random capitalization which made it all the more special.  Unfortunately, one of the boys told him he messed up the word love and so he erased it soon after this and started over.  Then he added the word "DAD and" at the top and started over again when the boys kept telling him things were misspelled.  I try not to squash the efforts of a kindergartner by all that spelling because it has made a few perfectionists not want to even try to write over the years, but I guess it doesn't matter because now all those perfectionists are calling it out before I can stop them.

 Bob and I were recently all alone in the van which is rare because the other boys went camping and we were going to pick up the girls.  Our memory work CD was in and so we were listening to it.  I was saying the poem with the lady on the CD, when Bob says in his tiny voice, "Mom, I really like your voice better for this one."  It may not sound like much, but those kind of comments are the ones that just melt my mommy heart.

All Saint's Day: 2020 Corona-style

Our All Saint's party was moved to the First Friday to follow Mass and have a picnic, share desserts and dress up like your favorite saint.    We had it outside the church under the pavilion.  It was not the same caliber as our normal party with games and prizes, but it was something during a time when "something" isn't even always possible.

Drew wanted to be St. Andrew AGAIN for at least the third year in a row.  Judah was St. John of the Cross, utilizing St. Helen's cross from years back, a t-shirt as a cowl, a cape from year's past, and an old brown tunic (that may have been way too short).  Bobby was St. Michael the Archangel.  Check out those wings!  Isaac was St. Michael years and years ago, so we had that whole costume ready to go.  

They got very shy when it was time to announce their costumes.

 It was a beautiful day and it was nice for the kids to see their friends and make some new ones.

All Hallow's Eve 2020

We carved pumpkins the day before Halloween.  Hannah actually carved hers this year.  She did Iron man.

                     

Genevieve carved Loki and wrote, "In the end you will always kneel" on the back of it.

Isaac carved a howling wolf silhouette.

Drew and Judah carved faces.  Drew actually drew and carved his own this year for the first time.  Bob wanted to paint his like a bat that he saw in a kid's magazine.  He painted, cut and glued it all himself, but I helped draw the wings, ears, and eyes.

The girls were trying to figure out how to get candy without really dressing up.  I told them face paint and so that's what they ended up going with.

Hannah drew the web, and I drew on the spider.

Drew was King Arthur.  He made his own crown and I threw together his tunic.

Judah took Drew's costume of the last few years and dressed up like Luke Skywalker.

Bob, AKA The Flash, was running fast.

Genna drew this web on her own face.

The boys are back in town!

Let's get some candy and meet our new neighbors!

We first went around our new neighborhood.  There were so many people outside at tables in their yards, that it was fun to get to see people and meet a few.  Brian stopped to talk to one of the guys at one of the first houses and just kept talking so we left him and caught up with him later.  Just in our small section, the kids all had overflowing buckets.  We stopped by the house to dump candy out and then drove down the street to my sister's neighborhood.  We went trick-or-treating again with the cousins, but only to about 8 more houses.  The houses there are very far apart and take a while to walk up each driveway.

Once we made it over to my sister's he was able to borrow his cousin's Jack Sparrow hat.

Brian never dresses up, but he got this idea to be the cranberry guy from some video he saw online.  I don't know, but he was excited about it.  He had our resident budding cosmetologist, Genna, drew on a mustache for him.

 

Pumpkin Patch 2020

Instead of family dinner one Sunday in October, we went with my my sister's family to a "Pumpkin Patch" which turned out to be more of an area that they charge you to get into (under a overpass) and they bring in pumpkins and dump them on the ground.  Not quite the pumpkin patches we had in Germany or Maryland where we rode a tractor out to a big muddy field and picked our pumpkin straight from where it grew followed by getting some cider or hot chocolate at the end when we paid for the pumpkins.  There was plenty to do, but most involved more money.  The petting zoo here was fun though, and it's always great to have fun with cousins.

There was a turkey in a pen with a bunch of ducks.  Ducks are still Bobby's favorite, and so he and I went back to see them after getting a pumpkin.  The night before Brian and I had been in a turkey calling contest and won somehow although I had just learned to do the female turkey call.  It suddenly occurred to me that I could try out my new skill.  The male turkey had been wandering around the middle the whole time and wouldn't come near the side.  I did my female turkey call a bunch of times, he stopped an looked at me, then started coming closer and closer till he was right next to the fence.  I was so surprised that it actually worked.

There was a hay maze for little ones and a few swings too.  Dylan and Savanna rode a horse, but when I asked Dylan if he was going to ride he told me they were too stinky which is funny because he has such a sensitive nose for a young boy.  The kids had fun, and the pumpkins weren't too expensive which was good since we have to get six.  

Our One Month Homeschool from the Beach Trip

Breaking up the Quarantine Blues

I rented this beach condo back when my trip to Europe was cancelled in May.  My mom always rents one for a month and we typically spend every weekend down there visiting and enjoying the beach.  This year it seemed possible that the virus might still be causing trouble with schools reopening, so I took a chance and decided if the big kids weren't able to go the whole month, it would at least be easier to come and go without dragging our stuff back and forth.  Plus, the one month rate is pretty much cheaper than renting for just all of the weekends.  

Well, September rolls around and we have the chance to keep them home for the whole first quarter and we took it.  We packed up our 3 laptops and a printer/scanner, all their textbooks (not to mention all the three youngest's school books), and a card table and headed to the beach.  Praying the whole time that the wifi could handle the three of them online at the same time from 8am to 2:40pm every weekday.  (Yes, it's too much screen time, but that's a topic for another time.)  Brian wasn't able to stay during the weekdays, but he came down most of the weekends.

On the ferry to the island to hunt for shells.

So, it was cramped during school time, but it totally worked.  We did it, and it was great!  Most weekdays, I would get the little ones started on their independent work and then go on a walk alone on the beach.  Then I'd come back and do schoolwork all morning with the littles.  After lunch together with the bigger three, we'd head out to the beach or pool for the afternoon.  The older kids would join us if they could after school was out.  

Listening for the ocean in some of the shells on the island.

One day we went with my brother and his family to an island that was supposed to have good shells and fishing.  My brother went fishing, and my sister-in-law and the kids went shell hunting.  The big kids had to stay back at the condo to do school. There had been a tropical storm in the gulf that had brought up so many amazing whole shells. We picked the exact right day because my mom went after us and there were no more shells.

A pelican close by the boys.

Snack time on the island

Waiting for the ferry to go back after a long day

Judah, Turner, and Hannah watching a movie

By the pool

Out at dinner with their cousin

Once we returned home, the kids were eager to take their rock painting and apply it to the buckets of shells we brought back.  They are planning to sell them at the Children's Christmas Bazaar.

Genevieve's Painted Shells

Isaac's Painted Shells

Drew's Painted Shells

Hannah's Painted Shells

Hannah's Work, as well