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.