Dear Ellie on your 14th Birthday

Dear Ellie,

Today you are 14 years old.  This birthday is a little unusual because we are quarantined due to COVID 19, but we still were able to make it special.  Aunt Rosie and your cousins decorated the front yard this morning while you slept and friends dropped off thoughtful gifts throughout the day.  You and I started binge-watching Dawsons Creek (I felt like 14 is finally old enough to watch it) and it was fun reliving one of my favorite shows with you.  We also baked 2 desserts, had sushi for dinner, and played a game of Life at your request. 

This past year you have stayed busy with Theatre.  You love to both act and tech, and you are always volunteering to help out. You were supposed to be performing in "Frozen" on March 31, but it got cancelled along with school.  I was disappointed because it would be the first time we heard you sing in public.  You have a beautiful singing voice, but you seldom let others hear it.  We have to resort to listening outside the bathroom door while you shower.  Yep, it's a little weird of us, I know.

You also have developed a love for drawing and sketching.  I am so impressed with your artistic ability.  I am not able to sing or draw, so I know you didn't get those talents from me!

You are still an awesome student, getting straight As all year.  I am so thankful that you are an independent learner and able to keep up with your busy schedule and your studies.  Even now that we are doing distant learning while school is closed, you are still keeping up with it on your own.

Ellie, this past year has not been without its challenges. We have never parented a teenager before, so we are trying to learn as we go.  I will make plenty of mistakes and I won't always be patient, but I hope you know how very much I love you. No matter what.

Happy 14th birthday, sweet girl.

Love,
Mom

Easter during a Pandemic

Easter looked a little different this year.  The kids still woke up to Easter baskets and an egg hunt like normal.

But not so normal is that church was held on my brother's back patio.  With church being closed, we have been having services with my parents and my two brothers' families in a very careful, socially distant way.  Honestly, I love having church this way, but I will still be happy when we can finally return to having church as normal.

Dear Sam - A letter to my son on his 7th birthday

Dear Sam,

Happy birthday, sweet boy.  This birthday is especially memorable because you are celebrating it in the midst of a pandemic.  That's right, COVID 19 sent our world to a halt.  School is cancelled, we are all social distancing, and all events are cancelled.  Unfortunately, that included the cruise your grandparents were going to take you and your cousin on in two days.  You were so excited about your first cruise and first plane ride.  Alas, it will have to be rescheduled.  You were also really looking forward to swim clinic, which has of course been cancelled.  Amidst all the disappointments, I was determined your birthday would not be one of them.  You have been counting down the days til your birthday.  You want to be older so badly so you can do and watch the things your older siblings do.  I wish you weren't in such a hurry to grow up...I want to keep you my baby a little bit longer.

Last night I set the table for your birthday breakfast and put out on early gift.  When I came down today at 7am, you had already devoured your breakfast and opened your present.

Even though technically you probably shouldn't have, you were able to swim and play with your cousins while I worked out in their gym.  They had decorated their gate with a birthday sign and balloons and showered you with gifts.

Later, we invited all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents to join us via Zoom so they could sing happy birthday to you and watch you open gifts.  You loved every minute of it.

Sam, I am loving this age with you.  You have a funny, teasing sense of humor.  You are so dang smart.  You really love math and recently taught yourself division.  You also love books and enjoy reading chapter books on your own, but you still want me to read picture books to you at night.

While we have been confined to the house the past few weeks, I have enjoyed being able to spend even more time with you.  You are so loving and funny.  Tonight we talked about how you will always remember your 7th birthday because of COVID 19 and you informed me that it would be a great story to tell your kids some day.  You are absolutely right.

Sam, there is a lot of uncertainty and unknowns in the world right now, but one thing that will never change is how much we love you.  Happy birthday, sweet boy.

Love,
Mom

January & February 2020 Highlights

January 4, 2020 was a big day for us!  It was the day we officially adopted Watson!  Tom had a track clinic and missed out on the contract signing and photo op, so I guess Watson is officially mine and not his (I kid).

Once again, Jack competed in the school's spelling bee.  He was disappointed in how he did, but he always makes me proud.

Jack also rand his 1st 5k in January.  His cousin Kolby ran with him the whole time to motivate him.  We are so lucky to have an amazing family support system.

We spent a lot of January and February being very lazy.

And going to church.

And being lazy some more.

February rolled around and I did my early morning Valentine treats for the kids.  Ellie was out the door so early that I didn't even get a picture of her.

More church.

Tom took Sam to the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships.  Sam's favorite part was the stadium food.

If we had only known what March would bring, I think we would have appreciated January and February more!

March 2020 - COVID 19 comes to Texas

March started out fairly uneventful for us.  I'd heard rumblings of the Coronavirus hitting the US so I'd started slowly adding extra supplies to my grocery deliveries, but I wasn't too concerned.  I was mainly looking forward to Spring Break.  Right before Spring Break, my students told me that their English ESL teacher told them they wouldn't be coming back to school after Spring Break because of the virus.  I was like, "Yes, you are. We definitely will still have school."  Look who was a big, fat liar?  I really did not expect al the schools to shurt down, but when I left my classroom that Friday, I did unplug and put everything away and grabbed my extra Lysol wipes to take home.

My sister and her daughter flew in the next morning so we could continue our annual mother-daughter tradition of going to the Rodeo and concert.  This year the performer was Chris Young.  The girls had so much fun going on the carnival rides and we enjoyed watching the rodeo and the concert.  It was such a fun night.  One thing we noticed, though, was how long everyone, including us, spent at the sink washing our hands.  I am so glad that we bought tickets for a concert the Monday of Spring Break because a police officer that had been at the Rodeo was diagnosed with COVID 19 and they ended up cancelling the rest of the Rodeo!

Bright and early on Wednesday of Spring Break, Ellie left for Trek.  Trek is where the youth of our church dress up as pioneers and push handcarts for miles and miles everyday and sleep in tents at night.  Honestly, I was surprised Ellie wanted to do it.  While she was gone, more and more things started getting cancelled because of the virus.  My church issues a statement that all churches would be closed and all future Treks cancelled.  Ellie was lucky they were already on Trek and she was able to finish it as planned.  My parents were supposed to be leaving for a Rhine river cruise during this time and found out that the cruise and flights were cancelled right before they left!

On the same day Ellie left for Trek, Tom, his brother, and his Dad flew to New York to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame and to visit family.  Before they left, it had become apparent that NYC was a hotspot for the virus.  I was a little worried about them flying there, particularly because Tom's dad has stage 4 cancer.  However, I also felt like this might be the last trip he could take with his dad so I was thankful they could go.  They packed their disenfectant wipes and mask and they were off!  The flight was pretty empty according to Tom.  When I picked them up from the airport on Saturday, we'd already been informed that school was cancelled.

When school was first cancelled, I was so gung ho.  I made the kids color-coded schedules and focused on getting organized.  I was basically killing it the first two weeks of quarantine. 

Then, my school came up with the 1st of many plans and I got to work trying to contact students and get them working.  At the same time, I was trying to help my own kids with their schoolwork.  It was a total learning curve for the rest of March.

We spent the rest of our time eating yummy foods, taking naps, introducing the kids to our fave childhood movies, and swimming in my brother's pool.  It was like an extended Spring Break with bouts of Groundhog's Day.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with Shepherd's Pie

This was basically me during a lot of March

Bathrobe is Jack's outfit of choice during quarantine

 One fun part of March is that I was able to watch my niece get married via Zoom!  I wasn't going to be able to see her get married because it was supposed to be in the Temple.  However, the Temples closed and she decided to have a civil ceremony and do the Temple ceremony later.  It was fun being part of her special day.

 Sadly, my brother had to watch his daughter get married from NYC.  As a Colonel in the Army, and a doctor, he was tasked with setting up a field hospital in the Javitz Center.  As I type this (5/14/20), he is still there working 7 days a week, 15+ hours a day, and not set return date.  I really feel for him.

Since church was closed, we started having church on my brother's patio.  I have loved these simple outdoor services with my family.