2020 :: week 20

May 10

We had a pretty good Mother's Day 2020. The kids were sweet and got along pretty well. Lauren and Anthony made me eggs and a yogurt parfait complete with chocolate chips for breakfast. I got to go on a long walk by myself and then read alone in my room for awhile. I did no cleaning or dishes. It was a simply perfect day. I love these little people and how patient they are with me as I am learning how to be a mom.

May 11

I spent several hours this week organizing our food storage and pantry. For awhile we had food in three places--long term storage, pantry overflow, kitchen pantry--and none of them were very organized. Last summer when we started our basement remodel we put our longer term food storage in one area, and upstairs pantry overflow in another. Because our kitchen is so small, we don't have room to keep large quantity of staples in our kitchen. We have seven people living here, five of whom are home all day everyday, so we go through a lot of food. This week I worked on getting all of our pantry staples organized and in one spot under the stairs. We have longer term storage down there as well, but it is not kept on this shelf. *

May 12

Miles keeps me on my toes. He is currently in the middle of the very fun must-get-into-everything-and-undo-what-mom-has-done phase.

May 13

The kids have been very into perler beads this week. Lauren especially has spent hours making creations that she plans on giving to her cousins this summer and school friends when she can see them again. Wednesday afternoon it was quite warm, so I turned on the sprinkler and the kids ran through the spray for a bit. Afterwards they brought the beads outside so they could work while still in their wet clothes.

May 14

On Thursday Lauren decided she wanted to make everyone breakfast. When I come out she had made place tags for everyone and was in the middle of making fulfilling orders. She made eggs for her and Will, sets out cereal and milk for Tony, made a yogurt parfait, made cinnamon toast for Elliott and had poured a cup of milk for Miles. I love how ambitious she is, and that she is usually working to make life easier for others.

May 15

On Friday afternoon we started letting the kids play with the neighbors again. Lauren's friend Henleigh invited her to fly kites at the park. It seemed like a pretty good activity to usher in in-person playing. At this point our kids are only playing with the children of two families that live very close to us. Lauren is our social butterfly, and social distancing has been the hardest on her of anyone in our family. She has kept in touch with her friends and cousins via Marco Polo and writing a lot of letters.

May 16

This weekend we started our half-bath remodel. In true "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" fashion it has grown. Originally I just wanted to replace the toilet because it runs constantly. Then I thought if we were going to fix the toilet we might as well replace the faucet which is so old and filled with calcium buildup that the hot water has stopped working. Replacing the faucet led to getting rid of the entire aged vanity, which led to getting rid of the wallpaper, then the popcorn ceilings and finally replacing the light fixture and fan. I am justifying this because it gets the most traffic of any restroom in our house, and is the main bathroom visitors use. Will helped Anthony and I pull down the wall paper and glue Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. Here's to hoping this only takes about two weeks from start to finish!