2020 :: week 22

May 24

The new swing continued to bring happiness to the kids on Sunday. Sunday morning while I tried to stay in bed as long as possible I heard Will, Lauren and Elliott go outside and start swinging together around 7am. Throughout the day they each went back out. It is fun having a new toy for them to enjoy. In the evening Anthony pushed the four kids on it together for awhile. Miles likes the swing a lot and was not very happy when he was forcibly removed.

May 25

Monday morning Dana, Will and I had an appointment to Family Tree Nursery. We picked up some seeds for our garden and picked out a few flowers for Will to care for this summer. Will has gotten very into gardening this year, and it very fortuitous that Dana is a master gardener. She was able to help us pick out plants that would work well for the type amount of sun our yard gets and the type of soil we have. Will was so excited to get his plants and to plant them in his garden spots we cleared for him in our yard. It is fun seeing his interests evolve.

May 26

All of the kids have been doing a lot of drawing this spring. Lauren drew this picture of Elliott and she really captured his "essence." I know the exact outfit he is wearing in her drawing and can picture him standing in that exact pose with his hands behind his back and he tells us a story. Will drew the Celtics logo and I was so impressed by the detail. I never realized the Celtic was winking. I am so impressed with their attention to detail and patience to get things right.

May 27

Wednesday was my birthday! It was a good day as far as birthdays go. Lauren and Will made me scrambled eggs and yogurt parfait for breakfast. My mom watched the kids for me so I could run some errands. That evening we had Red Robin for dinner and ate m&m ice cream sandwiches for dessert. I felt very loved by the people who reached out to me via texts, calls, facebook messages and instagram.

May 28

It rained a lot this week and when that happens the kids get their Lego on. Will and Lauren worked together for hours to build a community. They have four main Lego characters they build for--Jay, Emma, Will and Lauren. They made a castle, home, park, shop, tree house, and a few more things I am forgetting.

May 29

Friday evening I got together with several of my girlfriends and visited for three hours. It was so much fun! It was the first time I have seen most of them in person since March. Before that I saw them multiple times a week at school pick up, playdates, carpooling to practice or other events. Since then we communicate mostly via a group text. I have seen some of them in our vehicles as we participate in birthday parades. Charlotte and Jolie organized this meet up and brought a bunch of delicious store-bought treats for us to share. Jolie, Charlotte, Jessica, Michelle, Jenny, Megan, Beth and Angela all came. We parked our cars in a circle and sat on our trunks or in camp chairs. I didn't realize how much I missed my friends until we were all together again.

May 30

Saturday was the busiest day we have had in literally months! At the end of the day I felt so exhausted. Even though we routinely had Saturdays like this before the pandemic hit, it was amazing to me how quickly I have adapted to the slower pace of life. The day started off early as I met up with a friend for breakfast. We ordered our food to-go from Panera and then went and sat in our camp chairs at a nearby park and visited while we ate. Will had his first baseball practice of the season, and Anthony is an assistant coach on his team so I couldn't stay and chat as long as I would have liked. Will's baseball season is condensed with a few adjustments to accommodate social distancing as much as possible (no sharing of bats or helmets, not using the dugout). Will appears to be the best pitcher on his team and will most likely be the starting pitcher. While Will was at practice Lauren, Elliott and I did a drive-by birthday parade for Hailey (Dana kept an eye of Miles for us). Anthony attempted to set up our above ground pool, but it turns out "pretty level" isn't level enough and we are going to have to come up with a way to make up the 8 inch difference. That afternoon our primary had a drive-through activity where they passed out bomb pops. Since donation places aren't open yet, I posted about an old miniature table and chairs we were getting rid of on our ward facebook page. A young mom "claimed" it and we dropped it off to her on our way home from the activity. That evening we provided dinner to the two sets of missionaries in our ward. We make them food and then they come and pick it up. That evening I felt so tired and Lauren and I hung out on the trampoline for awhile. She jumped while I sat on the side watching her and strategized with Tony about how we are going to get our pool to work. We are spending more time in our backyard than ever before. It is nice. After the kids went to bed Anthony and I painted in our half bath/laundry room and finished up about fifteen minutes before the Salazars arrived!