Colin's 7th Birthday

It's been exactly 4 months since Colin turned 7 years old - I'm just now writing a blog post about it!  Shame on me!  I tried my best with his 7th birthday - we were supposed to have a big bash at a a sports barn with friends from school, friends from basketball, friends from baseball.  They would be able to play basketball, dodgeball, you name it.  When public places started shutting down, we weren't sure when they'd open back up.  We thought, for sure, we'd be in the clear by the time the end of May rolled around.  Boy, were we wrong! When the governor started letting businesses open again, everyone had to keep gatherings to 10 or less.  That wasn't the birthday party we had planned.  It wouldn't be worth it to have a party with such few friends at a sports barn.  Plus, I wasn't comfortable asking families to bring their kids to a birthday party in the middle of a pandemic.  Colin understood and he handled it all very well.  

I was so disappointed that we couldn't give Colin the birthday party I felt he deserved.  Colin has grown so much over the past year.  He's matured immensely.  He tries so hard on his schoolwork.  He's still so sweet, and is definitely still a mama's boy.  Don't get me wrong - he can still have his moments, but he's come leaps and bounds!  If I'm around when he's brushing his teeth, he'll always come into my bathroom to give me a hug.  One of my favorite times of the day is bedtime - we talk, we act silly, I rub his back before he falls asleep.  He LOVES sports - currently he's playing baseball on 2 different leagues, he plays flag football on Saturdays, and lacrosse clinics are on Sundays.  He enjoys all of them, but I think his favorite is still basketball.  Hopefully he can enjoy that again in the winter!

Danny and I decorated the house while the kids were asleep, so Colin was surprised when he woke up on his birthday.  One of his teachers made a special trip to our house and brought Colin some Dairy Queen ice cream sandwiches (the same kind he would give him at school) that morning.  Our buddies, the Marinellis, also swung by the house to give Colin a gift and make him feel special.  My parents, as well as the kids' Uncle Mike and Gina, spent the day with us - we hung out outside and had fun in the pool.  It was a nice day being together, celebrating another year beginning for our big boy!  I hope he felt as special as he is to us.

Big sis was the only kid around - good thing he adores her!  He thinks she's hilarious looks up to her.

Cadence drew a picture just for him.  I think he got a kick out of it

Uncle Mike got him a cool water bottle.

He had so much fun opening his gifts.  My friend, their "Auntie" Erica, sent him so many gifts.  He sure is spoiled! 

Can you tell he was shocked by the pizza float?!

We were so excited to let him open this gift.

Such a ham

May all your wishes come true, sweet boy!

Quarantine Saga - Odds and Ends

We're lucky that we had to stay home while the weather was warming up.  Quarantine would've looked much differently had it happened during the winter months!  Check out some more fun we had outside...

We found another bunny nest!  This one was tucked in the pine straw near the trunk of a pine tree in the back yard.  Of course Cadence came up with names for them all!

We kept our eye on them as they got bigger and they began leaving the nest.  Cadence somehow caught one!  The kids kept it as a pet for a day.  They put it in a bin and made sure it had water & vegetables.  They even did their schoolwork outside with it nearby.  I convinced them that it belonged in nature and they finally let it go.  It was fun while it lasted.

I had to compare this bunny encounter to the last one!

Bunnies 2017

Mom painted some cute rocks - we put them outside in the landscaping.  She figured the kids would get a kick out of them since they love bunnies so much.  Aren't they cute?!

Scarlet loves hanging out in the sun - lucky for her we found something that worked on her allergies this spring.  Fingers crossed we can use Cytopoint again next year and it will work!

The kids had fun taking turns wearing my glasses.

And Danny found a snake in the yard.  The kids sure are brave!

Yup, that's a goldfish cracker up his nose...

Dad called us over one afternoon because one of his hives had swarmed!  We watched all the action up close and personal (but not too close!)

Quarantine Saga - Remote Learning

Ughhhhhh, remote learning.  I'd like to think we did a pretty good job with virtual learning.  It helped that I wasn't slammed at work.  While Danny was busy with work, I was able to print off assignments, make sure the kids were on time for Google Meets, & just be there when the kids needed help.  We started the days off with morning videos from the principal and their teachers.  Even though the kids weren't really learning anything new at that point, it was still a challenge at times - mostly with Colin.  Cadence was pretty self sufficient and was ready to tackle her to-do list and just get it done.  She was excited about the small projects she had assigned to her.  Colin wanted to do anything else at home other than school.  He would also get really down on himself if he made a mistake.  I tried to convince him that the only person that would see his work was his teacher and all she wanted was for them to try their best!  He also disliked having to watch videos and then write or record what he learned.  We somehow got through it, though!

Cadence wrapped up her Ohio project with some research on Bob Evans.  She made a replica of a restaurant and had to give a speech using Flipgrid.  She had fun making this one!

I don't quite remember, but I think Cadence came up with this one out of boredom!  She made a sandwich wrap out of felt!

She was proud of her creation and sent a picture to her teacher.

Colin had to take Miss Gantz on his adventures one day :) 

We measured ingredients and made blueberry muffins.

We even made slime!

Toward the very end of the school year, they celebrated spirit week again.  We had dress like a doctor/nurse day...

Beach day...

Crazy sock day...

This is just the aftermath of playing in the playroom unattended 😄

Poor Cadence and the rest of the 4th graders were robbed of a 4th grade celebration (since they would all be going to the intermediate school for 5th grade).  The teachers tried their best to make it a fun day.  They posted a bunch of minute-to-win-it type games and they could post their times as a contest.  They also didn't have to do any schoolwork that day!

Colin got in on the fun too.

Cadence shared a fun drawing with her teacher.

The kids also did a fantastic job drawing animals after watching tutorials on YouTube!

(I think it was pirate day also)

Colin's teacher sent a screenshot of his class Google Meet.  They got to have show and tell.

We had a socially distanced puzzle swap with Colin's buddy, Ethan.  He really missed him!  It was fun to see Ethan and his family after being out of school for so long.

The PTO planted a proud graduation sign in our front yard for Cadence!

One day while running errands, I drove by the kids' school.  It made me sad when I realized neither kid would be going to this school again.  We've been a part of HSE since 2015.  What started out as an old, run-down school (or so I thought), turned out to be a cheerful, tight-knit school where everyone knew your child's name.  I'm thankful for the years of education Cadence and Colin gained from that little school. 

The 4th grade class usually has a "clap out" - this year we had a parade where we drove by the school and the teachers clapped for the kids and waved.  We got to do it all over again during the last week of school, for all of the kids!  Colin's teacher sent me this photo of the festivities:

Poor Cadence also didn't get to participate in her first 5K - we had so many fun things planned for that weekend: Cadence had received tickets for Christmas to see the children's theater performance of Matilda; we were going to stay overnight downtown; cheer Cadence on in her race the next morning;  followed by her piano recital.  We were all looking forward to that weekend.  It was rough having to tell the kids that all of the fun things we had planned were cancelled.  They were bummed, but they took it really well.  Cadence ended up running/walking her 5K at home that weekend (twice - once on Saturday and once on Sunday).  We had to document the occasion to share with her coaches and teachers!