I think one of the most fun things to come out of the COVID-19 "social distancing" orders are the drive-up birthday celebrations and parades!
Sylvia organized two today for her friends Briley and Alexis, and they were so surprised! There were lots of smiles and cheers and even a few happy tears!
Caeden and I watched Solo today, continuing Star Wars in chronological order.
One of the things that is different in our home during the COVID19 pandemic is that Jeremy has done all of the grocery shopping for the past 7 weeks! I started using a new grocery app called Our Groceries. Within the app I can create and organize categories based on stores we shop at, so I've been using a list with our local Meijer store aisles in mind and the way we usually walk through the store. Jeremy and I like the feature that lets me text him the entire grocery list, still sorted in order by aisle.
Since Jeremy is doing the grocery shopping, and he also keeps our little freezer on the back porch organized and inventoried, he knows what we have that we need to use up. He mentioned to me that we had several bags of berries my parents have given us. We talked about Sylvia baking a pie or two, but today I decided to make a cobbler. I defrosted 3 bags of red, gold, and black raspberries my parents had painstakingly picked, cleaned, vacuum packed, frozen, and delivered to us. I carefully drained the juice into a measuring cup separate from the defrosted berries to use instead of water in the recipe I was using. I greased up one of my beloved glass 9x13 pans, and mixed up a beautiful double-batch triple berry cobbler and put it in the oven. Jeremy was grilling burgers and waited until things would time out to be ready about the same time for a very late lunch.
A few minutes into baking, I was sitting at the kitchen table for a moment when I heard something hit the bottom of the oven. I opened it to see THIS!!!
The glass pan exploded and shattered all over the oven, and the cobbler hadn't even begun to set up yet so it was all over the place too! So surprising and sad!
I really don't know why this happened, as everything was at room temperature when it went into the oven. I've used the pan for years, so maybe it was just worn out? I don't know, but we were all pretty bummed because that cobbler had looked really gooooood going into the oven! I am just thankful that no one was hurt, and that the mess was really not as hard to clean up as I thought it would be. Wow!
PoC had a great live online service. There is really something cool about worshipping at home in our living room, just the 5 of us. I don't miss the morning rush and worrying about how and when everyone is getting to church and what they're wearing and what car(s) are going where when for the rest of the day and where we are eating lunch and what else is going on and, and, and!!! It's so nice to settle in and just spend time worshipping with my family in my home! (I do miss the making music part, but those who are helping are doing a great job.)
After lunch today, we were outside for a bit.
This evening, all 5 of us got in the car! We tried to remember the last time all 5 of us got in the car together, and we couldn't. We figured it must've been around the holidays sometime. It was really nice to go out for a drive and see all the green and new life of springtime! We have definitely been cooped up at home too much for too long!
We were actually heading to church! But not to go inside.
All these cars were gathered (6 feet apart) to surprise Samuel Keller on his 16th birthday!
Even this guy kept it a surprise!
It was so awesome to see some of our church family and dear friends!!! I was so overwhelmed I had to hold back tears for the entire time we were there!!!
Kim got Samuel and the whole family to come through the building to the "garage" part, and she drove around to the outside and opened the door and we all started honking and shouting happy birthday when we saw Sam.
He was pretty surprised!
Caeden was so happy to wish his buddy happy birthday!
It was SO GOOD to celebrate Samuel today and see loved ones, even though we weren't allowed to hug anyone. (It is hard! PoC is a very friendly hugging church!!!)
We love our these dear friends, and are so thankful God put us together in life!
Addie was down to surprise her parents at Reece's home track meet this week, and the kids got to see her because the girls were singing the anthem at the meet!
On Thursday after rehearsal, the girls went to the Spanish Club fiesta in the park. Señora Lovitt too photos of Annah and Ryan trying salsa dancing.
Haha! Ethan and Elijah
Love these lovely sisters!
Kyle and Cameron had voice lessons one right after another today! Actually, we were running late getting Kyle's started after his piano lesson, and Cameron was early for his lesson, so we combined them and did a lesson together! It worked out great, because they were both working on their vocal jazz audition piece. Sylvia even stepped in at the end to add the alto part. It was fun!
This afternoon, I asked Jeremy to pick up some piano books for my students at the music store across the street from where he works. I called and had them put the books aside so all he would have to do is walk in and ask for them in my name and pay for them. He came home tonight and called me from the kitchen into the front room. He gave me the books, then told me to look at them. When I took them out of the bag, 3 guitar picks fell out. I knew something was up, because Caeden doesn't use picks for his classical guitar. Before I could assume what was happening, Jeremy carried an accoustic guitar and an amp into the room. Then we called Caeden in...
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Needless to say, he is pleasantly shocked.
It was really fun for me to watch Jeremy watch Caeden check out the guitar and amp.
He was so excited to give Caeden this gift completely out of the blue.
Happy early birthday, Caeden!
He was still playing a couple hours later when the girls got home from marching band.
For months, I've been trying to figure out how/when to throw Annah a birthday party. I knew it's what she wanted more than anything else for her 16th birthday, and I wanted it to be a surprise. Since the kids were off school today, I finally decided on Monday night that I would invite her closest friends from school over for the day!
Last night, when Annah asked what we were going to do today, I told her, "pajama day!" and that she could sleep in!
I'd told Sylvia on Tuesday about the party, and she helped me with details and preparations throughout the week. She was awesome. She got up around 8:30 this morning and got her shower, then helped me make sure Annah was perfectly timed getting in the shower right at 9:40 so we could decorate quickly while her friends were on their way. Then she waited in the kitchen for a few minutes while they arrived. Addie arrived first, then Alexis.
Sylvia let us know when she heard Annah get out of the shower, so we knew it would only be a few more minutes. Addie and Alexis hid.
Caeden watched out the front window and led Shelby to come in silently.
She grabbed a blanket and hid too.
Sylvia had to be a bit forceful to get Annah to "go into the front room to talk to mom right now." In fact, she had to physically push her by the shoulders to the door.
She was pretty surprised!
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We kept things pretty low-key for the day.
Shelby and Caeden had some lightsaber duels.
The girls played Mario Kart, and Disney Universe.
I made some of Annah's favorites for brunch: pancakes, sausage links, fried eggs, and pineapple orange juice.
Sylvia was a huge help getting the table ready and finishing the pancakes.
While Addie and Alexis ran to their houses to get things for makeovers, Lauren arrived, and she and Annah, Shelby, and Sylvia started a game of LIFE.
Annah had a few presents to open.
Alexis made her chocolate chip cookies!
Shelby made a cute foam Sweet 16 crown card.
Sylvia gave her sister Finding Dory Easy Mac.
Makeovers in the girls' room!
Caeden steered clear for certain parts of the day.
Sylvia always finds time for reading when she's working on a good book.
Addie decided to find out what she looks like with her entire face covered in highlighter.
These girls are beautiful inside and out--makeup or no makeup!
We had a mid-afternoon snack of apples with caramel dip.
They watched High School Musical, since it is Annah's favorite and she had planned to watch it today.
Shelby and Caeden built catapults from popsicle sticks and rubber bands and shot cotton balls across the kitchen with them.
Each girl painted a wooden framed, and I'll have a group picture from the party printed for each of them to put in hers.
We had another of Annah's favorites for supper--chicken alfredo farfalle.
Annah did Alexis' makeup without being able to see.
We settled in to watch the Hamilton musical documentary on PBS.
What a great group of friends Annah has!
It was a fun day and a fun way to celebrate Annah's 16th birthday!
We had a little bit of time after the Hamilton documentary ended,
so they played some Wii Disney Sing It!
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A big group hug before everyone went home.
(The kids have a long day tomorrow, so I decided everyone would feel better if they all got to sleep at home in their own beds. And, after a 12-hour party, it didn't seem too bad not to have a sleepover anyway.)
