Day 90 Happy Birthday Oliver!!!

Yesterday was Oliver's 10th birthday!

Nana blew up a bunch of balloons and I bought some fun balloons and we decorated the yard for Oliver's big birthday drive by!

Then the lovely Claire videotaped the parade for me!

Oliver's amazing teacher came!

Kathleen wouldn't miss Oliver's birthday for anything!

Oliver was so excited to see his friends!

Nicholas was a big shot with his shades giving Oliver the sign that he made him!

Kathleen made Oliver's cake and she did an amazing job.  Not only was it beautiful, it was delicious too!

I don't know what he wished for but I am sure it was something to do with hockey, fortnite, or  xbox!

Oliver loved opening up his gifts!

Since we couldn't have a party for Oliver so many people sent him little birthday messages and I put them together to make him a special birthday video.  He has watched it 200 times so far and loves it.  I cannot thank everyone enough for taking the time make these videos, it meant so much to Oliver!

Click below to check out the video!

Oliver's Birthday Video

We ended the celebration with a small social distanced fire.  

Even though it wasn't the usual birthday celebration that Oliver was hoping for, he still loved it.  I am so grateful for all of the people who helped make his day so special.  He is such kind kid and it really showed today when so many people (kids and adults) went out of their way to make his day amazing.

Day 89

Yesterday I had meetings all day and the kids were busy finishing everything up for the last day of school today.  Then we had a nice dinner on the patio (which the kids apparently love now as much as they did as little kids) and enjoyed our last night of Oliver being 9!

We had a lot of laughs on the patio last night!

Oliver is definitely my little entertainer!

Even Claire had a few good ones!

I agreed to do two nights of real camping.  Like real, no electricity camping, animals and bugs everywhere camping.  Claire and Mark are very excited and very busy getting all of our supplies.  I can't believe that I agreed to this.

Day 88

Yesterday it was super hot out!  So hot out that I decided it was time for some iced coffee and thanks to a delicious recipe from a great friend (Amanda) it did not disappoint! 

I had to go into school to finish cleaning up my classroom.  It makes me so sad to be there. I just can't believe that the year ended the way that it did.  I am already looking forward to September (if the world is normal then) so that I can start fresh!

Mark and the kids went up to the beach once they finished all of their schoolwork while I worked at school.  When they got home we had a nice fire (to keep burning the ridiculous amount of wood that we still have from taking down the trees).  I am sooooo ready for summer!!!

Day 87

Yesterday I worked on a lot of "End of The Year" stuff.  It has been a real struggle to figure out how to make this end of the year special for my kiddos.  I feel so bad that we don't get to say goodbye the right way.  But Mrs. Otis and I are going to stop at each house to drop these adorable flowers I made and some other fun stuff.  It is not even close to what they deserve but hopefully it makes them smile!

Day 86

 Yesterday it was Oliver's turn to share his 4th grade memory book with his class. I loved hearing about all of his memories from throughout the year but I am so sad that he has to miss all of the end of the year fun!

 Mark and I took down two dead trees in the backyard.  Well, Mark took them down and the kids and I dragged them down to the street. 

The yard looks so nice without the trees but I can't say that I am loving having this mess in front of the house!

 So last night we burned some of it and hopefully tonight we can burn up some more!

Claire has been loving our fires and I have to say, they are a nice way to end the day!

Day 85

 Yesterday we finished up the landscaping. I am really proud of the kids, they really did help us a lot for two solid days.  Even though it took us a long time we got it done and it looks great.

 Our power washer broke but Uncle Nick came to the rescue and the kids loved power washing everything lol!

 Claire was in heaven!  She loves to clean and organize so this was heaven for her.  She kept saying, "It just makes everything so clean!"

 After all of our hard work we all relaxed with a nice fire.

It was a long two days but I loved that we all worked together!  I really am so lucky, my kids are so helpful and they really were so helpful!

Day 84

Yesterday we all worked together to get the landscaping done!

 Claire has been begging to learn how to cut the grass. 

Ever since she was 2 she has wanted to help Mark work outside.

 And even at 12 she is still the same way.  So Mark finally taught her how. 

 Papa even gave her some advice!  My advice was not even learn how to turn it on lol.  And yes she is wearing shorts (shaking head emoji).

 The kids were so helpful all day.  They did take a few goofball breaks but they were really helpful for the most part!

Then Daddy got us Chinese food to thank us for helping him so much!  

I had to add this picture too!  Here is a picture of us eating on the patio when the kids were little (we are having Chinese food here too lol).  I can't believe how fast time flies!!!

Day 83

Yesterday I finished up my work for the week and with the year winding down I feel like I have a ton of work to do!

Mark started working on the landscaping and the kids helped out!

And Claire tried to scare everyone while they worked.

It was a sad day though.  Mark put up this little swing for Claire right after Oliver was born.  She loved that swing but 10 years later it is finally done.  And just like she helped him put it up, she helped him take it down!

I remember this day like it was yesterday.  Claire was so excited and she loved helping her Daddy build her new swing!

My little baby girl!!!

Then last night we went to celebrate Giada's 12th birthday!!!  I can't believe this girl is 12!  Time flies too fast!!!

These two have been buddies since they were little babes.

And I love that they are still so tight!

Happy birthday Giada!!!!

Day 82

Last night we ate dinner outside!  When the kids were little this was such a  big deal to them, they used to get so excited to eat outside!  Not so much nowadays lol but, it was still nice to sit outside and eat in the beautiful weather.

When Claire was little she used to wake up then lay in her hallway like this with all of her guys/stuffed animals.  Apparently at almost 13 years old she still does the same thing.  Now she just lays there and plays on her phone!

Day 81

Yesterday Mark tore up the front lawn to fix our drainage.  While I love that my husband can do these things and I appreciate all that he does around here, I will never understand why every now and then he asks me to go to Lowe's and buy things like this????

Day 80

Yesterday I had some meetings all day so the whole day seemed like a blur.  As much as I love technology these google meetings are exhausting. 

After our nightly watching of the Masked Singer Mark and Oliver did some wrestling and then we sent everyone off to bed.

Then the storm came!!! It was around 11pm and I made the kids get up and come downstairs.  It was so crazy.  There was so much lighting that the sky looked amazing!

Then the wind picked up and it started to hail!

The lightening was so bright at times that it looked like it was the middle of the day!

It was super crazy!  I love a good storm! 

Day 79

Yesterday was another gorgeous day a little chilly but gorgeous. 

After dinner Mark and I have been taking a nice stroll around the neighborhood with our decaf coffees.  Yes, I am aware how old this makes us lol. But I have to say that I love that we have time for things like this.  In there real world we don't have much time for things like this!

Day 78

Yesterday was a quiet day around here.  We were all exhausted from our hike the day before so we just chilled out a bit.  Mark and I took a nice walk but other than that we just chilled out.

Things are a bit crazy around here right now.  Not only are we going through a pandemic but we are also dealing with some other horrible and heavy things around the world.  A man (George Floyd) was killed my a police office in Minnesota.  It was awful.  Now there are many protests going on in reaction to what happened.  Many people gathered to protest on Saturday night downtown.  Things got really scary.

I won't get into my political views and all of that.  But I will say that my heart breaks for our country right now.  I do believe that white privilege is a thing, I do believe if George Floyd was white this never would have happened, I do believe that I need to teach my kids to love all people, I do believe they also need to know that they are already born with advantages in this world just because of the color of their and that they need to use that privilege to help others, I do believe that not all police officers are bad, and I do believe that violence is never the answer but sometimes people don't know what else to do to get their point across, and I do believe that someday it will get better if we all try.