Theo! Happy Birthday!  8!!  I cant believe it.  You and your brother are growing so fast, and becoming the most amazing boys.  I love you so so much. 

I have more pictures of Theo's birthday celebration because it was later in the month, and with that came some relaxing of isolation and quarantine rules.  I had the family over and our close friends.  Before I knew it I had six boys in the backyard.  So fun.  And of course, Theo's introvertedness was shinning.  Dont touch this, dont touch that, stop doing that...all familiar sayings. 

And yet, he is my goofball.  Look at the facial expressions. 

When the doctor said I would have another boy, and expect the second to keep me on my toes, I didnt really register that.  Today, SO. TRUE.  Both boys are their own unique person, and both amazing.  How did I get so lucky, so blessed with these two. 

This year it was a nice quiet Mother's Day around here.  We had a lazy morning, and then had a nice lunch with my mother and step-father.  We practiced social distancing, but its the good-bye hugs and kisses that are missing. 

On Saturday, the boys were willingly participants in digging up the yard to make the garden plot.  They especially loved the part where they could use the shovel and hoe.  I have to remind myself to allow them to use these tools, as they will need to know how one day and they are old enough now to do the work.  It is a small area of the yard, but starting from scratch makes it seem like a big project.  Having the boys with me and helping sure made it seem so much easier.  (i know this isnt a new concept at all, but its been only me for so long that I forget what teamwork is like.)

The gift I had ordered for Grandma didnt arrive in time so I had to come up with something else to give her, and trying to stick to my budget, I got creative.  I made mini bundt cakes - lemon with cream cheese glaze frosting.  I am pretty proud of myself at how they turned out.  (ive had those little bee candies in the house probably for year ... just had to have them!)

I packaged them up nicely and delivered them to my Mom Village, you know those moms you rely on for picking up kids, watching kids, schoolwork bitching, etc.  A simple thank you gesture for them. 

The creativity resurgence during the quarantine has been a bit surprising.  But I am embracing it. And I am pleased with the results. 

This is my first ever yarn along, or link to another blogger.  Not sure why I am compelled to do this now, when I've been knitting and reading for years. Maybe its the quarantine. Maybe its I am finally challenging myself to do things that I've always said I would do, and of course somehow never do them.

I am knitting the Lovely Leaf Shawl, in a deep navy and cream, with the border in green. All yarn is from Knit Picks.  I wish I had resources locally for handspun yarn.  I might have to drive into Wisconsin or Michigan one of these days. 

I have started reading A Man Called Ove. I have no recommendations on it because I literally just opened the book last night.  My sister-in-law gave it to me when cleaning out her recently read books, said it was really good.

I am starting to appreciate this time at home.  I know its not without stress, I can attest to that, but we had such a full schedule before the pandemic.  We are all adjusting.  And my knitting is helping quite nicely. 

Happy 10th Birthday Max!

A whole decade! Ten years!  I cant believe it, its gone by so fast and yet so slow at the same time.  I know this kid will be super successful in life, but man getting him there has been and is, hard.  I am so thankful for him.  I am SUPER blessed he's my son.  He is super smart, funny, kind, adventurous and so, so inquisitive.  Is always wanting to try new things, especially with tools and how things work. 

And what the suckiest time to have a birthday too... during quarantine.  Everyone is having these parades with the police and fire department, but we just had my brother and his family over, along with my mother and step-father.  We celebrated outside, of course.  Boys got dirty, ate the entire cake and ran around for two hours.  It was simple and so nice. 

Let's hope the next ten years do fly by in a minute.  Go Max Go!! 

Earth Day 2020.

I never really celebrate Earth Day unless its something required by the boys school, an activity or something.  I think the last time we did something Earth Day related Theo was in pre-Kindergarten.  We made a dinosaur using recycled materials.  Or I made the dinosaur at my work desk and brought to his class.  Ha.

So this year, being home with the quarantine, and dying to do something creative and non-screen related, I Pinterest ideas.  Suncatchers, made from products at home or 'recycled' or 'recyclable' products. 

I should have looked around the house more closely for the materials to really incorporate the recycled approach to this project.  But oh well....

We colored clear plastic cups with permanent marker.  We placed them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, baked for about eight minutes at 350 degrees.  We sat in front of the oven to watch them melt to these discs.  Boys went outside to find sticks, and then cut some to size.  I attached them and hung each catcher we made in our rooms. 

Best part of this project?  Spending quiet time with the boys at the kitchen table coloring, and letting the boys use the tools and their creativity to get all the pieces we needed.  I want to remember this.