an evening of some green fun with family

I used to always have festive clothes for the kids for every holiday but as they have gotten older it isn't really a tradition I chose to continue other than around Christmas... but I did remember to put them in green for Saint Patrick's Day, less they get pinched. We had a family dinner over and my brother's house and my parents had purchased all the kids fun and festive accessories to wear. It is so nice to get together like this once more and not have to wear masks (my parents are fully vaccinated) and not gasp if a kid accidentally hugs their Nonna... It almost feels normal...

a philly field trip: independence hall

The next morning without so much as a sip of coffee we were off for a walk to see Independence Hall. And on the way there was coffee.  And a lot of other things, some not so nice and a wee bit scary. But we made it to the gorgeous visitor center where I think we practically moved in to that day. At least three maybe four bathrooms runs.... I digress. 

a philly field trip: chaos unleashed upon the city

Did I get you with that title? The entire weekend I kept joking that the people of Philly were gonna put an APD out for us... all the kids, the yelling, the noise.... It was a lot. Once we left the Institute we needed to find food for all and adult beverages for well, the adults. Finding a place to accommodate 15 people in the heart of Philadelphia during a pandemic was no easy feat. We found a place that had the tables we just had to split up which we had expected. 

a philly field trip: the franklin institute

A little backstory first... our school’s third grade field trip is always going into Philadelphia and doing the Franklin Institute. Letty was sooo looking forward to this. And then the world shut down. So a few moms of fellow third graders thought oh we will do this over the summer then! Which of course turned into well, before the end of the year! Which then turned in to well, in the spring since Philadelphia closed down in November. We even had hotels and tickets for December! Anyways so we finally did it! Six adults. Nine kids. Franklin. Institute!

so, what are we doing these days?

When people ask me how it's going, or what is new, I just want to say you know... living the dream. Because I'm sarcastic like that. But we have things that are the same as normal years and then things that are just our new normal. As much as I hate saying that... But here I am... catching up the blog on what I've been doing since the last of these posts... Sort of a monthly photo dump.

The kids celebrated the 100th day of school (glory halleluiah).... at-home hair cuts are still going strong and I don't see them going anywhere... I've been practicing the dutch braid and really failing at it.... I got to peak in on Letty's Valentine's Day thing at school... we had a zoom meeting about the fourth grade graduation celebration thing and I only cried a little.... lunch time hangs with my main kindergartener.... finally got some new chairs for my "reading room" which is still half playroom.... I got a $2 bill from my nail lady and I just knew David needed it... cat naps.... friend nights.... hanging with one of the many sweet fourth graders I know and sending a pic to mom.... fasnachts.... living for summer and buying new suits... my first library book in over a year.... more snow and sledding and forts.... a day in the fifty degree range meant we got outside and scooted.... a new shirt for Poppop... Fridays are for The Bullshead... Dom only had three other friends in his class for awhile and he actually was loving it.... matching with friends and more hectic friend nights!

It's a lot. When I see empty days on the calendar and think about how weird and unusual that is for me pre-COVID times it helps to remember all the things we are still doing. What about you all? How are we holding up?

ice sculptures in lititz

The kids had a few snow days a week or so ago, actual snow days mind you, not virtual days (still salty about it too) and on the second one the roads cleared up and we decided we needed to get out! So we met my friend first for lunch at ABC, which I am happy to report has brought back my favorite salad! Then we walked through downtown Lititz and checked out some of the ice sculptures... It actually was not as cold as I imagined it to be.... but that didn't stop us from warming up at the Bullshead with another drink for us and ice cream for the kids! 

I would have preferred the kids to be in school of course, but as snow days go, this one wasn't so bad!

a friend’s valentines

Not one to let a tradition die, my friend Toniel and I had to have another Friends Valentine's Day. And yes, I know it is now March and that heart holiday has long since passed but here I am anyways...

Matt made all the heart-shaped foods, including bacon hearts and pizza hearts. Toniel cut up cheese and pepperonis and strawberries in the same shape.... all the festive! She also brought cookies to decorate and eat and a nice LOVE craft that the kids got to paint. She's the fun mom in this scenario. 

I suppose I am lucky that I got to keep even one of the aforementioned crafts... David gave his to my sister and Dom gave his to his teacher.... at least Letty thought of me.