- Summer Lovin'... -

...had me a BLAST!

Summer lovin', happened so fast.

 I know two girls, crazyyyy, you see...

...and they're totallyyy...CAYOOOOT as can be! 

SUMMER DAYS, fa-la-la-la-laaaaaaaaaaa...

The end.

We will remember you so fondly, summer 2020!!!

- COVID Diaries: Week 11 -

Another week up and another week down!  This weekend was Memorial Day weekend, and we kicked it off with a bang on Saturday evening!  After trying very hard to place an order for curbside pickup from At Home and growing everrrr more frustrated with their website with each passing minute, I switched the curbside pickup to the next closest location in Missouri and -- what whattttt -- that particular store was open for shoppers!  Say it isn't so; I've been WAITING for At Home to re-open since the day it closed in March!  We quickly cleaned up dinner and packed up the kids for a little evening roadtrip across the river.

^^ Oh, did I mention that outdoor planters/pots were 40% off for Memorial Day weekend?  YAS!  We cleaned the place out [and even went back Sunday afternoon for more!].  Time to get some plants blooming over here!

Also on Sunday, Aunt Laura came over for a few hours so Brian and I could go shopping together at a nursery in St. Louis.  Like At Home, said nursery also recently opened their doors to foot traffic, but they were not allowing kids inside yet.  [Gosh, it sounds so crazy to type that... These are the craziest of times!!!]  We were hoping to come home with a truck bed full of small trees/shrubs and perennials to plant in the landscaping rock, but we got so super overwhelmed with all the choices and left with only a small variety of indoor plants [my new obsession] instead. ;) 

We retreated back home to research landscaping and enjoy the rest of our Sunday together, because Monday [Memorial Day] was a 12-hour shift at the hospital for me!  Brian took the kids to a family BBQ for the holiday. 

 

On Tuesday, we visited Grammy Penny and Papa Jim AND Grammy Resa and Papa Mark to show off Harper's graduation cap and gown before it was due back at the school on Wednesday.  It was great to spend time with some very special grammys and papas who we haven't had much [if any] quality time with lately!  Love you all!!!

Despite the rain...rain and rain and MORE RAIN on Wednesday morning, I made a haul through Home Depot's Garden Center for flowers to furnish our pots!  Harper and I watched the radar like hawks and darted outside that afternoon at the first chance we had!  The kids were great helpers with the flowers and really enjoyed helping me plant them [or scoop/throw dirt around while I planted was more like it...]!

We also returned Harper's graduation cap and gown to the school and had a nice visit with Ms. Leah outside the preschool.  We are going to miss her smiling face and sweet soul sooo much!  What a great year it was.

Thursday was a work day at the office for me, but Dr. P brought us these donuts just out of the kindness of his heart and GOSH -- I think I sampled 10/12 of them and probably gained about 3 extra pounds by the time I clocked out.  SO DELISH!

Harper's kindergarten uniforms also arrived in the mail on Thursday, and I was so excited for her to try them on!  Is it just me, or does she look about 10 years old here??! Boo hoooooo, my momma heart isn't ready for all of this!  She preferred the jumper over the skort, but I think we'll keep both for now to have options come August.  I have all my fingers and toes crossed that they will be returning to school as scheduled this fall!

We capped off Thursday with an all-American meal:  hamburgers, corn on the cob [Scarlett's first time!], and homemade chocolate milkshakes!  Grandma Beeler always served this meal when we visited her growing up, and it brings back such sweet memories of her house every time I whip it up for my family now. :)

Friday was a lazy day a la casa.  The girls and I watered all our new flowers and played outside all morning...

...then had a picnic on the front porch before Scarlett's nap time.

Tonight, we are headed to Uncle Vaz's house to watch the live Dropkick Murhpys concert at Fenway Park! 

Annnnnnd nap time just ended! 

Perfect timing. 

Ciao for now!

- Quilling Through Quarantine -

I've always loved the paper flowers that I've seen other crafty peeps making, and I finally sat down last month and taught myself how to make them!  They are SO fun and so easy [if you have a Cricut at your disposal, that is], and the kids were even able to help me put together the Mother's Day gifts this year for Grammy Resa and Grammy Ann. <3  Paper art quilling for the win!

^^ We loved the Mother's Day shadow boxes so much that we decided to just keep going with gifts for Teacher Appreciation Day, too!  Harper picked out all the flower colors for her teachers' boxes and actually did about 75% of the quilling herself. 

As we were driving to Ms. Leah's house that morning, I said, "I hope Ms. Leah likes what we made for her!" to which Harper immediately replied, "She will like it, I already know.  She always loves everything I make her in class." :)

Cheers to mothers and teachers -- AKA a handful of people we love so much and could never get through life without!  We hope you special ladies enjoy looking at your flower boxes for years to come! :)

- COVID Diaries: Week 7 -

Happy May Day!  I flipped over to the next page on my planner today and just stared at it as if my mind was a blinking cursor waiting to furiously fill in some exciting plans...

...but with Illinois extending the stay-at-home order through the end of May, it looks like my poor planner will stay blank[ish] for another 31 days.  ^^ Maybe "2020 planner origami" isn't such a bad idea after all!

Last Saturday was a 12-hour shift on labor and delivery for me.  Things at the hospital [from my perspective] are still out of sorts; while the pregnant/OB community hasn't been impacted too terribly by COVID-19, there are still patients who've tested positive that we care for and there is still endless chatter surrounding the new hospital policies and PPE guidelines, etc., as well as just constant discussion of the pandemic in general.  The unknown is always scary, and there are still plenty of unknowns with this virus.  Co-workers say they are sick of talking about COVID, yet in the same breath it's all they/we can talk about for the entire shift.  And when everyone's heightened emotions and opinions and experiences are piled together -- that means the emotions and opinions and experiences of physicians and nurses and management and patients, too -- it can really make for an emotionally taxing day.  It's definitely not a "fun" time to be at work, but I also admit that being on the clock at a large hospital in the thick of a global pandemic is not the death sentence I originally imagined it would be.  In fact, the ONLY plans scribbled onto my May calendar right now are those hospital shifts, so in some ways keeping to a fairly normal work routine and being forced out of the house 3 days/week has been good for me [and probably good for my family, too].  The enormous fear that was here for me in March is dwindling down quickly.  Just over a month ago when all of this erupted, I considered writing a letter to my kids in case I died on the frontlines [don't laugh; there were many nights I lost sleep wondering how my family would function without me when I died from the novel coronavirus]; now, after seeing [mild] COVID-19 in the flesh and hearing personal stories of many friends and co-workers who have also recovered from mild cases of the virus, I kind of just want to "get it" --> and recover --> and develop antibodies --> and start giving the community some herd immunity so we can get things back to normal as soon as possible.  A vaccine will not be here any time soon, and the country cannot stay on lockdown forever.  Living in fear and sheltered inside our homes for months on end is not a long-term solution!  I'm very intrigued by the frequent conversations re: herd immunity and would most certainly love to hear other health professionals' thoughts who are more educated than I!  

OB/GYN humor... Sorry, I had to!  Anyway!  I mulled all of that ^^ over and over in my mind on the commute home and swallowed most of my thoughts before coming home to strip/shower/sanitize as usual.  

Sunday was a new day with a clean slate and a fresh attitude!  We cleaned up breakfast and hit the road to collect our first curbside pick-up order from Michael's.  SCORE!!!  Call me crazy [or call me lazy?], but this service was amazing and I'll definitely be a little bit sad if it doesn't continue after the social distancing orders are lifted.  We put the crafting supplies to work immediately on a few Mother's Day gifts!  More to come on this but don't want to spoil any gifts...

I was back to work on Monday and went grocery shopping at Aldi on the way home.  Contrary to my strict strip/shower/sanitize routine after nursing at the bedside, I'm starting to get a little bit lax with the showering and sanitizing after I leave a shift at the office [because there is very minimal potential exposure there, as there are no patients coming through the office currently and I'm working alongside only one other nurse each day].  After changing out of my scrubs, we put away all the groceries excepttttt those ingredients needed for Rice Krispie treats....mmmmmmmm!  Scarlett has been begging for "rye pee-pees" since we finished off the pan from a couple weeks ago, and this batch [made with a wee bit of extra butter] did not disappoint!

After Scarlett made her normal calls to all Grammys/Papas on Tuesday morning, we sat down to work on some preschool assignments.  With me still working out of the home a few days per week, we're falling a little behind with some of the weekly work packets that Harper's teachers are sending out [but everything is optional and the "assignments" don't have to be turned in or even completed at all, so whatevs!].  Y was the letter of the week LAST week, but we just honed in on it this Tuesday.  I think Harper is really enjoying the things we've studied so far, and I love how eager she is to always learn more.

We also colored pictures of Mary to submit for the school's May Crowning video.  The principal created this in lieu of how class would present flowers to Mary together if school was in session.  H&S were being sooo silly, and it took several tries to get a photo that was good enough to submit, hahah!

After an afternoon nap x3 [which felt soooo good]...

...and a family trip to Market Basket for more rocks...

...we continued the landscaping project and enjoyed an afternoon of beautiful weather.  Harper also completed the Ice Bucket Challenge that she got nominated twice for!  She was so proud of herself and watched the video several times afterwards.

On Wednesday morning, Scarlett rose before the sun and kicked off the day with many Mr. Potato Head creations.  I know it's going to be a winner when the first thing she inserts is a pair of eyes into the ear hole; nevertheless, she is always very proud of her work!

Harper woke up a couple hours later and just in time for her weekly preschool Zoom meeting.  The unit of the week was "nutrition," so each student was asked to bring their favorite food to show and tell.  Harper chose a cheese stick and then ate it after she showed her friends. :)

After the Zoom sesh, we topped off the crock pot with one of our favorite recipes: chicken taco soup...

...and then headed out to Home Depot to grab a few supplies to get our new water softener up and running.  Harper donned her brand new mask [thanks, Aunt Emma!] and skipped inside with Brian; she was soooo excited to be out and about, and rightfully so since this was her first time going anywhere outside our house or car since March 13!!!  Whoa.  Adventures to Home Depot AND Market Basket in the same week?!? Livin' SO LARGE.

Thursday was another full day at work...

...and the kids were so excited to see me when I got home at 8pm that Scarlett opened the car door and climbed right in!  Brian took them for a bike ride around the subdivision while I showered off my COVID scums. :)

Today [Friday] is May Day and also would've been the May Crowning at the school that I was talking about above.  I got a little sad today realizing how much I truly miss our parish family and school community, but as the Bluejay Prayer says, we are "strong of heart, gentle in spirit, and courageous in adversity."  My heart swells so big for these God-loving, sweet spirited girls; we will do everything we can to help them grow in faith while "Mass and class" aren't an option.

[^^ Mariology 102 begins next semester...LOL!]

After Brian wrapped up his work day in the basement, we shared popsicles on the porch...

...and also hit up Market Basket [again] for MORE rock and a few flowers!  The girls got right to planting when we made it home.

 Hopefully at least one of these girls grows into more of a green thumb than their momma is! ;) :)

And thattttt's a wrap!  What a week!  I'm off to clean up dinner and mix up a little Friday evening cocktail!

To be continued...