Happy 10th birthday, M! The day before her big day she pretty much made her cake all by herself. I just cracked the eggs, took it out of the oven and frosted it. She mixed and decorated it perfectly. I am so proud of all the things she can do. M appears very ready to be in double digits and I couldn’t be more thrilled to see what the next 10 years brings her. As I look back on her first decade I feel such gratitude that this wonderful girl is a part of our family.
M put on the Minnie Mouse shirt I ordered from Etsy for the cruise and was ready for the day. M is thrilled about her Harry Potter bedsheets and duvet cover and lamp. Yes, she wasn’t going to get all that before but I ordered it for her ASAP (and the Penderwick set of books) after finding out our cruise was canceled. Am I buffering? Heck, yeah. Take my Disney away from me and I will turn to retail therapy, junk food and too much screen time just like the next mom looking at home schooling her kids for the next month or two. I was totally willing to home school our children in Orlando. That was assuming the parks would stay open when I begged Hubby to move to Florida years ago. Lol. In other big news, M finished the entire Harry Potter series the day after her birthday. Congratulations, girl! Over the weekend she finished watching the movies with a Deathly Hallows double header with Hubby and big brother each watching part of the time with her. Whoop whoop.
Sunday was our first time having a Sacrament meeting in our home. Everyone got all dressed up but it only lasted about 15 minutes without my children starting to act up. I hope other families are doing better than we are with this whole Church at home thing! Our music leader did singing time via Zoom and our Relief Society teacher recorded a private YouTube video for her lesson. I love the thoughtfulness I have witnessed in our community. Boy, were the trails packed when we took a bike ride together on Sunday afternoon. So nice to be able to talk with friends from across the sidewalk.
On Monday we got to do a ministering visit via Google Hangouts and N got to FaceTime her teacher, M got to FaceTime her friend O a couple times and we’ve enjoyed staying better connected to Hubby’s family (and I tried to do the book club meeting I was set to host last week) via the Marco Polo app. By the end of all this we should be much more tech savvy! And can I just give a huge shout out to the math game Prodigy? Yes!
We had a couple days of nice weather where one day we did sidewalk chalk and had a picnic lunch and the next day I sat in the back yard listening to an audio book while the kids had their screen time. After Hubby came home from work we roasted hot dogs over a fire out back and it felt like the beginning of summer. (Yes, Hubby is still going to work and has two fancy letters to prove he's "critical" and can go around while we "Shelter in Place.") Then it snowed the next day and I was reminded of why I plan vacations to warm places over spring break. lol. The first week of this I think I did all right, making sure I showed up as Mom while the kids grieved their Disney vacation. Then for 4 days I pretty much lost my mind to self pity. I was super disappointed, depressed, and angry. Then I listened to a The Life Coach School podcast that helped me identify I was trapped in self pity and what to do about it. The next morning I woke up feeling like myself again instead of a monster. Knowledge is power and I am so grateful I started listening to life coaching podcasts months before all this began. After I was done with being in "dirty pain," I thought it was interesting that I wasn't that sad about missing the cruise because we did that exact same cruise over spring break in 2016. What I was saddest about was the things we've never done before at Disney World. I was sad we won't know what it's like the stay at the Pop Century resort and use the Skyliner to head to Disney's Hollywood Studios to try to grab a boarding pass for Rise of the Resistance or wait way too long in line to ride Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railroad. I was also super sad we would miss our first After Hours party and felt like I was being so smart to knock the Magic Kingdom off my children's wish list that way. I had a Fast Pass for Smuggler's Run and Navi River Journey that waking up at 5am to get was a total waste after all. I can say all this matter of factly and just observe that when we reschedule our cruise we should make sure it is to places we've never been before but make sure there's a stop to Castaway Cay since we were so thrilled at the idea of being there twice in one week. I think I've also learned that I truly do love Disney World even more than I knew I did. That makes me think a little differently about planning as well. We were only going to spend a couple days at Disney World because we were already in Orlando for the cruise and had a little longer spring break than usual. Obviously it might be worth planning a trip just to Walt Disney World in the future, hopefully for or shortly after the WDW 50th anniversary next year. I feel like I'm learning all sorts of things during our coronacation!
The puppies have provided lots of comfort and entertainment. The BMES PTO also put together ideas like the sidewalk chalk and putting a high five in the window for us to feel connected while we were social distancing. On Saturday, with the PTO's "virtual spring break" was over, the kids decided to have a crazy hair day. Excellent! If I can't go anywhere, I must admit, I love my house and my family and even those naughty dogs that are so difficult to train.
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