I really wasn’t feeling St. Patrick’s Day this year but decorated and prepared for our annual scavenger hunt to find gold (aka Rolos). Natalie was delighted to find notes from a leprechaun and green milk in the fridge. Turns out Danny and Michelle woke up early and noticed I hadn’t done usual tricks and did them for their little sister. I was delighted to see them be so thoughtful and relieved there was no disappointments to be had at our house that morning. What fun it is to see these children growing up. Bittersweet too, since sometimes I feel like I’m working my way out of my job a little ahead of schedule. The middle schoolers had online learning that day so it was no big deal to them but it was also crazy hair day at the elementary school. Michelle knew exactly what she wanted to do and barely needed any help while Natalie chose to have me make two braided buns and then use the red hair spray paint on them. At school pick up you could tell the school had a fun day by the energy that was present as people walked home.
The next day we had a surprise visitor come to school pick up and hang out with us for a few hours before returning to her volleyball team. What a joy it was to see our niece, Addie, again (and my family was so surprised I could actually keep a secret). It was great to hear first hand about her intentions to play volleyball in college, how she picked Pierce, and how she’s doing. We always love having her around!
Addie was in town while we had another project going on: painting the play room! Kate was hating the peach and I realized it really didn’t go with anything and it felt like the children had outgrown it. After thinking of all sorts of different ideas, I went with just painting it white (Benjamin Moore’s Simply White like you see Studio McGee use all the time). It really ties the room and hallways together and goes with everything. It’s super bright it the full sun but after a couple days I really liked it and the children do too. They said the room felt bigger. I’m just glad to see the repair work on the walls finished. Dumb dogs had chewed off some of the 3M hooks we had things hanging on and it had to be patched and texturized. Now I just have to figure out how to fix the stairs they chewed on. Uggg.
After two years of waiting until summer for her birthday party (once for a pool party and the second due to Covid-19), Michelle really wanted to celebrate her birthday on the actual day and in a pandemic friendly way. She chose to invite a very small number of friends to simply play at our favorite park and share those delicious strawberry cupcakes from Nadiya Bakes. We never know what the weather will be like in March but the weather for her party was the best we had all week! Beautiful and sunny with leftover snow to throw made for some good laughs. PSA from my husband: Don’t wear your Captain America shirt to a birthday party when there is a snowball fight or your shirt will look like a giant target. Lol. He was a great sport, of course, and it was so great to have our entire family playing at that park together. Happy 11th birthday, Michelle! We are so grateful to have you in our family. It is a joy watching you grow. Keep being you and the world will continue to be better simply because you are in it.
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