covid19- week 46

bea turned 5 on wednesday, a day where all 3 girls had school. she brought ice cream sandwiches and rainbow cookies to class, and came home with an emoji pencil that she immediately sharpened using lucy's electric pencil sharpener and that she's clutched onto ever since. aunt alli and madden came over to play in the morning, and we had meme's homemade chocolate birthday cake in the rush between school and dance [i checked and this photo was taken one year and one minute apart from last's year's birthday cake photo at meme's in-between school and dance]. gmom and gdad had spent sunday afternoon with us to celebrate, and when we tucked her in on her first night as an official 5 year old, she told me it was her best birthday ever.

lucy spent the week growing crystals on her desk. she took such pride in her "gem lab" and carefully wrapped each in a paper towel and zippie bag to bring to her 2nd grade class for show and tell. auntie amy knew what she was doing with her christmas gift selection this year- gems are all the rage for 8 year olds these days!! :)

beauties-

school, homework, dance, repeat. 

kansas day! betsy brought her teachers mason jars filled with sunflowers and i told her that i've always loved she was born the same week as our state. 

the girls look forward to making these silly little valentine treats each year- wafers dipped in almond bark & sprinkled with valentine's sprinkles. we couldn't find strawberry wafers this year, but they were equally happy with chocolate-

jon and betsy's five year trip is next weekend! he & lucy adventured to chicago, and eloise to silver dollar city. he & bea are headed to ski, and i think she's going to absolutely love it. she has a private lesson with a ski instructor and is eager to know the breakfast cereal situation at the hotel. the next father/daughter trip will be lucy's 10 year! time seems to be going quicker as the girls get older.

xoxo,

-ivy

covid19- week 45 BETSY TURNS 5!

oh my, the week is here! bea has been crossing off her wall calendar every day this month for the day of her birthday party! the actual day is next week, but today we celebrated, true pandemic style, at home just the 5 of us. as i told my friends earlier in the day- a pandemic 5 year old has no idea that in another world, extended family and friends would have been included in this celebration. 

betsy's been asking for a mermaid party for at least 2 months. she chose the colors, the dresses, her hair chalk, her candle, and sprinkle donuts instead of a cake. lucy & eloise practically bought out target with their gifts for her then set up a scavenger hunt complete with a map for her to find them, and bea asked jon & me for a "bunny electric toothbrush" which is, in fact, made. God bless a $9 internet find :) 

today she popped out of bed and said over and over that she just could not believe the day had finally arrived. it's so truly the little things- like the focus being on her for a couple of hours with her immediate family. she's just tickled to bring ice cream sandwiches and rainbow cookies to school to celebrate with her class on wednesday, and i keep scratching my head in disbelief that our baby is already 5 years old. 

the day we found out our 3rd daughter was on the way is one of my very favorites. a perfect day for betsy would be collecting bugs in her best sunday dress while singing along to wrecking ball and eating cereal marshmallows straight from the box. in her school teachers' eval, they noted "she loves to act, sing and dance" and always finds where the action is. love this little one with her big personality and even bigger heart. it's such a blessing to mother her. 

a week of homemade valentines and lots of love-

xoxo, 

-ivy

covid19- week 44

another week waiting for this pandemic to be depleted and for our new president to take office. 

like a broken record these past several months- lots of time of reading, cooking, exercising, building with legos, having barbies take exciting vacations and crafting [homemade valentines currently] while staying cozy indoors in-between masked school and dance. 

these happy smiles are everything. the resiliency and flexibility of this generation of "pandemic kids" is sure to build a stronger tomorrow. 

xoxo,

-ivy 

covid19- week 43

 with sisters back to school & dance full-time... a week in the life of betsy-

kindergarten registration is a few days away, and betsy turns 5 just a few days after that. it's hard to wrap my head [and heart!] around the fact that in 7 months, we'll have a 3rd, 2nd and kindergartener in the house. this day seemed so far away for so long. whenever bea is bargaining for something she wants, she'll say 'but mom... i'm almost in kindergarten and we won't have any time together then!' arrow to my heart!

our animal friends are staying nice & cozy this month, too-

i always appreciate the slower pace of january- fewer expectations and places to be outside of the norm, and quiet weekends at home together. 

xoxo, 

-ivy

 

covid19- week 42

2021. 

on new year's eve, we prayed for what we're most grateful for in the year 2020. the year the world shut down around us and i scrambled to understand zooming, "virtual school" and teaching my dance class via youtube videos. the year that facetiming with the girls' school teachers became the norm, and jon's client-focused career was completely upended. the year we felt more unsettled than we could have imagined in all that we'd felt certain about our entire lives. we worried, we researched, we exercised as therapy. we swam every single day that summer and grew closer in our faith as a family. we wore masks in public, and we marveled at the resiliency and flexibility of children. we grew. we learned not all society members follow public mandates, and we became choosier in our relationships. we didn't get to see cousins, and for a few months, grandparents, too. we prayed school would safely reopen in the fall, and we were among the lucky few in our country that were granted this privilege come august. we learned to "socially distance", watch mass via internet, and take classes with friends online with subjects such as "american girl tea party" and "making oreo ice cream". i didn't get to see my gramma, who was doing her best to avoid crowds, stay home on sunday mornings rather than attend church, and grocery shop when her local store opened at 7am thrusdays for "senior citizen hour". we continued to hear of more and more people contracting covid, and oftentimes dying from complications related to it. we moved. jon changed careers. and as lucy prayed on the eve of 2021, we're "grateful to have all survived the coronavirus". 

while the virus isn't gone and numbers are still alarming, we have the chance at a new year and a fresh start at opening our hearts to a plan that's not our own. and in the meantime, to continue staying home, wearing masks when we do leave, and praying for a swift vaccine rollout that immunizes the 2 million people in line before we're up. 

here's to 2021.

xoxo, 

-ivy