Fiona's Piano Recital(s)

In January, Fiona strongly expressed the desire to take piano lessons. And I strongly supported that desire. A quick text to a good friend for a teacher referral (thanks, B!) and we were connected with a wonderful teacher here in S-town. 

The first few lessons showed that Fiona has a real knack for piano and the concepts quickly make sense to her. She was really moving along in her lessons - and then everything went into lockdown. Her sweet teacher continued lessons for a bit in her house, but we decided to hit pause. Eventually, her teacher moved to virtual lessons and we were back in the game.

Virtual lessons went well, but basically required me to hover in the background and help her find her hand positions or demonstrate the technique. It wasn't a big deal and I didn't mind - but it wasn't the same as in-person instruction. However, she was learning and it was a shade of normal! When her teacher mentioned the end of year recital, we really encouraged Fiona to do it - and were so proud when she said she would!

She worked really hard learning Beethoven's Ode to Joy and practiced hard to make it perfect (and overcome her recital nerves). Then her teacher sent out an email that the church where the recital was being held had canceled since churches were still not allowed to be open. Fiona was devastated. Mike and I did a quick pivot (we've honed those parenting skills during lockdown) and proposed a family recital via Zoom. It made her feel much better and she agreed. 

Then, because life is ever fluid these days, her teacher said the recital was back on via Zoom. Oy vey! So we went from one recital at a church on Wednesday to no recital to a family Zoom recital on Thursday to a Zoom recital on Wednesday AND a Zoom recital on Thursday. It was dizzying. And yet, there is nothing else on the calendar - so it was fairly easy to accommodate. 

She was very nervous for the Wednesday recital (and I panicked several family members by posting a picture of her all dressed up on instagram and they thought they missed it. So sorry!). She looked beautiful and asked us all to dress up for it as well. Dec was not really on board (but his dad tricked him into it). Quinn was not really on board (but Fiona tricked her into it by offering to let Q wear one of her dresses). It looked like we had actual places to be. Like the basement. 

Between first recital, general nerves, and going first, Wednesday's performance did not not spectacularly well. We were so proud of her, but she ended her song in tears. It's really hard to be the first one - especially after only three months of lessons. I said all the things that a Mom says - but they didn't mean much. So after the recital was over, we called in the pro. And by that, I mean Auntie. Who said the exact same words I did - but this time they sunk in. Fine. As long as they healed the heart. F's friend E was also in the recital and sent Fiona a sweet text over Messenger that also made her smile.

Thursday night was the redemption recital. She had a full house of grandparents, aunties, and cousins. With a friendly audience of people she knew, she was shining! She played four songs and did so amazing. We could not be more proud of her!

Wait, we could! She also submitted a video of herself playing Ode to Joy for the virtual version of the school's end of year talent show. The talent show video was posted this morning and we all watched it together on our big screen TV. SHE WAS IN IT!!! 

She has already asked to keep going with lessons through the summer. Done and done.

Holiday Weekend Fun

Last Friday, the kids' school had a Beach Day spirit day. They used the opportunity to sport their new clothes that Grandma brought them from Hawaii. That worked out perfectly because we also got to see Gma and Gpa!!

My parents were making a trip down to the Cities to visit my grandparents' graves at Fort Snelling. They come every Memorial Day weekend - and Mom was not about to let a pandemic stop her from putting flowers out. They had originally planned a quick down and back - but haven't seen the kids and Mike since January (I got a quick lunch in early March before everything shut down). So we agreed to a socially distant drop in visit.

My parents decided to stay for a couple days at Emmy's - so she went to the cemetery with them too. AND THEN CAME HERE. You guys, we have not all been together since Christmas. That has not happened since ... ever. That has never happened. It's not how we roll. We are entangled, co-dependent people and are really okay with that. It was so good to see them and my socially distant resolve faded rather quickly (that and Gpa simply ignored my rules to walk right up and hug Dec). Between that, missing everyone, and the pathetic looks on Gma and Fiona's faces, there.were.hugs. We all needed them!

Gma, Gpa, and Auntie joined us for Ice Cream Friday (that's a quarantine thing that I'm pretty sure the kids hope becomes permanent) - and then a pretty epic baseball game broke out in the back yard. Everyone played - even grandma. Dec and Gpa bonded over their sweet left-handed swings. Auntie and I showed some serious skills. Dec even pitched. We had such a fun time and for a few hours, life felt normal again. 

The rest of the weekend was fun and low-key. We weren't too sad to be home because we typically don't travel for Memorial Day weekend. We were very sad about the forecast for three straight days of rain. Saturday morning, I ventured out to get vegetable plants and flowers for our new garden and my pots. It looked like my best chance to get everything planted while staying dry. The kids helped me plant the veggies and then I got the pots done right before it started pouring. Whew!

But thankfully, while there was rain every day, it ended up being mostly at night. So Sunday afternoon, we headed out for a 3+ mile family bike ride. We followed the bike trail over to our original Ms. A's and had a lovely socially distant visit with her and her family. Dec even got to issue a personal invite to his buddy Jack for his birthday parade. Those two and their sweet friendship is the best. And it's so fun to see how excited a 16-year-old boy is to come to a six-year-old's celebration. 

On Memorial Day proper, we needed out of the house. Mike decided we were going to check out the hiking trails at Carver Park Reserve. It was a 30 minute drive to get there and we were all so excited to be outside Shakopee city limits. I was a little concerned by the number of cars in the parking lot, but there are enough trails and woods that we felt very spread out and didn't see many people at all. 

We hiked about a mile - stopping many times to check things out. Mike pointed out deer tracks and showed them what a deer trail looked like. We saw a lot of birds and Quinn even found a chigger on the ground! I suspect we will be back there again to check out other trails this summer. Mike and I are already brainstorming other places to explore. The kids are campaigning for a place with more rocks to climb!

One of our favorite parts of the weekend was enjoying the strawberry lemonade poke cake we made after each of our adventures. It was a fun cake to make and Quinn and Dec even got to practice piping with the poke hole filling. Mike learned how to make pizzas on our new grill and we experimented with grilling ribs too. Our bellies had a delicious weekend!

Life in May

We are in the final days of May ... and we have actual things on our calendar. We almost don't know to do with things that start at a specific time and require us to be ready and organized and probably fed. What is this craziness?!?! Granted, they are all virtual Zoom events so non-athleisure attire and footwear remain optional. But still. PLANS!

We have six days left of school and then summer begins. Summer will look different this year than it has in the past. But we are determined to find safe ways to make it great. As we wrap up the school year (Teacher Dad cannot wait to close down his classroom), here is a glimpse of our life in May and the final weeks of homeschool.

We continue to go on our afternoon biking/blading/walking adventures. We enjoy the time together and the kids have used it to really test out their bravery and adventure skills. We've donated a fair amount to skin to the paved trail, taken a couple handlebars to the mid-section, and been part of a few epic wipeouts. 

This big girl has turned teenager in lockdown. I don't know why she looks so old. I keep trying to convince her to stop aging - but she is clearly not listening.

The gang decided to make disco chalk outlines one day on the driveway. I don't know where they learned about disco - but their poses are on point!

In a burst of optimism, Mike brought the camper home for the summer. We've already canceled our annual Father's Day camping trip - but we are hopeful for other opportunities later in the summer. However, since the camper came home, it was clearly the place to have Ice Cream Friday!

Mike's creativity continues to amaze me! Well ... it's either creativity or desperation. He is looking for ways to keep these humans happy and occupied. We are already to our August-level tricks. And it's only May. [shudder] So obviously, we ended up with a ping pong net that can attach to any table and a few paddles and balls. Dec is too short to play on our dining room table, so he's learning on the coffee table. If he masters those skills, be wary of a hustler!

Quinn has had some bad luck with her bike - a couple flat tires and a locked up chain - that have impacted her participation in family bike rides. We are happy to report that the bike is back to working condition, Dad only had to rescue her from the trail once (although we did have to push the bike home a second time), and she now knows how to change a tire.

Fiona is learning about ancient cultures in her Social Studies class. During Ancient Greece week, she learned to write her name using the Greek alphabet and was super proud.

Quinn has been working on her culinary chopping skills. Last night, she sliced an entire cucumber for me with minimal supervision. We've covered quartering strawberries and slicing cucumbers. She was unhappy that I wouldn't like her dice potatoes - until I showed her how slippery they are and how much more force you need than on a cucumber.

We got great news this week - youth summer sports are starting up! They are making adjustments to keep the athletes and families safe and healthy. But holy smokes, we.are.so.excited! Our two big muscle children need an outlet for their energy beyond our yard. Because the soccer season is so delayed, Dec will be playing ball on Tuesdays and Saturdays - and doing summer hockey on Mondays and Wednesdays. Quinn has hockey on Tuesdays and soccer on Thursday and Saturday. The calendar is back!

The Lost Lost Tooth

Big exciting news - Dec has lost his second tooth! Apparently he loses teeth with flair. He announced it was loose a couple weeks ago and we were very excited. You see, the adult tooth is already in ... behind it! So we have been hoping it would come out on its own - because otherwise the dentist was going to give it a yank. 

Once it was loose, Mike and D started planning how they would get it out. They decided to tie a string to a remote control car and pull it out that way. Mike was doing a daily check to deem it "loose enough" or not. On the infamous night, the tooth was declared "close, but not quite yet." So Dec trotted off to brush his teeth. 

Suddenly the whole house was filled with the saddest wail: "I swallowed my tooth." D's toothbrush disagreed with Mike's assessment and popped that tooth right out. It startled Dec and down the throat it went. Or down the drain. There is a bit of confusion around the actual course of events. We do know that the tooth was nowhere to be found

There was a lot of sadness and concern about the tooth being in his tummy and what that meant. Once we assured him that it would not make him sick and that the tooth fairy would still come [let's be honest, that was the main concern], the smile returned. Big sister Q stepped up and wrote a note to the tooth fairy that informed said fairy that Declan swallowed his tooth and would she still bring him two coins pretty please. The note - instead of the tooth - went under his pillow.

The tooth fairy is a good egg - because two quarters found their way under the pillow and the drama of the lost lost tooth turned into a funny story that he enjoys telling. Will the third time be a charm and he won't try to lose the lost tooth? 

And ... will that be the tooth extracted by remote control car? No boy living here has given up on that plan!

Low-Key Mother's Day

I'm not going to lie. Mother's Day didn't stand much of a chance this year. Between eight weeks of lockdown, knowing I couldn't see my own mom, and losing Yogi, I wasn't in a very "holiday" place. Mike and the kids asked what I wanted that was special - but other than maybe going 10 minutes without fighting about stupid stuff, I told them I just wanted hugs. It was true (especially about the fighting).

I need to tell you guys that these children stepped it up in a big way. I was greeted with a donut breakfast and beautiful hand-drawn flower bouquets. After lunch, they disappeared downstairs and 20 minutes later, invited us down for a special Mother's Day play performance.

It was incredibly sweet and they worked really hard together (and I think they totally made it 10 minutes without fighting). The grand finale was my favorite part - there were jazz hands and a cheerleader move. The finale is why you have three kids!

We finished the day with a new family evening activity ... watching Kids Baking Championship together. I don't know how they found it, but they've been obsessed with watching it when they wake up in the morning. So we've saved Season 5 to watch together. I love that they love it - but there was a lot of judgy judginess on the flavors of the Strawberry Lemon bread we made [verdict was: needed more lemon].

Other notable events of the weekend (very notable because we had actual plans!) ... on Saturday, I left Shakopee. I know. I was a little worried that there wasn't life beyond the city lines. But there was!! I headed up to Bloomington to have socially distant birthday coffee and celebrate my college roommate's 40th birthday. I was able to surprise her (yay!). She sat on her front step and I sat at the end of her sidewalk to visit. Then our other roommate showed up as well and we had a lovely triangle coffee visit.

We also got to join our first birthday parade on Sunday to celebrate sweet Ev's 10th birthday. Despite her big golden birthday party being cancelled, we got to help make her day really special (and Fiona did her best to hang out in a socially-distant-yet-as-close-as-possible way).

All told, on a weekend that had everything working against it, we still managed to make it pretty special.