Austin's Birthday Week + Summer Hit List

The last week of August found us making Austin's 9th birthday cake. He dreamed up an ice cream cake, & we were able to buy all the safe components to make it happen.

 

 

Weeks ago, when we asked Austin what he wanted to do for his special day, he replied, "Boy time." So I called up Michelle & asked if he could spend the afternoon with her 3 boys, doing boy things without any sisters around. We showed up right after lunch to eat ice cream cake together. There were 2 additional boys whose mom needed to drop them off at the last minute for childcare.

We took a look at the list we made in May of things the kids wanted to do this summer, and sadly we had not accomplished many items. Patrick realized that there was a Somerset Patriots game with fireworks in the middle of the week; and there were tickets in our favorite row available!

 

 

She is on a puzzle kick.

We had scheduled a Sandy Hook beach day with Siena & Stephanie back in July; we were so grateful that we were all well enough to enjoy it! It was cool enough to stay out of the water, and the kids had fun building a pit with windbreakers made from towels & shovels to protect themselves.

 

Playing a birthday game

Summer is for reading, yes?

Dad took them all out for a bike ride.

 

Dinner at Faith & Emsley's house; they played outside until it was dark. We love summer evenings in big back yards!

Amelia & I went to an Indian celebration in our neighborhood; while we were gone, Austin & Colleen wanted to dress up in their Indian clothes.

 

We succumb after almost 2.5 years

The first week of August was the county 4-H fair; the Garden & Beekeeping Club was getting its own tent for the first time, so there was a lot of work to be done to prepare. Patrick traveled this week but planned on being home so he could enjoy the last day with us. We made a game to contribute to the gardening tent.

 

Each club member had to create a video tour of their garden; then there were QR codes posted in each garden so people could use their phones to learn more during the fair.

Amelia and I spent an afternoon helping to paint the back of the boards that make up the "walls" of the tent.

 

Gathering her flowers & produce to prepare her displays

 

Then I woke up on Tuesday feeling gross; a few hours later the fever started & I tested positive for covid. So Patrick caught the earliest flight he could on Wednesday.

Although I wasn't able to take the kids to the fair & volunteer everyday as we had planned, the 4H leaders sent Amelia photos of the Best in Show ribbon she won for one of her flower arrangements.

On Thursday morning, Michelle called me to say that she was a few minutes away from our house, taking her kids to the fair. She wasn't afraid to take my still-healthy kids since it was an outside event. She took all 6 kids for a full day of fair activities & lunch so Patrick could get a few hours of work in. She sent me photos of Amelia showing off her displays in the Garden & Beekeeping tent.

 

Then on Friday, Colleen & Austin started fevers. Since Mom was no longer off-limits, Colleen asked if she could be near me. She played solitaire for awhile, and then I offered to teach her how to play it on the computer. Her world was revolutionized.

Stitching while listening to an audiobook.

He had a mini-meltdown and asked me if I would snuggle with him. He fell asleep on me in 5 minutes and stayed that way for an hour until I had to roll him off. I can't remember the last time I held him while he slept, and it was precious to me.

Patrick delayed his work trip that he was supposed to go on the 2nd week of our covid experience until I was able to more completely care for the kids. The first few days of his being gone, we mostly just listened to books & lied around. When we were finally feeling better, but still in isolation, Amelia asked if she could take the easel outside to paint. All 3 kids did this off-and-on for a few days.

We listened to the entirety of The Last Battle by CS Lewis over 2 days. There were a lot of puzzles completed in that time!

 

Tomatoes kept coming in, so Amelia & I made tomato sauce.

 

 

Toward the end of our isolation, I took the kids to Sonic to use some gift cards for lunch & slushies.

On our first day out of isolation, we went down to Colonial Park to walk around a bit & enjoy the splash pad.

 

 

To be honest, we had the virus a lot worse than I had hoped. So many of our friends had a relatively "easy" time with it, and we had hoped for the same. But we are grateful that we had so much to keep ourselves comfortable &  so many friends who offered to help. Somehow Amelia never exhibited any symptoms, so we do not know if she managed to not catch it or if she was asymptomatic. Thankfully, Austin & Colleen bounced back quickly as soon as their fevers disappeared.