Remote Learning Completed

That’s a wrap on the 19-20 school year! When I snapped this crazy 1st day of school picture with Hattie and the bus back in August, I never would’ve dreamed that the year would go so far off the rails!!! But we survived remote learning (Mostly because of Mitch, if I’m being honest) and the girls were definitely troopers getting their daily work done.

Hattie is thankful that she will be returning to Grade School for 3rd grade next year so she can see familiar faces. Kiersten is looking forward to year 2 at Intermediate.

This was Leah’s last year of elementary school. Driving away from Intermediate there were a few tears. She adored Mrs. Jozwiak and was so fortunate to have her 2 years in a row. She wants a chance to say goodbye to Mrs. Gerhardt and we can’t even talk about orchestra. She was crushed when solo ensemble was cancelled in April. Mr. Wunderlich had picked a piece for her and she was working hard on it. We didn’t even talk about the 6th grade orchestra concert. This girl loves her music...and I’ve reminded her that she’ll still see Mr. Wunderlich from time to time.

Next year she heads to Junior High...with ME!!! I’m looking forward to it. She’s on the fence, Lol!

Home Again

On Monday after lunch we started the long trek home. For once Mitch was awake to at least see part of New Mexico. He'd been asleep or it was the dead of night the other 3 times we'd done the drive. At this point we're getting pretty good at it. And for sure it's easier to do it straight through the night. When you stop halfway you spend two full days in the car. When you go straight through and take turns napping, the girls are asleep for nearly one-third of the drive and it just seems more manageable.

I told Laura it probably wasn't a great idea to trex 4 miles into a canyon hours before getting in the car for a 23 hour drive but if she was doing it she was going all the way. And the end result was me being horribly swollen. It was laughable. I told my mom, Laura and Cynthia I felt like I had shrek feet. The only other time I had been that swollen was right after I had Kiersten, but even then it wasn't that bad. Thankfully the swelling was gone in 36 hours. I was back to exercising and could actually wear shoes. We're happy to be home with our sweet pups but sure missing that Arizona sun. Nothing but rain here in Illinois. Guess we'll look for rainbows!

Sabino Canyon Stroll

Monday was scheduled to be our last day in Arizona. Laura had skipped her Sunday morning Sabino Canyon hike because of Mother's Day. So I did what I never want to do!!! I got up at 5:15 in the morning so we could do the 7.5 miles into the Canyon. She was right that the temperature/weather would be perfect. The sun hadn't come up over the peaks yet so were in the shade almost the entire time. I didn't want to do the entire hike. I told her I'd be just fine with only going 4-5 miles in. But she wasn't having it. That last mile to the turnaround was rough...literally climbing uphill on a mountain, but we did it. We saw some funny things along the way. People wearing flip flops on bikes tops the list. I took a picture of this older gentleman wearing socks with his flip flops. He climbed that last mile...went down a mile and back up again. It was impressive but then a little while later we saw him taking a dip in the creek. And we laughed at the signs warning bikers to beware. I mean, the tires on that bike are all jacked up and it's just a funny sign. It was nice for Laura and I to spend that last morning together.

If you would have told me at the beginning of shelter in place that we would spend 31 days living together during the Covid-19 pandemic I would've thought you were crazy. But that's exactly what happened. It was 14 days in March and then another 17 days in April/May. We lived together for one whole month in 2020. And in June Laura is going to drive her crew to Illinois. It's the one good thing to come out of all this. We've finally slowed down enough to spend quality time with family.

Mother's Day Brunch

This mother's day was bittersweet. For the past 9 years we have spent Mother's day with my parents and Matt's family. It was always when we celebrated Macy and Leah's birthday. This year May 10th was mother's day AND Macy's birthday. It stung a little that we couldn't all be together. However we made the most of it. Actually I didn't MAKE anything, ha!

Jeff and Mitch took over the cooking and did a great job preparing brunch. Jeff made a delicious breakfast casserole, banana nut muffins and an apple pie. Mitch made his bacon cheddar deviled eggs, roasted asparagus and bacon wrapped shrimp. Gigi brought over a fruit salad and cinnamon rolls. Needless to say, we ate good. Leah made me the sweetest mothers day video with pictures she took from this very blog. It was the sweetest. Gigi was showered with gifts, too! New beats headphones and an Amazon Echo Show.

That afternoon I stayed home with all the girls while Mitch, Jeff and Laura went golfing. All I wanted was an hour in the pool but of all the days for the weather to NOT cooperate. It sprinkled off and on a few times and was pretty overcast. I actually got a little chilly in the pool when it was 98 degrees outside. I absolutely love that dry Arizona heat! I was lucky enough to get in a morning bike ride. It was a great day and I'm grateful we were able to spend it with family.

Birthday Hike!

For Leah's birthday she wanted to go up to Mt. Lemmon with Mitch hiking. But it's a long drive so we looked for something else to do. Mitch found the Pima Canyon Trailhead about 20 minutes from Laura and Jeff's house. It was perfect. We got there around 9. It took us 2 hours and we covered 4 miles. The views were breathtaking. We stopped a few times just to enjoy. We saw some cool wildlife. There was a bird with a red face that I tried so hard to get a picture of. We saw several huge spiders. We had to walk through a patch of moths at one point and twice we could hear herds of bees buzzing over our heads. The girls had a great time...Mitch and I had a great time too. And I can’t get over the rainbow that made it into the picture of Leah and Kiersten...LOVE!

The day before Leah had asked if she would still be able to get her traditional birthday ice cream cone. After a 4 mile hike in the heat, that birthday ice cream really hit the spot. So glad we get to do these little adventures together. I'll take a state/national park over an amusement park anyday. And at this point, our girls feel the same way. I love that they are always looking for an adventure. Happy Birthday Hike should be our new tradition!

Happy Quarantween Birthday!

Here we are, 12 years old...how can that be? This isn't at all how she wanted to spend her birthday. But we made the most of it. She wanted to do the Krave Escape Room and get pizza with all her friends, maybe have a friend or two stay the night. Instead I had to get creative. I called Simply Sweet and they individually packaged cupcakes for me. Since we are in Arizona, Ashlyn was kind enough to deliver to all her friends. I arranged a surprise ZOOM call...She was so surprised! It was fun to talk to all her friends and I loved seeing them all have cake and singing Happy Birthday to her. They talked for nearly 2 hours!

For weeks Kiersten had planned to make her birthday cake. And Gigi was happy to oblige. They did a double decker chocolate/vanilla cake that Kiersten decorated all on her own. Gigi got fried chicken and twice baked potatoes. Mitch made green beans with bacon...it was every thing she wanted it to be given the circumstances. She finally got that phone she's been wanting forever...we actually gave it to her a few weeks ago. Gigi got her a bike, a movie and an outfit. Aunt Laura picked up an huge balloon bouquet and found a new Hocus Pocus book...She is so loved. Happy Birthday, Miss Leah!