Over the summer Mimi had a few projects to keep her busy. In non-pandemic years she would do some volunteering at the library. Since that's not happening, they provided a bingo board full of activities.
For this activity Mimi was supposed to spend time in nature and take a photo of something that inspires her. She was at girl scout day camp and took this during one of the camp fires.
On his way across the country, my brother stopped to see us. We made sure that when he hit the road he had some Buckeyes and Fry Pies.
Here's our Dickersons-by-the-car photo!
It was lovely and quiet, and as you can see, we had some yummy cake. A friend stopped by with some goodies, a got kind cards, phone calls and texts from family and friends. My kiddos played in the year-end orchestra concert and gave me a couple Jane Austen books. My sisters gave me a new counter cross stitch pattern, Star Wars plates, and the hilarious shirt below. My parents always come through with some birthday spending money and I'm thinking about getting a quilt frame.
And of course, Greg made the day awesome with food I didn't have to make or clean up after, an awesome new lamp, more chocolate, and made the day run smoothly.
We're benefiting from my generous family's various streaming services during covid. I'm hoping we can watch many family sitcoms to see what fictionalized families outside of our house looks like. On the list: The Middle (HBOMax), The Goldberg's (Hulu), Everybody Hates Chris (Peacock- that one's actually free and I recommend it), we may even try the Simpsons (Disney+).
But right now we're diving deep into the Brady Bunch (Hulu). Thanks to my family!
Yoda and Mimi laugh at all the silliness, and don't take it too seriously.
Parker, "let me guess, there's a miscommunication and funny stuff happens..." or "and then there will be some wacky-sitcom-antics."
Anyway, that's why Yoda is in his robe, so he can fit in with the Brady's!
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In one episode, a car drives up and the vent window is tilted... kinda like this...
Yoda was stunned, "that window... it's... popped out!?"
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In one episode Jan says their house telephone number and it was exactly 1 digit off from our families while growing up. My siblings all confirmed!
We were very excited to see Greg's family! They treated us to lots of fun, sight seeing and some amazing food! Greg's brother got us both Nashville Hot Chicken AND fantastic BBQ!
All the answers are the same.
1) Some time in 2014.
Me, "We should finally plan that trip to Europe. You know the one we've wanted since we were first married and thought we would have done already."
Greg, "Yes, totally, how about the summer after Parker's senior year."
Me, "Right, that gives us plenty of time to save up and plan. That would be... the summer of 2020. Ok, that's our goal."
We didn't go on that trip because __________.
2) When Parker was about to turn 16 and get his license.
Me, "We should get a 3rd car. Parker will need to get himself to work and play practice."
Me, after looking into how much it will cost to buy a new car, insure him and a third car, "maybe we shouldn't get a 3rd car, we should save our money. Greg, you've been working from home, we'll get by with 2 cars for now."
Greg, "agreed".
We causally looked anyway and found a good deal on a car that had low miles, good gas mileage, etc. We decided to go for it.
A few months later, all 3 cars sit in our driveway for months because __________.
3) Spring time of Parker's sophomore year.
Greg, "We should take Parker on some college tours, maybe in the fall and spring next school year."
We did almost no college tours because __________.
4) Some time in 2019.
Me, "We've never gone to General Conference with the kids, how about next Spring when we go on some college tours with Parker?"
We didn't do this because __________.
5)In January of 2020.
Me, "I'm going to do a food cleanse, I've done it before, I always feels better when I do, I will start the first day of Spring!"
I didn't do this because __________.
6) Summer of 2019.
Me, "I know we're planning our trip to Europe next summer, but we should maybe do another trip too! Somewhere we've never been... Maine? Michigan? It's so silly we've lived so close to both and never been. Let's make 2020 the year we finally do at least one!"
We didn't go to either because __________.
7) Summer of 2019.
As a family we went to Cedar Point for the first time. We planned out our trip and did everything in one day (going on a weekday makes it very doable). We were exhausted but decided we HAD to go again in 2020 because it was so much fun.
We didn't go because __________.
8) Things we're thankful for even though there was a __________
We've stayed healthy this year.
The kiddos have kept a positive attitude and learned a lot even through school has been; remote, maybe it was going to be hybrid, then for sure remote, then hybrid, then remote, then hybrid, now all-in. They are troopers! (I'm also glad our school has been cautious.)
We've had lots of game nights, watched movies we've never had a chance to see, and listened to so many audio books!
Together or individually, we've had lots of walks, hikes, and playing outside in masks with friends.
At times I have thought our house it just a little too big, I can't really keep it clean. But we're glad we've had lots of space to spread out for video calls, school work, work-work and places for me to be out of their way!
Here's hoping that 2021 will quickly be better!
On one of our snow days I asked the kiddos to try something new. Parker combined my challenge and a homework assignment for his Spanish class. He made Dia de los Muertos or Pan de Muertos or Day of the Dead bread.
It's traditional for Nov.1 & 2, but when we need yummy bread and we're stuck inside who cares what day it is!
If you're curious here's our mugs, from top to bottom and left to right:
On the very top is Yoda's brand new Among Us mug or A-Mug-Us.
The "Val" mug that I got when I was in elementary school or middle school from a friend.
Parker's Lefty mug. (There's a small dribble hole on the other side and you will spill on yourself if you hold it with your right hand.
Parker's mug from seeing Kelly Live back in 2017. His nice aunt bought it for him.
Owl mug that Mimi made a while back.
My "No Drama Llama", that's me!
Star Wars light saber mug, it lights up when you fill it with hot water! (from Sonya)
Spiderman mug that Yoda made.
A family photo on a mug.
My yellow mug I made.
The Notorious RBG mug I just got for Christmas! (from Sonya)
A crafty mug I got last year when our mug adventure had just began. (another one from Sonya!)
A tiny Peter Rabbit tea cup I got in England 20+years ago.
Thanks for going on our mug tour!
We kept it pretty simple and yummy.
Greg made the turkey in our countertop turkey roaster, it's great because it frees up the oven! We have it sitting here at Yoda's remote learning desk. Greg did a fresh, local, fancy turkey, with a wet brine. I made or assisted making the sides, we split the work on the gravy and I bought the rolls. At the last minute Greg saw the white potatoes that I bought on a whim and he went for it.
The kiddos have received many Lego sets over the years and each child plays with them so differently!
Parker liked the mini-figures, Mimi prefers to have a set to put together, leave it alone or take it apart and put it together again, but Yoda is crazy-town, he is constantly taking pieces from different sets and taking them all over the house. After a while I stopped cleaning them up and just let him go nuts without me chasing after him.
BUT since 2020 has been a total pain and we are inside so much, Mimi would like different sets to work on. Getting new sets is out of the question, so I decided that I would recreate a few sets for her to keep in her room, untouched by her little brother.
This is just a taste of what we've been doing...
And here's some of our masks... I like our funny little clothes line to air-dry them sometimes. I've made a bunch, and bought a few. None feel perfect, but some are better than others.
This was a total impulse buy.
But I thought we had bad weather moving in, so we'd need something to do to stop from going crazy. But... then it's been amazing outside, so I thought this would never get finished. But... it was one of the quickest puzzles yet! And so funny to look up old soda commercials on the internet.
I've been slowly taking care of some doors in the house. I blogged about painting the front door a couple weeks ago, but I've also painted most the interior doors. While we had doors on the brain, it hit me to finally take down the shower door in our bathroom.
We've talked about our little bathroom before. It's very small, which is fine, I don't want/need a giant bathroom to clean, but this one is a little silly how small it is.
Here's the makeover we did a few years ago.
And here's when we hired a guy to build new walls.
Both great progress, but... that shower door was so awkward.
It was too narrow to walk out of comfortably. A new, swinging shower door could work, but it was a tough solution because the guy said he'd want to peek in the walls to make sure he was securing it to a sturdy enough structure. Great idea, but it sounded expensive. And who knew if a swinging door would get past that toilet? A shower door that had 3 panels instead of 2 would make the opening bigger, but again, I didn't want to spend $700 or more on this silly little bathroom. Then - DUH! Shower curtain!
I tore out the door, scraped all the caulking, cleaned up the shower and for less then $100 and a weekend of time I hung up my new shower curtain.
We got a tall stall curtain, it pulls all the way to the side and we can walk out with ease. Such a simple solution! Sometimes there's a few drops of water on the floor, but not much more then the shower door let escape. Also, it's just Greg and I that use the this room, and we're grown ups so we clean up after ourselves.
In 2020 it's all about making things work.
The park was pretty crowded on this pretty day so we masked up
