May 2020 Days

I'm trying to record a little month-to-month glimpse of life on this blog, using a hodge-podge smattering of photos from my iPhone to jog my memory. I call these updates "Days," so here's what we were up to in May, 2020, very much keeping to ourselves in the thick of COVID-19 social distancing...
We drove by the lot everyday. The kids' #4 stands for 4 days since we broke ground.

 We added our initials into the foundation.

 And Gryffin added "Shrek" because he and his friends pretty much worship the green ogre.

 We added a reference to Isaiah 28:16: So this is what the Lord God says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.

 The developer of our neighborhood whose family has owned this former farmland for over a century, Gary Verhaeghe, is passionate about bringing a love of gardening to our neighborhood. The community garden will eventually be at the amenities centers just across from our house--super convenient when I need the kids to run over and grab some veggies and herbs and cut some flowers for dinners--but since the amenities aren't built yet, he started a gardening club on a vacant lot. Here Gary's teaching us all about gardening. I learned that plants don't like cold water, and how to mix soil.

 Lorelei came with me.

 Slowly this month we've been preparing our home to sell, which sadly meant taking down the vinyl letters reading "Gryffin's Galleon" that I added onto this mural I painted before he was born. Lorelei had a Winnie the Pooh mural in her nursery in North Carolina, then a hills, sky and flowers mural as a little girl in our current home, and has changed it up over the years until we recently painted her walls a simple, clean greige. I've asked Gryffin many times whether he wants to change his room, but being a boy who's not a fan of change, he's kept the same pirate theme all along, and never painted over my murals. :)

 They're from the fun children's book, "How to Be a Pirate."

 This used to say "Poop Deck" and was where I'd change his diapers as a baby.

 We had planned to paint this room greige, but our realtor said to leave it in case there's a family that likes it.

 8 days and almost gone with the wind as we watched the footings go into the foundation.

 Lorelei cooks all the time, and it was fun to see Gryffin step up his cooking game with his spring cooking class through school. Having cooking class for a grade during quarantine was perfect timing--we got some nice meals out of it!

 The recipe for this creamy sun-dried tomato pasta from BudgetBytes is HERE. It's a winner.

 9 days and the footings have been poured. See the concrete between the forms creating the basement walls?

 One day when we were at the lot, we ran into my mom, Ron, Meg and Missy. It's been hard social distancing from them, but we see them a lot and hang out or picnic in the driveway and yard.

 The basement walls were finished.

 As a family we did a Harry Potter movie marathon, which is usually a Christmas tradition, but turned into a fun quarantine activity since, well, life can get a little boring when you're stuck at home. It felt very cozy, and for the last movie on a nice evening, we set up the projector and screen in our garage.

 Climber our black cat clings to Lorelei like a koala. The two are inseparable.

 3 weeks into the build. We were going to bury our "Camp Connelly" sign in the ground, but the kids decided they wanted to keep it.

 More cooking with fresh basil.

 Homemade pizza.

 It was impressively good!

 Lorelei graduated from 8th grade! I wish there'd been more pomp and circumstance around this huge milestone, but given the pandemic, we had to celebrate on our own. She didn't mind finishing out school at home at all--in fact, being home schooled has always been Lorelei's dream and she loved distance learning. Both kids so far have been over the moon about spending their last quarter of school at home, and have been very responsible at keeping up with their studies so I haven't peeked over their shoulders much. We snapped a photo of Lorelei in my cap and gown, and Grammy and Bpop gave her these lovely peonies.

 So proud of her hard work in middle school.

 Gryffin celebrated his 12th birthday social-distancing with friends in our driveway. They all seemed to enjoy actually seeing friends again! Some of them go on bike rides and walks together, but that's about all the social contact (besides Discord and video games and Zooming with scouts) they get these days.

 I saw this cat banner and knew Gryffin would love it. He called it "glorious!"

 As we've been selling furniture (including Lorelei's bunk beds), and since no one's coming over these days, we set up some egg foam mattress toppers on the family room floor. The kids sleep in the family room every night, and sometimes I fall asleep to a movie down here, too. It's become our cozy comfy hangout. On this morning, we watched SpaceX launch into space!

Because we refused to, Grandma insisted on getting the kids iPhones when they were on sale. We had planned to hold off until midway through 7th grade, so Gryffin got his a semester early. He's been taking non-stop photos with it, which actually seems like a great use of technology. He took and edited this photo of me, reading in Mark's big fold-out chair in our front yard. I like what he did with the aperture and contrast.

 Here's the original. I never did get through that book.

And that's a wrap for May, 2020.

July Days

Here's a record of July 2019, based on my iPhotos. I'll post more about this July trip soon, but of course we made our yearly trek to my old home state and our traditional summer hangout, Colorado.

The kids went snuggle crazy with the pets, as usual.

I love how Domino is all snuggled up in the crook of Gryffin's arm.

Mark's band, Musivo Live, played at Prairie Fire. It was packed and everyone was dancing.

The kids and I stopped by to say hi and take in some music.

Some witchy friends and I celebrated the summer solstice in a backyard ceremony.

I made us floral crowns for the occasion.

The kids needed some volunteer hours so they helped build and paint the Aladdin-themed set at Mark's church.

I think more paint got on the floor than on the walls-ha! They were promptly reassigned. :)

We went to our traditional drive in movie and watched The Lion King. We also brought bubbles.

Soon we had a crowd lining up for said bubbles, and the next time we went to the drive-in, they used a movie of us and our bubbles for the drive-in promo video before the show. I think we need to bargain for some free tickets.

Back at the Aladdin set, building palm trees.

 Uncle Todd (Gruncle Claud, the kids call him) came to Kansas just after we returned from our visit to see his family in California. We spent a night at Great Wolf Lodge.

These two are pretty much inseparable. So darling.

Our big extended family reunion took place at Gage Park. I was in charge of games.

They were messy.

And fun.

Grammy-Great seemed to enjoy all the attention.

We rode the Gage Park train I rode as a kid when I'd visit for summer reunions.

And on our drive home, we stopped by Corpus Christi Catholic Church, where Mark and I were married, so the kids could peek inside and touch the place where our family officially began. It's tradition.

More snuggles.

Our fave Hummingbird smoothies, probably following a scout campout.

An indoor campout, too.

We spent the 4th of July with our neighbors, the Guzzo family, next to my mom's house at Corporate Woods.

And Uncle Mike and Matt made it out for a special visit. We loved getting to see them!

Snuggling on the couch.

I took the kids to see Cats, since they're kind of obsessed with our cats.

And we stopped by the Board of County Commissioners for a meeting. They got a special call out at the meeting for visiting.

Here they are with our truly awesome commissioner, Janee Hanzlick. We are big fans.

Some friends and I took off to the Ozarks on a boating trip.

 I brought along some tarot for fun and we read cards and did facials.

 Nayelli cooked an amazing dinner and fixed her famous salad.

 And as a hot day in the sun wore on, I became the designated driver.

 Kim did a great job at the helm as well.

 Jaime also steered for a bit and then enjoyed the sunshine.

 What a fun crew!

  We tethered up with this crowd for an outdoor concert. 
 And then lost our anchor, started floating away, got our rope snagged in another boat's motor, and almost got in a brawl with this lot.

 But a kind boat officer cut us free, and I boated us back to Bombay.

Super fun getaway with some great stories.

 To round out the end of July, a neighbor slumber party/campout in the backyard.

And that's a wrap for July, 2019!