Thanksgiving 2020

We are in another "semi- shut down" due to the coronavirus spreading at a rapid rate still. Restaurants have closed again for inside dining, the governor has asked to not get together with anyone outside your household. Schools that were going in person are back to virtual, it's a mess. 

But before gymnastics got shut down, Ainsley had moved up to level 3 and was very proud of herself. 

Parker continues to beg to play basketball and we are hoping soon it will be safe enough for him to do so. Until then he is becoming quite the video gamer (he can beat the games on the Pac Man machine better than me or Philip) and continues to amuse himself in various ways outside. 

We celebrate the small things; like making it through a full day of zoom calls and quizzes. 

Philip finished a project in the basement that left him with some extra wood. He built the kids a little playhouse and then we let them pick out paint, paint it and turn it into whatever they want.

 It started out as a tattoo parlor...

We went to the Drive In in Bourbon County with hopes of getting yummy greasy food to eat in the back of the truck. Let's just say Philip missed most of the movie and no one got any food. But the kids thought it was fun watching ELF in the back of Daddy's truck. 

We have spent good cousin time in the outdoors. 

The leaves are dropping like flies and we raked and raked the front yard trying to keep our new grass growing. 

We took a day trip to the Gorge and had so much fun hiking and "rock" climbing. 

We celebrated our favorite Pop's birthday. 

And we had a special visit from Santa! Since covid kept us from visiting him where we normally do, he came to us! the kids got to tell them what they wanted and he even brought them each a treat. 

Thank you Jerome- you're the best! 

We had family movie night with homemade popcorn and the new Mulan movie. 

We like to craft to keep ourselves busy. 

We finally got our Christmas tree! We went to Hillenmeyer the day it opened and picked out our beloved tree for the season. I am fearful for the life of this tree, due to Maxwell. Every time we come home he has knocked more branches and ornaments off the tree and gotten into the water bowl. If you ever consider getting a male cat, don't do it. 

Thanksgiving was different but still special this year. Philip had to work Wednesday, Thursday & Friday nights, and I couldn't stand the thought of being here with the kids alone. The solution we came up with was for everyone to get tested (we were all negative!), and to eat in the new family barn. We set up tables in a square so everyone was distanced but could still see each other, the kids had a ball, and we didn't tear up anyone's house. 

Rachel photoshopped Philip in to our family picture:) 

The cousins had a sleepover and they had the best time. 

Ainsley and I got to have a visit with GG. It was so good to see her and hear her voice in person. 

 We are praying the vaccine comes soon, and that people will get it. Philip is exhausted mentally and physically. He works so hard to help the patients he sees and in the office coming up plans to help more covid patients.

It's weird how different his and my experience has been through this pandemic. Him out in the trenches while I stay safe at home trying to keep the kids (and myself) alive. 

We are ready for Crony to move on so we can do all the fun things again, as Parker would say. 

Halloween Covid Style

October looked a lot different this year. There were no fall festivals at the school, no halloween parties and costume parades. We are still doing school virtually in Fayette County due to the very high number of cases. A lot of schools across KY have gone back, some with success and some without. Ainsley's teachers are doing such an amazing job of making the best of a crappy situation. 

Parker is continuing to do school with the help of Gramma and Nanny. He now knows all of his upper case letters and almost all of his lower case. He continues practicing writing his name and putting sounds together. 

He also improved so much in soccer this year. We were so hoping he would score a goal but he didn't seem to mind and was just happy to make contact with the ball. 

We carved pumpkins and each kid chose what they wanted to make. Ainsley chose a scary jack o lantern and Parker picked pac-man. Ainsley scooped all the guts out herself, and picked out every seed she could find. She then rinsed them and baked them and made everyone she saw try one. Parker said it was "yucky" and was a spectator. 

We made chocolate dipped monster pretzels.

We had a rare few very warm days that led the kids to the creek at the end of our neighborhood. Pop fell in, Parker fell and Ainsley jumped in. 

For school, the kids dressed up, logged onto zoom, turned their cameras off and then gave their classmates 3 clues to their costume. 3 kids got to guess and then they revealed themselves on camera. It was SO CUTE and the kids were all so excited. Her teachers are so awesome. 

We did a drive through trunk or treat, where we stayed in car and they put candy in the kids buckets. They had a good time and loved seeing the themes of each car. 

Halloween night, all the cousins (and families) came over for pizza and trick or treating. 

It was such a nice night out, and our neighbors got so creative in the ways they socially distance passed out candy. There were candy shoots, yards full of candy sticks, remote control cars, it was incredible. I am so grateful to everyone who went so above and beyond to make the holiday such a fun and safe one for the kids. It brought me so much joy to see the kids running and so happy and doing something so normal. 

I attempted to take down the Halloween decorations yesterday and Parker insisted that his skeleton "Ally" remain hanging in the yard. I told him we would replace them with Christmas decorations soon, but he still isn't having it.