Guzowski Family Blog: Evie turns 9 in quarantine!

Last week was kind of tough for me. No particular reason, other than cumulative exhaustion with quarantine, fatigue with coercing kids to do school work, and missing normal life. We were preparing for Evie's birthday, and I really missed being able to go out to stores to browse for some special items for her. I was just in a funk and not really finding joy in any of the little things. And then we woke up to snow on Saturday morning! Blaaaaaah!

May 9, 2020!

Thankfully, at the end of last week, Vermont's governor relaxed the quarantine rules a bit, which allows us to spend time with "trusted households" in gatherings of 10 or fewer, so we are able to see our family again during the weekend and celebrate Evie's birthday and Mother's Day together. Still in a safe way, of course, but it was a big step forward.

Thanks for the masks, Grandma Betti!

Evie's 9th birthday coincided with Mother's Day this year, so we had a lot to celebrate over the weekend. The kids surprised me with a Mother's Day breakfast in bed on Saturday since Sunday was going to be busy with Evie's birthday festivities. They made these homemade pancakes that could have been straight out of the movie Elf - marshmallow, chocolate chip, maple sprinkle pancakes with maple syrup. Whoa, they were yummy but sweet!

Evie had a special birthday party with her friends thanks to the Spruce Peak Center for Performing Arts. They are putting on theater birthday parties for kids during the quarantine, and they create a script, send out invitations, host the Zoom event and direct the play, then record the final performance. It was a really cute way for Evie to hang out with her friends to celebrate since she couldn't have an in-person party.

Evie's character was "Snowy", aka Snow White

Sunday, Evie was up at 6:15am and begging to open her birthday presents! She was SO EXCITED, and her enthusiasm was contagious. We had homemade cinnamon buns for breakfast and Evie enjoyed her new gifts during the morning, and then we went over to Aunt Pea's spacious driveway for an outdoor, distanced birthday celebration with family in the afternoon (Mother Nature didn't help us out much - it was chilly!). The big surprise was a delivery of Rookie's Root Beer, which was delivered by a dancing inflatable dinosaur! It was so funny and Evie was shocked. We all danced the Cha Cha Slide in the driveway along with the dinosaur, and Evie was beaming. She opened her gifts, blew out her candles, and relished having everyone together. She said to me, "Mom, this was different from any other birthday I've had, but I will remember it for the rest of my life!"

Very happy about her new Chromebook

Peanut Butter and Raspberry topped cupcakes

Rookie's Root Beer T-Rex for the best birthday surprise

Cha Cha Slide dance with T-Rex

Look at that smile! She had her own cake so she could blow out the candles.

We made a Mother's Day visit to Nana Mil, the true matriarch of the family at age 92, then enjoyed some yummy takeout for dinner. It was such a full and happy day, and the gift of spending time with family was the best part of it all - a gift we certainly do not take for granted these days.

I have to give a quick ode to my dear Evie girl in honor of her 9th birthday. She is creative, thoughtful, generous, caring, determined, talented in the kitchen, and she has grown up so much in the past year. She loves art, Irish Dance, writing stories, reading the Harry Potter series, and she also has a healthy dose of Mommy and Daddy's geeky genes, because she loves math, too. She will battle me to the end on some things (like extra dessert), because she has the same strong will that I have, yet she is quick with a hug or an endearing note to remind me how much she loves me. She is the one who made me a mother, and she will always be my baby girl. My heart is full of gratitude that I get to be her mom!