Normal Things

It felt like we hit another milestone as we inch our way back toward normalcy.  Both Evie and Noah got to go to a friend's birthday party over the weekend!  These kids have all had to celebrate birthdays during Covid, whether it was with a drive-by car parade, a driveway party, or gathering with masks on, and now they're free to gather with friends and celebrate again!  These simple pleasures of life mean so much now.  Noah's friend's party was at Spare Time, and they went bowling, played arcade games, and played Laser Tag.  He had so much fun that he's already requesting to have his birthday party there in May!  Evie went to Get Air, then to a sleepover with 10 girls, and she had a blast!

Evie and friends enjoying a breakfast feast after the sleepover

We have also been enjoying the normalcy of play dates, carpooling, and going for ice cream with friends.  I love hearing the kids running around outside, playing Capture the Flag with their friends, and just being free to have fun.

This was some kind of play/performance.  I really have no idea what he was doing!

Noah spent a lot of his after school time last week building a catapult out of wood scraps.  I'm not sure where he even got the idea, but he had this idea in his head, and he wasn't going to be satisfied until he had built it.  He had great patience and dedication through the whole process, and he is proud of his creation!

We had an unexpected visitor in our back yard last week - a Bobcat!  This bobcat has been spotted around the neighborhood recently, but Frankie was not pleased that it chose to hunt in our back yard.  Matt was alerted to it because Frankie was growling at the back door, and he was able to get a couple pictures before it ran off.  YIKES!  

Look closely in the center of the picture - you'll see the bobcat's back and its face turning around to look

Nature in our backyard!

In addition to all the fun, we always appreciate the quiet moments at home to recharge our batteries, too!

Noah's "spa bath", courtesy of Evie

Reading in their "cozy reading nook"

Frankie's ridiculous bedtime routine.  She is "too tired" to walk into the bedroom, so Matt carries her in!

She wuvs Daddy!

It's tough to be a doodle

Evie spoiled us with some DELICIOUS brownies, made from scratch!