Today I tried really hard on making better connections and playing with my kids and even cut our post nap movie to one short episode. The girls helped me make our sweet potato and lentil curry. I normally work on the bigger section of the counter, but then my back is to them. So I changed up my working station and that allowed us to be more together. I held up the onion and asked if they knew what it was… Hazel, “ummm” and Ruby belted out, “Onion! It’s an onion.” I let them smell it. And showed how the onion order will linger on your fingers. And they helped with the garlic press. I chopped sweet potato while they cut out play dough shapes on the counter. Hazel pulled her stool in the kitchen next to the stove and was thrilled to hold on to the handle of the sauce pan while I stirred our simmering sauce. So I could hold my girl and mix.

The bad dinner news was that I planned on just using a packet of instant brown rice from the pantry but unknown to me, it had gone bad (VERY bad). I didn’t know until I warmed it up. So instead of delicious curry my kitchen now reeked of rancid brown rice with kale and quinoa. Barf. So we chucked the rice, opened a few windows, and picked up some Burger King and drove to the splash pad.

My Happy Time of the day was when we put the kids to bed. We got everyone tucked in and Hazel asked if she could have a hug. And I stood next to her bed she just held me for a good minute or two. We both just needed a love.

Pool time is always more fun when Marc is home. This week’s water game was water baseball.

We finished reading the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe this week so we planned a family movie night to watch Narnia. We invited the Schols over and had a great time with homemade popcorn and mini ice cream cones to celebrate.

And in other news, Levi discovered where I keep the apple sauce packets and couldn’t be happier to get into them any time the pantry door is left open. How can I say no to that face?

The library is open but all the activities are still closed with COVID. So we and a few friends decided we would start having our own “library story time.” I volunteered to go first.

We had a cookie themed party! We sang Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar, decorated cardboard cookies, read The Duckling Gets a Cookie by Mo Willems, and ate cookies that the girls helped me make. It was happy chaos

Our neighbor Miss Vanessa invited us to play on their bounce house one morning.

We also squeezed in a zoo trip! I’m feeling really blessed that we have only been here a few weeks and have found so many great friends.