Erin is 17!

Erin turned 17 yesterday! She had a fun 3-part celebration, beginning with seeing The Sound of Music at the DPAC on the 11th. It was great! Then, Grandma and Grandpa A., Aunt Leslie, and Ansley came up for a birthday lunch on the 18th, combined with Ansley's swim meets in Chapel Hill that weekend. We had a fun Bojangles lunch, cake, and presents! Finally, she had a day of her favorite foods on the 23rd (including Mexican for dinner complete with singing, and cupcakes at home after) and took cookies to school to share with her friends. 

She has had a BIG year, and we could not be more proud of her. The biggest change this year is driving. She has successfully learned how to drive and how to navigate these crazy roads around here, and she is 100% independent in getting herself to/from work, to/from piano (with passenger Laney, who is in the same piano club), and to/from school (with Anna). This is a huge accomplishment, and we are extremely proud of her. She is good at driving at night, in the rain, in the never-ending road construction, and (possibly the worst) in the sun! She likes driving the white Accord; it's comfortable, gets good gas mileage, and has good visibility. She also likes the safety sensors/cameras. She often makes detours from her route to get gas or make a treat stop at some of her favorite places. Independence is wonderful!

Also this year, Erin has taken the SAT twice after completing a 10-week summer prep course, and she did great! She's taking a difficult course load at school, including 2 AP classes, this year. So far, everything is going well. She continues to enjoy piano lessons; this year, she is taking lessons with Ms. Cheryl because of scheduling. She continues to be involved with the Service Beakers club at school where they plan and carry out science lessons for local elementary schools. She's one of the leaders of the club since she's been involved with it for 3 years now; she gets to present the lessons to the kids, which she likes a lot!

She loves working at Harris Teeter as a cashier; she's been there for over 7 months now! She's been recognized several times for having outstanding customer service (she gets free food each time!), and she's got several regular customers who seek her out when they shop. Learning to deal with the boss/scheduling, the interview and training process, and job tasks was a lot, but she has done amazing (and has saved a lot of money)! 

If it isn't evident already, Erin works VERY hard. She is truly an inspiration to us, to her friends, and to everyone around her. She never gives up, and she always gives her very best effort, even in doing something that is difficult for her or something that she doesn't want to do. She isn't afraid of challenges like driving, taking honors English, or applying for/interviewing for/learning a brand new job requiring dealing with the public. She's currently working on a lengthy application for Governors School, which includes at least 3 essays, one of which is in Spanish, and a video of herself speaking Spanish! These things are not easy, and she does an amazing job of budgeting her time, keeping at it, asking for help when she needs it, and seeing things through. It is not uncommon to see her studying on weekends for tests the following week between work shifts. She's been doing an independent bible study on her own all year, reading the bible every day without fail, just because she wanted to. On top of her diligence, she is incredibly organized.

Erin is also a wonderful friend. She has kept her closest friends from grade school and has made many new ones. Her friends often go to her for help with homework, scheduling, and other problems. She is caring, trustworthy, and loyal, and they can see it. 

It's going to be a great year ahead: continuing the college search (in addition to everything else that she does, she's already toured 5 colleges officially in the past year, visited many others, attended college fairs and lunch seminars at school, and done countless hours of research on her own) and keeping up with her growth in so many areas. We are proud of her, are inspired by her, and love her so very much. 

Anna is 15!

Our beautiful, smart, funny, caring Anna is 15! She is such a wonderful person, inside and out. This has been a big year for her, leaving the school that she attended for 9 years and joining a much larger class of kids at a big, new high school. She has met many great new friends, kept some old friends, and has transitioned into high school very well. She has risen to the academic expectations and challenges, and has learned to manage her studying independently and budget her time with a new class schedule (A/B days). She has joined a couple of clubs and has been accepted to be an Admissions Ambassador next year, helping to introduce prospective and accepted rising freshmen to Gibbons. While her official sports career is over (or paused), she has stayed active in her all-girls' PE class, and I would say that she considers babysitting to be a workout, as well. She's taken it upon herself to apply to a few jobs and hasn't had much luck yet (most places won't hire kids younger than 16), but she is quite busy with petsitting and babysitting.  She has many regular clients around the neighborhood and does a great job caring for dogs, cats, and kids! 

What amazes me about Anna is her awareness and care for others. She somehow seems to know all of the 400 freshmen at Gibbons and something about them. I get a kick out of pointing out a kid at carpool and she will say "oh yeah, that's XYZ and he is friends with Stella's sister's friend's brother", etc. She is friendly without being loud, with a large social circle that somehow still feels intimate because she values each friendship individually. She is a loving and true friend, often supporting her friends and family when they are struggling with something. She really values relationships, which I think is not easy at her age and in the social climate today. Additionally, she is respectful and cooperative and is great at offering perspective in a gentle and thoughtful way. She also keeps her sister humble ;)

What else? At this moment, she is saying that she's interested in becoming a psychologist. She plans to take the AP Psychology class junior or senior year to test the waters. I think she would be great at that because she's very good at building trust, listening, and noticing details and trends in people. She was ok with biology this year, despite a heavy workload and demanding teacher. She did not, however, enjoy the frog dissection lab!

Her interests include: beauty, fashion, music, and friends. Nearly every weekend, she has at least one outing or hangout planned with friends. She is very excited about learning to drive and becoming independent in that way. She loves to be entertained and also likes to make other people smile. She feels deeply, and that is a wonderful quality. She is truly a delight, and we love having a front seat in watching her grow up! This is going to be another big year for her, culminating in her Sweet 16th birthday. We love her so very much.

Erin is 16!

Happy SWEET 16th birthday to Erin!  She has completed a busy and exciting year, and has another one coming up ahead of her!  She had a full week of celebrations, beginning on Saturday the 19th at a fun lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's house, followed by the Buddy Walk in Kannapolis!  We had Bojangles and cupcakes, then walked them off together on a beautiful day!

On her actual birthday, Wednesday, Erin had a very busy day at school, including hosting an 8th grade shadow student for the morning (giving him a tour, taking him to an orientation meeting, and taking him to two of her classes) and taking a math test.  After school, she relaxed for a bit, then we enjoyed a nice ham and noodle casserole dinner (her request) and chocolate-chocolate cake from Publix together, followed by presents!  She was so excited to get tickets to the Pentatonix concert in Raleigh at the end of November.  

The grand finale was her murder-mystery dinner party with her friends on Saturday evening.  She invited her "monthly hangout" group of friends from middle school, and all seven of them were able to come!  Olivia came over early and the two of them made a delicious and beautiful cake together.  Everyone else showed up at 6pm and had pasta and salad from Cristo's near us.  Most of the friends' moms stayed too, and we had a very nice time sitting on the porch and visiting!  After dinner, the game began.  Erin had sent them their characters ahead of time, and everyone came with costumes!  We got a murder mystery game kit that was easy to print out clues for each of the three rounds.  We took the simplest option for the game and cut out all of the extra parts to keep it easy.  They did a great job of divulging their clues to others and getting info from each other.  At the end, they all took turns guessing who they think was the killer...which nobody got correct!  So, I think it was enough of a challenge for them.  After that, they enjoyed the amazing cake!  Erin, Jeff, and Olivia even got to work in a wild game of Pictionary after everyone else left.  It was a really fun evening, and Erin enjoyed it so much.  

So, 16.  Erin is truly a remarkable person.  She works so hard every day and always does her best.  I like to joke that she makes me look disorganized (and I brag about being organized myself)!  She has tried so many new things recently, in addition to all of her continued activities:  taking on a leadership role within her Service Beakers club, becoming an Admissions Ambassador at Gibbons (giving tours, answering parent questions, hosting shadow students, and more), doing a few extra things at piano (participated in a video about practicing and is doing the ensemble festival in January), and...DRIVING!  She has completed more than 60 hours of driving, including 10 hours of night driving, and has done a really good job.  Driving is complicated, and she has learned how to manage all of the parts of it at one time.  

She has a good group of friends, both the "monthly hangout crew", and also some girls that she's met at Gibbons.  Her friends love that she is always so supportive and kind.  She has been to four football games this year and enjoyed hanging out with her friends there.  She also had a blast at the Homecoming dance!  College is on her radar, and she's taken it upon herself to attend college rep visits at school and suggested our day of seeing several campuses back in September.  She is excellent at communicating with teachers and managing her schedule, things like: scheduling make-up quizzes, attending office hours, coordinating projects, etc.  Teachers love her and compliment her on her participation in class.  Her classes have gotten a lot harder this year; she's taking 4 honors classes compared to 2 last year (chemistry, math, Spanish, and dance) and is doing wonderfully in them.  I could go on and on, but basically, we are so very proud of her and the amazing daughter, student, sister, and friend that she is.  She never gives up when things are hard.  Her teenage life is busy and complicated these days, but she is handing it so well.  We love Erin!

Anna is 14!

Anna is now 14 years old!  She had a fun birthday weekend and will continue her celebrations for another week, despite working in final exams between them.  She was happy that her birthday was on a Saturday this year, so she was able to have friends over on her actual birthday.  Before that, we opened family presents on Friday afternoon before Bob left for Australia (I was not allowed to take pictures). 

We girls had a Chinese takeout dinner (her new favorite is fried dumplings), and she and I tackled a DIY balloon arch that evening.  It was easy to assemble, but not easy to set up!

Saturday, her friends Lyla and Annie came over in the early afternoon and they hit the pool.  The water wasn't very warm, but they still had fun with floats and playing games there for a few hours.  

Then it was back to our house to "get ready" for dinner, which was at a Mexican place nearby.  The friends made sure that the restaurant wished her a happy birthday, too!  

After dinner, we went back to our house for cake and games.  

Lyla slept over, and after breakfast on Sunday, we had a shopping excursion.  Anna said she had lots of fun, even though a couple of her friends couldn't be there.

Next weekend, we will go to Concord for birthday celebration Part 2!

It's been a good year for Anna.  She has really seemed to grow up and become more responsible.  She has a steady stream of pet-sitting and babysitting jobs, and she is doing a great job of keeping up with all of them.  She is motivated by money!  Her friend circle changed this year, and she now seems to be in a good place with some really fun, caring friends.  She says that she is not sad at all about leaving the school that she's been at for the past 9 years.  I know that she's very excited for high school!  She ventured out of her comfort zone with playing varsity volleyball and soccer, and did a great job at both.  Anna is a smart, funny, caring, wonderful person to be around.  We love her so much and could not be more proud of her!

Erin is 15!

Erin Michelle turns 15 today!  She has had a fun birthday weekend, starting with a friend gathering on Saturday, then a family day on Sunday, and now her actual birthday today complete with lots of wishes.  For the friend party, she wanted to do something similar to what her friend Vera did this summer, which was to meet up at an outdoor shopping area and have a meal.  Since two of her new friends from Gibbons live north/east of Raleigh, she chose to meet at North Hills.  We shuttled the 3 friends from our side of town up there, met up, and everyone completed the scavenger hunt that Erin had prepared for them.  We took a break mid-hunt for some shopping at the bookstore, then had dinner at Pieology (pizza) and cupcakes after the game was over.  After dinner, they hung out at the green area and played a couple of games.  I think it was a success, and everyone seemed to have fun! 

Sunday, we met up with the Summers and Grandma and Grandpa A. at the Buddy Walk!  We enjoyed seeing the "new" downtown Kannapolis and the Cannon Ballers stadium.  The walk was a lot of fun, and there was a great turnout on the beautiful day!  After the walk, we all had lunch at El Vallarta (complete with a waiter robot) and the girls managed to sneak in a quick shopping trip at the Carolina Mall.  What a fun day!

Today, she started out her day with the requested Dunkin' Donuts breakfast, then a regular day at school (it's an "A" day, which means she has dance, Spanish, Theology, and English, which are her easier and more fun classes).  She requested Chinese food for dinner (no cooking!), and a relaxing evening at home.  We walked Finley together after dinner, which is something that she always enjoys.

What's new with Erin?  I think the biggest thing is learning to drive.  While this is terrifying in one way, she has done a fantastic job with it so far!  She took the 30-hour classroom part in July, then completed the last of the three 2-hour driving sessions with the instructor on Saturday.  The teacher said that she did a great job and is ready to go!  We have an appointment scheduled on Friday morning for her to get her permit.  Fingers crossed that the written test goes well!

Other than driving, she has had an exciting year, finishing up middle school and starting high school.  After spending eight years at one school in a class of about 75 kids, high school (with a freshman class of 400 kids) has been a huge change for her.  She's had to learn the layout of a new school, a new schedule, and has experienced lots of new things like her first retreat, the PSAT, football games, clubs, and much more!  She has really done wonderfully with all of these changes, and we are so proud of her.  She's continuing her piano lessons outside of school, but she decided that taking the dance elective at school was enough dance, so she is not dancing at HSSOD any more.  I think it's been good for her to have more time at home in the evenings to adjust to the high school workload.  

She's stuck with her 3 best friends from StMM, and they've also made many new friends at Gibbons.  She has Olivia, Vera and Elena from StMM, as well as Sophie, Mady, Maria and many more that she's gotten to know over the past few months from different Catholic middle schools in the area.  She has gotten involved in the dance program and two clubs (Franciscan Youth International, a faith/service club and Service Beakers, a science education/service club).  She remains very serious about her classes and grades, but she's also enjoying a few new freedoms in high school, including a class period called Flex every other day where she can study, socialize, exercise, or get a snack.  Flex is great!  She likes being able to have her phone with her all day, and she is doing great with communicating with teachers and managing class announcements, assignments, and schedules herself.

All in all, Erin is awesome!  We are very proud of her, and we are excited for her future! 

Anna is 13!

Our baby is a teenager!  How scary is that?!  Though anyone who knows Anna knows that she has been in training to be a teenager for years...not in a bad way, but more like she is wise beyond her years and mastered the art of communicating and building relationships well before most people do.  We love her so much; she is easy to love and she is full of love that she gives to those around her!  

Anna's birthday is being celebrated in an extended fashion; she started on her actual birthday, followed by a party with friends on June 2nd, and then finishing up with a mini celebration with family on June 5th.  You won't hear any complaints from her about drawing it out!  On her actual birthday, she had a Dunkin Donuts breakfast followed by presents from us and the California cousins, then went to school where she was loved on by her friends.  After school, a gift card magically showed up in her email while we were literally on the way to go shopping.  How does Grandma F. have such perfect timing?!  She was so excited!  We then had a Chick Fila dinner and lemon cupcakes at home between homework, Erin's dance class, and cat sitting.  She had made the cupcakes herself the day before.

What's new with Anna this year?  She played volleyball and soccer again, as well as winter futsal at the Y.  She loves both sports, especially the teamwork aspect (read: social).  She tried playing offense this year in soccer and enjoyed the faster pace and action on that end of the field.  

She continues to do well in school, despite the middle school slump and the fact that school is less fun and more work now than it was when she was younger.  Her favorite subject this year was probably ELA; her teacher complimented her on her writing on several occasions.  She also seemed to enjoy social studies; this year, she learned about world history.  For electives, she took Latin Dance the first quarter, a PE elective for the second quarter, and coding/computer programming for both the third and fourth quarters.  She really enjoyed coding and might take more of that in high school.  She was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society this spring.  Other activities that she enjoys include: altar serving at church, doing service projects, and earning money by pet sitting and babysitting.  She's got one regular babysitting client (a family with 5 and 2 year old boys) and several pet sitting clients in our neighborhood.  She also enjoys fashion, hair, makeup, and, recently notable, body spray.

Above all, I would say that Anna continues to thrive on being social.  She loves people and has many friends.  Her phone never stops buzzing until her screen time is cut off every night.  She has navigated the social minefield that is 7th grade fairly gracefully this year, and was instrumental in making peace amongst her friends on multiple occasions.  She would tell stories about fights and drama amongst her friends that were so complicated and made my head spin.  However, she doesn't bat an eye, keeps all the details straight, weighs the situation from all possible angles, and manages to help her friends make amends.  She has become quite an effective peacemaker, and that is a rare and wonderful quality.  

She loves to entertain and be entertained, and is always up for a good time.  She is a great daughter, a supportive sister, and a wonderful friend.  We are very proud of her for all that she does, but most of all, we are proud of her for always being kind and caring.  She is fantastic!

Erin is 14!

Our big girl turned 14 on Sunday!  While people often say "where has the time gone?", I tend to think that it feels like she's been around for about 14 years.  Not to say that in a bad way, but Erin has done so much and has been such a big and wonderful part of our lives for a long time now - it feels like about 14 years!  

She's had an extended "birthday season", as we like to say, beginning on Saturday the 15th.  We had a really fun time at the Buddy Walk with Elliott and family in Charlotte and then got to visit and celebrate at their house after!  

Phase 2 of Erin's birthday celebration was on Friday the 21st, when friends Olivia, Vera, and Elena came over to hang out during the teacher workday and then we all went to Kabuki for a memorable birthday dinner.  Olivia and Vera wanted sushi and decided to order the "Sushi Titanic for 2", which was quite impressive!  I don't eat much sushi, but apparently a "sushi boat" is a thing...but this one was accurately dubbed the Titanic!  The girls had a really fun time going out together.  

Sunday was her actual birthday, and was filled with everything that Erin likes.  We started out with presents from us and waffles, then Mass, Starbucks, then a family hike at Hemlock Bluffs, shopping, and then Chipotle for dinner with cake and singing.  

The final phase of her celebration will be this coming Saturday when we will get to see Grandma and Grandpa Flanagan!  Erin has stretched this birthday into two full weeks!

So, what's new with Erin this year?  She continues to be an incredibly hard worker.  She is organized, meticulous, and always does the very best that she can do, no matter what the task may be.  We cannot ask for more than that!  Ballet and piano continue to be her passions outside of school, and we are very proud of all that she has accomplished in both.  She was invited to participate in a piano ensemble this winter with some high school students, and she is super excited about that!  She takes school extremely seriously, which is great in terms of her academics, but she finds other kids who don't feel the same way to be very annoying ;) She's become independent with school, which feels weird to me to not be studying with her like we used to, but it is a wonderful thing!

She's got her 3 best friends, as well as a few others who she also enjoys hanging out with.  She has fully immersed herself in the teen life of texting friends, hiding in her room, and maintaining music playlists on her phone.  We do not take this for granted, and it warms my heart when she throws a little attitude my way like a 14 year old should!  She isn't focused on earning money like Anna is, mostly because she is a saver - her allowance and gifts more than cover what she wants to buy.

This is her last year at her school, and we are in the throes of making the big high school decision.  She will visit Cardinal Gibbons in early November, as will Bob and I at a different time.  We are hoping that we will have a better idea of what to do after those visits.  It will be an exciting year ahead as she enters this fun and exciting time in her life!

Erin is 13!

Our sweet little baby Erin is now 13 years old!  We have a teenager in the house!  While we expect her to not be very difficult as a teenager, it is still a scary thought.  Erin had a great weekend celebrating her birthday!  It started out on Friday when she was able to dress down at school in honor of her birthday.  She enjoyed that and then had a relaxing afternoon at home after their early release day at the end of the first quarter.  We had a blast at the school Trunk or Treat that night, but that was not birthday-related.

Saturday, she was up bright and early and opened her presents before 7am.  Some things about Erin never change!  

While Bob went to school to clean up from the trunk or treat, we girls and Finley walked up to Dunkin Donuts per Erin's request.  It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed sitting outside there and eating breakfast.  

Then she had some down time while we got ready for her party, Moes takeout for lunch, and then her friends came over at 4pm for a little party.  Erin, Olivia, Carson, and Vera went to get pedicures and made Mod Podge initials here, and also had chicken parmesan, salad, fruit, and cake for dinner.  It was a very quiet and tame birthday party, but I think they all had fun!

Olivia spent the night, and then we dropped her off at home on our way to Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro on Sunday morning.  There, we had a fun pizza lunch with the family!  The kids also got to warm up for trick or treating a little bit.  Then it was back home to unload, go to Anna's soccer game, and church that evening.  It was a very busy but fun weekend!

So, what's new with Erin now that she's 13?  She continues to be a very hardworking, serious, devoted girl.  She takes everything she does very seriously and does not rush through schoolwork, piano, or ballet.  She is taking 2 ballet classes this year for the first time in preparation for maybe going "en pointe" next year.  She still loves ballet and is also talking about maybe auditioning for the ballet company and/or the dance theater show that she did last year.  She continues to progress in piano, this being her 6th year with Margaret!  We rarely have to remind her to practice and she does a great job in piano!

Erin is very helpful at home and likes to jump in to make dinner, wash dishes, and walk Finley.  She's been watching the latest season of Dancing With the Stars and keeps up with music.  Erin has a great sense of style and is really good with picking colors and clothes that go together.  She is definitely way ahead of me in those areas!

Erin likes to look to the future, which is great, until she starts talking about things like high school and driving!  Her parents aren't quite as ready to talk about those things!  But really, she is such an awesome kid and is a great example of working hard and doing her best every day.  We are so very proud of her and love watching her become a wonderful young lady!

May!

We had a busy and fun month of May!  The very best news this month was when the governor lifted the mask mandate on May 14th.  That meant that, technically, anyone who is fully vaccinated against Covid doesn't need to wear a face mask indoors or outdoors.  However, nobody is really mandated to wear one, so it's now at each person's discretion.  Kids still have to wear them at school, but that is really it!  They also removed social distancing requirements in places like church and the Y.  It felt so weird to go to Mass on the 16th and be basically back to normal.  We sure are happy, though! The mood is much more "pre-pandemic" in most places and people seem to feel less cautious and concerned in general. Covid finally isn't the top story in the news.

So, back to the beginning.  We had a really fun visit from Grandma A. and Ansley from April 30th-May 2nd.  We were very busy doing the Friday baking, taking Finley for a walk, some hot tub time, Anna's soccer game, baking birthday cupcakes, church, dinner out to Culver's, and then heading to Morrow Mountain for Anna and Logan's fun birthday picnic!  It was a beautiful day and so much fun to meet up and have a fun time hiking, grilling, and playing kickball!  

The only bad part of the weekend was when Anna fell on her arm in her soccer game. After getting home and seeing that it was swollen, Bob took her to an urgent care where they saw a fracture on the x-ray.  She got a big ol' splint and sling (her 2nd sling to add to her collection) until she saw an orthopedic doctor on Monday who gave her a much smaller and lighter cast...that can get wet! Very nice! She had a follow-up a week later where everything looked to be healing nicely. We go back on June 7th and hope to be able to be done with the cast.

The week of the 3rd was busy with the usual activities, including teacher appreciation week.  The kids got out of school at noon on the 7th and we enjoyed a fun dinner out with Grandma and Grandpa F. that evening for Bob's birthday.  Happy birthday, Bob!  

Saturday was Anna's last soccer game and she impressed everyone by getting back out there, cast and all.  Her team had some tough games this season, but their average age was on the younger end of the league.  All of the girls really did a great job and it was fun to watch them improve and learn to work well together!  Coach Bob seemed to enjoy his new gig as well.  

I had a nice Mother's Day on the 9th, including Erin altar serving at 11am.

The week of the 10th was another good and busy week.  Erin had her last piano lesson on the 10th. I had book club on the evening of the 11th, and had the fun job of collecting money from parents in Erin's grade and presenting the teachers with end-of-year gifts on Friday.  One of her teachers was ending her school year early for (according to Erin) a knee replacement surgery, so we gave the gifts early.  It was nice to have it done with!  The other room mom had the idea to give them "cold hard cash" and froze it in blocks of ice.  Ha!  We had a fun family dinner at Town Hall Burger and Beer, where we walked Finley up there and sat outside. Bonus - we saw a basset hound eating there too!  Finley was less than impressed.

Saturday the 15th was Erin's piano recital, which was a beautiful day for an outdoor recital and so much fun.  I loved playing the duet with her, as well!  

We had a celebratory dinner at Cristo's afterwards.  The following week was, of course, Anna's birthday week.  She visited the eye doctor on the 17th and picked out some new frames to go with her slightly adjusted prescription.  

She had a nice day on the 18th, complete with donuts for breakfast, presents from us, and Moe's takeout for dinner per her request. She also made and enjoyed an ice cream sandwich cake!  

We continued celebrating on Saturday the 22nd with a friend party at Board and Brush.  All of the girls seemed to have a great time and made beautiful pieces!

Erin got her first of the two-dose Pfizer covid vaccine on Saturday the 22nd.  She did well with it and only seemed to have a sore arm for a day or so.  Sunday the 23rd, we had a fun visit with Grandma and Grandpa F.  The rest of the week was mostly normal, as it was their last full week of school for the year.  Erin had her last ballet class, which was also their dress rehearsal for the recital on June 5th.  Parents were finally allowed to watch part of the class for the first time this year, which was really nice!  Our pool was open for 2 days at the beginning of May, then closed for 4 weeks for a pump repair, but then in a sudden turn of events on the 28th, it was announced that it could remain open while they waited for the repairs to be finished!  Yay!  So we had a fun evening at the pool that day with a pizza dinner and Laney in tow, and had a great time on Saturday afternoon with Sarah with us as well. Erin altar served on the 30th and we enjoyed a cool down in the weather.  Memorial Day, we were back at the pool for a spontaneous neighborhood pool party complete with giant inflatable water slide and obstacle course.  It was lots of fun!  

So, May was full of excitement!  We had the arm fracture, the surprise lifting of mask and distancing requirements, the pool drama, piano recital, birthdays, and end of the year excitement.  While things are still far from normal, we are so thankful that they are much closer to normal than last May. Schools are holding modified graduations, recitals are able to be held with some changes, movie theaters and sporting events are starting to happen again, travel seems to be more doable, and things are generally looking up.  May (get it?!) this month in 2022 be full of laughs and "funny" stories about the previous two years!  Bob seems to enjoy his new office space and office mate, so I guess covid wasn't totally horrible.