It was my birthday week!
Ally was exhausted and super itchy from her beach day 14 mosquito bites which turned into golf ball size welts. So she spent the day in bed.
Our friend Kim brought me corn for my birthday. Which we are with BBQ chicken and sweet potato wedges from our local cafe.
Cloey hoped for some chicken. She was denied.
This year I decided on ice cream sundaes rather than ice cream cake.
My cards and gifts. It was so nice to have Beth join us.
After Beth left Becky set up our projector in our bedroom and Ally and I watched Geo Storm on the wall over our bed.
Pretty fun way to end my birthday.
And the absolute best gift was the card from Ally. Becky told me she did it all on her own, unprompted from Becky.
That note just really makes it all worth it.
This week Ally got some new Nike sneakers. We are trying to get ready for the start of school, even if we don’t know how school will start.
She loves them.
We got a kiddie pool for Cloey. (And Becky’s feet.)
Cloey was not impressed with the pool and it was challenging to get her in.
These past few months Becky and Ally have been teaching Cloey to “kiss”. Cloey is quite good at it now. Here is a picture of her in action.
And shake!
Later in the week Daniela came over for lunch. Daisy cries terribly when Ally is outside, so Ally got herald brought her out. Daisy did not like the pool.
Ally had an appointment for blood tests (a follow up from February) and she got dressed to go.
Looking so grown up.
Afterwards a frozen strawberry lemonade and a cookie perked her back up.
An example of Ally’s art work this week.
And in other news Ally became a “brand ambassador” for a jewelry company. Basically she wears the bracelets and posts pictures of herself wearing them to social media and hashtags the company. No money to be made, but they gave her a discount.
Thursday Becky went to Beth’s for dinner and Ally and I ordered PF Chang’s.
Friday we went kayaking again.
We saw a few heron.
Cloey jumped from Ally’s boat into Becky’s.
When we got home, another pair of Nikes was there.
Her first pair of Jordans.
Ally loves them.
Becky and I are feeling another shortage in supplies coming on so we are sticking up.
Friday night we hung out at the park with a bunch of Ally’s school friends. Sophocles’ mom organized it. Ally, Olive, Catalina and 8 boys.
I even played ping pong with Olive’s parents.
Note masks above are on them, but not up bc the boys were all eating pizza.
The kids were good about wearing masks. They hung out, played basketball and ping pong. Seemed relatively normal and was so good for them.
And for most of us parents. Outside gatherings with masks feel worth the risk.
Saturday Ally got her hair cut. Above is before.
And after.
Ally was so happy.
And that was another week done. Becky and I are pretty stressed about the return to school. It just doesn’t seem safe. Ally just wants to be in school so she can spend time with kids her age as much as possible. We are all trying to keep our worries at bay and be patient.
But we started planning for a study at home area for Ally this week. Some new furnishings on the 3rd floor to create a dedicated place for remote learning. We talked with her about how she will be at home at least 3 days a week. Those days she will need to get up, get dressed and go to the remote learning area in our home for school. So we want it to be a place she can learn and study in. Some desk space, some comfy seating, interesting artwork on the walls. Stuff she wants around her. She is actually excited about it and understands that in the Fall it will be different than the Spring. She will have more support from school and seems ok about things. She will be very sad if it’s all remote all year. But we will continue to do our best to create social opportunities for her.
