Repierce & Recital

Kerrigan & Alondra both spent the night after the 5th grade retreat. Carigan wanted to be sure they would be with her on Saturday because she got he ears pierced... again.

 

Carigan had her ears pierced 4 years ago, but one piercing wasn't done straight and it got all wonky and asymmetrical, so we let it grow in. It's finally all healed up enough that we're ready to go again. Carigan was meticulous about picking the right person. We came a few weeks ago to discuss her situation, but the lady working didn't seem confident she could do any better. Last week we talked to this girl, who assured Carigan she is the BEST there is. Carigan had me write down her name and I called to make sure she was going to be there today.

Last time she got a ladybug, this time she got a pearl. No tears either time! (Just lots of tears anytime Mom had to clean them or turn them... she always saves the tears for me. I'm special like that). Now she's old enough to do all of that herself. They look beautiful! And completely centered this time.

 

Anna Kate came with us to the mall because she knew her friends were there, and it didn't take but a few minutes for them to find her. I let her go off with Ava, Lillian & Ian, and Ava's mom brought her home later:

It's a good thing the outdoor seating at Outback has a good strong canopy over it, because we had a sudden Sunday afternoon deluge whilst lunching after church! Also, makeup is my friend this week. But it can only do so much. My eye is turning every color of the rainbow:

I was working on my blog and looked outside and this was my view. I hope they never get too old to color on the sidewalk. 

 

I’m very familiar with all the photos I’ve put on my blog over the years, but there are thousands of photos that didn't make the cut. Carigan’s 5th grade celebration is coming up, and I had to pull some baby photos for the slideshow. So I searched an external hard drive for my original photos from January 2010. I was scrolling through them when I stopped in my tracks... there was Angela Sirianni, hovering over my shoulder as I gave birth to Carigan and cleaning her up to hand to me! I didn’t know her then. It would be another 7 months before Wesley and Angela’s daughter Lily would start kindergarten together at LCS. All these years we had no idea! I called Angela right away. It makes me wonder how often we may unknowingly cross paths with future friends!

Other photos I found that never made the blog... Carigan playing dress up a Mimi's (I have a sneaking suspicion a sibling dressed her), and Anna Kate instructing Grandma to change her diaper. Also, Anna Kate now has a thing about squishing heads in photos. I find lots of shots like these on her phone.

We celebrated Aunt Cynto's birthday one day late at Carrabba's on Wednesday. She tried to just pretend like she was blowing out the candle (blowing out candles is so pre-pandemic), but she laughed so hard she accidentally blew it out anyway. 

Thursday night was the 1st Grade Night of Worship at LCS. My sweet little Tater... I could watch him sing all night long. 

Bradford, Tate & Reed. And of course, Tate always has to find Jax. With Covid you have to take your Baskin Robbins to go, but we still get to celebrate Tate's performance! 

 

So every mom but me gave in during Covid and got a dog. The girls are totally ganging up on me. Maybe we'll work our way up to a fish.

Carigan's 5th Grade Retreat

Today was Carigan's 5th grade retreat at Camp Gilead. I'm so thankful they made it happen!! Stella & Heather dropped Alondra & Kerrigan off at our house this morning, and I drove us to Polk City. Carigan looooved getting Baby Ian snuggles before we left:

 

 

They tried to get the kids to complete a sitting circle, but it was parents for the win! The kids didn't even come close. 

Emma, Emmie, Liz & Carigan celebrating their victory over the boys.

This picture was sent to me. I wasn't there. I would have died. I can't believe Carigan let them do this to her!! Carigan's whole crew: Anna, Claire, Addie, Carigan, Lizzy, Evelyn, Alondra, Selah, Kerrigan, & Kennedy (Sorry, Liz, I couldn't back up into the lake):

 

Class of 2028!

 

 

I spent mot of my time today loving on Lauren Patterson's little Covid surprise, Baby Chloe. I need a baby. Bring on the geriatric pregnancy!

 

Meet the Grandparents

Mimi & Grandpa were still locked down and didn't come see the kids perform live in Annie. Now that we are fully vaccinated and they are seeing us again, we invited them over Friday night to watch the recording of the performance. We even had Annie herself come for the occasion. Grace was super nervous about meeting them, but don't worry, Grandpa wasn't weird at all...

 

Grace would dive under the blankets and hide whenever she had a solo. It was cute to see her nervous, because she's certainly never nervous onstage! Wesley had competition for Grace's affections:

 

Grace is under all those blankets somewhere... she was hiding because we were all applauding her performance, so the boys kept throwing more blankets on top of her.

 

The 2020 blog books are here! Fourteen years of memories on the shelf. It brings me joy. 

 

Jon Humberd and his wife came to town for Sun 'n Fun, and they managed to get away long enough for us to take them to lunch at MoJo Federal. All of Michael's near-death boy scout stupidity stories involve Jon. Jon told the kids lots of stories. Some I hadn't even heard yet. I'm just thankful our kids never did boy scouts. In east Tennessee. In the 80s and 90s.   30 years later, give or take:

We're so happy to have Grandpa & Mimi back in person!! We even resumed Sunday lunches, but we're only eating outdoors. Miller's Ale House already knows my crew well from this pandemic.

No one is more excited that Sun 'n Fun is back this year than Grandma!! We went and watched some of Sunday afternoon's show in her front yard.

Pics from the kids' phones... Anna Kate, Lillian, Ava, Henry, Wynn & Quinn.

Wesley's turtle pond lunch crew: Emilie, Adrienne, Wesley, Grace, McKenna, KJ, Ellie, Lyndsay, Andy, Malachi and Matthew. 

Andy doodles them all... You can tell which one is Wesley because he's always holding a trident (he desires to wield the thunder fork in The Little Mermaid this fall). You've got Wesley & Grace on the top left, Andy on the throne, Emilie & Adrienne top right, Ellie in a box, Della Kate & Solomon, Lyndsay & Malachi, Matthew, KJ and McKenna.

Memes are what keep us going during this pandemic. This one is a keeper... There's currently a cargo ship run aground in the Suez Canal. It's been blocking the world's most important shipping passage for days. It's a total global crisis. Someone also took the time to figure out that the ship is the exact width of Lake Morton.

 

The Honk 4 Jesus guy was getting his groove on at the intersection of S. Florida & Cresap Street yesterday on the drive home from school. I've seen him before, but never at our intersection. And never quite so animated. 

 

Speaking of animated, Wesley gave me a goose egg and a good ol' fashioned shiner last night. He was playing his Oculus in the theater, and I was sitting in a chair in the front row. As I stood up, he suddenly went low with a jab and absolutely decked me with his controller. And I mean, direct hit, hardware to eye socket.  He feels really really really horrible about it. And so does my eye.