19 years!

we celebrated today with lunch out - not just take out or drive thru, actual restaurant dining!  i went out to lunch last week for the first time (since early march) with coworkers, and i must say that it was a little weird.  but i know we could all use a little bit of normalcy, so lunch out was a nice treat.  and you cannot go wrong with tex-mex - yum!

accent wall

i broke out the paint roller again today and painted an accent wall in our guest room - seemed like a good time since no one will be using it anytime soon.  i used a splash of the blue "nostalgia" from the home office project with a half-empty can of white base, and came out with a light blue that highlighted the blue in the bedding.  i think it turned out pretty well.

before - builder-grade off-white all around

after - custom baby blue

percussion camp

little sister finished up 5 days of percussion camp this week - 9am-4pm.  they were under strict guidelines for wearing face masks, maintaining social distance, and washing hands often.  in fact, every day when i picked her up, there was a strong smell of sanitizer all around her, but i guess that's a good thing!  they had to sanitize all the equipment & instruments at the end of each day as well.

she was excited to be assigned her show music - played on a marimba in the front row of the front ensemble.  i hope & pray that she gets to have a freshman marching band experience this fall!  she enjoyed bonding with the upperclassmen and even tagging along with them to lunch.  she earned 3 blisters on her hands from playing repeatedly with 4 mallets.  i am so glad that she had an awesome time.  next camp date is july 16.....assuming all goes according to plan....

happy daddy's day

today started with a tradition that we have been doing (somewhat inconsistently) on father's day.....making a pancake cake for breakfast!  the only thing missing this year was the whipped cream, but that did not stop us from enjoying it.  who can pass up yummy layers of bacon, hash browns, and scrambled eggs between pancakes, topped with fresh strawberries??  there was a little bartering going on among our plates, too - like, "i'll trade you my strawberries for more bacon!" etc.

then for lunch, we ventured out to pick up lunch in the drive thru.  two box combos and one kid's meal made for plenty to go around. all in all, i'd say that daddy had a pretty great day!

room reno

daddy heads back to the office full time on monday, so this weekend we moved his computer things out of our home office and back to his business office.  it was weird to see the room all empty after he had been working there for 12 weeks!  and seeing the room empty gave me an idea....let's paint it!  we had a nearly full gallon of a medium blue called "nostalgia" from when little sister painted her room last summer.  so off we went!  i had a little help, but ended up finishing the bulk of it myself.

here are the before and after photos.

 something that was missing from this room was crown molding, but luckily i found just enough in the attic to finish out the joint between the walls and ceiling in this room.  and i do mean "just enough" - it took every bit of three 16-foot pieces leaving about two 12-inch pieces of random scraps.  but now the trim matches that of the nearby dining room, great room, and kitchen.

(did you notice our cat, pocky, on the top shelf next to the guitar case??  he loves to nap up there....i guess no one really disturbs him when he is 9 feet up in the air!)

spill cakes

today little sister received the last of a 3-box subscription service that she received from us for christmas.  it was a little late due to the current pandemic, but she was so happy to get it and start baking!  she really enjoyed the subscription so i will have to keep an eye out for a good deal on another few orders.

 

the last day

(social distancing day 68, work from home day 47, at-home learning day 38)
online learning ended last friday, but today was the official last day of school for 2019-20.  not letting the current state of world affairs dampen our tradition, the girls dressed as if they were going to school in the same clothes they wore on the first day.  it was funny to see them look over the "before" pics and try to match every detail.

big sister is about the same size - still 5'-4" and probably done growing.  her only reaction to the "before" and "after" comparison is how less tan her skin is now versus the first day of school when she just finished up 2 weeks of band camp! 

little sister, however, is now 5'-7-1/2".....up 1-1/2" since school started.  her hair is also a different shade at the ends!

today also marked the end of little sister's middle school time.  three years of many accomplishments: completing compacted math one summer propelled her into high school algebra in eighth grade, hesitantly trying out band in sixth grade led her to fall in love with percussion, and being a fearless, well-rounded athlete in all the sports solidified many friendships that she will take with her to high school.  i am so excited to see what high school brings to this special girl!

instead of the traditional eighth grade walk to end their middle school career, the staff organized a drive-thru parade send-off for the class of 2024.  i guess that is better than nothing given current events.  little sister's class is the last group of eighth graders to attend her school, since that campus is being replaced by two new schools next year.  i hope she is taking only great memories with her and will look back one day with pride in her accomplishments.

******

if we look back on the actual last day of school, which we didn't know at the time was going to be the last day, it was the day before spring break started.  that whole week had a dress-up theme at little sister's school.  just goes to show - you never know what's gonna happen.