4th of July 2021 💥
Celebrated the birth of the U.S.A. today with friends, swimming, and sparklers. It was too windy to do much more than that. 🎆
Tag: kids
Spectacles for Shecklet #3
Reading glasses for Shecklet #3 to ease the strain on her eyes. She has been reading a ton this summer and getting headaches. We hope that her new glasses will help eliminate them.
Making muffins
My kitchen helper (Shecklet #4) is busy today making muffins to share with her siblings.
40 years – COSP
Our church celebrated its 40th anniversary this summer, culminating in a parish picnic. I helped at the outdoor photo booth. These lovey ladies came by for a few pics.
Manhattan Visitor
Jake’s aunt from NY is in town this week. She is always so good about reaching out and visiting while she’s in town. She is like me and enjoys catching up with people in smaller groups – so you can have an actual conversation. She wanted to see all of us, and since the boys were at camp all week, we connected with her today.
One other thing she is good at is capturing photos of her time with people. We were able to ask our neighbor to snap a group picture after we got back from our walk around the neighborhood with her. Pretty great group of people here!
We survived distance learning!
What a year! Such an understatement.
It’s hard to sum up all of the thoughts and feeling I have about what took place during the 2020-2021 school year. The kids were resilient and grew in ways that Jake and I are so proud of. They tried new things, were flexible in numerous areas, and handled frustrations and challenges better than I ever expected.
Today was spent doing “fun” things – Shecklet #4 had a virtual dance lesson, award ceremony, and watched a movie. Shecklet #3 ended the day with making play dough. Shecklet #2 was effectively done yesterday because his teachers said he didn’t have to log in today. But I asked him to pose for a last day photo for me and he willingly agreed 😊
All three of these kids are looking forward to going back to school in person in the fall. I hope for their sake it can be as close to normal as possible for them. 💛
2021 Nissedalen fun 2021 – 1
Work and play day at the lake. Super hot temps meant the water felt extra refreshing today. Aunt Kristin took the kids tubing, I brought Grandma Lois to pick out flowers and then helped plant them, there was a group effort to blow up the water trampoline, and Jake and the boys helped install a new antenna.
Shecklet #4 asked me to take a few photos of just the two of us.
Blowing up the trampoline.
The Shecklets love their great grandma!
Jake grilled pork chops for us and tenderloin for Grandma Lois & Uncle Steve. His grilling post to FB was pretty funny: “In Nissedalen I like to be even though there is no charcoal. Made a little porkpourri.”
A kabob
Shecklet #4 has been asking for a haircut for a while. Our friend/stylist was able to fit her in this afternoon – last minute. She asked for a “kabob” and I don’t have the heart to correct her – to tell her it’s a “bob.” It’s just too cute.
Never gonna give you up…
9.5 days of school left and counting…
I think we are all getting a little nutty as the distance learning school year draws to an end. This kid is always making us laugh 😆
First “real” ride of 2021 🚴♂️
Jake took the kids on their first mountain bike ride today. His parents met him at Carver Lake trails. Afterwards, they went to his parents’ house for a bit. I stayed home due to a lingering migraine 😖. I didn’t think the sun and bouncing would be good for my head today. Instead, I finished up the second process of the tie dyed shirts, cleaned the garage, touched up the mailbox paint, and pulled weeds. We ended the evening swimming with friends (well the kids swam, the adults supervised.) It was a great end to a full weekend.