The celebration started Saturday where I surprised them with gourmet cupcakes from Teapot & Co. in Reston.  We took the girls and the cupcakes to my parents, went swimming, sang Happy Birthday, ate cupcakes, and ordered takeout from Patsys. 

The celebration continued Sunday where we picnicked in D.C with sandwiches made from food from the delicious Italian Gourmet.  It was a hot humid day so our stay was short-lived but we did take a few pictures in front of the pretty flower garden. 

And even stood too close to the sprinkler by accident. 

We walked COVID style to the Washington Monument where we had the place to ourselves.  Then it was time for ice-cream…we surprised the girls….Harper and I both had the idea!  The girls had milkshakes from a small local shop Toby’s in Arlington. 

Monday we took off from celebrating. Tuesday was the actual day. We woke up to a rainy dreary day, the effects of Hurricane Isaias.  Avery and Emerson awoke to a new scooter to their delight.  We enjoyed a leisurly breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and fruit.  We opened more presents, which included a gift card to Gap so you each could pick out your own clothes.  As the rain kept falling, the girls had a lazy morning watching The Sound of Music.  During moments the rain would stop, the movie was paused and outdoor breaks on the scooter occurred.  

Avery and Emerson have always stated that the worst part of being a twin is sharing a birthday. I empathasized with them and told them I saw their point.  SO, this year knowing that their every other year friend birthday party wasn’t going to happen due to COVID-19, I decided we would extend their birthday…it was only fair since they would be sharing one.

Then a miracle occurred and somehow around 1:00 the sky cleared up, sun started to shine, and temperate warmed up.  We were able to stick with our plan of having Cora and Grace come over for a pool party at Papa and Grandma’s house.  At 2:30 we departed our house…me driving us all in masks.  

You girls swam for hours, opened presents…many from Papa and Grandma, you indulged in donuts (Avery’s birthday treat) and cupcakes (Emme’s birthday treat), beat a pinata (which was a surprise), and ate pizza for dinner.  Later in the evening, we read our annual birthday letters.  You girls had a blast and were so thankful for your presents and party. 

Happy 9^th year Avery and Emerson.  

All three girls did soccer camp this week through VYS.  I totally intended to take a picture of all three of them and then flat out forgot.  They all had fun…playing in close to 100 degree heat Monday through Thursday and then in pouring down rain Friday.

Woody, from Toy Story, was a fixture in Harper’s first grade classroom.  There was an instance during the school year where Woody magically appeared on Harper’s desk.  To hear Harper tell that story was pure magic; she lit up as she explained Woody’s superpowers.  Even after in person school ended, Harper would ask Ms. Rastelli about Woody’s whereabouts and Harper would then relay during family conversations what Woody was up to recently.  A few weeks ago, Harper spoke to Ms. Rastelli and during the conversation, Harper mentioned how funny it would be if Woody showed up at our house.

Can you imagine Harper’s surprise upon opening the mailbox today, seeing a package addressed to her and Woody literally popping out of the package. I was watching as Harper grabbed the mail…she pulled Woody out so quickly and ran with him screaming into the backyard where Justin was working that it was Woody!  The envelope and all the other mail dropped to the ground instantaneously upon her recognition of Woody!

It has been four hours since Woody arrived with a letter in our mail.  Harper has not stopped talking about Woody’s superpowers.  Woody hasn’t left her side and she has declared him her “best doll friend”.  I’m sitting here watching Harper and Avery play make believe with Woody going on hour four and despite Emerson trying everything in her power to make Harper question Woody’s magic, this girl BELIEVES!  Seeing her innocence, happiness, and joy is the real magic.

My girl and her best “doll” friend.

Needing a change of scenery, Justin and I booked a super cute farmhouse Airbnb rental in Crozet, VA for three nights for us and the girls.   The Barn at Crozet.

We took evening walks…

We hiked…our first big hike was on Ragged Mountain Reservoir.

Second full day, it was a challenging hike up to Humpback Rock where we enjoyed a quick picnic lunch at the top.

Awful angle, but needed to capture me and Mr. Scruffy Mountain Man and our big feet in our hiking boots.

Second hike of the second full day was to Doyles Fall off of Skyline Drive in search of the falls.  We made it to the first one, but after a few spills and some really tired girls who had hiked their butts off in search of a fall to swim, we decided to enjoy the view for a few minutes and then turn around.  Forty minutes straight of a downhill path to get to the falls made for a 40 minute hike back uphill the entire time!  We just kept telling the girls to put one foot in front of the other.

We ate good food which included cooking a delicous meal at home the first evening, creamy and delicious ice cream for Crozet Creamery (twice), Benny’s pizza (the largest pizza we have ever had in our entire life), and delicious pork barbeque from Smoked Kitchen & Tap.

We lounged and spent quality time together as a family cooking, playing games, reading and talking.

Justin worked for a few hours each day while I took the entire week off.   The girls and I went peach picking at Chiles Peach Orchard.

We explored neighborhoods to get a feel for smaller town living.  We finalized a huge decision in our house and opted for virtual learning for the upcoming school year, a decision that weighed heavily on us but in the end we felt it was the better option for our family. Neither option (virtual learning four days a week or in person two days a week) were ideal scenarios, but in the end our whole family was on board with virtual.  While we certainly are mourning the loss of a normal school year due to COVID 19, we are excited abut the opportunities we will have as a family to travel by car since Justin and I and the girls will be able to work and do school work remotely from anywhere.

It was a great weekday get-away.

Friday afternoon Avery and Harper were in the living room waiting for Emerson and me to join to read a chapter of Trumpet of the Swan.  Upon entering the room, Harper was crying…a true scared cry.  Apparently, Avery had taken her glasses off and Harper was scared of her eyes.  I was honestly dumbfounded at first.  Yes, Avery’s eyes move, and they are unique, but Harper is nearly seven years old…she has been living with Avery for nearly seven years and she just now noticed Avery’s eyes?  Say what?  Yes, Avery has worn glasses since she was three and her glasses somewhat mask the real appearance of her eyes, but Harper and Avery have shared a bedroom off and on over the year, they have showered together…. Avery doesn’t wear her glasses to bed, Avery doesn’t wear her glasses to in the shower!

My first instinct was to protect Avery’s feelings.  Avery took it like a champ though and told me that sometimes her friends call her eyes crazy and are intrigued by them….she shows them her eyes, they laugh about things, and then that is it.  That hurt my mama heart too but knowing that Avery has learned implemented skills necessary to respond to such questions and comments made my mama heart smile.  To my delight Emerson stepped in when it was clear I was still in disbelief that Harper had never noticed whatever it was she was noticing about Avery’s eyes that scared her.  Emerson stepped in and said, “well maybe Harper doesn’t understand why Avery’s eyes move…let’s explain it to her”. At that very second, Avery ran upstairs to get her book on nystagmus and for 20 minutes read each page beautifully.  She paused to explain how she relates to the characters and how she has used so many points in this book to explain things to her friends.  At the end of the book, Avery stood eye to eye with Harper and said “now for the most important part.  You need to see me without my glasses.”  She then took off her glasses and ensured that Harper took a good look.

There are times when it hurts my heart that Avery’s eyes are different but am so quickly reminded that different is unique and more importantly experiencing something differently opens up one’s ability to see outside society’s norm, to see beyond what we view to be normal.   It paves the ways for being openminded, inclusion, empathy, bravery, and kindness.

My mama heart had all the feels Friday afternoon, but most of all pure love for my girls.

The girls regularly wore dresses all through last summer.  Even when many girls their age stopped wearing dresses, my girls still continued.  Dress wearing subsided some this past school year and then came to a sudden halt with the start of COVID 19 and the cancellation of in-person school.  The girls started playing on the swing set and riding bikes daily; bike riding while wearing a dress was problematic as the dress would drag on the back wheel.  Pants and shorts became the norm.  When it came time for a few new summer clothes, shorts and T-shirts were in order, not dresses in years past.  I remember thinking how cool it was that dresses were still their norm last summer and knowing that at some point soon the time would come that they would be over them.

The time came!  And with that the July 4^th outfits that they had been wearing since 2016 (yes, you read that correctly….2016…we certainly sized up and got our monies worth) were finally retired.  They each got a fourth of July T-shirt and matched it with some shorts or pants.  I did size up so there is a good chance these will be their Fourth of July outfits for years to come.

We still played Alice Cooper’s “Schools Out” last Friday morning.  But besides a kitchen dance party blaring “schools out for summer, schools out forever” at the top of our lungs to commensurate the last day of 3^rd and 1^st grade for the girls, nothing about the last three months of the school year was like any other.

School abruptly ended Wednesday March 11.  Widespread concerns of COVID 19 started about two weeks prior and the county was working on putting some plans in place for virtual learning starting a few weeks later.  Things got serious and real overnight and school was suddenly cancelled Thursday March 12 and then again Friday March 13 and then for an entire month before virtual learning started in mid-April.  The kids had no notice, left all their belongings at school, said no goodbyes, they got on the school bus that Wednesday afternoon having no idea that they wouldn’t step foot in the school again for the remainder of the school year.  They didn’t know that we would be quarantined for the next three months, not going out to eat, no going to the grocery store, no hugging and indoor visits with grandma and grandpa, no playdates, no takeout without sanitizing the containers.  We were now living in a pandemic experiencing unprecident times.

It’s a good thing we liked each other because it’s pretty much been us and only us for three months!  We began homeschooling the girls the first week they were out of school.  The first five weeks were definitely the honeymoon period.  Days were hard but Justin and I managed to work demanding jobs while still homeschooling the girls with a schedule that consisted of language arts and math workbooks; reading; puzzles, creative time to include science, engineering, photography, cooking, and art; physical activity, and electronic academic time.   We were busy managing it all, often staying up late to review subjects with them and lesson plan for the next day or catching up on work from taking extra-long breaks during the day to be hands on with the girls, but we had a rhythm.

Mid-April the county started virtual learning.  It was a disaster so much so that classes ended up being cancelled the first week while the county worked out system issues.  Week two had similar challenges and virtual learning was again postponed another week.

Week three things started going smoothly, but there was a wide discrepancy in the expectations and assignments of the teachers, not to mention that between the virtual learning synchronous class and the assignments, the girls still had a lot of time in their day.  We continued with much of the homeschool but a scaled back version which eliminated much of the creative time and extra time to relax. Avery and Emerson also started meeting outside for math “class” with one of the neighbors Ms. Stype a few days a week along with a few of the other third grade girls.  Avery started meeting with Ms. Dishek twice a week to type.  The girls attended their teacher’s office hours a few times a week.  Dance classes started back up in April virtually, which too was a new experience. Days were busy to say the least!

Fast forward to June 12, the girls officially finished 3^rd and 1^st grades, exactly 3 months to the day that school inside the school abruptly came to a halt.  No backpacks, no walk to the bus stop, no lunches to pack, no teachers or friends to hug, but three happy girls who took it all in stride and had a great memorable school year

We ventured on a socially distance walk through Meadowlark.  This was the first weekend the parks were open since March when everything suddenly closed.  Six feet place-markers at the entrance and masks are somehow the new norm.  If you told me last year that this summer we would be in the midst of a pandemic – quarantining, wearing masks when we go out, applying hand sanitizer 50 times a day amongst so much more, I would have laughed.  Yet, here we are. In fact, this is where Justin and I sat (standing this time so as not to touch shared public spaces) almost 12 years ago.

Here are the girls wearing their masks.

This will most definitely be a time period in history and their life that they will always remember.

Going into the weekend, I knew my favorite weekend of the year was certainly going to look a lot different than our typical Memorial Day weekend….no Viva Vienna, no barbeques with friends and family, no going out to eat or anywhere. But we were determined to make the best of it.

We started our long weekend early Friday by having a wacky school day, which included a visit to the Reston Zoo, a trip we have never done before due to it being overpriced; however, with the zoo being turned into a drive through zoo and very few places to go these days, we figured why not.

Look at this guys hair!!!  It’s gettin BIG!

When we got home…we had two lessons.  The first was a lesson of the importance of brushing one’s teeth!  The second was a creative writing exercise about the girls experience.  Avery did a few types of poems!

Harper’s poem.  I thought a miracle had happened as her spelling was superb…turns out she was asking Google.

Emerson’s acrostic poem.

Saturday brought a family walk through the woods, with the girls complaining about the muddy trail, mud getting on their legs, spiders, branches in the path, the threat of poison ivy, the temperature being too hot, too hilly…and I’m sure there were others.  I threatened to leave them in the woods behind our house to navigate their own way home should the complaints continue.  They knew I would never do that so not sure my “threat” had much of an impact.  We had a good walk nonetheless at least in terms of exercise!

The rest of the afternoon there was a lot of playing outside, bike riding, softball playing, and chapter book reading.

Saturday night we had a delightful charcuterie board with cheeses and meats from a combination of The Oakton Wine Shop and The Italian Gourmet.

We enjoyed a delicious bottle of Pinot Noir and after a glass, I was full of laughs as I rocked my new “garage only” crocks through the neighborhood.  Man I looked ridiculous but I had a great ab workout.

Sunday we picked up some fresh fruit from Depauls. We called our order in and they dropped it in our truck…the norm these days.

We surprised the girls with a trip to Wendy’s drive through and they each indulged in their own frosty and they enjoyed it in the car.

Justin and I had a date night Sunday.  We ordered take-out from Clarity and ate in the “pit”…it was delicious…we will definitely need to do it again!  Meanwhile the girls “watched” themselves with a night full of sugar cereal and binge movie watching.

Justin and I finished our night off with a walk, Nintendo playing, and Netflix watching.  It was certainly a different Memorial Day Weekend than years past, but the girls still rocked their Memorial Day clothing, which had just arrived.  Missing Harper as she had thrown up in the car about 20 minutes before this picture was taken….we think she actually got car sick…having been int the car so little over the last few months!

Memorial Day 2021…hope to be wearing these same shirts celebrating with friends and family.

Wacky school Friday included me taking the day off from work and having quality time with the girls.  It was hot and we took an activity break to walk to the field off Hillington.

These three are mine.  Days are sometimes hard, and I often miss the innocence of the baby and toddler phase.  I miss my perception and ability to experience life through their innocent heart and minds. But then there are times like this…and I just sit staring at the picture, reflecting on the fact that THESE THREE ARE MINE!!

Harper was running wildly through the buttercups, calling me over to each section saying “Mama, aren’t they so beautiful”.  “Yes, Harper…they absolutely are beautiful”.

A gentle reminder that no matter how old they get or how much I miss the baby and toddler phase, life is filled with abundances and beauty – even when babies and toddlers are no longer in the picture – just look at this these buttercups and this cutie!