2021-22 School Year Fall

August 23, 2021 Fifth and second grade. I know a lot of parents are posting about how excited they are to have their kids back at regular school. We are not those parents. I am not going to lie, I really miss them, I liked having them with us the whole time. 527 days of amazing togetherness. And I know this is right, and I know they will be okay. Going to open house did allay some fears for us seeing their preparations. So it is the right thing to do. It doesn’t mean I don’t miss the kids though. Today will be a hard day for us, the parents.

Continue reading “2021-22 School Year Fall”

COVID Year 2

March 13, 2021 Our year started on March 6 when Erin hurt her leg. Thank goodness that she was able to recover from that. But since then we have been at home and managing like everyone else. This is us in our backyard today – grateful for what we have and trying to do our part. In this year, we have cooked every meal at home not been in a store except for our flu shot, written over 70 songs and poems and counting (20 songs, 50 poems), been birding, and worked at staying more than living, but being alive. Be safe everyone, but more, take care of yourselves and each other, even if that means just checking in to see if each other are okay.

Continue reading “COVID Year 2”

Elia loses a tooth!

Unexpectedly Elia loses a tooth! She is 6 and it is normal, but because Curie was only 5 in kindergarten, it seems so much sooner. Also it wasn’t wiggly and just came out (on Twizzlers). And we think she swallowed it. Curie is going to help Elia write a note to the tooth fairy tonight to explain the situation. Congratulations Elia! (Oh yeah, both girls are wearing Albert’s coat together. They were cold.

Elia January 2020

We’re working to get caught up in our blogging. At this time it is May 17, and we are nine blogs behind. We have never been this far, and for history sake we should explain that Albert’s job is in existential concern, and the start of the pandemic has made it hard to keep everything going. In early March Erin fell and got hurt which also lent to just doing the minimum to have enough brain space to get things done. We have not updated our picture gallery since November also, which will have to wait until we get caught up in some writing. The worry is that we keep not remembering because we are always behind. One plan is to write the current blog and catch up slowly on these. We have not started that yet.

Continue reading “Elia January 2020”

Curie December 2019

December seems like a long time ago and we should say that it is in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic as we write this in May. So back in December we had worked out that we would see Erin’s family for Christmas in New Jersey having just seen Albert’s family in Atlanta for Thanksgiving. The idea was to find a place that was equidistant and an easy drive for everyone, including Julie and Steve. In fact we had planned to rent a large car or van to make it easier to drive. Continue reading “Curie December 2019”

Albert’s 50th Birthday Weekend

So first, thank you to everyone for their birthday wishes, and to Erin for trying to plan dinners with friends – since canceled or rain-checked. We were derailed because Curie got the flu the night before on Elia’s birthday and we have been worried and taking care of her since. Good news is that she has been fever free for the past 36 hours, so we are grateful, and grateful Elia seems flu-free and grateful we got our flu shots – the Type B going around was not part of the prediction this year but her flu lasted about 3 days instead of 7 as they say. BTW here is a picture of the girls, Elia from Sunday, and Curie from yesterday – evidently feeling better.
 
Before you begin about how sorry you are that this happened on my 50th birthday, 1) we already celebrated in Japan earlier this year, 2)Julie was willing to brave the flu and babysit for us for a few hours so we could see Star Wars on opening day. And 3) the silver lining is this – we did some Chengineering (check out those pictures too), we held Curie every night to soothe her to sleep, played with Elia while Curie slept, and held Elia in the guestroom so that she wouldn’t get sick. Playing with your kids and holding your kids while they sleep? Not a bad birthday weekend at all.

Elia December 2019

“It’s snot, It’s not. It’s NOT! It’s SNOT! It’s not snot, It’s NOT! It’s SNOT!” This is Albert and Elia’s conversation for almost 20 minutes in the car driving Curie nuts, driving Erin nuts. “It’s snot….” Peals of laughter goading each other on. “It’s not…” Doesn’t matter where or when, they will start and get frustrated protests from the other two. If Elia is upset or crying or anything, Albert just has to make a potty joke and she will burst out laughing. And if you say anything like “It’s not funny…” Watch out because you may just start them off again. Continue reading “Elia December 2019”