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.
In Curie’s blog we describe our Costco sled and the fact that we take two carts one for the sleigh and one for the food. It is fun to see people look at us strangely and smile at the fact that we are indulging the kids. I am sure there are others who don’t look as favorably, but we don’t really care about those people.
For Elia’s 6th birthday, she chose to go back to Kumo’s for dinner. She remembered the dessert with the dry ice and that she finished an adult sized hibachi chicken meal there, so was excited to go. The Hoaglands were able to come with us to the restaurant and we all crowded around a little table. Quintin was back from school too so he was able to come. Elia has always been shy around Quintin and we can’t remember if that was evident at the dinner. What did happen though was Curie didn’t feel well and got sick that night.
Erin had bought tickets for opening day for Star Wars and fortunately Julie was willing to come out and watch Curie while Elia took the bus by herself for the first time. She also went to EMA by herself and was very brave. We don’t know how scared she was, but we do know that she is proud that she did it. We noted that it was fortunate that we got the flu shots early this year because Curie’s illness only lasted three days, still it is stressful whenever our kids are sick.
With the upcoming holiday and the fact that we were going to New Jersey for Christmas to see Erin’s family, we took Curie to the pediatrician and verified that it was the flu Type B. Curie eats beef noodle soup when she is sick and says that she wants it largely because it is a comfort food based on a memory that that is what she ate when she was sick last time. We need to think about a similar thing for Elia who loves Albert’s chicken wings, but doesn’t have food favorites otherwise yet.
The kids wear their black Old Navy cat hats during this time, which is adorable and oddly fashionable for them. We had planned on going on our trip that Saturday but we postponed first to see if Curie was feeling better, and then canceled when we found out that Erin’s dad was sick too. Erin would catch it next and have it the longest, and Elia would be the last at New Year’s.
Because we did not travel we decided that we would have Oh My Hotpot for Christmas Eve, Chima’s for Christmas Day, two amazing meals, and we were grateful that Julie and Steve were able to be a part of both. At Oh My Hotpot, Elia is not old enough to have her own pot yet (though she has her own pot anywhere else that offers them), but she doesn’t mind too much as long she is allowed to cook some and gets to eat. At Chimas we discover that Elia loves picana, and Curie loves flank/strip(?). This is in addition to ribeye for Curie and fillet for Elia. We love that the love to eat and it is worth going to Chimas just to see them talk about the food on swords long after the fact.
After Chima’s we go and see Frozen 2 again, Elia reminisces about seeing Frozen 2 with Garret (who asked Erin if he could see Frozen 3 with us) and spends time in Erin’s lap rather than Albert’s this time. On Christmas Day, the girls got LOL sets from Santa, and Elia’s big gift was a cleaning set from Melissa and Doug’s which she thought was a real cleaning set so used it to dust and mop in addition to sweep. It is fantastic. Who is to say that it shouldn’t be used that way?
Curie got a Harry Potter clock tower Lego set that she wanted to build by herself which made Elia sad. Curie feels that Elia get special treatment because she doesn’t remember before Elia was born and the attention she got then, and Elia just wants to play with Curie and is hurt when she doesn’t want to play with her. This leads to Albert doing something for Elia which perpetuates the problem (kids, if you are older and reading this, hopefully you have gotten over all this, but if you haven’t you are both loved and we tried to make it safe for you to grow and be happy, but because you are sisters born after the other you experience different times differently. It is worth remembering that all that doesn’t matter, instead being there for each other does matter because the world continues to challenge us and we need the ones we love to be able to be counted upon). In this case Albert used the free-build Legos to build a five story apartment building for Elia, which then drew Curie in, and all was right again.
We did build some crazy things including a chapel, and MRI, a skeleton box, a telephone booth, an outhouse, and an oven that could hold people. The girls decorated the inside of the house and pulled off heads of minifigs so that the bodies could be their other characters’ clothes and the heads be other hairstyles.
We planned to spend New Year’s at home again since we were sick so recently and though we planned to spend time with the Tamanahas, we ended up staying home because Elia caught it and we let her rest and get better. It is scary to talk about the flu during the pandemic so we will move on.
Elia’s birthday party was at Sky Zone, the second trampoline park in our area (a third was being built), and after visiting it for Etta’s party, and seeing Patrick and Victor there, Elia decided that it would be the place for her party. She decided that the theme of her party would be love, and we spent time getting hearts, and lips to decorate the party. Notably Elia loves Garrett and Victor (and Patrick at the time). One of the favors was plastic engagement rings and Elia was excited to give or get one from Garrett (and Victor, and Patrick). Patrick gave Elia a gift card to Build-a-Bear, and she got another card to Target.
We never realized how good a gift card is for a kid as they needed to make good decisions on what to buy. At Build-a-Bear, Elia got a Jasmine bear and Curie got a rainbow owl, and while we won’t be doing it often, we are glad the kids got the experience, which was very sweet. Albert tried to buy extra clothes and accessories for their bears online where it is cheaper (that is where they get you), but for got to hit purchase and to this day we don’t have more clothes for them – to be fair they are not wearing clothes at the moment, the bear and the owl, not the kids.
Erin’s parents visit and we go for a walk around a lake and almost get caught in the rain. Natalie comes for a play date. Albert learns to make roast beef which leads to the kids liking roast beef sandwiches with little rolls one of the first sandwiches they will eat (after Curie’s hamburger and hotdog sandwich and the occasional hamburger from McDonalds for Elia). There is a brief dusting of snow, which is all we get for the winter.
Elia is self described as “the funny one” recently (in May) and if you look at her, she does do things to make her funny. From dancing to wanting to play games and make fun of herself she is hilarious. We have an example from January – Erin was looking for her glasses when we were watching a movie but couldn’t find them, so Elia took it upon herself to describe the movie for Erin, and not just the detail, but everything in summary as if Erin couldn’t see or hear it or had not seen it before. Elia cracks us up and is the best, we love her for this and so many other things (we love you too Curie, read it in your blog 🙂 ).