April 2020

 April 2020 was the wildest month.  The weather did not cooperate here in Indiana and it felt cold and wet all month long.  Of course, quarantining is not my favorite thing, I missed countless exciting things I had planned after a miserable winter at work.  That has extended into a long, cold spring with way more hours at work than I am used to.  I sound uncharacteristically harsh, but dang, I am ready for summer.

While it was not the April I dreamed of, we did have some good times.  We went on some fun walks outdoors with the dogs, and had a few little socially distanced excursions.  Of course, Bailey and Remy love having us home.

 Daddy's driving through Chic-fil-A and it's Bailey's turn to be in the front seat.  He's enjoying every moment.

I did some socially distancing walks around town to see all the beauty.  The magnolias and tulips were gorgeous at North Christian Church.

We had several Zoom calls with friends, and those were a lot of fun!

Mary made us masks and Kelly and Scott dropped off a bottle of wine!

Back to the dogs.  They are rarely far from me.  I work a ton of hours from home, but in the comfort of my home.  For our anniversary David got me this fluffiest blanket (that looks just like one of our Maltipoos).  So I use my Maltipoo blanket a lot.  The dogs LOVE it.

I was taking a Zoom yoga class.  Remy was "helping"

Even playing pool downstairs, they like to be close by.

We loved having Thomas home a few days. He's isolating at his apartment in Indy, finishing up his 2nd spring semester of college.  Online learning has not been ideal, but it's OK.

Easter was my favorite day in April I think.  Thomas spent the night.  We opened our Easter baskets and watched the church service on Zoom.  Then we took a break and came back and cooked our entire feast together.  It was awesome!  We have never been alone on Easter.  We either travel to Mississippi and are driving back on Easter Sunday, or we go to church and then have a shared meal with our friends the Towsleys and Borowskis.  That's been our standard for 15 years.  This year, it was just us.

David had never made deviled eggs.  He was a little surprised how much mayonnaise it takes :)

Thomas is a great cook and does a lot of cooking at his apartment.  He's not afraid when I whip out a new recipe.

Our Easter meal was ham, deviled eggs, crescent rolls, asparagus casserole, green beans and new potatoes, and peach cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert.  I loved that we all cooked it together!

Then we zoomed with the Towsleys and Borowskis

And took some photos for Brennan's graduation announcements.

I celebrated 25 years at work.  I had a 7 year break but started 25 years ago.

My team sent me some gorgeous flowers, and David and Brennan got me roses and a lava cake which we enjoyed together.

We did the senior portrait challenge on social media.  I love graduation time for Brennan.  It's certainly strange this year, but it's also pretty exciting!

There was talk of a front porch parade so we decorated for Brennan.  I think that's no longer a "thing" but it's been fun to have people remark on Brennan's upcoming graduation and move to Purdue.

And then the school corporation announced graduation plans.  There will be a virtual graduation (head shots were due today), and cap and gowns were delivered a month early.  We got all that done and are so thankful to Rachel for taking some quick photos for us. There is also going to be a graduation walk through at the school after school ends in late May.  Thomas will be there and we can celebrate as a family.  It's not the traditional graduation we all anticipated, but it will be great.  Brennan has 3 weeks of school and a bunch of AP exams left.  He's ready and I'm ready for this school year to wrap up!

Happy May!

March 2020

March 2020, the month the world completely changed.  Well, before it changed we had some fun and now we're having lots of time together, which I think we're all really enjoying.  I am working full-time on our crisis team and that is stressful, but I feel like I'm making a difference.  We're all working from home, and the boys are both doing schoolwork online.  NOT the end of senior year I had in mind for Brennan, but he is taking it so well and I'm not dwelling.  Lots of planning for something special for these seniors maybe later in the summer, so we'll see!

There is a new restaurant in town and we took Brennan.  While we were there, classmates came in with their parents - everyone out to dinner on a Sunday night (again, before everything changed!)  These young ladies have been in Brennan's classes since the 4th grade and now they've all got big plans for college.  It was fun to see them all.

We've taken a few walks and hikes with the dogs.  I'll be happy when the weather is consistently warm though.  It ranges from the 50s to the low 70s.  I'm ready for 75-85!

I took a photo and Bailey tapped me on the leg, wanting his close up.  He's posed for my phone since he was a tiny puppy.  So cute!

Before our Spring Break trip we celebrated Remy's 2nd birthday!

And then we were off to Ft. Lauderdale, for what we thought was our very first cruise.  The world fell apart the day after we flew out and everything was cancelled.  We decided to take advantage of Spring Break and our already being in Florida.  We took a nice family vacation, doing some stuff Thomas and I did last year, and doing some new things too.  It was a really great trip.

We went to Biscayne National Park.

And toured Everglades National Park over 2 days.

We spent a day driving the Keys from Homestead to Key West and back.  I've always wanted to do this and it was fun to show the boys Key West where David and I vacationed for my 40th birthday!

At a state park in the Keys

Right after I took this photo we saw dolphins swimming close to the beach!

And we made it to Key West!

We took an airboat ride in Everglades City

And we spent 2 days at Delray Beach.  It was not crowded so we could be socially distant, and all the restaurants were still open.  Again, no shut-down or shelter-in-place at this point in the US!

We bought and flew a kite!

We enjoyed a ton of fresh seafood!

And then everything changed.  The governor shut down the beaches, and we knew the restaurants would be next.  We changed our flight and headed home to start a new normal.

Lots of cooking together, pool and Jenga, movies, yard work, cleaning, and puppy time.  And unfortunately, a ton of work for me.

My co-workers as I stay tethered to a headset, laptop, and chair all day.

Lots of Zooms with friends though, and that makes everything feel a little closer!

Hoping we see a turn in the pandemic sometime soon so we can see our family in Mississippi!

February 2020

February!  My birthday month and yet one of my least favorite months of the year.  Maybe if I lived somewhere warm I'd feel differently!

We had a ball with our International Trivia night.  Our wine club and other friends.  And lots of items collected for Brighter Days shelter.

After a day in Bloomington with girlfriends (the salt cave was a great experience!), the guys took me to Revery for dinner.  It was a delicious time with all 3 of my guys!

 Reminiscent of my early years with David when he and Don would do math when we'd go out to eat, the boys and David now do this when we go out.  Thomas started this one.  It was really sweet for me to see.  Like grandfather, like father, like son.

Friends dropped off gifts including my favorite - chocolate covered strawberries, Prosecco, cheesecake and other pampering treats!

 King Remy

It's been a really tough few weeks at work on the HR side but it was great to get together with our friends Kelly and Scott and tour the Inn at Irwin Gardens, enjoy a glass of wine, and a relaxing Friday evening for Valentine's Day.

Amber hosted a super fun Galentine's Day afternoon at their homestead.  It was so beautiful watching the deer play in the field outside the lodge, with just a little bit of snow falling.  Here is my view driving in.

You can't go wrong with a mimosa bar!

And we shot Parks and Rec (tv show) themed hearts to determine which wine from the wine exchange we won!

I hosted our second Accessories Swap.  I posted the one that I hosted with Ginger on facebook and we had soo many comments.  So I opened this one up and held it at our church.  It's a really great event!  Jess came and did Beauty Counter facials too.

Remy in the (rare) February sunshine.

Bailey is a master poser - has been since he was a puppy.

 Speaking of Bailey, on the 28th we celebrated the 6th anniversary of us choosing Bailey as our new puppy.  We would pick him up 3 weeks later after spring break.  To recreate the photo, David even put on the same jacket!

The boys are still doing their internships - about 13-19 hours/week.  They're both doing IT roles.  We especially love that we get to see Thomas 2-3 times a week.  He wanted to discuss some Intranet issues he was running up against with Brennan.  I had to capture this.

 We were pretty worried about Remy this past weekend because he was very sick.  We rushed him into the vet on Saturday morning without an appointment and luckily they took care of him.  The blood results show pancreatitis.  It can be very bad for dogs (as well as humans) so we'll be changing his diet which he won't like but we want him to have a long healthy life!

He's feeling much better today!

David and Brennan are off to Purdue for Brennan's Purdue's For Me event for admitted students.  It's getting real, folks!

Have a great March!