Enjoy the Little Things

We started a new month yesterday, and Florida’s governor issued a state-wide stay-at-home order for the next month… With all the craziness and darkness and disappointment and struggles in the world right now surrounding this virus, when most of us are “stuck” at home, or for those of us who have been deemed “essential Government employees,” this message on my calendar to “enjoy the little things” seems like a very important reminder right now. Cliche, sure. But also, not…

I couldn’t have known when I made this back in December, how fitting this would be in April, but I think we’ll make a point to do just that. We’ll enjoy the little things this month, like extra time with my tiny 3-fam, video calls with the rest of the family, beautiful weather & time spent in our yard, and lots of time in our comfy, cozy home.

Anyways, I didn’t exactly intend on getting so serious right at the start of this entry, but it’s a good reminder, right? We started off our day watching Olaf’s Surprise Party (or whatever it’s called, the short Christmas-themed one) and sharing a bagel together.

We had a video chat with Aunt Meggie, Uncle Bo and the babies, and even though Ellie was the only one that wanted to talk to us, she showed off and kept saying her new word-of-the-week, “eeeyyat!” No one knows what it means, but it’s cute & funny. Then Emerson took it upon herself to vacuum the living room, before we got dressed and started playing…

We watched a short little video that Growing Room shared on their Facebook, from Ms. Michelle (who owns her own music therapy business and is the mom of one of Emerson’s friends from class) doing a little read-along & sing-along video. I got Emerson some music supplies from the kitchen, and let her go to town! It felt like the loudest five minutes ever, but look at that huge smile!! She loved it!!

Then online music class was followed by her first online ballet class, and she was absolutely adorable doing her little tippy-toes with her arms up over her head, and I almost died it was so cute.

And then it was time for driveway-recess! The weather was just absolutely gorgeous today, and we couldn’t NOT get out and enjoy it a little bit! She ran in circles for a while, played in some sand, then collected a few rocks, bringing them for me to hold saying, “dese rocks is not for you Mommy, dese is mine.” I assured her I understood. She was very serious about it. And then we did chalk! We also saw the recycling & trash trucks come by, and even though they were loud, she was very interested in watching them, and even helped carry the cans back down to the house.

After music, ballet & recess, she had worked up quite an appetite, so I got her some lunch. She had plain noodles and strawberries, both of which were dipped in butter, because toddlers are weird. She followed that up with some chips, and washed it all down with chocolate milk.

We changed her sheets, read some books, had a few family hugs, and then while I was singing her lullabies, she fell asleep on my chest. Girlfriend was worn out. (When I asked Jeff later how nap time went, he told me she ended up sleeping for two hours! Our big morning finally tired her out enough to take a good nap, and praise the Lord for that!)

I sat down at the kitchen counter afterwards and quickly scarfed down some leftovers from last night, then washed it down with cold coffee. (Tip – after drinking your morning cup or two, pour any leftover coffee from the pot into a mason jar & refrigerate overnight. Then add some cream, shake, & it’s ready to go! Super yummy, and I don’t feel bad for wasting the coffee we didn’t finish yesterday.)

Also, the pots on the stove are already set up with a can of black beans in one & a bag of yellow rice inside the other, in order to make things as easy as possible for Jeff to get dinner started tonight before I get home. That way, I don’t have to explain which food to put in which pot & where any of that is stored… 😉

Work this afternoon was slow & uneventful, and I was able to finish up three cases, so I was feeling pretty accomplished by the time 6pm rolled around.  I made another super easy dinner tonight, so that we could get dinner on the table as quickly as possible. But we all love taquitos and yellow rice, so this meal option is always a winner!

While I was getting dinner ready & on the table, Jeff and Emerson were outside setting up our hammocks outside, so we could go straight out there to play & relax after dinner. And it was so nice! (I was actually a little bit chilly, but it was still lovely.)

After we came back inside (to escape the mosquitoes that came out at dusk), this cute girl climbed up on the couch, and covered up herself and three of her little babies (panda, puppy, monkey), to watch a couple of night-night videos.

She was telling me about the rocks that David used for Goliath.

We had a couple of minor meltdowns (about random stuff I can’t even remember), but eventually I got her to calm down by watching Megan’s Instagram stories with the triplets. We watched all the videos twice and she was feeling better after that, and she was ready to do lullabies then.

I did a bunch of dishes earlier while the taquitos were baking, so there’s only a few dishes left in the sink, and I’m just gonna leave those right there for now. So now y’all know what time it is – Jeopardy & hot lemon tea, snuggled under my blankie.