Social Weekend

The boys were both up at 6:00am on Saturday because they were SO excited that their cousins were coming. Yvonne had texted me on Friday night to let me know that they were shortening their visit. I had told Ian and Nadia before they went to bed that night, but Oliver was already asleep when I received the text. He was very disappointed, but I reminded him that seeing them for a few hours was definitely better than not seeing them at all. Before their van even pulled away from our house that evening the kids were already asking me, when will see them again? They love their cousins very much! It was a beautiful day to be outside (much cooler than it had been recently). Before they shortened the trip we had planned to meet at Ricketts Glen State Park to go on a hike together, but in light of the fact they were driving from MD to Hershey to our house and back to MD all in one day, I thought we should skip the state park as that would have meant spending even more time in the church van they use. They were at our house for 7 hours. The kids played outside some of the time. Several of the kids played a game together that the Towfighis had brought with them. Joshua, Andrew, Jenna, and Nadia played Racko. I joined those four for a game of Balderdash, which Jenna won. Paul and Joe played a game of chess. I also enjoyed playing piano duets with Jenna and then with Yvonne. My kids were grateful that Andrew had requested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner because #1 that's one of their most favorite meals and #2 I haven't been buying ground beef lately because of the fact the price has doubled. I made 2 pounds of spaghetti, 2 pounds of ziti, and a little over 2 pounds of meatballs, and every bit was consumed that night. Nadia made the brownies that Andrew had requested while I mowed the lawn that morning. I didn't eat any of the pasta or meatballs or brownies because I've been on a diet. Over the past 5 days I lost another 3 pounds, which means I lost 8 pounds total in 4 weeks. 

I had planned on serving a special French toast for his birthday breakfast on Sunday morning, but since the Towfighis weren't here on Sunday, the boys and I had it for dinner this evening. Yummy! On Sunday we were able to go to a church in person for the first time since March 8! We could have opted to sit in the gym without masks, but we chose to sit in the sanctuary, even though we don't like wearing masks, so we could see a 3D pastor instead of one on a screen. Next Sunday our church will be resuming in person services, and the kids and youth classes will resume (Lord willing) on July 12! Yahoo!!! In addition to wearing masks, it was sort of like attending a wedding as an usher guided us to where they wanted us to sit and also at the end came and let us know when our pew could exit the sanctuary. They had every other row roped off, didn't pass an offering plate, and had removed the Bibles and hymnals from the pews. It was much closer to normal since we were actually in a church with other people instead of staring at our TV in our home, but it wasn't normal. Sunday night we attended a picnic at Pastor Ken's home, and aside from the fact that no one was hugging or shaking hands, it was TOTALLY normal! Pastor Ken grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and people brought a variety of desserts and side dishes. I brought macaroni and cheese. I think everyone touching the same serving spoons at a potluck is definitely "taboo" right now, but that's what we did. No one was wearing masks. It was just like the picnics we had outside at their home last summer. It was definitely the most normal thing I've experienced outside our home in three months. We didn't stay at the picnic as long as I would have liked to because Nadia wanted to also attend the youth group meeting at 6:30pm. While Nadia was at the youth group meeting, Evanna and her mom dropped off Evanna's two gerbils, who are named Chocolate and Vanilla, at our house as Nadia is pet sitting them while they are in Montana. So we currently have 10 caterpillars, 2 gerbils, and 3 guinea pigs in the living room/dining room! 

Considering all the time we've spent isolated at home the last few months, this was a very sociable weekend between Yvonne's family spending 7 hours at our house on Saturday, going to a church Sunday morning, going to the picnic at 5pm on Sunday, and Nadia attending a youth group meeting at 6:30. This week from Monday through Saturday we only have one thing on our calendar. We're going to the Schreck's house tomorrow afternoon for a play date, and then Ian will be staying at their house about 24 hours. Oliver was also invited, but he wasn't interested. This evening both boys are sleeping outside. Several boys set up tents in our neighbor's backyard. We don't own a tent, but the boys took their sleeping bags and pillows out so they could sleep on the ground near the tents. Ian hasn't played outside as much as usual the past three days because he's been working on a huge Lego set (more than 3,000 pieces!). Pop Pop built it a few years ago. He gave it to the kids last week, but we decided to wait until after the Towfighis left to get it out and start building it.

Yesterday I received confirmation that the acting camp I had signed Nadia up for (after the other one was cancelled) WILL be taking place the last two weeks of July. They will be putting on a production of Cinderstein (a mashup between Cinderella and Frankenstein). Yesterday we also found out that the production of Tuck Everlasting that Nadia was really hoping to be a part of has been postponed from November 2020 to November 2021. So I'm glad she can at least be in this 40 hour acting class. The overnight camp also emailed us yesterday. They cancelled one week of camp but all the others are going to be held as planned. This was actually a blessing for us because now all three kids can go the same week, which means I've been spared two round trips (6 hours of driving). I ordered more masks on eBay today because they are each supposed to bring at least 2 masks to camp. The caterpillars I ordered came much faster than anticipated. This is the only potential downside to the fact that the boys are now going to camp much sooner than expected. They will be able to see them become chrysalides, but they might emerge as butterflies while they are at camp. It says it can take up to 20 days. That would be perfect if it took 20 days because the kids will be coming back from camp on July 4.