Ella Taylor, E I G H T

We celebrated THIS SWEET girl turning EIGHT today!

She still loves horses and even wrote a few poems about horses this past week.

Ella opened presents before breakfast.

All the girls slept in horse shirts for Ella's horse themed birthday.

Ella's birthday breakfast choices: cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, mango

What a JOY Ella is to our family.

Some more of the day's festivities included: video chatting with Grandpa & Grandma Tuttle while Ella opened the gifts they sent, lunch outside on the porch, a bike ride, hours of fun at the pool, Ella's birthday dinner at Island's followed by a horse movie at home. And the day was topped off with homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches, using Ella's recipe.

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY, ELLA!

Aunt Bekah visits NC

What a great week we had! We are also in week 11 of COVID-19 but it was such a breath of fresh air to have Aunt Bekah here for the week. Life seemed "normal." We had a few days of sunshine and a few days of rain but we made the most of it.

MONDAY we knocked out our school work in the morning and then hit the park before lunch.

After lunch we all headed to the pool for the afternoon.  Bekah needed some sunshine! Ella is perfecting her dive as well as a back flip off the diving board!

TUESDAY Aunt Bekah read ALL the books and played ALL the games with Benny & Wren while the big girls got their school done. THANK YOU BEKAH!

It was a little cooler and rain off and on. We decided Tuesday's forecast looked the best to go see the ocean and beach. We only lasted an hour because it was pretty windy and on the chilly side.

Aunt Bekah brought Dutch Blitz with her and we played it every day, multiple times a day.

WEDNESDAY was cloudy and rainy again. We went to the NHC Arboretum in the morning and also drove by the girls school. Wednesday afternoon the sun peaked out so we walked to a nearby park for a few hours. That evening we ordered takeout from KYOTO GRILL.

THURSDAY was unexpectedly sunny so we went to Wrightsville Beach for the afternoon. It was the perfect temperature with a constant breeze.

FRIDAY morning we made acai bowls for breakfast. They were loved by all. We played Dutch Blitz a few more time and walked at the park. Aunt Bekah had to head to the airport before lunch.

Bekah, THANK YOU for coming to NC to visit out family. It means a lot!

Week TEN of Covid-19

Our highlights from the week:

MONDAY we had a Mexico Party - see full post with details HERE.

It was a really rainy week, so TUESDAY afternoon we played some games and ate popcorn, one of our favorite snacks around here.

In between all the raindrops, we drove over to explore the NHC Arboretum. The gardens were especially beautiful right after the rain and on an overcast day.

Once again on WEDNESDAY, we had drawing with Miss Welsh. This week was mermaids, dragons and unicorns which just so happens to be a few of our favorite things!

Notice the rain on the driveway. The rain kept coming off and on all day, but we played in our driveway and even caught a baby frog.

Last Saturday morning all the kids helped Jake clean out our crawlspace under the house. We had a vapor barrier installed on THURSDAY under the house. Jake paid Lily & Ella $10 each for helping the whole time. Benny & Wren earned $5. It saved us $700 to do it ourselves, minus the $30 Jake paid the kids. That was worth it! We let the kids spend their money they earned. The each had saved all their Christmas money for our Africa trip, which has been delayed to a later date, not sure when that trip will happen. So we let them pick something out online and use their earned money plus some of their Christmas money to purchase one thing. That was exciting!

Ella & Wren spent their money on umbrella strollers for their babies. In between all the rain we have taken them to our little park for walks and it has been fun!

Lily spent the money she earned on Plus-Plus Blocks.

Benny spent his money on a new LEGO boat set.

Thank Goodness It's FRIDAY - the sun made an appearance all day and we hit the pool for hours!

La Hacienda

As mentioned in my previous post, Jake & I were to be in Mexico this week. We are home, of course, just like the rest of the world.  I thought it'd be fun to bring Mexico here with the kids. Tonight we **surprised** daddy with La Hacienda, the name of the Mexican themed dinner restaurant at the resort, here at home. The kids loved the idea. They helped out with the plans (setting the table, making flags and picking out what dress Mom should wear) and preparing the meal (planning the taco bar and chopping all the toppings). We all really enjoyed it.

The kids were big helpers.  
And I was shocked these dresses, from our 2018 Mexico trip, still fit them.

Our Menu

The kids drew the flag of Mexico for decor

 THIS SONG is played before every activity or show at the resort. 
We also had mariachi band music playing in the background during dinner.

Although it'd be so great to be basking in the sun in Mexico right now, we are thankful to be home with our kids, and that we are all healthy & safe. We still wanted to celebrate all of Jake's hard work at My Employees this past year. We are proud of him!

Date Night

At breakfast this past Monday, Jake announced that a friend was coming over on Sunday to watch the kids and we were going on a date! YES - we have not been on a date since February 28. And haven't had time away from the kids since their last day of school on March 13. I was so excited!

We had thought we would be flying to Mexico the morning of May 17, for another Champion's Trip with My Employees.  This would have been our fourth year going and to the same resort - Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya. Our favorite dinner restaurant is Ginger and their sushi bar. So for our date tonight, we picked up sushi and ate it on the Downtown Riverwalk. It was so nice to have some time together. I just absolutely LOVE this guy!

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

This week I started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl, to the kids.  We all really enjoyed the book and decided to make a fun week out of it with corresponding activities! Here are the edited photos that were on our Instagram story:

Finishing up the last 2 chapters on Friday afternoon

The kid's masterpieces