Our second Christmas celebration occurred on Christmas Day. For the first time, we enjoyed Christmas at home by ourselves with our little family of four. Christmas Eve we put out marshmallows (Santa's favorite treat, according to Ainsley), and a glass of milk above the fireplace. Christmas morning she tip-toed downstairs to see if Santa had come.
That's our sassy little girl! We then went through our stockings and had fun opening all our gifts. When you have young children, it means that Christmas Day festivities are finished by 8:00am. Then you are left with an entire day to do anything. Except that most places are closed on Christmas Day. Which means you do things at home. And in the Bowlin home, our goal is to get as much done on our to-do list as possible! Our front steps needed to be replaced. Before someone stepped through them. And since it rained Christmas Eve, and was going to rain more the day after Christmas, my dear husband decided to replace our steps on Christmas Day. A beautiful day to work outside and enjoy the blessings of Christmas! Ainsley rode her new bike in the circle while Daddy worked (and occasionally took breaks to help her figure out how to pedal and brake properly). Parker and I played inside with his new toys. We all played outside on the swing set. We watched Daddy work and made faces at him through the glass front door. And then we enjoyed a big Christmas-style family meal at the end of the day. Our first Christmas as a family of four was full of memories!
My baby girl is ELEVEN today!!! She couldn't have a big party, but she sure had a special day. We surprised her with yard signs ( cardmyyard.com ). We released the butterflies into the garden. They hung out on the kids' hands for a while before flying off. Her gift from us was a purple hoverboard - she is so excited! Her neighborhood friends came and secretly decorated the garage for a little party. She was so surprised and loved sharing cake with her best friends. THEN to add even more excitement, two of her best friends from school came for a 'drive-by' socially-distant celebration. She was thrilled to see them drive up - she hasn't seen them in person since March 6, before Spring Break!! Both sets of grandparents gave her a new bike (she will get to go shopping and pick it out herself next week). She has grown so much and is in desperate need of a new bike! My beautiful 11 year old... how time flies!
Things were rolling along quite nicely yesterday (well, not really but let's not get caught up in subtraction regrouping lessons). We were getting ourselves set up for success on this temporary schedule. We were learning things and reading things and writing things and then... the bottom dropped out. The governor announced all schools are closed for the rest of the year. I'm sure all the other parents watching the news conference had the same physical reaction that I did. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. Tears, anger, disbelief... my poor children. ALL these poor children. When they left for spring break they didn't realize it would be the last time they'd see their friends. The last time they'd see their teachers. Ainsley, in particular, is taking it the hardest. She's missing her last Lower School play. Her last Grandparents Day show. No field day. No fifth grade graduation. No class graduation party. She is heartbroken. The next time she sets
I’m sure I’m not the only one who started this quarantine and thought the Zombie Apocalypse was imminent. I did what all normal apocalyptic-preparers would do - I filled our extra 60 gallon water containers, I checked the date on my bucket of freeze-dried food, and I stocked up on canned goods and baking essentials. Clearly the stores would be completely shuttered and I was going to have to make my own bread and can my own vegetables by the time we emerged from quarantine. Well, we all know things didn’t turn out quite that bad, but an Ayres is always prepared! I’ve had a fully stocked pantry of baking ingredients so I’ve worked hard to keep something on the counter to eat at all times. Today I attempted cinnamon squares. The yeast didn’t rise as much as I thought it should’ve, and I didn’t include the pecans that the recipe called for since I have some nut-haters in the family. So you roll out the dough and the spread some of the filling, which was easier said than done. Then you
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