Friday Things #366
1. Isabelle turned 2 on Monday! No birthday party, but she had a fun day of playing outside, eating cupcakes, and enjoying a couple of new toys :) She is talking up a storm in big phrases/little sentences, is incredibly spirited, LOVES her dolls so much, loves rolling around and playing with her brothers, but can also be found in the playroom all on her own, doing her own thing. She loves meat, cheese, pasta, and fruit… and Mickey and Minnie :) I can’t believe this little peanut is already two, time is flying… “the days are long, but the years are short” ❤️️
2. The boys got fresh haircuts last week! (No, we didn’t go out – my husband cut them with clippers, which is how they always get haircuts ;-))
3. The boys (and Isabelle!) are still enjoying online classes twice a week plus worksheets and activities that we can print out and work on at home.
4. Dominic amazingly took it upon himself to start learning how to write his name!
5. It was announced yesterday that all of the schools in Pennsylvania will remain closed for the rest of the school year, which I figured was going to happen, but it still made my heart hurt for Joseph. He starts kindergarten in the fall and has made so many wonderful friends over the last three years; he won’t get a chance to finish the year with them and say goodbye 😢 Maybe if things ease up over the summer, they can still have their picnic!
6. I’ve mentioned before that we make pancakes every Saturday morning, but this week we declared Wednesday “Waffle Wednesday” and I busted out my waffle maker for the first time in ages. I made my favorite buttermilk waffle recipe and was immediately reminded that I love waffles SO much more than pancakes. Anyone else?!
7. How is your quarantine grocery situation? I haven’t wanted to go into the store so we’ve been relying on deliveries for the last month. However, it’s gotten increasingly harder to secure delivery slots; every time I try to go on and get one I feel like it’s 10 years ago and I’m logging on to Ticketmaster to try to score hot concert tickets 😂 I have a Costco order coming via Instacart this afternoon, but I got that slot LAST WEEK after trying for 4 or 5 days. Whole Foods has been just as difficult, and it’s been a little difficult explaining to a 5-year-old and 3-year-old why when the yogurt, fresh berries and bananas are gone, we don’t immediately have it replenished. Although, Joseph sort of understands; he told Dominic the other day, “we have to order it, and if they don’t have spots, we have to wait!”
8. And on that note, what are your plans for Easter dinner? Are you doing something completely different given the circumstances or sticking with traditional food? My husband’s favorite part of Easter dinner is lamb, so I got a lamb roast from Costco in an order a few weeks ago, so I’m planning to make that (using this recipe, which we love), scalloped potatoes, and some glazed baby carrots since I have a bag in the fridge. Still trying to figure out dessert. Maybe a banana cream pie?
9. Have you started any new hobbies or picked up old ones while in quarantine? Aside from working on my puzzle and getting back to work on the blanket I was crocheting, I’ve been trying to read before bed. I’ve had >Atomic Habits on my shelf for awhile, so I started with that one!
10. TGIF! Puppy snuggles for daysssss 😍
Thanks again for your email. I love hearing from you and hearing about your lovely family.
Your children are adorable !
Stay safe and well
Love and best wishes to you all.
Gilli
Happy 2nd Birthday Isabelle!!
The look of aw and wonderment on Isabelle’s face says it all. You must have a very special relationship with her in order to get such a great picture. Hard to believe that she is 2 and I have been following you for 2 plus years.
Love Dominic and his glasses.
I especially love your Golden Babies.
Happy Easter!!
Thank you for sharing it always brightens my day/week
Stay Safe and Healthy
Bev
Happy birthday Isabelle. So sweet, she looks so content, healthy and happy.
I have spent the last several weeks making “quilted” Christmas ornaments. Just completed 24 of them (will share some with my daughter). It has been wonderful to keep me busy. I had never made any before but it was easy and after you make one or two you have it down pat. Takes 1-2 hours to make one. Now that that is done, think I will do a jigsaw puzzle or make some jewelry. Ham is not my husband’s favorite, but I had a turkey breast in the freezer so I’m thawing that out and will have sides that I have on hand. We have been getting our groceries via Shipt but you are right, delivery times are getting harder and harder to get. Got one a week or so ago at 9:00 at night. Wishing you and your beautiful family a blessed Easter. I enjoy reading about the kids and their adventures and love your recipes too. God bless you.
Happy #2 to sweet Isabelle!
I gave my son and husband haircuts this week, thanks to clippers I bought 10 years ago to groom my dogs. LOL My roots, on the other hand, have no hope right now (other than Loreal spray on root color).
My husband is an ER doctor, working all weekend, so we aren’t celebrating Easter dinner until Monday probably. We usually do a Slovak dinner, which consists of ham, kielbasa (both of which came from Dave’s Country Meats in Valencia), scalloped potatoes, green beans, carrots, beet horseradish and a lemon curd cheesecake. I may try to make some small Paska dinner rolls, in place of a full loaf, since there are only 3 of us.
I have struggled for 3 weeks getting a slot to pick up groceries at Market District. We had to give up and send my husband to the store to actually shop (which took him two hours). I didn’t know Instacart delivered from Costco. Hopping on right now!
Precious Isabelle! Happy 2nd Birthday!
The boys look handsome …as always…
It’s so hard to imagine our children’s lives following this nightmare, but children are resilient!
Enjoy your lamb, and all the fixin’s….my husband & I will be having ham….alone…no kids or grands…that is the worst of all this!
Blessings this Easter to you & your family for continued good health.
I have my very high risk parents living with me so we’re doing a hard lockdown in our house. Costco has their regular two day delivery which is good for dry goods and shelf stable foods and then they have their grocery delivery via instacart where you can order a lot of the produce and groceries you normally see in the store. They also have rotisserie chicken but it’s limited to 1 per order. I’ve been able to get delivery times for the following afternoon. But my biggest issue has been running into out of stock items like Annie’s Mac and cheese or laundry detergent, so I just keep logging in every day or two and eventually, I snag them. It’s not a perfect system but we’re in a pandemic and under shelter in place orders so we compromise and make do. Stay safe and healthy, Everyone.
Thank u so much for continuing your posts. I have been reading them for years and watching your beautiful family grow. Your posts are a bright spot on what would be dark times. Stay safe and br well and TGIF.
I saw/heard a tip from another blogger over on instagram – 30 days blog – that if you try right after midnight you can get slots.
I haven’t tried is (sleeping) but I saw other comments that it worked for people.
I’ve heard that, too! I actually tried last night because I was still awake (usually I’m sleeping, too) but it didn’t work. I’ll just keep trying!
A friend told me that she had luck with finding pick up spots for Giant Eagle around 7:00 pm. I tried
a little before 7:00 tonight and was able to get a pick up spot for next Wednesday at a nearby GE.
Happy birthday Isabelle!
Dominic looks great in his glasses
Joseph is a handsome little guy and doing good on his math
For Easter we do have a ham, I found eggs and bought some extra to make deviled eggs. My son wants my rolls, but they take a lot of flour, and we all know that is a precious item right now. I have dead bananas, so I making Banana Bread tonight. I don;t know if it will last until Sunday, but Good Friday is a great time to enjoy it as well.
I have a 14 year old, and when he was in school, his grades were solid C-D and since we have been online schooling, he has straight A’s. He misses his friends, but I admit I like the change I see in his work.
I transitioned to working from home, and it’s been good. I miss all my co-workers and friends though. We haven’t picked up any “new” hobbies, but with a bored teenager, spring cleaning has commenced. I don’t normally do spring cleaning per say, but it has a new meaning this year. Bye bye toys, hello teenager.
Stay safe in all you do. Have a Blessed Good Friday and a Blessed Easter.
He has Risen!
Happy Easter, Shanae! It sounds like you are making the most of the situation in a wonderful way!
Grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s is a delight! They are always well stocked and make sure to keep low numbers in the store. They spray your hands with sanitizer when you come in and all the carts are ready and wiped down.
We’ve given up on the grocery delivery–not only does it take forever to get where I live (STL), I was getting poor quality produce and so many of things were out of stock by the time the shopper went. My husband now goes about every 10 days, wears a mask and brings anti-bacterial wipes, as soon as the store opens (and senior hours end), and we’ve had no issues; he always manages to get everything on the list. Seriously all the things we see people going without, he’s found easily by doing this. And it’s really no different than sending out an instacart shopper, and honestly (to my thinking–I do NOT mean this as a criticism), I was starting to struggle with the privilege of being able to afford to have someone else risk him/herself or his/her family for our family. I send him with an incredibly organized list so he can be in and out, and we don’t do impulse shopping at all anymore. Anything we need waits until the next big shop.
We live in Southern California and this is the end of 3 weeks quarantine. My house will pass the white glove test and you could eat off the floors. I haven’t seen my daughter’s , son in laws and my grandchildren in forever it seems. Thank goodness for FaceTime!
The store lines have ended and are pretty well stocked again after all the people were hoarding. I have used Amazon Fresh, Instacart and Costco for deliveries. Time slots are tricky though.
My Honey and I will have a Honeybaked Ham, scalloped potatoes, roasted broccoli, and homemade biscuits. Just the two of us…we will get through this !
Have a blessed Easter and enjoy your beautiful family!
Happy Easter to you, as well, Luisa! Our parents are really missing our kids, too… they usually see them twice a week and it’s been over a month now for us. We’ve been doing a lot of FaceTime and Zoom, as well. Your menu sounds lovely… And now you have me thinking I should add some biscuits or rolls to my dinner, as well :)
Happy birthday Isabelle. It is hard to believe she is two! I have been reading your blog since Joseph was born, seriously. Love to get it every Friday and learn what’s new. You made me smile when you shared Joseph’s explanation to Dominic, very cute. I am the mother of three sons all grown ( 44, 41, 40 ) so I know your life with three kiddos.
Blessings to you and your family this Holy Week and Easter.
Smiles, Sue
Thank you, Sue, a Happy Easter to you as well!
God bless you all stay safe. I am in Grenada 🇬🇩 locked down. Our restrictions are a bit stiffer than the US but we have to deal with it for our good. Have a bless Easter.
Thank you, Carol, you as well. Happy Easter to you and stay safe!
Love seeing the pictures of your kids, takes me back to when my 3 boys were little! 👍 on waffles!! And trying to schedule a grocery delivery is like a second job……very time consuming. I so appreciate all the shoppers and delivery people from the stores though. And I am so grateful my husband and I seem to have made it through having Covid 19 to tell the tale. It’s awful, everyone keep quarantining!!!
You are completely right Mary, trying to order groceries online has become a second job. I am constantly rotating between the 3 major stores in my city to find a reservation time. When I get one it is like we won the lottery! Crazy. Michelle, love your blog, love seeing the kiddo’s and the dogs. Thanks for all you do.
Mary, I’m so so grateful to hear that you and your husband have recovered. Many blessings to you!
I’m in New Jersey and struggling with grocery deliveries.
How did you get Costco delivery? The kids look great. Your white bread recipe is amazing. Happy Easter.
Hi Mary Ann, I order from Costco through Instacart.