Melody’s birthday party this year was at night instead of during the afternoon like parties past. So I felt like food needed to be handled slightly different. Since it was from 5-7, I knew I needed to serve dinner food as well as the dessert food I had planned. My original idea of her party included more kids, more people, less food, and all desserts!
Melody’s second dance recital was last weekend. This year it was slightly different due to COVID-19, but honestly I loved it! First, the recital was moved from May to June. We were assigned a day similar to how it would have happened in May. However we did not have a rehearsal this year. Instead we came just for our single performance. They did a rehearsal, then immediately performed again for video purposes. Because of this, there were maybe 40 people in the audience at a time, and we only had to stay for just her performance. Then we were free to go! I think things went perfectly, and we felt really safe. Melody did so good, and I was afraid with the lack of in-room dance classes she would not know the dance. Overall it was such a sweet performance, and I would be ok if this was the new norm for recitals at her age, ha!
I found this recipe on instagram one day. I am going to share what I used to make these “mug subs”, but you can really use just about anything you have on hand that you would normally use to make a warm sandwich with. They are super easy, and they have become a regular lunch item for us!
foosackly’s is a fast-food chicken restaurant that my dad and I tried while in Pensacola. We wanted to try another new restaurant while visiting, and we passed it on the way to Pensacola Play Zone. Their focus is chicken, so it makes ordering fairly easy. There wasn’t an overwhelming amount of indoor seating, but they did have a lot of outdoor seating. Their chicken was really good. Much like Zaxby’s. Their ranch and foosackly sauce were both really, really good. If you like good chicken tenders, I highly recommend it if you come across one.
So unfortunately I didn’t get many pictures from Father’s Day as we just spent time enjoying life. We had a lot of Brad’s favorites throughout the day. We started with cinnamon rolls, lunch were just leftovers (nothing fancy), we went and grabbed coffee from Starbucks as an afternoon pick me up, then we finished the night with dinner and dessert from Freddy’s. I think Brad had a really good day. We ended the day playing outside with Melody which is always fun!
I always find Father’s Day crafts just a bit harder than any other craft. I don’t really know why. This year I found the perfect crafts for our dad’s, but Brad was the hardest one of all. I eventually found something online I liked and went with it. I ideally wanted things that involved her footprint, but she is awful when it comes to putting paint on her feet. This means I need Brad’s help which would ruin the surprise. So we went another route.
So I found this activity on Oriental Trading’s website. So if you want to do it too, that is where you can find a printable (or you can draw up your own in Microsoft Office or Pixelmator). So this gave us a new activity to do during school days with all the homeschooling we did this spring. We are also trying to continue to do school 1-2 days a week this summer.
So this spring was an interesting one when it came to dance. March 13 we received the news that schools would be temporarily closing for COVID 19, and since our dance studio follows the school calendar dance too was postponed. We spent the first week assuming it was spring break. Then our dance studio put together online classes for the month of April and a few weeks of March. Once (sometimes twice) a week we would do dance in our living room. Melody would do a Frozen dance from youtube along with her recital dance and dance instruction for her class. We have spent the last 4 weeks getting back to in studio dance classes but in a new setup. We have to drop off and pick up the kids via carline instead of going instead. They also have encouraged the kids to wear masks too. And it is recital weekend! So while dance was different, we adjusted and overcame it all. And we are thankful we did get to go back to class and have a recital!
Melody begs for crafts at all times I feel like. This is a craft we did early on during the quarantine when we were going over colors and such. We had all of the things on hand for this easy craft too.
So with all of our quarantine projects started to cause our garage to overflow because everything we decided not to keep ended up here. We already had little space due to all of the things we generally have and our lack of storage and shelving in the new garage.
While in Pensacola back in February, it was pretty cold. While it did get in the 50s and was sunny, the wind didn’t make you warm for sure! So we researched indoor play places to take Melody during the day while my mom worked. One place we found was called Pensacola Play Place. Based on pictures online, it reminded me a lot of Let’s Play, so we gave it a try!
During the quarantine we have tried to find fun ways to entertain ourselves at home. One of those things involved making a volcano. I had seen people doing this all over my facebook feed simply using a clear solo cup. But Brad decided to go beyond that and make a volcano using his 3D printer!
Since Melody’s birthday was dramatically smaller this year, I only had to make 4 invitations to mail out. I did make six in the end so that I would have some extras to store away. I debated between store bought, store printed, or DIY at home. And since I didn’t have to make as many, I opted for DIY. Plus the date was decide about 10 days out, ha!
Early on during quarantine, not all groceries were easy to come by doing grocery pick up exclusively. So I got creative and made a lot of new recipes using what we had. One was homemade cinnamon rolls using crescent rolls. They turned out super delicious and are a great alternative to store bought cinnamon rolls. My only hate on these is that the brown sugar mixture can really harden after the cinnamon rolls sit for a while. But they are still super tasty!
I feel like all we have been doing the last three months has been renovations. Being at home we have constantly seen all the things we want to do, and thankfully we have had the resources to do them since we are home and not spending money as we usually do. One of the small things we wanted to do in our kitchen this year was to change the light fixture. We hope to do a big kitchen project next year, but our original kitchen light fixture was awful for how we used it. It was too low, and people would constantly hit their head on it. And we really loved our kitchen light fixtures in our previous house and wanted one for our new one. So we contacted our local light company and they delivered it to our car. Then we hired an electrician to install it since our ceilings are too tall for us to do it!
For Melody’s Frozen birthday party, we focused a lot on snowflakes. This worked well because I was able to find a lot on clearance after Christmas, and it was fitting for Frozen too. One of the things I had Brad make using his 3D printer was a snowflake banner. He used white filament (we had clear but that was a disaster that I will explain when I tell you all about the favors). I had him use two different size snowflakes for variety. The big issue we had was the twine. The holes in the snowflakes where too small for the twine I had. I ended up using sewing thread which was far from ideal but it worked for the party. The banner was cute and added a little touch to our living room since we had no other party decor in there.
The last sit down restaurant we tried while in Pensacola back in February was Flounder’s Chowder House. It too was located across from our hotel and would be easy walking distance if it were not so cold! My mom had eaten here before, but it was new to me. It was dark when we arrived, so I couldn’t get any great pictures, but is really large and was even crowded on this night.
So I must be honest, I made this a LONG LONG time ago. So long ago, we were at our other house, and I am most positive Melody wasn’t even a thought yet, ha! But I found all the pictures, and I wanted to share with you this countdown idea. This does involve quite a bit of work, but you can use it beyond a countdown!
For Melody’s 4th birthday party, she wanted it to be Elsa themed. Instead of only focusing on Elsa, I did focus on snowflakes, blue, and other Frozen things we could find. I had grand plans for this party, but then COVID-19 hit. She originally wanted to invite her entire preschool class. But then school was cancelled, and even if I wanted to, it would be near impossible to get in contact with all of them. We also had trouble determining a date that we felt comfortable even seeing family for a party. We opted to keep the party dramatically small and only had immediate family and her best friend there. And we did it the weekend after her birthday. We decided this about 2 weeks before, but since I had already did so much planning, and I only needed to make 4 invitations, that part was easy. So follow along to my smallish Frozen party :)
