May 1st Nick got to pick up his yearbook, cap and gown, graduate yard sign and drip off his parking pass and computer. He is officially done with his senior year. It is really weird that he is heading off to college in the fall. Steve also found out that Breakthroughs (their big conference they have every year) has been cancelled for this year. So much that is being cancelled. I understand it is for health reasons, but it is getting a little overwhelming, and will probably get worse before it gets better.
May 2nd we spent the morning taking down Naomi's tree in the back yard. The bottom of the trunk was rotting and we were afraid it would fall on the neighbor's house. There was nothing we could do to save it. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the house and Steve worked on the cedar platter for Dianna.
May 3rd I took Jeremy to Urgent Care. His eyelid was getting worse - to the point where he could not open his eye. He was diagnosed with a stye and cellulitis. Hopefully the eyedrops and oral antibiotics will take care of it. Nick and Steve went to pick up some cedar. A fellow scoutmaster had a fallen tree on his property and asked Steve if he wanted it. More wood for him to play with. Naomi rode her bike to her friend's house to wish her a happy birthday.
May 4th - STAR WARS DAY (May the 4th be with you!) The kids helped me with grocery shopping and we went for a walk. Jeremy worked on his final projects for his final classes of his associates. This has been a stressful semester and it will be especially nice for Jeremy to finish up and be able to take a little time off to decompress.
For dinner we decided to have a little fun with the food. It was all Star Wars based and so much fun.
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| BB8 cheeseball and crackers |
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| Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-watermelon (think the tune from the cantina) |
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| Darth taters |
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| Bantha steaks |
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| And for dessert - Bananakin Piewalker |
We also got a letter from Carnival officially cancelling our cruise. Even if we hadn't already decided to cancel it would have happened anyway. Dang it!
May 5th was a chill day. I helped Jeremy with his final essay and we made empanadas.
May 6th we did a Gimkit review for the test in seminary. The kids are ready for this! I made more masks, Jeremy worked on his essay, Nick worked and Naomi did school and commissions.
May 7th pretty much the same as yesterday, minus the Gimkit. Oh! The Arias family brought me a cheesecake to say thank you for teaching seminary. Happy Day!
May 8th Nick and Steve took a fieldtrip to Hickory. They found a surplus store that has some things Steve needed for his forge. Yup! They had a great time. I worked on seminary assessment stuff and getting the semester closed out. More masks! Nick had an interview with Justin from UTI to see if UTI was a good match for him. He is even more excited than ever to finally get to learn about cars.
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| It's official! |
May 9th Jeremy came with me to drop off this batch of masks and to pick up pizza for dinner. On the way we listened to "The Fliers of Gy" by Ursula K. LeGuin. It was a really interesting story and it was fun to spend time with Jeremy. Back at home I went on a walk with Naomi and then helped Nick with his application for UTI. I also found a new project - crocheting hats for newborns and preemies. Fun stuff. Mom and I practiced the Zoom call stuff to make sure her new camera worked. It was so good to see her face while talking to her.
May 10th. We started off the morning with church. That afternoon we Zoom chatted with my family. It was amazing to see everyone and hear how they have been doing and what they have been doing to keep themselves busy and safe. Steve and I went on a walk in between the family Zoom calls and got dinner ready. I gave both boys haircuts and we all went to bed exhausted.
May 11th - Jeremy is officially done with all of his classes. He finished his last assignment. FREEDOM! Nick and I filled out his FAFSA to find out how much financial aid he might get for college.
May 13th I finished Nick's t-shirt quilt (the first version of it). That afternoon we dropped off Naomi's soccer uniform and picked up her soccer sweatshirt. It was a bittersweet day. Her 8th grade year is almost over. Mixed emotions.
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| One last picture before taking the uniform back to school. |
May 14th was fun because Naomi and I got to go and see one of her teachers from 7th grade. Mrs. Tedder had fallen and broken her ankle so we took dinner in to help her out a little. It was nice to sit and chat with her for a bit.
May 15th we did a dump run. In order to make it worth the charge of getting in, we took the tree clippings for our neighbor along with our bags of cut grass. I finished up the seminary gradebook! Naomi, Jeremy and I went shopping for a bathing suit for Naomi. Steve and I dropped off a cedar bowl to Julie. She was super excited. Steve and Naomi went to the craft store and got some oil paints for a project. Naomi is officially done with 8th grade and middle school. The last of her assignments got turned in today.
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| Naomi's last art project. |
May 16th we got up early and left for a weekend in Wilmington. Jeremy was going to spend some time with his friend, Justin, and we were going to take Nick's graduation pictures on the beach. Naomi and I rode with Jeremy to keep him company along the ride. Steve and Nick left a little after us since Nick needed to go to an orientation meeting for his lifeguarding job. I didn't realize how much I needed to see the ocean again. It has such a calming effect.
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| The view from our room. It was perfect. The Surf Suites in Wilmington is on our list of "to do again". |
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| A run on the beach is the best run. |
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| Naomi and me looking for shells. |
When the sun started to go down, Jeremy, Justin and Sidney joined us for Nick's pictures and dinner. With all the things Nick is missing his senior year, we are doing all we can to make sure he gets a few moments to he really wants. Pictures in his cap and gown on the beach was right at the top of the list. I handed Naomi the camera and let them have some fun. We got some really good pictures and had a good time doing it. Here are a few of my favorites! If you want to see more, go to the Graduation Special blog. I posted lots more there.
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| Pizza on the balcony watching the waves. It doesn't get much better than this. |
We were all up early the next morning and ready to go walking on the beach again before we had to check out and head home.
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| The tide was out and we could see the jetty. |
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| It was fun to watch the waves roll up the side of it. |
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| One last walk before heading home. |
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| The birds on the beach are so much fun to watch. |
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| I found this piece of sea glass. |
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| Surf Suites from the ocean side. All the rooms have a view of the ocean. |
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| One last goodbye from the balcony. |
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| insert HUGE *sigh* here. I am NEVER ready to leave the ocean. |
May 18th we were kind of back to the quarantine normal. Nick and I took a nice walk in the morning and then did some more graduate photos. We went to Target to pick up some things for "prom". Nick power washed Devan's house. Naomi went to her her virtual Band Banquet. It was kind of sad because this is usually such a fun night with everyone cheering for each other. She sat on the front porch for the 30-minute Zoom and then the band year was done.
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| Naomi at the band banquet. |
May 19th Krispy Kreme donuts was giving out free donuts to anyone who came through the drive thru wearing their graduation gear. Nick and Ravyn went and got their free donuts and had a great time. Everyone is trying to make the senior year special for these kids who are missing out on their last quarter of their senior year.
May 20th it rained all day and we were under a flash flood warning. We all just did our own thing all day long. I got a soccer shirt quilt done for Naomi and made some cheesecake cookies. They were good the first day, but much better the second day after spending the night in the fridge. Governor Cooper started Phase 2 of reopening. Nick was excited because that meant the pools would be open for the summer. Naomi spent a lot of time of Zoom that last week of school saying goodbye to her teachers.
May 21st It rained ALL day again so we were basically stuck inside. Nick's car was in the shop the whole day fixing a leaky valve cap. To fill the time, Nick designed his graduation announcement and we got them ordered. He helped me fix a leaky faucet and got a new GPS watch. He was happy to pick up his car at the end of the day. One good thing did come of being in the house all day with nowhere to go - Steve started cleaning up his office. We got the bookshelves moved upstairs into our room which gave him more room for his two desks and all the other stuff he wanted to store in there. With all that is going on, it should not be surprising that I had a hard time sleeping. I was still up at 1:30 a.m. and Nick was up at 4 with an upset stomach. This quarantine really effected us all in a myriad of ways.
May 22nd, I got up and went for a walk because it had FINALLY stopped raining. Naomi went for a bike ride and Nick went on a run. Jeremy went to work and called me r ight at the start of his shift. He wanted to know if I could make some masks for his co-workers. After Naomi and I went to the store for some necessities I set to work on making 10 more masks.
May 23rd I finished Naomi's soccer blanket. It turned out pretty cool and she likes it.
May 25th - Memorial Day Weekend. Steve spent most of his time working on his cedar bowls. He is really enjoying it and it is a good stress-reliever for him. We also decided to pay off the Xterra with the cruise refund money. It did take some of the sting out of not being able to go on the cruise. Lemonade out of lemons? That night we left the windows open so we could hear the Coca Cola 500 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
May 26th we did a lot of yardwork and everything looked amazing when we were done. The kids all pitched in and it got done rather quickly. Jeremy fixed some Brazilian-style meat for dinner and it was super yummy. Nick went to Devan's house to watch a movie with his friends. Her parents had set up a movie screen in the backyard so the friends could safely get together.
May 27th was another rainy day because tropical storm Bertha was on top of us from noon to 10 p.m. I worked on Jeremy's quilt. He wanted a queen size quilt so I got creative with adding to the t-shirt pieces we cut out. It is going to be a work or art when I am all done.
May 28th I finally got to have my hair done. I feel human again. Nick went for a long bike ride and totally wiped out on his bike. He hit some standing water from the storm that was hiding some serious mud and went down hard. He is okay - just a little rattled.
EDITOR NOTE: I know that I keep switching between present and past tense. The plan was to keep up on this blog during the quarantine and I did not. I am writing this in October and some of the events are still really vivid in my mind so they are in the present tense. Back to the blog.
May 29th was the drive-thru graduation for the 8th grade. I got to talk with Mrs. Head for a moment since we got there early and had to wait. She told me she was retiring a year early because I made subbing sound so amazing. She is excited to not have to grade any papers or come up with lesson plans or deal with parents. She also really liked being able to say no if she has something else planned for the day.
The drive through was quick, but just what Naomi needed to put some closure on her middle school experience and her 8th grade year. All of the teachers (5th and up) were there the send the 8th graders off in style. I love this school!
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| Naomi waiting in line to go through her graduation goodbye |
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| Mrs. Justice and Mrs. Coffey - two of her teachers this year. |
May 30th - I got to start the day with a walk with Naomi. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the house and getting projects done. Jeremy helped me with the design on his quilt. When Nick saw it he wanted his bigger and fancier so we started unpicking it. We took Nick to the Urgent Care because of a sore on his arm. It ended up being another MRSA and we had to go to the pharmacy to get a prescription. Everything is still pretty closed down so we had to go to a pharmacy that is not our usual because it was the only one open AND even it was closed because of the riots in Charlotte because of George Floyd's death. This world is definitely crazy right now - a pandemic and riots in the streets all across America.
May 31st - I started working on Nick's quilt. He applied for another lifeguard position since the pool he worked for decided not to open after all. It was a weird end to a weird month.
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