It's my birthday. And I'm 45. I don't feel 45, yet here we are. I miss my dad because it's also his birthday today. But I didn't have to miss my mom because we snuck her out of her retirement apartment complex to have birthday lunch with us. Technically her place is "closed" and the Shelter In Place orders in our county discourages activities with people outside your immediate household, but Tom and I have been exceedingly careful so we felt comfortable bringing her over. The most excited to have Nana visit was definitely Mousse.
This morning we picked up some fancy cupcakes from Frost.
Singing "Happy Birthday" to me.
Born in the 70s and wearing a 70s inspired jumpsuit. Black dog is the perfect accessory.
This evening Serafina got started on my birthday gift puzzle from my Aunt Sheila.
It was a bit of a strange birthday with no outings to restaurants and no hugs from friends, but we definitely made the best of it and I had a great day.
Serafina performed two more recital pieces today in our living room. First up was Lyrical. This costume was not her favorite.
She was too overheated at the end of her performance team dance to let me take a picture so here's a picture from her first time performing with the team in November.
This past weekend was supposed to be Serafina's big recital weekend. She would have performed four dances over two days, and her Jazz dance included her friend Millie. Of course, none of that happened because of Coronavirus. Instead, she put on her costume and makeup and danced in our living room during her usual zoom class time while the teacher recorded it. She has two more classes later this week and then all the videos will be shared with parents as a "virtual recital". It's hard not to feel sad about this. She was a good sport and did her best, but she was upset after because this isn't what she imagined for herself. She's also really worried what will happen for next dance season.
Here she is in her sparkly Jazz costume.
She did her own makeup and she did a great job.
Sassy Jazz poses
Showing off how the dress sparkles. This would have looked great on stage.
Saying farewell to the Jazz class and teacher. Her friend Millie is in this class so when we feel safe to start seeing people, we plan to have the girls put the costumes back on and take a picture together.
The ballet costume actually photographs well. In person, it's kind of a strange green color.
It looks much prettier here.
Thursday she'll perform two more dances. Recitals are usually pretty busy for me with shuttling her back and forth to the theater and helping backstage for at least one performance. This year my only job is to keep the dog and Leo out of the room while she performs.
We've always liked to hike but having Mousse as a hiking companion makes it extra fun. There was almost no whining or complaining during this hike yesterday to the Stevens Creek Reservoir. The kids are a little under-exercised since they haven't had school P.E. or a ski season to keep them active.
Mousse wanted to greet all the people and all the dogs but did a great job of behaving himself. He really loved being out there.
Here are the hiking humans.
Mousse was a little apprehensive of the reservoir, but he was definitely interested.
He started to feel a little braver after a few minutes.
Tom with quaratine hair by the reservoir.
Leo also rocking a quarantine 'do.
Today we spent a little time at the park.
Mousse was very "helpful" to fetch the whiffle ball every time it was hit.
Today was Leo's last day of school. He had two fun "meetings" with his teachers and that was it. He was all done with his school work yesterday.
He wore his "Learning is Never Canceled" shirt that his school sent to all the students when distance learning was implemented.
Here's a first day/last day comparison.
There was a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Sunnyvale this evening. Leo and I wanted to go, but then he started to have second thoughts. There is still a pandemic going on and we have drilled into our kids' heads that they need to keep their distance from others for the time being. He also knows that not all the protests have ended peacefully. Because of these reasons, he felt a little nervous so we set aside his awesome sign for another time though we both hope we don't have to bring it back out.
It was Serafina's last day of school. It was also "Blue Day" so she wore her Laurelwood shirt.
The dog had to crash the pictures, of course.
She tuned into her last class meeting on the computer.
And then Leo crashed her class meeting.
Here's a first day/last day comparison.
We usually have a last-day-of-school pool party but since that couldn't happen this year, we drove through Starbucks instead. It was a special treat that didn't exactly make up for how difficult this situation is, but it was still enjoyable.
In the afternoon, Serafina had a virtual hang-out with Sunny and Millie to celebrate the end of the year. Mousse made himself a little cushion nest on the couch and had a nap.
