Julia turns 10!!
Happy Birthday Julia!! What an unexpected way to celebrate a birthday - during a pandemic! What could have been a really sad and frustrating day turned out to be a really fun and good day. Julia and I had planned a week long trip to RI to visit Jon and Allison and Matthew and Abby for her state project. She chose to do her state project about RI and just like we did with Riley, we decided to have a special spring break by going there and doing a fun tour of the state. However with the coronavirus going around we decided it was best to just stay home. This was a hard decision, but likely a wise one.
Jeremy's birthday is on Thursday and he had planned a special event for the two of them to go to a Mavs game at the American Airline Center. They had great seats and it would have been fun. That was also cancelled because the teams are not playing.
Julia has handled all the cancellations and disappointments well. We tried to figure out what to do for her birthday and came up with the idea of a Coronavirus Birthday Celebration. The more whacky, the better. And it will be one we remember for a long time!
The day before her birthday I sewed five face masks out of cotton fabric with elastic. A pattern had been shared with me on Facebook and we thought it would completely fit the theme of the day. We wore them for pictures and tried to get the dog to wear one, but Val had zero interest. Plus it likely made it hard for him to breathe so we left him alone. We looked quite a bit like bandits!
I sent out an invitation to friends and family to do a drive-by parade in front of the house from 11-12 in the morning. No presents needed - we'd stay the required 6 feet away and it would be fun to have Julia see some of her friends and for them to see her too. It was a huge hit!
We surprised her and didn't tell her what was going to happen. Around 10:45am, I asked Riley to put our lawn chairs out in front of the house. Julia thought we were going somewhere and she wanted to be surprised as to where we were going. She got in the car and put on her sleeping mask. I waited for a short while and said that I was getting something ready so it would take a minute. Julia was talking away and so excited! Then I told her, "Okay! We're here." She was so confused as to why we were still home. We walked out to the front of the house and Riley was sweetly setting up the chairs.
The girls sat down and then we waited for someone to come by. Julia said she was confused and that it felt strange. The first family to drive up were the Mosley's. They came in with a bang! Silly string being shot out the windows and Kinley was standing in the sunroof holding onto a large confetti shooter. When the confetti went out, it was flying everywhere - into the trees and on the roof. It was awesome!!
There were so many friends, family, and neighbors who stopped by. Some of them threw candy in bags out the window (twice the bags landed in a deep puddle at the front of the lawn), made signs, sang happy birthday, and even blasted loud 'Happy birthday' songs from their radios. Teachers from the school came by. Even two cars of neighbors we didn't even know stopped by. One was a couple who had a 'Happy Birthday' banner. They got out of the car and held the banner. They told us that this was their outing for the day before heading back to quarantine inside. We all kept a safe distance and enjoyed seeing everyone from at least 6 ft. Friends from small group stopped by with a bag of gifts that Julia has really enjoyed - bracelets to make and a water-pen drawing set. Caroline McAfee embroidered the letter 'J' on a shirt for Julia. Yvie brought a birthday sign and a cute present that included blue surgical gloves with gold star stamping on them.
Kathryn, Tripp, Eadyn, and Poppi all made the long drive out for the parade. It was so great to see them!! Poppi had surgery recently and was looking fantastic. He got out of the car so we could talk easily. It was so wonderful to have them there with us! Eadyn was sad that they couldn't stay to play. They went to a Whataburger to pick up milkshakes to bring back to the girls as a special treat. The girls loved it!!
It was incredibly special to see everyone.
The night before her birthday I made a Coronavirus Cake - a circle cake (from a box and packaged frosting) made to imitate the look of the virus cell itself. White frosting. Piping of three small lumps together to make red triangles all over the cake with little sprinkles all over. Julia loved this, but had requested our new favorite cake from The Magnolia Table Cookbook: Chocolate Cola Cake with Chocolate Cola Buttercream. It is truly special!! We've almost eaten the entire cake (while sharing with two friends as well) and still have 3/4 of the coronavirus cake remaining. It's going to be a week of cake I think.
I baked it in the afternoon between Zoom meetings for school and prepping materials. Julia asked for Chipotle for dinner so Jeremy was able to pick it up. Honestly surprised the restaurant was still open! After dinner we asked the girls to go upstairs so we could get another surprise ready. We planned a virus egg hunt. Since we're getting close to Easter, we thought we'd hide easter eggs around the house and the girls would go on a hunt for them. We told them that a virus had infiltrated our home and that it was their job to rid our home of the disease. Then off to the races they went!
There were three Kinder Eggs hidden in the house. We had thought that every time Julia found one of these we'd have her open a present, but instead they were having so much fun finding eggs that we just decided to do the presents all at once. We Facetimed with my parents so they could see Julia open their gift. She had a lot of notebooks, pens, and the game Azul. Her favorite gift was the controller that could be used to play games on our tv. We'll definitely get Riley one of these for her birthday too! They both love it.
Overall I think it was actually an incredibly special day! It was light-hearted, joyful, and original for sure. Happy birthday to our double-digit girl!! Ten looks great on you!
Jeremy's birthday is on Thursday and he had planned a special event for the two of them to go to a Mavs game at the American Airline Center. They had great seats and it would have been fun. That was also cancelled because the teams are not playing.
Julia has handled all the cancellations and disappointments well. We tried to figure out what to do for her birthday and came up with the idea of a Coronavirus Birthday Celebration. The more whacky, the better. And it will be one we remember for a long time!
The day before her birthday I sewed five face masks out of cotton fabric with elastic. A pattern had been shared with me on Facebook and we thought it would completely fit the theme of the day. We wore them for pictures and tried to get the dog to wear one, but Val had zero interest. Plus it likely made it hard for him to breathe so we left him alone. We looked quite a bit like bandits!
I sent out an invitation to friends and family to do a drive-by parade in front of the house from 11-12 in the morning. No presents needed - we'd stay the required 6 feet away and it would be fun to have Julia see some of her friends and for them to see her too. It was a huge hit!
We surprised her and didn't tell her what was going to happen. Around 10:45am, I asked Riley to put our lawn chairs out in front of the house. Julia thought we were going somewhere and she wanted to be surprised as to where we were going. She got in the car and put on her sleeping mask. I waited for a short while and said that I was getting something ready so it would take a minute. Julia was talking away and so excited! Then I told her, "Okay! We're here." She was so confused as to why we were still home. We walked out to the front of the house and Riley was sweetly setting up the chairs.
The girls sat down and then we waited for someone to come by. Julia said she was confused and that it felt strange. The first family to drive up were the Mosley's. They came in with a bang! Silly string being shot out the windows and Kinley was standing in the sunroof holding onto a large confetti shooter. When the confetti went out, it was flying everywhere - into the trees and on the roof. It was awesome!!
There were so many friends, family, and neighbors who stopped by. Some of them threw candy in bags out the window (twice the bags landed in a deep puddle at the front of the lawn), made signs, sang happy birthday, and even blasted loud 'Happy birthday' songs from their radios. Teachers from the school came by. Even two cars of neighbors we didn't even know stopped by. One was a couple who had a 'Happy Birthday' banner. They got out of the car and held the banner. They told us that this was their outing for the day before heading back to quarantine inside. We all kept a safe distance and enjoyed seeing everyone from at least 6 ft. Friends from small group stopped by with a bag of gifts that Julia has really enjoyed - bracelets to make and a water-pen drawing set. Caroline McAfee embroidered the letter 'J' on a shirt for Julia. Yvie brought a birthday sign and a cute present that included blue surgical gloves with gold star stamping on them.
Kathryn, Tripp, Eadyn, and Poppi all made the long drive out for the parade. It was so great to see them!! Poppi had surgery recently and was looking fantastic. He got out of the car so we could talk easily. It was so wonderful to have them there with us! Eadyn was sad that they couldn't stay to play. They went to a Whataburger to pick up milkshakes to bring back to the girls as a special treat. The girls loved it!!
It was incredibly special to see everyone.
The night before her birthday I made a Coronavirus Cake - a circle cake (from a box and packaged frosting) made to imitate the look of the virus cell itself. White frosting. Piping of three small lumps together to make red triangles all over the cake with little sprinkles all over. Julia loved this, but had requested our new favorite cake from The Magnolia Table Cookbook: Chocolate Cola Cake with Chocolate Cola Buttercream. It is truly special!! We've almost eaten the entire cake (while sharing with two friends as well) and still have 3/4 of the coronavirus cake remaining. It's going to be a week of cake I think.
I baked it in the afternoon between Zoom meetings for school and prepping materials. Julia asked for Chipotle for dinner so Jeremy was able to pick it up. Honestly surprised the restaurant was still open! After dinner we asked the girls to go upstairs so we could get another surprise ready. We planned a virus egg hunt. Since we're getting close to Easter, we thought we'd hide easter eggs around the house and the girls would go on a hunt for them. We told them that a virus had infiltrated our home and that it was their job to rid our home of the disease. Then off to the races they went!
There were three Kinder Eggs hidden in the house. We had thought that every time Julia found one of these we'd have her open a present, but instead they were having so much fun finding eggs that we just decided to do the presents all at once. We Facetimed with my parents so they could see Julia open their gift. She had a lot of notebooks, pens, and the game Azul. Her favorite gift was the controller that could be used to play games on our tv. We'll definitely get Riley one of these for her birthday too! They both love it.
Overall I think it was actually an incredibly special day! It was light-hearted, joyful, and original for sure. Happy birthday to our double-digit girl!! Ten looks great on you!
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