Been a While : Part 1/3

Ohhhh it’s been a while. <3

I took quite the hiatus from social media when it felt like the world was crumbling. While most days I still feel like I did in March, I definitely feel some days have a sense of normalcy to them, so I think I’m ready to be “back.” Ever since we brought Ollie home, I’ve wanted to do quarterly roundups of favorite personal photos, so I thought now was as good a time as any to share a little bit about what our life has looked like the past six months!

Disney’s announcement to close their parks happened *on* Nate’s birthday, and mine, just 5 days later, was the day after they temporarily shut down. To say there was a bit of a dark cloud looming over was an extreme understatement; and of course, we thought it was only a two week pause! All this was happening while I was recovering from surgery!

A few weeks later, we celebrated Easter still in lock down, but had our first “visitors,” two of Ollie’s favorite teachers stopped to bring him some candy. <3

Ollie proudly sharing our feast for the Easter bunny! Dyed eggs, baby carrots, and coffee. You know. <3

Easter weekend was when I started making masks! I put a call out to Facebook to see who needed PPE and the feedback was insane! Before I knew it, we *all* needed masks, and Nate and I estimate that I’ve made nearly 1000 this year. CRAZY!!! (I’ve now turned this into an official side hustle with a website and everything- check out Huck and Ollie here!)

The beginning stages of packing up orders! :)

One thing we’ve clung onto are our Starbucks family dates. Once or twice a week during lock down, we’d go to the Starbucks drive thru for coffee, and do a trunk parking lot family date. Ollie would sit in the open trunk and read with Nate and I just outside in camping chairs. We’ve recently become a little nostalgic for this and started doing it again. :)

My little Starbucks junkie! God bless the sweet girls there who will “scan” his pretend phone so he can pay, too!

Always on the hunt for affordable, covid-friendly toddler family dates! This was Ollie’s first drive in movie! We brought him in jammies and sat him on a sleeping bag and saw How to Train Your Dragon. None of us watched a minute of the movie, but Ollie was just shocked and THRILLED to sit in the front seat and eat junk food and hit all the buttons, lol!

Thankfully, Orlando had amazing weather until mid-May, so every morning we hung out on the front driveway until lunchtime!

Yes, we’re Animal Crossing addicts. (Ollie’s favorite thing to do on our family walks is to pretend he’s holding a net and catch butterflies!)

The best quarantine purchase was this little pool! This kid could live in a swimming pool.

On our walks, we let Ollie bring whatever he wants. Sometimes it’s a superhero cape and a roll of wrapping paper, sometimes it’s Kermit, his hook, and camera. <3

Ollie’s third birthdaaaaay! We had two driveway guests and his best friends all sent surprise birthday video messages for him- He felt so loved!! His best friend Miss Mary (from the UPS Store!) gave him these balloons and bananas, and all he wanted for his birthday dinner was a Happy Meal. It was just such a special day!

I had big plans of an ornate Muppet cake, but all he wanted was an all-white Publix cake! At the last minute, he let me throw on a little Kermit. :)

His birthday portrait. <3

We barely gave him anything for his birthday this year but man did Aunt Lolo and Uncle Jon pull through with a surprise bounce house!!

We’ve really only done one pandemic project! I was wanting this office wall for ages and Nate made it happen! Day one of project day…

Ta daaaa! <3

Ooooooooof Ollie and I were feeling all the feelings when I had to cut his curls! I cried and he kept telling me I was doing a good job but ohhhhh emmmm geeee! I love this photo with his little unsure face, the scissors, and clipped curls!