Good one

Dave has a certain way of teasing me and today I learned my twins have also mastered it.

Luke and Ally were unloading the dishwasher and asked why so many big bowls were in there. I explained that Ally loaded it after making cookies and he comments, "Well, she fit them in good."

I reply, "Well. She fit them in well."

Luke comments, "I think it's pronounced 'good.'"

I smile but ignore it. Living with Dave over half my life has trained me well.

Ally puts the mixing bowl in the mixer and says, "The way you taught me to put the bowl in the mixer works better. It's a really well way to do it."

Before I think, I say, "Good." Then I look up at her. She's smirking. "Did you do that on purpose?"

She laughs.

I smile and shake my head.

Then Luke says to Ally, "That was a well one, Ally."

I can't help it. I laugh. "Dave!" I yell, "You're going to appreciate this. Come listen to what they said."

I relay the story. He says, "Well job, guys."

Half birthday celebration, Covid isolation (for Luke) style

Anna's a teenager

This girl just turned 13.

I made her a Harry Potter cake.

She got a Hogwarts acceptance letter sent via owl (Ally's idea). Although Anna informed me that since she lives in the US, she wouldn't go to Hogwarts, she'd go to a different wizarding school.

Ally also got her a golden snitch necklace and bracelet.

Luke got her a set of books she'd been asking for.

And Kate got her a stationary set to use with the quill she asked for at Christmas.

Anna also gets to pick out a bike in spring, when, hopefully the Covid shortage is over.

Hot cocoa bombs

We tried to make hot cocoa bombs in December and they were a major fail. We couldn't get the chocolate out of the molds. But I saw that the woman who teaches virtual cooking classes for Ally had made them with another class. I asked her what the trick was. It turned out we'd been doing it right but our silicon molds were just too stiff. She gave us a couple of hers and a bag of dehydrated marshmallows and we made a second attempt. They worked great this time!

 

Band in the age of Covid

Kate got to return to school last week. 

She has loved being back.

When she got in the car after the first day, I asked her how it was. She replied, "Super good!"

Melted my heart.

Band, though, looks a little different. 

This is what they gave her to play her flute. A mask to wear that her flute inserts into and a bag for her flute that she slips her hands into.

Ski racer

Kate joined the high school ski team this year.

It was a big challenge with the cold weather coming late, transportation struggles since they didn't have a bus because of Covid, and then Kate getting Covid and having to quarantine, but she did it!

Rough month

 Here's the point we reached last week in the Melbye household.

It's an email to Luke's art teacher that says the following:

Dear Ms. Forsythe,

At the risk of sounding like the world’s worst mother, I have to admit something. I threw away Luke’s collage that he was searching for today.

We are having an addition built onto our house, and everything is in disarray. We had to pack up and empty two of our three bedrooms, and we had to do it in just a few days because I was scheduled for knee surgery. I was ruthless about getting rid of things so that we didn’t have as much to pack up and store for two months while they did the addition.

I distinctly remember asking Luke if he’d turned the project in, and he’d said he had. Normally I’d have asked if he wanted to put it in his "save bin" or throw it away to make room for other things, but I remember being stressed and just tossing it in the trash bag.

So, that’s where his project is.

I realize not turning it in was his mistake, so I would usually just have him redo it. But, he’s had tons of stuff to catch up on after having Covid last week, and I was at least partially to blame, so if you’d consider making an exception, I’d be grateful. If you want him to redo it, however, I definitely understand.

Thank you for thinking about this.

Kristal

At least I remembered to remove the “Parenting with Kristal Melbye” logo from my signature at the bottom of the email. 🤦‍♀️🙄😂