A Covid-19 Birthday Celebration

  Everyone knows birthdays are a VERY big deal when you're younger.  Age 8 is super special -- children are starting to become more independent and beginning to find their own way.  COVID-19 has taken a lot away from us but it was NOT going to take my love of the twins' birthday celebration away.

  Mike and I love hosting parties at our home and the twins' birthday parties have always been filled to the brim with children, friends, and family members who are very special to us.  Weeks ago during dinner, Cameron asked, "What are we going to do for our birthday this year?"  Mike and I made eye contact across the table because we were pretty sure a big party was out of the question this year.  Mike said, "Mommy and I are going to make your birthday as special as it usually is -- it will just be a little different this year."

  2020 has proven to be a very hard year for the entire world and we are trying like mad to hang onto the joy our little family tries to create on a daily basis.  So obviously this birthday would be off the hook....I am still recovering from it!

Here we go!

The week of celebrating started with a trip to our favorite local ice cream place.  Love the mask on Chip!  We were able to get ice cream from the drive-up window as we aren't allowed to go inside yet.

This milkshake called for an especially large spoon!

Chocolate peanut butter milkshakes -- can't beat it!

 We then headed to Gammy and Poppy's house to celebrate Poppy's birthday.  His birthday is on June 2nd -- just 3 days before the twins'!

Flowers from my garden!

Allie got an early birthday present and was loving her new Razor scooter on the smooth driveway.

Aria and Cole enjoyed chasing after their big cousins.

Cutest kiddos around!

Michael had told the twins about a suspension bridge he and Poppy had made years ago for a school project -- the twins were determined to find it when we visited - and found it they did!

I made a special apple pie for Poppy's birthday!

Poppy and the tired grandkids!  :)

 The next day, we began the construction of the twins' birthday cakes.  Usually I use a Personal Day to have a day off of work to create these masterpieces while the children are in school...things were a bit different this year around with everyone being home ALL DAY LONG!

Cam helped me stir together his cake.

Because I had helpers, I had the time to weed and prune the bushes in my front flower garden.  Everything is doing so well this spring!

Beautiful!

 The twins also had their "last day of school" where they had to turn in their iPads and library books.  Once again, their school was wonderful and the drop-off was very easy.

Love this quote...their principal says it every day during his announcements.

NO MORE IPADS!!!!!!!!!

Allie's teacher made a special visit to our home to deliver awards to both Cameron and Allie.  Allie really enjoyed having her as a teacher and we all enjoyed getting to know her better during the remote learning adventure.

Cameron opted to practice social distancing during Mrs. Dougherty's visit.  :)

Air hug -- WE LOVE MRS. DOUGHERTY!!!

 Back to the cakes...funny story to record.  So on Thursday night, the night before the twins' birthday, the snake cake was NOT looking good.  At bedtime, Cameron said, "Mommy - my cake looks like a piece of crap."  I instantly started laughing because yes -- it did look like that.  He quickly said, "Or like a curly noodle".  I made a promise to him that the cake would look much better by the morning.  A mere 3 hours later, the snake cake was complete!!

This one was seriously challenging.....but WOW -- so cool!

 Allie-girl LOVES Descendants right now (and so do I!!). She had asked for a Descendants cake -- I've never made octopus tentacles before -- but I think they turned out really neat!!

Had to snap this picture of the kitchen after my day of creating their cakes...not too bad this time around!  Usually there is icing everywhere -- including on the ceiling and in my hair!

DONE!  Time for some sleep!

Friday, June 5th:

We did NOT stay to this schedule....but we gave it a good try!

 First up -- find their cakes!

Our first special guests -- we love our neighbors!!

Riding down Susan Road is super fun!

Go Daddy!

Thank you to another neighbor for letting us borrow this great yard sign!!

 We totally lucked out and scored this bounce house from our friend, Jeff.  It's been in storage for months so was completely COVID-19 free!!!

Time for special guests #2!

We opened a few presents that Mrs. Richter sent to us in the mail!!!  She was VERY good to the twins this year!

Allie has had an expander in the roof of her mouth for almost a year now.  She hasn't been able to go to her orthodontist appointments because of COVID-19.  We were finally able to get in last week -- our fantastic doctor is happy with her progress and told us as soon as her last tooth grows in, she can have the expander removed!!  All she's wanted to eat for this last year was Sour Patch kids but wasn't allowed to because of her expander.  Her doctor told us if she wanted to eat them, then go ahead!!  And if the expander got pulled off, no problem!  So this was a perfect birthday present for this sweet little girl.

 And then it was time for the BIRTHDAY PARADE!  This is something that has been created because of the social distancing rules.  Mike and I both agree we loved the parade -- so we might continue this tradition next year!

 Thanks to Gammy for capturing the excitement at the meeting location!

 HERE THEY COME!!!!

Uncle Matty leading the parade back down the hill!

Steph and her kiddos!

TISSY!

Barbe-Mimi made the trip all the way from Nazareth!

Gammy and Poppy! (driving our car...long story...)

Auntie E and the cousins on the way up the hill....

...and on the way down!

Gammy began throwing presents out the window.  Cam said, "Gammy was a volcano of presents!!"

Mr. and Mrs. Richter and their son Josh were in the parade as well -- Mrs. Richter made these beautiful birthday signs - and got the kiddos these great tops!!!

The twins LOVED their bday parade.  THANK YOU to everyone who participated in it!

 After we cleaned up the front yard from the chaos from the parade, the twins instantly began putting together their lego kits!

And unwrapping more presents!!

We had a small gathering of our family and a very special neighbor for the "after party".

A perfect puzzle for OBX 2020!

Rhys enjoyed the party.

American Girl cowgirl boots!!

Super excited about her Descendants poster from Auntie E!

Pretty good haul!  :). Very thankful for everyone who spent money on the twins...we're helping out the economy!

Time for cake!

 And right when I thought we were finally winding down for the night....we opened the lid of our new hot tub and discovered THESE!

Our neighbor Lisa had snuck over and put MANY rubber duckies into our hot tub...

...and this cute birthday card was floating in a zip-loc bag.  SO FUN!

So we of course had to get in the hot tub at 9:30 at night!!!

WHAT A GREAT BIRTHDAY!!

Allie had a little bit of energy left to dress her American Girl.  Mommy was falling asleep as I snapped this picture!

 AND THEN.....we woke up the next morning and headed NORTH to BRADFORD COUNTY!!!  HELLO GREEN ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!

We had my dad's lovely neighbors over for a small birthday party.  The pool was wonderful.

The weather was perfect.

We dressed little Emma up in special birthday dresses that we borrowed from Mrs. Richter!

This kid was AWESOME coming off the board!  Allie has also become a very confident swimmer in the deep end!  Yeah!

Allie LOVES her scooter and is so good on it!

Bah-Bah had a special surprise for us.....

Here he comes!

Everybody on!

Made a quick visit to the Gromley's farm...the sheep were very excited to see us.

Such beautiful country....

This dog is just a little bit spoiled. 

Thank you to Aunt Biz for capturing this super cute picture!

Yup...these lucky kiddos got another fantastic birthday cake from a good family friend.  And this one was HOMEMADE!!! YUMMMMMMM.

Bah-Bah made homemade ice cream as well....HEAVEN!

We loved having Aunt Biz and Uncle Matty come for a visit...here's my dad showing them a picture from the Rocket Courier that features my grandmother (my dad's mom) and her graduating class from 1947.

 We woke up the next day and headed out to go fishing!!!

Before we even left Cam caught a frog.....it was sure to be a good day of catching stuff!

Cam got to ride with Bah-Bah and little Emma.....

.....Allie opted to ride in the "way back" with Mommy!

 We LOVE Bah-Bah's boat!

It was a perfect day for fishing....

Cam's got a new fishing pole from Bah-Bah for his birthday.

Uncle Matty!

Emma likes the boat!

HA!  Caught Emma in the middle of a yawn!

Perfection

Look at that face!

And the fish were biting!!!  Here's Cam using Bah-Bah's big fishing pole -- and catching his first bullhead!

Both kiddos got to drive the boat for a bit...

Such a good day with such great people.  

 We headed back to Bah-Bah's and I was so glad my grandfather stopped by.  I've been nervous to visit him because of the virus...it was SO good to see him and talk to him.

Here we are solving the world's problems

We had to eat our catch of the day!!!  Bah-Bah put together a fantastic fish fry for us -- definitely not for the faint of heart!

Time for a Mahindra ride.

This is a classic picture of Michael that was taken in 2011....

We decided to re-enact it...just a bit off!

We discovered that 8 year olds LOVE playing in gravel pits!

She's the queen of the world!

Could not get Cam to come over...he was covered with dirt and still running around the gravel pit -- I just love how happy we all look in this picture though.  Country air is good for the soul!

There he is!  THE ROCC FLOCK!

Yup -- both kiddos can pretty much drive the Mahindra....I thoroughly enjoy being driven around.

Biz and Matt left the next day....we spent the day hanging out at Bah-Bahs...had to get a night swim in!

GASP!  KEN AND BARBIE!!!

 And we eventually dragged ourselves back to the Lehigh Valley.  It was good to be home though!

Allie and I both love this outfit from Mrs. Richter!

The animals survived due to another lovely neighbor who took very good care of them!

This big guy was glad we were home.

And this big guy turned from a tadpole to a frog while we were gone!!  We brought a bunch of tadpoles home way back in March -- they are now ready to enter the real world.  AND SO ARE WE!!!