#datquarantinelife 2/?

Spring came and went, and she was very pretty this year.

Vivi has kind of been at her very worst.  In the span of less than two weeks she: (1) turned off the chest freezer in the garage and spoiled everything inside, (2) chucked an opened can of Dr. Pepper Cherry at the carpet, resulting in our living room looking like an extremely bloody crime scene, and (3) left a grape freeze pop on the counter, staining the laminate pink and blue.

But she also cracks us up daily and now makes the absolute funniest faces.  When we can actually get her in clothes we are reminded of how cute she can be sometimes.  And when she falls asleep at night, I always think of that line from that first episode of Curious George: George is always a good little monkey... when he's asleep.  Yes, when she is asleep she is at her very best.

Theo graduated Preschool!  It was an anti-climatic end to a three-year endeavor, but we are very proud of him.  We did our own little graduation ceremony for him to celebrate, and it was a good time.  I don't know if we will be going to Kindergarten in the fall, but whatever happens I know he'll get through it just as well he's done with Preschool.

Theo has also taken up the peace sign in pictures, and it's one of my favorite things ever.  Every so often he'll ask me to take a picture of him, and by the time I have my phone out and ready, he's waiting with the peace sign and a cheesy smile.

He also lost his first baby tooth, which just about knocked me out dead.  One night he casually was like "hey, I have a loose tooth" and when I looked I saw the new tooth in the back and my or may not have let out a high-pitched gasp.  A week later, the baby tooth was out!  He already has a second loose tooth, and I'm still not prepared for all of this.  He's literally losing his last vestiges of babyhood and it's killing me.

One Sunday we went for a drive, and it was fun/sad remembering what it was like to go on a road trip.  We miss those a lot, and it's hard accepting that we won't be doing one of those for some time.  But I think we might be taking up more scenic nature drives in place of a longer trip.  It was fun driving to a new place that isn't too far away from where we live and getting the kids out of the house for once.  Even if it was cold!

Speaking of cold, the weather at the beginning of June was truly the weirdest most bizarre things I have ever experienced.  On a Friday we had a windstorm that knocked out the power for over 12 hours.  The next day, Saturday, we had a huge hailstorm.  The next day, Sunday, it rained and stormed some more.  And then on Monday, it snowed.

The poor garden, she has had a vexing few months.  Between the late freezes and the evasive pests that came and chomped up all of the peas and spinach, she's had a rough time.  But hopefully things are normalizing and we can still have a good growing season.  Fingers crossed that the first freeze in the September holds off as long as possible.

We are producing spinach faster than we are eating it, but my new ramen addiction is helping.  I've been needing food lately that is comforting, and this ramen is it.  I use the regular "chicken flavor" ramen, but add lottts of things to it to make it special.  For the soup: hondashi and miso.  For the add-ins: boiled eggs, lots of veggies (usually scallions, shiitake mushrooms, spinach, and whatever else I feel like adding), and some leftover meat or pork belly if I want it to be extra special.  It's so filling and delicious and I probably make it at least three times a week.

It's really hard to not be angry every single day for SO MANY things, least of all the state of things COVID-19-related.  But I'm really glad for these kids and the happy/funny moments that I cling to.  I made a new home video for their "Quarantine Spring," and they weren't really doing anything special, but they are happy and healthy and having fun, and it's what I want to remember when all of this is over.