Nuts

After months of staying away from all other humans, our kids are delighted to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the week.  We've been very careful during this Covid crisis, but time spent with loved ones is a necessity worth the risk.  After one day, they've already had more fun than they've had in the last 3 months combined.  I miss them, but I couldn't be happier for them.  

Amelia helping make her favorite snack .... Grandpa's boiled peanuts...

Sums It Up

Amelia decided to treat the pups to some delicious wet food this morning.  She carefully split it, chopped it into puppy-sized pieces, and placed it on their normal dry kibble.  She called the dogs and excitedly grabbed their bowls.   One fumble later, with the clang of the bowl and the splat of the wet food, 2020 was summed up pretty well .... great intentions, hopeful plans, chaos and disappointment everywhere...

Homework

Me being fortunate to work from home during this pandemic has meant the pups have had extra time to get to know each other.  It seems like it's going well...


This is how they spend their days "helping" me work...

Father's Day

As they all have been, today was a great Father's Day.  I was reminded of what a lucky guy I have to have my wife and kids in my life.  That said, this year, the Best Gift award goes to Olive and Lucy for getting me these socks so the three of us can have matching paws...

Joker

I'm a very lucky guy in that I get to spend my time with a wife and two kids that ALL make me laugh on a regular basis.  As an example, I offer you this -




I asked Everett to take a loving, sweet picture of me with my beautiful daughter.  We snuggled up close and made sure our smiles were on point while Everett carefully got closer and farther away and moved left and moved right to make sure he was getting the best shot.  After I took it and thank him, he tossed me back my phone and went on about his business. Here is the picture he took....

A stick figure drawing of me and Amelia that she made me on her 5th Father's Day...

Lonely

Since I developed a slight fever over the weekend and my family locked me away like old Christmas decorations, I'm really missing these guys...

.... I'm happy to report my fever went away today and I never developed any cough or coronavirus related symptoms....now, if I can just figure out how to unlock this attic from the inside...

Gems

These stones are beautiful.  They're all extremely rare and valuable (according to the salesman).  The best part about them? They're all mine...for the next five days.  That's right, I rented rocks.  I know that seems like a dumb idea to some of you, but this wasn't about the rocks.  This was about keeping local businesses alive during the pandemic.  I was informed earlier today that The Everett Store was going to go out of business if things didn't pick up by the end of next week.  Always wanting to help a fella in need, I followed him to his bedroom to check out the store's merchandise.  Admittedly, this felt more like buying a fake purse on Canal Street than going to a purveyor of precious items (he also sells original artwork).  Once in the store, he showed me his collection of wares and offered me not only purchase options, but rental options as well.  Given the steep price on some of the merchandise - he had a geode he offered me for $600,000 - I opted to go the rental route.  Thanks to a special he was running, which I was told ended at midnight, I was able to get 3 gems for 5 days for the price of snuggling him and scratching his back at bedtime.  Coincidentally, Meggan only got 1 gem for 1 day for the same price.  I think it's safe to say I'm the negotiator of the family.  The last bit of fine print before we sealed the deal was him making us agree to pay him $10 per stone if they get lost or damaged.  That seemed fair to us, so we closed the transaction....saving a local business.  I'm not sure if I want Ev to be a "businessman" when he gets older, but if he decides to take that path, I think he's going to do a mighty fine job.

Trade Off

We're all about being fair in this house...the new puppy is no exception....


sometimes we're the pillow.....

sometimes she's the pillow....

Airverett

The neighbors invited us over to use their pool yesterday.   It was easy to socially distance since they weren't even there.  Ev took it as an opportunity to work on his basketball game....you know, for all the time he skies through the air to dunk it....

The Three Amigas

The three young ladies in my house seem to have come around to a pretty nice working relationship with each other.  Of course, when I say working relationship, I mean playing, napping, and snuggling.