February Milestones

I'll start with Covid and get it out of the way.  The US hit a (bad) milestone in February.... over 500,000 (half a million) people have died of Covid.

Vaccines ARE rolling out (although slowly).  My mom has gotten her 2 vaccines. Todd's mom has gotten 1 of them so far.  I scheduled to get a vaccine in Alabama in early March because Georgia is really really (really) slow to get teachers in line for the vaccine.  There was a surge after the Christmas Holidays that seems to be decreasing a bit.

Mars Perseverance landed.  This mission is supposed to be more robust than the Mars Curiosity Mission that began 9 years ago.  It will have better imagery, will be able to navigate farther each day and it has microphones and drilling equipment aboard.  The possibilities are exciting about what this rover will discover!

And, Mercer turned 13!  We now have a teenager in the house.  Eek.   He keeps talking about "what is 2 years from now?"  (He's referring to starting to drive a car!)  DOUBLE Eek.  

Here are photos pulled from each birthday (or within a few days +/- of his past birthdays)

1st birthday - frog birthday theme

2nd birthday - animal birthday theme

3rd birthday

 

 close to 4th birthday

5th birthday - LEGO party

6th birthday was a pirate theme, but I think he did something else here in this photo where he dressed up again!

Close to 7th birthday - dinner at Peace Love Pizza

8th birthday

(party was at Andretti with a few friends the previous weekend, but had to share the measurement on the wall instead)

9th birthday

A couple of days before 10th birthday.... in Colorado.

Also in Colorado... on his actual birthday.  This is the same shirt as the year before amazingly!  :) 

He looks so different from the other photo / had to include both.

11.  His actual birthday was a small bey-blade party with a few friends (we didn't want him to think we weren't doing anything), but the real present was a Disney reveal... that we packed and left for the next day!  (Here he is with his icon - Goofy!)  ha!

12.  He had a one-friend celebration at a Monster-truck event... but we had to measure him on the wall, of course.  (This seems to be the highlight of the kids' day -- when we officially take their new measurement!)

A couple days before 13.  We had a party for him at the historic Strand theater.... 15 people cap.  Masks required.  

Name on the marquis.  No smile though.  

One word "teenager."

Here are more pictures from his party.  There were several friends from baseball, a couple of friends from school and one from church.  There were a few siblings there as well.  Inside the theater while eating the concession food that was provided as a part of the package... you could take off masks.  

They asked that you socially distance inside, but didn't mandate where people sat.  It was a little unusual to sit so spread out in a theater, but it went well.  (Isabella did sit with a friend though they seemed to keep their masks on and would shove popcorn up under or the straw from the drink.  ha!  I sat near her across the aisle.)  

Mercer chose the movie:  Detective Pikachu. 

 

The kids didn't have cupcakes.... instead, there was a take-away bag of pre-wrapped Japanese treats such as cakes, candies and savory snacks.  And - some Pikachu info including his Japanese roots.  

It was different, but hopefully memorable!

On his actual birthday, he asked for pizza from Peace Love Pizza.  He had cupcakes from Peace Love Sweets - as it turned out!  (total coincidence)   

His gifts (from us) consisted of tee shirts -- one was a practical joke about etiquette school... one had a little bit of a practical joke in it about a Beet wearing Beats (there was a can of beets in the box + some gaming headphones too.... but NOT Beats brand!)... and a Japanese Pikachu tee + comic book and bubble tea to complete the theme.   He got giftcards from friends a new watch, a foosball set and a little bit o' money (like bit o' honey.... ha!)  

He even had cupcakes with Grandma in NJ who face-time called M that evening.  Uncle Jim dialed in too.  

And - of course - there's the annual marking-of-the-wall....

All-in-all, we think he had a good "MILESTONE" birthday!

Here are some other things from this month:  

Isabella enjoying her "birthday" gift that came from Grandma in NC so Isabella would have something to unwrap with Mercer...

Drawings that Isabella has made lately - 

She's been on a bird kick.  :)  

And heart drawings for Valentine's Day.  

Even though it says Love you mom and dad.... we all know who she loves the most....

Notice that mne and Mercer's percentages were scratched out after we protested.  She bumped us up to 99%.  

D is Dad.  Mom.  Me is Mercer.  H is Hip Hop.  L is Lizzy.  C is for the Hermit Crabs.  F is for the fish. 

Mercer (under Todd's guidance) worked on a pretty impressive self-portrait for his art class!!  

LOVE THIS!!

Todd worked hard on making a Valentine's Day dinner (ham and mushroom crepes with chocolate and raspberry crepes for dessert)   He let me work on my teaching classwork which is due in a couple of weeks!

We had winter break and did NOTHING exciting (except for M's theater party).  The kids literally played on computer games the entire week while I worked on my teaching classwork.  I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THAT TO BE DONE.  

A random shot of his size 14 kicks... (which is actually from January, but forgot to post...)

and a wrap-up with 

More pictures with the dog this month...

Her happy place - inside a crate with the dog?  

(well, Hip-Hop DID get 100% on the love-meter at first....)