Summer Dayz

We hold all our summer plans loosely. The pandemic, along with a high risk household, continues to keep us in a "TBD" mode as the days roll forward towards the gift of vaccination when Max turns 12. Some days, I really lose my steam. I can't continue to reinvent everything all the time, and I need to let go of my own expectations. I pray daily for energy and inspiration for these days we are in, and let God show me one day at a time how to make memories, and have wisdom for the risks/rewards of all situations. It requires "spiritual strategy"... a phrase someone said recently and now I use it all the time to express what I need, or what I am praying for others. A strategy from God for everyday life, emotions, decision-making, attitude, resting, working and planning. I guess this is just a description of normal daily life with God, but lately it has helped me immensely to know my Creator God is helping with the nitty gritty of everything. Emmanuel, God with us...

So far this summer, we had an inferno heat wave (115 degrees in Portland - yes we fried an egg in that sun), some refreshing time by the icy river, walks in the woods, homemade Bingo game (with prizes!),  naps on the couch, new puzzles, toilet pranks (Mom! Come quick! The toilet is smoking!) precious time with cousins we haven't seen in a very long time, and lots of learning how to be thankful for the little things.

Family Music Recital

The pandemic drags on... so that meant no in-person recitals for our family this spring. This will be one of the BIGGEST things I will look forward to getting back: live-music-performing for these kids. So in classic "reinvent something to make it work at home" Corrigan style, we decided to have a family music recital, where everyone had to play at least one piece INCLUDING us parents. This little detail made the kids get a tiny bit more excited. They hear each other play their music all day every day, so a recital with just us was struggling to get some momentum. They made me promise not to take any videos. We decided to have everyone dress up, make a fancy dinner, and set up chairs. I even learned a new song! It's been many, many years since I've done that. It was fun! I might start playing more :) Kyle played a song on the guitar, and sang a song from the kids' childhood. It was very sweet. The rest of us played piano (Marin decided not to play her violin, since she also enjoys piano improv). It was honestly somewhat chaotic and not-at-all-like-regular-recitals... but I'm so glad we did it. These kids could write a book with all the weird things we have done during this pandemic! I love my family. I am determined to still make memories!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to our favorite Dad! Since he cooks better than all of us, he made a delicious spread of his own favorite street tacos.  He got a new shirt "Lawn Enforcement Officer" which anyone who has been around him in the last year knows how he babies that front lawn. The neighbors compliment him alllllll the time. Max's new favorite joke is the lawn is his favorite child ;) He is quite attentive!

The fam went out disc golfing, and got to enjoy a relaxing day together. So thankful for this steady man during a very difficult and chaotic year. We are such a lucky bunch.

End of year celebration

Wow, these four amazing kids completed an entire year of online school. Turns out it is really hard in a lot of ways to teach yourself from a computer, keep your motivation up, keep turning in excellent work, without the benefit of study groups, in-person enthusiasm and variety, and still end with stellar grades and high praise from online teachers. It IS pretty great to sleep in every day, work from your bed, and have a personal tutor (MOM) at your right hand to help you. We did something I never thought we would do... "Home school" was a phrase I felt repeating itself in my brain one year ago, and despite all my misgivings, we essentially did a modified version of home schooling! We did it! I am so freakishly proud of us all. 

To celebrate an excellent year, Kyle and I wanted to do something special... I heard of this website where you can rent someone's backyard swimming pool, and I thought THAT SOUNDS SO FUN considering they haven't swam in a pool for over a year, and we are still being super careful with COVID. So I had been researching pools, and sadly discovered Portland doesn't have very many in their system, and all the dates were booked up for the near future. Bummer. I had ended that week on a low point, with several things just hitting me very hard, and I sat lamenting to Kyle the difficulties late one Friday night. I told him "I really wanted this pool idea to work out, but there are no dates"... In order to explain this pool app, I pulled up my favorite #1 choice pool (it had a slide! hot tub! waterfall! pool toys! amazing patio! saltwater!) and showed him the lack of open dates... BUT WAIT, when what to my wondering eyes should appear... a two hour window miraculously opened on the evening of our last day of school... it was a Christmas-in-June miracle, straight from the hand of Jesus to a weary family who have experienced many disappointments in the last several months. I cannot describe how quickly I booked that pool, but let's just say in the twinkling of an eye, it was booked. 

It was SO fun, and I know our trials have made a joyous occasion like this one even better. We had to overcome a kid with a stomach virus earlier in the week, federal jury duty, and pouring down rain. But when the day arrived, the clouds parted and we all got to share in our joy. Thank you Jesus!!

Memorial Day Weekend

We took advantage of the GORGEOUS holiday weekend weather, and got a couple adventures in. Kyle took Marin and Marcus out clamming in Tillamook, and as far as I could tell, nobody even complained about the 5:30am wakeup time. I think the car donuts helped :) They got the maximum catch (this means we now have 60 monster clams in our fridge/freezer), so I might want to research some recipes! Kyle fried a bunch up, but we have so much left. Max and I took Winnie for a swim at our local stream, and a little 1-on-1 time...

The whole crew visited the zoo, and it was a ZOO! The numbers had been restricted due to pandemic protocols, but certainly that has changed because it was super crowded. Everyone is still wearing masks, which made this a safe-enough outing for us, as we zoom towards the rest of us getting vaccinated. I was excited to see Nora the polar bear, and her new exhibit! 

I am also thankful on this holiday for those who served our country. Particularly aware of a young man who lost his life last year in Afghanistan, the son in law of our California friends. He left his young, pregnant wife behind, now in the care of our friends - supporting their daughter who is now a young widow and mother. It's so easy to focus on our own lives, but holidays like these remind us to never forget the sacrifice some have made for all.