Our Little Beastie Blog: The Gauntlet Begins

Even in a pandemic, October is where things get busy for our family. The past couple years we've done the full rundown - Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, Imogen's birthday, Halloween, and random other things. This year, we'll focus on how 2020 is adding wrinkles to our jam-packed October.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel's mom (the Queen of Corona...), Wonder Woman, and Hawk (superhero invented by Everett) - Halloween 2020

Virtual Service of Remembrance

We weren't sure what to expect, but we're glad we Zoomed the HAND Service of Remembrance this year. The theme this year was bees, which of course are very special to us. Elizabeth usually helps make the centerpieces and was a bit sad not to be able to craft some bee-autiful things for the group. Even so, the virtual service went very well (technically) and was quite powerful (emotionally). The side conversations are always a nice benefit of this event, and we were able to have some chats with folks we don't otherwise see.

Service of Remembrance - October 4, 2020

Dance Show Taping

Elizabeth has been choreographing and dancing in shows with a local studio - Ariel Dance Productions - for nearly a decade. This is the first time the show is going online and that meant pre-recording the numbers. The safest option for everyone was to film it outside (thanks, back yard!) and keep very few dancers in frame at a time so everyone could stay spaced out. Everett and Imogen were glued to the windows watching the dancers perform in costumes right here at home. Of course, masks on unless we were actively taping. It was - again - weird, but both technically went well and emotional to wave at people we're used to seeing in person regularly.

All the world's a stage - October 11, 2020

This also meant doing some recording with some very special guest performers. Mark your calendars for November 21 at 5pm Pacific if you want to see who (Zoom webinar 964 9747 4774).

Sneak peek!

First Family Outing - Mask Edition

We took Everett and Imogen back to Spina Farms for some Halloween "normalcy." We met a daycare family there and had fun riding through the fields and exploring the pumpkins. The kids all impressed us by keeping their masks on for more than 95% of the time. Sometimes we forget just how much kiddos take our lead - if we don't make it a huge deal they won't either. The only hiccup was when Imogen tore her mask off and threw it on the ground right before the barrel train started. Oops.

Masks on, flowers on, Halloween ready - October 17, 2020

Imogen's Tangled-Up Birthday Party

You probably already know that we enjoy throwing big parties for beastie birthdays - for both the kids and the grown-ups. This year was different, but our wants were the same. Imogen wanted a Tangled theme (do you remember what her kingdom was called? Oof.).

After lots of brainstorming and planning, we think we threw a pretty good pandemic party. Thankfully, everyone besides the smallest kids was fine with masks. We were also outside and staying far apart (expect those daycare kids... making us look bad by showing off their bubble). Typically we serve a meal, so that was less work on one hand and justified a little extra money on individually boxed cupcakes.

Immy's birthday party! - October 24, 2020

Our outdoor activities came down to:

Chalk Rapunzel tower activity course
Pin Pascal on Rapunzel
Take-a-turn painting

The painting was the big hit, and Imogen has some nice group artwork on display to celebrate her birthday.

Looks like we weren't the only ones craving some together-apart-ness. We had over 50 people come through over about four hours. That little bit of catching up with friends old and new was an invigorating way to spend the day. The birthday girl was thrilled - to be dressed as Rapunzel, to play with her daycare friends (it's tough at this age to expect her to remember friends she hasn't seen in almost a year), to paint, and to play. Everett morphed into a spectacular junior host - welcoming new guests, explaining the hand sanitizer, book selection, goody bags, and games. He also was very good at ensuring he said goodbye as people left. Color us impressed.

Family Time

Our first houseguests in the pandemic time were the SoCal family. After negotiating pre-trip quarantines and activity plans, we were thrilled to get the cousins together for some quality time. We all needed it.

Who said you need a big party to justify a bounce house?

Bouncing is the best - Oct 30, 2020

They came on Imogen's actual birthday and stayed through Halloween. It gave us the chance to have a mini party to celebrate both occasions and add a little extra magic for the little beasts.

Maybe trick-or-treating looked a little different, but we're still dressing up, carving pumpkins, and sharing a Deel family tradition that we missed out on when "Christmas in July" was canceled... The Money Tree.