Mama's Memories for M: A Wedding, a Father's Day, and a Big Ass Tooth

Mali ~

Another month of Covid19-style living. Not so much the lockdown anymore, however still being mostly homebodies and very cautious any time we need to leave the house for anything. Sanitizer and masks at all times. It's been such a strange existence in our new normal for a while. In order to cope with how the world seems to be burning lately, we've all taken to various (hopefully) helpful behaviors.

Lucky likes to perch at the top of the stairs and watch all of
us at night and we joke that it looks like he's bellied up
to a bar and is asking for a drink...we're with ya, buddy!

the 3 of us have taken to hitting up the local farmer's market on our
bikes on Saturday mornings...6.5 miles one way and masks are
mandatory once there but so worth it to enjoy some fresh air

we had an interesting visitor who laid nests of
snapping turtle eggs in our front yard (twice!)

made our front yard welcoming with a sign of
what we believe in in our house

I will say that in the midst of a lot of strange and disappointing twists and turns this year, your Uncle Flint and (now officially) Aunt Monica got married on June 13th! Because of the virus being in a precarious state and the extra precautions recommended, we chose not to attend the wedding and instead participated online. You were very excited to watch the whole ceremony with me, from beginning to end. We had to laugh because at one point, the live feed glitched and it appeared that the priest was one place one moment and then magically reappeared somewhere else a split second later. It was hilarious because after you saw this happen, you turned to me and asked, "Did the priest just teleport?!" Ha. Yes, dear. Priests can teleport. It's one of the magical things they can do. Hehe.

Lao Lao swung by on her way to the ceremony...snazzy!

we picked up and brought the pizza to their mini-reception and were able to see
Monica and Flint on their big day! unique wedding pictures, yeah?!

congratulations to the Mr and Mrs!

masks, masks everywhere!

And in other news...

you decided to become a cactus parent this month ~ meet Stabby!

one exciting thing we also had was the completion of our new screened-in
porch on the back upper deck ~ officially my new favorite space in the house

GG approves as well

and Suzy...

And then there was Father's Day!

I snapped this on Father's Day morning and I'll copy and paste my
Father's Day message to Daddy below

These two. ❤️❤️

When Mali was little, they were glued to me. For whatever reason, it was Mom that was the go-to, the chosen one for all the things. Even when Dad was available to help and Mom was already buried with a million other things. "Mom! Can you...?" was a common refrain. I think it can be like that in a lot of families. I mean, there are memes and cartoons about it, for goodness sake! It's a phenomenon, for sure. However, over the last couple years, I've been watching as Dad has become more of a go-to in a lot of ways. I've been watching these two forming an even stronger relationship than they already had. Bonding over hobbies and learning new things together, having meaningful conversations about the ever more complicated trappings of life in the tween years, sharing time spent just watching TV shows, making small talk, and cracking jokes, teasing each other playfully, etc. As strange as it can feel to have my particular role in Mali's life shift just a bit, it's been incredibly heart-warming to watch this guy embrace the ever-shifting sands that are parenthood with ease, empathy, grace, and humor. Oftentimes, much better than I do. This guy has stepped up in a million different ways since even before Mali came home...and continues to do so. We are lucky to have him in our life.

We love you, our favorite weirdo!

Happy Father's Day!

And then there's your Bryden...a fixture on your phone, at the Farmer's Market, and at our house with us.

you've been chatting endlessly with your person, Bryden, and
if you look closely, you can see you fell asleep together)

yes, children of the future...use your voice(s)!

bonfire with Bryden one evening

Bryden...not so sure of the sparkler

And then some random other stuff...

GG's leg cracks me up here...

Daddy, enjoying coffee on the new porch with
his special Father's Day mug

In spite of coronavirus craziness, we had to take you in to the dentist to prep for getting a tooth pulled. We need to make room for getting braces at some point this fall. Well, you arrived home with Dad and had surprisingly decided to get that sucker yanked that day. Look at that thing! So big it looks like a shark's tooth...and you are still a bit high from the laughing gas in this picture. Ha.