The Parrillo Family

This is what 6th grade, 4th grade and 1st grade looks like for Eloise, Sadie and Frankie.  Look at those BIG smiles.  This year, our kids are back in what I'm calling 'normal school'.  And we're so grateful for that.  We're grateful for being able to take the bus to/from school, staying a full, normal day, eating lunch with their friends and being kids.  Sure, they're wearing masks and staying safe, but it feels so nice to have some normalcy in these three lives.  We're also so happy that Nat is back at SMG working as a 2nd grade aide.   They've navigated this period of time incredibly well.  That's thanks to Nat.  But, these three kids are smarter, stronger and more resilient today than they were when COVID started.  Hard to believe all three kids are on the same schedule.  And that we have both a middle schooler (eek!) and a first grader (wow). Oh...and they're not the only ones smiling today.  So am I!  So happy fo...

Recently, I shared some photos of our Spring Break trip to Walt Disney World .  In that post, I said that we spent *most* of our trip there.  Shhhsh...don't tell Mickey, but....we cheated on him.  We took our Harry Potter-loving daughter (Eloise) and the two emerging Potterheads (SD and Beef) and spent a couple of days in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.   We ate chocolate frogs, bought robes, used our wands, went through the train platform, were all STARTLED by the fire-breathing dragon and even snuck in a little side trip to Jurassic Park.  Here's Eloise getting startled by the dragon: And here's the kids heading off to the Hogwarts Express:

If you, dear reader, know one thing about our family travel you likely know that we do enjoy a good Disney Parks trip.  And, thanks to COVID, we haven't been able to - nor really wanted to - go since the summer of 2019.  But, this year, we had had enough and decided to spend our Spring Break (well...part of our Spring Break) down at the Vacation Kingdom in Orlando Florida.   We did all four parks.  Did all the stuff we love.  And, wore masks for a lot of it.  But, it was still Disney. And still magic.  (for us). The kids at the Magic Kingdom.

COVID might have delayed the event, but our SD had her First Communion this weekend.  And she did it wearing pants.  That her Grammy sewed for her.  Along with a custom-matching mask.  'Tis the season for COVID, I guess.   As for the Communion, she was so excited.  Both by the little high heels she was wearing, being the center of attention for a day, but also because of all the kids, she seems to have taken her faith the most seriously.   For a quick flashback, here's Eloise on her First Communion back in 2018 .   Here she is - on her big day.  So glad that NOT all of the photos are with masks.  Look at that big smile. Instead of one BIG First Communion, St Mary's decided to offer a series of much smaller ones - to enable social distancing.  That also meant that we were limited in who could come with us to the church.  Both Noonie and Grammy made the list.  Here's Noonie with the First Communicant.  ...

SD is handling the pandemic the way most kids do:  making custom sunglasses that say "book worm" and dressing like a child of the 60's.  She's READY for Summer and the warm weather. Don't ever change, Sadie.