Well friends. While once a week post frequency isn’t out of the norm for me these days, I certainly didn’t mean to drop off the grid for 12 days. When you last heard from me my mom was due to arrive in Charlotte that day to stay with us for a week and things got a little crazy.
Let’s start with the tree.
A TREE FELL ON THE HOUSE
On Wednesday, May 8 we had a massive storm move through Charlotte. Finn and I went to pick up my mom from the airport and noticed ominous clouds as we drove through uptown. I was so unprepared for the intensity of the storm we had as there hadn’t even been a chance of rain on the forecast for the day.
Fortunately, my mom’s flight landed right before the storm moved in and the airport went under a lengthy ground stop. It took us over an hour to get from the airport back home because of the traffic from the storm. There was high wind, heavy rain, lightning, hail – the whole shebang. I commented to my mom on the way home how much I worry about the trees around my rental house in storms because there are like five oak trees in the yard.
Well, imagine my absolute shock when we pulled into my driveway and found a giant maple tree on the house. My heart was beating out of my chest and it took me a minute to fully absorb what I was seeing. .
It was still storming at the time so I made sure everything was safe and got my mom and Finn in the house. By some miracle, the tree fell on the first floor roofline over the laundry room and storage closet and missed the main roof of the house where the bedrooms, kitchen, etc are.
So while we were spared significant damage to the house it was still a bear to get the tree off the house. I was able to get a tree service out to remove the tree on Saturday morning so that we could get the roof tarped to avoid any further water damage since we had more heavy rains this past week. The team at Arborscapes/SavATree did an excellent job with the removal. Highly recommend.
I am now in the midst of the insurance process and can’t begin repairs until a local inspector comes out to asses the damage. There are holes through the roof and ceiling in the laundry room and storage closet. The entire roof on that part of the house will have to be replaced and the framing and gutters repaired. The fence needs some repairs as well.
So while things certainly could have been much worse and I’m beyond grateful that no one was hurt and the damage didn’t force us out of our home, this is still no fun to deal with. It’s expensive, stressful and I’m sad to have lost a beautiful tree from my back yard. You can really see the scale of how big it was with Finn sitting on the trunk.
FINN’S 6TH BIRTHDAY PARTY
My sweet boy turned 6 on May 18 but we had his birthday party the weekend prior. Party planning commenced a few months ago but we quickly realized venues were hard to come by for a May birthday. So many things were already booked! We ended up reserving a shelter at Squirrel Lake Park in Matthews (one of our fave parks) and it was just perfect.
The party was from 1-3p and we were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather after a week of rain and storms. It was 75 and sunny with low humidity. Finn enjoyed running around and playing with his friends. We kept it pretty low-key with pizza, fruit, snacks and cake but did surprise the kids with an ice cream truck and that was a hit.
Finn was surrounded by friends and family and I think he felt very loved and celebrated. It was the first time his dad and I co-hosted a birthday party so that felt like a big win for everyone – especially Finn! It was also very special to have my mom there with us and I’m grateful she was able to make the trip.
Finally, a shout out to Delissa for making Finn’s amazing cake! I’ve been following her cake creations on Instagram for a while and was so excited when I reached out and asked if she was available to make Finn’s cake and she said yes! Finn’s party theme was Lanky Box (a little obscure, I know, but he’s obsessed). We ordered some decorations (including the cake topper) from Etsy and I created a Lanky Box-themed invitation which I think turned out so cute.
When Delissa asked if she could use real donuts on the cake my immediate reply was yes! Finn is donut obsessed and I knew he’d go crazy for it. The cake turned out better than I could have imagined and I’ll definitely be ordering more cakes from Delissa in the future! I can’t even get over how she nailed the fondant characters!
And here’s the inside of the cake – chocolate, chocolate! The cake tasted homemade and everyone loved it!
The celebrations continued all week! Finn had his birthday leader day at TK on Friday and for the third year in a row we took OMG Donuts for his birthday snack. We got a dozen chocolate glazed for his classmates and a dozen mixed for the preschool teachers.
My heart absolutely melted when his teacher sent me this photo shortly after drop-off.
MOTHER’S DAY
The last thing I’ll share in today’s post is a quick glimpse at our Mother’s Day which was the day after his birthday party. I gave myself the gift of a nine-mile long run while Finn and my mom enjoyed a lazy morning around the house. It was my longest run since the half marathon and I felt pretty great for it! I also gave myself the gift of a new dishwasher, haha. I ended up going with this LG model that was budget-friendly and highly rated by Consumer Reports. Sadly, after the tree fiasco it was not the time to invest in a Bosch.
After I got showered and dressed, I made lunch lunch for me and Finn. We decided to have a driveway picnic since it was such a gorgeous day. Finn set out the blanket and placemats and got us sparkling waters which was very cute. We ate lunch, snuggled and then played with stomp rockets.
The rest of the day included a Home Depot run to get ferns for my porch, tomato cages and knock out rose bushes to replace a few in my front beds that had died for some reason.
At Finn’s suggestion, we ended up having an impromptu early dinner at Midwood Smokehouse followed by ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s.
And what I will cherish more than anything is this sweet card that Finn made me at school.
It was so nice to have my mom with us for a whole week – including Mother’s Day! And she really appreciated not to have to spend half of her visit traveling to Duke for medical appointments. We were sad to see her go (especially the dogs, haha) but luckily our farewell wasn’t for too long as Finn and I are heading down to Florida this week for Memorial Day weekend!
And with that I have reached the end. I am singing off to get ready for a day of clients and teaching. I’ve been doing a lot of personal training and yoga teaching lately so that’s played a part in why I’m less present here. Summer goals are to get back to 3x/week posting (including a recipe every week) but we shall see. It will definitely happen in the fall once Finn’s in kindergarten!
Have a beautiful week my friends!
QUESTIONS
Have you had to file a claim on your homeowners insurance? How did the process go?
How has May been for you? What have you had going on?
What kind of posts do you like to see most here?
I’m so sorry to hear about your home. My parents’ home (my childhood home) burned down last week and it has been an absolute nightmare. I’m hoping for your sake you don’t have State Farm! I’m not sure if this is helpful, but my parents hired a public adjuster, they work for my parents and deal with the insurance company to maximize the amount they get. I never knew before this that you don’t have to just take what they offer! Might be looking into in your situation. Good luck!