Grace and Juliet: 5th Birthday Party Invitations

In just a few weeks we will be celebrating the Twins' 5th birthday!!!

We'd collected Doc McStuffins books since last summer.  I repurposed the book pages to make them some invitations to pass out to their classmates.

I ironed some wax paper onto the outside, to make it look more like a bandage wrapper.

Hopefully they will have a fun time with their friends at Chuck E Cheese.  As twins, they do have to agree to a common venue.  So far it's not been a problem, we'll see what the future holds. = )

later days

New intrests, day dates, and the warm up?

Emily's latest craft time has been spent making pictures that can be combined into animation.  She made 3 in one day, and hasn't come back to it since, so maybe it was just a fleeting interest.  

Grace playing with some of Emily's birthday gifts.

After one of our lunch dates, we spent some time at a vintage arcade/bar.  It was themed so well.  I enjoyed playing pinball and dr. Mario.  Billy enjoyed playing many games I'd never heard of.

Some pictures of my dear ones hanging out at home.

Last Sunday was kid-led Sunday. All 5 helped lead songs, Alice made an awesome usher, and Emily did a wonderful reading of the scripture.

Bedtime selfie:

One Thursday Billy and I had both eaten, so we went on a chilly walk around downtown Mason.  They have this cute little art display tucked in an alleyway.

Alice's friend made an agenda for their playdate:

And I totally got suckered in to buying pre-k pictures of the twins.  I mean, seriously, how could I resist?

Emily and William are my two who always want to come home and play outside after school.  It's much colder than I would want to endure, but they make it work.

This picture is from a while back, it was, what is hopefully, our final heavy snow of the season!

It's nice to be back outside a bit, I know that I have dearly missed the sun the last few months.  I'm ready for a nice, long, hot, summer. = )

later days

Riverwalk

On Saturday we ventured downtown.  The weather was so pleasant that we decided to walk along the river.  The sun kept it just warm enough that we were not freezing without our jackets.  The kids have clearly been inside too much this winter.  They were silly, and goofy and energetic and had just a lovely time!

"Stay away from the goose William! It will bite you!"  Then Billy tells me to get my camera ready.  William listened and the goose did not attack.

A frequently pictured bridge in downtown.  The squares light up at night.

Playing around in the amphitheater.

The kids did not approve of Billy's speech.

Interacting with corporate art:

 It isn't warm yet, but we are all willing summer into existence.

later days

St. Patrick's Day

This year St. Patrick's day fell on a Sunday. My mom bought green hats for each of the kids.   Everyone wore green. 

Our, ridiculous, silly, nonsensical family tradition is to go to buffalo wild wings for lunch and have their green beer.  When we got there, they didn't have the dye = ( so we were going to leave.  Apparently our car wanted us to eat there though, and refused to start.

There are worse place to be stranded I suppose.  My mom came to our rescue, after they towed away our car.  (Thank goodness for AAA.)

The car now starts up great, but we sent it back in later in the week for some other less pressing work to be done, and it is still at the garage. = /  Luckily, we have the loaner, so we are not down a car. = )

later days

We spend so much time at the Doctor

This is the latest post in the series of William, grace and Juliet's journey with hypophosphatasia.

Last week, no, a few weeks ago, we went up to Grand Rapids for the day.  The kids were seeing the endocrinologist and ophthalmologist. 

William gained enough weight that his injection dose increased! He is now on a higher weight curve.  Yay, William! The twins haven't changed enough to merit an increase.  Everything looks good, but they still had to stop in for bloodwork.

They try to be brave, but no one enjoys giving blood. = (  The wait was not long though, and they always give out toys and snacks and stickers to ease the pain.

After a quick lunch, at a shared table (thank you sweet mom who let us sit with you in the packed cafeteria!) it was time for the Ophthalmologist.   

William's weak eye has improved with his patch wearing, Juliet wears hers more often and didn't have much improvement at all. = / So, both will continue the patching for now.*

They had to have their eyes dilated.  This is how the nurses opted to do it?

On the way home, we stopped into the glasses store to fill their new prescriptions.  They were all sad that we didn't leave with new glasses.

I'm anticipating a message this week to go collect their new ones.  It will be nice to have a 'back up' pair for each of them, should the new ones get lost.

later days

*William lost his case, with his $20 patch in it, and we have looked high and low to find it. So, this round he has a much cheaper patch (that came in a multipack.) I figured that we'd find his case once the new ones arrived, but no such luck. = /  So, if anyone finds that they need a child size patch for glasses, let me know, we've got bunches.

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Tubing in the Snow

While this winter has seemingly lasted forever, one of the things on the to-do list was to rent some tubes at our local park.  We took the opportunity on what, so far, has been our final snowy weekend to play out in the snow!

Sadly, the park nearest us was either closed for the season or no longer rents them. So, we headed into Lansing.  

Alice, despite having never done anything similar before, was up and down the hill before Grace and I even took our first ride up the hill. = )

Emily, William, Juliet and Grace all stuck close for a bit, but as the day wore on, William and Emily wanted to ride on their own.

Eventually, we allowed the twins to pull their own, but they still had to travel down with an adult, since the end hill at the bottom is tough to navigate for them.

It was an enjoyable winter activity, though still colder than I prefer.  I expect that next year, all of them will think it is old hat, and will be ready to go after the first snow!

later days