Memorial Day Parade

In the days leading up to the Memorial Day holiday, I was anticipating the big girls having a 5 day weekend, the little ones having a 4 day weekend and Billy having a 3 day weekend!  

However, on Wednesday, Emily was like "Mutti, I think we have school tomorrow.  None of the teachers said anything about it being a holiday."  So, I break out the school calendar and it has 'graduation' marked the same color as a holiday, so that's how I added it to my phone last August.  = /  So, the big girls had one extra day until their break, but we made it.

Monday morning, Alice got up early and made patriotic blueberry muffins for breakfast!

We dug out our red, white and blue to walk down to the parade!

Grace was a big fan of her red, white and blue outfit!

It was a nice day for a parade, and we found one of the twins' friends, who is also our neighbor, so they were walking home together!  It's awesome, because everyone on our street walks down (since there is nowhere to park) so we get to see all of our neighbors!

When we came home, Billy cooked up a weeks' worth of meat, first time this year, and grilled food is just so good!!

It was hard to go back to school after such a wonderful weekend, because it felt 100% like summer!  We survived though, since the following weeks were filled with fun, and now it's summer for real!

later days

edit: written 6-16-23 backdated for continuity.           

Jessica's Murder Mystery Birthday Party!!!

A few weeks before her party, we got an invite from Jessica to her Murder Mystery Birthday Party!! About a week before the party I was able to solidify our plans for the week and RSVP that we would be there!  

Then, Jessica invited us (Billy and me) to participate as characters in the event!!!  I was even more excited!  We'd never been to a party as suspects that wasn't at our house!  It was set in 1850s New Orleans and was a masquerade theme!!! 

In the days leading up to the party, her "Mardi Gras" RTIC cup came in.  It was so beautiful*!  I put her character name on it, so that she could remember her party, where someone(s) died for a long, long time! ; )

Just a few days before the party, we found a stash of beads at a church sale! = )

The party was AMAZING!  They had a photo op wall, homemade crepe bar (savory and sweet!), masks for those who didn't have one, and craft ones for the kids!

And, in an unexpected turn of events, we got to sit with the birthday girl and the rest of the Stepp family!

I was a hypochondriac who loved the social scene, but not my husband = ( and Billy was a judge who sleezy politician.  We were double excited to wear our masks that we procured for our upcoming murder mystery dinner in October!

In between narrations, we were to move about "in character" and answer questions to the best of our ability (given the two or three paragraphs about our character we were provided in the email.) = )

Spoiler: Billy died.  He wasn't the murderer. lol. (And Emily was not thrilled that her daddy was dead)

Spoiler 2: Jessica was a double murderer!!! What an excellent birthday gift! lol

Somehow Emily and Grace ended up with the "dead" sign and wanted a chance to imitate the message.

Juliet spent her time collecting all of the strands of foil that fell from the entrance cover of the door, and ultimately making up a shiny skirt. = )

It was a wonderfully fun time, and I'm so happy that we were invited to celebrate in Jessica's special day! 

later days

 *I'd seen it on the website so many times, but it doesn't look that good in the picture, and Mardi Gras season is such a short time, that I never even considered it.  But, since the party was set in New Orleans at the end of Mardi Gras, it seemed just perfect!  And it was even better than I imagined!

edit: written 6-15-23 backdated for continuity.

Laingsburg, Year 2

Last year, we ventured up to Laingsburg for their Lion's Club festival, and enjoyed ourselves so much that we did it again this year!

We arrived early, 11am, because the noon start time was not published online, and found an ideal spot to set up our chairs and refreshments in the shade.   

Since we still had 20 minutes until the rides opened, Emily, Grace, Juliet and I walked down to a church rummage sale (my favorite!) and got some key deals, before making our way back with all of our goodies!

The older three can ride almost* all the rides without an accomplice, so they tend to stick together.

The twins can't ride many of the tall rides yet, but at least they're stuck on the little rides together. = )

Bringing our chairs was for sure the way to go!  Our family rule is that once 3 are ready to go or we are out of water, it's time to leave.  This year, we ran out of water first.

later days

*Alice can ride all of the rides. = )

edit: written 6-16-23 backdated for continuity.

Safety Picnic

At the start of the year, I filled out a form for William to be a safety, but not knowing how the logistics of dropping off and picking up the big girls on their new schedule would go, I made a note that he couldn't be a safety in the morning, and so he was designated as a "substitute" safety.  

He only had duties a few times during the year, but was still invited to the safety picnic at the end of the year!

It was a chilly morning, but it was a very good day for an outdoor event!  They fed the kids, and had activities and snow cones, and there were just 4-8th graders from many different schools enjoying a day in the sunshine!

William, Riley & Weston

I spent some time following William around, but quite a bit of time sitting at 'base camp' and just chatting with the other adults. = )

I think he had a fun time and was happy to be invited. = )

later days

edit: written 6-17-23 and backdated for continuity. 

Mother's Day 2023

Over a month before Mother's Day, Grace and Emily were on the ball making some Mother's Day art for distant moms that we celebrate!

A few weeks before Mother's Day, I started looking at the special events that nearby eateries were offering for Mother's Day.  The one that caught my attention was a Tea Party.  It was a nice sounding menu, but it was $35 a head, and since we got to celebrate with Avia this year too, would have been almost $300. = 0  

Still, I liked the idea of tea, and so asked my children to plan it out.  I bought special cookies, and some macaroons, and mini eclairs.  Emily made finger sandwiches and set the table with the tea service. = )

The twins and William made me some sweet cards and a few special items.  Alice made me up a drawing (of the two of us in a field which has never in our lives happened. lol)  But she spends so much time making them that I felt very special. = ) And Emily also made me some stars to decorate my computer cabinet.

And, while the tea was nice, it wasn't terribly filling, so Billy ordered some Chinese food, which we don't get very often anymore (ever since our favorite place closed down when they razed the building in which they were housed.)  It was wonderful and we had plenty for leftovers that night!

I felt very loved and hope my mom did too, surrounded by many of those who love her!

later days

edit: written 6-16-23 backdated for continuity.

Shed Clean-out!

Mother's Day weekend I wanted to do a family workday, so I made a list of outdoor chores, and at the top of this list was cleaning out the shed!!

I didn't get any before, or after pictures, but the improvement was vast!

A frog came to see what we were up to.

We pulled out everything!  A good amount went straight to the curb.  Some I had to wait on responses from my sister or mom, and just a few things needed a new home inside our house.

Alice was helping, but was not interested in joining the others in the wagon.

I posted on a free site all of the curb items, and almost everything was claimed before trash day!  We did end up pulling the chair back in, since there was road construction at the time, I think the chair may still find a good home at our yard sale!

The shed feels so much nicer to enter, and we have more room to access the things that we actually do use! The tools are also much easier to track down, since they are not stacked up on top of one another!

A few other things we did in the yard were: spreading mulch in the flower beds, collecting sticks and branches from the yard, and Billy was in charge of replacing Emily's bike seat!

It was a very productive day to be sure, and we all slept well that night!

later days

edit: written 6-17-23 backdated for continuity.

Fun Run!

For the fun run, 3rd Graders were asked to wear purple, and 4th Grade Red.

Grace had no problem assembling an almost solid purple outfit, with matching bow!

Juliet said she had a tougher time, but she didn't clue me in until it was time to head out the door, so she wore a kind of purple shirt. = )

William's wardrobe is predominantly green, and a quick check the week before, showed me that he had no red to speak of.  At the thrift store I found no shirts that were on the 'clearance' color, so I picked a half off one that I thought he might re-wear because of the characters. While shopping, I found a shirt, with the clearance tag, somewhere completely random!  With the saved dollar, I bought him a pair of red socks too! = )

I only took one picture of him during the run, and was so pleased with the product!

Grace and Juliet were running during several rounds, so it was much easier to catch a short of them running. = )

Break time with some sidewalk chalk!

The music was loud and fun and it was sunny and it was an exciting time for the kids!  I have no clue whether or not they reached their goal, since we didn't get a follow up. = (

When the twins were in Kindergarten, they did the fun run in the fall, so this was their second time to join in the run, and William's third or fourth time!

later days

edit: written 6-15-23 backdated for continuity.

William Visits the Orthodontist

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

It's been a nice long while since I had to update any of the kids' doctor visits!  This appointment for William was just a recall, waiting for when they find that his teeth are ready for braces!

Somehow, I got it into my head that we needed to leave really, really early, and so we made it to Ann Arbor with like 2 hours to wait.  Since we had our lunches with us, we opted to go find some thirft stores! 

There is a lot more to Ann Arbor than I knew!  It is a lovely town.

We first went to the salvation army, since I knew what to expect there.  We didn't buy much, except for a calculator (of unknown working condition) for Leon.

At the next thrift store we bought more, but ran out of time.  Should the opportunity ever arise again, we will go there first!  They had so much, and really good prices. = )

We navigated back to campus through the detours and road work, making it in plenty of time for his appointment.  

 We are still in 'wait' mode, but did have to schedule for a tooth extraction later this summer. = (

After the appointment we enjoyed our lunch in the atrium, and then drove back with plenty of time to pick up the girls, though I think I might have had Avia or Billy on call to get them, should we have hit traffic.

later days

<what happened previously

edit: written 6-17-23 backdated for continuity. 

Spring Band Concert

Alice on Clarinet, and Emily on E flat Alto Saxophone, had their first spring concert, on a Wednesday night, in the Gym.  Part of the new bond in their district includes building a multi-use facility that will improve the concert set up for the band. = )

Both bands were sitting at the same time, and so the concert was a back and forth between beginning band and 7th/8th grade band.

The beginning band E flat alto saxophone section received the 'most engaged' section of the woodwind class, and Emily received "happiest to be there" in the woodwind class. = )

 Alice got a nod for being one of only a handful in her band who had only been on their instrument for a year!  

The award ceremony was strange, as it was in the middle of the concert, and each of the recipients of the individual awards were part of the section who received their award (like Emily, who got two, and many others who got none.) The band director has been ill, so I don't know if this were par for the course, or if it were abnormal.  I guess we'll find out next year!

Afterwards was a sugar reception, lol, with cake and cookies and brownies and cupcakes.  It was an impressive spread, considering the email call for goodies went out at almost 10pm the night before.  We contributed some premade sugar cookies that I'd bought for Grace's Easy Bake oven (and they were about to expire, long before she could bake them all!)

later days

edit: written 6-15-23 and backdated for continuity.