Other Fun!

This is the place where I include all of the events and pictures that don't have their own post.

Grace made a cute face on her knee using playdoh.

Emily reminds me a lot of myself at times, and so when I was at the thrift store and found a stash of 50 or so hair tie sets that someone had made (maybe to sell at a craft show?) I grabbed them.  When I presented them to Emily, it was for her to pick through to give to her friends at school. 

She carefully selected patterns and colors for each of her friends, then bagged then up with some candy and labelled them. So as not to exclude the boys in her group, she made up some strictly candy goodie bags too.

Also in the bag were these two nifty hair pieces, for which we had to find a youtube video to learn how to use.  lol.  They are really cute though!

The second fundraising roller skate night was two days before Christmas break, so we were all tired, but it was nice to order a pizza and hang out while the kids went to hang out with their friends.  Even the big girls had fun.  They considered it a practice for the field trip they would get to go on the next day with their classmates!

Grace got some gloves from someone at school as a Christmas present.

The look of delight on William's face when he found this kitchen "gun" that we were using to decorate some cupcakes was priceless.  I caught it just as he was turning away though.

Eggs used to be a cheap protein choice, but now they are running around $5 a dozen (thanks to avian flu and a few other bird illnesses) so these deviled eggs were an expensive "treat" but they came out very tasty!

I made some fresh bread, because it just seemed like something I hadn't done all year, so I got at least one loaf in. = )

We found this secret message book at the thrift store one day.  It had lots of neat codes in it, but the red filter cutout was missing, so some of the codes were quite tricky to try and decipher. After a search of likely places for some 3D glasses came up empty, I was so proud when Grace colored a piece of tape with red sharpie to help her decode the words. = )

The twins were particularly goofy when Renae came over to hang out one weekend.

In her absence, Avia left money to treat us to a milkshake during happy hour at Arby's.  Some of my children opted for the larger shake, others opted for the smaller shake and fries. = )

I'm sure I've told the story here before, but have no idea where, so I'll tell it here again.  Many years ago, Emily was reading the tags under the Christmas tree and found one for Billy.  It read "to" Daddy from: ALL."  Emily came to me full of disbelief and asked "mutti, who is A-L-L???"  like she absolutely couldn't believe that this person, of whom she'd never heard, would be giving Billy a gift!!!  

After teasing her, and still doing so occasionally to this day, A-L-L has become our invisible 'monster' who is never on the floor of the house we are on.  He lives mostly upstairs and in the basement.  Well, one day I was driving through town and learned that A-L-L got a job!!  We don't know what he does, but that is totally his van.

Alice is carving a niche out for herself as the resident band snack provider.  Now that her band director has returned, she brought some blueberry muffins to share with her class.

At a thrift shop, Emily and I found a squishimal that was designed to look like bubble tea.  She had never had bubble tea, so we ventured out to a nearby shop.  Sadly, this was during the break and they were closed until after the New Year.  So, the following weekend, she asked if we could go get some.  When Billy heard we were going for bubble tea, he assumed we were heading to East Lansing, where there are several bubble tea shops, and he wanted to come along and get some No Thai.  

They are one of the few stores, outside of doctor's offices, that are still requiring masks to enter.  So, we had to run out to the car to grab our masks.

They had the strangest combination of a German name, Chinese characters and English translations as an afterthought.

I had done some research in anticipation of our first trip and picked out the Taro flavored bubble tea.  Emily and Grace both wimped out and picked an oreo flavored drink.  I did have them try mine though, so that they would know what bubble tea tastes like, should anyone ask whether or not they like it.   Bubble tea is not my favorite, I really dont like "chunks' in my food or drink.  But the flavor was spot on and I would totally recommend it if you're new to bubble tea and need a starting point.

At the thrift shop, I found a Tucana friend for the cockatoo that Chelsea bought me years ago!

Alice and Emily are part of Monday cooking club.  On their first day, they made cupcakes, the second round was from scratch pretzels!!  I think they are having a good time, and the pretzels were pretty good (a little undercooked, since they ran out of time.)

We celebrated Billy's 41st birthday with a resee's peanut butter cup ice cream cake for breakfast!

He saved his birthday gifts for after work.  He got a pile of homemade gifts and cards from the kids.  I added some subway gift cards and a new Halloween house for his budding Halloween village.

Alice is on the internet alot, and was telling me how very little I knew about modern fashion.  Particularly "suede goth with preppy vibes."  I told her all except for one of those has been a thing *at least* since I was in high school.  The little girls decided to dress up to see if they could nail the look. lol.

Alice was not amused.  I thought it was hilarious.

later days

Life in the New Year

We've been going strong in our routine, and now have 2 weeks of school under our belt already!  Billy is still working from home.  He only has to travel occasionally, so it's been nice having everyone all tucked away during these cold winter months!

William's final Christmas present finally came in (Jan 16th) and I ordered them December 13th! = 0  I knew the wouldn't arrive before Christmas (I'd missed the cut off) but I thought they'd be a couple of days late, not over a month! He did like them though, so I guess that was a win.

One of my Facebook friends posted about these adorable little among us necklaces that her daughter had made and was selling.  Since I've not been shopping like I used to, I was trying to think of something that would be special that I could get for them.  Since 4/5 (not Alice) are really into Among us right now, I thought they would be perfect!  I made up the cards and added the necklaces. = )

For his birthday, my mom and Sarah were set to watch the kids.  When I made the reservation, I was unable to find where to make the dinner reservation that would accompany the room.  When I went out the Monday before, they were book solid! = 0  She offered to move the room to the following weekend, so that we were able to have dinner in the conservatory too.  This change interfered with Sarah's work schedule though, so my mom held down the fort alone.

No piano this time. 

We could see one of the conservatories from above!  I was rushed in my picture taking, because we were 10 minutes late for dinner when we arrived, but they served us just the same. = )

They had two heaters in each conservatory.  A table top one and a larger one (I got the lucky spot!)

I decided a few weeks ago that we would be homeschooling next year, but sadly they were out of stock when I attempted to make my purchase!  Since the decision had been made, I checked daily or every other day and they finally had 12 in stock!  I happily clicked away, and am always excited when they arrive.  Now I just need to make the time to sit down and see what books we will actually use next year, and what books we have that I can sub in.  = )  

Uno is quite popular these days.  They like to play with the reverse card during free time too.

Grace: "mutti look! Canadian hair bows"  (We actually bought them on our St. Louis trip, but they do resemble the Canadian flag.

On the day that the $enate was confirming the electoral votes from the +rump/13iden election, there was much chaos when dozens of American citizens entered the Capit0l forcing the $enators to take cover and then escape.  Many have been arrested since then.  From what the news says, they are taking precautions at all 50 state capitals in the says leading up to the election.  Lansing has closed down all the roads in the immediate vicinity of the Capit0l building (Jan 17th) until further notice.  People online are very unhappy, they've started deleting accounts and shutting down websites.  I don't know if this is the beginning of a big change or just a small blip on the radar.  I am hoping for the latter.

For his 39th birthday, Billy requested a Grand Traverse Cherry pie.   Since the downtown location ahs been closed since November, so I drove all the way to Okemos just for pie.  = )  I also bought a chocolate pie that most of us had for breakfast that morning. ; )

I don't recall what we were watching, but the twins were happy to snuggle with daddy!  This was sadly the night before his kidney stone made for a rough weekend and lonely trip to the ER!

The twins were working on a money unit, and really enjoyed holding the coins in hand during the lessons.

Emily's simile made me smile. 

Alice did not care for drawing with the new drawing pad that we bought her for Christmas, but she does use it during math!

Juliet wanted to try something new, so I flipped her ponytail. Her hair looks just like Alice, back when she would let me style her hair.

January 26th, Billy's "Party" at Chuck E Cheese

Today's expected high was 35F.  I think it might have gotten a smidge warmer, but it was quite cold.  We had a rainy mix of snow and water all day.

All the weekend days following Billy's birthday have included reports of treacherous roads. So, we had to postpone his birthday "party" at Chuck E Cheese, in spite of all of his gift cards. = (  Today after church at JLC, we picked up William, Grace and Juliet from Avia's church and headed to celebrate. The kids didn't seem to mind. ; )

I kept all of the bands from the twins' birthday last year, so they have fancy ones, and the other three have some stretchy ones to use.  They only charge $1.50 for the bands, but it is just enough x5 that it is worth it to me to store the bands and bring them each time.  = )

Grace and Juliet spent a lot of time in the photo booth.  Since I recycle the originals, I'm posting pictures here.

They talked me into a picture too. = )

Alice saw the pile, and this was her contribution:

The booth ran out of paper before William and Emily could join in the fun. The kids earned almost 3000 tickets during their two hours, which gave them 585 apiece to spend!

For dinner we had some leftover Chinese, but no one was terribly hungry.

later days