The Other Part of the Day

We had an appointment in Ann Arbor, for William, Grace, and Juliet.  William's was actually a double appointment, because his orthodontist requested that he have 4 baby teeth removed before his next visit to their office!  So, when I made his tooth extraction appointment, they were able to bump his cleaning to an earlier time slot, and keep the girls at their same time.  

Grace and Juliet slept with twisted hair so that their hair could be 'curly' for the appointment.  It was certainly curly first thing in the morning!

When we arrived the parking lot was close to full, but we were plenty early, so we were able to wait for someone to leave, then we were able to park and went to check in.  Grace was able to go back earlier, since her dentist had an opening, and William's dentist was right on time.  Poor Juliet, her dentist had a patient right before her, and the patient was checked in, but in the wrong clinic.  So not only was she not able to go early, by was actually delayed. = (

William and Juliet both have to go back for treatment in November (and William will be going on a back to back Friday/Monday. = /  I may see if I can move his ortho appointment, because I don't want him to miss that much school in a row.)

We enjoyed a nice lunch in the atrium, William was only allowed to eat joghurt, so we gave him all that we brought, poor guy!  Grace found a cute little 'pig' marshmallow cookie!

After our 'detour' to the park, we headed home.  About 20 miles from Lansing, my car hiccoughed a bit, then the radio went out.  After about 5 more miles, my speedometer panel (gas, rpm, speed, etc.) also went out.  At the next hiccough, I made the decision to pull over at a rest stop, instead of trying (and possibly failing) to make it to the mechanic.

I turned off my car for a few minutes, then attempted to restart it, but it wouldn't even click over. = (

So, I called AAA, Billy, and the mechanic (in that order!)

AAA was out pretty quick, but we had access to a bathroom, water fountain and all the food we'd brought for our lunch, so we were pretty content while we waited.

Such a sad sight. =- (

Once my car was on the truck, Billy headed our way (there was no sense in him joining us to wait for the truck.)

One of our primary forms of entertainment was bottle flipping.  William got pretty accurate with his sprite bottle!

The 'pose' is staged, but the success was real in the same flip for both William & Juliet!!

All in all, I'm thankful that since my car did break down, it went out on our way home, close enough to home to be 'local', at a location with a bathroom and water source, that we didn't have a car full of camping supplies, for AAA, and for the sweet families who saw our car loaded up and made sure that we were okay and had help coming!

And while I'm in a reflective mood: a quick shout out to my sweet little garden, we had our first cucumber heartvest yesterday!!! <3

I hope the repair on my car is quick and relatively inexpensive, but Billy googled the symptoms and thinks it's the alternator. = (

later days

Happy Two-sday!!!

Today the date read 2-22-22, and it fell on a Tuesday.  This is certainly a once in a lifetime occurrence for us, so we celebrated!

I started the day with the two-times tables rock, followed by a few songs that have two in the title.  Once I was downstairs, I put on some fantastic tuba solos.  Alice was not impressed.

My sister came up with the two-tsie roll (tootsie roll) pun, so my dear ones had 2 shaped arrangements on the table to start the day.

Emily had ballet today, so once we got home, I made up some two shaped two-na (tuna) fish sandwiches with a two-be (tube) of yoghurt.

On Sunday, I whipped up some two-rmeric (turmeric) cookies.  I had them in my cake dome, so that they wouldn't dry out, and they were quite soft.  However, the recipe made so many that when William asked if he could pass some out to his karate friends, I was happy to help him pack them up, in sets of two, naturally.

They were really the prettiest yellow color, and the recipe was straightforward.  As to the taste, they were a nice novelty.

The final two in our day was Two-nisian (Tunisian) Quiche.  I did all my prep work on Sunday, because the time between karate and dinner is particularly short.

I would make and eat this again, though I still prefer my quiche with a crust.  The peeling of the potatoes was the longest bit, because they only had fingerling yellow potatoes at Carl's.  I would opt for bigger potatoes next time, as well as decreasing the recommended salt.

So, that was our Two-sday (Tuesday.)  It was filled with lots and lots of twos and new tastes.

later days

Beginning of December

274th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 54F

For dinner I laid out a simple charcuterie spread of meat, cheese, fruit & crackers.  I've been doing this since the kids were little, but now it is super en vouge and has a fancy French name and everything!

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273rd

The high today was 43F.

Billy and I are watching our way through the twilight saga.  It's been several years for me, and with the new book release I had a renewed interest.  Billy had never seen it and is enjoying it enough.

I got a call from Eaton county that 3 years ago they never came to do a 'final inspection' on our carport and someone will be out next Tuesday.  I just have this terrible feeling that they are about to make me very angry.

I heated up leftovers for dinner.

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272nd Day of Quarantine. 

54F was the high.

In nature study we decorated solstice cookies!  We found that on our winter solstice, we will only have about 8.5 hours of sunlight. = (  So, each of us decorated two (12 hour) cookies with 4 hours marked on each, to represent our tiny window of sunlight.  I'm already ready to start heading out of winter, and we haven't even officially started yet.

And, with the extra (homemade) chocolate icing, they were able to make an extra Natural History 'cow spot' marshmallow!

Since we are studying the Iroquois in American History, I finally pulled out the boats and teepee that Aunt Wanda sent us.  The kids were delighted!

 For dinner we had Spaghetti.

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271st Day of Quarantine.

47F.  It was very chilly, but not as bitterly cold as yesterday.

After school finished up today, we played pig mania.  We even talked Alice into playing a round with us!

Billy bought another gun. I bought a water filter system that just uses needs two buckets.  Preparation in the fear of the unknown is comforting.  What exactly we are preparing for I couldn't say, but it feels nice to have several contingencies planned out (interrupted utilities, temporary food shortage, etc.)

I made sugar cookies in anticipation of nature study tomorrow.

For dinner we had chicken teriyaki with rice.

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270th Day of Quarantine.  We are still, mostly, mostly, self isolating.  There are some guidelines in place, so some things like movie theaters and indoor dining in restaurants is currently not 'allowed.' but most thing are open, there are no curfews and no one official is enforcing things on the average citizen.

37F was our high.  No snow outside, but it is cold, so I made a marshmallow/popcorn snack scape & hot cocoa for my crew when they came inside from recess. = )

For dinner we had a late cheesy chicken and rice casserole.  It was late, because I was late in leaving for the pharmacy and bank, since when I went to roll William's trundle bed away, it wouldn't collapse, because the kids were jumping on it and bent it. grr.

So, Billy and I spent time fixing that before I left, and even though I started on dinner practically straight away, the chicken needed adequate time to cook.  It all worked out, and we were able to eat before Ms. Charlie cleaned the dining area (but she had started on the kitchen already.)

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269th Day of Quarantine.

36F was our cold high today.

Our morning was the usual subjects, but a little faster.  I left a checklist for the big girls with all the work that they needed to finish in our absence.

We made a trip up to Grand Rapids for an ultrasound for Juliet, bloodwork for all three, and a 6 month follow up with the endocrinologist.  We brought school work, and I envisioned us sitting in the cafeteria, but we were not allowed in. = (  Since I always pack a lunch, this was not a huge blow, but it was not nearly as comfortable working on their lessons in the car.

The drive home was uneventful, and Emily defrosted the hamburger meat for me, so that I could make up hamburger helper for dinner.

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268th Day of Quarantine.

30F was the freezing high today.

The kids enjoyed their nikolausstiefel treats.

Emily came with me to the grocery pick up, and then we went to the thrift store.  We shopped for a long time, but didn't buy much.

Grace helped me address all the Christmas cards today.  I was thankful for her help putting on the stamps (and drawing special pictures for all on the envelopes!)  Sadly, this unexpected task cut into my reading time, and I did not finish Midnight Sun.

For dinner we had chicken noodles soup from a can, so that I could have a little leisure reading time.

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later days

February 1st

Today's expected high is 35F. It has been snowing since I woke up.

I slept for 13 hours last night, waking only when Billy and the kids came upstairs for bed, and then when William was trying to rouse his siblings to come down for breakfast!

It was just enough time to meet up with my MOPS table for brunch. Billy had to encourage me to climb out of bed, and then he started researching the menu.

I was 15 minutes late, since I had to do three passes through the tiny parking lot in my beast of a car before I gave up and walked. = ( We ate at a place called the Soup Spoon. It was really good, and I'm pretty sure half of our table was able to come!

My car was covered in snow by the time I left, but the roads were still clear.  I had to stop in and get Grace a new electric toothbrush, since we had to toss her old one, darn strep throat.  They will all get new ones for Easter anyhow, so I shopped at dollar tree to get her a short term replacement.

Alice made up some cookies from her cookbook that she checked out from school, they came out pretty well.  She and her siblings rated them a 10.  They didn't have enough chocolate in them for my taste.

The rest of the day was pretty unremarkable.  We played some games, watched some videos, ate some snacks.

For dinner we had chicken nuggets & mini corndogs.  = )

later days

Oven!

My oven is back!  The tech came out Monday and installed the replacement for melted piece.  In the first 24 hours we made cookies,

Reheated leftover pizza, made banana nut bread & muffins and prepared a side for our Christmas Dinner (on New Year's Day.)

It has been an expensive & tiring week, since we ate out many times that I would have popped leftovers or a casserole in the oven.  I'm so happy to have my oven back!

later days

Art Show

This year, the yearly art show fell during the final school week of December!  At the PTO meeting they were looking for ways to hang "candles" from the rafters. They ended up with a chandelier that looked fantastic! (But I didn't get a picture.)

Emily and I made 'sorting cookies' since it was a Harry Potter theme.  Each cookie had three layers and was filled with a mystery color to 'sort' the kids into houses.  We only made 13, but it took us a long time!

Arriving at the platform 9 & 3/4

After this, Emily wasn't in many pictures, since she was off walking around with her friends.

They had several photo props throughout the school.  It was awesome!

They had floats, cookies & popcorn for sale in the 'great hall' and tons of art around every corner!  It was displayed by fictional subjects (like herbology and defense against the dark arts.) The teachers were all dressed up as various characters from the series. We were even given a marauder's map when we walked in.  It was so impressive!

When Emily did make it back to us, she was sorted into Ravenclaw. = )

It was a fun night, and I was so happy that it was indoors!

later days

Ending the MOPS Year, and Other Brief Moments From Spring.

Next year is my final year that I will be eligible for MOPS (and I'm out of room* on my cabinet door.)  I am saddened by this thought, but the reality is that my woes are drastically different now that they are all going to school.  Our group is planning to put those of us with "older" children together at a table next year, for which I am very grateful. = )

At our meeting, the theme was MOPSCARS, and everyone on the steering team worked so hard to make it happen.  Lots of awards, kind words and small gifts were presented.

It was an opportunity for all of us to get dressed up (or not) and celebrate!

I also received a new member into my plant family, as a table leader gift.  Please meet Ward. = )

My award was for being thriftiest and giftiest (I don't actually remember the wording.)  And, I scored all the chocolate.  (Here she is Jessica!)

In our museum membership newsletter, they printed a list of requested donation items for their think tank.  I had a box full after my garage sale, so last week the twins, Avia and I headed over there to drop them off.  I asked if the girls wanted to go in an play for a little while.  Juliet was quick to respond "no, a long while!"

So, Avia and Juliet paired off, as well as me and Grace.  We spent a couple of hours playing and learning in depth.

I was letting William look at a picture that I had taken, and he started taking other pictures.  I really enjoy looking at the pictures that Alice and Emily took on the little camera in Houston, so I thought I might like to see this one in the future too.

The twins intentionally dressed as identically as possible in an effort to fool their teachers.  I can tell them apart with ease, even without their glasses on. But if they were to trade glasses I would be hard pressed to sort them out quickly. ; )

We counted out how many cookies Avia would get by our family rule. (age/4 +1)  It was quite a pile.  And on her next birthday she'll get one more!

William wanted the toilet paper box, so he was responsible for putting away the toilet paper.  He did a decent job, at least they were all in the bathroom.

And my final and newest picture of the night, Hat Day.

We still have 3 jam-packed weeks of school left, but I know it will fly by.  Anxiously awaiting our summer, such that it is.

later days

*I feel like my very first year in MOPS either they didn't sent out a printable, or I neglected to keep it.  This next year should be my 7th year in MOPS.