May 15th, 63rd Day of Quarantine, 38th Day of School at Home

The high today was a lovely 71F!

On Fridays, it is mostly a catch-up day for the kids school work.  Since we've been able to complete assignments each day, this means it is an easy day for my dear ones.  Also, I eliminated piano practice, so that getting out the door would not be as stressful.

It has also been 6 weeks since the stuffed animals were banished to quarantine in the basement, and today was release day! Alice drug her feet, so we did not release them all before the trip, but William worked so quickly and diligently that I allowed him to pull out his favorite before we left.

Emily and I needed to leave around 10am, so I prepared Alice as well as I could for her 1:30 meeting. We finally got a webcam that is a plug and play into their computers.  It is amazing.  Their computers can run the virtual meetings soooooo much better than the old little laptop.

It rained on us most of the trip to Grand Rapids.  We saw some interesting sights, like a trailer that had come off of a semi and an ambulance in the median.  There is construction in Grand Rapids, so our exit had a detour.  Luckily we were running a little bit early, so we arrived on time.

You can read about Emily's appointment here.

When we arrived home it was pretty late, and almost time for dinner.

Alice made ravioli with alfredo sauce for dinner.  Everyone thought it was pretty tasty except for her (and me, but I don't care for pasta or alfredo.)

 After dinner, Billy and I played some games that came in my MOPS date night bag.  Emily invited herself, and we had some fun conversations and a few giggles. = )

After our games I called my mom, to get her advice before purchasing the homeschool curriculum for next year.  She gave me the confidence to go ahead and buy it!  So, it looks like we will be a home schooling family come August!

Once I finished my online things for the evening, we bought the new Scooby Doo movie, Scoob!

We paused it, frequently, but it was really cute and we all enjoyed it. = )

It was a full, busy day, and our late bedtime was very welcomed!

later days

March 9th

Today the high was 58F.  It was a little windy and a little rainy, but not brutal.

After dropping off my dear ones, I picked my mom up for my weekly grocery run to Meijer and Aldi.

She had a short list of errands to complete before I dropped her off at the airport (she treated me to Subway for lunch, and we ate it outside of security.)

From there I rushed home to put away the groceries and then collect the twins from school, since all three of the big ones had maker's club after school!

The twins made it through piano practice and most of their homework before we went back to collect the big kids.

Alice, after a year and a half of practicing, finally decided to test out of her multiplication flashcards!  The challenge was to answer 86 flashcards (0x0-12x12, in random order) in less than 5 minutes.  She knocked it out with 16 seconds to spare! = )

I scheduled the twins' birthday party online, and they are excited!  It's now less than a month away. = )

For dinner we had a crockpot beans & beef with some dinner rolls.

later days

P.S. We also have a date scheduled to meet with the neurologist for Emily: March 31st, in Grand Rapids.

February 15th

The expected high today is 29F.  We're definitely to the part of winter where I'm not sure I'll ever be warm again. = (

We were anticipating saying goodbye today to the Kearneys, who are moving back to Florida, next weekend, but moving woes kept them from coming. = (

I had a simple appetizer layout, but we ended up eating without them. = (

It's sad that we didn't get to say goodbye.  For lunch we had Tiki Masala, and for dinner we just snacked.

later days

January 25th, Celebrating the Chinese New Year

Today the temperature was expected to reach 40F, everything looked pretty melty from the comfort of my window, so it probably reached that.  Late in the evening we did end up with a "wintry" mix of snow in the air, rain on contact.

Avia came over and spent some time playing games with the kids, and we spent the rest of the day getting ready for our guests!

We celebrated the Chinese new year with some Chinese food and drink!

The smallest quantity of chopsticks I could buy was 40, so in addition to using them as food, we pulled up our hair, chopstick style.

It is the year of the rat, so they were using the chopsticks as 'whiskers.' = )

We enjoyed having the Eatons over, as always. And it was fun celebrating a new (to us) tradition!

later days

Kalamazoo

My birthday celebrations lasted forever this year!  My mom offered up a date for me and Billy, so we took a day trip down to Kalamazoo!

It may not look like much, but breakfast on a train is so much better than anywhere else. = )

After we left the train station, we headed for a museum, and found ourselves in a nice little park.

Back side?

Front side?  There was no plaque.  I have no clue what this was supposed to be.  Is it art? Is it a piece of space shuttle that fell from the sky? A left over piece of industrial equipment?

The museum was free, and very cool!  We spent much longer there than I thought we would.

They had a "miniatures exhibit.  This was placed into the eye of a needle!

My best "biker face."

This was what our ornament read:

There were a few temporary exhibits, one of them was The Mystery of the Mummy!

Next we went to a recommended restaurant for lunch.  It's called the beer exchange because they have a live 'exchange' for their on tap beer prices.  They go up or down depending on what people are ordering.  Sadly, this didn't start until 6pm, so we didn't get to see it in action.

The building they were in was very open, and aesthetically pleasing.

This reminded me of a humorous video that I'd watched.

Since we'd had breakfast not long before, I ordered the fried pickles.  What came out was a bit unexpected.

I acquired a new button from a quarter vending machine.  I have no idea who this is.  Anybody know?

We had some time before our escape room, so we played a round of pool.

On our walk back it was sunny.  Not warm, but above freezing at least.

We stopped in a chocolate shop to see about getting souvenirs for the kids.  I was pretending to eat the UP section of the chocolate Michigan that we bought.

Billy captured the moment I decided to actually eat it. = )

Our newest escape room adventure was Amelia Earhart's lost apartment.  It was pretty awesome.  The story was really good.  They also had some fun games to play in the lobby while you waited (or after your game.)  We escaped and brought our percentage up to a 88!

After we left it was time to go to dinner.

When we arrived at the restaurant we had picked out online, they were closed for a private event until 7, which didn't work with our departing train.  So, we ended up at a place on the other side of the square.  It didn't disappoint at all. = )

It was dark when we were heading back to the train.

We entered through a different door than we had exited in the morning, so we'd missed the display the first time in the train station.

The Kalamazoo train station is really very pretty!

Nice vocabulary on the East Lansing train station door.

It was a quick trip, but so fun.  Of course, any time we take the train I'm excited.

later days

Dinner with the Eatons

Just before Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a fun evening with the Eatons.  

We didn't eat desert first, but I didn't manage a picture of dinner. 

Baby Janey was the only child we saw most of the night. Our children had a fun time entertaining each other in the far corners of the house. = )

And, I managed to take out one of their stemmed wine glasses. = (  I found a replacement set, but forgot to take a picture of it once it was ready for presentation.  Deb said that now she will think of me each time she uses them (and presumably the fact that I broke one, once upon a time. ; ))

It was a fun evening, looking forward to the next round!

later days