Another Hodgepodge Post

Emily and Grace have been getting in some good outside time this summer.  I liked the lighting in this shot that Emily took of Grace!

Emily picked out this sweater a few weeks ago at a yard sale. I would never ever ever have picked it out for her, but she really likes it (and the colors are pretty.)  Well, fast forward to last week, I was putting something away in the big girls' closet, and the sweater was on Alice's rack!!!  I thought maybe Emily had tried it on, and thought it was too large, so had given it to Alice. But no! It was Alice who liked the sweater so much she stole it from Emily!  To me, this sweater looks sooooo old and dated and I wouldn't ever wear it, but both of my teens (well, teen & tween) love it.  Who knew*?

William, Grace, and Juliet had swim camp last week!  It was 5 hours a day, for 4 days (M-Th) for only $60!!  They loved it, and came home so tired.  

Monday, after drop off, I spent my 'childfree' time hanging out with Zoey's mom!  We spent 3 hours chatting and digging through the bins at the 'cheap' Goodwill, then enjoyed some coffee, and even had time for a dollar tree run, before it was time to collect our dear ones!

On day 3, Grace passed the deep water test for the first time ever!!!!! She is excellent at setting goals and making it happen! = ) I was so proud.

I love filling the 'party tray' with fruits and veggies, for the kids to snack on throughout the day.  It also looks really pretty. = )

We went to the library to redeem summer reading prizes, and since the 'meet up and eat up' was only an hour away, stayed on for lunch!  A few days later, I got a call that Emily had won one of the grand prizes (a Target gift card!) 

I wanted a basket for collecting veggies from the garden.  At Goodwill I found this basket, with a collapsible handle, for $2.50.  I agonized over it the duration of the trip, but ultimately decided to buy it.  I've been loving it, and it does a fantastic job carrying all the produce inside from the garden.  I love it so much, I tried to repurpose it and use it for shopping at the farmers market.  Sadly, the bottom felt vulnerable with the purchase of potatoes and honey (and then a side trip to Carl's for coconut milk and vegetable stock.) = (

So, I went into the next few days in the market for a studier basket.  I found a larger one, with reinforced sides and collapsible handles for $2!!!! Then, since Avia wasn't able to go with us in the morning, we went back for a second look in the afternoon, and I got another one (to help me carry all of my purchases) and then one more, because it was adorable, and only 50 cents and I'm on a kick.

Well, then I got home, and suddenly had 3 baskets without a home, and one that was slightly in the way.  So, I brainstormed a home for my collection: the mudroom wall!  Upon observation, I found that I would only have to make a single hole in the wall, since there were existing holes for the other three. = )

We had corndogs for dinner last night, and I thought everyone might like 'fancy' stadium containers.  I think they did make them taste better!  (Admittedly, I didn't have one, since I had just made a German Salad, and I'm the only one who eats on it.)

3 of my summer chores involved painting outside, so last night I pulled out all my supplies, and this morning (after a rocky start of driving the big girls to camp because their bus broke down.) Grace came out and helped me pain the shed ramp and step!  Sadly, just those items took the rest of the paint.  So, we needed to go to Menards and get another round, which of course meant loading up WGJ.  To make it more exciting, I promised donuts, but then Grace reminded me that her ear was still hurting, and so I called the doctor and got her a late morning appointment. (Turns out she has swimmers' ear.)  

But after the appointment we went to Menards, but by then the big girls were home, and my mom was over for birthday cake and presents!!!  Once we celebrated Avia to the fullest, and she went on with her day, I went back out to finish the side porch and basement entrance.  I kept running into branches between the two, and so broke out the branch cutters, and trimmed the offending bushes (which needed to be done, but felt like just one more delay.)  As I was finishing up the brush work on the basement door, Emily and Grace came out wanting to help with the roller.  They did a pretty good job, but got bored and came in before the job was finished. = /

I did finally get done, and cleaned up.  Tomorrow (or soon) I hope to go seal, at the very least, the back porch. But I have sewing that needs tending, so we'll see.  Sadly, this was the last week that I'll be getting up early to get the big girls ready for camp, and then having the rest of the morning to knock out a 'summer chore' since EGJ start at nature camp next week!

I mentioned celebrating Avia's birthday, and I took a picture too!

We got to celebrate with my mom this year, it's a toss-up where she'll be each summer, so we only get to celebrate with her sometimes.  This year she got 5 cards from my crew and a shadow box for her grandfather's arrowhead collection from us as a group.  Emily and Grace helped her put together the display, then EGJ helped her sort some coins.  Emily also made her a German chocolate cake, but since AE had summer camp in the morning, we didn't get to have it for breakfast, as is tradition.  I think she enjoyed her time here, hopefully she had a great day!

There's this meme floating around:

And I am feeling it!  August is coming so, so fast!  We have tons of fun things left to do this summer, but August is just so close!  I'm not ready for summer to end!!!

later days

 *So, I actually posted the picture on FB and asked for opinions and they were overwhelmingly positive toward this sweater, so I guess I'm the odd man out.  

Other Noteworthy Events

For Valentine's Day, Billy braved the cold, and a line outside the door, to get me some local made dark chocolate coconut chews!!  They were really good (I actually still have some) and made me feel very loved.  I bought him a box of Reese's cups, along with a small heart box for each of the kids.  It's probably a good thing he got what he wanted while he was at the chocolate shop.

Grace woke up looking like she'd partied all night!

But we were able to tame that hair.

The twins asked how small they were when they were born.  I told them they could fit into Daddy's hand.  He didn't remember them being that tiny, so I broke out an old picture from when they were just a few weeks old.

Upon seeing it, they decided that they wanted to recreate it.  I don't recall who is who in the first picture, and looking back at my blog, I didn't say!! If I were facing the way I think I was, it should be Grace/Mutti/Juliet in the first picture. But the second picture is for sure Grace/Mutti/Juliet.

 

Grace did up her hair in three buns for Three Kings Day

They all got some small treats from Mutti and Daddy.

William built his Lego set after school.

And I got my Christmas gift in from Billy.  They are super cute alligators "biting" my ear, but they are really heavy.

We had the Cornishes over for a game day.  I was participating in dry January, and it was the first time I'd been tested, and stuck it out!  We played this really fun interactive pirate game, that we actually played the next time we hung out with them too!

Juliet made and avatar family and sent it to me.  In the small version, I thought William was blowing a bubble, I didn't realize that it was a cursor.  Oh well.

Alice and Emily thought the can in the Sam's parking lot was a meme, and wanted me to take a picture, so I did.

Juliet's hair was really pretty after coming in from playing the snow one day!

Christin and I sent one another pictures of our breakfast one day.  So now it is going here too.  Buttered toast and black tea with milk.

My mom has already travelled to Texas/FL/OK this year, but she will be leaving again this weekend, since my grandpa fell over, while petting a dog, and broke both of his shoulders (and several other bones.) = (  

I'm hoping for a less eventful end to the month.

later days

March 19th, "Sworn an Oath of Solitude until the Blight is Purged from These Lands" Day 6, Day 4 of School at Home

The expected high today is 53F.  It's currently very foggy, but I anticipate outside recess none-the-less.

My new year's resolution of not scrolling on facebook is not going well.  I'm trying to curtail it, but the memes are on fire!  Also, I have more time at home (now that I'm not picking up and dropping off children.)

Some of the memes that have affected our daily life are the frequent mentions of Cheryl,

 a new plan to "wine tour" this weekend,

and Emily calling toilet paper the new currency.

And, today's special project is filling a time capsule!  William wants to do 10 years from now, I wanted to wait until 2050.  I think we might end up in a compromise at 2040.

A printed version of our favorite video meme is totally going in there!

For lunch we had leftovers and mac and cheese cups.  I personally had some of the leftover wine chicken and noodles from earlier in the week.

Everyone worked very hard today and lessons (even William) were finished before 4pm!

They play really well together, sometimes...

Sarah went to Meijer today and brought by* a few things that Sam's is currently out of for my Monday order. = )

For dinner we had hamburger helper and corn.  Grace and Juliet were in charge of stirring. = )

After dinner they went out to play in the rain, and Alice (and her crew) took the trash out to the curb!

I think were are all finally finding a groove, and today felt very productive.  I even went and checked the mail!

I watched a little of the Cincinnati zoo home safari by myself. = (  Today's animal was a sloth named Moe! = )

Tomorrow is Friday, and I am most definitely ready for the weekend (and our wine tour.) lol.

later days

*She handed me the groceries at the door, not even coming in. We are trying our best to maintain the quarantine.

January 9th

Today was cold and brutally windy. Supposedly we hit a high of 45F, but the wind was so biting I'm inclined to disbelief. The sun came out a few times, and there was also a few drops of precipitation.

Before heading to MOPS this morning, I went through the carwash (even though Wednesdays are their $5 day, and today was $7) because my car was very dirty from the salt and snow on Wednesday. = (

MOPS was lovely.  Our table brought food, so I made a crock-pot taco soup, that I cooked overnight. My kitchen smelled so when I woke up!

We were invited to dress up and we watched videos, heard inspirational New Year ideas.  I broke out my "2020 dress" that I bought for this summer.

One of our mentor moms brought bags and bags of clothes for us to peruse.  I grabbed several pair of pants for Emily, a Unicorn nightgown, a skirt for me, and one pair of pants for William.

Our activity was to write cards that would challenge us to "have more fun!"  This is the one I wrote up.

The one that I received said "pretend our house is a restaurant and be the waitress and serve my kids."  I feel like I do this on a regular basis, but I think I can still make it fun.  My idea right now is to have a cereal and ice cream theme, but I'm still working on it.

We toasted the new year with sparkling grape juice in very fancy cups.  = )  Also, I managed to get a trivia question correct and then won the raffle for an amazon gift card!  I felt so special.  <3

We were also on clean-up, so I rushed to help as much as I could.  But I had to dash out the door at 11:30, because I was subbing for Emily's class.  Between absent students and some students being assigned to "help" other teachers, I was only responsible for about 15 students!

When we came home I was carrying the twins' backpacks, as usual, but I also had all my things from the morning, since I didn't have a chance to run home.  Billy's game had a sound byte that made me laugh when I hear it, so I have since adopted it: "My hands are full, your items are on the ground!"  I said this to my children in jest.  Then, when I went to dig out my keys, I dropped my cup on the ground.  Apparently I had hurt Juliet's feelings, because her response was: "now your item is on the ground."  I laughed so hard, then messaged Billy.

During William's piano practice, I was sitting on the sofa, while Grace was playing with one of my German dictionaries.  She opened it to the very back paged, and asked me what it said.  When I was looking at the weights & measurements, I was surprised to see that an American pint and a British pint are different volumes?!  I confirmed with google, then sent it to Billy, and apparently this was also news to him.  hmmmm.*

For dinner we had tortellini alfredo (well, my family did, I couldn't' help but have another portion of my taco soup.)

later days

*my first ever meme creation.