End of August

169th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 76F.  It was a cool morning.

After a lovely sleep in, I made my way to an estate sale on the edge of town.  They had so much to look at, I spent quite a time collecting my treasures. = )

When I returned, Billy went to Menards for some supplies for our basement door project, and grabbed lunch for us all (from three different places!)

I spent the afternoon making a prototype window mask (I don't care for it much and will need to make a new design completely.  Trying to put a window in the mask style that I've been making did not look as good as I would like.  I also put together a small package for Alex, Blake and baby John.  I feel really out of the loop when it comes to newborn stuff, is embroidery even in vogue any longer?

For dinner I cleaned out the refrigerator and reheated leftovers.

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168th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 85F.

Our nature exploration was cut a little short when the thunder started rumbling.

Juliet was our first math "review" finisher!  She worked through all of the Kindergarten material in the past 3 months, and will start 1st Grade Monday.  I bought each of them a special stuffed animal as an incentive, and she was very excited to claim hers!

After school, I needed to take the medicine box delivery to be recycled at FEDEX.  While I was up that way I went to the bank and thrift shop.  I didn't find any school books, but found a few things of interest.

For dinner we had Chick fil A, since I was in the area.

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Today is the 167th Day of Quarantine.

The high was 91F.

The tooth fairy had a rough night trying to exchange money and teeth, under the waking eyes of two watchful children.  whew.

I walked down to the farmer's market to buy some tasty treats.

For dinner we had beef with broccoli and rice.

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We are living through the 166th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today was 87F.  It was a cool morning while several storms blew through, making our drive back from Ann Arbor very rainy.

William and I were up and out the door before 6:30 to make it to his 8am dentist appointment.  They capped one of his back teeth, and then extracted the baby tooth on the top.  I didn't realize that they were removing it (they said they were going to "wiggle it" but I didn't expect the extraction.  Poor little boy was brave, but couldn't hold it together any longer once he saw me.  Sadly, we have to do it again next week for the other side.  Luckily, the appointment is a little later.

During geography, they discussed a compass, so I broke out the one that I had.  William thought it was a nifty device.

While Alice and Emily were doing science this afternoon, Alice lost a tooth!  So now, we have two teeth and only one pillow.  Talk about unlikely scenarios.

For dinner I made faijitas.  Sadly, I missed the expiration on my premade chicken by just a few days, so I ended up defrosting and cooking them from scratch. They were still pretty good, just took longer than planned.

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We are currently at 165th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today is 84F.

Regular school day, playdoh and Alice in Wonderland in the afternoon.

Emily's siblings fanned her while she practiced the piano.

For dinner we had hamburger helper and corn.

It's harder to identify the twins from their reflection alone!  This is Grace.

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Today is the 164th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today is 91F.

School went on as planned.  I worked in the afternoon on math with William, using M&Ms since the morning work was so frustrating for him.  I think it worked a bit.

Emily cleaned out her computer, and before she recycled her 200+ bearcat tickets, played in them for a while.

For dinner we had teriyaki chicken and rice.

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Today is the 163rd Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today is 88F.

Billy got most of the new basement door assembled.  I'll do the painting, and then he will do the install!!

Setting up for the week was quicker than last week, since we are using many of the same books, and I already have a (mostly) working schedule in place. = )

For dinner we had personal mini pizzas.

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later days

January 24th

Today's expected high was 38F and it rained all day this meant that it melted some of the snow, but not all of it.  Also, it is now really slick on the roads.

I worked in William's classroom today with one of his classmates.  I'm pretty worn out.  Also, I'm tired because I stayed up late finishing the book I bought on Tuesday.  It was totally worth it.  And a friend sent a bag of clothes & shoes to pick through for my kids, so we did that before we headed out.

My children do not like to leave the school.  Here's a picture of some of them "rolling" down the hall slowly when it was time to leave.

Emily has decided that she wants to learn Fuer Elise, and she has spent at least 2 hours in the past day practicing the new music!

Billy is helping her too, since he sight read it in no time (and totally acts like it's nothing.)  But she's making great strides!

I listened to and cried while listening to Songs About Texas, by Pat Green, because sometimes I just miss home so incredibly much.  And, him being a Tech alum, he totally gets it.

Now it's time for bed.

later days

Saying Goodbye to Summer

Summer ended just as suddenly as it began, as it seems to do every year.  We did our best to live each of the final days to the full.

I made some supernatural sugar cookies.  The kids didn't like them since they didn't have chocolate.  I thought they were pretty good.

William likes to sprawl out on our bed, when given the opportunity.

Catching one last movie at the library. This time we went to the one near Aunt Rocky's house. They let you eat and watch at the same time.  Parking is nearby and free, so it might be our go to next year.  Also, everyone redeemed the rest of their summer reading prizes.  = )

Billy made one last round of burgers.  They were so colorful!

It is possible that William is more of a Texan than I am.  It was 73 degrees in our house, and he had on a fleece nightgown, put on his lined hoodie, and then wrapped up in his blanket.  It didn't last long, as the day warmed up, but I could not have comfortably put on that many layers.

Lazy summer games.

Shots are still on the agenda three times a week.

William's piano time    d    r   a   g    s       out every day.  Instead of buckling down and just learning the song and moving on he does this:

And this:

And several other acrobatics.  Now that the twins are learning the basics, I think he will finally be prompted to move on once they catch up to him.  If he would just buckle down and practice this piece, he could move on any day.

Hamster Holmes was the free book I chose on Alice's behalf, since she didn't want to pick anything.  It opened up all sorts of fun for the end of our summer.

I introduced my crew to the Hamster Dance song, from the earlier days of the internet.  This book also had a chart of Morse Code letters. So Emily and I had fun writing and translating notes back and forth for the day. = )

I'm always sad to see summer go, and I'm doubly sad about winter coming.  Hopefully I'll survive another Michigan winter.

later days

Snow Days

In the past 2 weeks, we've had 6 snow days!  That means that my children have spent the majority of the school week home.  The weather has been awful, so I'm thankful that we didn't have to get out in the mess of snow, ice and "deadly cold!"

Emily went out the first day, after lots of snow had come down. she made a happy snowman  = )

We then got more snow.

And it got colder

And even colder.

On this particular day we did not get above 0 degrees F.

And then, it warmed right back up.  On Friday, the kids had school, and wanted to go back out to play after school.

Then, over the weekend we had warm temperatures into the 50s!

Monday, the weather started back up.  Emily made a little snowman out of the moderate snow we had. = )

The first day, I gave them a pass, and William was excited. = )

Emily had time to make her valentine box and address her valentines.

During the really cold days we hung out upstairs because it was warmer (since heat rises.)

Extra time each day allowed for some hot, fresh breakfasts.

 I even caught wind of a little exercise we could do at home!

But each day they don't go to school, I've been adding back in normal routines.  So today, they read and practiced the piano and did homework packets or flashcards.   They are not fans for having to work on snow days, but after the whining ended and they finished their tasks, they had lots of time to play.

On this day, they pulled out the legos and played for a long time. = )

Today they've been on their computers most of their free time, but the day is still young. = )

I'll end this post with an impressive, cold sunset.

later days