School Events and Spirit Days

On Emily's birthday, Alice had a concert band competition on the calendar.  School was out for them that day, and when I dropped her off, the roads were not awful.  She would hop on the bus with the band for Charlotte, and we were going to drive down to see her.

Billy took the day off, so that he could see her play.  As the six of us drove down to Charlotte, the roads were getting worse and worse.  Even so, many came out to support their band, and Alice even waved to us! = )

It was nice to hear the entire band play the piece that she works on at home each night!  And they got some really good advice from a visiting judge during the 'sightreading' portion of the event.

They 'shortened' the event to end at 6, even so, the roads were slick and awful.  We slowly made our way back to the school to collect her, then very slowly made our way home without incident.

For the week leading up to St. Patrick's Day, the big girls' school had a spirit week.  Both dressed up every day, but I only managed two pictures of just Emily*! 

Plaid day was early in the week:

"Lucky Charm" day was later in the week.  I think this was her favorite, since she was able to pull off the snacks to share with her friends after they took the participation count for the team 'competition.'

Snow piles are like a beacon to my children (or really all the children.)  "Take our picture Mutti!"

The twins, doing twin things on "dress like a cool kid" day!

William dressed up too, and even got called up to help 'lead' a song in the assembly, but by the time I thought "oh, I should take a picture**" all the students were standing, and I couldn't see him.  He did dress up in Spartan gear and a Scooby Doo baseball cap! (which is why, in my mind, he was selected = ))

I will do my best to take more pictures the next spirit week, maybe it will be warmer and we can do some outside pictures without having to suffer!

later days

*In my defense, Mornings are hectic around here, and Alice is usually one of the last out the door, bringing the brush along to brush her hair in the car because she's out of time!

**I was working, and so my mind was more on my work duties than on my mom duties.

All the Fun! Part II

When I sorted through my pictures for Part I of this post, I must have been interrupted, because I was missing a few pictures that I knew I wanted to post.  When I went back through the folder, I found many pictures that I wanted to post.  So, since the previous post is all wrapped up and finished, I'm adding a second part that is separate, for no other reason than that I found more pictures I want to remember. = )

Alice's ID, well, all her pictures actually, had a typographical error.  I found it super funny, personally.  Honestly, I was tempted to leave it and just let her be Alice Crockov for the rest of her school days.  Ultimately, we got it corrected, but I still find it humorus. 

I always think that it's my last year with MOPS, but I think since it is my primary social time, I just need to accept that I'm going to be in it a long while.  Technically I'm in MOPS next, for the official record, since all of my children are older than Kindergarten.  I love the theme this year!  It's "We go together" and it is all about kindling friendships and maintaining old ones.  So far, I've loved all the media they've produced.

I had 15 minutes to run into Aldi and then go collect someone from somewhere.  This is what a trip for one single item looks like in rush. lol.

Speaking of Aldi, they had these laundry baskets, for about half of what I'd priced them out for, and so I did it.  I completed step of one improving my sanity.  Now, I just lay the clothes in the basket for each child as they come out of the dryer, and if they need something, they know where to get it.  If the basket gets full before they hang up their clothes, I start getting rid of things.  

Eventually I would like to have a rack put in, like the inspiration I saw many years ago, but I will need to find a new home for the coats and ski pants. So, it may be a few years.

I bought the ingredients to make baclava to bring to Steve & Natalie's housewarming party, but simply ran out of time.  So, I made it earlier this week and brought her some to try.

For spirit week, leading up to homecoming, Emily planned out each of her outfits.  We found a huge flannel at a yard sale, but were able to borrow a smaller one from Natalie, which looked much cuter.  She also picked out some cute boots to wear with the ensemble.  Alice decided on Tuesday to join in on the fun, by requesting a 'country' hairstyle.  I was very happy that she wanted to participate!

The next day was college day.  I have a pile of Texas Tech shirts that my mom has collected for me over the years, just for spirit weeks, but Alice ended up wearing one of the ones from my regular rotation (every week is spirit week for me!)  Emily found a cute flannel when we went back to the thrift store for a piece of her Halloween costume.  She was so excited about it, she didn't want to wait an entire year to wear it, so she wore it over her tech shirt the next day.

Autumn is in full swing.  While the days were fairly mild, we took care of many outdoor chores, including the first round of leaf raking!  

They are looking for sign-ups for Trunk or Treat at the little ones' school.  Now that my crew is older, I feel like I can finally be on the giving end!  

I searched the internet to see what cool things they had to pass out (instead of just candy.) While they have some nifty and interesting things, I can't help but think about how much junk is being put into the environment for the sake of novelty.   I wanted an alternative, and thought of something to bounce off of my children.

I asked the craftier of my children if they would help me paint "dead rocks" to pass out.  When they heartily agreed, we swung by our favorite landscaping place, and bought an entire bucket for $2.

We washed all of the rocks, then started to paint.

Grace worked really hard, but eventually started getting sillier and more creative.   So, we have several rocks that stray from the "dead rock" collection, but I think they'll find good homes just the same.

Even with 4 of us working (mostly) industriously, we did not finish decorating the pile.  So, on day 2 of painting, we managed to finish them all off.  Juliet and the rock were both dead by the end.

A few of the rocks that received extra paint:

Grace helped me take out my dead garden vines earlier in the week, so this will be my final garden update for the year.  My porch doesn't look quite as 'orange' as my imagination suggested, but I love my 3 pumpkins that grew!!!

Now I feel like all of our events have been covered.  We have many things coming up on the calendar, hopefully I can get them in the blog a little bit faster.

later days

Day in and day out

In the mornings, we are in rush mode to get the twins out the door to wait for the bus.  Most mornings, you'll see them eating breakfast, regardless of what it is, out on the driveway.

Some mornings the big kids join us.  And sometimes we even get to wait with daddy!

For spirit week, Emily dressed up each day, but the only ones I remembered to grab shots of were mis-matched day and college day.

Most mornings we do the kiss and go line, but since I've been substituting up at their school, I'll park and walk up with them.

My very first day of subbing, the final few minutes of the day, I was bitten by a student. (thankfully, not in any of my children's classes.)

We took a family trip up to an arcade that had bowling and bumper cars and laser tag.  It was a good time.  The twins were too short to ride the bumper cars, so they pouted and pined over them for the remainder of the day.  So, we will have to go back, when they are a little taller. = )

On Fridays the twins have homework, and they are so excited to do it (like the big kids!)  = )

I bought a Belgian waffle maker, and they are way better than eggo. = )

It's been flickering cooler weather for a month or two now, so tea has become a favorite around here. Today was the first day of really miserable cold.  Winter has begun. = (

Grace and her hello kitty  bunny were sleepy.

William noticed that the light on the floor was just like 'seven' (Aunt Rocky's dog.)

Over the weekend we played a ton of games!  The scooby doo game, battle ship, monopoly jr, candyland, several card games, and even a few rounds of blood rage. = )

And, after almost two months, and two mechanic shops, I got my car back! It feels so nice to drive it again.

So, the very first thing he did was replace the spark plugs and one of the piston heads (?)  that didn't solve the misfire issue, so he went further into the engine.  I had a broken tooth on my timing belt, so he replaced that, but it still was not the issue.  My sensors were not picking up on whatever the issue was, so he kept running mechanical diagnostics on it.  He consulted colleagues, the internet, all with no revelations. Finally, I asked him to bring it into a dealership, and see if they could diagnose it.  Within a couple of days we learned that my car does not care for the brand of spark plug he'd put in it all those weeks ago.  ugh.  Once he replaced them it was good to go.

Upon picking up my car (just in time for our grand rapids trip) I dropped off the van, since it had some issues.  He's replaced the water pump, serpentinite belt, and tie rods.  Since we just dropped 3K on the expedition, we did the bare minimum on the van for now.

And, a check engine light came in on my car.  He read the code.  Apparently my catalytic converter is (possibly) on it's way out, or at least the efficiency is reading as low.  The performance of my car is not currently affected, but it is now on the list of things to do. But I'm not willing to let go of my car again just yet.

With the cold approaching, footed pajamas have become the favorite around here.  Mostly among the older kids.  William loves them, but it makes shot nights a little tougher. = /

The day before my mom left, I accidentally poured my ground beef grease into a sink without a catch. = 0  Despite the low quantity, it was enough to completely block my drain (I'm guessing there were other things, and that this was just the last straw.)  My mom brought over chemicals, but even allowing it to sit over night it was not draining.

The next day I went to lows to get plungers and stronger chemicals, but was still unable to get it unclogged.  As these things go, Sarah was also having trouble with her drain, so we couldn't even bring dishes over to her house to run them through the dishwasher.

She took half a day off work to fight her drain and won! So, next she came over to our house with her tools and victory and unclogged my drain as well! = )

So, the other day when I made bacon, 4 layers went under the can...I'm not taking any chances. = )

On their breaks, I require the kids to read for 20 minutes each day before they turn on their electronics.  They get double time if they read to the twins.  Now that William has some sight words under his belt, he was reading to the twins. = )  He's a good reader, and an awesome big brother.

Having this week off for fall break has been nice.  It's been a little stay home and a little go go go.  But, my mom flew in yesterday, and we are so glad she's back. = )

Just like the rest of the year, October is flying by, so hopefully we can soak up a little more fall fun this weekend!

later days