Crafts

The last month has offered some exciting opportunities for crafts, and Emily's birthday has its own post, because those were not individual projects, as she is a willing helper. I also cut hearts out of coke boxes for over a month, in preparation of Valentine's Day, but it was a bittersweet day to be sure.  I've included the picture here too, because the other post is a work of emotion and reflection, which I may not feel up to revisiting each time I want to recall a very sweet Valentine's Day memory.

Around the time of a snow event, my mom asked if the big girls would be willing to make a homemade baked good for the church's bake sale at the chili dinner. With the snowy roads, I declined, but as the roads cleared had a change of heart, and made the baclava, for which, I already had the ingredients on hand.  I delivered it to the church, along with some cookies that Sarah made (since I was stopping by her house en route.)  My mom sent me a follow up report, telling me that it was gone quickly, and the bake sale was a success.

The three rounds of snow days gave me the time opportunity to get started on, and ultimately finish end of year teacher gifts for the little ones' teachers.  I don't think I have the persistence to make the 14ish bags that I would need for the big girls' teachers, so I'll have to come up with a different gift for them.

I considered making two bags for the twins' teacher, but ultimately decided that she probably did not need two bags (if she even needs one) and put their handwriting on either side of a single bag.

The t-shirt that I cut up to use for William's teacher was a very slippery material, and my machine did not care for it. It took many failed attempts, and finally an iron on fleece to stabilize it enough to make it useable.  (Also, I hope he never sets it near something hot, because the iron brought out a faint smell of cigarette smoke, which was not present at room temperature.)  And, it wasn't until ironing out the embroidery hoop on the twins' teacher's fabric that I realized it would melt and shrink under a hot iron (I guess the iron had been 'heating' on previous presses.)  So, I ended up trimming it a bit before sewing, and it looks okay in its finished form.

Despite all the setbacks and periods of ripping out failed stitches, I managed to finish!  Surprisingly, this is not even the earliest I've ever finished end of year bags, but it feels good to have this project finished!

Emily and her bag were home long enough that I was able to repair the handle cover on her strap.  Sadly, with the repair, the hook could no longer fit through, and so I had to cut apart the strap itself and then reattach the hardware (twice, because the strap ran through the cover twice on the pass over.) = 6

When the girls' Easter dresses arrived (I shopped around Christmas time) I made William a matching bowtie.  I love the colors of their dresses!!!

I'm glad I waited until the dresses arrived, because the pictures made me think that the dresses were much darker in color than they turned out to be.

I'm thankful for the gift of time.  The hours of dropping off and picking up the children never sounds like much, but it might just be enough to get in one extra craft.  = )

later days

Snow, School, Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day and Other Things

 Emily helping Grace decide to fold or call during a game of 5 card draw.

We went 15 days without temperatures above freezing.  The snow actually looked fake, the way it flocked the branches!

Valentine's day treats for my valentines. = )

Grace twinning with Molly.

This book, Children of the New Forest, is what the big girls are currently reading for their literature.  It is quite a jump from their previous text, and Emily was overwhelmed.  I found the book in audio form (for free) and it has been a great thing for Emily. Alice prefers to just read it, and seems to be doing just fine.

The icicles were getting pretty big around here!

The kids painted suncatchers one afternoon.  This is the one that Alice painted, that I will be keeping.  My snow guage!

We got a lot of snow to be shoveled, then we got some more, and then some more. 

The same storm that crippled Texas did not pass us by, and buried us in a good 8-10 inches of snow!

I only had the energy to clear the sidewalk, I broke down and hired a service to clear the drives (for the first time since we've lived here.)  It was a lot of snow, all at once.

Emily, Grace and Juliet prepared a "romantic" Valentine's dinner for us.  We had salad, lasagna and chocolate cake!  It was a very nice meal, and the cutest wait staff ever!

To celebrate the Lunar New Year, we made "fancy" lollipop stick decorations, made a year of the Ox banner, and had a freezer dinner meal of sweet and sour chicken.  It was low key, and enjoyable and perfect!

We also picked up my car last Friday, after almost 6 months of waiting for the ABS light to be tended.  Our mechanic ended up buying a whole new software/hardware system just for my car. = /  But I'm so happy to have it back with no warning lights on the dash!!!

For science we mixed water, oil and syrup.  The oil separated very well, the syrup was not as quick to separate from the water. Possibly because, much to my chagrin, the syrup we used was maple.  I didn't know how much we would need or I would have purchased some cheap stuff! = (

Emily's friend brought her by a bag of goodies, and it was well received by this crew!

The weekend before Valentine's my mom offered us a date, so we went through the Biggby drive through, which has discontinued both of our holiday favorites already, and then to Walgreens for some drugstore chocolates.  I like Valentine's day almost 14 years in, spending time with my favorite person eating chocolate and drinking decaf* coffee.  

later days

*how are we going to sleep if we get the caffeinated type?

Life in the New Year

We've been going strong in our routine, and now have 2 weeks of school under our belt already!  Billy is still working from home.  He only has to travel occasionally, so it's been nice having everyone all tucked away during these cold winter months!

William's final Christmas present finally came in (Jan 16th) and I ordered them December 13th! = 0  I knew the wouldn't arrive before Christmas (I'd missed the cut off) but I thought they'd be a couple of days late, not over a month! He did like them though, so I guess that was a win.

One of my Facebook friends posted about these adorable little among us necklaces that her daughter had made and was selling.  Since I've not been shopping like I used to, I was trying to think of something that would be special that I could get for them.  Since 4/5 (not Alice) are really into Among us right now, I thought they would be perfect!  I made up the cards and added the necklaces. = )

For his birthday, my mom and Sarah were set to watch the kids.  When I made the reservation, I was unable to find where to make the dinner reservation that would accompany the room.  When I went out the Monday before, they were book solid! = 0  She offered to move the room to the following weekend, so that we were able to have dinner in the conservatory too.  This change interfered with Sarah's work schedule though, so my mom held down the fort alone.

No piano this time. 

We could see one of the conservatories from above!  I was rushed in my picture taking, because we were 10 minutes late for dinner when we arrived, but they served us just the same. = )

They had two heaters in each conservatory.  A table top one and a larger one (I got the lucky spot!)

I decided a few weeks ago that we would be homeschooling next year, but sadly they were out of stock when I attempted to make my purchase!  Since the decision had been made, I checked daily or every other day and they finally had 12 in stock!  I happily clicked away, and am always excited when they arrive.  Now I just need to make the time to sit down and see what books we will actually use next year, and what books we have that I can sub in.  = )  

Uno is quite popular these days.  They like to play with the reverse card during free time too.

Grace: "mutti look! Canadian hair bows"  (We actually bought them on our St. Louis trip, but they do resemble the Canadian flag.

On the day that the $enate was confirming the electoral votes from the +rump/13iden election, there was much chaos when dozens of American citizens entered the Capit0l forcing the $enators to take cover and then escape.  Many have been arrested since then.  From what the news says, they are taking precautions at all 50 state capitals in the says leading up to the election.  Lansing has closed down all the roads in the immediate vicinity of the Capit0l building (Jan 17th) until further notice.  People online are very unhappy, they've started deleting accounts and shutting down websites.  I don't know if this is the beginning of a big change or just a small blip on the radar.  I am hoping for the latter.

For his 39th birthday, Billy requested a Grand Traverse Cherry pie.   Since the downtown location ahs been closed since November, so I drove all the way to Okemos just for pie.  = )  I also bought a chocolate pie that most of us had for breakfast that morning. ; )

I don't recall what we were watching, but the twins were happy to snuggle with daddy!  This was sadly the night before his kidney stone made for a rough weekend and lonely trip to the ER!

The twins were working on a money unit, and really enjoyed holding the coins in hand during the lessons.

Emily's simile made me smile. 

Alice did not care for drawing with the new drawing pad that we bought her for Christmas, but she does use it during math!

Juliet wanted to try something new, so I flipped her ponytail. Her hair looks just like Alice, back when she would let me style her hair.

Feburary 13th

Today the high might have been 28F.  That was the highest I saw in my car, and it only got colder from there.  I had to shovel the drive twice, because it snowed all.day.long.

The twins were matchy-matchy in their new shirts today.

In moms we made cupcakes, they were really cute. Alice and Juliet ate the ones I made, so I can't speak to their taste.

Emily stayed home sick today, so Avia came over for the morning and hung out with her.  She had moments when she felt better, so she finished her homework and valentine gifts.  But she is not going in tomorrow. = (

I got a call late in the day that William had a fever, so when I went to pick him up, I grabbed everyone else too.  Alice came home and sprayed everything, since tomorrow is not only her party, but also pajama day and bring your tech to school day!

I don't blame her, that's how I feel two.  With a minimum of two home in the morning, tomorrow promises to be a sad, sick day for us all.

For dinner we had chicken teriyaki and rice.

later days

February 6th

It snowed last night.  All night actually.  But we still didn't get a snow day today, though it was teased on the district page that we might. = ( The anticipated high today is only 27F, which means that the snow will be sticking around.  Evening update: it snowed allllllllllll day long.  It's still snowing.

After taking in the kids, and tracking down William's ski pants, I had to tell Alice's teacher that I might not make it for the cookie math. My poor Juliet has the same symptoms as Grace did a week ago. = (

I came home and shoveled the snow off the sidewalk and driveway, called in a prescription refill for the injections (B, W, G & J), made a doctors appointment for Juliet, brewed myself a second cup of tea, changed the air filter and posted a comparison picture of the last two mornings:

My mom saved the day and took Juliet to the doctor so that I could go do some cookie math with Alice's class.

They are studying equivalent fractions.  What better way to learn about fractions than cutting up a cookie then eating it?  Alice said she didn't learn much, just enjoyed eating the cookies.  Hopefully she was just saying that to mess with me (she does that sometimes...)

For dinner I made chicken enchiladas with the corn tortillas that I had purchased for someone in Alice's class that told me they couldn't have cookies.  They are vegetarian and vegan friendly, gluten nut & dairy free.  But I don't think anyone claimed a tortilla today.

My mom hung out with Juliet while I went to retrieve the rest of my crew.  Juliet did not test positive for strep, but they sent out the sample for a twelve hour culture.  I should hear back tomorrow morning.

After finishing up his homework, William knocked out some of his Valentine cards tonight.  He is writing a special message to each of his classmates on the back of a rainbow scratch card!  For the scratcher, he's giving a single chop stick.  We had these left over from our party, and they work pretty well. = )

Emily memorized her simplified version of fuer Elise.  Now she wants to work on the full version.  It's nice hearing such a pretty song each day though. = )

I'm pulling for a snow day tomorrow, but I'm slated to work in the morning, so I have to prepare as though it's just a normal day. = )

later days