Halloween 2021

Both Emily's ballet & William's karate had special events for Halloween, so they each had an extra costume.  Emily the flamingo:

And William the deep sea fisherman. = )

We also made some spooky snacks, thanks to the Kroger Magazine for the recipies.

The sausage mummies are so good, I'm pretty sure we had them at least three times!

The kids all wanted a piece with the spider on it, but then picked off the olives. lol.

Emily decorated her computer for the season.

And it was really spooky for the kids when Roblox went down for an entire weekend!!!

And some time in the last year, I found a definitive candy measuring cup. It's a tupperware dressing cup.  The kids are allowed to have their age in candy on the first night, then follow the cookie rule after that (age/4 (rounded down) + 1.)  But, if the candy is small, they may have 2 pieces per cookie.  Every year I was bombarded by: "Is this small? Is this small? Is this small?"  So, now we finally have a cup, that if the candy fits inside, with the lid on, it is "small" if not, it's big.  I told Billy that Alice would be eating a lot of squished candy this year. (and she did.)

Halloween this year fell on a Sunday, which is less than ideal, but we managed to have fun just the same!

Avia stopped by and helped set up the porch and the company that we would be having soon.  Then Sarah stopped by with Seven to get a picture of Scooby Doo & Shaggy together again.

Abby's family, even big Em, came over and played some games in the afternoon, then left just before trick or treat time.  Emily and Abby were peanut butter & jelly.  (Emily and I tie-dyed the shirts when the weather was still pretty.)

Then, we were joined by Willow for trick or treating.  I let Billy take the kids this year, while I passed out candy.  The three little ones were done quickly.  Grace and Juliet helped me pass out candy the rest of the night.  

Eventually, Willow and Emily came back, but her mom took them to a few other neighborhoods to try and score candy, without having to be out in the cold.   Sadly, they ran into a lot of darkened porches.

And strangely enough, despite giving out large handfuls of candy, we still ended up with almost a full bag of candy that did not get passed out.

Afterward, Juliet's friend Kennedy and her mom stopped by for a bit, which made Juliet one happy girl.

It was a fun day of friends, outside time, and candy!

later days

edit: written 11/15/21 but back-dated to Halloween for continuity.

March 11th

The high today was a cold, windy, start the day off with a snow/rain mix of 44F.  Hard to believe the difference in the weather with the exact same temperature as yesterday!

Since I worked in a Hamsterkauf* trip to Sam's yesterday, today I took care of all of my appointments that needed tending.  I managed to fit three new appointments into our already saturated schedule.  The scheduling of the appointments is of course not usually a problem, it's the attending that tends to be the difficult part.

After the medicine came, and I completed various chores around the house, I worked on a few vinyl projects.  One of which was for Emily's friend.

It was an early release day, Willow came to spend some time playing outside with a few of my crew.

For dinner we had tacos.

later days

*Should it turn out that I made this trip unnecessarily, we are all set for our summer grilling! = )

March 4th, Ear Tube Check

This is the latest post in the series of William, grace and Juliet's journey with hypophosphatasia. And now adding Emily to the list.

The high today was 46F, but it was cold and windy and even had some snow in the morning!

I had a reminder pop up in my phone last week, that I needed to take William to his PCP to see if his ear tubes had moved at all. The ENT gave him and extra six months, but sent me with the name and number of the surgery scheduler to remove the tubes if needed.

So, we started the day by dropping off Alice, Emily and Juliet, while I took William and Grace to the doctor. We were so lucky that the doctor had a 9am opening (we got there at 8:55) right before William's 9:30 appointment!

Grace complained of headache, tummy ache and sore throat, and since she finished off her medicine Sunday, there was a new chance of strep. = ( Thankfully she tested negative, but the culture was going out tonight just in case.

William's tubes are still in place. I tried calling the scheduler three different times over the course of the day, and ended up at her voicemail each time. So, I still don't have a time or date. = (

***********************

After dropping them back at school, I had a bit of down time before heading back to help with round two of the talent show auditions! When I came home from that I made up the sign announcing the participants, then went back up to get them approved for posting. Hopefully they will be up tomorrow. = )

When I left there I headed to the car wash to wait in the longest line I've ever waited in for a wash! There were probably 10 cars in front of me. The line moved fast though. From there it was a quick trip to the thrift store to drop off a couple of boxes, then do a little shopping ; )

I picked up my crew at normal time since it was a long Wednesday, and Willow came over for a while too.

For dinner we had spaghetti and meatballs.

It was a busy day, so I'm ready for our two half days the rest of the week!

later days

<what happened previously
what happened next>

January 22nd

Today flirted with temperatures above freezing, the expected high was 33F.  Juliet and I spent the day cuddling inside, so I'm not sure if it got there or not.  The heater kicked on several times.

Right before I went to sleep, Juliet had another episode of throwing up, so she stayed home with me.  her energy level was normal, but I'm glad she had the day to recover.

For lunch I headed up some leftover pizza.

She seemed very happy to go pick up her siblings and Willow.

For dinner we had a chicken spaghetti casserole that I prepped yesterday.  It was an early release day, so the kids had enough snacks that I don't think they were very hungry for dinner.  Billy liked it though. = )

I have double errands to run tomorrow, since Juliet and I didn't go get anything done today, but it was a nice, true, break.

later days

January 15th

Today was a cold 39F!  It was a little sunny for a while, but mostly grey and cold. = (

While I waited on the kids' medication, I worked on Emily's cape for the Viking fest.  I literally left it like this when they arrived, so that I would have time to do my errands before heading up to the school.

I had agreed to monitor Emily's math test, so I was on a tight timeline.  I squeezed in a $5 carwash trip, roblox procurement trip for Emily at GameStop and then the thrift shop to retrieve some fabric I had passed up on Monday.  Luckily both pieces were still there.  Sarah came to meet me there, and even brought me a tasty pre-made lunch!

I had time to run home and put things away and run the fabric in the washer before joining up with Emily's class.

The test was over division and they did awesome!  I did see a student forcibly removed during this time, which was sad, but the class took it all in stride. I asked Emily about it later, and apparetnly this is not an isolated incedent.  = /

Today Willow joined us for homework time, and Emily saw her new Viking attire. = )

I was so happy to have her body done.  I still need the strap, but was too cheap to buy the 'expensive' one at the thrift shop for $1.50, since her blanket was $5, $1 more than all the other fabric.

For dinner we had chicken fried rice.

Also, while Willow was here, he decided to pee on the floor in the girls room.  He had no reason, just felt reckless I s'ppose.  He was charged with cleaning it up, then was responsible for cleaning all the toilets in the house, so that he remembers where they are.  And he was not allowed on his electronics for the rest of the evening.  ::sigh::

All things considered, I was particularly tired when we went to bed.

later days

January 8th

Today was a cooooooooold breezy day with an expected high of 25F. But I never saw it reach that high in my travels, so I would claim that the high today was 22F.

Today was an early release for my little ones and we had Willow coming over, so I had to squeeze my day in quickly!  There was a dusting of snow on the road, but the salt trucks had come through, clearing out our path to the school.

After dropping off my dear ones (and having to jump out of the car to help unstick the frozen door in the car line) I headed home to check the mail and load up the recycling that I bring to dart (carboard & foam.)  

I was due to meet one of my MOPS ladies a the thrift store in Mason.  Since I was running early, I stopped by Kroger to grab some bread (my kids are on a toast kick!)  I still had time, so I took the recycling too!

I still arrived before they opened, but met with my friend moments after they opened the doors!  We were shopping for fun dresses for our meeting tomorrow. Neither of us found anything. = (  It was fun to get together though. = )  Since I was there, I also brought a box of donation items that I was happy to get out of my house!

Also, it started snowing again, but not for very long.

Billy had a meeting, so we weren't able to go for our regular coffee date. = ( I did get my expected call from the jewelers that my ring was ready!  It looks soooooo pretty, just like new!

Since I was in Okemos, I enjoyed a Chick-fil-a lunch, of course, and grabbed some for a few of my favorite teachers too! ; )  Sadly, the roads in Okemos and East Lansing were a-w-f-u-l.  It took me so long to get to the school that some of the teachers had already eaten lunch! = (  At least Chick-fil-a is good cold too. = )

As I finished up my deliveries, one of my MOPS ladies called me, because her little boy has low ALP.  I'm so worried for her and her babe, hopefully it is not HPP, but if it is I hope I can help her navigate this crazy condition.

Talking to her had me pulling out my old files and reliving one of the scariest and craziest parts of my life.  I'm happy to be out of that time.

I picked up my 5, plus one and they all got to work on their homework.  Everyone worked hard and finished quickly.  Except for Alice decided to dig in her heels about halfway through correcting her math review. It took her almost until Billy got home (despite the extra hour or so) for her to finish her regular homework, eye therapy, and piano practice. ugh.

We had spaghetti for dinner, everyone ate well.  I'm waiting until after Willow leaves to do shot night, because no one likes shot night.  = (

Tomorrow is our table's turn for food at MOPS, so I prepped a crock-pot Taco Soup that I will cook overnight, to bring tomorrow.  = )

The kids have been playing almost non-stop since they finished their homework, some I'm hoping everyone will sleep well tonight!

later days

January 2nd

Today was a mostly sunny high of 46F with very little wind and no precipitation.

If all my days this year mimic today, I think I'll be okay.

My sister called me from a thrift shop (twice.) The first time to ask if I needed anything, the second time to let me know that she had collected the only thing I was after!

Alice got to enjoy almost the entire day with her friend Willow at her birthday celebration. Her mom kindly retrieved and returned Alice today, since I was homebound for my plumber window.  Alice came home full of sugar & exuberance.

I cleaned out some unused games and boxed up some German books to mail to a friend and knocked out 2 load of laundry.

Grace and Juliet decided to spend some of their Christmas cash on Minecraft (the Microsoft version) to play with the big kids.  I loathe the Microsoft Minecraft set up.  Once they are connected it is great, but the set up is brutal.  And to make matters worse, I bought and 'gifted' the wrong version - the xbox version.

So, I had to spend hours chatting to try to rectify my mistake, and also set up a Microsoft account, then an xbox account for each twin. Of course, setting everything to private and adding their siblings as friends and adding back up x2 just takes forever. Once the accounts were set up, I 'gifted' them the game, because we do not put any of our credit card info or sign ins on the kids' machines.

Since Alice was gallivanting, I took the opportunity to play with Emily and the twins for a little while.

The most exciting thing that happened today, by far, was that the plumber came to install our new faucet! The spray handle of our old one had some sort of failure inside, and was spraying water down into the cabinet. Billy and I both tried to see if we could replace it ourselves, but the people who redid the kitchen did a few questionable things. The repair actually required him to break out a power tool and saw off the old apparatus. Then he had to scrape off some sort of epoxy or sealant that they had used on the base. It was enough work to merit the price.

Thankfully, we were able to leave the handle pulled out and dangling*. I am sooooo happy to have a fully functioning faucet again. I do keep leaving the sprayer pulled out though. = )

Alice came back home and was quick to take over her computer and play Minecraft with her siblings, but it was time for me to start on dinner a-n-y-h-o-w.  

I made a macaroni & ham casserole with some leftovers from yesterday.  Not my favorite, but very few complaints.

And when Billy got home he got to start the fight with William's PC that has some sort of virus that kept kicking him off the internet and out of applications.   He's trying to avoid formatting, but it's not looking good. = /

Hoping to wind down the break tomorrow with a less exciting (and hopefully less frustrating) day.

later days

*The wait was because we had something leaking in the basement.Billy went down a few weeks ago and sealed off the water filter connectors in the basement, so I was waiting to make sure the basement dried out and I didn't need him for a double purpose before scheduling. 

Alice's 10th Birthday Party

After using some of the coupons from the summer reading program at Zap Zone this summer, Alice decided to have her birthday there.  Since she is a summer baby, her invitations this year were literally just text messages to her classmates that I had phone numbers for. = 0

We took two cars, so that Billy could pickup her cake while we set up and met all the guests.  Not that there was much set up, they take care of just about everything.

Once all of the guests arrived, and everyone said hello again after a long summer apart...

… we headed over to the bounce area.  They didn't even wait for the trampolines, they were so excited to jump!

Then it was back to the room for pizza and cake!

For her second attraction, she picked the virtual reality station.  They had to go in groups of 3 or fewer.  She picked Willow and Osage for her group.

While waiting for their turns, the other party goers spent some time out in the arcade.

Emily, Abby and Juliet were next in the VR area.

Big Em and Grace were next.

And then William and Aubrey rounded out the party as the final group.

Since back to school was on the brain, Alice's parting treats were school supplies. = )

Almost everyone gave her Robux, and she was thrilled.

Her final night as a nine year old:

Celebrating our new 10 year old!

We love our Alice, and she is turning into such an awesome person!

later days

You can read her birthday survey here.  And check out her party from last year here.