December 17 and 18

Yesterday (Saturday), we went to the library to see sled dogs. We've gone a few times before, but my kids all really enjoy it, so it's one of those things that i tend to put on the Advent calendar every year or two. It's always done by the same guy, and every time he starts talking, i suddenly remember that he's remarkably sexist. He is constantly saying things like, "And that's how you find gold, which is important for all of you ladies who love to have lots of gold!" and "Because, guys, once you're married, your wife makes all of your decisions for you...." I do kind of think that he maybe toned down those types of comments this year, which makes me wonder if someone said something to him.

Anyhow! In the morning, i thought, "Hey! I bet that Brooke's kids would probably enjoy that too...." so i texted her to let her know it was happening, and she and her kids met us there. Zane was chosen as the guy to model the coat and boots and all of the other gear needed for racing sled dogs in freezing temperatures, and he really enjoyed being up on stage and getting to be a tiny bit silly. Afterwards we went outside to meet the dogs. Katrina and Houston both went from dog to dog, petting them and letting them lick their faces and petting them some more until we were the very last people left. Meanwhile, Zane looked at the dogs for a minute and then ran off to play in the snow.

Today, Katrina had her 5K for Heart and Sole. It was so cold, but she was completely positive and cheerful, and she ended up being the only girl from her group who ran the entire 5K - all of the other girls turned around midway through. I'm so proud of her, and so glad that she did the whole thing, because she really has been working hard to run farther and faster, and i'm just really glad that she was successful!

Beth and Keren came to the race to cheer for Katrina too, so while she was running, we all stood around and shivered. Well, all of us except for Zane. Zane spent the entire time playing in the snow. By the end, most of us were all, "I am SO COLD! My fingers are numb!" and Zane was all, "Katrina! When we get home, do you want to play in the snow with me?!" Kids.

This afternoon we hung out with Keren and Beth, ate waffles, and opened Christmas presents with Beth. She gave Houston a horse head mask, and i'm pretty sure we'll never see Houston's actual face again. He wore the mask to church for Anthem, even. And, among other presents, she made me a sloth ornament that is one of the cutest things i've ever seen.

And then tonight we had Fifty6 (and the element and Anthem). There's kind of a lot of times when we leaders all kind of go, "Geez, Kyle. What were you thinking?" (Kyle is the Fifty6 pastor.) But tonight? Tonight beats all of the other nights. We had a "dress a group member up like Frosty" contest. They provided white sweatsuits, buttons, corn cob pipes, hats, and brooms. And also packing peanuts. Millions and millions of packing peanuts to stuff the "snowmen" with. It is astonishing how gigantic of a mess a huge room can become when millions of packing peanuts are given to dozens of fifth and sixth graders. ALSO, if you give those packing peanuts to kids right before you sit them down to listen to a sermon? They will not hear a word you say, because they will be busy breaking the peanuts up into tiny little pieces, throwing them in their neighbors hair or down their shirts, and making piles of tiny pieces to throw into the air like snow. Worst. Idea. Ever.

That is all.

December 14, 15, and 16

Zane discovered Calvin and Hobbes this year, and has been absolutely loving the comic strip. Of course, Bill Watterson has completely forbidden the use of Calvin and Hobbes in any kind of merchandising, so buying stuffed animals or anything else with Calvin and/or Hobbes (besides the books) is impossible. And so i went around that by making a Hobbes myself. He's obviously the real version of Hobbes, not the imaginary one, because i figured that if that's what Calvin had, that's what Zane should have. Here's hoping that Zane likes him.

The past few days were really busy, and ultimately we ended up not doing the Advent activity on Wednesday OR Thursday, which actually ended up working out quite well for today. Today's activity was meant to be going to an outdoor Christmas celebration in a little town nearby, but it was SO cold and we were all ready for a night in, so we just did Wednesday's activity tonight. It was to do Mad Libs, which is always one of the kids' favorite activities (weirdly). We did pizza-movie night and watched "Fred Claus," which is one of my favorite Christmas movies. (I have kind of a lot of favorite Christmas movies.)

On Wednesday, Katrina had her Heart and Sole end-of-season party after school. They'll have their 5K on Sunday, unless it's below zero (which is entirely possible). She's been asking me if we can go shopping for her to buy Christmas presents, so when i picked her up, we went straight to Meijer and walked around looking for things that Houston, Zane, and Juanito would like. We both agreed that Juanito is one of the hardest people in the world to find presents for. He has things that he likes, but they're either things he likes but not the stuff that goes with it (Zumba) or stuff he likes, but it has to be really specific and nobody else understands his qualifications (bits to make speakers). Her: "He likes art....?" Me: "Yes. But i've bought him art supplies in the past, and he just never uses them." Her: "Books?" Me: "Yes. But he only reads them on his phone." Etc.

Yesterday evening i had book club. By yesterday morning, i had read approximately 30 pages of a 330ish page book. It was a combination of being busy with Christmas stuff and being uninterested in the first 30 pages of the book, so i kept picking it up and then putting it down immediately. Needless to say, i spent nearly all of my time reading it right up until book club started. I ended up finishing all but about 10 pages, and i don't think anything vital happened in those last 10 pages, so it was fine. Nobody really liked the book a lot ("Code Name Verity"), but it did end up being a fairly good book for discussion. It's weird how that goes - sometimes the books we love and i think will have great discussion end up being us all just going, "Yup." And then books that are just "meh" end up being the ones with the easiest talking points. 

December 11

Despite the roads being terrible today, what with quite a steady fall of snow and absolutely no snow plows to be seen, we had a progressive dinner with my family. We started at our house for appetizers, went to my parents' house for soup and salads, and then finished off at my sister Jackie's house for desserts. There were babies to be held and delicious things to eat and fun people to talk to, so it was all very lovely.

This morning, Katrina and Zane went out to the "forest" by our house to go sledding down a hill that they call "Big Butt." I think it has that name because it's a big hill and they used to slide down it on their butts, but i don't actually know for sure. We skipped church this morning (see: terrible roads), and as soon as they heard that we weren't going to church, the two of them wasted no time throwing on all of their snow gear and heading across the street to Big Butt.

Before everyone showed up here, i suddenly realized that we should probably shovel the walk so that people could get to our house without wading through half a foot of snow. As soon as i said we should shovel, Zane leaped up and said, "I'll do it!" got on the snow gear that he had just removed, and completely shoveled a path from the street to the house. He was all, "I LOVE the snow!"

All of the church events were cancelled tonight because of the snow, which was actually quite nice, because the rest of our weekend has been filled with one thing or another. We read some Christmas books and the kids took showers and everyone got a chance to just relax a little bit. I am a fan of being home and having time to just be still. 

Apples and Sunday

Yesterday morning, Beth was all, "Apples are available for the picking right now!" And we agreed that we should totally go pick some. And rain was in the forecast but not until 2:00, so we planned to go at noon, which would give us at least a reasonable amount of time. YAY!

We had paid for the apples that we were going to pick and had just started - JUST started - picking our apples when it started drizzling. Katrina was all sad, and i assured her that, as long as it wasn't pouring, we'd still see the cats and goats. "As long as it wasn't pouring" was only seconds out of my mouth before it started pouring. Pouring. And in an apple orchard, there are thousands of trees, but none of them make for good cover, so within a few minutes we were all soaked to the skin. At first we tried to hide and seek cover - in boxes, in wagons, by the cats - but eventually we were all SO wet that we were like, "Forget it. Just embrace the rain, do what we want to do, and then we'll go home and get dry." So we picked the rest of our apples. Katrina and Houston held kittens (really, really cute kittens!). We pet the goats we were allowed to pet and "aaaaaawwwww!"ed over the teensy baby goats that were probably born earlier that same day, because they still had umbilical cords hanging off of them. We got donuts. We shivered a lot.

But we got apples! Delicious ones! So it was probably worth it. And, as Katrina said, "It was an experience."

(More pictures here.)

Today was the first Sunday with our new pastor AND the first Sunday back at Fifty6. I didn't get to see my girls much today, because i was checking a million people in and then we were just in the big group, but i was happy to see several of them again.

Zane was completely excited about starting Fifty6 this year, and in the middle of the singing he ran over to me and whispered, "I might have made a friend!" and then ran back. Katrina moved up to "The Element" this year, and she's completely disappointed that last year's pastor has left, because "I liked her SO much better!" And Houston is now in Anthem, the high school group, of course. 

My grandpa is 97!

My grandpa's 97th birthday was on Tuesday, so today we all gathered at his house for a birthday party.

The party was scheduled for 5:00, but since he lives on the lake and the kids love to play on the beach and in the water, we decided to go earlier than that, so the kids and i got there at about 2:00. We stopped inside to say hello to my grandpa, and the first thing he said was, "Well, i hope you're not here to swim! Because the water is only about 45 degrees!"

And the water was, indeed, freezing. Absolutely, numbingly cold. But it was a really warm day, and when sitting in the sun, it was hot enough that i really wanted to jump into the lake for a swim. For the first hour we were alone. The kids made sand castles near the water, just close enough to get a tiny bit wet while not getting drenched. I walked out to my calves a few times to cool off.

Eventually my sisters came. Jill and i took a walk down the beach. Jackie dared me to go all the way in the lake. I tried. Katrina, Houston, and i all went in together, but we only made it up to our waists before we had to stop and turn around. It was a weird sensation to be standing in water up to my waist and be completely numb from the waist down, but sweating on my top half.

Most of the family was there, except for my brother's family (because they live in California) and my cousin Betsy's family (because they were camping with a group from church). Juanito and i were in charge of making a cute cake, and Grandpa provided the pizza - lots and lots of pizza. We ate. We talked. We caught up with cousins we haven't seen in a while. It was a good time.

Orientations and Friends

Today, the students were invited to walk around Houston's high school to find their classrooms and their lockers. We went in the morning and were there for about an hour. First we got a tour from a group of 9th grade girls (to whom Houston barely said a single word). They were very sweet, but probably could have used a map themselves, because they totally took us the wrong way several times. We saw pretty much the entire school, but afterwards, i don't think Houston had any clue where he was going to have to go.

So after they bid us farewell, Houston and i walked through his schedule from start to finish so he could actually get a feel for where his classes would be. Turns out, they're all in one corner of the school, although one class is on floor 1, one is on floor 3, and the rest are on 2. His locker is smack dab in the middle of it all, so he can totally stop back at his locker between every class if he so chooses. Yay! After we'd gone through the schedule once, i handed Houston his schedule and made him lead the way from class to class to make sure he could find his way. About that time, the vice principal, whose office is right there, came out and said, "You guys are still here? I said hi to you a while ago already!" We chatted a bit, and he was all, "Yeah, there was one girl who was timing how long it took to get from band to one of these classrooms earlier!" and Houston and i both immediately thought, "It was Ella." 

We could be wrong. We ran into our friends Ella and Lorelei, who were also walking around for quite a while, doing the same thing we were. For a while, everywhere we went, we saw Ella. And then, later, we ran into a family that has 3 boys, all of whom are friends with my boys - Chauncey, Rowan, and Finneas - and i somehow invited all three boys over to our house for the afternoon. (We got home and Katrina was all, "What?!" so she invited her friend over as well. The more the merrier!)

And here is one thing that is very, very true: boys and girls are different. 

First off, let me say that i really, really like all of my kids' friends - especially these. They are kind and funny and respectful. I have absolutely no complaints about them AT ALL. I would happily have them over on a regular basis.

But while Katrina and her friend quietly worked on making a volcano in a quiet corner of the house the entire afternoon, the boys were just very, very present. They lounged around the front room and played games, watched some youtube videos, ran around outside, laughed loudly, and acted silly together. There was nothing quiet about them. Eventually they asked if they could all have a sleepover, and i said, "Um, sure?" And so the plan, temporarily, was that all of the boys and Katrina's friend Madison would be sleeping here. 

Katrina and i had to go to her middle school orientation, so i left all of the boys here alone (Juanito was at Zumba), and halfway through orientation Houston called and asked, "Can we all go to their house to sleep over instead?!" (Me: "YES!") So instead of five boys, we ended up with zero. And so i told Katrina that she could invite her friend Alex to sleep over too. Sleepover!!!

Sadly, shortly into their fun time at their friends' house, Zane threw up and had to come home. He was totally disappointed and was SO sad, because "I just really, really wanted to enjoy the last week of vacation!" He fell asleep on the ten minute drive home and then fell right asleep when he climbed into bed, so at least he didn't have much time to feel disappointed. 

And now i am praying that he doesn't actually have something contagious. I really, really want to enjoy the last week of vacation!

We survived a tornado.

Yesterday my sisters and i went to my grandpa's house to help clean it for a bit, and then we headed down to the beach to let the kids swim a little bit. And then we all went out to lunch with my grandpa. The kids sat at one table and the adults sat at another, and it was great fun for all of us. We talked about lots of random things, including the story about how my grandparents met and which provinces in the Netherlands all of our ancestors (on that side) came from. (Friesland, Friesland, Krampf, and wherever the city of Apeldoorn is located. But looking at a map of the Netherlands, i can't find any provinces that look remotely like "Krampf," so now i'm confused.) (Apeldoorn is in Gelderland, which makes me - as someone who liked the movie "A Knight's Tale" - very happy.)

The waves on Lake Michigan were huge, and they all loved leaping around in them. I remember being little, and absolutely loving the days when the waves were giant. Now that i'm the parent, i'm actually quite nervous about it - undertows and all that - so i'm a mean mom who only lets the kids go a short distance out into the lake, both because it's dangerous with the undertow and because it's so insanely loud that if they get any farther out, they totally can't hear me. They had fun, even though they had to stay close to shore.

In the evening, we went to a movie at our church. They showed "Zootopia" in the parking lot, and it would have been awesome, except that they forgot that there were giant lights in the parking lot that came on as soon as it got dark, so it wasn't actually terribly dark out there. As a result, we could only actually SEE about half of the movie - the half that takes place in bright light - because everything that happens in dim light was completely dark for us. Afterwards, Zane said, "It was too bad we were sitting so far down, because we couldn't see as well." Because when you watch a movie on a computer and it's tilted wrong, everything looks dark.... Cute little child of technology.

Today was going to be a completely boring day, filled with sleeping and reading and lounging, and it started out that way. At about 2:15, though, the sirens all started going off, and i looked it up to be sure, and yep! There was a tornado! We all headed down to the basement (Except Emma, who refused, causing the children all kinds of worry. But the basement steps are scary, especially for a dog.), and i started "The Great British Baking Show" on Netflix to keep the kids' minds off the tornado. While we were down there, my dad called to make SURE we were down there, because the tornado totally touched down and was headed straight for us. Upon hearing that, Zane crawled under a nearby end table and started crying. This is part of the problem when your favorite genre is "books about the most dangerous things in the world," because then you know exactly how dangerous tornadoes can be.

After about an hour, we were given the all-clear, and headed back upstairs. We did drive around a little bit this evening, and about a mile from us had lots and lots of downed trees and power outages and closed streets. We saw one tree that managed to take out part of a house and a car. So it might be the tornado that has touched down closest to where i've been. 

Phipps!

(Google got rid of the slideshow option, so ... no more slideshows for me. Sad. Instead, i guess i'll just post a link to the album, and you can see the slideshow there? Here's the link with all of the pictures.)

My kids have been loving Karen's treadmill, and have been spending hours running. This morning, Zane tried to run on it for the first time, and he fell...but he held on while the track kept going, so he got totally skinned knees (treadmill-burn?) until he finally let go and "went slamming into the wall." He was a sad, sad boy.

We went to Phipps Conservatory today. Yay! It's SO beautiful! It's just giant - you just keep walking and finding more rooms, and it's all just so, so pretty! There's a whole area with bonsai trees, and mist machines to walk through when it's hot, and a desert garden that was just amazing, and butterflies! We kept being all, "This flower! And THIS one! And THIS ONE!"

But! OH. MY. GOSH. It was so, so, so, so hot. I mean, the day was a pretty warm one to begin with, but it wasn't unbearable, but then the conservatory had every room way hotter than outside, and way moister. We kept thinking, "Maybe the next room will be cooler?" But it never was. We were all just dripping sweat and dying of heat. Karen D. lasted for only a few rooms before declaring Amiya (and herself!) way too hot, so they went to sit in the entry by the bathrooms - the coolest spot in the entire building.

By the time we left, after we'd been there for hours, i was the hottest and most dehydrated i'd been in as long as i can remember. So!!! Hot!!!!

So in conclusion: Phipps is awesome. Go on a cooler day.

And then tonight was the opening ceremonies for the Olympics! Yay!!! We all found a spot around the TV and watched. Houston and Katrina fought over who got to hold Amiya. I was somewhat disappointed in the opening ceremonies, honestly. I think China spoiled me a bit. But watching all the athletes come in, all happy and excited, is fun. And It's exciting, because...OLYMPICS! Yay!

Hot.

Oh my gosh. It is SO HOT today. Emma has spent the entire day flopped under the ceiling fans.

We had book club last night at my house. It was a warm night, so we all crowded into the front porch. Juanito added a fancy handle to the porch door, which prevents Emma from just pushing the door open and running straight out. I moved our comfy outside chairs into the porch so we'd have somewhere happy to sit. And then we added twinkle lights, and now the front porch is all happy, and we can leave the front door open and let Emma wander in and out of the porch. I've already spent quite a lot of time sitting out there, reading and enjoying any breeze.

Things that have been happening

Over a month, eh? Time for a "Here's what we've been doing" post, i guess.

• Travis and Brooke, our friends who used to live around here and then they moved away to plant a church in New Zealand (sniff), came home for a visit! And we got to see them! We actually got to see Brooke and their kids a few times - once for an entire afternoon! - which was completely fantastic. Their kids are pretty significantly younger than our kids, but Katrina painted the girls' nails, and Zane played dress-up with them, and it was really fun to just hang out and have a chance to talk for hours.
  
  And then, when Travis finally got to town (he came a couple of weeks after Brooke), the two of them came over in the evening, along with Beth and Keren, and we all sat around and talked and laughed and talked for several hours. It wasn't quite the late night that we used to have (back when Tuesday nights were a thing, and everyone would stay until 3 or 4:00 in the morning), and we could have spent hours more, but it was just so great to see them again!
  
• I had a birthday. We celebrated it on Saturday, because Sunday (the actual day) was completely booked solid. So on Saturday afternoon, Beth and i went out for lunch (fun!). Lunch with a friend is always a happy start! After lunch, we came back home, and Beth and Juanito decorated the delicious cake that Beth had made.
  
  It was supposed to be a warm and sunny day, but instead, it was cold and rainy. Our plan to have a picnic and then walk around Meijer Gardens (a membership was my birthday present!), and we DID have a really fast picnic, shivering all the while. We almost exclusively walked around inside Meijer Gardens, though, partly because it was freezing cold and totally raining by then, but also because it was the last day that the butterflies were there! We walked around in the warmth, remembering how Katrina used to be terrified of the butterflies.
  
  And then we came home, and Juanito made delicious steak and chicken on the grill. We ate dinner and cake, opened presents, and then Beth, Juanito, and i played a round of the game that Juanito made for me for my birthday. Yay!
  
• A few days later, when it was actually warm and sunny, we all went back to Meijer Gardens and got to walk around the new Japanese Gardens. It's beautiful and serene, and i'm sure we'll be back many, many times!
  
• We've lived in our house now for 17 years, and it's been that long since we painted the front room. Back then, we made the very questionable and terrible decision to paint the room a hideous pink color. It stayed that color, mostly because we were too lazy to repaint it...until now! We painted it golden yellow, which i'm really, really happy with. It's so bright and cheerful!
  
• Juanito is building giant desk/bookshelves/cabinets, which will replace my desk and the DVD rack and the table-thingy, and will hopefully look prettier in the process! He's finished the desk tops and the DVD shelves so far, and it looks amazing. I'm totally looking forward to seeing the finished product!
  
• The school had band concerts for 5th, 7th, and 8th grades, skipping 6th grade altogether. The reason given was "the sixth grade isn't ready." I asked Katrina if that was true, and she said, "Yes. We are totally not ready. We don't have any songs that we sound good on at all." Sad.
  
  Less than a week before the concert, Houston came home and announced that his saxophone wasn't working because someone had broken it when it was at school. Juanito looked at it for a while, trying to figure out what was wrong with it and if he could fix it, and eventually Houston explained that there was this one button? That made it go between higher and lower notes? And that was totally what he was having trouble with? I wrapped a hair tie around it to hold the button closed unless it was actually pressed, and ... totally fixed! Woohoo!
  
  The concert was actually quite pathetic. The seventh grade had less than half of their members there, probably because we were given exactly five days' notice that there was even going to BE a concert. I felt so sorry for the poor little seventh graders who were supposed to have a whole section and instead ended up playing a solo.
  
  The eighth grade sounded significantly better, but they were still missing half of their band. (I've complained about this after every single concert, but the choice of music is always absolutely horrible. It's consistently tuneless and slow and boring.) Afterwards, my mom commented, "Well, on the bright side, the saxophones sounded great!"
  
• Katrina has lost four teeth in the past two weeks. Four. I think they're all on the top too, so her little smile has giant gaps and is all adorable.

And i think that those are the highlights. At least, those are the things that i've taken pictures of, so i remember that they happened. 

Visiting with Karen, Saturday, and Snapchat

Today was absolutely perfect weather - sunny and in the high 70's and just wonderful. The kids all spent hours playing outside. They played baseball and explored the "forest" and generally enjoyed being outside.

I took advantage of the lovely weather and the fact that it was a Saturday by forcing everyone to do yard work. Our backyard has been an absolute disaster all winter, and the front yard has slowly become one as well, because our neighbors seem to believe that our garden is a perfect spot for throwing trash. Add to all of the trash and random stuff lying around the many, many leaves and sticks that were never raked up, and you have a giant mess.

I had the kids pick up garbage and wash the tables and chairs, and i raked a million, million leaves, and Juanito woke up when we were halfway finished, so then he helped as well, and we eventually got rid of a ridiculously huge amount of yard waste.

When Juanito came out, one of the first things he did was to start a fire in the grill, wherein to burn some of the random wood he's had lying around. And lo, the kids were all thrilled and would have stood around gazing at the fire for the rest of the day, but i am a mean meanie and made everyone keep working. At one point, Juanito, Houston, and i were in the front yard, and Katrina and Zane were carrying the table and chairs back to the backyard, and Zane suddenly called (in a not-panicked voice), "Um, guys! You should come back here! There's something you need to see!" I...kind of ignored him a little bit, because that's the same thing he says for things like woodpeckers and squirrels and cute little birds drinking from buckets. So i ignored him...until he added, "The fire! Is burning! On the ground!" At which point we all kind of leaped to attention and rushed to check it out. Sure enough, some of the wood from the fire had fallen out of the grill onto a pile of wood on the ground, and it was all on fire. I was all, "UM! Fire! Where it's not contained! Stop it from burning down our house!!!" because i am totally calm in emergencies. Juanito, on the other hand, simply walked over and shrugged and started putting it all back in. Katrina grabbed a bucket of water and stood by, eagerly hoping that she'd get to help put the fire out. (Juanito let her put out the fire in one little pile, but it wasn't actually necessary.)

Anyhow. The (tiny) fire was put out. The leaves are gone. Our yard looks so much better! The garden looks like a garden again! Yay!

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My friend Karen D. was at a conference in Grand Rapids on Thursday and Friday, so we got to see her! She and i went out for dinner on Thursday night, for an early birthday celebration. It was so great to get to see her just by myself, without the distraction of kids and dog and food preparation and everything that would have gone into having her here that night. We had delicious food and awesome conversation.

And i got presents! Fun ones! Karen got me a Zoku popsicle maker, which i'd never even heard of before, but you basically stick the thingy in the freezer until you want to make popsicles, and then when you're ready you just take it out and make them in about 10 minutes. We tried it out on Friday night, and it works really well. My kids thought it was the greatest thing ever, and if it were up to them, we'd have popsicles constantly. Sadly, they have to wait at least 24 between times.

Friday, Karen came over for pizza and games. And popsicles. The kids were thrilled and all wanted her attention. They might be older, but they still have that "Look at me! Look at me!" mentality in a more grown up kind of way. Now, instead of "Look at the funny face i can make!" it's "Watch me play the flute!" and "Look at this funny video!" and "Let's do a face swap!" So it was fairly chaotic, but lots and lots of fun. We played Catch Phrase and ate delicious pizza and just had a really good time.

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For a really long time, i rolled my eyes at Snapchat. "Why would you want to take pictures that would only exist for a few seconds?" i asked. And then i was persuaded that maybe it would be fun, so i started using it, and...it IS fun! I use it mostly for two purposes: To say hi to friends and give them little snapshots of what i'm doing randomly, and to take ridiculously hilarious pictures and make each other laugh.

Recently, Snapchat added this feature where you can use filters to make your face look weird in various ways or even to face swap. It's quite amusing for adults, but it's like crack for kids. Hence, there have been many, many hilarious snapchat pictures sent back and forth between me, Juanito, Houston, Beth, and sometimes my mom and Keren. (I don't want to pester people too much....) Some of the filters make you look all beautiful. Most make you look crazy. For one day, there was a filter that turned your eyes into two more mouths. That might have been the craziest, most disturbing filter so far. The face swap pictures always look quite creepy, but they're brought to a whole new level of creepy when it sees something else as a face. Houston, in particular, has Snapchat mistake his nose for a face often, with hilarious and sometimes horrifying results.

Allow me to share some of the many:

So cold.

It's been snowing steadily all day. The kids came home from school, did their homework quickly, and then Katrina and Zane (and Juanito) went sledding. Houston and i stayed in the house, where it was warm. Because it is COLD outside.

So cold.

Snow day

Last night, Katrina and Zane set about carrying out every single superstition in the world to try to get themselves a snow day today. They set a white (or silver) crayon on every single windowsill in the entire house, put ice cubes in the toilet, slept with their pajamas on inside out and backwards, refused to say the words "snow day," instead saying only "yad wons" (snow day backwards), and yelled "SNOW DAY" into the freezer.

And today we had a snow day. So...i guess it worked.

Most mornings, Katrina wakes up with her alarm, but i have to wake Zane up and drag Houston out of bed. This morning, all three kids were up and wide awake and raring to go by 7:00. Katrina and Zane played in the woods by our house for a couple of hours, we snuggled under blankets and watched a movie, and then we went to the park to go sledding for an hour and a half.

And then Katrina and Zane went with Juanito to zumba. Houston snuggled up next to me and took a nap for an hour, until i woke him up to go to a meeting that he wanted to go to for "Willing to Wait."
He doesn't seem to have a very clear idea of what he'll be doing with that group, but he's excited to belong to it. Afterwards he said, "Before i went, i didn't think i'd probably like it, but it was really fun!" So. Yay!

Warmth and sunshine are good things

Today was an amazingly beautiful, warm day, especially considering that it's November. Juanito, Zane, and i took a walk to enjoy the sunshine and warmth. We walked down toward the construction that's been going on since FOREVER, and it seems like it might actually be getting close to being finished. Yay!!!

There were some construction guys who were putting the finishing touches on the road - the painted "Only" and arrow and bike lane pictures on the road. We, of course, stopped and watched them for several minutes. It was quite fascinating. Did you know, for example, that they spray paint it and then toss little glass beads into the paint? They do! And then they blow it all off with a leaf blower. Because otherwise the cars that come along will slip on the loose beads and mess up the paint.

As we were walking along, Zane noticed a leaf that had blown into the path of the line being painted on the road. The road now has one leaf-shaped hole in the paint, and Zane is the proud owner of one white-painted, glass-beaded leaf.

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My mom had knee-replacement surgery today. According to my dad, it went really well. She had quite a lot of motion before, so that should help with the recovery, which...seems reasonable? I went to visit her in the hospital a couple of hours after she got out of surgery, and she was still quite (adorably) groggy, slurring words and falling asleep mid-sentence, sleeping for 30 seconds and then waking up and then falling asleep again. She'll maybe be in the hospital for an additional night, because they did the surgery late enough in the day that she was pretty much out of it for the rest of today, but she seems to be doing really well.

Here's hoping that the recovery is swift and as painless as possible!

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween! My sister Jill has had a Halloween party most years - one where the kids and ladies are invited, and everyone needs to wear a costume. My mom dressed up as her mom, wearing all clothes that she got from my grandma, and she was super cute. We had Batman and a waitress and a fencer. My sister-in-law Alisha was a fish, and Harrison (who is one) was a scuba diver, with the cutest little costume. And that's just the adults. (And one kid, i guess.) My kids all had fun. Houston is very nearly too old to go, but he honestly looks so forward to it.

Jill's party ended at 12:30, and then Houston and Katrina had another Halloween party to go to at 1:00. I dropped them off at that party and went to Beth's house, where Juanito was hanging out with Beth and Keren. He took Zane home, and i went out for lunch with Beth and Keren (fun!) and then picked the kids up again at 4:00.

We came home for an hour and a half. Katrina immediately headed upstairs and took a nap for the entire time. Houston went to his room to "be quiet." Zane excitedly talked and talked and talked and told me all kids of random stories until Juanito took him to the store with him. And then we were off to go trick-or-treating.

Today was a terrible day, weather-wise. It was raining and cold and just miserable. I would have walked around for a couple of hours if i were going to get a giant bag of candy at the end of it, but without that motivation, it just didn't look like fun. We told the kids that we'd wait at Grandma's (warm, dry) house while they walked up and down that street, and then we'd drive them to the next street and follow them in the (warm, dry) car until they decided that they were finished. Except then the kids' cousins ended up walking around with them, and my sister and my brother-in-law both were walking around with them, and so Juanito and i stayed at my parents' house for the entire time while the rest of them got soaked.

We did make ourselves useful, though. I copied a million pictures from my mom's ipad to her computer, while Juanito fiddled with my dad's laptop to try to make it behave again. And then i made both of my parents take the (not-really) Meyer-Briggs test to see what personality type they are, because i think it's fascinating. So it was fascinating (to me, anyhow) that i am one letter away from each of my parents, who are two letters away from each other. My dad's an ISTJ and my mom's an ISFP, and i am an ISFJ. Meanwhile, my mom is right in-between me and Juanito, who is an ESFP. 

Saturday

Today totally felt like Fall. It was long pants and long sleeves kind of weather, and it was the perfect day for visiting the apple orchard.

Except that first the kids needed to work on cleaning their rooms. Not Houston. His has been clean (or mostly clean) for a few months now, which is...amazing. But Katrina and Zane's rooms? Disasters. So the rule was this: "No computer until your room is clean AND then checked by an adult to make sure that it's actually clean."

Katrina's response was to start cleaning early this morning and work really hard until she thought it was clean and then get it checked by Juanito. He hadn't seen the before, so he was all, "Um. No. It's a mess." She crawled into bed with me and cried because she'd been working really hard, so i cuddled her and tickled her for a while, and then eventually i sat on her bed saying, "Clean up that stuff over there," so that she could finish and make it look awesome. And she did! Done! Clean! Hallelujah!

Zane's response was this: "Well, i'm not going to be able to finish and play computer in time anyhow, so i might as well just not even try." Like, he actually said that to me. I had to further threaten him with: A - "No computer EVER AGAIN until your room is clean," and (when that failed to elicit an acceptable response) B - "I will take away your MP3 player, and then you won't be able to listen to your audiobooks on repeat day and night." The combined threats managed to get him to make at least a minimal effort. I gave him some direction (Gather all your clothes and put them in the laundry. Pick up 10 things.) and it was going fairly well, but then i made the mistake of telling him to pull everything out from under his bed, and then i realized that he had stashed everything in the entire world under his bed, and now it is the biggest disaster that ever was. Which is awesome, because in a week and a half, his grandma and aunt are going to be staying there.

So by afternoon, all of us were kind of ready for a break. Beth suggested the apple orchard, which was a brilliant suggestion. I didn't even think that apples were ready yet, so i'd never have suggested it.

As soon as we got to the orchard, the kids scattered. Zane played in the corn until we dragged him away. Houston fed the chickens. And Katrina cuddled kittens. Just before we went to pick apples, Houston cuddled a kitten for a few seconds and then completely regretted it later, when we concluded that he is, definitely, allergic to cats. Poor kid.

We tried the different kinds of apples, picked lots of yummy ones (including honeycrisp!), and got donuts.

And then Houston, Katrina, and i left Zane at home and went to Beth's house to watch the final Harry Potter movie. Yay!!!

Sunday

It's the last Sunday of summer vacation, and it was a gorgeous day, so the kids and i went out to my grandpa's beach for the afternoon. After an hour or so, Beth and Stephanie joined us. It was warm, and the water was lovely, and the sun was sunny, and there were waves but not huge, dangerous waves. So it was about as perfect a day as we could have asked for.

I sat and talked to my grandpa for an hour or so, until the kids were just completely impatient for me to come down to the beach so they could go into the water. I feel so incredibly fortunate that my grandpa, who is 96, is still completely intelligent and lucid. He told me all kinds of interesting stuff about my great-grandpa and what happened with his property when he died. And we talked about medicine and how it's changed, and .... I wish i lived closer, so that it was easier to visit him more often.

Tonight, Juanito, Beth, Stephanie, and i went to see "Mission Impossible" - like...the 4th sequel or something. It was ridiculous, and Beth, Juanito, and i giggled the entire way through it. Tom Cruise is just so...Tom Cruise. It was a lovely, relaxing end to the day.

Swimming!

It's the last week of summer vacation, and it was really hot and muggy today, and we were mostly just sitting at home not doing anything, so when my sister called an invited us to come swim at her pool, we took her up on the offer.

The kids swam and swam and swam. I jumped in twice, just long enough to get cool. The second time i jumped, Zane jumped in too, right on top of me and totally kicked me in the head while i was under water. Hard. I think i'm going to have a bruise. I surfaced, completely confused, and asked him, "What happened?!" And he, with big tears in his eyes, was all, "I think i'll be okay. I got water in my face, though!" (Me: "....?)

Camping!

My parents bought a wonderful fifth-wheel trailer last year, and for the second year in a row (it's becoming a tradition!), they invited us for a 2-night camping trip with them.

We went to Muskegon State Park, which we've gone to several times before with our whole family. It's a great spot, because there's a little lake connected to Lake Michigan by a channel, and the campground is right there in-between. So we play on the dunes by the big lake and swim in the little lake, where it's warmer and less wavy.

I say "We swim in the little lake," but this trip i never even considered putting on my bathing suit, because the high temperature was about 73, and most of the time it was in the low 60's.. The kids were undaunted and spent hours and hours, first playing on the dunes, running up and down the dunes, jumping off of them, and digging giant holes big enough to crawl into, and then (with a short break for lunch) swimming, building sand castles, and dumping water over each other's heads. They just played and played and played together, and it was just incredibly pleasant to watch them.

Today was a bit chillier, with less sun, and it was morning, so they only lasted in the water a much shorter time before being cold enough to give up on swimming. So instead we played cards and ate s'mores, and nobody seemed too unhappy about it.

It was a really fun camping trip, even though it was unseasonably cold. We ate hobo pies and s'mores and ice cream. Zane ate his weight in tomatoes from my mom's garden. We watched the sunset. We sat around the campfire. We got filthy and tired. It was great.

Sunday

We went to Grand Haven today, to have lunch at a park with my family, and then from there went to my Grandpa's house. We visited with my grandpa for a little while, and then headed down to the beach. This week finally feels like summer - it's hot enough to actually want to maybe go into the lake and everything!

The kids had tons of fun playing in the water and the sand. The adults had fun soaking up some sunshine. We celebrated Kelly and Wyatt's and Chellie's birthdays, and could easily have celebrated Jill's, Rick's, and Zane's as well, but Jill and Rick weren't there, and Zane decided to wait until next time so that he could have a cake and singing all to himself. (Also, i think that he didn't want to be the center of THAT much attention.)

And then our family drove back to Grand Rapids to go see the movie "Inside Out" with Beth and Stephanie. All of us have been waiting and waiting to get to see that movie, and it really was incredibly good. It's all feelings-y and totally made me cry. Afterwards, Houston told me that he cried during it, both from laughing so hard and from sadness, and in the parking lot he cried into my shoulder for a few minutes, because he was so, so sad about one of the characters. It's one of those movies that, almost as soon as it was over, i thought, "Okay. I'm going to need to watch that again."