2017, so far.

We're almost a month and a half into 2017, and i haven't blogged since the new year. I keep wanting to, but then i'm all unsure of what to post. I could just post "this is what my family did today," and honestly, that's maybe fine and probably what i'll end up doing. But that feels somewhat dishonest to what i feel like is actually going on, because so much of my brain is full of politics and the things happening in our country right now. 

I read an article by Andrew Sullivan yesterday, and this paragraph perfectly sums up how i'm feeling: 

One of the great achievements of free society in a stable democracy is that many people, for much of the time, need not think about politics at all. The president of a free country may dominate the news cycle many days — but he is not omnipresent — and because we live under the rule of law, we can afford to turn the news off at times. A free society means being free of those who rule over you — to do the things you care about, your passions, your pastimes, your loves — to exult in that blessed space where politics doesn’t intervene. In that sense, it seems to me, we already live in a country with markedly less freedom than we did a month ago. It’s less like living in a democracy than being a child trapped in a house where there is an abusive and unpredictable father, who will brook no reason, respect no counter-argument, admit no error, and always, always up the ante until catastrophe inevitably strikes.

I hardly ever used to think about politics. Every four years i'd pay attention to who was running for president, and in the interim, i'd pay attention to the general news of the day, which was not generally political. But now i feel like everything is related to Trump's presidency, and every day there's new scandals and new executive orders filled with horribleness, and it's just exhausting and depressing. I want to go back to being able to look at Facebook or Twitter or the news or anything and having it be just...life. 

So that's where i'm coming from.

That said, this is what we've been doing for the past month:

• Houston started out the year by putting his retainer on the table while he ate something, forgetting about it, and starting to play a game with us. Midway through the game, Emma came trotting into the room, happily chewing on...Houston's completely destroyed retainer. $150 later, Houston had a new retainer, which i'm happy to say he's being much more conscientious about keeping in the box when it's not in his mouth.

• Katrina, Zane, and i went to Winter Camp with our church's youth groups. It was a weekend of noise and silliness and snow and crafts and not enough sleep. Katrina and Zane both loved it. Zane even loved it despite the fact that his cabin didn't have a bathroom. His group had to run across the camp to the gym to use the bathroom - or the shower, but that didn't seem like an issue, since Zane literally didn't change his clothes the entire weekend. 
  

• Houston had his first exams in January, and they nearly killed us both. I could have just been all, "They're your exams! You do all the work!" but i'm pretty sure that he would have failed them all if i'd done that. The boy just really never had to study much at all before this year, and so he's really bad at it. I spent days and days with him, going through his school books to find the important information he should know, because he doesn't take notes in class. Me: "But...you have a notebook for every subject! Why don't you take notes?!" Him: "I don't know. The teacher doesn't tell us to." 

• Katrina had the giant 7th grade career project, which wrapped up in mid-January. The kids spend months on this project - choosing a career, interviewing someone in that career, doing research, making brochures, writing reports, and ultimately making a tri-fold presentation with a memorized speech. Katrina chose zookeeper as her career and did an amazing job. 
  

• My grandpa, who is now 97 (i believe), had an accident in his home, where he'd been living alone, and moved into an assisted care facility. It's a really nice one ("This place is much nicer than the one Great Grandpa was in!" said both Katrina and Zane), and he seems to be doing very well. 
  

• Once every month or so, we have a "relationship building" week for Fifty6, where each group does their own thing rather than meeting as a whole group at the church. This month, we had all of our girls come to our house, where we did a "Cocoa and Canvas" thing. Juanito took the job of "artist" and told everyone what to paint and how to paint it, and at the end everyone had their own painting to take home. They all did awesome and seemed to have a really good time. 
  

• Katrina and Juanito had their Daddy-daughter dance. Katrina's been excited about it for weeks and weeks. She wanted to get a new dress for it, so we scoured Goodwills for a cute (and appropriate) dress. She chose her hairstyle at least a week prior to the dance. She was adorably happy about it. And they both report having had a really good time. 
  

• On the same day as the Daddy-daughter dance, Houston had his high school dance. He was not 100% sure about the dance even before i brought him, and about an hour and a half into it, he texted me, "Could you maybe come and get me?" 

Me: "Already? Are you bored?" 

Him: "I'm not exactly bored. Just...none of my friends are here and i am basically walking around in circles feeling awkward." 

Me: "Okay. Dad'll be home soon, and then he'll come get you, okay?" 

Him: "Yup. They're playing 'You are the only exception' and everyone is being weird." 

Me: "Define weird."

Him: "They're all dancing and stuff." 

Me: "DANCING???? At a dance!??? WHAT IS NEXT?!"

Him: "I KNOW, RIGHT?!???"

Juanito got home about then, and i asked him if he'd go get Houston. He left and i texted Houston that Juanito was on his way. And then, about 10 minutes later, Juanito called me to ask, "So...the dance IS at City, right?" No. No it was not. It was at Meijer Gardens. Apparently he had been texted Houston, "I'm here!" and Houston had been texting back, "Where?" and the conversation went approximately like this: 

"In the parking lot!" 

"Which one?"

"I'll drive around and look for you!"

"Inside or outside?"

"I AM IN A CAR."

And that's about it. There are a few more pictures here.

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 4

Today after church, we all ate something as fast as we can and then ran off to the library for a mini-production of "The Nutcracker." It was only about half an hour, and "Godfather Drosselmeyer" paused the ballet between songs to read the story from a book so that the kids would know what was going on, so it was a very different experience than the actual ballet, but it was performed by the same people who do the big production in town. My kids all love the story of the Nutcracker, so seeing even a shortened performance was great.

Zane was at his sleepover until this afternoon, so he missed most of the day's activities. But he DID get to have a sleepover with his best friend, so he wasn't too sad.

After the Nutcracker, Juanito and Katrina went to get Zane and Katrina's friend. And then we all left for church again (except Juanito) for Fifty6 (or the element or Anthem). Fifty6 and the element were combined tonight for "glowstick night," and it was entirely insane and chaotic and loud, and i didn't even remotely understand what was happening for half of the night. But the kids all had fun, so ... yay.

We came home a little before 9:00 to find our neighborhood's power knocked out - presumably by a squirrel trying to get warm in the transformer - so the house was completely dark. I handed out tiny electric tea-light candles to each of the kids, and they all were like, "Really?"

And that was our night.

Busy Sunday

Most of today was spent running from place to place. About one Sunday a month, all of the students from 5th grade through high school do something with their small group. Every group gets to choose what they'll do and where and when they'll do it. That means that we've got four different events that we've got to navigate on those Sundays.

This was that Sunday.

My group went out for shakes right after church, from 12:30-2:00. Beth and i then dashed over to my parents' house to pick up the boys, quickly sing "Happy birthday" to my niece, and say a super-fast hello. Houston's group was meeting at his leader's house at 2:30 for yard and board games, so we dropped him off first. And then we went to drop off Zane at HIS leader's house at 3:00 for Nerf wars and s'mores.

Beth was over for about an hour and a half, so we got to hang out a bit, and then i was off to go pick Zane up again. He'd brought all of his Nerf bullets, and when i got there he was still missing most of them, so i walked around with him for about half an hour, searching for lost bullets.

By the time we got home, i was somewhat starving, having eaten nothing but a shake and a few fries all day, so Zane and i each ate a bowl of cereal while we waited for Juanito and the other kids to get home.

And once they got home, i spent most of the rest of the night helping Houston finish a giant project for English. They had to do 5 different mini-projects based on the books "The Crucible" and "The Scarlet Letter." There was a giant list of options, and Houston chose to make a picture book, a bumper sticker, a greeting card, a list of the top ten ways to tell if someone is a witch, and a short scene from a play. To his credit, he had already completely finished three of them and was very nearly finished with the fourth. He set to work writing the screenplay, which he was all, "It'll only take me 15-30 minutes!" (I was more skeptical, suggesting that it would probably take an hour or two. I was right.) And then i helped him organize it all on a posterboard. And he miraculously was completely finished by 9:30. (I have learned the perils of procrastination and am trying hard to help my kids not follow in my footsteps!)

After a weekend of very little sleep, i am quite remarkably exhausted.

Leader's retreat and lots of stuff about Halloween.

Last night and most of today, we had a leader's retreat for all of the student leaders at our church. Last night was mostly filled with eating pizza, getting to know the other leaders, and watching the guys try to kill each other by climbing inside of giant inflatable balls and slamming into each other. Today was mostly filled with ... well, less teaching than i would have expected.

Meanwhile, Houston had his first dance. It was a costume dance, and Houston went as an invisible man. He reportedly won the "scariest costume" prize. He looked like this:

And meanwhile, Katrina and Zane spent the night at my parents' house and then got to go to their church's Halloween party, which included trunk-or-treating and games, so my kids were thrilled. Candy and carnival games! Yay! 

And then Katrina had another Halloween party at her friend's house this afternoon. She had fun and came home all happy, and all was good until she came down an hour and a half after going to bed to tell me that she couldn't sleep. Because they'd been telling scary stories at the party, and now she just kept thinking about them and .... Sigh. 

And tonight Juanito is going to a concert with Beth and a couple of other friends. So it's been a bit of a chaotic day/weekend.

Babies and politics and awkwardness

Today was Sunday, and we all went to my parents' house for dinner. Jim and Alisha were there, so we got to see and hold my little nephew and niece - Micah and Eloise - for the first time since we saw them in the hospital. They're getting bigger, but they're still just so tiny and adorable! They're both still 2-3 pounds lighter than my babies were when they were born, so....

We're three weeks out from the presidential election, and going to my parents' house around election time is always a bit of a minefield for me, I tend to lean Democrat while the rest of my family is pretty securely Republican, so i generally do my best to just avoid political conversations as much as possible. THIS election - Trump vs. Clinton - is particularly ugly, so every time we're going to see my family, i remind my children not to say Anything! Political! At all! And if anyone else talks about politics, just let it go. Houston was all, "If they say something i think is funny, can i laugh?" Me: "No." Him: "Okay. If they start talking about Trump, i'll just come tell you i need help with my homework." I feel a bit like a coward, but i also think that i just need to get through the next month or two without any hard feelings on anyone's side. And thankfully, today was gotten through with very minimal talk of politics. Only three more weeks. We can do this.

Tonight was parents' night at Fifty6, which meant that we had some of our girls' parents come visit our group. I am completely intimidated by adults. I realize that that is ridiculous, since i technically AM an adult, but being in charge of leading a group of 12-year-olds is somehow far easier than being in charge of explaining to 4 women what we're trying to do with their children in our group. I get all overly exuberant and ask stupid questions when there are awkward silences. And then i look at Beth all panicky, hoping that she can do something to stop the train wreck. I am entirely glad that that is finished for the year.

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. 

Dahlias!

Beth and i went to a Dahlia show at Meijer Gardens today. Every single Dahlia was so, so pretty. You can see more pictures here.

I've been confused in the past, when i thought i knew what Dahlias were and then my mom or someone would point to a completely different flower and call it a Dahlia. And at this show, there were SO many different kinds of Dahlias, many of which looked nothing like the typical Dahlia, and i am now totally confused about what makes a Dahlia a Dahlia. I asked one of the people working, and they told me, "Genetics!" which is probably true, but seems like the biggest cop-out answer ever, because i could answer that about almost anything. "Why do elephants have trunks and big ears? Genetics!" "Why do trees have green leaves? Genetics!"

Tonight we had our first meeting of the year for Fifty6. I'm not particularly looking forward to losing all of my Sunday nights (it's been really lovely having Sunday nights free all summer!), but i really love our Fifty6 pastor and our family leaders. Kyle, our pastor is incredibly bad at time management and organization, but he more than makes up for it by being just genuine and kind and funny and deep. And our family leaders - two couples who are the leaders for the leaders of the kids - are all just really great, and i'm so glad that they're all back.

I'm especially glad they're all back because both of the pastors for the other two students groups - 7th & 8th grade and high school - have left this summer, so both Houston and Katrina will have interim pastors until our church hires new permanent pastors. 

Everything that's been happening this past month

I mean... I can't seem to write more than once a month lately. I have no real excuse. Nevertheless. Here we are.

It's been an eventful month - the end of the school year always is! Field trips and graduations and all of the hoopla that goes along with school ending and summer beginning. Yay! I took a million pictures and narrowed them down to my favorite 140 for a slide show...and then realized that that was way, way too many pictures for most people to want to actually look at, so i narrowed it down again to the bare bones, and those are the ones in the slideshow above. I will, if anyone in the world is interested, put the long slideshow down under.

So! Without further ado! Things that have been happening! (In order:)

1. Juanito has been building shelves and cabinets in our front room, and they are getting closer to being finished. It's all being made from old pallets, and he's doing a beautiful job. I can't wait until it's finished!

2. For the past 14 years, we've had at least one child in the baby/preschool/elementary area of church. Every Sunday, we've had to check a child in and out, and for most of that time, that included wearing a paper armband with the child's number. This month, Zane graduated out of the elementary area, up to Fifty6, and thus our time with the little kids area is finished. Henceforth, all of our kids will be sitting in church with us and then going to their individual areas on Sunday evenings.

Our church makes kind of a big deal out of the "graduation," and Zane was totally excited about participating. They did a whole graduation ceremony, at which they gave each "graduate" their own Bible (Houston and Katrina were totally jealous of the Bible!), followed by a family breakfast.

For weeks, Zane had been complaining that he didn't WANT to go to Fifty6. Couldn't he just stay HOME? Whyyyyy???? And i know why he was so opposed. It's because Houston was never a fan of Fifty6 at all. I tried to convince Zane that he would like it, that HE was not Houston, that Katrina liked it! He was not convinced. And then they had a Sunday where all of the grades moved up to their next group, and Zane got to experience Fifty6...and suddenly he LOVED it and started asking just how soon he'd be able to start going. He's now very disappointed that he has to wait until September.

3. Katrina has been using a school flute for the past couple of years, and she desperately wanted one of her very own. As the end of the school year got closer and closer, marking the point at which she'd have to return her flute for the summer, she got more and more desperate. She started looking up flutes, trying to figure out if there were any - ANY - that she could afford. She found a brand of flutes that were not only reasonably priced but also made in colors. Colors!

At first she totally leaned towards pink, but then she reasoned that she might outgrow pink, and really she likes blue just as much.... And so she spent some of her vast savings and is now the proud owner of a lovely blue flute, which she absolutely loves. (She does have to play it using slightly different fingering for one note, because otherwise the key doesn't press down all the way, but she adapted to that very quickly.)

4. For the first time, we were all able to attend the Great Salmon Release. This was Katrina's very first release, and rather than releasing one fish and then quitting, she made up for the previous years missed by releasing 5 salmon, all of whom she named first (Fred, George, Hermione, Sally, and Bob).

Every year, for the past three years, the kids' school has gotten salmon eggs. The kids get to watch the eggs hatch and grow until they're ready to be released in the spring. The first year, Juanito somehow got pulled in to helping parcel out the salmon into baggies, to hand to kids, who then released them into the river, and since then, he has been one of two guys who's been in charge of that job. This year we also helped with transporting buckets of salmon from the school to the river. And, of course, i take pictures, because...i'm me...and since i know that the teacher in charge of the salmon (who was both boys' teacher in third grade) likes pictures, i sent them to her. A week or two later, i was in the school to pick up the kids, and i noticed that there was a display of giant poster-sized pictures of the salmon release. I was all, "Oh, cool!" and then, "Hey! I took that picture!" and then, "Hey! I took ALL of these pictures!" I'm practically famous. Except for y'know...not.

5. The Sunday before Memorial Day, when it was fairly warm, we went to my sister's house for dinner so that everyone could go swimming in their pool afterwards. The kids were all in heaven. Most of the adults were much more rational and stayed dry and warm.

6. On Memorial Day, Beth, the kids, and i walked around downtown. It was a somewhat surreal experience, because it was absolutely deserted. We went down into an almost always completely full parking garage, and it was empty. Completely, utterly empty. Zombie-apocalypse-level deserted.

7. We went to see Verve Pipe at a free outdoor concert with Beth and Stephanie. It makes me happy that we're able to see them live fairly regularly. I think this was our third Verve Pipe concert. They started out with their kids' songs, which...i actually know and love more than most of their adult songs, and then finished off with stuff for the grownups. Juanito and i sang along with songs like "Cereal," "Wake Up," and "We Had to Go Home," while Zane pouted about having to be there at all and Katrina and Houston half paid attention and half read their books.

8. The fourth grade had their annual field trip to the YMCA camp. When Houston and Katrina had this field trip, it was an overnight, but this year they shortened it to just a day trip. It was a long day - we left school at 8:15 in the morning and got back at 8:00 at night - but i'm pretty sure that we did pretty much all of the same things we did when we were there for two days. There was canoeing and archery and rock wall climbing and crafts and candle-making, but Zane's favorite part was the "fur trading," where the kids had to run around in groups trying to find carpet squares with random animals written on them.

Again, there was archery! And canoeing! And rock wall climbing! But Zane preferred searching for hidden squares of carpet. Weirdo.

In the archery portion, the kids each got to shoot three arrows. When it was Zane's turn, his first arrow hit the dirt far before the target. His third shot went way over the target. But on his second shot, Zane hit a perfect bulls-eye. It was amazing. And nothing but sheer luck. Zane spent the rest of the day telling everyone he could find that he was really proud of himself because he got a bulls-eye.

In the past, the chaperons have been allowed (and encouraged) to go canoeing with the kids, and we were allowed to canoe basically wherever we wanted to on the lake. The rules have apparently changed, because this year adults weren't allowed to go out with the kids, and the canoes had to stay within a fairly small area. It was disappointing that i didn't get to canoe with Zane, but it was especially disappointing that the kids didn't get to really enjoy themselves as much. They spent most of their time just trying not to run into each other. Sigh. Rules.

We were the last group of kids from our school to get to do the rock wall. There are two walls the kids can choose between, one of which is quite a bit harder than the other. Most of the kids chose to do the easier wall, but about a third of our group decided to try the harder side. The guy in charge told us right away, "Just so you know! Nobody from the other groups has successfully reached the top on this side." Most of the kids chose to stay and try it anyhow, and every single one of them that tried made it to the top. It WAS hard, and they needed a lot of encouragement, but they all got to ring the bell at the top. Zane was the very last one to go, and everyone except for his teacher and i had already left for the next event. He was a bit disappointed to not have everyone there to cheer for him, and he had a hard time trying to figure out what to do with those long, long legs of his that got in his way, but he made it to the top and was completely impressed with himself. As he should have been.

9. Festival of the Arts! I told Houston beforehand that he was really just too old to do the paint-in portion this year. It's supposed to be for kids aged 12 and under, and we let him sneak in last year, but this year he's 14, and ... no. And so he decided just to stay home altogether, because he "only likes the painting and otherwise doesn't enjoy it." (????) So the rest of us went without him.

Beth and i looked at the schedule ahead of time this year and actually planned out what we wanted to see and when we should go. I wanted to see dancers, and she wanted to see "The Mines" playing, and there just happened to be a dance group right before the Mines were on, so we chose that group. And it was, absolutely, the very best dance group i've ever seen at Festival. It was a pretty large group, with kids from about age 9 all the way up through high school, and every single routine they did was as fun to watch as the one before it. I wish i could remember their name so that we could make sure to see them every year!

10. Houston went on a class trip to Chicago. It was an overnight trip, and they packed it full of fun things. They went to Navy Pier and took a boat tour and went to Medieval Times on Thursday night, and then they spent all day Friday at Six Flags Great America. He had So! Much! Fun!

11. Zane had his end-of-the-year field trip/party at a park. (Not a park right nearby like you'd expect, though. A park 45 minutes away, because....?) There was sand castle building and water balloon tossing and general playground-playing. Zane and his friend Finneas had both worn their fedoras, so they invented a new game called "hat ball." It was a very low-structure day, which was lovely.

12. We had a graduation party for Houston. It wasn't anything super-exciting - just cake and ice cream and family - but he loved it.

13. Katrina had her end-of-the-year beach field trip/party. It was not the warmest of days, and it threatened rain all day, but most of the kids ended up swimming nonetheless, and the rain held off. So! Success. We went to the most ridiculously strict beach/park i've ever, ever been to. Before you can even get in, the guy at the gate grills you about the rules, of which there are legion. (No running. No flotation devices of any kind, unless it's USCG approved. Goggles are okay, but no face masks. If you build a sand castle, you need to knock it down when you're finished.)

Katrina's at that age where kids are all at completely different stages. Some of the kids in her class still look like little kids, while others look like they could be 18. The boys are almost universally shorter than the girls. Some of the girls ran around in their bathing suits completely unselfconsciously, while others never changed or just kept giant coverups on the whole time.

14. Houston graduated. I already covered that.

15. The sixth grade band never did have a concert, so the band director decided that "anyone who wanted to" could come play at the graduation. Katrina was all excited that she was going to get to play during graduation. She practiced and practiced. (Her: "I'm nervous, because i just don't know if i'm doing this right!" Me: "Well, when you play with the group, are you able to keep up?" Her: "We've never practiced this!" They all went into it completely without every once playing as a group or even practicing that song. What?)

We got to the church for graduation, and she talked to the band director, who was all, "Oh, there's been a change. Instead of playing during the graduation, we're going to play out in the lobby beforehand." So...everyone there was sitting in their seats, waiting for graduation to start, which meant that NOBODY was out in the lobby. The entire audience consisted of Juanito, Beth, my parents, my sister, and my niece. And maybe two other people, but they weren't actually paying attention.

The band, meanwhile, was made up of 10 people, including the director, who played the trombone rather than actually directing. And yet! Everyone who had also been to the 7th and 8th grade concert agreed that they were significantly better than that concert had been. They sounded great, ESPECIALLY considering that they'd never once practiced!

16. Last day of school! Woohoo!!! Of course, Houston hadn't had school for almost a week, what with his class trip and then graduation and all. We went and picked up the kids, and then met Beth at Steak and Shake for end-of-school celebration shakes! Yay!!!

17. Juanito took a couple of days off, and so on Thursday we went to the local Frank Lloyd Wright house for a tour. The kids and i had gone last year, and last time we were almost the only people on the tour, and it was really cool and informative. This time, we apparently picked the busiest day of the year, so there was a giant crowd on the tour with us. It was still interesting and the house is beautiful nonetheless, but the kids and i were disappointed that there wasn't more interesting information. I think there were just too many people for the tour guide to be able to throw in lots of interesting side-bits.

18. We went to Saugatuck to celebrate our 22nd anniversary. We were about halfway there, when suddenly the front right tire spectacularly exploded. (Honestly, it's just so fitting that we should have car trouble on our anniversary! Our entire marriage has been filled with one random car emergency after another!)

Juanito spent approximately 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get the spare tire off of the bottom of the car (there's a tiny hidden compartment inside under the floor mat), and then had the jack nearly tip over, but he got it changed! Yay! (For the record: I know how to change a tire, but i don't think i could have actually changed this one.)

This was the first time Juanito and the kids had been in Saugatuck, and we had a fun time wandering around. The kids all wanted to buy all the things, and Zane did get a walking, squeaking pig, and Houston got a Doctor Who shirt and a book, and we all got friendship bracelets.

This was the anniversary that marks the point at which we've been married for exactly half of our lives. (Or nearly so. I guess that for me it'll be exactly halfway in a month and a half, and a bit longer for Juanito, but the NUMBER is halfway.) It's also completely crazy to me that when we got married, we were only 8 years older that Houston is now. Crazy!!! But i still think we made the right choice, and i'm so happy and lucky to married to my favorite person.

And there i stop. I need to remember to write more often. This was insanely long. Sorry.

Winter camp

This past weekend the 5th-8th graders went to winter camp. Houston didn't want to go this year, but Katrina was thrilled to go. Beth and i went with our group of girls, five of whom went.

Fifth graders are kind of insane. And also, they love candy more than anything else in the world. Our friend Andrew, who was in charge of an insane number of boys, pointed out that screaming is a close second.

It was a crazy weekend, completely filled with activities and craziness from before sunrise until after midnight every day. It was exhausting.

But i think that it was really great for building relationships with the girls who were there. I think that it strengthened the relationships between the girls. And the speaker was amazing.

One of my favorite parts, honestly, was that Katrina kept popping up all over the place. She came with our group for a couple of things, but mostly she was with her own group and would just come running over to say hi when she saw us. I absolutely love that she still wants to do that. 

Fifty6 and homework

Tonight was parent night for Students at Mars, which was complicated this year, because i'm now a leader as well. Houston never even mentioned it and just disappeared as soon as we got to church. Katrina dragged me to meet her leader before the program actually started, and then i stood by her during the teaching, and that seemed to be acceptable.

Meanwhile, we got to meet most of the girls in our group and their parents at the same time. We seem to have a really great group of girls. There are a few that i feel like i'm immediately drawn to, but all of them seem like good kids. Katrina asked me if we got the really scream-y girls, and i'm pretty sure we didn't, so that's good.

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Tonight i had the kids get ready for bed and get their stuff ready for school tomorrow, and as Katrina was getting her school bag ready, she remembered that she still had to finish some math homework. And 9:00 at night is totally the best time to remember homework due the next day. Sigh.

She set to work on it and worked hard...and realized after 45 minutes that she'd just done an entire page and a half completely wrong. She was completely devastated, both because she had to re-do all of the work that she'd just done, and because she was just SO INCREDIBLY TIRED. She sobbed uncontrollably for about five minutes, and then was able to pull herself together to do it over and finish it up.

I'm torn between feeling sad for the poor girl (because having to re-do all your work when you're tired is the WORST) and feeling annoyed that she forgot about it and left it to the last possible minute. 

Sunday

The kids ministry at church started up again a few weeks ago, so Katrina and Houston have been going to the Sunday night meetings, and Zane's been going to what we used to call Sunday School. But the church was still totally needing leaders, and so this week, Beth and i started as co-leaders for a group of fifth graders.

It was kind of a weird week to start, because it was a "we're not going to meet at the church like usual! Instead every group will just go off and do their own fun thing!" night. Luckily, all of the fifth graders were doing their fun thing together, rather than in small groups, and so Beth and i were able to just show up and hope to find the girls that will be in our group. The activity was at a farm owned by the parents of the family leaders, so we got to see lots of cows, take a hay ride, and enjoy the beauty.

The sixth graders had a pool party - so they went swimming. Outside. In October. In Michigan. I mean, the pool was heated up to something like 90 degrees, but it's still a good thing that it was not horribly, horribly cold today. When i picked Katrina up, i practically had to drag her out of the pool, and a couple of the leaders told me that she'd been the first one in, and had spent nearly the entire time in the pool. She was happy, but completely exhausted.

Houston was supposed to have a really, really fun activity that he was completely excited about. They were going to play tag in a corn maze. And then carve pumpkins. We showed up at the farm at the appointed time...and there was nobody there. Nobody. Because it's closed on Sundays. I called Juanito and had him double-check the email...and it was yesterday. 

Houston was really, incredibly good-natured and kind about the entire thing, and assured me that it was COMPLETELY fine. No worries at all, Mom. But i feel terrible, because he was really excited about going, and Houston just hasn't been really excited about going to church events ever. Not because he doesn't like church, but because ever since fifth grade, he just doesn't feel like he really fits in. The first two years were terrible - he just hated it, and we basically let him drop out for most of sixth grade. Last year he had totally new leaders and a new group and Katrina and a couple of other friends in the building, and it was much, much better. But he's not been really, truly excited to go to many things. So i feel really, really sad about dropping the ball on this one.