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 12 and 13

Yesterday all of the kids had a snow day, which thrilled them to no end. Katrina and Zane headed out in the morning to go sledding on Big Butt, and stayed out until they were completely frozen. They watched a movie and read books, and we did our Advent activity: "Do Christmas Crafts."

I left it purposefully vague, because i have found, in previous years, that some of my kids *coughZanecough* don't really enjoy some of the crafts that i pick out, but they DO enjoy doing other things that i wouldn't necessarily choose. And so i gave the kids a few ideas but let them do their own thing. Turns out, Katrina, Houston, and i all wanted to do the same thing: a contact paper/tissue paper/black paper stained glass window nativity scene. They took a while to cut everything out, but the end results are really pretty.

Zane initially decided to make a paper wreath, but after essentially having me do all the things for almost the entire project, he abandoned it and instead made a pop-up Christmas card for Juanito. It's super cute, and he had fun. Yay.

Juanito and i abandoned the kids for a few hours in the afternoon for dinner and to do some Christmas shopping. Our Christmas shopping actually mostly takes the form of "this material, and some thread, and laminating sheets, and yarn." We went to Michael's, JoAnn's, and Hobby Lobby, and while we did buy a few small gifts, nearly everything was stuff to use to make other stuff. About half of the kids' presents this year are homemade, and most of the rest of them come from China. We are apparently terrible Americans.

Today i worked on Christmas presents in the morning and then wrapped all of the finished presents. Years ago i started wrapping presents in cloth so that we could just reuse it year after year - it's cheaper, pretty, and better for the environment. It also takes a LOT longer to wrap presents. Last year i bought pretty Christmas paper and wrapped everything in it, and this year the kids asked me to please go back to cloth. So. Yay for the environment! Boo for extra time wrapping!

And then tonight, Beth and i went downtown to walk around and look at Christmas lights. Our town is all pretty and lit up, and it was fun to wander around and see it all. Of course we chose the coldest night of the year so far to do our wandering, so we were fairly frozen, but it was still fun!

While we were downtown, the kids did the Advent activity of the day: make paper chains. Katrina made one long, long chain and one small one that counts down to Christmas and has one link to be removed each day. Zane made a cute short chain with really fat links. I can imagine him doing it for a short time and then getting bored.

And Houston made little chains for Juanito and me, with a note with a few words on each chain. It's SO sweet and cute and i love it. Mine says, "Dear Mommy, Thank you for being my mom. You are by far the best mother i could have ever asked for. You always support me and forgive me quickly. Even if i did something that you specifically told me not to do and i get hurt, you will help me through the pain. Overall, you are an absolutely amazing person. -Houston Moore." Awwwww! He's such a sweet boy. 

December 10

This morning Travis and Brooke and their kids and Beth all came over to hang out for a little while and to eat lunch. It was so much fun to see Brooke and Travis again! We got to see Brooke a little bit when there were a million people around for the Fantastic Beasts party and movie, but this is our first time seeing Travis since they got back, and it was just really fun to get to sit and talk to them.

Before they came over, Katrina went to her room and set up "stations" for the kids: "Like, a coloring area and an area where they can play with my dolls, and that kind of thing." She put tattoos on the kids and just generally made them love her.

At one point, Zane started wrestling with Travis, and Travis was all, "You should get this kid into jujitsu!" and they were both having a good time. After a couple of minutes of watching them wrestle, i went to the kitchen to say hi to everyone else in there, and then i wandered back to the family room, where Travis had Zane in a headlock and Zane was crying and looking terrified. I quickly said, "He's crying!" and Travis immediately let go, and Zane just kind of quietly freaked out for about 10 minutes. I think he really, truly couldn't breathe, and it just scared him a lot, so then his body over-compensated by making him hyperventilate and still not be able to breathe. I got him a glass of water and helped him concentrate on slowing his breathing, but what finally actually helped was showing him a video of cats being jerks. And once he was calm and could breathe again, he was immediately fine with Travis (who felt really bad), though i noticed that he didn't try wrestling again.

This afternoon, our Advent activity was to go and see a church's Christmas show called "Guardians of Christmas." Going in, i had absolutely no idea what to expect, and i warned the kids that it might be awesome, but it could be terrible too. It was an original show, written by people at the church, and it was surprisingly good. Totally cheesy, but fun and silly and completely entertaining. Katrina didn't like it, but the rest of us did. 

As soon as we got home from the show, Katrina and Zane desperately wanted to go sledding (we just got a few inches of snow for the first time this year), so Juanito took them to the park nearby until it got dark. 

And then we all went to Beth's house to help her decorate her tree and to have hot chocolate and delicious molasses cookies. 

So it was a busy but fun day. Yay!

Everything since Nov. 8th

I have a lot of pictures - most from a few specific days - from the past month. These are some (lots) of my favorites: Pictures on Google Albums

So it's been a long time. Just over three weeks. I've meant to blog. I've thought about blogging. But honestly, i just didn't have the heart to do it after the election. But life goes on, and things keep happening, and now it's December and Christmas is coming, and so.

(A quick aside. I am really quite heartbroken about the election. Not because i loved Hillary so much, but because i'm just so incredibly disappointed in people. I realize that people don't like Hillary, and that's fine. And in any other election in my lifetime, i'd say, "I'm bummed that my guy didn't win, but i'm sure the other guy will be able to do the job too." But Trump? He's just so offensive and unqualified. And so many of his followers are far too happy about being given leave to be openly racist and offensive now. And so far, since the election, nothing has lessened my fears. So. There. There's that for posterity.)

Anyhow. Things that we've been doing in November:

• Family Drawing night. It's always a favorite activity and really something we don't do often enough. Everyone has a special sketch book used specifically for family drawing night - the kids are all nearly finished with their second books (theirs are quite thin books...) - so there are drawings going back several years at the beginning of their books. They all started looking at what they'd drawn 4-5 years ago, and it really is fun to see how much better they are at drawing!
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The movie came out on the 18th, and so we got a big group together and had everyone over for a pre-movie party and then all went to see the movie together. Beth and Juanito and Keren and i made party favors - bookmarks and cookies and origami rats and suitcases (for where the beasts lived) and passports and little tiny beasts. Everyone brought food, and we had cupcakes to sort people into their American Magic school houses. Brooke even got to come, having just returned from New Zealand. Yay!
• We went to Meijer Gardens for the Tree Lighting. It was a members only event (fun!), and it was quite packed. The tree lighting itself was quite lame, but we got to see all of the trees and decorations at night, which was really pretty and totally worth it. My mom came with us, which was extra fun. It's been several years since we've gotten to all go, and i'm happy we got to see it again! Plus there were carolers and cookies, so it was extra awesome.
• Thanksgiving! We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving this year, and we had lots and lots of people to celebrate with us. My aunt and uncle and cousins who we always do Thanksgiving with were there, along with my cousin Cindy and her family and my mom's cousin and her husband. We ended up with two long tables full of people. And i remembered again that i really like my whole extended family.
• The kids and i decorated the house for Christmas while Juanito was sleeping. He's not actually a fan of the decorating, and we all are, so we figured that there was no reason to wait for Juanito for us to get started. Katrina and Zane woke up early and brought up all of the decorations from the basement. (If i'd known this ahead of time, i'd have been extremely worried about all of the very fragile things they were maybe going to drop and break, but they didn't break anything at all! Woohoo!) We set up the fake tree (but didn't decorate it). We hung up the stockings and the advent calendars and the mistletoe and all of the other decorations that we put on walls. We found places for the snow globes and snowmen and nativity scenes and all of the other stuff that goes on random shelves. And the kids were actually helpful! Like...actually helpful! This is a wonderful new phase!
• We went to get a real Christmas tree. We met my parents at the same tree farm we've been going to for years. We fully planned to get a "pretty tree," but then we just happened along a really cute wonky-ish tree. The past several years we've looked for wonky trees and haven't found any that were remotely cute, so when we saw this one, we were like, "Huh. We kind of can't pass this up, can we?" Katrina was a little bit devastated - we'd just been looking at pictures that very morning of the year that she thought we were joking about getting a silly tree and then was completely crushed when she realized that we actually were getting a silly tree instead of a pretty one - but she was placated by my mom's kind offer to let her borrow a little fake tree for her own bedroom. Juanito got the tree all set up and the kids put their ornaments in the most ridiculously random pattern ever, and once it was decorated it's really quite adorable.
• We went to Meijer Gardens again. This time we went with my sister Chellie and her kids. Going with different people always makes it a whole different experience. It was fun to see the trees when it wasn't so completely mobbed. Katrina and Zane had fun getting to show their cousins around. Juanito and Houston came later to meet us so Chellie could take family pictures for our Christmas cards. Yay!
• Advent started, so we got to light our first candle on Sunday. My goal this year is to actually get all the way to the last candle. Every year we do the first 2-3, and then by the end we're all busy and we just forget. 
• I got to babysit my friends' kids today. They're between 4-8, and they're all adorable, and i was reminded of just how short kids' attention spans are at this age. And also how much little kids like to touch All! The! Things! They were all very disappointed in me for not having more toys around for them to play with, but my kids weren't home, and i didn't want to offer their toys without their permission. I did teach them "Guess Who," and that continues to be a game that every single kid ever loves to play. We played lots of other games too, but Guess Who was the hands-down favorite. And they spent half of their time here holding the guinea pig and only stopped when i insisted that the poor little thing needed some quiet alone time. (Me: "Y'know how, when you're really tired and you just want to be quiet and alone for a little while?" All of them: "I never want to be quiet! Or alone!")

ArtPrize begins! Sort of.

Last year, both Beth and i managed to go to every single venue in ArtPrize, which is...kind of insane, actually. But the very last place both of us went was Biggby Coffee. And so, this year, it was fitting that the very first place we'd go would be Biggby Coffee!

ArtPrize doesn't technically start until next week, but they're doing a "preview week" this week, where just some of the venues will have art for us to look at. And having an extra week seems like a really good idea!

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Tonight Houston's school had a PTSA dinner + "go to all of your child's classes and meet their teachers" event. Yay! I got to sit with Linda for the dinner, which made me really happy, because that meant that i only had to be social with someone i already know, and not having to make awkward small talk is always a happy thing. Plus, i like Linda!

Houston's teachers all seem really great, and i wholeheartedly agree with his feelings about his geometry teacher being...okay. I'm hoping he's a great teacher, because he's not winning a lot of points on the personable scale.

Almost every single one of Houston's teachers, when i said that i was Houston's mom, responded in a really positive way. His Spanish teacher immediately gushed, "Oh, i LOVE Houston! He's just a joy to have in class!" And his Art teacher was likewise gushy. His health teacher's first response was, "Oh! Houston! He wrote in one of his assignments about the time when his brother bit a frog!" and i was all, "....? (Blink. Blink.)" Because to the best of my recollection, Zane has never bit a frog.... I shall have to investigate this story further.

Saturday

The boys' friends went home unexpectedly early this morning. Since it's a Saturday, it's the kids' day to get a morning to play on the computers, so while they played (mostly Minecraft), i went over to Beth's house. We sat on her porch and chatted for a couple of hours and i got to eat a yummy cinnamon roll that Beth surprised me with. Mmmm.

This afternoon, the kids started working on a new movie wherein they all become superheroes. For this movie, Emma is playing the Fairy Dogmother, so she was dressed in one of Katrina's old princess dresses. She was shockingly calm about it, even when she kept tripping on the long sleeve-thingies.

Tonight, Katrina and i started fixing a puzzle that i've apparently had since before 9-11, because it's of the New York City skyline, and the World Trade Towers are prominently featured. I've never fixed it before, and after starting it, i know why i've never done it before. It's ridiculously hard. We might finish it, but there's a pretty good chance that it'll end up getting packed back up for another 15 years.

Shakes, sleepovers, and pizza

We started out the summer by going for shakes with Beth, and so we figured that it was only fitting to end the summer the same way. Yum!!!

Houston and Zane's friends, Chauncey and Finneas came over this afternoon and are spending the night. Houston and Chauncey are trying to squeeze every single ounce of fun out the summer, and the little boys were sad that they'd missed out on their sleepover a few days ago.

Beth came over, and we had a very crowded, noisy, and fun pizza-movie night. We watched the fourth Harry Potter movie, since the kids assured me that i'd promised them we'd watch it this week. (I don't remember promising this, but we DID finish reading the book a few weeks ago, and ... sure, why not.)

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!

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. 

Sunday and Monday!

We had a long, fun day today! We left in the morning for church and didn't get home again until about 11:00 at night. (The rest of the pictures from today are here.)

It was a surprisingly chilly day, except for when the sun was shining, and it rained a touch, but it was lovely overall.

My cute nephew Harrison's birthday party was this afternoon. The party was at my kids' favorite park - Hager Park! It's everyone's favorite park! - so all of the kids under 15 were off playing and having fun for most of the party. There was pizza and cake and presents and lots of awesome people.

After the party we went to my sister Jackie's house to go swimming. Or rather ... we went to her house so the kids could go swimming. It was way too cold for any adults to want to jump into the pool! They loved it and swam for ages, until their teeth were turning blue and they were shivering.

We went straight from Jackie's house to Grand Haven, where we met up with Beth and her niece Emily. We walked down to the lighthouse and watched the sun set, and then walked back to watch the musical fountain. We've been going to see the musical fountain at the end of summer for the past 3-4 years, so it's totally become a tradition at this point. (On the way to Grand Haven, Zane was all, "So this is the week that has the musical fountain?!" Because he was totally under the impression that it was only a once-a-year thing. I blew his mind when i told him that it happens every night of the summer.) It was fun and cheesy and totally great. Both Katrina and Zane fell asleep on the way home, totally exhausted.

Today was supposed to be a lazy day with nothing planned.... But that's not entirely how it ended up. I needed to get Houston's immunization records to bring to registration for high school tomorrow. And Katrina was overdue for the second of three shots. And so i broke the news to her (Seriously. She was beside herself. She brought both of her blankets and a stuffed pillow guy in the car with her so that she could hug them on the way too and from the doctor's office.) and we headed off to the doctor's office. Katrina is a million amazing things, but being tough in the face of pain is not one of her strengths. She wept through the shot and the immediate aftermath and continued to be fairly miserable until we started playing with Snapchat, at which point she was distracted enough that she forgot to be miserable.

We stopped on the way home for a doughnut and then stopped at Goodwill to look for flipflops. We didn't find any flipflops, but we did find a million other things. Juanito and the boys met us there, and we ended up getting coats for the kids and me, shoes for all of the kids, a couple of sweaters, and a few other things. Yay!

Olympics and other stuff

The past several days have been filled up thus:

- Watching the Olympics. I love the Olympics - especially the summer Olympics - and so i get a little bit obsessed. And i'm kind of passing that love/obsession on to my kids. Everyone's favorite is gymnastics; the uneven bars is the favorite favorite.

We all wish that NBC would show more variety. There's fencing and shot put and javelin and equestrian and synchronized swimming and archery and diving and all kinds of other interesting sports, but we really only get to see swimming, track, and gymnastics most of the time. I feel like, when i was a kid, we saw all kinds of different events during the Olympics, but that could just be me remembering things that didn't exist...?

- We tried to go blueberry picking today, but the orchard was closed. There were many sad faces in our car. So instead, we went shopping for school clothes. I feel like i don't want to actually buy many clothes for my kids right now, because all of them have been growing like weeds. Weeds! Houston grew something like 2 inches just in the past 2 months. Buying pants just seems futile! And yet, i supposed i can't just send my kids to school in their underwear....

- I went out for pizza with my mom and sisters to celebrate my younger sisters' birthdays. We sat and talked and laughed and ate delicious pizza. I love my family!

- Katrina had a sleepover with her friend Alex. Between sleepovers and the Olympics, Katrina (all of the kids, but especially Katrina) is getting farther and farther behind on sleep. Everyone is so tired!

- Our friend Keren came to town to visit, and we all went to Beth's house for pizza and Olympics! Beth made cute decorations! And got patriotic glow sticks! And candy in the colors of the Olympic rings! And Keren came up with games to play! With medals! It made the Olympics even more fun!

- Keren and Beth and i went out for pizza for lunch. And then Keren and Beth came over for dinner. It was fun and i love my friends!

- Keren gave Zane a box of slime-making stuff for his birthday, so Zane and Houston spent a long time yesterday making all kinds of slime and gross substances. They thought it was awesome.

The Strip District!

Get the rest of the pictures here!

We went to the Strip District in Pittsburgh today. It's a street with lots of vendors and fun stores and Wholey's, the store/restaurant that has all kinds of delicious fish to eat and all kinds of random seafood to see.

There's a counter at Wholey's where a couple of guys stand and clean fish, and while Houston was disgusted and didn't really want to watch at all, Katrina and Zane were enthralled. One of the guys was particularly awesome - he clearly loved his job - and he amused our kids by making a fish into a puppet and making him talk, using a fish tail as a mustache, and just being fun. Katrina wanted to keep watching while being simultaneously kind of grossed out, especially when he had the fish where he had to leave the head on but cut out the brains and jaw and guts. Zane, on the other hand, didn't seem disgusted at all, and actually asked if he could have the fish heart so he could bring it home and pickle it. (Me: No. No, no, no.)

This afternoon, Karen built a dresser (from a kit, not from pallets) and got Amiya's room all rearranged and settled with a little bit of help from Juanito and me. The kids took the little toys and stuff that they bought at the Strip, went to the basement, and (loudly, with much giggling) made movies.

And then we watched the Olympics! Yay!!!

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!

Meeting Amiya!

Today we drove to Pittsburgh! To visit Karen D and her new little daughter Amiya! As always, the kids were fantastic the entire time, and it was a pleasant enough drive. With a few mishaps.

We got to about Detroit, and Zane had to go to the bathroom. I noticed that he had on his slippers and said, "You should change into your shoes first, though." At which point he got this shocked and dismayed look on his face and said, "Oh no! I think i forgot my shoes!" Sigh.

I got a few books on CD from the library, but our CD player doesn't work, so i copied them to my phone...but the thing that makes them play through the speakers didn't work either. So! No books for us!

We got to Karen's around 4:00, and nearly immediately snuck upstairs to see the sleeping little Amiya. And she is TINY! She's a month and a half old, and today weighs exactly the amount that Katrina weighed when she was born. And Katrina was my little baby! She's SUCH a cutie, and we cannot get enough of holding her. Katrina and i are mostly fighting over her, with a touch of Houston thrown in.

Zane was all, "I don't want to hold her at all. Nope." When i questioned him further, it was because he's nervous and doesn't think he's good at holding babies. Me; "The last time you held one was when you were 8. You're older now!" Him: "But i'm still energetic!" I did eventually persuade him to sit next to me and let me help him hold her, and he liked it fine, and i'm hopeful that now that he's tried it and succeeded, he'll want to hold her more....

Amiya is absolutely adorable and the most laid-back, quiet baby ever. Katrina keeps squealing, "She's SO CUTE!" and she really is. She's just a sweet little peanut. 

The Cursed Child

Last night was the midnight release of the new Harry Potter book, "The Cursed Child." Beth and i have gone to the midnight release of at least 3 of the Harry Potter books before, so of course we wanted to go to this one too! And this time, we could take Houston and Katrina, who have also finished the series! (We didn't want to take Zane and expose him to spoilers, but his best friend was sleeping over, so he wasn't upset at all!)

Beth made us awesome little bags of swag - cauldron cakes and floo powder and Butter Beer and chocolate-covered wands and a little bottle of Felix Felicis! They were SO cute!

The release was at Barnes and Noble, and they had games and fun stuff to do, and it was really fun.

I didn't actually read the book last night, as i did with the other books, because i was just too, too tired, but i did totally read it this morning and finished it in about 4-5 hours. And ... i'm pretty sure i liked it. I'll have to think about it a bit more, but i think i did. 

Adventure Thursday!

Houston and Juanito are still gone until tomorrow, so Beth joined us for Adventure Thursday today! And adventure we did! Rain was totally predicted, so we were hoping it would hold off, and it totally did. It was a perfect day - warm and sunny.

We went farther than we usually do for Adventure Thursday, so it was extra-exciting. (Also extra "are we there yet?"-y from Zane.) Our first stop was the Mini Mac! It's a cute little replica of the Mackinac Bridge, built over a pretty little pond that is positively filled with turtles. I've never seen so many turtles in one small pond in my life! There was even a little grate down the middle, just like the real Mackinac Bridge! We ate lunch on the little island, took pictures in the beautiful field of yellow flowers, and let the kids watch the turtles for ages.

The Mini Mac is right outside of St. Louis, Michigan, which is a cute little, slightly abandoned-feeling, town that's smack dab in the very center of the "Mitten." (That's the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, for anyone NOT from the Mitten.) We walked up and down the street, and wandered through a couple of stores. One was a "Variety" store that fully lived up to its name. It had the most random assortment of goods, and was completely awesome. There were fishing lures and spools of thread and old-fashioned candy and kids' toys and random electronic bits and chairs and a book called, "Bird up! Pheasant Cookbook 'n More" and in smaller print it said, "How to shoot 'em and how to cook 'em...." There was a flea market-type store, which was absolutely enormous and had everything from creepy old dolls and piles of books just thrown on the floor to fancy glass dishes and old 45's. And then we went to the bakery and got ourselves each a donut, because...donuts!

After St. Louis, we drove a short distance to Michigan's smallest post office. Beth literally squealed with glee when we pulled up, because it's tiny and adorable. It was closed for the day (i can't imagine a post office that size needs to be open very many hours!), so we peeked in the windows instead.

And then we drove a few more minutes to see an old 2-story outhouse. It's on private property, so we couldn't get very close, but it was close enough to all agree that a 2-story outhouse is a TERRIBLE idea. Katrina was all, "Why not just build them NEXT TO each other if you need more than one?!" Why, indeed?

We then headed home by a different route, which brought us past a little saloon called the "Hog's Head," which also happens to be the name of a bar in Harry Potter. I was all, "We need to stop there!" and started driving around the block to go back to it, which brought us straight to a giant tank just sitting there. Double-plus good!

And then, the final stop in the adventure was a shoe tree. It's this giant tree that is filled with shoes. So many shoes!

We got home just as it started to rain and rain and rain. Everyone was starving and exhausted, so we ate dinner and collapsed on the sofa and watched an episode of "America's Got Talent." The end.

Friends!

I told the kids that they could each invite a friend over for the day, so Katrina and Zane immediately called one of their best friends and invited them over, but Houston was all, "I don't really want to. But thanks." Why? "I never really know what to do with them, so then it feels all awkward." (Instead, he split his time between reading and playing with the kids who were here.)

I know i've said this before, but i'm just always so happy about who our kids have chosen to be friends with. They're just really, really nice kids.

They all played together for some of the time - they did folded drawing pictures where each person draws a third of the person without seeing the other 2/3, played hide and seek, and were generally silly together. Zane and Justin spent quite a while playing with Zane's Minecraft magnets, having contests of who could build a better (fill in the blank). Everyone giggled and ran around and just had a really good day.

And meanwhile, i got to sit and read for quite a while, mostly uninterrupted! We all win!

Fun with friends!

September came over for the day today, and the kids were thrilled, especially Katrina. September's one of those weird friends that my kids mostly only know about because we talk about her family fairly often, but when they were little, Sep's family lived in town and we saw them regularly, so they totally were friends back then. And since they totally used to be friends, they're still totally friends as far as my kids are concerned.

For the entire morning and most of the afternoon, the kids played games. They taught September Exploding Kittens and This game was not playtested and Dweebies and Loopz. We all played Uno Roboto. They played Twister and ... i don't even know what else. And September helped Katrina finish up the game that she'd made up and had been working on finishing.

I wish we had neighbor kids that my kids really liked, because they all had so much fun and played together incredibly well.

And then, this afternoon, Juanito woke up just in time for me to leave him with the kids and run away for dinner and a movie with Beth. We say "The Boss," which has two actresses i love, and which i liked better than i might have, but not as much as i wanted to. I laughed really hard quite a lot, but then there were an equal number of parts where i was cringing in uncomfortableness. So...it all kind of evened out, and i liked it okay, but it's not one that i'd want to watch over and over.

Hanging out with Beth was fun, though! Yay!

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.

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: