End of 2016. (Finally) Interview Edition!

What were the best things that happened in 2016?

Zane: In the summer, i really enjoyed doing Adventure Thursdays.
         I enjoyed going to Lansing a lot because it was awesome.
         I liked going to Pittsburgh.

Katrina: We saw baby Amiya.
              Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them came out!
              We got to see movies in the movie theater, like "Secret Lives of Pets," "Fantastic Beasts," and ... i think there was at least one more. Oh! I saw Zootopia with Auntie Beth.

Houston: I got into City High Middle School.
              I went to Papaw and JJ's house for like 3 days.
              Christmas happened.
              Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Juanito:  Building the shelf in the front room.
              Trip to Pittsburgh.
              Going to see Bassnectar.
              The zombie run.

Karen: Babies! Amiya, Karen D's baby, and Eloise and Micah, Jim and Alisha's twins!
           Painting the front room and getting shelves and generally making it brighter and happier.
           Getting a Meijer Gardens membership and getting to visit it lots of times.


What were the worst things that happened in 2016?

Zane: Donald Trump getting elected.
         In the summer when we did the Adventure Thursday when we got all itchy from the stinging nettles.
         The beach disappearing at Bops' house.

Katrina: Alan Rickman died.
             My fish died.
             People died.
             Donald Trump got elected.

Houston: Donald Trump won.
              Everyone died.
              They announced that they're making a Cars 3.

Juanito:  Everything leading up to DJT being elected.

Karen: My Aunt Marilyn died after a really short illness.
           President-Elect Trump.
           So many famous people's deaths - Alan Rickman, David Bowie, George Michael, Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fischer, Prince, Mohamed Ali, Garry Marshall, Florence Henderson, Gene Wilder, John Glenn....

Who were your best friends in 2016?

Zane: Finneus, Justin, and Will.

Katrina: Alex, Phoebe, Emily and Emily, Max, Isabella, Madison, Ella and Lorelei, Paige, and Kim.

Houston: Chauncey, Ethan, and Anthony.

Juanito:  "My beautiful, precious wife Karen," Beth, and Andrew.

Karen: Juanito, Beth, Karen, Keren, Linda and Andrew, Karla, Brooke and Travis

Use three words to describe 2016.

Zane: Deadly, exciting, and weird.

Katrina: Saddest year ever.

Houston: Tiring, long, and the worst.

Juanito: Mind-blowing, eye-opening, and "as long as a year is."

Karen: Long, depressing, over.

What were the best books you read this year?

Zane: 100 Most ____ Things on the Planet series, Harry Potter books 4 and 5 (and 3 and 1), and Calvin and Hobbes.

Katrina: The Cursed Child, How to Speak Dolphin, Heart of a Dolphin, and i re-read Harry Potter 6.

Houston: Huck Finn, Magnus Chase, and Harry Potter 7.

Juanito: Subject To Infinite Change by Andrew Moxon and Stiletto

Karen: The Flavia de Luce series, the Kate Burkholder series, The Martian, Wonder.

What was your single biggest time-waster this year?

Zane: Reading Calvin and Hobbes.

Katrina: Sleeping.

Houston: Doing dot-to-dots.

Juanito: Sleep.

Karen: Netflix.

December 14, 15, and 16

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

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

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

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

December 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 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.

December 3

There was an artist market today, and so that was the activity we did for Advent. We spent about an hour wandering around, and afterwards Houston said, "I thought that things were going to be really expensive. I didn't expect them to be really, really ridiculously expensive!" It was quite remarkable how much some of the things were selling for. (Based on those prices, our kids get REALLY expensive homemade presents every year.) Everyone enjoyed seeing all of the things, and i declare it a success. (Though probably not one that we need to put on the calendar next year....)

Zane left for a sleepover at his friend Justin's house this afternoon, and was super excited about it. He'll be gone until tomorrow afternoon, and let me tell you: Life is just quieter when he's gone.

We got our Christmas cards, so i put "Miracle on 34th Street" on while i sat and addressed envelopes. There are fewer and fewer people i have to call or email to ask for their addresses, which is possibly a sign that i'm getting old. My people aren't moving every couple of years anymore. It makes the job a lot easier. Katrina sat next to me and stuffed the envelopes and put return address labels on them for me, and it was lovely to have a helper. Now i just have to try to make sure there's nobody that i've forgotten....

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!")

Doodles and Trading

Katrina's art class is participating in a contest to design Google Doodles about the future, and this is one of two that Katrina designed. I completely, completely love it.

Yesterday nobody had homework, so after Katrina got home from Heart and Sole, the kids spent the next 2 hours sorting and trading Halloween candy. They'd been dying to trade since the minute they finished trick-or-treating, so waiting an entire day and a half was nearly torture.

Halloween!

Yesterday was Halloween. Yesterday was also somewhat chaotic.

Houston had a giant paper that he had to do by today. Katrina had Heart and Sole. And we went out to my parents' house for trick-or-treating. And that doesn't sound like it should have been chaotic, but it was.

We've been carpooling with Houston's and Zane's best friends (they happen to be brothers) this year, and that means that Houston's friend Chauncey comes home with us after City for an hour and a bit four days a week. That also means that the lovely quiet hour for homework that Houston had before the kids got home has gone away. I thought about trying to make them work on homework - or at least let each other work on homework if they needed - but Chauncey and Rowen are...not quiet. At all. And so Houston started working on his paper at about 4:00 and worked until we left to get Katrina at 5:00.

We picked Katrina up, and she was all, "I ran four miles today. I am exhausted." (WHY? Why would they even HAVE Heart and Sole on Halloween, let alone run 4 miles?! Don't they know there will be trick-or-treating? And lots and lots of walking?)

We stopped quickly to pick up some fast food and then headed straight over to my parents' house. It was 6:00 when we pulled up to their house, so the kids threw on their costumes and i helped Katrina put some pink in her hair, because she REALLY, REALLY wanted pink hair (you totally couldn't see it), and they ran off to go up and down my parents' street.

Katrina was a rainbow unicorn. She and Beth made matching costumes, and they were adorable. Zane was a spy. He was very sure that he was super-cool. And Houston was the Invisible Man. He was ultra tall and pretty awesome. (Houston got a million comments about his costume. People were all, "Whoa!" and "Awesome!" and "Hey Honey! Come look at this!" I saw one dad ask his toddler, "Where's that guy's head?" and the toddler looked up and backed away. Another group asked Houston where his head was (meaning his real head), and Houston simply pointed to the invisible head and kept walking.) The great thing about Houston getting a lot of compliments was that Houston got a lot of compliments and felt really great about himself. The sad thing was that everyone really only noticed Houston. Both Katrina and Zane lamented to me at different times, "I'm sad that nobody has commented on MY costume at all!"

While they were gathering candy in my parents' neighborhood, i got to hold little Eloise for a little while. I missed out on holding the babies on Sunday, so i was thrilled that i got to see them for a bit yesterday!

They came back and we headed half a mile over to my sister's house to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood. We started doing that years ago, when all of the cousins wanted to go together, and now the kids just want to keep that tradition up, even though it's just us and a couple of the cousins. It was almost 8:30 by the time we left for home again.

And Houston still had to finish his paper. I helped him, and he worked hard, but it was after 10:30 by the time he'd finished it. He was exhausted.

He was really, really looking forward to having a less stressful night. But today he had two more fairly major papers to do for two different classes. (I'm pretty sure he'd been told about these days or weeks ago, but he insists he didn't know. He's not the best at listening to all of the words people say, though....) And so today he worked on papers from the time Chauncey left until nearly 9:30.

Both of us are seriously hoping that he doesn't have more papers he has to do tomorrow....

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.

The past week and a half.

I was all set to start blogging daily after ArtPrize ended, but then our neighbors' pipes all had to be replaced. And it seems like that shouldn't have affected my blog, but it DID, because as the workers were digging up the entire street (or at least sections of it), one of them - the guy working the backhoe - carelessly took down our phone and internet wires. It would have been annoying no matter what, but the guy who told me was all, "Yeah, so we're just going to cut those wires and they'll come and replace them eventually." I was all, "????" and he said, "Well, we have to cut them, because they're in our way." I was more annoyed by the completely cavalier attitude than anything. Except that then our internet was out for 3 days, and that was also pretty annoying

Anyhow. 

Last week was Beth's birthday. She took the day off work and we spent it taking pictures, picking apples, visiting the Cheese Lady, and walking around Meijer Gardens. Juanito made her a cake that was very fancy and also very slippery - it was falling apart, but it was still cute.

The annual pumpkin walk was this past weekend. We went on Friday, right as it started, which turned out to be a very good plan. We were some of the first people there, and it wasn't quite dark yet, but we had the path mostly to ourselves and it was great. My sister called later and said that they'd gone and left because the line to get onto the path was over an hour long. Crazy!!!

Saturday was the Zombie Dash downtown. Juanito, the kids, Beth, and a few other friends from Zumba all dressed up like zombies and scared the runners. Juanito was completely overboard disgusting and bloody again, as is his habit. Houston gets a little bit bloody, and Zane and Katrina are two of the cleanest zombies there. I think that either i don't understand what zombies are supposed to look like or Juanito doesn't, because what *i* picture is completely different from what he does. I don't think of zombies as being particularly bloody at all, whereas he covers himself from head to foot in fake blood and guts. Regardless, they all had fun. (I had fun staying home and NOT being covered in fake blood.)

Katrina and Beth decided to be "rainbow unicorns" for Halloween, so they've been working on their costumes together. They tie-dyed hoodies and then made horns, ears, manes, and tails and safety pinned them all together. (They were going to sew them together, but Katrina was all, "I want to be able to wear this hoodie after Halloween!" so they went the safety pin route, which was totally effective and much, much easier.)

Today Houston had his first official orthodontist appointment. They took molds of his teeth to determine what kind of appliance to put on his teeth first. He's really excited about getting braces, except for the "not being allowed to eat bagels" part of it.

And tonight were parent-teacher conferences for Katrina and Zane. Katrina came with us to her conferences, because she really likes to hear the teachers say nice things about her. She always has glowing reports, and i think that she really likes to hear the teachers tell us how much they like her and how well she's doing. We visited her homeroom teacher (for the general report) and her math teacher (because that's the class she struggles in the most, though her teacher said that she's actually doing very well, because that class is taking 2 years' worth of math and covering it in one year), and then we also visited her art and band teachers, because Katrina really wanted us to.

She wanted us to go to her art teacher because that's her favorite subject, and she's doing awesome in it, and i think she wanted to have her teacher sing her praises. The art teacher knows Juanito from Wedgwood, though, so she kind of spent the entire time talking about other stuff. I finally said, "I think Katrina wants you to tell us how well she's doing...." and she was all, "Oh. Yes, she's great." And then we went to her band teacher because she's been working so, so hard in band, and the band director was very nice and was happy when we told her how glad we are to have her, especially after the last band director, but didn't actually say anything about Katrina until i asked specifically, and then she was all, "Yes. She's doing fine. She turns in her practice sheets and everything...." (She's getting an A+. I kind of think that deserves more praise than "fine," but whatever.) So i think Katrina was somewhat disappointed that she didn't get more kudos from either of them.

And then there's Zane, who is getting acceptable grades, but who is just going to be the death of me. He's gotten better at in-class behavior! Yay! He still doesn't turn in his homework or answer essay questions on tests with more than two words. Boo! But his teacher really likes him! Yay!

There are more pictures right here, if you want to see them.

Last day of summer interview!

(More pictures here.)

Today was Labor Day - the last day of summer vacation, so Beth, the kids, and i walked around downtown. We did the same thing on Memorial Day, and at that point, the entire city was deserted. Today there were quite a few more people there, and Beth made the brilliant observation that the difference is that Pokemon Go wasn't yet a thing on Memorial Day, and a good portion of the people we met downtown today were playing. Also there was a festival called "Laborfest" going on by the Ford Museum, and - possibly connected - the Ford was free today. We agreed that "free" was the most we'd pay to visit that museum, so we checked it out. And we all agreed that the Ford is the most boring museum any of us had ever been in. (Though Zane was excited that he'd been a boy scout.)

We had yummy steak and chicken on the grill and corn on the cob for dinner. We had ice cream cones and s'mores. And we were all sad to see summer end.

End of summer interviews:

What were your favorite things we did this summer?
Zane: "Going to Pennsylvania. My favorite thing was my birthday party, and THEN Pennsylvania."
Katrina: "Seeing baby Amiya. The Aviary. The zoo. Dutch Village."
Houston: "Seeing 'The Secret Lives of Pets.' Going to SkyZone. Going to Pennsylvania and Kentucky."

What are you looking forward to in school this year?
Zane: "Michigan Adventure. Fifty6. Getting more friends."
Katrina: "Friends. The math teacher, because she seems really nice. Having almost all of my friends in my class again. Art class. And a new band teacher."
Houston: "Wearing my Halloween costume to school. Seeing Chauncey EVERY DAY. Getting a locker with a lock!"

Are you ready to go back to school?
Zane: "Yes! I'm actually really excited!"
Katrina: "Yes and no. I don't want to do the homework or classes, but i want to see my friends again. And they have lots of books at school."
Houston: "No. I want to stay in summer vacation forever and ever."

What was the best book you read this summer?
Zane: "The fourth book of Harry Potter!"
Katrina: "'Heart of a Dolphin' or 'The Lost Hero'."
Houston: "Trials of Apollo."

How many books did you read this summer?
Zane: "I really don't remember. Maybe...about ten."
Katrina: "14."
Houston: "10 or 15."

What are some of your goals for this year?
Zane: "Making at least two more friends. Getting all of my homework done. But once or twice i might accidentally have stuff happen, and then i won't get it done...."
Katrina: "Getting all of my homework done on time. Not getting any planner signatures."
Houston: "Turn in all of my work. Not get in trouble once. Follow the dress code. Get good grades."

Fourth of July!

It's the fourth of July!!!

Katrina, Beth, and i spent quite a long time this morning painting our toenails and then, on a whim, our fingernails. Katrina has some really cute monster fake nails that she got for her birthday, and she wanted to use those, so we carefully put them on. And then they almost immediately fell off. So we tried to kind of glue them to her fingernails with fingernail polish, but that lasted only slightly longer. And so in the end, she just gave up on those and we used the fancy transfer thingies that are really cute. Except then Beth and i were all, "I want to do that on one of my nails, for a fun thing!" So we did. And then we had to paint the rest of our nails so it didn't look weird. But they were all cute in the end!

Katrina found an idea in her American Girl Magazine to cover an ice cream cone with Magic Shell, and then add sprinkles before it hardened, and she really wanted to try it out. And since it's a holiday, it was the perfect time! We adults were all full of delicious soup and yummy fancy raspberry drinks, but the kids have bottomless stomachs, so they eagerly piled on as much as they could.

We went to our usual spot for the fireworks. It's just this little area between a path and some houses, right by some telephone wires. And i think most people don't sit there because of the wires, but we love it. It's never very crowded, it's practically right under the fireworks, so they're HUGE, and after the first couple of fireworks, none of us even notice the wires anymore.

This year our friends Linda and Andrew, who usually go with us, were in Germany, but Beth and Stephanie (and Stephanie's mom and god-daughter) were there. There were glow sticks and sparklers and popcorn and weird candies that Stephanie brought, and the kids were all very spoiled. There was the usual firefly catching and merriment before-hand. And then Juanito, Beth, and i started playing with long-exposures and glow sticks, and that lasted until suddenly the fireworks started.

And they were amazing. We couldn't decide if they were actually bigger than Grand Rapids or just different or if it was just our location, but while the Grand Rapids fireworks had some really cool things like waterfalls spilling from the bridge and fancy things you could only see close-up, the Grandville fireworks were just huge and seemed to fill the sky and then rain right down on us. There were several that made Beth and me actually gasp in surprise and delight, and Juanito kept a running commentary (things like, "That was just like bacon") that amused us greatly. There was the most perfect smiley face firework i've ever seen, and some incredibly bright flashing, loud banging ones, and lots of glittery, sparkly, amazing ones. It was fantastic. Everything fireworks should be.

Afterwards, we just took our time and took a few pictures and played with sparklers and long exposures some more. We figured, "Well, we're going to be in traffic anyhow! We might as well spend the time having fun rather than sitting in a car!"

All in all, it was a great day!

2nd of July!

It's the Saturday before the 4th of July, and here in Grand Rapids, they do the fireworks on Saturdays, which is actually kind of nice, because then the smaller towns can do fireworks on the actual 4th and people don't have to choose.

Beth came over, and we grilled - brats and hamburgers and chicken, because we have some picky eaters - and then we had Juanito drop us off downtown, drive back home, and ride his bike back down to meet us. We found a spot in the middle of one of the main bridges - not a great spot, but adequate - and settled in to wait for the fireworks to begin.

Except then my brother Jim called and invited us to come watch the fireworks with them in his office building, so we leaped up and rushed over there. And the view was incredible, and we are now thoroughly spoiled. The Grand Rapids fireworks are great, regardless of where you stand, but when you can see them from several floors up, with a perfect view, you get to see the ones that are only visible to people with perfect seats.

Afterwards, we walked most of the way home while Juanito went back for the car. The kids were all completely hyper and excited and chattered non-stop. We got home at about 11:00, and people in our neighborhood were, of course, setting off fireworks. Loud ones. Until about 12:30. Because it's what they do.

Our dollar store fireworks draw all the neighbor kids to the yard

Houston unintentionally amused me a few times today. First, he fell coming up the basement steps and totally skinned both legs (not the amusing part, poor guy). Katrina and i gave him lots of sympathy, and after a few minutes he went into the other room, where he promptly slammed his toe into a table. Several minutes later, Houston was all, "I'm pretty sure i might have actually broken my toe!"
Me: "Which one? Let me see it."
Him: "This one. No, wait. That one. One of those two."
Me: "Okay then. I'm pretty sure you'll be all right." (One of my general rules of thumb: If you can't remember which toe you "broke," it's probably not broken.)

Whenever we do pizza-movie night, Juanito prepares Houston two normal pizza crusts. Houston then rolls the sides up so that he has really thick crusts, and then fills the inside with tons of sauce. Tonight he rolled the sides up extra far, so that his pizzas looked extra tiny. I commented on them, and Houston said, "Yeah. I'm not that hungry tonight."
Me: "Um...you know that it's the same amount...."
Him, looking somewhat sheepish: "Yeah...."

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Juanito bought some (very tame) fireworks at the dollar store the other day, and we did some of them tonight. There were poppers - the kind that you throw on the ground and they go POP! (Houston and i thought we'd be cool, so i threw one in his direction, and he used his arm to swat it to another spot...except that it totally popped on his arm. I was totally apologetic, but he was all, "Look! It burned a tiny bit! Do it again!!!") Juanito took his entire bag of poppers and emptied them all into a wrapper to make one giant popper, because...Juanito. There were those weird black snake things. And there were the kind that spin around and scream and light up, some of which pop and spark a few seconds after the spinning and screaming stops. The first time that happened, Beth and i both totally screamed.

In our neighborhood, there seem to always be loud fireworks everywhere. Tonight Katrina was all, "I can't wait until fireworks season is finished! It's SO LOUD when i'm trying to sleep!" Ours were really quiet, but they were apparently loud enough to draw neighbor kids to us. I'm fine with that, except that they're not quite as cautious as i am, and they make me really nervous. I'm all "Back up! Back up farther! Farther!!!" as they inch back a teensy bit at a time...and then run at the fireworks the second they stop. Meanwhile, i'm all, "Unsafe! Unsafe!!!!" (One of the kids was all, "My sister is 10, and she never ever brushes her teeth, so her teeth are all breaking off in pieces." So i guess their parents aren't exactly concerned with teaching them good choices?)

Highlights from the past two weeks

So. It's been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks. Some of the highlights:

• Houston got into City High! It's the best school in the city, and one of the very best schools in the state, so it wasn't at all a sure thing that he'd get to go there. We had a backup school lined up, but City is closer and better...and one of his best friends goes there too.  Yay!
  
  He'll have a uniform next year (sort of), so that will be new. I think that he'll probably really enjoy having a uniform, honestly. He's not a fan of having to think about what he's going to wear, and would probably wear the exact same thing every single day if it were acceptable at his school now, so having the only choices be "blue, red, black, or grey" every day? Perfect.
• Easter happened. We celebrated at my parents' house, along with 3 of my siblings and their families. It was warm and sunny enough outside to hide Easter eggs outside for the kids to find. I think i always kind of overestimate either how easy it is to find eggs or how good my kids are at finding things. Maybe both.
  
  (Side note: My kids are remarkably bad at finding things, and i should know this by now. They'll be all, "I can't find ________." I'll say, "Did you look on the table?" and they'll be all, "Yes!" So i'll come and look and ...sure enough. There it'll be RIGHT THERE ON THE TABLE, in clear view. So i don't know why i think that they'll be able to find eggs that we've actually hidden on purpose.)
  
• The kids had Spring Break. The week before Spring Break was beautiful and warm enough for Katrina to be running around barefoot, but then on the very first day of Spring Break, it totally snowed. Like...several inches of snow. And i had a tiny bit of hope that maybe - just maybe - it would melt and warm up so we could do fun things outside, but no. It was cold and snowy and rainy and COLD the entire week. Sigh. They went back to school yesterday, and today is bright and sunny, and it's supposed to get warmer in the next week. So maybe we might possibly get spring after all? Hopefully?
  
• Katrina's and Zane's rooms have been disasters for far, far too long, and i finally reached my limit of being able to ignore them. Katrina's was especially disastrous, so i started there. The first day of Spring Break, i was all, "Okay! We'll clean Katrina's room and then Zane's room and then i'll take a shower and have a little time before dinner!" Except...no. That is not what happened at all, because i seriously underestimated just how insanely messy everything was in there. We went through every drawer and box and shelf, getting rid of giant bags full of garbage, recycling, and stuff to give away. We organized and sorted and TWO FULL DAYS later, her room was finally clean.
  
  I took Sunday off, and then on Monday i tackled Zane's room with him. His room was actually less work, partly because he's not quite such a packrat, and partly because he just doesn't have as many drawers and closets and random places to stuff things. We finished cleaning his room in less than a day. Yay!
  
  One really positive thing i will say about cleaning the kids' rooms? They were both really, really cooperative and helpful and not at all complain-y about having to clean. Their positive attitudes made it a lot less horrible than it could have been.
  
  They are both under strict, "You WILL keep your room clean!" orders.
• Houston and i spent a lot of free time during Spring Break playing games. Skip-bo, Phase 10, Uno, Sequence, and Farkle (or 10,000) were regulars. I taught him how to play Rummikub, and so far he isn't a fan...but i'm confident i can win him over. Or at least wear him down....
  
  I love playing games. I grew up playing games with my family. My Mom's entire family are totally card players, so when we'd get together with them, there was always a game of cards happening. (They even broke out the cards and played a game during our wedding reception.) Juanito, however, isn't really a fan of games. Nor are most of my friends. So i'm really happy that my kids are getting old enough to play actual games. I mean, Chutes and Ladders and Hi-Ho Cherry-O are just not exactly "fun games" for adults to play. And Zane loves to play Othello, but it's not fun to just completely destroy him over and over, so i try to dissuade him from playing that very often. But Houston is old enough to be totally competitive in games now, and even Zane is able to be competitive in games like Sequence and Uno. Yay!!!
  
• Our friends Brooke and Travis, who live in New Zealand now, are home for a visit. Travis isn't actually here yet, but we got to see Brooke and their kids! They came over for the whole afternoon on Friday, and it was so much fun to get to spend a long time just hanging out! They moved away from our town back when Houston was a baby, so the kids really only know them from trips to visit them and their visits to us and from us talking about them. And yet, the kids seem to really just accept them as "our people." For a while, Brooke was sitting on the couch, and Houston just curled up next to her with his head on her shoulder. Katrina and Zane immediately kind of adopted the kids as friends, even though they're all quite a bit younger.
  
  It makes me happy that we still just like their family. Beth and i were talking about how we really only knew Travis and Brooke for about 2 years before they moved away to Saint Louis, and yet they're just some of our favorite people. And i'm glad that they like us too! They're only here for a limited amount of time, and they have a ton of people to see, so they totally don't have to make time to see us, and yet they do! Yay!

Happy New Year + bragging a little about Katrina

It's January 1, 2016, and i feel like i should be doing a whole "This is what happened in 2015" or "This is what i want from 2016" type of post, but the idea of doing a "This is what we did all year" post is exhausting and overwhelming, and i'll probably just end up not doing it at all, and the idea of doing a "These are all my hopes and dreams for the next year" is also just exhausting and overwhelming, and so i'm just going to skip the entire New Year's thing.

I COULD do a whole, "This is what we did all of December," since - geez - i didn't post, like, at all, all month. And i might do that, tomorrow. Or the next day. Or ... eventually? Maybe not.

This is what i AM going to do today: I am going to start blogging again. I skipped a couple of times, and then a few more times, and then i just completely got out of the habit and got overwhelmed.(Apparently i get overwhelmed easily? And completely overuse that word?) I think that i have to remember that i'm blogging because, years from now, i'll want to remember what we did. What life was like. It seems like i'll always remember, but my memories from the kids' early years are already hazy and faded, and i'm so absolutely thankful that i have my blog posts from back then.

So this is just me, getting back into the habit. And as a bonus, i'll post something i've been wanting and meaning to post for a could of weeks. Katrina got the "Be Nice" award, which is something to be really proud of. They only give it to one kid per grade per month, so only nine kids from the sixth grade will get it this year. The teacher writes about the student and reads it at assembly, and this is what she wrote about Katrina:

To be yourself in a world

that is constantly trying

to make you something else

is the greatest accomplishment

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Katrina, it is a true honor to be your teacher. You are a student who always give more than is asked, always remains optimistic even when those around you are not, and always shares your true self with everyone. You embody what it means to notice, invite, challenge, and empower your peers.

You notice when others around you need help, peers and teachers alike. You offer your time, your thoughts, and your encouragement freely and willingly.

You are open and inviting to others. You never complain, and your cheerful attitude is contagious.

You empower others when you share your ideas, concerns, and your heart. You empower them to be themselves.

Katrina, the thing that impresses us the most about you is your fearlessness. You are comfortable with who you are, you are secure in what you think, and you are not afraid to stand up for what is right. What's so impressive about that, you ask? You do it without requiring the accolades that others fight over. You don't ask for anything in return. You just do it because that's who you are. And that's why we always want you to remember:

You are 

BRAVER

than you believe

STRONGER

than you seem

SMARTER

than you think

& LOVED

more than you know

- Winnie the Pooh

Long, long post to make up for missing two weeks

Yep. It's been weeks. Important weeks, at that. Days when i actually had stuff to say, rather than just, "So. It was a day." It's the Christmas season! We're doing fun things!

But it's the Christmas season! When the kids aren't surrounding me (and even sometimes when they are), i'm busy making presents until late into the night, and then all i want to do is fall into bed and sleep. So i'll try to do better! But....

So. To recap:
On November 19th, the final movie for the Hunger Games came out, and it was the Ladies Night movie, which meant that we had a huge group of people who all came with us to go have fun and watch Mockingjay. Beth, who is amazing, put together little gift bags for everyone, along with Keren, who totally made stuff for it too. Cookies and a bookmark and a necklace and a little painting, all wrapped up in a silver parachute. Fun!

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Thanksgiving was at my aunt and uncle's house this year, which was either very fortuitous or just very well-planned-out on my mom's part, because she was still very unable to host a ton of people at her house, what with still recovering from her knee surgery. There was delicious food, and i always like my family, extended and immediate, so it was a really good day. After dinner we had the traditional Thanksgiving craft, which is almost always some kind of  Christmas decoration. This year we made fancy snowflakes and cute paint-chip Christmas trees.

Thanksgiving evening, our family (Juanito, the kids, and i) played a game of Catchphrase. Sort of. Initially it was just the kids and me, and i set teams with Zane on my team, assuming that, as the youngest, he'd be the obvious weak link. And then i just ... didn't get out the board to keep score, and since it's been a while since we played that game, the kids didn't notice. So we just played with the timer, and when the timer ran out we'd pause, and then either just start going again or pass the turn and start with the next person, whatever the person holding the thingy felt like doing. It was completely not competitive, which meant that eventually Juanito wandered over and joined in.

The thing is...Zane was amazing. He was better than some adults i've played with. I mean, Houston and Katrina were good too, but Zane is just really good at it. It's a good thing we weren't keeping score, because it totally would have looked like i was stacking the deck in my favor, choosing him for my team.

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The day after Thanksgiving, we always go get a tree. Usually we go with my parents, but my mom isn't quite up to stomping through rough terrain to haul a tree out yet, so this year we were on our own.  We picked out a super-cute tree. The kids actually made the decision. They wanted this one because it was "all bright green and happy-looking!" And it is! It's also the pokiest tree in the history of trees. Everyone was hanging ornaments, going, "Ow. Ow. Ow." Poor Juanito, who's always in charge of putting the lights on, got his hands all poked up even through his work gloves.

While Juanito was struggling with the lights, the kids and i decorated the rest of the house. It's always so much fun to see the house all pretty and Christmasy, and i on-purpose don't even think about the fact that, in a month, it's not nearly as much fun to put away. Because, if nothing else, it's a fun way to clean and possibly put different nick-knacks out! Yay!

We have so many traditions in our family, and a lot of them were entirely accidental on my part, but they started when the kids were little, and the kids just want to do them every single year. And that's totally fine! Except that it's things like putting the star on the top of the tree or ringing in Christmas with a special bell ornament, and they want to take turns and be fair...except nobody ever remembers FOR SURE from year to year who did each thing last year. So last year, the kids were smart and wrote down the schedule for the next three years and put it into the box with the ornaments. They are brilliant.

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Katrina bought herself a knitting loom. I don't know what it's actually called, but it's a circle with little pegs, and you loop the yarn around the pegs, and it magically makes a knit hat. (Years and years ago, my grandpa got into knitting the same way and made everyone the best scarves in the world. I still have mine, and it's still used regularly by me or my kids, because it's insanely warm.) Katrina bought it on Saturday night, and then spent all day Sunday teaching herself to use it and then knitting and knitting, and by Sunday night, she had an adorable hat which she has not taken off since. That was four days ago.

Meanwhile, Houston decided that he wanted to learn how to crochet, so i sat down and taught him using a big hook and thick yarn, because that way things go faster. He worked at it for a while and got incredibly frustrated, so i switched him to regular yarn and a normal hook, and he immediately threw himself into it whole-heartedly and has been crocheting every spare moment since. He is nearly finished with his first scarf, and i'm pretty sure that three minutes after he finishes that one, he'll start on a new one.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Emma has been in our family for about a year now - almost exactly - and she's just a really good dog. We still put her in her crate at night and if we're gone for longer than half an hour, but i leave her out when i drive the kids to school in the mornings. Usually i come home and she's curled up on the couch, completely happy.

Today i came home and she met me at the front door, which i initially thought was a nice change. Except...no. Turns out, she had a party while i was gone. She somehow pulled my basket of yarn balls to the floor and then proceeded to play with them like a cat. Approximately 10 balls of yarn, all completely tangled together. Good yarn, too, that i didn't want to just throw away. So i spent the first two and a half hours of my morning untangling and re-winding balls of yarn. SIGH.

Guess who's going to be going in her crate when i bring the kids to school from now on....

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Possibly my favorite moment of today: Katrina, Houston, and i were in the car. Katrina was explaining what she wants for Christmas. 

Katrina: "I want glitter, because i really like to use it for projects." (She talked about the glitter for a while.)

Me: "Wait. Do you want glitter? Or glitter glue?"

Katrina: "Oh! Glitter glue. I really like pink glitter! It's so pretty!"

Me: "Pink glitter? Or pink glitter glue?"

Her: "Glitter glue. I mean glitter glue when i say glitter."

Me: "It's kind of an important distinction, though. They're totally different things, if you're asking for them for Christmas...."

Houston: "Yeah! Like, if i wanted a flower pot, but i just said, 'I want a pot,' then that's not the same thing at all!" 

Katrina: "And then on Christmas, people would be all like, 'Here's your pot!'"

I managed to not laugh until later, when i was recounting the conversation for Juanito.

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So it's Advent season, and we always have a several different Advent calendars going. This year we've got one that has jokes, one that has activities, and one that has the Christmas story, one verse at a time, for everyone to memorize. Also one that has candy.

Yesterday's activity was to start doing Secret Santa. We went to the dollar store and each got the same number of presents, and then came home and wrapped them with printed-up name tags so that the giver could be properly secret. It's day 2, and i'm pretty sure i already know who everyone has. Because i'm obnoxious.

Today's activity was looking up funny Christmas videos on Youtube. Easy, fast, and able get finished between Katrina's Heart and Soul practice and Juanito and Houston's needing to leave for Zumba. 

Happy Halloween!

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

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

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

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

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

'Twas the Night before Halloween....

The kids didn't have school today, due to the parent-teacher conferences the past few days, which was lovely. I woke up Houston up at 10:30, and when i asked him how he was doing a little while later, he was all, "GREAT! Sleeping in was fantastic!" Zane insists that he slept until 10:00, but he's exaggerating by at least an hour. Nevertheless, sleeping in was done by all, and lo, it was wonderful.

Katrina and Zane helped me make my costume this morning. We went to the store for groceries and pumpkins. (My kids honestly do not care whether their pumpkins come from an orchard where they can pick their own pumpkin from a field or from Meijer where they can pick their pumpkin from a box, so we opt for the much cheaper Meijer option.) We snuggled and read. It was lovely.

Once Juanito was home, we carved pumpkins. Katrina would very much like it known that she decided to do a vampire pumpkin first, and then Zane copied her. Katrina and Zane both hate touching the goopy stuff on the inside of the pumpkin, and they're still kind of little to be using the sharp knives, so basically, Juanito and i did all of the work on those pumpkins. I cleaned out Katrina's and carved Zane's, and Juanito cleaned out Zane's and carved Katrina's. The kids did totally design them, though. They drew the faces on the pumpkins in marker, and then we just traced their lines with the knife.

Honestly, sharp knives + pumpkins = dangerous. I totally cut myself, and i'm used to using our knives. That said, Houston did almost everything on his pumpkin by himself this year, and he did a great job. It's Harry Potter, and it's adorable. And he didn't even hurt himself at all. Yay, Houston!

Keren's in town this weekend, so she and Beth joined us for pizza-movie night. We all made the pizzas and talked and laughed, and then we crowded into chairs and the couch. It's been a while since we've seen Keren, so the kids cuddled up with her, while Emma tried hard to sleep on top of poor Beth. We watched "Twitches," which is a completely made-for-TV cheesy movie, but it's Halloween-appropriate and also not terrifying to children. (Mostly. Though Zane says that he's scared by "The Darkness," so we'll see how that goes.)

After the kids went to bed, we adults hung out and had actual conversation. It was lovely.

Halloween preview and more conferences

Several years ago, we brought our kids to a church that was having a "Trunk or Treating" event going on. There were dozens of cars, and everyone gave out lots of candy. Ever since then, the kids have asked about doing that again, but i'd either hear about the events after they were finished, or they'd be at the same time as something else we were doing, or whatever. So this year, i remembered to look up if there was going to be anyplace doing it at time when we could go. And the best and only option was...basically at the same time as Zane's parent-teacher conference.

So we went to the conferences for the other two kids yesterday, and we ate dinner ridiculously early, and we headed over as soon as Zane's conference was finished. And...it was kind of lame. It was indoors, probably moved there because it had been raining off and on all day, so they basically had a whole bunch of tables set up in one room, and the kids just kind of walked around through the tables, getting a piece of candy at each table. I was thinking, "Meh. We could have skipped that," but as soon as we got home, the kids were all, "Let's go have a small trading party!!!!" So i guess they enjoyed it.

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

Zane's conference was not as bad as i expected, but also not awesome. His teacher had glowing comments about his behavior and his personality ("He's SUCH a great kid! He brought in some of his books and asked to put them all up front for other kids to look at and borrow if they wanted to. It was so sweet!"). He fiddles and wiggles, which is no surprise, as he's been doing that since always, but he's quiet about it and stops immediately if given a look. So that's all good.

But he just doesn't do well on his actual school work, and none of us are sure if it's because he's just too inattentive (and we are going to go ahead and evaluate him for ADD, which i'm sure he has, with the "Primarily Inattentive" aspect) and that's keeping him from actually focusing on his work OR if he's just straight up not doing it because he just doesn't feel like it. I feel like that's an important difference.