December 21

Our dog is weird and likes to be all covered in blankets. I always expect her to do the normal dog thing and fling them off, but she's all "Mmmm.... Blankets," and goes to sleep.

Katrina and Zane had a half day today. Katrina's friend was having a birthday party, so Katrina went home with her for the entire day, returning at nighttime. And Zane went to his friend Finn's house from school until City got out, and then i dropped off Chauncey and Rowen and picked up Zane and brought everyone home. So even though they only had school until 11:30, i didn't see them any more than usual. It gave me a bit of extra time to work on finishing stuff. I am kind of ridiculous, because at Christmastime i just make all the things.

The advent activity tonight was "game night," so Houston and Zane and i spent most of the evening playing games. We pulled out Mastermind for the first time in quite a while, and it turns out that Houston totally has the kind of logical mind needed to be really good at solving the pattern. He is, however, terrible at being the person on the other end - the one saying "one right color right place, two right color wrong place" or whatever. He was that person for me a couple of times, and i'd say something out loud like, "Well, green obviously has to go here because it can't go anywhere else..." and he'd go, "OH!" and change one of the previous round's answers. Zane, on the other hand, was not awesome at solving but was very good at being the master.

December 11

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

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

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

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

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!

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....

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....

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.

School pictures!

For the past few years, our school has done school pictures during the last month of summer vacation, but this year they changed it up and did pictures the first week. I'm guessing that it was partly to make it easier for the photographers, who could then come in for one day, take all of the individual AND class pictures, and be done.

The difference between Katrina's and Zane's choices for their outfits makes me giggle a little bit. Katrina started choosing what she'd wear days ago and chose one of her many, many cute long sweaters that have become her favorite thing to wear. In addition, she started looking days ago at ideas for hairstyles and finally settled on one that has lots of little braids all pulled back. (I had my doubts about this style from the beginning, because it looks cute from the side and back but not as much from the front.) I ended up doing her hair twice this morning, because i totally braided and braided and braided, pulled it all back, and let her go look at it, and she realized that it wasn't as cute as she'd expected, so we took out all of the braids and switched to a simpler, sweet little twisty-braidy-bangs-pulled-under-the-hair kind of style. Zane, on the other hand, went to his closet and just kind of grabbed a shirt that he kind of liked and threw on some shorts with it.

And so it was the end of the first week of school. So far:

Houston loves all of his teachers and is really enjoying City. He hardly gets to see Chauncey, but he does get to sit next to Summer in Art class, which is happy. He's already lost his homework planner.

Katrina is really happy to have most of her friends in her class. She's not sure about her new band director just yet, because she's "super strict!" (Me: "Yes, well, compared to your LAST band director, anyone will seem super strict because you're expected to actually learn something!")

Zane loves his teacher, has made a new friend, and is excited about starting band. I think he finally took all of the school supplies out of his back pack and put them into his desk today, after carrying them back and forth to school because he kept forgetting.

First day of school!

Everyone was really excited this morning, of course, and so even though Katrina and Zane don't have to be at school until significantly later than Houston, they were completely ready to go by the time he was ready. And so i took first day of school pictures (YAY!) and then we all went together to bring Houston to high school and then drove straight to Katrina and Zane's school. I was thinking, "Geez, we're going to be so ridiculously early! Probably we'll have to just sit in the car for a while until other kids get there...."

But no. We got there fully 40 minutes early, and yet already the parking lot was nearly completely full. I parked and got out to take a couple of quick pictures of the kids in front of school, and left, and people were already parking illegally because there were no spots left. What madness is this?!

It was a hot day today, and all day i was thinking, "I'll be Houston is roasting at school!" They don't have air conditioning, and when we visited last week, it was the hottest place in all the world - both of us were dripping in sweat by the time we left. Houston's friend said that the teachers mostly have fans, but the windows don't open, and there's only so much they can do.

I drove over to pick Houston up after school - they haven't given out bus passes yet - and i paid close attention to how early the parking lot starts filling up. Unlike the elementary school, where people are lined up an hour early, the high school parking lot didn't even get terribly busy until about 15 minutes after the end of school. Lovely! So i sat and waited and waited and waited for Houston. I'd told him that he'd need to find me in the parking lot (which isn't huge), so i didn't want to go drive or walk around looking for him. Half an hour after school ended, my phone rang, and it was Houston asking, "Where are you?" Me: "I'm in the parking lot?" Him: "Oh."

Turns out, he got confused with his schedule and thought that he had another class, so he tried to go there after school let out, and then he thought i'd drive up and pick him up (which...we discussed this!). He was, indeed, roasting. (We went and bought him some shorts he can wear to school this afternoon.)

By then it was late enough that i just drove straight to the elementary school to get the other kids. It worked out well, because Houston needed to get his transcript, because his geometry teacher is somehow convinced that he didn't take Algebra 1. (He called last week and asked, and i assured him that Houston HAD taken it, but he didn't believe me. So i offered to call the school and ask them, and they confirmed that he'd taken it. But apparently that wasn't convincing enough. Sigh.)

Everyone's day went well. Zane was all happy because he made a friend! Katrina had blisters on her heels (sad), but is in most classes with her friends (happy!). Houston saw several people from elementary school, including his friend Summer, with whom he was best friends for years. They all had homework, which they all did uncomplainingly. (I don't expect that'll last past this week, especially for Zane.) And they were all ready for sleeping by bedtime.

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!

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!

Zane is TEN!

Today Zaney, mah babee, turns ten. He's been in this world for a full decade, and i am better with him in the world. Our family is better with him in the world. The world is better with him in it. He is silly and loving and energetic and incredibly sociable.

Zane loves to talk. He will talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. His favorite books are the "100 most _____ things on the planet" series - "100 Most Dangerous Things," "100 Most Feared Creatures," "100 Most Awesome Things"... - and he will tell me (or you!) all about a pyroclastic flow from a volcano or about some deadly ant or about some other completely random and usually interesting fact. Or he'll tell me all about something on Minecraft, and i usually have to pretend to be interested for a little while until finally i have to tell him that honestly? I don't care about Minecraft. At. All. He'll tell jokes. Or he'll want to plan out some event that's coming up. Or he'll just talk about...nothing at all.

He likes to know things. He wants to know everything. This includes facts about animals, the world, and science, but also what we're going to do today. And tomorrow. And next week, if possible. He wants to know that he'll like something before he tries it, and if possible, he'd like to have tried it before. He's not a big fan of surprises. (When i plan birthday parties or fun things for the other kids, i keep a lot of it a secret. With Zane, i let him plan every single detail with me, because that's what will make him happiest.)

He's a bit of a micro-manager, when he can get away with it.

Zane absolutely loves to be doing things with other people. He loves to play games, or do Legos with someone, or ride bikes with someone, or play a computer game with someone.... He's happiest when he's in a group of friends. He's the first kid to leap to join me when i'm running to the store or doing some other random errand. However. When there's nothing else to do (or when i give him the choice of finding something to do or helping me with chores), he can amuse himself for hours by listening to a book on CD (usually Harry Potter or Percy Jackson), reading books, or playing with Legos.

Zane's at an age where he desperately wants to be funny. He tries really hard to say things that he thinks are hilarious, and he sometimes succeeds,but often just kind of misses the mark. He cracks himself up, though.

He has a very clear idea of who he is and what he likes. And he's pretty stubborn. As i was looking through pictures today to make a collage of him at every age, i realized that he's worn the exact same shirt for 3 of his past 4 birthdays (although this year it was for his party rather than his actual birthday). He has the attitude of "If i like it, why change?" He does change, it's just very, very slowly sometimes. (For example: After years and years of refusing to put his face in the water, he finally - FINALLY! - learned how to swim this year, and he discovered that he loves it.)

I love that Zane just is who he is. He really wants to be liked, but he's not willing to change who he is to get someone to like him. He sincerely wants to be kind, and he really does want to be friends with everyone. He's always surprised when kids - or people in general - are unkind. He has an incredible heart and an incredible mind, and while i really want time to slow down, i look forward to seeing who he becomes in the next ten years.

Zane's 10th birthday party!

When our kids turn ten, they get a big birthday party. ("Big" being relative. Usually they just get to invite one friend over for the night.) Zane's tenth birthday is tomorrow, and so yesterday was his big birthday party. He's been looking forward to this party for literally months - he was already trying to hammer out details with me back before Christmas.

He decided that he'd like to have a Lego party ("But not everything needs to be Legos, Mom. I want to just have some normal games too!") He and i went to the party store to search for any actual Lego plates or napkins or anything, but there was no Lego anything anywhere. And so we got creative. We decided to just go with Lego colors - red and yellow and blue and green being the primary Lego colors - and got tablecloths and plates and napkins and silverware in those colors. And then we bought yellow plastic cups and yellow balloons, and Beth helped me turn both of those things into awesome Lego faces that turned out way cuter than i'd actually anticipated. And, just to make sure that the Lego theme was obvious, i had the kids build some silverware and napkin holders out of Legos. (They were all, "Can we give them eyes?" and i was all, "YES! Make them look awesome!" And they did!)

As people arrived, they guessed how many Legos were in a jar (most of the kids were hilariously far off, and my dad ultimately won, so we declared an adult AND a child winner) and made Lego cars to race. Juanito built a huge, amazing track for the cars to race down. We were originally supposed to be racing outside, but it had been raining and was threatening more rain, so we moved the track inside instead.

And then we ate lunch, with a menu specifically chosen by Zane: Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese and baby carrots and green apples and cantaloupe and wavy potato chips. He was especially excited about the wavy potato chips.

And then more games! We tossed legos at a target that kind of looked like skeeball. We played Pin-the-head-on-the-Lego-Man. We gave everyone an ice cube with a Lego inside of it, and they had to melt the ice cube to free the Lego.

And then we brought out the dart board. When i originally had this idea, i told Juanito, "So...i want to have a dart board where kids can throw darts at balloons and pop them. What can we use for darts?" and he went outside and made four of the deadliest-looking darts i have ever seen. Compared to these darts, lawn darts look like fluffy marshmallows. They're basically nails that he's sharpened into points and then added a handle to. But they worked!

So anyone who knows Zane knows that he loves candy. He does NOT, however, love pinatas, because of the whole "rush forward and fight over the candy on the ground" aspect. So instead, we stuffed a whole ton of balloons with candy, and then let everyone pop one balloon and collect whatever was inside. It actually worked really, really well.

And then the obstacle course, where they had to walk up a pallet and leap off, shoot some ping pong balls off pop bottles with a squirt gun, run through tires, climb through hula hoops while walking a balance beam, throw a beach ball through another hula hoop, crawl under and jump over some boards, walk a Z-shaped balance beam, and then hop and walk backwards to the finish line. It was awesome, except that some people had a really hard time with the ping pong ball shooting.

And then cake - which Beth helped me make, and which we were both pretty proud of  - and presents, and we ended almost exactly at the time we were supposed to end. Yay!!!

Zane totally had fun, and i think everyone else did too, so i declare it a roaring success! 

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.

Busy, busy, busy! But in a good way.

This has been a very busy but fun week. And it's not going to get any less busy!

On Sunday we went to a park/splash pad with my parents, my sister Jackie and her family, and my niece and nephew. It was pouring in the morning, and when we woke up, i was certain that we'd have to go somewhere else, but then it cleared up just in time. It wasn't super warm, but the kids totally played in the water anyhow and had lots of fun.

Katrina had a birthday party on Sunday afternoon, so we left the family earlier than we usually do and went to drop her off at her friend's (grandma's) house, where they apparently swam in the pool for 4 hours before quick eating cake. It was exactly the kind of party that Katrina loves - swimming, swimming, and more swimming.

On Monday, Juanito and Houston left for a quick trip to Kentucky. Juanito is staying with his mum, spending most of their time doing zumba, from what i can tell, and Houston is staying with his uncle JJ and his grandpa on their farm.

Tuesday morning Katrina, Zane, and i went to my parents' house for a sleepover! We've often said that the one downside of living so close is that we don't get to do the whole "visit for an entire week and get to spend lots and lots of time together, just hanging out," so my mom invited us over while half of the family was missing anyhow. Yay!

And that's what we did! We hung out and talked. I went shopping with my dad. All of the kids and i went to my sister's house to swim for half an hour. After the kids went to bed, Jackie came over and she, my sister Chellie, my mom, and i played cards for a few hours. And then the next day we spent hours at Jackie's house, swimming again. (The kids were thrilled!)

We took Emma with us, since we'd be gone nearly 2 days, and she completely exhausted herself, and i'm not even sure how. She was on her leash the entire time. It wasn't always being held, but i wanted to be able to grab her when she started chasing my parents' dog around. Their dog (Lily) is a tiny little fluff-ball, and she's a bit intimidated by Emma, so every once in a while she'll just randomly start barking at Emma. Emma takes that as in invitation to play, so she's all, "OKAY!" and then Lily is all, "Scared! Must run away!" except that as soon as she starts running, Emma gleefully chases her. And since Emma is about 10 times Lily's size, Lily's not a fan of the playing. (She's not always super good at not encouraging the playing, though. One time i actually watched her run straight under Emma from back to front. Emma was all, "What the?!")

While we were setting up our bed in the camper, where Katrina, Zane, and i slept, it was about 2:00 in the afternoon and my mom and i were boiling. It felt like the center of the earth, and we were all, "Geez. We might need to come sleep on the floor in the air conditioning instead!" My mom asked, "Will you need blankets? Or is a sheet good enough?" and i was all, "NO! A sheet is plenty! It's SO HOT!" Cut to the middle of the night, and the temperature has dropped by about 30 degrees, and Katrina (who was sharing the bed with me) and i were shivering. I finally woke up enough to stagger out of bed, half asleep, undoubtedly looking like a completely drunken sailor, across the camper to where the blankets were kept. But in my sleep-addled brain, i grabbed the smallest, thinnest blanket, which barely covered one of us and didn't offer much warmth, and we continued to shiver until about 6:30. We were huddled together to share body heat, and i finally asked, "Uh, hey. Should i get another blanket?" I grabbed one of the big, heavy blankets, threw it on the bed, and we both immediately relaxed and fell into a deep sleep. Lesson: Always have a blanket handy! I should know this already!

While we were swimming on Wednesday, i spent a while teaching Zane to swim again, and he did SO WELL. He can now swim the width of the pool, and he's all, "I LOVE swimming! Can we go swimming again soon? And you can teach me more?!" Success!!!

And then, Wednesday night, Beth came over and hung out with us for the night. We ate dinner and watched an episode of Cupcake Wars and then sent the kids to bed and sat and talked and talked and talked. Fun!  

The beach! And Katrina's popsicle.

We spent most of the day out at my grandpa's beach today. It was warm and sunny, and most of us accidentally got sunburned, but the sunburn was worth the fun. Houston and Katrina were out in the water nearly the entire time we were there, which was no surprise. Zane spent the first half of the time on the beach, building sandcastles, until i went in, and then he joined me and remembered that, "HEY! Playing in the waves is fun!"

When we first got to my grandpa's house, Juanito and the kids went down to the beach while i sat and talked with my grandpa. We talked about books (he's always trying to steer me toward reading more ... meaningful/worthwhile-type books) and he gave me lots of suggestions of things to read. We talked about what was new with us and him and the family in general. We talked about the first movie he ever saw (Sunset Boulevard) and how he wasn't allowed to watch movies when he was growing up, which led to his story about when he made profession of faith. It went like this:

"When i made Profession of Faith, we had a whole catechism class with about 16 people, and each person had to go individually to talk to the elders. The elders only asked three questions. Do you dance? Do you play cards? Do you go to movies? And if you answered yes to any one of those three questions, you had to wait a year, repent, and try again."

Me: "So...they didn't ask anything at all about your faith or what you believe?"
Him: "No. That was it. Three questions. Because the dancing was too sexual, the cards were playing with providence, and the movies represented all of the evils in the world."

Crazy.

Anyhow. eventually i went down to the beach to swim a bit, sit in the sun a bit, and take pictures of the kids and Juanito. I taught Zane how to kind of surf the waves close to shore on his stomach, and he loved that.

And then, as we were getting ready to leave, my grandpa asked if we'd like to go to dinner with him, so we went to an early dinner (we had to get Juanito home for Zumba) of really delicious hamburgers. And while we ate, we talked about the various places my grandpa had practiced medicine and which was his favorite (working the emergency room! "But even though i was a surgeon, i always tried to figure out how to fix them without doing surgery if it was possible. Most surgeons just want to cut open everyone!").

While i was reading to the kids tonight (Howl's Moving Castle and Harry Potter book 4), i let the kids make and eat popsicles. The popsicle maker thingy is SO COOL, and the popsicles are delicious, and Houston and Zane's were perfect, but Katrina's was...not. When i pulled it out, i immediately saw a fairly large moth frozen to it near the top. Ew. I cut that whole part off, and Katrina went about eating the rest of it, until suddenly she spit a piece out, threw it to the floor of the porch, and exclaimed, "I JUST BIT INTO A FLY!" So apparently her popsicle was SO DELICIOUS that not just one bug but TWO froze themselves to death to get to it. The fly was way at the bottom, and she hadn't actually eaten it at all, but...SO GROSS.

I let her have a bowl of ice cream.

Houston was all, "What?" And Katrina and i both said, "She/I bit into a FLY!!!" and he immediately shrugged in a, "Yeah, that's fair," kind of way.

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!

Swimming!

My sister Jackie invited us over to her house to swim this afternoon, because it was going to be hot and sunny. My kids have been dying to go swim there for the past week, so it was a king of obvious choice for us to go.

Zane, who is nearly 10, still doesn't know how to swim, and we've gotten past the point where that is at all acceptable, so this afternoon i decided to force the issue a little bit. I let him wear the kind of goggles that cover the eyes and nose, and then i taught him how to do the simple "swim without moving your arms by pushing off the side and kicking your legs" stroke. (That's totally the technical name.) And it was a bit of a struggle to convince him that he HAD to put his face in the water, that he couldn't learn to swim properly if he was trying to keep his head above water. But eventually we got to the point where he could swim almost from one end of the pool to the other before he panicked and stopped to come up for air. And so then i left him alone for an hour and a half, to swim and play as he wanted to.

And then i pulled him aside again and told him to try swimming without the face mask this time...and that's where i lost him.

Me: "You won't always have goggles with you, especially in an emergency!"
Zane: "But i'm going to get water up my nose!"
Me: "Plug your nose, then."
Zane: "Everything will be different then!"
Me: "It'll be fine. Just try. Here...you can just go this far instead of all the way across." (I move to about 6 feet in front of him.)
Zane: "I won't be able to see!"
Me: "I'm right here. I won't let you swim into the deep end or anything."
Zane: "But i've never done this!"

And on and on and on. There are two problems here: He hates to get his face wet, and he hates new and uncertain experiences. It was half an hour of me encouraging and him trying to work his way up to actually putting his face in the water, and finally he kind of, sort of put his face in the water and kind of, sort of swam, and i called it good enough.

He immediately got out of the pool and wrapped himself in a towel and was finished for the day. (Everyone else was finished within 10 minutes too, so that was fine.) I sat next to him on the swing and talked with him about being brave, and he told me, "But i'm in Gryffindor! That means i'm brave!" And i agreed that he IS brave, but that means doing things even when you're afraid, and he didn't like that explanation very much at all.

Anyhow. I'm hopeful that this is the year that he'll actually learn to mostly swim. Fingers crossed.

Zane's new fish

Yesterday, Zane's fish Velvet died in a tragic fish-bowl-cleaning-related accident.

See, he and Katrina have both had their fish for about a week, and they want to be good pet owners, so they wanted to change their fish's water. Juanito devised this fancy cleaning system that involved a giant mop bucket, hoses, pumps, and ... i don't even know what else. It was meant to suck the old water out and then pump new water in. And unfortunately, it also sucked up Zane's fish.

Zane was absolutely crushed. He was all, "I really wanted to keep my fish alive for longer than a week!" And, "I don't think i should get another fish! Because i don't want to kill another one!"

I consoled him and promised him that it was not his fault at all, and this afternoon he happily went to the store to get himself a new fish. This one's name is Diamond, and our goal is to keep him alive for at least two weeks this time.

End of School Interviews (finally!)

What did you learn in school this past year?
Houston: The actual, not G-rated history of America, like that the Native Americans and Americans were not friends, and the Native Americans were just sent away. Quadratic equations. We read Animal Farm and the Anne Frank screenplay and a condensed version of Flowers for Agamemnon.

Zane: Symmetry. Food chains. Grammar. I seriously don't remember. A lot of it was washed out of my mind from the last week, because we had so many field trips.

Katrina: Lots of fractions. Cultures - like what culture is and their religion, i guess. Ecosystems. Space. Stuff like that.

What was the most interesting thing (not a field trip) you did this school year?
Houston: I actually liked writing essays. I don't know why. Last year i hated writing essays. I enjoyed writing letters from the perspective of a volcano photographer and stuff like that.

Zane: In science, we did circuits and electricity. We were building circuits and made light bulbs light up. In my group, we put like 5 batteries and 10 light bulbs, and it was really awesome. All of the light bulbs were lighting up.

Katrina: We went down to the pond and made observations about the ecosystem. And we got to make our own continent - like, you got to choose a topic (i chose reading and animals), and make the shape of the continent (we did a book), and then you got to choose like mountains, parks, islands, stuff like that.

What was the best field trip this year?
Houston: Chicago! We went to the John Hancock building and we saw the Sears Tower on the boat tour and we just walked around Chicago and i got a Chicago pen. And we did the thing in the John Hancock building where the glass goes out and it's really cool.

Zane: Lansing. We were gone all day, and i got Jupiter juice (that stuff was weird). We went to the science museum. I saw a huge eyeball - it was disgusting and awesome. We saw some enormous bones - one was like, the biggest bone ever. We went to the capital building, and we saw some really cool things like this awesome thing where you looked up and saw a bunch of stars and they were like two miles away. And on the way there, we saw a movie (Rio).

Katrina: Versluis Park. We got to go swimming. There were a lot of games and a lot of food.

Who was your favorite teacher, and why?
Houston: I liked Miss Miller because she was nice and funny and she liked what she taught (history) and it was interesting.

Zane: Miss Coughlin. I didn't have any other teachers. Wait...do you mean specials too? Then...still Miss Coughlin. She was just really nice.

Katrina: Miss Baareman, because i knew her best because she was also my Heart and Soul coach. She was really nice, and she understood what it was like to have lots of homework and be overwhelmed, so she didn't give us all the homework in the world.

What do you plan to do this summer?
Houston: Legos. Other cool stuff.... I could work on more games like Pumchecs, and make that game better....

Zane: I really want to take a long bike ride with Dad. And i'm looking forward to my birthday! Because...who doesn't?

Katrina: Make a paper mache volcano. Go to the zoo. Have ice cream. Sleep over at Alex's house and have her sleep at our house. Stuff like that.

What do you think next year's school year will be like?
Houston: Probably a lot harder and hopefully better. I'll be with my friends Chauncey and Melody.

Zane: I think it's going to be awesome! Because i'm going to go to Michigan Adventures!!! (But that's not the only reason i'm looking forward to it. Because that would just be sad.)

Katrina: Hard. Because i'll have more classes and the teachers seem meaner. One of my teachers might move up to the 7th grade (and she was my least favorite!).

Who were your school friends this year?
Houston: Anthony, Zoe, Brandon, Melody, Claire, Lance

Zane: Isaac and Finneus

Katrina: Emily, Emily, Madison, Isabella, Max, Kim, Phoebe

Summer days

I spent most of the past two days finding, choosing, and organizing pictures, and then trying to get them into a slideshow that works as a DVD for my aunt's funeral. And it is finished!

While i was glued to the computer, the kids amused themselves by being kids. They played with the dress-up clothes, concocting some elaborate game wherein they had to randomly pull out things to put on. They were entirely amused with themselves. Houston created a board game named Pumchecs, which has elaborate rules and is surprisingly enjoyable. They rode bikes and played with chalk and combined the two things with Zane's fancy chalk-drawing bike attachment.

Summer!