Things to Remember

After just over a year, our dishwasher died.  It took over two weeks for the technician to come out and tell us this, then we had to wait for the reimbursement, then another three weeks for our new unit to be installed.  The day finally arrived, and we were all excited!  Mostly my poor, dry, hands.

The new unit quite possibly has the highest capacity of any machine we've ever owned.  My biggest complaint is the lack of time estimate.  At least on the old units it was a turn dial, so you could see if a cycle was almost done, but not on this one.  Between the repair man recommending dishwashing liquid, and then seeing a video of someone who had to spend a chunk of change for a plumber when their pods failed to fully dissolve, I decided to use a bottle of liquid detergent in between each box of dishwasher pods.  

The liquid* is actually the perfect viscosity!  It flows easily, but isn't messy or drippy.  I've been happy, so far.

Cynthia, Chelsea's mom, sent me a very cool German book that I've been enjoying, whenever I have an occasion to wait.  The first pages reminded me of Christin! <3

Billy is replacing each computer, as each birthday arrives.  So far he's built himself a new one (with William inheriting his old one) and Emily.  The twins should be getting theirs this month, depending on how quickly the motherboard comes in.  Our old computers were built in 2017, so it was time for a new round.

A new shiny machine!

Billy was a big fan of the cooling fan.  Really.  He was very excited to get it and test it out. lol.

Sadly, while Billy was fighting one of the components in the computer, on the table, he did not use delicate pressure on our ailing dining table, and managed to break off not one, but two of the legs.  = (  He ordered some parts and got it repaired before our Murder Mystery party, but it was an awkward week of eating dinners in the kitchen.  The repaired table is much sturdier though, and I don't have to push in the legs after every meal now. lol.

Grace loved the hats from Kristy!  She and Juliet each got two coordinating hats from her get rid of stack!

Alice's parent teacher conferences took place early in the day, so the twins ended up tagging along, and sat on the stairs (so that I could see them from each station) entertaining themselves while Alice accompanied me to each meeting.

Grace and Juliet got matching frames, they are different colors, but the same shape.  They decided to dress the same for picture day, and omg, do they look alike!  In this picture it's Juliet left and Grace right.

I volunteered to help at the second hand bookfair.  It was so well done!  A few weeks before, the librarian sent out a request for gently used book donations.   The books were spread out on tables and displayed on shelves.  Paperbacks were 50c, most hardcovers $1, and a few select books were a couple of bucks more, but nothing was over $5!  The librarian also put out bookmarks, pencils, stuffed animals, and a few other novelty items.  The kids loved it, and some of them left with a pile of  'new to them' books!

The bookfair always does best when parents are able to come in with their adult money, so on the next reading night, I've volunteered to help again, since there were so many books left over!  

If I have to be awake in the cold and dark, at least I get to hear some good music.

Another set of pictures of the progression of the new school building! 

The twins picked out a tiny crockpot at the thrift store.  I offered to buy it for them as a Christmas gift, but they wanted it immediately, so they spent their own money on it. lol.  They have gotten quite a bit of use from it so far though!  They intend to bring it to their birthday party, at the bounce house, so we'll see how that goes.

In addition to chocolate, it also does cheese! So, one night after we had enchiladas, I fried up the remaining corn tortillas and we had nachos for dinner.  It was a big hit!

Grace found some Hello Kitty Boba tea at five below.  She bought it, and liked the tea part, but was not a fan of the slimy boba balls.

The twins 'raced' to see who could put together the puzzle the fastest. I don't know who won.

Billy found a Cajun-Japanese seafood place that he wanted to try out.  I am not a big fan of Cajun cuisine, because they season everything, and it's just too spicy for me.  I ended up ordering miso soup and sushi.  The sushi was really good, and the roll size was just right!

One of Grace's friends gave her a hello kitty clip, and of course she wanted to wear it!  I don't think it lasted her the day though, because she had gym that morning.

Alice is driving to pick up Emily (and starting tomorrow, William) from track each day, so it feels really good that she's getting in her hours!  She might not be finished before her birthday, but at least we're making progress!

The warmer temperatures, and return of the sun, have me in a much happier, more hopeful mood. We just came off of spring break, but I am ready for summer break already!

later days

*my first bottle was from Aldi. I don't love the smell, so I'm trying a new brand in the next rotation.  I'll try to remember to report back.

Other Fun Activites

My usual hodgepodge post that has other fun things we've done that don't fit in with the other posts this round.

Avia came back for a little while!

Grace was patiently waiting for her to come over.

She treated us all to ice cream one afternoon, but Alice and I had to hustle away to get her to driving school.

And just like that, it was time for her to leave again. = (  (And despite how the tree in the picture might look, it's still summer here!)

One Saturday Emily, William, Grace and Juliet comprised a large percentage of the youth group trip to ZapZone.

While I was in Oklahoma, Billy dropped Alice off at Comicon to meet up with some of her friends.  She had an excellent time.  She spent hours sewing and crafting her dino mask upgrades!

Billy signed us up for new internet, because it was cheaper and faster than what we had, but it has been an annoying transition.  They installed the router on the opposite wall from our old one.  I had to install a shelf to get it off of Grace's computer cabinet, so that it wouldn't accidentally get knocked off.

My favorite upgrade is that we finally got to take down the ethernet cable for William's computer (3 years later), since we could now attach him with a shorter cable!

We found some Lincoln Logs at the rummage sale here in the village, and William and Grace really enjoyed creating with them!

At the robotics rummage sale, that I ended up at alone for some reason, I was so late in the sale that everything was free.  I spent a long time going through the miscellaneous toy box, and picked out as many calico critters from the set that I saw.  I also found lol doll pieces and a few other fun items that made me think of my children.

Grace combined the calico critters with the Lincoln logs for even more enjoyment! 

I sent Haley's crew (and Avia) a set of cool postcards that we got on our most recent Ann Arbor visit.  I took some pictures, just in case one of them failed to make it.  Since then, they have all arrived, though over a week apart!

The goslings were growing so fast, now they are totally indistinguishable from the other adults (at least to me, a layman.)

I bought what I though was a Germany eraser for Emily, but it turns out it was a Germany flag made from grease!  Emily and I tried it out, it was pretty cool!

Lola Rennt was rereleased for its 25th anniversary in limited theaters.  It just so happened that the theater closest to us was one of the participating theaters!  I invited Alice and Billy (I couldn't remember why it was rated R, so didn't want to bring William or the twins along) but they both declined.  

The only night we were available was a Sunday, so on a school night, we went and watched a 25 year old German movie.  I was excited that it was German audio with English subtitles.

I took only a single picture, and caught Emily with her eyes closed.  It's okay, we were pretending like it was the 1990s anyhow.

I saw a bunny from the window of the dentists' office!

Grace and Juliet wanted to use some of the color street appliques that we have squirrelled away in the bathroom, when I changed out my toenail design.  We all felt quite pretty.

Speaking of pretty, Juliet felt quite pretty in her new nightgown from Avia.

Emily and Grace picked out a popcorn maker at the rummage sale in here in the village. It makes excellent popcorn, but it's so big and is a bit difficult to clean.  I made a home for it, and as long as the girls take care of it we'll keep it.

We found a battery powered vehicle in a free pile, and Grace was super upset that I wouldn't let her take it home.  I told her that we could take a picture that makes it look like she's having a fabulous time, so that she can remember it fondly, without having to take it home.

The cloud formation looked a bit like North America!

Sarah brought back some boxes of office supplies from Grandma's house.  Among them were a few pages of copy paper.  Grace and Juliet thought it was pretty cool!

Also among the things from Grandma was the album that she had from the time she took me to German for graduation (my first trip to Germany.)   I found some pictures of me and Christin!!!

The kids created a tent city in the girls' room!

Our neighbors had such pretty flowers to look at on our walk to the bus stop for Emily and William's summer camp.

Juliet watching her tablet in a very unconventional resting position.

Juliet with her heart shaped m&ms!

The clouds were so pretty, but it was quickly blown away, my family barely had time to make it to the window to see it!

Grace made a playdoh 'Avia.'

We found a tiny frog while setting up for the murder mystery party!

Just before leaving for Oklahoma, Billy and I went on a last minute date to Mitchel's seafood restaurant in East Lansing.  I ordered the lobster, which was okay, but I loved the butter set up.  So much so, that I have two pictures of it, and none of Billy or the lobster or even the fountain! lol.

One of Sarah's neighbors had a trash bag full of cell phone covers on their curb!  While waiting for Alice to finish up band camp on Thursday, I opened and sorted the cases into clean/needs to be washed piles.

 It must have been close to 50 cases!  I'm so excited.

Hopefully in the future, I'll get to enjoy these stories again, since I'm sure many will be forgotten (at least by me.)

later days