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

Crafts and Projects

The past few weeks have been full of projects and crafts and creativity.  Here are some of the highlights!

Alice is entering into an Easter contest with her drawing of some of her favorite dragons.  Her art has come such a long way and I'm super proud of how good her end product looks!  

One of the twins made a tiny envelope out of a fruit by the foot that was leftover from Emily's birthday party goody bags.

Billy designed a birdhouse that was a seven-day print!  Once he finished both pieces, Emily, Grace and Juliet spent some time decorating it.  I don't think any birds have moved in yet, but maybe the next time it warms up?

On our way to pick Avia up from the airport, we saw signs for an estate sale.  Since Emily's party was not until evening, we had time to use up.  I took Emily, Grace, and Juliet with me.  Their prices were awesome!  

We bought an entire box of assorted, hand-picked goodies for $1 and I found a rack for my basement door for $5!!  I'd been keeping an eye on a $26 one on Amazon, but the racks were not nearly so deep as this one.  Billy helped me install it, and in no time I'd moved over my baggies and rolls, found a new home for my flour mill and had one opening for a hand mixer!

I feel like we use very few new baggies, and do a decent job of reusing bags.  This was validated by the fact that we still have two boxes of bags that are from HEB.  We moved here 7 winters ago!!! = )

The very next week, I scored a hand mixer for $2!!!  It even came in this lovely case, with a change of attachments.  = )  Upon inspecting it at home, I found that the handle was very sticky, but it was no problem for some goo b gone!

Moving all of the bags and rolls over, as well as my 'random' bags and Billy's cups left so much room in the cabinet, I now have a place to store my dehydrator!!!  It's also much easier to grab the item that I need, since they are no longer in cases or stacked on top of each other. = )

A few weeks ago, I spied some squishmallow grab bags on Aldi's "Aldi Finds" aisle.  They were $10 each, and the squishmallows inside were tiny.  Obviously, I loved the idea, so I raided the squishmallows, that I've already bought, in Sarah's basement.  I found 5 that were of comparable size/area of interest.

My next step was to cut apart an Aldi grocery bag, turn it inside out, tape on the label, then tape it back together.

I printed off the picture of the 'Crocker Easter Collection' so that they could have the full blind bag experience. 

Next up was squishing the stuffie into place!

And, finally I rolled up the top and bottom, securing them with a stapler.

Each bag has a mark to indicate which child gets which one, but it might be small enough to avoid detection. = )

Grace taped some eyes on her squishy ball.

The wind made a unique pattern on the bacon grease I set outside to cool.

Emily came home with a massive tear in her jeans, but this time I had my washable marker to make the pattern look more uniform.  I think it came out really cute! I did ask that next time she bring it to me when the hole is a little smaller. = 0

Juliet's playdoh creation.

Grace wanted a 'special' cup in which to make her chocolate milk.  So, she and Juliet spent time crafting some character cups using polystyrene that they found in the recycling bin. = )

Looking at the April calendar, I'm not quite sure when we'll find the time to craft, but I'm sure we'll squeeze it in somewhere!

later days