All the Other stories

These pictures didn't really fit anywhere else, so I'm adding them here.

My mom and a I drove up to Owosso for a rummage sale.  It's only about an hour away, but far enough that we wanted to explore a little bit afterward.  We ended up in the most organized junk shop ever.  Things were piled together, but the aisles were tall and packed and layered with any number of items!  It wasn't dirty or smelly as these places can be, but there was a LOT to look at.  The gentlemen ran a sign store too, and so there were signs for every occasion!  Naturally, when I saw Hank Williams, I had to take a picture* to share with Billy! 

And I've officially read the CB Strike series too many times, because my first thought was, oh, would this be something he could use? lol. 

After a doctor's appointment in Charlotte, I had around 40 unplanned minutes before the thrift shops opened.  Thankfully, there was a Biggby nearby, and so I got some coffee to enjoy before going shopping! 

Billy and I went to Beerfest at the Ballpark last weekend.  It was a chilly day, but didn't rain on us like the last Beerfest we went to!

I do love the setup of this stadium (even though their purse policy drives me crazy**.)

These seats were different, and we don't know why, but the red part is chipping paint, so they were green to match the other seats once upon a time.  My guess is that they are for someone being honored there that game?  There was no placard, and I feel like I don't end up at many baseball games here, but plenty of events!

Two of the revelers had some fancy accessories!   There was a guy in a beer hat.

And a guy with beer stein socks!!  They were way cool.  But it was a chilly day, so he might have suffered in the name of fashion. 

The pizza was served in base shaped boxes!  So cute. = )

This 'modern' design totally makes me think of my childhood, when we had 70s leftovers.

Our Uber driver dropped us off right at the entrance, but we thought it might be a little tricker for them to find where to pick us up, so we walked the mile down to a bar called Leroy's that Billy has wanted to visit for forever!  

We crossed under 496, and between the roads, rivers, and bike lanes, the space underneath the interstate is totally broken up!

When we arrived, it turns out that even my mom has been here before us!  Despite sounding like a dive bar, it was actually more of a diner!  That wasn't a bad thing, but we were tired and not terribly hungry, so we ordered and took it to go.

And our Uber driver, Elvis, had no problem finding where to collect us.

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I'm retelling a story that my mom told me from last week, because I would like to laugh about it for years to come.

One day when my mom collected Emily from track, Emily was telling her that she was pulled out of class for a superlatives picture! She was voted "Most Likely to Save the World." My mom obviously thought that was pretty cool, but when she said as much to Emily, Emily responded, yeah, it would be, except that last year Alice was voted "Most Likely to Take Over the World."

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During a different week, for lunch Billy and I went to Dagwoods.  We didn't have any expectations, so they had a fighting chance, but it turns out that they are really good!  It is a total dive bar, and the decor makes it look like you are on the 'outside;' just like in Night at the Roxbury!  Though, the outside doesn't look like the inside.

Billy's olive burger didn't come with a tray or plate or anything, just wrapped in wax paper!  Apparently, Billy wasn't ready for me to take a picture. lol.

My Philly cheesesteak was the best I've had since moving up here!  Now I know where to go when I have a craving!

On the first day of walking Alice, Emily, William, Grace, and Juliet to either their bus stops or school, I stopped on the way home for an iced latte from our little shop here in town.  It totally hit the spot, and made a beautiful day even better!

Kristy was telling us about the price of common painkillers increasing with the tariffs going into effect.  While I'm not terribly concerned, it was a cheap enough purchase to keep and store, just in case.

For reading night, Emily came with me, because I thought I was running a book sale in the library, and I wanted the twins to have someone they could quickly reach out to if they needed someone.  The sale ended up not happening, so I was able to attend with them after all!

The blacklight pens were so popular, they had to shut the room down before the event was over!

Comparing answers.  Don't we all wish we could have a twin!?

Grace playing a different game with Renae.

And Emily participated a bit, but in lieu of her peers spent time on phone.

My haul from the Mason Methodist Church and Mason Presbyterian Church sales!

One of my best rummage sale finds, so far, this season was a snap circuit kit! William played with it all evening, and included Grace when she was home.  This must have been on the Reading night!

I got a heart shaped chip!

I was nearby a restaurant that had 'famed' Dubai bar desserts.  I tried it, but was not super impressed.  I liked it enough to later buy one from Horrocks that was much better!  The inside was more of a nougat, vs the crunchy feel of the one pictured here.

Heleena had her birthday party, the weekend before the twins', at the Charlotte pool!  It was a really neat party, and her mom said that it wasn't very expensive!  Maybe our next party can be there!  Everyone in this picture was at the twins' party the following week, plus a few more. = )

Juliet and Kennedy spent the most time in the pool while I was there!

It's been a fun month, and May is looking just as enjoyable! = )

later days

*for $22 a picture was preferable to buying the sign which would essentially just be junk, as it has nowhere to go!

**only tiny purses, 4x6 maybe?, are allowed, or slightly larger clear ones.  That's fine, but men have cargo shorts that are literally larger than that!  I don't understand how my purse is more of a security issue than a man's pocket.  It always seems to be cold when we go, but sometime, I swear I'm going to wear men's cargo pants and hove my purse into one pocket and my skirt into another, just to see what happens.

Living to the Full in Fourth Grade!

The twins were able to serve as Safteys at the same time this year!  About the time they were over it, it was time for the next group to keep the kindergartners safe!  (Grace is shorter than Juliet, but this picture definitely exaggerates the situation!)

Grace got in all of her recommendations super quick, so that she could be VIP early in the year!  She was actually the first one, but Billy and I were in Germany when I got the email from their teacher, and I didn't want to stick my mom with yet another responsibility, so I said we'd wait.  

I helped her make up her word search, so that she could just copy it, but decided to use the one that I made.  I sent an answer key to the teacher, just in case I misspelled something! 

Her poster turned out really cute, and very Grace!

We went to family reading night, but Billy and Emily both had other engagements, so they didn't come.  Alice was on her own schedule, so we didn't see much of her, but she was under strict orders not to leave the building.

Everyone had a fun time, and Grace and Juliet both won an invisible ink pen from the raffle the next day!

One day, when I was working as the para in Grace and Juliet's classroom, we went for a nature walk!  I was the caboose of the group and took some cute pictures.  I won't post the ones of the class here, but I did see some cool moss!

Grace and Juliet were assigned the assignment from he)) last week.  It is the first 'last' that I've not been sad to see go!

It's an estimation/multiplication page that has five single digit numbers and five triple digit numbers, and you are expected to match them to meet the criteria.  Some aren't so bad (make the lowest product) but others are just cruel, find a number with only digits of 2 and 9 and there are 6 options!

Alice was so frustrated when she had it 5 years ago, and we did our best, but after an hour or so I had her turn it in unfinished.  With William, I was able to help better, but we still did not finish!  Finally, on my third iteration, I found a system that helped them without giving them the answer!

They had to make an attempt on their own first.  If they did not find the correct answer, I would give them one of the numbers from the answer.  If they were still unable to find the second number, I would give it to them, and they would calculate the product.

Since the practice was supposed to be multiplication, I didn't feel bad about this method in the least and finally had children* finish the assignment!!!!

As a child, I personally would have just solved every combination (by the time you do the page, you've pretty much done that anyhow) so that I could easily match the answer to the problem.  The issue was, I couldn't convince mine to solve the 25ish combinations at the onset.

But it's all fine now, it is over, and I never have to help with this particular assignment ever again!

later days

 *Emily was homeschooled for fourth grade and never had this particular assignment, though I fully expect that she would have finished it.