Alice "H" Awards Ceremony

Students at Alice's high school can earn an H through a few avenues, but the primary way is by having a 3.75 or better GPA during the spring semester of the previous year or fall semester of the current year.  This means that freshman have a single opportunity to ear their H and Alice rocked it.

Look at how close her name is to the top!  I looked and as a high schooler I would have been closer to the end than she is to the beginning of this list!

So, Alice wears this adorable outfit to school, but she wears it with white sandals. Since this was supposed to be a 'dressy' kind of event I asked her to wear some closed toed shoes.  She picked my gardening shoes, as we were rushing out the door, to which the soles are duct taped at this point, because they are only used in my garden. There was no time to problem solve.  And, because she really wanted to drive home the "former homeschooler" look, she wore thick fuzzy socks with them.  She also stood away from the other kids until enough were on the stage to force her to close ranks.

I'm so proud of my Alice, and she marches to her own drum, which is equal parts terrific and terrifying!

The twins were in the audience to support her, and gave her a big "H" afterwards.  Billy had to duck out early to collect Emily and William from a track meet.

At least from this angle you can't see the duct tape.

Very proud of my Amazing Alice!

later days

edit 6-6-25: backdated for continuity.

Other Happy Little Things

These pictures don't really fit anywhere else, so I will collect them here, along with their stories. 

Warm enough for these crazy kids to suit up and play with water balloons!  Then it got cold again, so they couldn't play the next day.

For Juliet's birthday, she got a clay jewelry kit.  On day one, she and Juliet made some cute jewelry, and I used up excess to make some beads.  I hadn't read the instructions, so I thought it was an air-dry kit, but when the clay was still squishy the next day, I read that it had to be cooked.  The beads didn't quite fill up the shallow bowl she has for her craft show display, so we made some more beads the next weekend, but it was late, so they were on the stove, ready to cook the next morning.  Emily was the last one up and I woke up to a cute little bead display the next morning.

With the warmer weather, cold fruits and vegetables are appetizing once again!

During the course of April, I think all five had their annual check-ups.  Grace and Juliet were paired, as usual, and whined about missing recess for this appointment. 

Since they did end up getting shots for this appointment, we stopped at a park afterward.

I took a picture of this bridge after I had crossed it.  The natural course of the walking path is clockwise, and you can see how warn the used path is.

In contrast, this bridge, that runs from the parking lot to the playground has an equal use in each direction.  I hope I explained that well, I found it mildly interesting, and wanted to share.

The twins wanted to read the book walk, and both of them participated in the activity at each station.

They really wanted to touch the water, but the banks looked really muddy, and I did not want a child to fall into the water.  They attempted to touch the water from the dock, but it was too low (or their arms were too short.)

So, I allowed them to go down just outside the dock, as long as they were holding on to the railing. = )

On the day that I subbed in Grace and Juliet's class, Juliet took first place in their Blooket game!

And, somehow, for a third year in a row, I managed to sub on the ice cream day of teacher appreciation week!  This is also Grace's third year on student council, so she served me ice cream for a third year! = )

The new water bottles look so pretty all lined up!  But I can't convince Alice to switch over.  I also can't convince her to load her water bottle each night, so the one pictured is the backup, into which I put her ice, so that she can refill her actual bottle each morning.

I guess that's it for this round, but one day I hope to look back and remember something that I may have forgotten.

later days

Views of Spring

The twins have a week and a day until their school is out for summer!  The mornings have still been chilly and rainy, and with so few days left, I've tried to enjoy every single walk!

The new leaf pierced through the old leaf as it grew!

After reading the cookbook* that offered me new perspective, I look forward to this bush flowering each spring now!  And will probably forever associate it with the twins' fourth grade publishing party!

One of the trees at the twins' school looked so pretty, I had to try to get a picture!  It was so much better in person though.

When we got back from Emily and William's band concert, the tops of the trees looked like they were on fire!

And we spotted a rainbow!  If you look closely, you can see it in the other picture too!

The dew clinging to the grass seeds looked too cool.

Nicole gave me some sweet William last year, and it thrived!  It's so pretty, and green and healthy looking!  She said it might even flower this year! = )

New growth on this evergreen is a bright green color!

The moon was big and bright, long before the sunset.

I usually hear the woodpecker, but rarely see it.  These holes might be the work of a woodpecker?

I think all springs in Michigan are chilly, but knowing how short lived the morning walks will be this spring, has me thankful for each and every morning we do get to walk!

later days

 *The title is Big Heart, Little Stove by Erin French and while it seems strange that a cookbook could inspire me this much, it has been over a year, and I'm still benefiting from the read, so no regrets!

Grace's Ice Cream Creation

Last Thursday, it was announced that Grace was the first place winner of the ice cream sundae design competition!  For each one the store sells, they are donating money to the PTO at her school. = )

I'd originally told her that we would collect her prize after they were out of school, and before the big kids got out, because we would be looking for things to do.  After sleeping on it, I reconsidered, because when are you the most excited to give out prizes? Right after you award them, right?

So, Friday evening, after a pizza dinner, we drove over, as this is not our local ice cream shop, but rather the one in Holt, and Grace got to see her creation brought to life!

They have a lovely chair available for photographs, so we had group and individual shots!

Even I was able to squeeze onto the giant chair with my little ones. = )

Ironically, they didn't yet have the prizes available, but we will be back to cheer on our Grace and support the school!

later days

Creating: Cooking and Crafting

The past few weeks have been busy, but not much in the way of crafting or picture worthy cooking!  I made a meal from the Kroger recipe section, but ended up with these awful noodles that made messes every time I used them: cooking, storing, reheating!  

The noodles came in odd amounts for what I needed, so I ended up with a poor noodle to sauce ratio, which was a shame, because I feel like this meal could have been great, and it was mediocre at best. = (  Everyone did enjoy the shrimp though!

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As a fundraiser, the robotics team asked for donations for a bake sale.  Emily and William had to help me make the treats, but I found these cute little (off season) square bottomed papers, unopened, at a rummage sale!  They turned out to be an ideal size for the goodies we made.

First up are Emily's contribution: monster cookies.  They were on sale, after Easter, egg shaped cookies. I still see the egg shape, but everyone else's first comment was 'monster' so I think they must have been okay.

William's treat was two pans worth of brownies!  I was able to fit everything in two extra large bags and one small bag*!  

One final craft was a picture Grace drew of one of the Lansing Lugnuts.  They are having a competition where they want kids under 13 to send in a picture of their 'favorite' Lugnut.  Grace didn't have a preference, so we picked the Tech alum!  I felt like she did a great job.  And, they had an option where you could mail it in instead of signing up for an account online, so we did that.  = )  Winners will be chosen after May 18th.

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of it until after it was already out in the mailbox, so she had to run out to grab it, so that I could snap my picture!  I'm really glad that I have a picture of it though**. 

This post is making me feel like we haven't been very creative this month, but I think it's misleading, and we've just had bigger projects that are getting their very own posts. = )

later days

*I told William that three bags is essentially my entire allotment for the year!  Sadly, I had no appropriate boxes to put them in, and I had to make them two days before we sent them in because Monday was too busy, so the bags also kept the baked goods from drying out.

**When I go to print out the blog maybe I'll remember to include the picture I saved from the website that she used as a reference, but that's a good half year away, so probably not.  I don't want to put it in now, lest they send me some sort of cease-and-desist order and make me delete my blog.  I'd be super sad.  

Mother's Day 2025

My big ask for Mother's Day this year was a trip to the Binder Park Zoo.  Since we ventured down on the Saturday before, we spent a lazy Sunday recovering.

The day started with Emily and Grace bringing me breakfast in bed. = )

Then I got to open my cards and gifts.  The cards have gotten fancier over the years to be sure!  And Grace and Juliet made me some coasters in class, and each bought me some candy*!  

I spent the day working through my chores, but fewer of them, since Emily and Grace unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher in the morning, and Alice made up the leftovers for everyone for lunch!

So, after a lazy day, Grace came with me on a walk in our little park.  She wanted to wade in the river, but that water was cold!!!

The green one was her favorite find.

The rest of her collection.

It was the most pleasant of weekends, with beautiful weather both days and time with all my favorite people!  I hope all the moms out there had as wonderful of a day!

later days

*I love the milk duds that Grace bought me, but had to split them with the kids, because last time I had them I could hear my dental work shifting.  = (  The kisses from Juliet were nice and soft though, and I didn't share those.

edit 5-14-25: backdated for continuity.