William Answers His Birthday Survey: 11 years old

 I am 11 years old.

My favorite color is: green
The coolest person on earth is: Mutti
The thing I do best is: play games
If I could change my name, it would be: john
My favorite toy is: red teady
When I grow up, I want to be: an engineer
I like to watch: YouTube
My favorite song is: music makes you lose control (detriment)
My favorite book is: Investigators
3 words to describe me are: Happy, sleepy, working
When I was little, I used to: take stuff from my sisters
My favorite season is: N O V E M B E R
The food I like most is: Barbeque sandwich 
One food I really don't like is: Ramin noodles [ramen noodles]
My best friend is: riley
For my birthday I want to: go to the trampling park [trampoline park]
My best memory is: Going to a tens Cort  [tennis court]

later days

William's 11th Birthday and Last Night as a 10-year-old Pictures

The pictures here might look out of order, but this is how it really happened!

Since all of the girls had robotics obligations on his actual birthday, William graciously agreed to let us celebrate him a day early!

So, on Friday, November 10th, we sang happy birthday and enjoyed William's 11th birthday cake for breakfast! = )

He got to pick one present to open before school, but had to wait until after school to open the rest of the pile.

That night, we took his last night as a 10-year-old pictures!

We did our best to celebrate him as much as possible the next day, though I personally saw him very little. Billy took him to McDonald's on their way to the robotics competition in Battle Creek and he got his 'big' gift of a Roblox gift card on his actual birthday, which was kind of exciting for him I think!

I'm so happy that this little boy is mine! Happiest of birthdays to my favorite little boy in the entire world!

later days

you can check out his birthday party here. and his invitations here. and his survey answers here.

If you want to see how much he changed in a year, you can see his last birthday here!

edit: backdated for continuity 12-24-23

Musings about Age

In just a few days (Saturday) William will turn 11.

Once this happens, my children will all be the same age as the year of one of their siblings' birth!

Alice is 14, the twins were born in 2014

Emily is 12, William was born in 2012

William will be 11, Emily was born in 2011

Grace and Juliet are 9, and Alice was born in 2009

I just thought it was interesting.

2013 was the year of no children, and there is a space of (under) 5 years between the oldest/youngest.

I was thinking about it with my sisters, and I'll be 89 before this happens with us!  And I don't know if it will or not, because of partial years (being born in a month within a year vs just a year, will it line up with our birth months too?)

Either way, for us it will last until Emily's next birthday in March, and I thought it was neat. = )

later days

Tami's 41st Birthday

I had an amazing birthday this year! On Thursday night Emily and Grace made my cake, with no sprinkles!!! Emily shredded up a chocolate bar to use instead. = )

Billy took the cake picture, so you see the barely awake twins in the background. ; )  We broke out the "1" and "4" for the third time this year!

Surrounded by my favorite people!  They gave me some fancy (handmade) cards and an all-inclusive plant starter kit for the spring!!

After getting everyone off to school, I came back home to wait for Kristy, so that we could go get some coffee and go to a once-a-month sale at the State of Michigan warehouse!

I want to put out there, lest someone think poorly of me, that I didn't tell Kristy that it was my birthday, I was just happy to go out and spend the day with someone.  She, however, read on FB before she came, that it was my birthday and made my day super special!

At the ice cream store, she bought my pumpkin spice latte!  (I was also able to put a bug in the ear of one of the workers about maybe carrying eggnog flavoring for the Christmas season!)

We went straight to the state sale and both of us got some goodies!  One of the things I bought Grace was a Polaroid Go camera (think a tiny polaroid) because she'd asked for something similar for Christmas.  I ordered some film (for more than the camera cost) and it came in today (Sunday!)  Emily helped me try it out, before I gift Grace a broken camera for Christmas!

After that we went to the Mission thrift store, and both of us bought a handful of item. They are more of an upscale place, so the prices tend to be higher.

Then, it was back to the state sale because Billy actually wanted one of the tools they had.  And both of us bought a few more things!

Our next stop was Aldi, to get a couple of advent calendars (and several other things, because it's Aldi, of course!)

The final stop of the day was a flour mill!!!! It was the only thing that either of us found at the VOA, but she was excited for me and I was super excited, it was even the style that I wanted!  I really can't wait to make flour next year!  My mom found me a dehydrator, and now with the mill, and the grinder, I have all the components!!!

Oh, but to digress a bit, Kristy also bought this for me as a birthday gift!  She got to use her veteran discount, which brought down the price closer to $4, which is even more of a steal!!!  I was so excited.  I tried it out on some table salt when we got back to the house, and it totally made the salt into a powder. = )  Not to mention how pretty it is!

For dinner, I got the kids McDonalds, since the big girls are now in robotics Th/F with the upcoming competition this Saturday. (Alice had to be bribed.)  Sarah came over to hang out with the crew, while Billy took me to Ukai, the adult party headquarters of Lansing!

I had no idea that it would be so popular, but someone at our table was celebrating, and a few of the PTO ladies that I know were celebrating two of their relations too!!

It had been a long time since we'd had hibachi prepared food, and it was marvelous!  The restaurant was really, really cold though, so I had on my jacket, and absolutely took advantage of their complimentary green tea!

 It was a very happy birthday indeed!  Thank you everyone for making me feel so loved and spoiled!

later days

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.

4th Grade Robotics

William was not drawn in the lottery for robotics last year, so this year I did what I could to get the twins signed up.  Since I knew better how our days would actually look, I also signed up to be a mentor.

I've enjoyed seeing them work! They are learning how to code, and teamwork, and patience, and how to overcome obstacles as a team.  It's been super awesome to see them grow as a group.

Juliet's bff Kennedy is also on the team, so she has really enjoyed that.

One of the middle school robotic team members came to help one day!

The robot has to complete some pre-programmed tasks, as many as possible in 2:30!

It's a great group, and I hope they rock out on Saturday!

 later days

All the Other Pieces

These are all the little things that don't fit with the other posts, but that I want to remember!

Somehow we missed this summer's ophthalmologist appointment, and when I realized my mistake (they usually call me!) I couldn't get an appointment until February!!!   So, poor Juliet is still having to patch daily for three hours, hence all of the pictures of her in her patch!

That said, she made an adorable micro-city out of Legos! = )

Kristy gifted us some venison stew meat, and since Thursdays are my primary day to sub and the twins have their robotics meeting (and so do the big girls) I've been crock-potting Thursday meals each week.  To make it special I bought some bread bowls from Panera (just like I did with the murder mystery party) and all of the kids really liked it!!

I remembered to take a picture this go round!!!

We rescued a metal duck from our yard sale this summer.  We're not sure where he came from, but we've named him 'yardie' and we hide him around the kitchen for fun. = )

When the Backstreet Boys came on Mosaic one day, Grace was telling me that they sound just like the band in Turning Red!  I told her this was totally intentional, and she asked if they got their sound from the movie.... I laughed really hard.

The kids broke out some building materials and had some creative time!

Magnets:

Foam blocks (I had to clear them out of the basement, because Billy bought a case of coffee cups, and we needed the space!)

A sheet that I bought for Emily to cut up for her school dance, but that she thought was fun to play in, and then she had company!

Out shopping we found a Christmas Moose for Aunt Rocky!  (but she didn't want it. lol)

On a particularly rainy day, the volunteer opportunity for which I had signed up did not need me.  Since it was also the day of parent-teacher conferences at the big kids school I didn't want to go far.  I ended up at McDonald's with my book and a nice hot latte until it was time to return.

Picture day for the twins!!!

Eatran: On the go! (IYKYK)

A cute little ceramic mushroom in the greenery.

Happy to have all these little memories documented for another day.

later days