Garden and Nature

I have not been feeling my garden this year.  I planted, and pulled a few weeds, but it wasn't bringing me nearly the joy it did last year, so my plants are being choked out by weeds.  I even paid Emily and Grace to weed the garden that you can see from the road while we were gone, because it just looked so awful, and Grace and I had already cleared it once this summer!  We do have a pumpkin vine, but no pumpkins, or even female flowers, so probably no pumpkins this year. = (

That said, the girls did go out and collect tomatoes from one of the struggling plants, and they were so tasty! Our first heartvest of tomatoes this year.

A beautiful 'grocery store parking lot sunset' picture.

Our dead apple trees finally fell down, so we hired our lawn guy to take them out as well as the storm damaged tree. It was still alive, but he said it was going to damage the fence further if it fell any more.  So, it's gone now too, and our backyard looks so empty!  I think we might need to buy some baby trees and see if we can get some new ones growing!

The carrot plants went to seed last year, and seem to be growing really well!  I didn't cull them at all though, so they are small little things.

One of our landscaped plants, that we inherited with the house, makes these beautiful blooms every year, and every year I forget and find them beautiful!

I didn't include all of my nature pictures here this time, so there are still some mixed into our travel posts.

It's been a warm summer, which has been lovely for me, but I don't think that all of our plants have enjoyed it quite as much as I have!  Heading into a new season soon, which is sad, but I am looking forward to all the new colors!

later days

Alice Answers Her Birthday Survey: 16 years-old

I am  67*  years old.

My favorite color is: Baby pink
The coolest person on earth is: My sister
The thing I do best is: Sleep
If I could change my name, it would be: Alicex (The x is silent)
My favorite toy is: My phone
When I grow up, I want to be: Awesome
I like to watch: Youtube videos
My favorite song is: Bernadettee
My favorite book is: N/A reading is for betas
3 words to describe me are: The countryhuman ever
When I was little, I used to: Not be able to walk talk, and hardly see 
My favorite season is: Winter
The food I like most is: Pilsbury cookie dough
One food I really don't like is: Anything with too much seasoning
My best friend is: Aubrey
For my birthday I want to: Eat cookie dough
My best memory is: Finding out what countryhumans was

later days

you can find last year's survey here.

For the record, this post is actually being prepped three days before the birthday girl's big day!  We'll see how long it takes to get it filled in though. 

*the 67 is actually pronounced as the separate numbers and is a current trend on social media amongst the children.

editor's note: Alice changed the color to a lovely pink, but I sometimes change the background of my blog and want to be able to read it in the future.

edit 8-21-25: backdated BUT ONLY ONE DAY!!! for continuity.

First Day of School

Yesterday, in addition to being Alice's 16th birthday, it was also the first day of school, for everyone! 

It was early and overcast yesterday morning, so we had to 'stage' Alice, Emily, and William's pictures afterschool.  They came out super cute, so I'm not mad.

It was light enough by the time the twins were ready to go, so their pictures are time appropriate, as well as adorable.

And now for all of the bonus pictures.  Grace and Juliet always twin on day one and picture day, and then as they feel during the rest of the year.

We had a slight panic at the bus stop for the big kids, as a bus passed right by us about 3 minutes before their actual bus, which also came a few minutes early!  Sadly, this will be the case all year, so hopefully we'll be able to gauge our time appropriately each morning!

The twins' bus came a full 10 minutes before the posted time yesterday, and we were standing on the wrong side of the road, so the bus driver had to help us cross.  Their stop is the opposite direction from our house to where the big kids wait, but we're making it work!

And now the flashy, dark, not as aesthetically pleasing, early morning pictures.

By the time I got to Alice's I had already decided that we would be redoing it, but I wanted something, because sometimes something is better than nothing!

It was a pretty good first day.  Emily had band camp afterwards, and there was new paperwork to fill out and sign, plus the great supply swap, so it was kind of a late night too.  Hopefully we'll catch a bit of a break tonight. ; )

later days

edit 8-21-25: backdated for continuity.

Alice's 16th Birthday!

This year, Alice's birthday fell on the first day of school, for her sophomore year.  We all got up early (like 515) to sing to her and eat some cake! = )

We were all pretty tired, but I think some of the tired was attitude...

Her cake looked awfully pretty all lit up in the dark! 

I only got one picture of her blowing out the candles, and it was fuzzy!!! = (

She did liven up once she got to open her presents though.  Apparently, her card from Emily was really funny. 

When we did bedtime kisses, she did say that she felt like her day was overshadowed by the first day of school, and I totally get that.  Next year, her birthday and the first day of school will most likely be different!  She did say that a couple of her teachers and the lunch lady all told her happy birthday!

I love getting to see my Alice grow year after year, and hope that her next year is even better than the last! = )

later days

edit 8-21-25: backdated for continuity

One Last Zoo-rrah!

Since all five of my dear ones started school on the same day this year, we were all feeling the end of summer blues.  I thought one more trip to the zoo might be a fun way to spend a Monday.  

The weather was beautiful, and since everyone got to wake up naturally, no one felt sleepy or angry!  And, because of when we went, we got a really good parking spot, in the shade, since the early birds were done for the day!

A Michigan shaped leaf!

I don't have much to say about many of these pictures, just enjoyed being there with all of my babies!

Alice was our official Chipmunk counter at the zoo, and we saw 15 during our visit!  We also heard some, but Alice determined that those didn't count.

I had no idea that the Lion's Club sponsored this fountain!

Kookaburra looking regal as always!

They still had lettuce for sale at the Giraffe overlook, so everyone got to feed these magnificent creatures!  It was the first thing that everyone told Billy about when he got home, suffice to say, I think it was everyone's favorite activity.

"Do you have food?"

I was trying to see if the giraffe posters were a likeness for this giraffe, and I decided that they were not.

They must have recently fed the animals near the giraffe stand, because we saw many more of the animals from the book than we did the last two times!

"What did you find William?"

The app on my phone says it's a Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar!

Al has a bandage on his leg because of a recurring skin infection, but he came over to say hi anyhow!

The red river hog apparently thought it was too hot out.  But his ears were fabulous!

Emily and William (play) fighting over who gets to see the Red River Hog.  It's a shame that they couldn't look at the same time.  Strange children.

It looked like they were in the process of reopening this mine shaft path, but it was inaccessible this trip.

I sure am glad this was a staged snake and not a real one, because I didn't even see it when I walked into the restroom!

They were only running one tram, so we were the first in line for the next round, and a had a long wait! The twins found that they really enjoyed the frayed rope end.

I intentionally brought quarters to that everyone could feed the goats!  The bigger goats were definitely bullies though!

We didn't realize that you weren't supposed to feed the goats inside the enclosure, for good reason, those big goats were aggressive!  So, Emily is in there doing illegal things!

Can anyone look at a ring-tailed lemur and not start singing "I like to move it move it" in their head, or out loud? 

Alice's one request was to see the wolves, since she didn't come with us the second time to remedy that oversight.  It looked like they had posed for our visit!  So majestic.

The way that the python was posed, it reminded me of the animated movie Robin Hood, when Sir Hiss pouted by laying his head on his 'arms' made from his body.

As is tradition, we stopped at our favorite Chinese place, in Battle Creek, to pick up dinner.  When we sat down to dinner, I found that my piece of sweet and sour chicken was chicken shaped!

We made it home in time to eat and to hustle over to the twins' open house.  I'm thankful for one last summer adventure.  Now we are ready for school!

later days

edit 8-23-25: backdated for continuity.