Sept Blog

The month started very wet, and we found a few leaks in the basement. 

With all the rain we were getting it's not surprising. That is our walkway covered in water and puddles in the yard.

We had a pretty good storm come through, they even had Eliza's school shelter in place because there was a tornado watch. Turns out there was a tornado in Detroit, so we were spared. But the boys went out and collected branches from the yard. 

Evan found a frog in the yard while cleaning up.

When the kids have nothing to do on a rainy, they usually build forts. This is a two chamber reading fort. 

Evan is showing the design. They even had a lantern between their spots to read by.

After fort building it was on to bowling in the house in the entry way. 

So we figured out that the downspout that goes below the deck was not working, so this was our impromptu drain until we could pull up the deck boards to fix it. All of the water from the back half of the roof was going into the corner and into our basement.

We went to the basement to check if the quick fix by the deck was working and noticed our block windows on this side of the house looked like an aquarium. So we went over to that side of the house and pulled off the downspout. The downspout goes into the ground and we figured out the tree behind Mike sent a root down the underground drain and blocked it. So the downspout was clogged all the way up to where Mike is indicating. Now the downspout just goes into the yard which slopes towards the woods and away from the house.

This is our fix for under the deck. The elbow at the bottom broke, so Mike put a 4" hard pvc pipe there.

We had our first non-relative sleep over. Alex had his best bud Keaton over to spend the night. These two have been friends since 2nd grade when they met online during COVID. 

We had our last boat adventure at the Douglass house for the year. As you can see Eliza was not up to swimming or anything in or on the water (she's in the blanket), but the boys had a awesome last hurrah for the summer.

We had our monthly game night with the Degen family. Evan and Eliza are showing Ian the Minds Eye book. (The pictures you have to look at super long and they make a 3D image and also a find it book.)

Michelle, my bestie, is smiling because she knows she's going to win Wingspan.

You can't really see it, but we made a RC course in our front yard for Evan to invite his friend over to drive RC cars. We made a few jumps and partitions. 

This is our favorite waitress at Red Robin. We've known her for years and she is the nicest, warmest, beautiful inside and out lady. Her name is Kristina, if you are there be nice to her, she's amazing.

Taste testing poptarts at the library. The fall theme is breakfast foods. There are some interesting flavors out there. I liked the blueberry lemon, no one else did. The s'more one was a fan favorite.

Some pickings from the garden. 

The eggs made a smile but after the kids looked at it, it turned into a scared face. 

Evan went on a quick shopping trip with me, and look what he found. A GIANT bottle of pickles that had GIANT pickles in it. We had to get them with that face.

He was a happy boy, but our fridge got a lot smaller.

My dad came to stay with us for a few days. It was nice to have him hang out and talk with.

He enjoyed playing with Rosie, and Rosie enjoyed having someone play with her.

These orange/red zinnias remind me of my sister, because I stole the seeds from her plant when I visited her two years ago over the summer. The marigolds on the right are a nice match with them.

We toured the new elementary school that was built that none of my kids will go to. It's huge and has a two story slide inside, and this is Michigan made from Petoskey stones that hangs in the front office. 

I got a one pound six oz tomato out of the garden. These are seeds from a Bulgarian man that passed away last year and got some seeds from one of his tomatoes and started my own this year. They taste amazing. I've even shared them with my Uncle out in Washington and he's had fun this year taking an adventure with me in growing them from seed. 

Alex started playing in an orchestra this year, because he's not busy enough (eye roll), at the Hawk in Farmington. He's one of two trombones and the music is giving him a challenge, but he's up for it and so far so good. (he's in the last row, black hoodie, trombone in hand)

Evan and I went to an astronomy meet up one evening at Island Lake state park.

He got to pick up a meteorite named Yoda which was super heavy.

He got to see some cool model space rockets. Left is a US rocket, middle is a Russian, and right is SpaceX.

Alex helped make dinner one evening. We had Eggplant parmesan. 

We had a Monday off for a Jewish holiday so we decided to go to Greenfield Village and invite our friends the Douglass's. Turns out the Village isn't open on Mondays this time of the year, so we headed to the museum. The kids were old enough that we let them wander while we went our own way and we had all the time in the world to look at EVERY ornament in the Hallmark ornament area. It was amazing. 

Evan and Eliza built this log cabin out of Lincoln logs while we were there.

It had three levels.

Evan really wanted to go to the RC park on that Monday off, so I felt bad for him. After dinner we loaded up all the RC cars and headed to Novi. The kids had such a good time running the track.

Eliza went to the smaller track with our smaller RC car. She also had a good time. Mike and I froze, but enjoyed watching the kids having fun.

We headed to the library to make slime with Anna the best librarian. The kids don't really like slime, but they had a blast making it. They kept making me feel it... which I don't like slime. :)

Eliza made a horse face out of beads one morning.

Evan and Eliza got to use an apple peeler to help me make applesauce.

I can't believe I've never had them use it before. 

I made a double batch of pretzel bites and we...

... headed to our church Oktoberfest. We were joined by our friends the Christman family. The boys and I gave yodeling a try, Evan won a pickle ornament for our Christmas tree that we are supposed to hide and find. 

The boys made a nice picture

Alex and his friend also had fun.

We headed to Lansing after church to see Alex play in a Low Brass event that they held for young brass players. He spent the whole day with an MSU professor and learning two songs with other trombone players. He also really liked the campus which was really pretty. We were fortunate enough to have him get a ride there in the wee early morning (thank you Douglass family!), and Google got us off the freeway in time to avoid a giant backup on the freeway on the way home. 

Oh my goodness the headaches we are having with the bus this year. We have had our time move up from 7:15 to 7:06, and then they were showing up 13min earlier (6:54am) than our pickup time so the boys were literally running out the door, then they merged routes but didn't' tell us, the boys missed the bus at the middle school so they walked home and I was freaking out calling the school because they weren't on the bus, their bus driver got fired, now they are getting on the bus a 6:47am, when their school is a mile and a half away and it starts at 8am. Every week and almost every day I am on the phone with the bus garage and I have the director on speed dial on my phone.

Eliza chilling out waiting for the bus to arrive. 

A spider in my garden that has been getting me caught up in its web the last few months. It's huge.

I got a dehumidifier for Christmas a year or two ago, and I have only been using it for herbs. I decided to dehydrate tomatoes, and it worked great! At first they are like sun dried tomatoes then they become brittle. I plan on taking the brittle tomatoes and grinding them up in a powder to use as seasoning. I've also dehydrated the peppers from the garden and left over herbs from the store. Waste not want not.

Aug Blog

Our month started off helping at our church VBS (Vacation Bible School). The theme was Surf's Up, so we were busy decorating the church with beach themed things. The boys used a lot of their hot air on inflating a bunch of inflatables. Alex was on crafts for the week, Evan and I were on snacks and Eliza is still attending VBS.

Eliza got her first haircut. I've only trimmed it once or twice in her life, and she was ready for a haircut at last. She wanted someone professional to do it, and she's really happy. She didn't like all the snarls that were happening.

Here is her getting her hair cut by Kevin, who was recommended to us by the Douglass family. He was really nice.

We invited one of our family friends to join us for ice cream at DQ one day. They are trying to figure out what type of spider was on their car. I guess Mel has a spider IDer on her phone.

We were invited out on the lake by the Douglass family. 

Alex got to learn how to get up on the board to surf. He didn't give up and got up a few times, but he was shaking pretty good at the end.

Eliza was loving the knee board.

Evan might have found a new sport he really wants to do.

My onions curing in the basement to keep them out of the light and heat and have a fan on them to keep the air circulating. 

Alex was very happy to get a new trombone case. Now he won't have to re-tune his instrument every time he takes it out of the case. The tuning slide in the original case has to be pushed all the way in to fit in the case. 

Evan and Eliza were thrilled Alex's trombone case came in a giant box to play in.

The box didn't last very long.

Rosie is very much enjoying her perch in the front window now that she has a bird feeder there. She gets chipmunks, birds, squirrels all day long to watch. 

Someone drew smiley faces on the windows in the living room with their finger oil/dirt. So being no one would admit fault we had each kid clean a window. Alex decided he enjoyed this task so much, and enjoyed seeing out the windows so much, he cleaned all the lower story windows inside and out, including the sliding glass doors.

We took the kids to BW3's for the first time. It was really cold in there, and the sauces were too hot for most of us, but it is good to try new things.

Clayton came for a visit to pick up some chairs we got from a neighbor. The boys talked him into playing a new game with them, thankfully he made it home before the rain.

Alex and Evan helping out a neighbor kid with his RC car.

I made eggnog for Mike which requires 12 egg yokes, so I had to think of something to use 12 egg whites with... and Alex decided Angle Food Cake. So we made Angle Food cake from scratch together. 

Ta da! Not too shabby. Tasted great!

Alex's good friend Oliver moved away early in the summer. We were lucky enough to have him over for a day to hang out. The kids decided to strip the power wheel of all it's electronics while he was over. They had so much fun unscrewing everything and disassembling it. They hope to install the drives and such into another platform to continue using it.

We headed to the twilight session at the splash pad. We had the whole place to ourselves for about 15 min, but less than 10 people came so they mostly had the whole place to themselves.

Evan saw a huge spider web in the tree one morning he had to show me. I had to use him as a backdrop to be able to see it.

The boys had a thing at the library so the rest of us hung out reading our books waiting. I love our library.

We visited with Oma and my friend Emily and her daughter, Lila, at my sisters house one day. The kids got to swim and play while the rest of us caught up. 

These tomatoes are amazing. Wish I could share them through the web with you all.

All packed up for Ludington to visit Uncle Geoff. The telescope came with us this time. It's tricky to pack it and the rest of the stuff we need for 6 days.

When we got into town we at ate House of Flavors.

Alex, Geoff and I split the Pig Out for dessert. 4 scoops of ice cream on a banana with toppings, whip cream and a cherry. We tried Michigan Pot hole, Carrot cake, Pirates Treasure, and Raspberry Chip Cheesecake.

We finished!!!

And earned a pin!

Evan entertained the dogs with his RC car until it ran out of batteries. Uncle Geoff gets to look out at this every day. 

We took it in while we could.

Uncle Geoff took the boys out on the skidoo but I was too chicken to learn to use it. 

He took us out on his boat and showed us the lake.

We had a great time.

He took the kids tubing, but after a few laps they called it quits and asked for more air in it.

We visited "Grandpa" Bart while we were in the area. He has been working on getting an old school bus up and running as a RV. He has been working on this since his wife passed a few years ago. Took out all the seats and has put in all this wood by hand.

We took him to lunch at a nearby diner that was amazing! I loved their kids menu.

This was the kids menu

Mike saw this on the wall and I thought it was fun enough to share.

It was nice to see "Grandpa" Bart if it was only for a bit.

We got back to Uncle Geoff's and did some swimming.

Eliza and I enjoying our boat while the boys and Uncle Geoff play on the doc to see who will fall off first.

Eliza's headphone holder was her kitty.

We got in a round of disc golf while were were there. We really enjoyed this course.

We visited the Northern light house.

And took a tour of it.

That was pretty neat. There were an amazing amount of spiders everywhere. Turns out Mike and I bought a picture of this very lighthouse long ago when I lived in Royal Oak, we've had it in our living room for years and just now know which one it was of. Evan pointed it out when we got back. 

In the evening we went over to the state park to see the sunset.

The kids had fun playing in the water.

Alex and Geoff kept saying "Firstborns Unite!" because they share a special bond of always being right and having the same opinion on everything.

Evan got his telescope out and got some nice pictures of the moon.

Mosquitoes love me so I bundled up as much as I could to stay out with Evan to star gaze. 

Lovely picture of the moon on the water.

My attempt at getting a picture of the stars in the view finder in one area we were looking at. We hope to visit this fall/winter again to see the stars at 7pm vs 11pm and stay out longer without any bugs trying to eat us. 

We took in a game of bowling while we were there. Evan thought he left his hoodie here so we were trying to call them the next day on our way home so Uncle Geoff  could pick it up. Uncle Geoff went as far as to go to where we had dinner in town as well. Turns out it was in the car the whole time under a bag. Thank you Uncle Geoff for trying so hard to find it when we had it all along. 

Is there anything Evan can't do?! Eliza and I shared her round.

We can't visit Uncle Geoff and not watch The Price is Right!

We also got in a game of Cards Against Humanity (Family Edition) or as Evan says   "Cars against Humidity"

Oh my goodness the fighting between Evan and Eliza while we were there. If they weren't fighting they were sleeping.

But once you get them apart they did ok.

On our way back we stopped for lunch. Evan ordered breakfast and made himself a fish winking at himself out of syrup, not intentional but a happy coincidence.

Doing laundry and putting their feet up to read a book after a great week in Ludington.

We made it to orientation for Evan. Alex volunteered to help at the event, while Evan and I got his ID, schedule and computer, and we took the time to walk his schedule. 

The line to get your ID never went down, it was so so long in a very hot hallway. I stood in it again for Alex so he could get his ID updated and it took almost an hour and a half to get to the end.

With Mperks points you can get a dollar off gas. Mike and I both needed gas so we went to Meijer and pumped up at the same pump.

Saved $25!

James is headed to Michigan Tech this year. Thankfully he didn't get away without saying goodbye and we were able to secure him a train rug to take with him to put in his dorm room. 

The things the kids think of while we are the Degen's for game night. I never really understand what they get up to in the basement. One thing I do know, is they are always having fun.  Evan was able to figure out how to play Happy Birthday on a rubber chicken while we were there.

I love it when Evan helps in the garden. He's trimming basil so we could make pesto. Yummmmmmm!!

My onions finished curing and I got them prepped for storage.

We made a Baker's Bakery making Cheezits. You may have seen it. ;) 

Mrs. Degen gave Eliza these really pretty stick on nail polish. I might be the worst person on the planet for this job, but we got it done. Now Eliza has pretty nails. 

You know those tomatoes I'm growing... they make the BEST BLTs!!!! 

Finally got to a movie at the theater this summer. We usually go a few times to the $5 shows, but it's just been so busy. We saw The Wild Robot.

While Alex was chewing on a milk dud in the theater he leans over and tells me he lost a tooth. So this is his milk dud encapsulated tooth that I wrapped in a napkin and put in my pocket. I put it in hot water until the tooth was out. The things we do for our gross children.

Eliza's popsicles with the principal went ok. We got ice cream and such, but then Alex hit Eliza in the face with a bar or swing, I think, and she got a bloody nose. So she had to go through the school and see her teachers with a bloody nose, which she was so embarrassed to do.

After Eliza's school we went to the new Sheiko building that just opened and toured it. This building is less than a mile from our house, and is K-5, but Evan just got to the Middle School and Eliza is in a different school for her Magnet program. So none of the kids will go to this brand new school that takes less than 5 min to get to. 

Alex and Eliza have a habit of dropping their books on the landing while walking by. Just a slight shove and they will topple down the stairs. 

We held our annual ice cream social.

Evan and Eliza did a great job at decorating the road and driveway to make people feel welcome.

We had a pretty good turn out for the event. Always nice to see the neighbors and catch up.

Eliza was one of the winners for the summer reading challenge. She read, I think, 5000+ hours since the beginning of summer. She's been reading nonstop. It started when Mr. Malisow gave us some books and she found a series she liked, then she needed another, and another. Then I gave her a book that was 3" thick and she was super scared to read it, but we explained that it's just a bunch of her smaller books in one bigger book. Now she's plowing through 4" books. We have another Alex on our hands.

Her gift basket was a crafting basket. Evan was jealous because last year she was also picked but on the second go round.  Eliza decided to give Evan one of her stuffed animals she won with the frog hat.

I've been seeing a hummingbird in the garden in the mornings. It's nice I can hear them before I see them.

We have some new neighbors across the street. They are fast becoming Evan's good friends. They are super friendly and nice, and they love being outside just like him. They are bare feet shirtless bandits, but really good kids that we are enjoying getting to know. They are on the younger side, but not by much. Boy (10), boy (8), girl (4).  

Alex's first day of school 

Evan's first day of school 

Eliza's first day of school

These kids need to be up by 6:30 now to get on the bus on time. The boys are out the door by 7:10 and Eliza at 8:10. So far all is well getting them going and we are all adjusting to them being back to school. It already isn't very light outside, wonder what it will be like in a month.

Ready to go.

Another school year begins!