July Blog

We started out the month with loosing power at 4am, and not getting it back until 8pm. It was one of the 100+ heat index days, so the kids and I closed all the shades in the house and went out to breakfast at Coney. We got big cups of ice water to bring home and stopped on the way to home to get ice for the fridge. The house only got up to 77 degrees downstairs and 85 upstairs, so that was nice. The kids and I went to my sisters for the day and we enjoyed time with their Aunt
Shawn and Maggie.

Eliza and I had a girl day, I don't remember why. So we painted her nails and worked on her learning embroidery. 

While Eliza and I were painting her nails we heard a noise in the house. Found out it was the dryer belt that snapped. So Mike and I took apart the 40 year old dryer and I vacuumed it out while he went and bought a new belt. 

This is how fuzzy the motor was. We were able to use a Youtube video to figure out how to put the belt on and within an hour we were up and running again.

On the 4th everyone in the neighborhood was gone, so we had a little party on our own with the fireworks we bought. 

Uncle Geoff was so very kind in driving all the way down from Ludington to spend time with the kids at his house in Fraser so they could swim. They were fish, and he spoiled them rotten with sweet treats and fun. Uncle Geoff kicked me out midday and kept the kids so Mike and I could have an evening just to ourselves.

We headed to a new restaurant and watched a movie with our time. It's funny when you get paralysis when you have no kids and don't know what to do with your time. The house was so quiet at night, it felt strange, and no one came to wake me up in the morning.

The kids got to watch Toy Story while they were at Uncle Geoff's and Alex slept in the deep dark basement all on his own. 

Uncle Geoff made the BEST cholate chip waffles for breakfast (this picture is of pizza they had for dinner), all the kids want me to get his recipe. They swam more and then Uncle Geoff dropped them off on the way back to Ludington.

Eliza has been in a reading frenzy this summer. She has the reading bug for sure. This is the house reading spot lately for everyone.

Garden was going strong this month.

Alex has been painting D&D figures for his game he was hosting. 

He set up in the playroom.

Evan wanted to help and set up in the kitchen at the counter.

Eliza also wanted to help and set up in the library.

These are only a few of the creatures they painted.

The kids all got penicillin tests. It was recommended by the allergist that we get them tested to see if they are actually allergic to it still. They all had hives when they were babies when  they got it, so we thought we would see if they still couldn't take it. There were three tests, first was a scratch test which they all passed.  Next was the under the skin bubble test, Eliza did not pass. Lastly was taking an oral pill of penicillin to see if there was a reaction, both the boys did not have a reaction. So the boys are clear to take penicillin, but Eliza will need to retest in 3-5 years.

Getting the shots in the arm was the worst. Eliza left a wet face on my shirt once she was done getting all hers.

We were all in a tiny room for the 3+ hours they were testing. We passed the time with games.

The microscopes have made another appearance. Always cool to see things in such detail. I need to work with the kids in putting things on slides to look at. Currently they are just looking at premade slides.

Alex was able to get a picture through the microscope of rag weed or something using my phone.

This is my 7ft mullein plant. There are many medicinal uses and you can let it dry out and dip the end in wax and use it for a torch. I love it, Mike can't cut it down soon enough. 

Our little redwood is doing well. I gave it some fairy friends to keep it company. 

D&D camp for a week was fun. Evan made a sign to welcome everyone as they were dropped off.

I had 9 kids in the house from 9am-4pm for a week. The big boys sat at the tables the church let us borrow for the week and played through a few campaigns. 

The littles did some cooking with me and playing games together.

There were breaks where everyone played together and ran around the house playing Among Us.

Many battles ensued with the figures the kids were painting. 

Eliza and I took a TV up to my bedroom to watch 101 Dalmatians. Turns out she hasn't seen a lot of the older Disney movies, so I'm trying to catch her up this summer. We just watched The Sword in the Stone this week, and I want to watch the Fox and the Hound as well. 

Eliza and her friend had many craft options. Spin art, painting rocks, etc.

We had a great time at the Degen house for our monthly game night.

Adults had a good time too.

Evan was helpful in climbing up on the table by the garden to help me harvest a cucumber that was way too high for me to get to.

Thank you Evan, you are my hero.

A groundhog got into the garden and ate my green beans, two of my tomatoes...

and my bolted lettuce. I was thankful I saw him in the lettuce or I might not have seen him at all.

So we have added bricks to the garden door area and put blood meal all the way around the garden. He fit under the door some how.

We headed to the library this month for the kids to design their own Tshirt. 

Evan has cats sleeping or playing around a piano, Alex has a joke about a trombone, and Eliza has each family member as cats with special names. 

We decided Mr. Groundhog living under the deck and breaking into the garden needed to find a new home, so we bough a live trap in hopes of relocating him to a place not near our house.

Evan and I harvested onions this month.

Onions did pretty well this year.

I had my garlic curing in the basement and needed to make room for the onions, so I got it prepped for winter. 

The boys needed haircuts. I asked Evan how long he wanted his front and I got this picture of him with bangs prehaircut. 

So we caught a mean super mad raccoon in the live trap. We decided that relocation of such an angry animal might not be safe, so we tied a strap onto the door, a twine onto the release latch, stood about 10ft back and had even on drums banging behind us and released it back to where it came.  

It climbed up a tree and gave us death stares for a while before climbing even higher into the tree to sleep until night time.

The boys bungee corded Alex's radio flyer onto his bike, put Evan in the wagon with his drums and drove around the cul-de-sac like this. It was pretty entertaining to watch, especially when Alex would speed up or slow down. 

We went to a 0-10 year old function at the library. The kids were a little older than the rest of the kids there, but they enjoyed the crafts, free ice cream, and climbing wall.

I got a shot in my foot to help with all the pain I'm having. I made a diagram on the bottom of my foot to show the doctor where I'm having pain.

The bumble bees really like the bee balm. When Eliza helps me in the garden she always looks for "bumbee" with the black butt.

I borrowed a friends hedge trimmer and was able to beat back the decorative grass around my wild black raspberries. Then I tied the raspberries up onto the chicken wire I put between two stakes. Hoping for a good harvest next year.

Eliza and Evan made a pretty bouquet out of flowers from the garden for our dinner guests. We had friends over for the first time and Evan was showing off his jumping on his bike to their son. Well Evan did not estimate correctly and had no time to break and went right into the back side of their car in the driveway. He hurt his knee, and the handle bars were parallel to the tire instead of perpendicular, and his bike seat was kicked loose... he got some major bruises, but over all was ok. However, his bike did some pretty good dents into the back side of their nice looking car, so we are waiting on a bill from them for the repairs. 

Rosie testing fate from our bedroom window.

Don't fall Rosie, you won't like it if you do.

We realized this week that the poster that Evan got in Yosemite (lower picture) was the same spot we stopped to put our feet in the water (upper picture) while leaving the valley.

The Douglass family was kind enough to have us all over and teach the kids to knee board. Oh my gosh, these kids were living there very best lives that night. The smiles were from ear to ear.

Eliza getting on the board.

Alex and Evan were able to stand up and surf.

Eliza cuddling with me while I watch one of the boys on the lake.

Alex and I played a trio with our organist at church for the first time. We did pretty well and Alex can't wait to do it again.

Evan built Rosie a new cat tower. She had torn all the scratch pads to shreds so we got her a new one.

We put up Evan's bird feeder he made right in Rosie's window so she can enjoy watching the birds.

Evan made everyone popcorn from scratch for our movie The Three Amigo's. 

Evan 3D printed glasses for Rosie.

And even though my foot is still bothering me I couldn't go a summer without visiting Greenfield Village. We rode the train. 

We rode the carousel.

We got ice cream. 

Then we sped walked, my foot did not allow for this actually, and watched the Hot Rods movie and the National Parks movie they were showing. There was no AC in the theater that day, so it was hot and sticky, but we got two large popcorns to share and made the best of it. Eliza said she was sticking to the chair when we were leaving.

The kids made catapults from the library and had a contest who could fire the farthest.

Evan was victorious.