My bathroom closet desperately needed attention and Katie likes organizing so I had her help me. I got rid of a bunch and reorganized and now my closet is functional again.
Category Archives: Kids
She bought her own iPad!
She had an old one that was handed down to her but it was too old to do what she wanted so we told her she could buy a new one if she had the money. She thought they were much more expensive than it was, so she actually had most of the money for it! She used Christmas money from Gramma Jean (which I had made her save) and found a bunch of money stashed in multiple places. Of course she didn’t want to do chores to earn anything (because that’s not fun) so we had some discussions. But she was able to get it pretty quickly.
Happy 15th birthday, Owen!
I think this is the first birthday we’ve been apart and I couldn’t get a picture, so we’re throwing it back to your first birthday…and last week!
10 years ago today
Babysitting Jules
A sushi jazz night!
Pre-concert dinner at Kura Revolving Sushi Bar! I’ve always wanted to do one of these and we definitely had fun! Our drinks were even delivered via robot!
Amazing seats (third row!) for Branford Marsalis at North Shore Center for Performing Arts. Thank you Vettix!
Movie night
Cheering at a college game!
The cheer team was invited to cheer at halftime of the women’s CLC game! They did a good job!
Just chillin’
Schwalm Christmas 2023
A Christmas surprise!
Since we missed going to Grayling for Christmas since Katie had Covid, we surprised them in Lansing for the Schwalm Christmas! We decided at about 10am that we could make it…and walked in to Beth and Jim’s as they were finishing dinner! SURPRISE!
Bah humbug.
Katie tested positive for Covid (her second time!)—she even took two tests. I blame the cesspool of middle school. Tom and I are as boosted as we can be so fingers crossed we don’t get it.
She was super upset and crying when we got the results—she really wanted to go to Gramma’s house. I’m just glad we decided to test her at all because we thought it was just a cold.
This just makes me smile.
How does this always happen?
You know how I told you how Owen always manages to be behind something at a concert? The stage was empty when I got there. I had my pick of pretty much any seat in the auditorium. And this still happens.
We can never see him well
Owen had a jazz concert tonight. We could barely see him from our seats because he was behind a music stand. We can’t even see him on the photo that was published on Facebook.
Can you spot him?
That said, they sounded great and he loves every minute of it!
It took three tries
Here we go again.
Look what I found on Katie’s phone…
A YouTube account.
Sigh.
I guess I technically knew about it because I’d heard her and Owen talking about posting things and about how many views they had (I think they were having a competition). But long story short, there more videos on her account than I’d thought — not quite as bad as her TikTok account but still some things I didn’t like — so we had a rational discussion. She could keep the account but had to change her username and delete some of the videos.
I’m hoping that this will give her enough room to feel older without being dangerous.
Time will tell.
More proof they really love the stroller
Getting the dogs ready for a stroll.
I went to the doctors to get my anxiety meds refilled
Y’all. I went to the doctors to get my anxiety meds refilled and he asked if I’ve ever thought of going off it as a trial since I’ve been on it for two years.
I said dead straight I HAVE AN 11YO DAUGHTER and he just laughed. And gave me a refill. And said “maybe when the kids go off to college.”
Yes we have a dog stroller.
Katie has been begging for one and we finally told her she could buy it with her own money—thinking it would put a stop to it. Nope. She had most of the money and said she’d pay off the rest. Okay then.
And they liked it. They let Katie roll them around the house.
The next day Tom and I watched them sniffing around it and trying to get in it. So I helped.
Finally a good picture of our cheerleader!
She wanted to build a snowman!
And she did a great job!!
Now it’s time for Christmas!
Thanksgiving 2023 is over…
Thanksgiving Day 2023
Friends of ours—Scott and Wendy—also joined us this year as she was visiting from Seattle and they didn’t have other plans! She loves Thanksgiving and cooking so she brought most of the sides to go with Tom’s smoked turkey and smoked ham!
Thanksgiving tip? Gravy in an insulated pitcher! Pourable plus it stays warm!
The evening was spent watching football, playing cards, puzzling, and visiting!
It was all fun and games until…
It took longer to check out than we anticipated and consequently we didn’t have enough time to go to a restaurant like we had talked about (in order to make it back in time for her parent/teacher conferences). So she was pissy. We still went to Panera for takeout but she still wasn’t happy. I can’t wait for this stage to be over.
A girl and a snuggly dog
Deer camp day 3: driving
There were no more deer to be had, but Owen had another first—Tom let him drive his truck on the back roads to camp!
This is how teens make their bed.
Yep, just leave the mattress protector scrunched down at the bottom in the corner and pull the sheets over it. (I discovered it because I was removing all his bedding to wash before Thanksgiving guests and I thought maybe a towel had gotten stuck in the sheets.)
You can only laugh, right?