Owen got to drive for the first time!
Katie got a chance, too!
The pontoon experience!
Category Archives: Firsts
Katie’s art project turned into a gift!
Grannie said that Katie decided this was going to be a gift for one of her friends!
Kati
Katie, Owen & Papa on the raft!
Owen got to go out to the raft with Tom last year (he is a strong enough swimmer to go on his own, but Tom went since it was a new experience). So we assured everyone he would be okay to by himself this year, but Katie wanted to go this year, too, so Papa had to join!
Gabby’s Graduation!
Gramma and Grandpa were headed to Gabby’s graduation party on Moccasin Lake in the U.P. (near Munising) so it was a perfect time to make the transfer. They got to spend the day with their cousins and had a great time!
Owen’s first raft ride behind a Jet Ski!
Waiting patiently.
First time in a hotel with them. We were tired enough, we all slept!Kids at the canoe marathon!
From Gramma Jean: Owen and Katie wanted to go see the start of the race so the three of us went to DQ and then parked at my old office and walked down to Joe’s to watch them. It was fun and they enjoyed it.
Our first big drive in movie!
The community center was having a drive in movie so we thought that would be a nice change of pace. We went with David and Anna and watched Sandlot (really cute). Of course when we planned it, I didn’t know if just be getting out of the hospital… But I really just had to sit there so it was okay!
I’m not sure exactly what happened but I didn’t take a single picture. Anna only took one. (Whaaaaat is happening?)
Of course we did have drama… They handed out glow necklaces to everyone and Owen and Katie found a way to be annoyed with each other over them. Then Katie was excited to see a bunch of her friends there—but refused to go talk to any of them.
But the movie was cute and I think everyone enjoyed it!
We seriously have a totally new cat.
Owen’s first facial!
He has been having pre-teen acne issues so I’ve had him using a SeneGence acne wash and moisturizer, doing masks, and I finally took him to get a facial. He did really well (she had to do a lot of manual blackhead extractions) and even agreed to do another!
Katie’s first day back in school!
This was WAAAAAAY too early—her bus comes at 7:09 (!!) but she was super excited (as were we)!!
Owen’s first in-person day of 6th grade!
We had not planned to send the kids back to school but due to unforeseen circumstances, we changed our minds.
This is definitely not what we had anticipated for his first day of middle school but we’re rolling with it!
And waiting at the bus stop! Normally his stop would be in front of our house but with remote learning plus hybrid and whatnot, everything is abnormal.
She can stop growing up now.
We did a thing tonight!
I let her wear LipSense now and again and today was one of those days—and she always picks Skyline! So tonight I decided to just start adding some makeup…I’m not great at it (I’m barely good at it on myself) but she didn’t care and loved everything. I can’t believe she’s only 8.
I even made her do the full makeup removal and face washing routines to hopefully show her it’s not all fun so she won’t want to do it. We’ll see.
She’s been BEGGING for fake nails.
She has loved fake nails forever and always plays with them so I finally I let her buy some…and they were actually super cheap and didn’t stick so I eventually got her nail glue. I tried to get her to use the shorter ones she had but she wanted these. She is in heaven.
Introducing the kids to E.T.
Tonight was our first real movie on our new pseudo movie screen—the big 10×14 wall in our living room.
Owen’s first pulled tooth!
His orthodontist recommended getting two teeth pulled so after a few delays here we are. He was nervous but handled it like a champ. This was about 15 minutes in while he was numb before they actually started—he just wanted to come out and say hi.
Unfortunately, one of the teeth gave her some problems and she couldn’t remove it so she referred us to an oral surgeon. She seems to think maybe the roots of the baby tooth are wrapped around the adult tooth. Yikes.
Owen was not thrilled with that prospect so we’re trying to talk up how cool it is to be knocked out and we think he’s okay now. Thankfully we are getting in next week so he doesn’t have much time to think about it.
It took just four minutes.
Well today started out okay with me waking up before my alarm and I got to have some nice leisurely quiet time before the kids got up.
And they showered without much drama and they ate breakfast without much drama and we took school pictures without much drama… And then the shitshow started.
Owen had some technical difficulties dealing with an external monitor and Bluetooth headphones and Google meets and when I asked him if these were the same headphones that he used last year he said yes but they didn’t work for Google meets then either.
YOU THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE TOLD US THAT AT SOME POINT BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL?! (What I was screaming in my head—not what I said to him.) But he was completely losing it and this was him just four minutes in to Remote Learning. /cry/ Even though I wanted them home to be safe…THIS. JUST. SUCKS.
But things have gotten a little better since 9:04 AM when it was the worst and I think we might make it through this day without me needing to drink a gallon of margaritas.
I went outside to enjoy the weather in my egg chair…and Owen came out on a break and he seemed much better.
Katie is on major lockdown.
So we’ve been letting the kids go to both parks—the one across the street and the one on the other end of the neighborhood. I originally thought Katie was a little young to go by herself so I made her go with Owen a few times but eventually they want to do different stuff plus she wasn’t afraid to go by herself so I let her go alone. She has to take her watch and be home at a certain time. She might meet a friend there or just go to see who is there. No big deal.
Well today Owen was also at the park (her went before her) but he texted me from his friend’s phone to ask if it was okay to go to the friend’s house. Yep, thanks for texting and asking.
Fast forward to Tom coming home early to surprise me…and then noon when Katie was supposed to be home. And she wasn’t home. Hmmm. Okay. We’ll give her a few extra minutes.
And then…I got a text from a mom friend asking if Katie could come to the park to play. Um, what? She’s there. Or rather she most definitely SHOULD be there. They looked around and said she wasn’t.
CUE INSTANT PANIC.
Tom took off toward the park while I finished talking to the mom. I was about ready to get in the car to also head to the park when it hit me—she was probably with Owen at his friend’s house. Which would have been fine…except no one told me and she was supposed to be home at noon.
I texted the friend and Owen called me back immediately. Yes, she was there. Phew. So I told them they were both to leave immediately and meet us at the park. “But Mom you said I could stay here!” Change of plans, buddy.
Needless to say she got in big trouble. She got a stern talking to in the parking lot from both of us, she got her bike thrown in the car, plus she also had to see her friends at the park that she couldn’t play with because she didn’t follow the rules. Owen also got into some trouble because (long story short) he didn’t put his foot down and tell her no she couldn’t be there. (She actually bullies him into things by threatening to tattle on him for stuff he didn’t even do but he’s afraid of getting in trouble so he lets her get away with murder.) He did not want her there but since he let her, he was also kind of responsible for her and to let us know what was going on. (We also told him he could have called us when she wouldn’t listen and let us deal with it.)
It’s tough because they have both gone over before to swim in their pool and Katie ended up playing with one of the older daughters (like age 12) so she thinks she can just go over and play with them any time. She doesn’t really understand that they really only played with her that day because they were over on a play date with the brother and the boys went off and did their own thing and they were nice and hung out with her—and that a 12yo doesn’t really want to hang out with an 8yo.
So they both got a huge lecture about us needing to know where they are and if they can’t handle the responsibility they will no longer be able to go on their own. And Owen is the big brother so he needs to watch out for his sister.
Tom had to run somewhere before we could discuss her punishment so Katie got sent to her room—no music, no Alexa, no talking to Owen—until further notice. After a mere 15 minutes or so, she announces on Alexa that she doesn’t want to stay in her room. Hahahahahahahaha! She’s never really been punished before so she doesn’t get that I don’t really care and it’s not supposed to be fun. Then I didn’t hear this but it came across as a notification…
Tom and I eventually decided that she was locked down at home for two days, then for the next few days she could only go to the close park if Owen wanted to (because she had to stay with him), and then she could start going by herself but had to come home and check in at random times (like in 20 minutes or 10 minutes).
Owen’s punishment was having to take Katie with him. Haha.
It was about time they learned how to wash dishes anyway.
Washing ALL our dishes for an undetermined amount of time because one of them is lying about things that happen during dishwasher duty and neither will budge. Owen tried to take one for the team and admit to it but he has been too adamant for too long that he didn’t do it so we didn’t fall for it.
And the look on their faces when they thought they were getting close to done and then turned around to see all the dinner dishes STILL on the table was priceless.
Their second night in the gazebo.
They spent their first night out there last night while I was at my mom’s night. Tonight Tom is at a guy’s night (totally separate from the moms I just met!) so they’re out there again! They love it!!
More Adventures in Moving, Dinner Edition
More Adventures in Moving, Dinner Edition:
So today we moved the refrigerators around. Our fridge from the house went to the new house garage. The rental fridge came back in from the garage. So this necessitated a bunch of coolers and rearranging of food and trying to decide what to keep here and what to take over to the new house. I have done this MANY times, but today…well.
So it comes time for dinner and I had found a package of what I thought was taco meat. I mean, I even tasted it and my tired brain thought it was taco meat. It was Italian sausage. So then I dug through the freezer and found enchilada mix–perfect for nachos! Except it turned out to be potato soup (I didn’t take off the last label).
Not to be deterred I went back to the freezer and found ANOTHER package of meat that looked like ground beef – but it wasn’t my writing but I couldn’t really make it out… Yeah, more Italian sausage.
I GIVE UP. So we were gonna have Italian sausage nachos.
Except guess what? I had NONE of my other ingredients! No green onions (missing), no mexican cheese (missing), no guacamole (missing), no salsa (missing). WHAAAAAAT?????? I knew I had all that stuff which is why I picked nachos to start with! But by this time we were all starving so it was just meat and cheddar cheese nachos.
And guess what? Miss Picky Eater herself said they were the best ever! WHAAAAAT?!
And then while we were eating…we were discussing all the missing foods and how I swear I didn’t unpack them at the other house…and we discovered there was one cooler that got pushed aside in the other room. So now we have a full fridge.
What shall tomorrow bring?
The kids have desks!
Since the kids have bigger rooms, I thought it was time to have desks. Owen’s matches his room perfectly.
Katie’s is smaller since she’s probably also going to have the drawing table in there.
Surprise! The kids saw their new back yard!
We went on yet another walk in our new neighborhood today and the homeowner was outside in the garage and we quickly debated introducing ourselves or not…and I said WHAT THE HELL and long story short she’s super awesome—she was excited to meet all of us, reiterated that she’s thrilled the house is going to a nice family, and she let us show the kids the back yard.
She also told us she was leaving two additional TVs (one in the wet bar and one in the gazebo), that we were welcome to start bringing stuff over to leave in the third garage bay, plus, after we exchanged numbers, invited us over for a house tour and a drink on the deck!
Both kids are super excited about the gazebo.
We also got to scout out the back yard again to see where we could put a small shed so that was good.
50 feet of slip and slide!
Friends bought the same slip and slide so we decided to have an outdoor playdate and hook them together. The kids stayed far enough apart for me to not worry too much.
Of course after a while it devolved into this game:
Goodbye fifth grade!
Owen’s teachers planned a goodbye meeting at a local park. People were really good about having masks and/or keeping a safe distance…
The kids were all really excited to see each other and actually talk to each other.
The teachers walked around to see everyone and say goodbye, and I was able to take the end of year pic. Not quite like other years…but definitely one for the memory books!
Scout Backyard Campout
Since Covid-19 has thrown everything out of whack, a scouts weekend camping trip was turned into a backyard campout. The boys had a schedule to follow including camp setup, meal planning, zoom calls, computer check-ins with photos, and games!
FRIDAY
We borrowed a small tent from friends and both Owen and Katie LOVED hanging out in it. We put it up in the morning and they pretty much spent all day in and out of it, sometimes together, sometimes alone. They were coloring and listening to music and who knows what else.
And of course Owen loved starting a fire!
Katie really wanted to sleep outside with him but he wanted to do it himself. We were slightly unsure he’d last all night, but he said he’d be fine but asked if we’d leave all the lights on…so it was basically daylight out there.
SATURDAY
The night went fine and he stayed out all night!! Tom assisted with getting the fire ready for cooking breakfast but Owen did most of the actual food prep!
Both kids LOVED cooking over the fire… Katie—who generally says she doesn’t like hot dogs—cooked and ate TWO!
Owen decided to let Katie sleep with him the second night and she was over the moon. They had another official 9:30 lights out but she says they stayed up really late! And again, as bright as day out there.
SUNDAY
Overall we were really impressed with how much Owen enjoyed spending time in the tent and prepping and cooking food! He’ll be even more ready if and when actually camping weekends start again!
The Hudson read three stories for Katie’s class!
Katie’s teacher sent a YouTube video of her reading a story so I asked the kids if they wanted to do one…and to my surprise they both said yes. Katie whines and complains so much about reading that I was FLOORED that she was excited to do it. She knew exactly the book she wanted to read (they’ve read it in class), she knew what one I should read (an old favorite), and Owen knew what one he wanted immediately.
Making our own pseudo corn dogs!
They turned out okay and everybody liked them but I would probably do it differently the next time. We had to lay the hotdogs down because they were too tall to stand upright but it was a little weird just having a hotdog in the middle so I would probably actually cut up discs instead. I might also make them more bite-size and use smaller tins.
The new norm for classroom instruction.
Today Owen’s teacher did their first test conference call. This will be the new norm.
So Owen accidentally tried to kill us all and burn the house down.
Here’s what having kids looks like.
Owen accidentally tried to kill us all and burn the house down.
Kinda.
I had left these instructions to reheat his cinnamon roll in the toaster on a metal tray:
“Take out and put on tray [that the note was setting on] and TOAST on 3-4.”
I was getting ready in the morning and smelled something kinda burning so I went to check it out and the entire kitchen and dining room was filled with smoke that made my throat instantly hurt. I don’t know why the smoke detectors were not going off. Owen had the sliding door open but it needed way more than that. Both kids were trying to tell me what happened as I was trying to open more windows and doors while choking on the smoke (neither one said it hurt them?!) and seeing if anything was actually on fire.
I initially thought he had put the plastic container in the toaster oven (he’d done it before, hence the note) but the oven looked fine. It took me a minute to realize he had put it in the microwave. On a plastic plate. For three minutes.
I opened the microwave and was blasted with the worst burning smell. Of course the roll was was burnt to a crisp and the plate had started to burn and warp.
I tried not to lose my shit because everyone was safe and there was no fire but still trying to figure out just why he thought that’s what I told him to do while also trying to impress upon him that this was a serious issue while also still fanning the smoke so the smoke detectors didn’t go off and freezing my ass off since I was barefoot in a robe (having just gotten out of the shower).
He’s a smart kid but like any kid doesn’t really pay attention. So he ignored my actual words and did what he thought.
So now all the windows and doors are open downstairs (it’s a balmy 23° today!) and I get to try to get the burnt plastic smell out of my house for the next week.
Our first real tree…ever.
Our first real tree since we’ve been together…and supporting the scouts! I really wanted a huge tree but we have very limited space for one. Also? There’s no way it was going in my new car—the days of hauling messy crap is over. 😂
We got rid of our fake tree last year because I was just tired of it…so we got a real tree this year! The plan was to get a fake tree in the after-Christmas clearance sales, but we might wait another year or two to see what house we have next. If we happen to get a house that will fit a 12′ tree…well, then I want a 12′ tree. 🙂 So this is the first time we have EVER had a real tree! (Note: the bummer? It doesn’t smell AT ALL.)
Old useless laptop? Time to explore.
The kids had a half day because of teacher conferences and Tom happened to be home. He was getting ready to toss this when I suggested he let them tear into it. They loved it.
