

Category Archives: Photos
This puzzle needs to be a drinking game.
My friend Heidi and I worked on this stupid puzzle for three hours and this is all we got done.
We joked that it should be a drinking game: take one drink if you try a piece and it’s wrong and take two drinks if you actually find a piece!

Makeup and ladybug nails
The girls did makeup and nails… The makeup wasn’t too caked on and Katie was very proud of her ladybug nails.

Tonight the part of Maggie is being played by Charlie.


Welcome to today’s hell.


A gift to Katie from a well-meaning aunt. While Katie does love puzzles, of course she doesn’t have the attention span for this (hell, I barely do) but she really wants to color it. If it was up to me I’d just throw it in the trash (well I’m not an idiot, I’d give it away). But guess who will end up doing it all?? Her face just about sums it up for me too. 😂
#whowantstohelp
#idonthavetimeforthis
#puzzleparty
#ihavewineandmargaritas
#whendotheygobacktoschool
#thisauntisonmyshitlist
A friend is going to come help Friday.
Pokémon puzzle complete.

This is what sad looks like.

Poor bacon. Poor us for not getting to eat the bacon.
This is what happens when you go to the basement for one quick thing then get sucked in to something else. By the time I smelled bacon it was too late.
Yes, those are mittens on her feet.

She also pretends they’re high heels (the thumbs are the heels).
First act of 2018?
Winterizing the house. Ugh. These negative temps combined with old windows that are broken and need replacing…is just killer.
Also, we’ve done this in EVERY rental house. Our future house will. be. well. insulated.

Bringing in 2018 with bingo and the fam!
Katie has been obsessed with bingo lately so we all played tonight. She knows all the numbers so it’s good practice!

Katie movie cuddles

Someone just spent some birthday money at Toys R Us.
We had promised the kids we’d take them shopping after Christmas to spend some of their birthday money/gift cards. (We’d postponed shopping due to the move and then we just forgot about it but when I took them Christmas shopping for each other they both obviously wanted to shop for themselves.)
I went with Katie and Tom went with Owen. They each had $35 to spend. Katie kept trading items out of the cart as she found stuff she liked better. It took her a bit to understand that she couldn’t just get everything she wanted. I had to guide her a little bit but she did well.

She loves being a mermaid. (This was a last-minute purchase that was her entire budget but she also had an expensive doll she really wanted. So to make my life easier, I let her get both and now she has used up all of her Target gift cards as well!)


I wasn’t thrilled about this huge animal but I was thrilled it wasn’t a 200-piece Shopkins set. She also got a huge 24″ Barbie-type doll so all of her gift cards are now gone (she had Target ones as well but since she went over budget, they’re now mine!).
Owen bought a bunch of random smaller stuff that I’m sure will be played with for a week and then lost. 😂 But he was happy today!
Oh, the life of a cat.

Kissing the bear 2017


This is what happens on laundry day.

Katie was surprised to see this.

Yay for new kitchen floors!
We got new kitchen and dining room floors while we were away! The grout in the original tile floors was disintegrating so the landlord agreed to put in new floors. Imagine our surprise when we walked in and saw this:
There’s a new vent in front of the sliding door! Huh? It had obviously been covered up by the tile?! Strange. They tried to get rid of the transition piece but couldn’t do it. They were able to get rid of it between the kitchen and front room though and it looks great!

I made him let me take a photo since it’s soooo rare.
This is something you rarely get to see—and only on vacation: An unshaven Tom…

Maggie vs. the pinecone

Then and now—GJ and the kids
2013 and 2017

Christmas with the Schwalms

Rosy cheeks!
Taking a quick break from playing outside and I had to snap a quick pic of her beautiful face.

Red and green lights to sleep by.
The kids were sleeping with us in the basement for the last two nights. We tried to put them to bed around 9:30 but Katie was still awake when we came down around 11. And she was excited to tell us she put on red and green lights for us. 🙂



Daddy’s Christmas gift.
Tom asked for Katie pig tails for Christmas so he finally got them today. (She doesn’t like wearing them anymore.)




An expected high of 5 today. FIVE.

She loves her new paints.

Santa found us in Grayling!
As is tradition, we set the kids’ phones outside their rooms so when they get up in the morning they have something to do until we get up and are ready (which is always by 7). This morning Katie was still sleeping at 7 and Owen had already had enough of his phone and was laying by the door just waiting… So Tom woke Katie up!

Katie got a note from Santa telling her he left a big present at home since he knew she was at Gramma’s—a Barbie power wheels!!

Then the kids opened their gifts from each other… Owen loved his sword, yoyo, and Lego Ninjago stuff and Katie was happy he was happy. Awwwww.

And then it was her turn to open and she LOVED what Owen got her (a Belle doll and matching Belle dress)!

And Gramma’s picture of the same scene from a different angle! So cute and so thrilled! 🙂



And then they put together their Lego figures they got each other.

Tom said Katie saw this wine key when they were out and about and she had to get it for me. So now whenever I want wine, I show her the key and she will bring me some. 🙂
And she also picked out this painted stone at a favorite store of mine in Grayling—Tip’n the Mitten!
The one thing she repeatedly asked for—a Sparty cheerleader outfit. She used to have a hand-me-down from the Besons but it is too small. This one should fit for a few years (Gramma had to take in the skirt because she’s so tiny).
Gramma Marsha had all these Barbies packed away so we held on to them until this Christmas. She loved them.
We’re ready Santa!
Santa Hat Cutie

































