More of November

Katie and I went to Hibachi House for a Japanese lunch on the day her school was closed:



Meg's and Jess' school had a troupe of Chinese acrobats come do a performance:








It was so cute, the kids ooohed and ahhhed for an hour straight!

I went to the Henry ford museum last Friday, the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. Here's the car he was in:


It was nice to have a few hrs alone in a museum! I got to read all of the plaques and signs I wanted to! Haha!

Jessi's class had a bingo party and Popsicles one Friday. Here's Jess and her friend:



Yesterday, I was a chaperone for Katie's school trip to a science museum in Toledo. It was so fun there! (For the kids AND for me!)

Katie learning about flywheels and kinetic energy:



Giant Katie in a room teaching perspective:



The gravity room! It was just like the mystery spot!



Katie on a hamster wheel:



Katie playing with water vapor:



Katie was good at this:



The highlight of the museum was this high wire bike! Katie and I didn't want to wait an hour to ride it, so we'll just have to come back when there aren't tons of school groups. Here's one of her classmates:



Katie and me after a fun day!



Today we're driving to Wheaton to spend lots of time with family and eat lots of food!

We just hit a nice band of lake effect snow near Benton harbor. We took some beautiful back roads bc 94 was stopped:



Now we're back on 94 and it's totally clear. Here's hoping it was our only delay!

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Smart kids

We have some smarty pants kids!

Katie made the honor roll! She had three A's and one B for the first quarter! She has had a wonderful transition and start of 6th grade!



At Megan's conferences, her teacher said she's impressed with Megan's reading and her understanding. She said Meg's reading above grade level and doing great. Most importantly, she said Meg is comfortable in the new school, and has lots of friends!

At Jessica's conferences, we heard much of the same. Jess is a leader and is often asked to help her classmates. She is friends with everyone in the class.


Here's Jess dressed for the 50th day of school. We tried to create a 50's look with a monogrammed cardigan, poodle skirt, bobby socks, and pig tails. They had a 50's party, with a sock hop and root beer floats. Jess loved doing the twist and the hand jive!



Jess does amazing work. One of her latest homework assignments was to (have a parent) read a favorite book, retell the story to the other parent, and draw a picture of your favorite part. Isn't this a crazy good drawing??!!



I am lucky to have found good volunteering opportunities with all three girls. I help out at Katie's library once a week at lunch. I help out at the elementary school library about once a week during meg or Jess's visit. I help in Jessi's classroom every other week. It is so fun to spend time with the girls, see their teachers and classmates, see their schools, and learn what they are learning. I am very confident that they are in good schools and have great teachers! It's shaping up to be a great school year!


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November

We've had a very fun, laid back November so far!

The girls like to watch the fox video most mornings. They call it their wake up song! Have you seen the version with the air horn?



Last week, I went on Meg's class field trip to a local nature center. They learned about emerald ash borer! Here they are pulling garlic mustard. There were deer in the background, too:




Jessica was the letter K for her kindergarten alphabet party. We printed off lots of K things and pinned them on her shirt:




Leaf pile fun in our backyard:




I took meg to the DIA on Friday night. Sketching in the gallery:



I tried it, too!



On Saturday, we all went to Graytown for the day. The girls wanted to shoot their 22's. They started out with paper targets, but then found some squash and gourds in grandpas compost pile. They became the new targets!



Chris is borrowing a gun to go deer hunting on Thursday. He wanted to sight it in first. The sight got Dad and Chris right on the nose! Now they have matching cut/bruised noses!



Essential hunting equipment: guns and band aids!



On Sunday, the girls sang in the children's choir for the first time this year. They sounded amazing!



Sunday night was the big windstorm and power outage.

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Power

It's back on! That wasn't bad at all. Katie and I had already talked about going to Sumo Sushi for lunch today. I think we'll keep our lunch date!


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Power outage

The storms weren't too bad for us yesterday afternoon. We got lots of rain, but only a few rumbles of thunder. The strong winds hit us around 8:30pm, and our electricity started flickering right away. It soon went out. DTE estimated it would be back up on Tuesday at 11:30pm! We hoped it was just a wild guess. But our power is still out this morning, and the restoration estimate is the same. So Chris fired up the generator before he left for work. Katie's school is closed, but our elementary school is open. Katie and I get to enjoy a leisurely day at home today! So many projects to tackle!


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Lansing day 2

Hotel breakfast:



Impression 5 Museum:

































Making slime:









After several hours at the museum, we walked back to the Capitol because the house and senate were in session. We got to see the house "in action." It was neat to see the roll call, to say the pledge of allegiance, and to hear a few votes come up. The senate was already adjourned for the day, unfortunately. So we walked back to our senator's office, and he was there! He was so nice, talked to us, showed us around his office, told us lots of stories, and explained all of the photos in his office. He also signed an autograph for each kid, and took pictures with us!





Many thanks to Sen. Marleau!

Then we drove to MSU for a late lunch. Where else but the Dairy Store! Grilled cheese, cheese curds, chili, and milkshakes. Yummmm



We went to Stores, the $3.99 tshirt shop, and the Art Museum.



By 5pm, the girls were toast. So we headed home at last. We're back to real life at 6am tomorrow morning! :(

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Lansing field trip

The girls had Mon and Tues off school, so I took them on a fun (and educational) field trip! We went to Lansing!

The Capitol Building:

On the glass floor of the Rotunda:



Fancy chandeliers all over:



Fancy glass everywhere. This was by the governors office:



Girls at the State House of Representatives:



Capitol dome:



In the Hall of Governors:



Looking down to the first floor:



Girls at the State Senate:



Supreme Court room:



As high as we could go - the fourth floor:



Cool detail on doorknobs and hinges:



Dome again:



Capitol steps:



Capitol Mall, by Gov. Blair:



After the Capitol tour, we went to our Senator's office, but no one was in. Then we went to our Representative's office, and he wasn't in, but his staff gave us a nice tour and lots of free junk.

Then we walked to the state historical museum. Very fun place! I heard, "Mom, look at this!" about a thousand times!






Meg's learning about MI cities now, so she put together these magnets:















I guess I didn't take a lot of pictures. Highlights were the arrowheads, the mining exhibit, and the schoolhouse. But we enjoyed it all!

We went to MSU to visit my boss for an hour, then we went out to dinner:






And we finished our day in the hotel pool!


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