Connie goes to preschool

Charlotte's preschool class invited the family pets to come to school last week!  Sounds like complete chaos, right?  Well, people were allowed to bring cats and other smaller animals in cages for the first bit of class, and then dogs came to the parking lot behind the school for a little dog show at the very end of class.

I opted NOT to bring the Pacey Cat and Rocky Cat because I was trying to get us packed and ready to leave for Illinois right after school, but I did bring Connie.  I tied her cutest pink scarf (the one NanaB made her to wear when Charlotte was born) around her neck so she would be looking her best.  I had no problem coaxing her into the Big Red Van.  For whatever reason, she has fallen in love with the van and tries to weasel her way in there every chance she gets.  Yes, that resulted in her accidentally getting locked in the van for several hours last fall, but it did nothing to tarnish her love for the van.

There were eight dogs waiting to meet the kids.  Things got a little hairy when one particularly squirrelly dog started mixing it up with some of the others, so I put my camera back into the car to avoid any DSLR mishaps.  I did get a couple of shots of Connie waiting patiently for her chance to get loved on by 23 little preschoolers.

The teacher called up each dog one by one and had the student introduce the dog, tell what breed he/she was, and the age of the dog.  I probably should have prepped Charlotte on the answers to those questions.  The kids were really impressed when I told Charlotte to tell them that Connie was probably about 10 years old.  They all said "ooooooooh!"  (I guess 10 sounds ancient when you just barely turned 5, huh?  She was the oldest dog there, actually.  One had been rescued from a box in a marketplace in China though, so Connie's Nashville roots didn't earn her any admiration.)  The teacher asked Charlotte if Connie did any tricks and Charlotte and I just laughed.  Um, no, unless you consider escaping from a sturdy crate a trick.  Then, we led each dog down the line of kids so they could pet them.  Connie seemed to like the attention, but she probably would have liked to have a little more time to sniff each kid in turn.

I had to giggle when one of Charlotte's teachers said "looks like Connie went to the groomer recently!"  I asked her if she meant that Connie had gotten the scarf from a groomer, and she said no, it was because Connie's coat was so gorgeous.  Ha!  I think Corey washed her with some dish soap a month or so ago, but other than that Connie hadn't been brushed in ages.  She just has a naturally shiny coat.

If Petey's class gets to bring pets to school when he goes to First Friends next year, I will try to bring at least Rocky in a cage.  Connie will definitely be coming back because she was such a good girl at this Pet Day.

Corey's Grand Rapids Brewery Tour

For Christmas, Stephanie, Don, Quinn, and Maisie gave me a "Grand Rapids Brewery Tour".  Grand Rapids is one of the nation's leaders in the craft beer industry.  (It took us a while to finally line up a free weekend, but we made it!)  There are an embarrassment of brewery riches on the west side of the state.  For my tour, Stephanie and Don laid out an itinerary, spotted me some money for beer, and took care of the kids for the day.  I took Niki along, and it was fantastic.

On the way to Grand Rapids, we busted out the Big Red Van's wireless headphones for the kids for the first time.  They loved it, and Niki and I loved cruising on the freeway without listening to the kids' movie or shows the entire way.

Stephanie and Don lent us their new Jeep Wrangler Safari.  Lots of fun to drive . . .  We stopped first in downtown Grand Rapids at Grand Rapids Brewing Company and Hopcat.  They weren't open yet, so we looked around and kept on driving.

We headed up to Founders Brewing, the big dog in town.  Founders is internationally known, and it has a huge beer hall.  They are in the middle of an much-needed expansion.

Here is the list of beers on tap Saturday.

 

Niki and I ordered four.  We had (in order below):

1.  EXP 7272 (American Pale Ale);

2.  Solid Gold (Extra Pale Ale);  

3.  Pale Ale

4.  Dirty Bastard Scotch Style Ale.

We also had the world's largest plate of garlic cheesy bread.

Niki preferred the EXP 7272.  I liked the EXP 7272 and the Dirty Bastard.   The beers were excellent, but the experience was just so-so.  The lunch crowd arrived right after we did, and service suddenly crawled to a stop.

Next stop was Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids' East Hills neighborhood.  

Brewery Vivant is in an old church building, and featured mostly Belgian-style beers.

It was a fantastic venue for drinking beer on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Detail on the stained glass.

The food here was more upscale -- we had a selection of cheeses, chutney, and roasted nuts (as compared to more typical "bar food" at the other two locations).  They paired perfectly with our beer selections.  The tastes (both beer and food) at this brewery were decidedly more complex than the other two breweries.

You can see the colors of our beer much better in this photograph.  Our beers, from left to right, top to bottom:

1.  Solitude (Abbey Style Ale);

2.  Farm Hand (French Style Farmhouse Ale);

3.  Menage a Trois (Oak Aged Beer - aged in a Jack Daniels oak barrel); and

4.  Triomphe (Belgian Style I.P.A.).

The Farm Hand was wonderful, as was the Menage a Trois - the oak aged beer had an incredible finish - hard for me to describe.  Don says that Vivant often has different oak aged beers on tap.

After this, they also gave us a tasting of the Black Rabbit (Black I.P.A.) and Big Red Coq (Hoppy Belgo-American Red Ale).  We wound up bringing Don back a growler of the Big Red Coq.  We will return.

During our tour, Stephanie and Don kept us posted on the fun the cousins were having.  Here they are, playing baseball in the backyard in the rain . . .

Happy cousins in the garage . . .

And then things began to get nuts (right before Peter fell asleep on Pink Bubba in the middle of the kitchen):

Back to the action.  Niki and I made our last stop at Perrin Brewing Company in Comstock Park, north of the city.  This place was way off the beaten path, but like the others, JAMMED.  You can see the poles holding up the wires for hops to grow up to the left of the building.

This was a very industrial facility - loud, bright, and very fun (even though it looks dark in this picture).

We ordered the fried pickles (they were fantastic), and four beers (left to right):

1.  Gateway (XPA) (Pale Ale);

2.  Black (Black Ale);

3.  Lightweight; and

4.  Honey Rye.

They were all good.  Niki preferred the Gateway XPA.  The Black, for being a Black Ale, was surprisingly light.  All of these beers were lighter on the tongue than those of the other breweries.  We will return to this one, too.

There are many, many other breweries in Grand Rapids that are on our list - we'd like to try Grand Rapids Brewing, Harmony, and the Mitten . . .

After our tour, we had a wonderful evening at Stephanie and Don's and spent the night.  When we left on Sunday (mid-morning), it was 44.  This is the middle of May . . .  

Ahh - living in Michigan.  Cold beer.  Cold weather.  Great company.

Happy Mother's Day to my Niki

I'm not sure what I can say about Niki, NanaB, and Grandma Jo that I have not already said on this blog or in person . . .  but all I know is that Charlotte, Peter, and I owe the wonderful lives we lead to them . . .

Preschool Mother's Day Tea

Charlotte's preschool held a Mother's Day Tea on Wednesday.  (It couldn't be on Friday, because that's the day of the annual field trip to the fire station.)  Forty-five minutes before the end of the school day, the mommies all returned to be treated to a little show, cookies, and tea.  First, we were called in one by one to have our picture taken with our respective kid, wearing an amazingly gorgeous hat (made by the kid, of course).  Here is mine:

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to you that I looked AMAZING in it.  Apparently, the preschool is going to frame the photo of us with our kid and give it to us another time.

Next, the kids sang us a song.  How does Charlotte always end up in the back?

My friend, Kim, looked terrific in her hat.

Then, the kids each came out one at a time and said something nice about his or her mommy in words that began with one or more letters of the alphabet.  Charlotte had "C" and "D", so she said I "cook good dinners".

After the alphabet presentation, Mrs. Mann read each child's response to the question "What does Mom do all day?"  Charlotte's answer was "she does dishes, she also plays with me sometimes, she sometimes rides a little tricycle, and she talks to Daddy about work work work."  Huh?  Maybe she's talking about the photo Corey posted on last Mother's Day of me on Peter's "Super Super Fast Bike"?  Most kids said some variation of "she cleans, she talks to Daddy, and she plays with me", but Charlotte was the only one who mentioned that her mom sometimes rides a little tricycle.

Next, the mommies all filed into the back of the classroom to have our tea and cookies.  The kids chose that moment to pile on Mrs. Mann in a crazy rugby scrum-style hug that is apparently a common occurrence at this school.  I am predicting Mrs. Mann will be completely trampled at some point and in traction for weeks.

At each mommy's place at the tables, there were all sorts of goodies.  On the rolled up piece of paper was instructions on how to be a "Mean Mommy" (making your kids do chores, eat right, etc.).  Our kids decorated the cookies for us.  Charlotte told me she was trying to draw me in icing, but that it didn't work out so well.  It was still very tasty.

When it was time to go, they took a group photo of all the mommies in our lovely hats.  I'm pretty much smack dab in the middle, wearing a black top.

The next part was hysterical.  Usually, the moms wait to pick up the kids at the end of each class at the top of a long switchback ramp around the side of the building.  The kids love running up to meet us, and it's sweet to see them all clutching whatever amazing piece of artwork they made that day in school.  Today, though, it was the kids' turn to wait at the top of the ramp while we mommies made our way up to greet them.  Such a simple thing, but it really tickled us all to death.  Here we are, making our way up to find our kiddos.

Here is a closeup of the beautiful planter (full of grass?) Charlotte made for me.

And here is the requisite "turn your kid's handprints into some sort of picture" project:

Sweet mystery

The kids and I came outside this afternoon and I headed down to the mailbox to check the mail.  There were a couple of gumballs in the gutter at the end of our driveway.  I looked again.  There were actually gumballs in front of the entire length of our property and stretching down the block.  I ran around back to tell the kids -- we have a mystery to solve!

By the time we got back to the end of the driveway to inspect the gumballs, we noticed two high school girls walking slowly down the road, picking up the gumballs and putting them in a huge bag.  Charlotte and Peter wasted no time in running to where they were to chat them up.  By the time I got there, I heard something about a boyfriend and a dance, and I started to get an inkling of what was going on.

Apparently, this girl's boyfriend had made of a trail of gumballs for his girlfriend to follow from her friend's house all the way across the neighborhood to her own.  She was guessing that he was at her house, waiting for her to ask her to the prom.  The grin on her friend's face told me she was right.  We walked along with the girls and put Charlotte and Peter to work picking up the gumballs until we made it back to our house.  Charlotte and Peter wanted to continue on with them, but I guessed the event wouldn't be half as romantic if there were two munchkins and a random grownup tagging along.  I convinced Charlotte and Peter to stay home, and we watched the girls continue on their gumball retrieving expedition.

Darn.  I kind of wanted to see what that was all leading up to!  Extravagant dance invitations weren't in vogue yet at Placer High School in the mid-90s, so all I got was my boyfriend casually asking me if we were going or not.  My question is if these girls get these kinds of elaborate dance invitations, what are they going to expect for marriage proposals?

When did I become THAT mother?

You know, the mother who lets her kids out of the house in ridiculous outfits because she couldn't or wouldn't tell her kids that what they picked out was horrifying?  Or, as in my case, she told her kid that the outfit looked dreadful and that kid just shook his head, refused to change, and said "I wook AWESOME" and scampered away?

Charlotte's outfit isn't bad, but I probably wouldn't have chosen those boots to go with that skirt.  But Peter?  He looks horrific.  Who else but a three-year-old would put together a gray 4th of July t-shirt (in May, no less) with brown cammo shorts and black "Batman" boots?

His teachers commented that together with his little buzz cut, he looked like the quintessential American kid.  I think he looks like a redneck.  I had to take photographic evidence to show him later how his Tennessee roots stayed put even though he had moved to Michigan.  Cammo is, after all, a primary color in Tennessee.

How come my daughter will pretty much always wear exactly what I pick for her and my son is the one with the strong fashion opinions?  Not to mention the fact that this was already the third outfit he had put on this morning.  He always changes his mind, decides he needs something "awesome" (his favorite adjective), and heads back to his closet to do his best impression of Yoda rooting through Luke's things on Dagobah.  Sigh.

Strawberry fiends

My children love strawberries.  REALLY love strawberries.  Thus, it was perfect that the kids received strawberry plants at the Home Depot kids' building program last weekend.  Luckily, the previous homeowner left big plastic pots in the back garden for us to use -- one for each kid!

This morning, the kids decided they needed to check out the plants up close and personal.  I refused to put them on the ground because of the high incidence of plant-eating critters in Oakland Township (not to mention the high incidence of plant-ruining critters living in this house -- human, feline, and canine), so we pulled deck chairs over to enable the shorties to view their crops.

Charlotte's is in the square pot, and I think she chose it because there are the most strawberries growing on it.

Whenever I tell Peter to smile for a picture now, I get a pose instead.

His strawberry plant is in the round pot.

Charlotte said she had to check her crops for "things that might be harmful".

Look how tall it is!

Monkey see, monkey do.

I looked over a few moments later and Peter was giving his plant some love.

Monkey see, monkey do!

Not sure if the plants are going to get too much sun in this spot, but I guess we'll find out!

From brasstastic to fantastic!

This house had five major things I hated when we moved in:

1.  Wavy, stretched out carpet

2.  A powder room with a green countertop, sink, and toilet

3.  Brass EVERYWHERE (lighting fixtures, bathroom trim, faucets, cabinet knobs)

4.  Wallpaper, wallpaper, and more wallpaper

Yes, I know those are all things that can be fixed (unlike a bad house layout, a cruddy neighborhood, too few bedrooms, etc.).  We got the carpet stretched everywhere except for on the staircases (the carpet dude refused to even attempt it), and tore down the wallpaper in the powder room with the help of my amazing dad, but to replace the 160+ (no joke) brass cabinet knobs and drawer pulls in the house might require us taking out a second mortgage.

We don't have the means for a new countertop, sink, and toilet in the powder room right now, so we are just going to paint it tan (hopefully sometime in the next few weeks) and hope it helps tone down the room.  The vertically striped wallpaper and border (around the top of the walls AND the ceiling) were just crazy pants.  Thanks to my parents, we now have a great brushed nickel fixture up and some pretty brushed nickel drawer pulls, cabinet knobs, and towel holders.  They redid the Jack & Jill bathroom in their house and gave us their old stuff.  SCORE!!  Unfortunately, the faucet they had didn't fit the configuration of our sink, so we did have to buy that.  I spray painted the brass-framed mirror, so no trace of brass remains in there (except for the doorknobs, which we won't be tackling just yet).  We also had to replace the switch plate and outlet cover because they were both expertly wallpapered as well -- seriously, it had to be a professional job because the covers were matched perfectly with the paper behind such that they completely blended in and made it kind of difficult to find the switches if you didn't look closely!

I wish I had a good "before" photo, but here is one I took the day we put an offer on the house.  Thank you to Barb for being my model.

I know the walls are still unfinished, but it already looks 100 times better with that awful brass and wallpaper gone.  It's pretty hard to take a photo of a powder room, but here's the best I could manage:

Next stop: the paint department at the hardware store!

Let's Go to the Mall

Charlotte is in desperate need of some summer pajamas.  Since the only nightgowns you can buy in the store have Disney characters splattered all over them and are made out of polyester, I decided to make Charlotte some nightgowns out of old t-shirts.  I figured my old Robin Sparkles Mall Tour 1993 shirt would be perfect for the first test project.  (Please ignore the fact that I messed up and made the armholes waaaaaaay too big and did a cruddy job finishing them because the way I cut the shirt didn't leave enough scraps for binding.)

In order to convince Charlotte to put on the nightgown, I educated her on all things Robin Sparkles.  She is, of course, the fictional 90s Canadian pop star from the show "How I Met Your Mother".  I looked up the video for "Let's Go to the Mall" on the computer and Charlotte was entranced.  (Peter liked the video too, but only because there was a robot in it.)  After watching the video, Charlotte willingly put on the nightgown then.  After I took a few pictures she insisted on me taking a video of her.  Peter couldn't stand being left out, so he jumped up to be a backup dancer/singer.  Yes, that is a dog collar he is wearing around his waist as a "utibbity bewt" (aka a "utility belt" a la Batman).




Is anyone worried that we missed the opportunity to get these two into show business while we had a chance?  Me neither.  They may, perhaps, have promising futures in Ultimate Sibling Smackdown cage matches.

Spring for the Woodland Creatures

Now that spring is nearly half over, we're finally having some consistently spring-like weather.  Bulbs are finally blooming, trees are getting leaves, and we're seeing signs of the creatures who have been hibernating all winter long -- our very own Woodland Creatures.

The Woodland Creatures are known to inhabit the outdoors -- specifically anywhere they can get obscenely dirty.  Our "pond" in the back yard provides an excellent setting for the Woodland Creatures.  They are also prone to digging in the mulch (while Mommy screams in protest) and rolling around in the grass.  A sandbox may be in order for these two, since digging in the dirt is their great joy in life.

Today, these Woodland Creatures enjoyed a lunch at their picnic table on the back deck.  Notice their groupie, the shiny black dog missing two front claws (after an unfortunate accident on some playground equipment last week).

Connie keeps tabs on them outside and hates to come inside until the Woodland Creatures do.  She is a big fan of the "pond" and surrounding swampy area.  Mostly she's glad we took the bandage off her paw and stopped making her wear the big cone around her neck.

I laid out some food in hopes of attracting the Woodland Creatures so I could observe them while they fed.  The female Creature ate nearly her weight in food, but the male Creature eschewed most of his sandwich in favor of adventures in the swamp.

I went inside for a while to make chocolate chip cookies and came out to check on the Woodland Creatures a while later.  I found that they had raided the garage and extricated the sleds.  They carefully arranged their "ships" on the "ocean" and were playing a merry sailing game.  Weirdos.

"Catch da wope, Mommy!"

The Woodland Creatures finally tired of their filthiness and allowed me to lure them inside into the shower.  The female Creature won the prize for dirtiest, the male Creature won for best use of Froggie Potty for pooping, and Connie won for not barking at the high school kids when they got off at the bus stop at the end of our driveway.  All in all, it was a great afternoon for all wildlife involved.