Author: Melissa

Another lovely Christmas in the books!

Noomi and I made Christmas cookies, and the guys were nice enough to try all of them.  The family favorite was the snickerdoodles.    We had Christmas Eve at our house this year, but due to the storm Aunt Liz and her family didn’t make it up.  We had a ton of food for the rest of us though and had a lovely evening.  Christmas morning started at 6 am (which I’ll call a win).  Ajax said he was up at 5 am but forced himself back to sleep.

The kids got some really neat gifts and so did Dave and I this year.  We tried driving into Dearborn but the highway was so slick we slide around and then decided to turn around.  Going up the highway a few miles equated to an hour in the car and just wasn’t worth the stress.  So we got home, got back into our PJs and had a lazy day watching movies and playing with new toys.

After Christmas we headed up north to Mikado.  Everyone was up north and we had a lovely time.  We had to come back home on Thursday night because on Friday 12/29 we closed on our new house!  This means we are officially on Baby Steps 4, 5, and 6!  We are debt free, except for our house, and we are rounding off our emergency fund.  What a Christmas present!

Oh as Noomi is missing her 2 front teeth, I can’t even tell you how many people asked what she wanted for Christmas lol.

Oh my gosh, I’m so behind!  I don’t even know where to start.  We’ve done stuff and I only remember 1/3 of it.

We had the Williamston light parade in town. Noomi and I walked in it and Dave and Ajax watched and waved from the sidelines.  Ajax collected a bunch of candy which annoyed Noomi, but he was nice enough to share.

Dave took the kids to his sister, Lisa’s house, for a family get together setting up Great Grandma Indish’s Christmas Village.  The rest of the cousins were there and the kids had a great time. I ended up staying home sick because that’s how it goes.

We also got family pictures at a neat tree farm in Owosso and the pictures look great!

Noomi is thoroughly enjoying girl scouts and both kids are loving swim class.  Ajax also had his third grade economics fair.  He and his partner, Dylan, made Kool Aid play dough kits for $1.  They did pretty good, but I still don’t know what they learned from the project except they were excited to donate the money to a charity.

We also had a family dinner in Mexican town this past weekend, saw Santa, did last minute shopping and I also made Ajax get a haircut.   Oh, Noomi also had a birthday party at the theater in town and was so excited as it was the first party where I just dropped her off and left. She was beyond excited.

I don’t even know what else we’ve done. It’s been a whirlwind.  I know we have Christmas coming soon, this darn Elf creeping around the house, and wet winter snow.

Weekend has come and gone.

On Friday, we headed to the Lansing Brewery for Emily’s 30th birthday! There was a live band, good food, and family, which was an excellent combination.   The kids had fun and they even danced.   They of course passed out in the car on the way home and were dragging a bit on Saturday morning on the way to swim class.  But it was worth it.

At swim class, Ajax continued to work on backstroke and apparently Noomi simply picked up backstroke, but is still working on freestyle.  Both kids love swimming and I’m hoping they want to swim competitively when they get older.   After swim class, the plan was for Dave and Ajax to go to LCC for STEMfest, while Noomi and I went to my cousin Amber’s baby shower in Flat Rock.  Noomi, however, decided that the STEM festival sounded way more fun and opted for that.  I couldn’t really argue with her so I headed to Flat Rock solo.  Dave said the kids had a great time; their favorite thing was constructing buildings out of cardboard.

On Sunday, we didn’t leave the house as it was rainy and cold. We did some cleaning and friends stopped by to visit, but other than that it was pretty quiet.

This past weekend we also had Darcy’s wedding near Novi. Now for the first time in a long time, Dave and I actually got a hotel near the wedding and Papa was nice enough to come down and stay over with the kids.  Dave and I both took Friday off of work. I got my hair done and bought a new dress (I think Dave showered and shaved, lol).  The kids were happy to see us off and really could have cared less that we were gone. I’m going to say that means they are well adjusted.

The wedding was lovely, though it was at a place called Plantera (like a large beautiful greenhouse), but for some reason I thought it was at a Planetarium.  It was not and Dave was annoyed as he was expecting a light show.  For some reason I’m terrible at taking photos at events so I only have 3 to share.  Oh well, it was a lovely night, we slept in the next day and had a great breakfast before heading home.

Unfortunately it was raining with thunder and lightening, so Ajax’s last game was cancelled. He was pretty bummed out so to cheer him up we bought Ghostbusters the movie.  We sat in the living room eating tacos and candy, while watching the movie. It was great.  Kids favorite line that they keep repeating: Back off man, I’m a scientist.  Maybe next year for Halloween we can do a family costume of Ghostbusters.  I’m in.

Halloween one of our favorite holidays!   This year we did a little advance planning and actually bought costumes a few weeks before Halloween (which meant Noomi had ample opportunity to be a ninja at every turn).

Both Dave and I took the day off from work and were able to squeeze in a morning parent-teacher conference and then worked both kids’ holiday parties.   During Noomi’s party she sang along with her class and even did the hand-gestures that went along with the Halloween song.  This was the first time she has ever participated in such a demonstration and we were so proud.

The kids tracked through the neighborhood during the parade led by the High School marching band and then afterwards we rounded them up and headed home to carve pumpkins.  Somehow in carving pumpkins the seeds and guts got everywhere (covered both kids, the wall, the floor, everything), but they were both quite impressed with their mad skills.

Grandma Mary and Grandpa Gordy came over to help hand out candy, eat chili, and watch the kids freak out on their sugar high.  This year Ajax went trick-or-treating with a friend up the street, which meant Noomi was running behind them trying to keep up.  Noomi made it almost to the front of the neighborhood before tiring out.  At that point I carried her all the way home while she yelled and called to every person we passed, HI I’m Noomi! Remember me!

Ajax, Dave and his friends kept going and even hit up the second neighborhood behind us.  This year Dave actually remembered to bring a flashlight as they tromped through the woods.  Ajax got an incredible load of candy this year and was very proud of this fact.

Overall, an excellent evening, though the weather could have been warmer.  But that’s how it goes… Michigan.

It’s officially Fall and cold and rainy. It’s Michigan.  It’ll most likely snow on Halloween.

On Saturday we were up and took the kids to swim class.  Ajax is getting better at backstroke and Noomi is really working on her kickers/pullers.  She can flip over quickly and float on her back.  Both kids love swim class and are really becoming comfortable in the water.   I’m pretty sure I’ll be pressing them to join the swim team when they get older, lol.

After swim class Grandma Dara and Papa came over and we all went trick-or-treating in downtown Williamston.   The kids had fun, saw a lot of their friends, and of course, got a lot of candy.  It was in the mid-40s, so by the time we got home everyone was pretty cold, so we made some hot chocolate and ate a bunch of junk.

On Sunday we bummed around and went for a hike in the woods. It was a little cool, but so beautiful seeing the leaves changing colors.

Last Saturday we had a bit going on!  The kids had swim class in the morning (they are doing great!) and then we went shopping.  Ajax had a soccer game in town and then we headed to South Lyon to my cousin Laura’s house for a cousin Halloween Party!    The kids carved pumpkins, busted open a pinata, and ate junk food for hours.

We had a bonfire and the kids piled up sticks and then played dark tag around the yard.  They had so much fun and it reminded me of times when I was little with my cousins.  They also had little glow sticks and I remember being a kid and throwing them up into the air and having bats swoop down at them.  Well, I shared memory with the kids who immediately launched the glow sticks into the air and almost into the fire.  Overall, an excellent time!

Today was anti-bullying day and with the drama in town surrounding the School Board’s policy it was definitely needed!  When we stand together no one stands alone!

Well we’re headed into October and right on schedule our Garden City home is up on the market.  It took a bit of work to get it ready to show after the renters left, but luckily we were put in contact with some excellent contractors.  We did a final walk through with Jim and were amazed at how nice the home looked.

Ajax insisted he remembered the home, but we have our doubts. He was after all, only three when we moved.  The kids had fun walking around the house and exploring outside.  We spoke with our old neighbors, who couldn’t believe how big the kids were now.

After the walk through we ate dinner at Dave’s favorite restaurant, Bangkok 96, on Telegraph and Michigan Ave.  The kids were picky, but Dave and I ate a ton.  After that we realized it was rush-hour, so we decided to kill some time by exploring Harry’s Army Surplus.  We didn’t think about it, but both kids had a pop with dinner, so they kind of freaked out in the army store with the toy guys, gas masks, deactivated hand grenades, and cool old army helmets.

A bit ago Noomi and I headed to Detroit for a wedding brunch for Ms. Darcy.  The location was a bit deceiving as it wasn’t in the greatest area of town and from the street the address looked like a brick abandoned building.  Hesitantly we turned down a side street to go around back and the place came alive with valet parking, an outdoor band, and people dancing and sipping mojitos.  We were, of course, hesitant and confused, but nonetheless turned over our keys to the valet.  The food was great, company was great, and of course everyone is excited for the wedding!