Parties, Power Outages, and More!!

Emma had dance classes this week. She LOVED it! I even signed her up for next year. It's beginner's ballet. I'm sure you're all going to be hearing about it later in the year, when I invite everyone to her 1st recital!

Aaron had his first "friends" birthday party at Chuck E Chesse. I was worried it was going to be a chaotic mess, but it went well. Of course Emma was there too. It ended up being 11 kids. It was nice that so many could make it.

We also has relatively major power loss this weekend. Friday at about 5pm the huge storm blew through and caused the tornado sirens to go off in Milford. I guess one touched down in Oakland County and Livingston County. As the rain was coming down, our laundry room flooded because the storm drain couldn't keep up with the downpour of water. At about 5:45, the power flickered a few times and went out. Myles got home about 7, and the storm stopped. We drove around town, to get Myles dinner and to see how much of the town was without power. All of Milford was out, from M-59 to GM Road and Milford Rd. We went to bed and at about 1am, there was huge sparking and a HUGE boom in the backyard. The transformer in the back corner of our yard blew up and caught a tree on fire. Myles never even woke up! We had police and firefighters in the yard within minutes. The houses across the street now had power but we didn't.
So.......DTE kept saying it would be until Sunday afternoon until we got power back. Sunday, while the kids and I were at the Farmer's market, Myles called me to say that the power line in the back had fell and was arching and spitting all over, and touching the fence. Then it hit a tree and exploded it. So, the fire dept was here again. And DTE this time. The line was fixed and we got power back Sunday afternoon.
We had an interesting weekend, huh???

This week, both kids went for their well checks at the doctor. Both are doing well and are healthy. Emma actually cried because she DIDN'T need a shot. That girl is a trip sometimes. Aaron is due for a pretty huge growth spurt very soon, so the doctor suggested I wait to get him school clothes. I totally agree and haven't done any shopping for him yet.

Aaron's new elementary school (I can't get used to that!) has an open house this week, that we'll be going to , as does Emma's preschool. Then this weekend, we're off camping.

Gave a good week, everyone!!!

Emma's ballet

Emma got pink highlights for her birthday
She likes 'em

Chuck E Cheese partyCake for breakfast on her birthday
Pink highlights for Emma, blue gel for Aaron
Aaron's breakfast cake. With no electricity.

Quickie

Ok, I only have time for a short run-down, so here it is:
Aaron has Safety Camp for 2 weeks. They taught him all the stuff I had already taught him. Stranger danger, what to do if there is a fire, how to call 911, don't pet strange dogs, etc. He had fun. We went to Milford Memories, the beach, the near-by Catholic Fest, and the Howell Melon Fest




The beach
Face painting at the Catholic Fair
Kids craft tent at Milford Memories
Watching the Melon Fest parade in Howell

Myles tried to give Emma a "Flock of Seagulls" hairdo

Wow!

Where has the summer gone?? I can't believe that the kids are almost 3 and 5! I'm in shock!

Ok, here's what's been going on with us lately.

July 13 the kids and I went to the zoo with some friends. We got out membership renewed, and we are set for another year.

On the train

I LOVE this picture

Sunday July 15- Myles had a golf lesson. I had bought him a gift certificate for Father's Day. He loved it. I hope that he'll hit the driving range more often. We also steam cleaned the carpets.

Tuesday July 17- We went to the zoo again with Eva, Emeric, and their daughter Lucie, visiting from France.

Monday July 23- Myles had the day iff and we spent it with Eva, Emeric and Lucie again. We went to the waterpark in Waterford. It was a blast. They have a huge wave pool and an area for smaller kids with slides and sprayers. We were there until 3 and then we came back here to let the kids nap, and then we all helped get dinner ready.

Tuesday July 24- Ok I've got a weird story for you----Aaron's right ear was really swollen, red and bumpy. So I called the doctor and they wanted to see him, the same day. SO, I took him in, and the doctor looked at his ear and said that we had "retained bug parts in his ear" EEEWWW Basically, Aaron had a sore or bug bite on his ear, and then another bug landed in the same spot. Then Aaron, swatted at the bug, and some bug "parts" stayed on the sore. Then, his body formed a scab over those body parts. Isn't that the grossest thing ever???? So the doctor scraped his ear and prescribed an antibiotic for 10 days. I guess he could have gotten pretty sick from it. He's totally fine now, but I call that ear his "bug butt ear".

Before the doctor

Friday July 27-29 We went camping with Eva and her family.

Sunday July 29- Myles was supposed to leave from camping and go to Ohio for work, and I was going to stay at the campground for another day. Well, on Sunday evening, we went to start his car and it wouldn't stay stared. So after a while of trying, we left that car there, packed up took the kids and me home, and then he left for Ohio. So, I had to call a tow truck on Monday and get the car taken care of. Needless to say, I was without a car most of the week. We got it squared away, and now the car is fixed, $500 later. We picked it up almost a week later on Friday, August 3rd. Kind of a bummer to be without a car for a while, but we survived.

Saturday August 4- We left camping early and headed home. On the way we stopped at a local Farmer's Market. We got fresh eggs, salad greens, cukes, and green beans. Yummy. We got home unpacked,and immediately left for the beach. It was a beautiful day. We came home, everybody took a nap, had dinner, and then we went to a fair. It was fun. The kids played games and went on a bouncer, and got their faces painted.

4th of July

We got to go camping almost the whole week of the 4th. It was really nice to spent a lot of time together as a family. With Myles travelling for work so often, those times are far between nowadays. We went to the beach, had a seafood fest, and just hung out.
When we got home, I decided to clean the house from top to bottom. I mean everything. Walls, windows, baseboards, you name it, I cleaned it. Then, Myles was in Ohio for a few days. I killed time with the kids by going to the mall, hitting some garage sales (Aaron LOVES going to garage sales!), and going to open swim at the YMCA. Last Friday 7/13, I took Ginger(our dog) in to get shaved. Then I met a friend at the Detroit Zoo. I love that place! We were there for almost 5 hours! We had a TON of fun, but man, were we tired. On Saturday 7/14, Myles and I had a date night. We went to dinner and did some clothes shopping for ourselves. We didn't buy a thing for the kids. Which is pretty amazing, I think. The kids always seem to have more clothes than us. Sunday, we worked on the house. We're in the middle of a landscaping project in the backyard, so Myles worked on that for a while, and I am slowing scrubbing and scraping our back steps down so I can eventually I can paint them. Then on Sunday evening Myles steam-cleaned our carpets. Both of our kids have pretty severe allergies, and Aaron has asthma, so we try really hard to clean the carpets 2 time a year. Replacing all of the upstairs with hard wood was the best thing we've done for their allergies. Next week is another crazy week, but I'll try to get on here and post a little bit and add some pics from last week.

I love summertime!!

Summer is so great! And I love seeing it again through my kid's eyes. Everything is so new and fun and wonderful. They truly are the light of my life, and I wouldn't trade my life for anything!!!

Thurs June 14- We went to Spicier's Orchard for strawberry picking. Man, there were a TON of ripe ones. We were only there for 30 minutes, and we managed to pick over 5 pounds!

Sharing a cider slushie at the orchard

Fri June 15- We watched a friend's dog for the weekend. The kids really had a good time with her. I think Ginger liked it, too.

Sat June 16- Weeding the garden. Sounds like fun, huh? Wanna come over and help? Well, it needed to get done. I had a hair appt in the afternoon, and I got about 7 inches cut off. My hair had been too long for too long. That evening we got a sitter and I had a date with my hubby!! We went and saw Ocean's 13 and went to dinner. It was SOOOOO nice to be out, just the 2 of us. We need to do that more often.

Sun June 17- My friend Lisa came over so I could cut her hair, and we just hung out. Easy, breezy day. Myles left to go to Ohio for a couple of days.

Mon June 18- Emma had her 1st allergist appt today. Aaron got to go to a friend's house and spend the day at the local spray park. Emma got the back full of shots, and surprise, surprise, she has lots of outdoor allergies. I knew it was coming, between Myles' allergies and Aaron's, there's a clear family history. Emma also had her 1st dance class today. So cute!

Tues June 19- Rained a lot. Aaron had swim class. He's still good. Learning form, when to breathe to the side and timing that up with the stroking arm.

Wed June 20- My sister-in-law came over for the day. We all went to lunch, did a little running around and then I cut and colored her hair. Very cute, if I do say so myself ;)

Thurs June 21- Kensington Farm has lessons on Thursdays, so we went. Very cool. This week was horses. We got 1 crafts, a snack, got to pet the horse, and a story. Then we stayed and had a picnic lunch, until it started to rain on us! Then we ran to the car. Aaron had swim lessons again in the afternoon.

Fri June 22-Did some running around. Myles was in town working at GM for the day, so we met him downtown for lunch. It doesn't happen very often, so it's really great when we can do that. My sister-in-law came over again and watched the kids while we played our monthly card game with friends.

Sat June 23- Howell Balloon Fest. Awesome! We saw a dog performance, skydivers, kite tricks, a carnival. It was cool. The kids loved it, and then slept like logs the whole way home!!

Sun June 24- We went to my Aunt Mary's house to mooch her pool. We ended up staying all day. It was beautiful outside, 85* and clear as a bell. So we spent a few hours in the pool, lounging. When we left, we brought my cousin Avery, who's 10, home with us to stay the night. Aaron loves him to death.

Aaron and Avery were wrestling, and Emma was brushing his hair. LOL

oopps!

I didn't take any pictures last week, so I guess this will be a short post!
Not too much went on last week, some running around and then we left for camping on Thursday. Myles was in Ohio Wednesday and Thursday, so he met me and the kids up there on Thursday night. This was our camping club's monthly outing weekend, and we were the hosts! Our first time flying solo. We had fun. Saturday morning I made a killer breakfast casserole. It was really good. I even made copies of the recipe to hand out, it was that good. Then we had a trailer scavenger hunt. That was too short, but fun, too. Then we did hot dogs, hamburgers, and sausage for dinner, with everyone bringing a dish to pass. Good eats all weekend. The weather was wonderous. The guys went to play golf and the ladies were reading books in the sun. Sunday was my parents 30 year anniversary. They are going on a cruise to Alaska next week to celebrate.
That's about it. The kids are running around in the sun everyday and getting very brown, even through all the sunscreen I seem to be constantly applying. Aaron is slightly lost now that school is out though. I've been having him to workbooks, so he feels slightly more grounded. That boy is a slave to a schedule!
This weekend we are staying home and doing work around the house. Today I am cleaning everything in sight. Especially the fun stuff, like the doors, polishing furniture and walls. I still need to plant a veggie garden! I've never, ever been this late. Myles has some work to do to the garden before I can get to it, so I think that's on his plan for this weekend.
Ok, so this wasn't a short post....lol
I'll take pictures this week, I promise.

Growing Up Fast!

Aaron's last day of school

Aaron's favorite teacher, Ms. Terri. She's moving this summer and won't be back next year, She's great! We will miss her.

Having ice cream in town, near camping. They are very good sharers.

Two engineers putting together our new camping BBQ.

Enjoying the fire before bedtime.

Last weekend (6/1-6/3) we went to the campground. It was an off weekend, so it was almost empty, just the way we like it. Beautiful weather.

This week, I have to get ready to host a camping outing next weekend. So I have a lot of lists and shopping to do. Myles will be in Ohio for a couple of days, so he'll be meeting me at the campground later in the week.

I've been trying to plan our summer with lessons for the kids, vacations, and family coming in from out of town. It's crazy. My sister-in-law will be here for a couple of weeks in June, Eva and Emeric will be here for a couple of weeks in July, dance lessons for Emma, swim and Safety Camp for Aaron, and the summer's gone!! And I told Aaron he could have a b-day party this year. I'm momentarily overwhelmed!! lol At least I know we'll be busy and have fun this summer. I know that my in-laws want to go camping with us again this summer, too. I think our next free weekend is the first week in August!