Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

Posted pictures from our Monday adventure at Greenfield Village. Go HERE to check them out!

Get the worst of the weekend out of the way - I lost our digital camera. Yes, "I" lost it, because I was the one who had it last. No use getting in the details, but indeed "lost" is the correct word because I can't even remember when I had it last on Saturday. I remember one specific thing but then - the mind goes blank. So all the cute shots I got of Roman and Iris together.... gone... It was also d*&% hot out this weekend. Since when is it in the 90s in May in Michigan ? But other than sweating (there was no glistening going on) and being very upset about the camera, we had a good weekend. On Saturday we did the Alma Festival and had a fun day. Iris had never experienced bagpipes so Roman took her under his wing. They loved seeing the "fuzzy cows" and the border collies, complete with ducks and sheep to herd - and later, to pet. Again, lost the camera or I would show you all the great pictures. Sunday we stayed at home. Some little errands around...

Finally, I upload some pictures. First, Doug's birthday with a quiet little celebration at home: Next, celebration of Doug's graduation with his Master's degree. Yup, April was all about Doug! Lastly, this was just too cute not to tell you about. Roman and Daddy got to talking about buying toys with the quarters in Roman's piggy bank. We went to Farmer Jack on Wednesday night with a bunch of change in a Ziploc bag, carried by Roman, that had been dumped out of the "purple pig." Roman picked out these bubbles to buy. He put it on the conveyor belt, picked out the money, paid for it and everything. He was VERY proud of this purchase - the first with his own money!

It's been a week of sickness around our house. Pretty sure it's just seasonal allergies - mostly sinus and lots of drainage. Roman is about 2 days behind my own symptoms, but he doesn't like to take his Triaminic so spends a lot of his day being stuffy. He does love Vicks VapoRub, though. We suspect one of our cats - probably Merry - is not feeling quite right either. There has been a large increase in wetting around the basement, with a really obvious one last night, so I suspect there's a urinary tract issue. So have to call the vet about that one. Otherwise, looking forward to a weekend off. For once, I have had no take-home work all week and that will also include this weekend. Everything is planned pretty much to the end of the school year, and I'm on top of grading. Saturday we are going to the Alma Highland Festival as we like to do most years. Roman loves the drumming. We are meeting my parents up there this year, and they are bringing Iris for the day. The ...

Doug is out watching the Pistons vs. Heat playoff game. Knew someone who ended up with an extra ticket, and I was glad he could go. I do lots of scrapping weekends, dinners with a former coworker, stuff like that - Doug rarely gets an evening out. So Roman and I watched the first few minutes and pretended like we could see Daddy before Roman went off to bed. This past weekend I co-hosted a baby shower with 2 other friends for Nicole, who is due June 18 with a little boy they are naming Perrin. It was very successful in my opinion, lasting only 2.5 hours with over 30 people in attendance. Roman spent the day with his Papa and Doug at the John Ball Park Zoo in GR. They had just opened a stingray exhibit where people could touch and feed them. Roman was excited about it, until he actually saw them. Then he freaked out, according to Doug, and tried to sit down and crawl away backward. But he ended up just watching them and is still talking about it. Roman is so smart, by the way, that h...

Have you ever read a biography of Helen Keller? From all accounts that I've found, once Helen made the connection of the words spelled in her hand and an actual thing (the breakthrough for Helen being water from the handpump), she drove her teacher crazy wanting to know the name of everything she encountered. So it goes with Roman. Our dreaded question is not "why?" but "what's that called?" because it is usually followed by a "what's that do?" Roman wants to know the name of everything and how everything works. Example: I allowed him to have a disposable camera this week. It took only one showing of how to wind to the next picture, and the boy was shooting like a pro. He has taken the camera everywhere, and I mean everywhere - daycare and Michael's craft store, even! At Michael's he took pictures of the Thomas trains that he wants but doesn't have. Nice, huh? I'm dropping the camera off this afternoon to see if any of them act...

Toured the Ford Rouge Plant this afternoon as part of the American History Grant I participate in. Only 3 of us went but it was a great time. We watched the F-150 being built; car doors, windshield, air bags, steering wheel, and final inspections. Quite fascinating, really. The three most interesting facts I learned: 1) the Rouge has a deep-water boat slip for delivery of raw materials; 2) the F-150 assembly line is 4 miles long; 3) The Rouge complex itself is 1 mile long by 3/4-mile wide. Just amazing, the vision to build that thing. Disappointing things occurred in the voting booths of the two cities I am involved with. In the city I live in, the vote was between 2 candidates for school board; voting for the incumbent meant you supported the "Legacy" plan of closing a few schools and re-aligning grades in all the others (k-4, 5/6, 7/8, 9-12). A vote for the challenger meant you supported the group that is suing to have the Legacy plan blocked. The challenger, unfortunately,...

I should have pictures to go with all the excitement from last week, but I either don't, or haven't uploaded them yet. The day after we met Thomas the Tank Engine was Doug's birthday. Your typical Monday, unfortunately. Met parents VE for dinner Wednesday to do birthday "things." Thursday Doug went in to work early, took a quick break to see his child around dinner, and headed back to work until about midnight. Friday was my birthday, a pretty deflated one at that. Most people remembered... eventually. A summary of our birthdays would be for Doug: undercooked cupcakes. For Amy: we had Wendy's for dinner. Hooray. My own parents came on Saturday and we got a lot of work done around the house with my Dad helping in the yard. Sunday morning brought Doug's graduation from U-M-Dearborn with his graduate degree in Engineering Management. So parents VE came with friends Paul and Nicole, along with my own parents, to see the ceremony. And did I mention that Roman ...