Come What May

May.

This has been an insane month, if that wasn't already obvious from the abundance of posts you've seen in the last few weeks.

May always is a tornado of social events, end-of-the-year school stuff, Girl Scouts, and whatever hell else our family has going on, so the fact we had practically had every day and evening of every weekend booked didn't shock anyone.  It's the end of the year gauntlet, and by now we're all used to running it.

We had plenty of other random stuff happen to us between those previously-discussed, noteworthy events, so I'm going to leave you now with a somewhat lengthy post about all the other randomness that befell the Hough's this May.

Behold. . .

Alayna's Girl Scout troop organized a Garage Sale to benefit Guatemalan children (somehow.)  So here we have members of the troop decorating a sign in our basement, to display while they host the garage sale over at the Davis residence.

Morning of the Garage Sale. . .

Of course the Cannonball is doing this. . .

This one has been hanging out in my beer fridge for years.  Finally got around to it towards the beginning of the month.  Not bad, but probably not worth the wait.

We didn't have any ice cream when Alayna wanted dessert, so she improvised.  Frozen whipped cream, blueberries, and chocolate syrup.  So she took a pic with Kris' phone and somehow wrote on the picture (something she's fond of doing.)  Absolutely disgusting.

Noticed this in the side yard, between our driveway and the neighbors' house.  Showed it to a few friends and they all said the same thing:  probably skunks, digging for grubs.  I hadn't treated the yard for bugs this year (d'oh), but fortunately after a couple weeks this disappeared.  I'm hoping they ate 'em all, but that's probably not all that realistic.  I hate yard maintenance.

Hanging out at the Collier residence one evening, Alayna took Kris' phone and snapped this.  Can't say I disagree with her.

The girls' Mother's Day card for Kris this year. . .

Kris let the girls dress up in some of her old bridesmaid dresses one afternoon.  They got a HUGE kick out of this.

And of course this spilled over into wearing a bunch of Kris' other clothes.  And make-up.  Whatever.

I had to get a new Driver's License last month, and my new one finally came in the mail this month.  Believe it or not, the one on the LEFT is the newer one.  About ten pounds lighter, more tan, and - what can I say - significantly younger.  I'm like Benjamin Button.

Watson has been sitting on the couch like this lately. . .

Our dog has problems.

The things my kids are willing to do for money these days. . .

Kris and Abby's Girl Scout troop (or Alayna's, I don't know) had some random outing at that one Chippewa Nature Center across town one night, during the school week.  Not sure what the point was, as - per usual - I was not at all involved with any of this.

Out on a hike on the trails.

Checkin' out some chicks.

Contemplating the mysteries of life.

Came back from a Sick Day and found this nonsense left by a sub on my desk.  I was not happy.  Mt. Dew is disgusting.

I had high hopes for this one right here.  I was super disappointed.

Mr. Buff.  The legend continues.  One of my students got a hold of some spray paint.  Figures.

The culminating event of Fifth Grade in an IB-sanctioned school is Exhibition:  a middle-school level research project that requires students to form groups and research a problem the world is facing and come up with a solution to remedy it.  They have to cite their sources, create a series of visuals, and present their findings to parents, teachers, and their fellow students in an evening showcase.

Alayna and her good friend, Christina, along with this kid here (I forget his name) that they sit at a table with in their classroom, selected Endangered Species as their focus problem. . .

They took turns presenting their background information, statistics, and their proposed solution for saving Endangered animals. . .

They had a few different solutions for addressing this problem, namely fighting pollution and deforestation, combating Climate Change (good luck in a Republican administration, kids), protecting water sources, and - of course - donating to non-profits like the World Wildlife Fund.

Alayna, who, as you all know, is a supporter of the WWF, brought in a bunch of the notecards, pictures, and stuffed animals she's earned by donating to the organization over the years. . .

After their presentation, they took audience questions, and called on various adults - and fellow students - in attendance to address each and every question.

They did a really good job with this - we were pretty proud of Alayna's hard work.  Of course, it helped having a topic she was super passionate about.

Bought a few dresses for Alayna for her upcoming Fifth Grade Graduation ceremony.  That'll be Friday, June 7th, but unfortunately Yours Truly will be down in Cedar Point while this is happening, so here's hoping Kris gets some good pictures and video that I can later share with all of you. . .

- Brian

...and All the Rest of October

Welcome back, America.

Time again for an all-encompassing, month-end wrap-up of all things Hough.  I'll skip the intro and just let the pictures speak for themselves.  We got Halloween bullshit to prep for around here, people.

Check it out. . .

With Watson being born and raised in Florida - and being a short-haired Dachshund mix with little to no fur to speak of - we were advised by a few different Orlando vets to invest in a series of jackets and coats for the poor bastard once we moved up to Michigan.  We're still narrowing down choices for possible coats for when winter really hits, but, in the meantime, with the fall temperatures cooling down, we wanted to get him something.  This hoodie was Amazon's top-selling, highest rated dog sweatshirt, and Watson loves it.

Crazy Hair Day at the girls' school.  I played no part in this whatsoever (aside from picture-taking, of course.)

Suited up with purses and ready to shop.

The girls requested a 'posed' picture.  I guess this sort of pose is considered 'funny'. . .?

Before taking them out to spend their allowance, we swung by the Member's First Credit Union in order to open up a savings account for the Cannonball.  Since she's getting older now, we're having her split up her weekly allowance into three categories - spending, saving, and charity.  She's saving up her charity funds for a $55 World Wildlife Fund 'Adoption Kit' (she wants to save the Amur Leopard), and had about $25 with which to open a savings account.

Opening the savings account.  She's wanting to save up for her very own Limo.  Seriously.

While letting the girls shop at various toy stores throughout Midland, we swung by School Days. . . in a very transparent effort to get them to spend their money on something educational (pretty sure they saw right through that.)  They had a lot of Playmobil there, though - might be something we look into this Christmas.

After School Days, we swung by K-Mart.  The girls were quick to snatch up a great series of random things that caught their attention.  Abby ended up with - surprise, surprise - a plush Star Wars toy.  She asked for a picture in front of a super-premature Christmas display.

Abby picked out her plush stormtrooper - and Alayna bought a pair of Minions slippers - but they still wanted to run around and pick out stuff for their Christmas lists. . . such as this stuffed bear (which she will NOT be getting - we have too many damned stuffed animals in our house as it is.)

At the park behind our house. . . enjoying the warm weather while it lasts.

Alayna apparently never figured out the whole 'slide' thing. . .

Alayna and a ladybug - the one insect that doesn't make her pee herself in sheer terror. . .

Alayna demanded I take a picture of this 'baby ladybug' for her.  She really wanted to keep it as a pet.

Walking home, observing how leaf-y our yard has gotten over the last couple of weeks.

Here's some fall-ish pics of our neighborhood. . . 

We picked Operation for the girls for Christmas this year.  They have newer versions out, but I looked around and found the original, old-school version of this classic game.  Mint in box, and only cost me $10.  BOOYA.

One of the girls' combo gifts this year was the new version of Disney Infinity (3.0) for our Wii U.  This version features all the Star Wars characters and adventure playsets for the game system, along with some newer Disney franchises (like Inside Out, other canonical characters, etc.)  We picked up the Luke/Leia figures, 'Rise of the Empire' set and Darth Vader figure for Abby (who plays Infinity more than her sister), and Sadness (from Inside Out) for Alayna.  I picked up Han Solo early so that I could play the game and unlock all of the add-ons, bonus features, and special content before they open the game Christmas morning.  'Cause that's how awesome dads roll, folks.

Changing seasons evident near the girls' school.

Some pumpkins from Jack's (here in Michigan, you can actually buy them a few weeks in advance and they won't rot. . . unlike in Florida, where you carve them the day before Halloween and they're already moldy before you get trick-or-treaters.)

I don't mind the leaves in the back yard so much - if anything, they pad Watson's feet from all those frickin' rocks where he goes to the bathroom.

Kris and the girls harvest some pumpkin guts for future use (. . . that we never ended up using.  It found its way into the garbage after hanging out in our freezer/fridge for a couple weeks.)

Kris and the girls enjoy taking selfies. . . and I enjoy watching them a series of weird faces all huddled around an iPhone.

Finally got around to hanging up the bikes for the winter.  'Cause I'm awesome.

Abby demanded her picture taken with yet another Star Wars cereal box. . . this time featuring Yoda.

I'm funned out with this.

Our neighbor, Tim, taking a bunch of the neighborhood kids around the block in his homemade 'train.'  I was taking Watson around the block, and that dog was definitely losing his shit over this. . .

(We never caught up with them, regardless of how hard Watson tried.)

We don't have many leaves left on our trees. . . thank God.

The same area by the girls' school as before, a couple weeks later.  

We got a Target Toy Catalog in the mail one day, and so we let the girls go through it and circle all the crap they wanted this year for Christmas (color-coded, of course, so we could figure it out later.)  Abby circled nearly every, single Star Wars thing she came across.

Picking out Disney Infinity figures

Alayna wants some weird toy called 'Shopkins' this year more than anything.  It's a stupid, stupid toy, but we have little choice in the matter - it's what she's into, and I'm not about to break her heart on Christmas morning.

This is the reaction you want when your kids listen to Led Zeppelin on vinyl.  This is right at that moment in 'Dazed and Confused' where Page and Bonham come back in hard after that long, spaced-out middle part of the song.  I've had the exact same reaction a time or forty while listening to this jam.

One day after school I found myself babysitting a few of the neighborhood kids.  After dealing with running around, screaming kids for awhile, I hooked up MarioKart on my old Nintendo 64 and let them loose.  Just like being at a JLFP band practice in my parents' basement back in the day.

. . .  good to see kids still appreciate the classics.

Found this vinyl treasure at the Salvation Army on Saginaw Rd. . . for 99 cents.  BOOYA.

- Brian