Category Archives: Family

A Simple Tour

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As part of Tiffany’s courses this semester she is once again taking a class that requires her to observe and work in a classroom at the Children’s Institute. This is the day care center on campus where Kylie attends day care. Today was Tiffany’s first day at this particular class, and much to her surprise they took a tour of the building. Tiffany and Kylie had not seen each other for a few days, due to Kylie staying with me because of Tiffany’s work and class schedule. This is Tiffany’s description of what transpired today:

I had not seen Kylie in a few days and I missed her as I’m sure she missed me. I knew she was at school and I had to go to the Children’s Institute for a class. I didn’t know that we were going to be taking a tour of the place. Well, on our tour, we went upstairs to where the Gold Room and Kylie’s Rainbow room are. As we got to the top of the stairs, I saw that Kylie’s class was sitting in the hall singing a song while waiting to go to the little gym. I didn’t know what Kylie would do when she saw me. I kind of expected her to run to me and give me a hug and want to go where I was going. I was pleasantly surprised and so very proud of her. She said “Mommy” (in a whisper) and waved to me, then continued with what the class was doing. As the class got up to walk down stairs, she hesitated a bit and looked to see if I was going to follow and when she realized I wasn’t, she waved and went with her class. Again, I was so very proud that she understood that I was not there to pick her up and that she needed to stay with her class. All of this without anyone telling her what was going on. I am however, a little sad that I didn’t get a hug, but I know that she loves me. She is becoming such a big girl!

Kylie certainly is growing up much faster than I had anticipated. We are very proud of her and her understanding of situations as they occur, and her understanding of what is the proper course of action to be taken in those situations.

Iced Window

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We haven’t turned the heat on in the apartment yet this winter, other than for a few minutes to make sure it was working and remember which vents the heat comes out, but it has not dropped below 64 degrees in here (and only once that low, normally it has been hovering around 67). When we have gotten cold we have just put on a warmer shirt or used a light blanket while sitting on the couch. I am not sure how much, but I know this has saved us a good bit of money so far this year.

That being said, today I was sitting in bed reading a book when I heard what sounded like water dripping, but I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Then Princess jumped up into the window and started acting a little odd. I noticed she kept pulling her paw back and shaking it like it was wet, so I got up and went to take a look. What I saw was rather shocking:

That is Ice, and water from melting ice, on the inside of my bedroom window. Earlier in the day I had noticed frost on the inside of my kitched window, but this is actual ice build up on the lower portion of the window.  Last year in preperation for winter we had put plastic up over this window, and when we took it down in the spring I found mold on the windowsill and the paint pealing. I had no idea why this had happened, but I think I have finally figured it out.

I called the mangement office and made them aware of this situation and they told me to just chip the ice away. The woman I spoke to in the office (Kelly) said that the windows are old and tend to not be sealed all the way, she also stated that she has been trying to get corporate to replace the windows, but considering how corporat works this hasn’t been done yet.

I took the above pictures, along with a few others, as a sort of insurance plan to make sure that when the water damage on the window sill comes into question when i move it (whenever that is) I can say “Wait a minute, I pointed this out.”

Childhood Holiday Memory

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As Christmas gets nearer, and I find myself once again enjoying putting up decorations, I also find myself thinking of my younger days. This time of year my parents (mainly my Mother) would put up our Christmas tree and of course I (and my Brother Chris when he was home) would help hang the ornaments. While I don’t seem to have any vivid memories of hanging the ornaments them selves, as I sit here stairing at my Christmas tree one memory does keep coming to mind. When I was younger I used to love looking at our Christmas tree, but not in the normal stand back and glance fashion. I used to love to lay on my back with my head underneath the tree and look up into it from the inside. I don’t know why, but I used to love to do this and I remember that I would just stay there for seemed like hours, I even remember playing my Game Boy under there. Though I haven’t done this yet this year, and don’t think I will, it is a very vivid and pleasing memory from my child hood.

More tree decorations

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Tonight Kylie and I added the ornaments that Nana sent us to our Christmas tree. All the ornaments were made by Nana during her various craft phases and look very pretty on the tree. In addition to these ornaments Daddy went out last night and got a tree topper that resembles an old fashioned Santa Claus and a nice red tree skirt. In addition we also got a few storage containers to help store all our new Christmas decorations and our tree. Not only have I rediscovered my fondness for old fashioned Santa’s but decorating the Christmas tree for the first time with my daughter has made me enjoy Christmas decorations again as well.

Holiday Portraits

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We went to Sears today and had Kylie’s Christmas pictures taken. We are a little behind this year, so I do not think we are going to be able to have them sent out with Christmas cards. We will still be able to have one of the pictures as the card though as I was able to get the entire sitting on disk today, which was nice because we normally don’t get it until we pick up the actual portraits. I am not going to put the portraits up on the site yet, but I will at a later time. I will say, however, that they came out very well.

Decorating the tree

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Tonight Kylie and I decorated our Christmas tree, and I have to admit this was the most fun I have had decorating a tree in a very long time. For starters I am very proud of the try I got, as this is the first year I have had a tree at my place. The tree was actually free, I got it from a local web community where people recycle things they no longer want or need. This particular tree is 6′ tall and is pre-lit with 400 multi-colored lights. The previous owners where parting with it because there cat had chewed through one of the cords for the lights, so 1/4 of the bottom lights were not working. I picked up the tree Thursday after work, and last night Melissa helped me find the break in the cord after Kylie went to bed. Once we found it I was able to repair it, now all 400 lights work. So this morning when Kylie woke up she was surprised to see a Christmas tree up in the living room. So today her and I spent some time and put all the ornaments that I currently have on the tree. I would hand Kylie an ornament and she would find a place to put it, and if need be I would lift her up to place it in a spot she couldn’t reach. We still have a lot of empty space, but Nana is going to send us some ornaments that she has made, and when we get them we will add them to the tree.

Be Claus

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This year Macy’s website had a little section called Be Claus where they let you take a picture and turn the person into the picture into Santa Claus. Kylie thought this was really neat and had lots of fun (with Mommy’s help) turning herself into Santa Claus, and sent me the below Santa greeting.

In the event that the above little flash animation ever stops working, here is a couple of thumbnails of what the final picture looked like:

You can click on the two thumbnails to see larger versions.

Mlive.com posts article about Thomson Reuters sign

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MLive.com has an article today about the sign changing on the 777 building, and can be read here: Thomson Reuters one of Washtenaw County’s largest employers.

Making our presence known

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The strong presence of Thomson Reuters is finally made known today as the iconic 777 that used to adorn the side of the building at 777 E. Eisenhower Pkwy is replaced with a Thomson Reuters logo. The building has long been a landmark in the Ann Arbor area as the large 7’s on the top of the building could be very easily seen in the serounding area. I guess people are going to have to start changing there landmark directions to “at the old 777 building…” In any event the third largest employer in the county is making its presence known.

Wiard’s and Zoo Boo Pictures

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Have finally been posted to Kylie’s gallery. The pictures from our day at Wiards Orchard can be found here and the images from this years Zoo Boo can be found here. I think this catches me up on all of Kylie’s pictures. I am sure there will be more that will be taken and then put me behind again, but I will try to keep on top of them. Until the next round of pictures are taken and due, enjoy.