Weekend couch cuddles with my furbabies.

Nothing like a blanket on my lap and a fuzzy baby on each side of me!  Especially a cat that likes his paw held.

That hair.....

My crazy-haired boy in his fighter-pilot jacket.

Her first movie!

 Last Friday night was a big night for Quinn and Daddy!  Quinn has been anxiously awaiting her first movie at a theater!  We told her that was a six year old milestone in our family....so she looked forward to it for several years until she turned six.  Then we have been waiting for an exciting movie to come out--finally Paddington was it!  She and Daddy read books to prepare, and talked and talked about the movies!  Quinn spent a great deal of time deciding on the perfect outfit for their date and was so excited!

Daddy let her chose the dinner place.  She chose Chick-fil-a.  

 They got an icee and popcorn!

 She loved the movie and she loved her date with Daddy!  I love giving her exciting milestones to look forward to and I love that she will probably remember this day--even into her adult years, so by delaying it a bit, we may have made it just a little more special for her.

He loves his sand!

Beck got a giftcard for Christmas and when we went shopping he chose a little sand table with kinetic sand to purchase with it.  He has played and played with that little table!  He loves driving his trucks and cars in it....burying them, making mountains for them to climb, crushing hills.....The sand disappears at a rapid rate, but at least it doesn't make too huge of a mess and vacuums up well.  I made him a little shelf of tools to use in his play--log rounds, shells, little rake and shovel, and then some different types of vehicles.  

Today.

My working men.

Hanging with Papa

No-School Monday (last week)

Leisurely blueberry pancake breakfast in our sunshine-filled breakfast nook.  One of my favorite things.  

 Making bead gifts for friends.

 Meeting friends at the park and spending most of the day playing and chatting and exploring in the sunshine!

Quinnism

Our nice scenic drive to Quinn's school is getting less and less so, as more of the woods are cut down and cleared for housing developments, boo.  One area has been cleared recently (which made Quinn VERY upset as we watched them bulldoze down trees....) and then this past week they were burning the trashwood and roots, etc., that they weren't going to haul away.  First off it annoyed me all week to see the sign that said "Permited Burn" outside the area--my teacher instinct wanted to get after that misspelled sign with a sharpee and do some fixing.  But Quinn was not at all amused they were burning the wood.  I tried explaining it was just the roots and small pieces that they couldn't sell anywhere.  "Well, they could at LEAST use it to make some pulls or something."  Said like the true grandaughter of a carpenter!

viaBeck.

For a couple years now Beck has said he wants to marry Quinn when he grows up.  Papa broke his little heart by informing him he can't marry his sister.  He's beginning to come to terms with this....but the other day we were driving in the car and he randomly asked, "Mama, can you marry your own self?"  

Our gymnast.

We Toast-sat this weekend.

Doesn't he look thrilled about his visitor?

Saturday=new kitchen window!

Sunday afternoon adventure

A bikeride on a new trail: 

 Oops. a little time out.  Did the trick and we went back to having fun in the sun!

 Running the track.  She's in training for her first road race!

 He just dug in the gravel.

 And we rode off home into the sunset!

Siding/plumbing/windows progress

Don't think I have mentioned it on here, but we (by that I mean Matt) are doing a major exterior renovation project.  Our siding is original to our 1970's house and that means it is literally falling off.  Additionally our pipes are rusting through, a big problem for people in our neighborhood and we are afraid of a burst pipe and a giant flood pretty much all the time.  We've had a couple little leaks from this problem, and our neighbors have all had more major issues, so we're (by that I mean ML) are replacing all the plumbing lines with PEX.  While the siding is off we are also replacing our windows to far more energy efficient ones so we can get our house to a reasonable temperature in the summer.  That is a lot of big projects and ML is a studmuffin tackling it all!  He has the windows and siding outside the living room and breakfast nook done (with Grandbob's help on the windows) as well as all of the garage.  His latest project has been the backside of the kitchen.  Lots of plumbing work here.  He ran new lines to the kitchen and then also installed hot and cold lines for both an outdoor shower and sink.  We are outside so much of our days/weekends and have dreamt about an outside sink and shower.  The sink will be the kitchen sink type--for washing muddy boots, cooking, etc.  The shower will be for washing dirty dogs, muddy kids, and for Matt to shower off after he works in the garage/yard....to get those poison ivy oils off!  I am really excited about both of these things and it is fun to see the first parts come to fruition!  There are officially hot and cold pipes in both spots now!  

 In the meantime our backyard looks horrid.  Old windows, old nail-filled siding, insulation, construction trash....it's bad.  I try to clean up as much as I can as we go along, but some stuff just has to wait until we can take it to Habitat, etc.

This past week the whole back side of the house was off, behind the kitchen.  It was a little chilly in there!!

It's us....in the woods. Our weekly hike!

Hikes are better with a cuppa hot tea in hand!

 Don't worry, she fell off, but she landed it like a pro!

A date with my girl!

A couple weeks back I didn't have craft night as usual on Thursday, so Q and I went on a date!  I took her to Black Walnut.  Of course she was tentative since it was something new, but I just knew she'd love it....and she did!  They have the most delicious potato soup for her and a pasta dish that is one of my faves!

 Afterwards we browsed all the aisles at Whole Foods.  My girl is a foodie, so she loved the grocery store as much as me!  She chose some animal crackers for her dessert, I got dark chocolate-dusted almonds, and we brought Beck kombucha and an apple.