365Project.2014 | Weeks 13–15

Renovations, Camping, and Birthdays .. oh my!!

Yep, it's been Busy with a Capital B around here. But blessedly so. Hope you'll enjoy catching up with us ... 

88. So. Our porch. It's been on Mommy's mental "to-do" list for a LONG time ... but there's always been more pressing things ... like children and bathrooms and groceries and bedrooms and closets and laundry and gardens and homeschool and what not that needed to be taken care of. :) However, the disaster which was our shoe organization made Daddy decide that something needed to be done sooner rather than later. And well, Mommy mentioned paint ... and replacing the carpet with something sweepable ... and the screens had some holes ... and well, you've been there. And if you haven't, but have stuck around here for a bit, you've been there with us. :)

Here's a few before pictures ... the cabinet and the wooden bin had already been moved from their original positions on the other side of the porch, but you'll get the idea. Think heaps of shoes and lots of dirt. ;)

The kids jumped right in and helped with scraping the paint. It may be a smallish porch, but it has lots of paint.

89. One of my sweeties with a flower for Mommy. :)

90. Painting the boards which will be our shoe shelves.

91. Oh yes. I mentioned paint? And scraping it? Well, the ceiling needed scraping, too. We left that to Daddy.

He made a really big mess. :) But as you can see, the carpet has already been pulled out, and the walls are a dark cappuccino color. :)

92. Phlox is in bloom! :)

93. Somebody loves Toby. :)

94. Duplo trains appear again. :) Honestly, I think Duplos/Legos and K'nex are two of my favorite toys for kids.

95. Guess who popped in for a quick visit??? Grandma and Grandpa!!! :) Woo-hoo!!

And Saturday afternoon, while the men played with fire, the ladies hit the thrift stores for spring clothes and JCPenney for Easter outfits. :) Grandma's Easter outfits were definitely prettier, but Mommy was also very thankful for 30+ thrift store items averaging just $1.07 each!

96. Special times! ♥ Thankful even for short visits!

97. Even at nearly seven, my young man was beyond excited to have "Baby Raar" (AKA Taggy Lion) back! Baby Raar, Sr. has now been lost for nearly two months, but the Lord allowed me to find a replacement online. ♥ Mommy was definitely almost as excited as Peter. :)

98. The last "Good News Club" at "Callie's House." Callie and her Mommy helped Matthew celebrate his birthday. ♥

99. I mentioned that we like K'nex around here ...

100. LOVE these munchkins!!! ♥

101. And we're getting ready for camping! Peter's helping with the important stuff ... like wood for the camp fire.

Mommy's making sure we have food to cook on it. :)

And you'll just have to come back to find out about our camping adventures. :)

Rejoicing!

So abundantly thankful that the Lord has blessed us with another precious little girl

♥

365Project.2014 | Weeks 10-12

The year Marches on ... literally. It hardly seems possible that we have nearly completed 1/4 of 2014 already! Other numbers of note include the fact that we have only 34 days of school remaining for this year and at 21+ weeks, Jenny has more than passed the half-way point of her pregnancy! So. All things considered, time seems to be flying by! :) Here's a glimpse of the last few weeks in our neck of the woods ... 

62. It's fun to see each child's development, even in something as simple as a get well card. Matthew (3) is happily coloring the picture of his choice--staying significantly closer to the line boundaries than he was a few months ago. Peter (6) is carefully copying the note he dictated ... in pencil, on dotted handwriting lines. Hannah (8) is writing her own note in cursive on lines that she drew lightly in pencil so that she could later erase them. 

63. We got new phones!!! And we are VERY pleased with them! If you're interested in saving money on your monthly phone bill, check out Republic Wireless! (And I just learned that they're coming out with a second phone option that's only $150 instead of $300!)

64. My boys are LOVING the trampoline that Hannah's piano teacher has in her backyard. :)

 65. The ever popular K'nex ... this time it's a crane, connected to the bed frame ...

66. A very common early morning view for Mommy ...

  

67. It was fun to celebrate our friend's birthday at the Children's Museum!

After cake and such, Hannah went off to explore with her friends and their parents, Peter and Daddy learned how to land rockets in the simulator, and Mommy and Matthew hung out in the construction zone. :)

68. And this Sunday was a day of rest for Mommy ... Daddy was super sweet and picked up her favorite treat. ♥

69. My young lady collecting daffodils ... ♥

70. Daddy's crew was super excited when he pulled in JUST in front of Mommy after Good New Club on Tuesday. Of course, they took advantage of the opportunity for a fun ride to the top! :)

71. Fuse beads! Some things are cyclical ... we won't see hide nor hare of these for months on end, and then we see them EVERYWHERE for a week ... till Mommy decides it's time for them to go away again for a bit. :)

72. Excited for the warmer weather!

73. More alterations! :) I LOVED the color of this $1 shirt ... the shape? Not so much ...

Quite a bit of fussing and trying and trying again yielded what is now my favorite casual maternity shirt. :)

74. And here's Mommy and Baby at 20 weeks ... :)

75. Sunday morning conversations ...

76. If one must fold laundry and lots of it (this was just the first few of many loads ...), it's nice to do it with sunshine and fresh breezes flowing through open windows. :)

77. In honor of the beautiful weather, the kiddos changed their desk arrangement ... to facilitate looking out the window. ;)

78. Matthew has been on a "model and remote control" coloring kick for weeks now. Mommy finally got smart and just saved the file on the computer. Now we simply replace the "model" (i.e. some form of airplane) and the rest stays the same.

79. Celebrating the first day of spring with lots of errands, cheerful, sweet kiddos despite lots of errands, and a special treat at Rita's as a well-earned reward. :)

And even better for Hannah? Her friend Eliza joined us for a few hours while her brother was at baseball practice. :)

80. Another beautiful day and continued energy for Mommy = our first day at the park for a LONG time! :) My crew chose a park with trails for hiking over a park with an incredible playground set. I can't complain there!

And though they were running ahead of me most of the afternoon, they obliged me for a quick photo on the bench they had claimed while they were waiting for Mommy to catch up. ;)

 Watching the ducks. :)

Just a few minutes on the playground after our hike ...

And then our friend and the most awesome babysitter EVER had an evening with the kiddos while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed an evening of uninterrupted conversation. Win-win situation in our books! :)

81. When did this young man grow up on us?!? He reveled in his work day with Daddy ... including driving the tractor to pull fallen trees out of the woods ...

and supervising the bonfire.

 ♥

And that's that! Our ultrasound is tomorrow, so Lord willing, we'll know whether we're going to even things up around here or make them even more lopsided. :)