Hot Weather Hit

A little over 2 weeks ago it was snowing... and now we hit 80's and 90's! Time for water activities...

Bathing Suits...

and games on the deck at night where it is cooler than the kitchen table....

I don't think these two were quite ready for the heat.... but I'M happy it's here!

Part 2 ~ The LONG Weekend Report: SURPRISE!

On Sunday we did some online churching... and then I had the gals make cards for the Social Worker at my school. I have never met anyone who lost their husband in active duty and what it has done to my appreciation level has spilled out onto my children. I have ALWAYS respected our freedom, understanding that it came at a cost and appreciated those that have lost their lives, HAVE served or CURRENTLY serve. We often express our gratitude to our neighbor who retired from the military. I have family members who are still in active duty but I have never had a relationship with someone who lost her person in that way. It has opened up a lot of conversations here that might not have intentionally happened. 

There was some 4-wheel riding....

Baby Redneck...

And the surprise of the day... I FORGOT to get full PICS of...if you look closely you can see the donut in this picture and the box on Miss B's lap in the one below... but we went to pick up our Walmart order and surprised the girls with pool floats for Aunt Nancy and "Bob's" pool. Minnie got the sprinkle donut

and Miss B got the ride on unicorn (I mean... of course)

Their faces are covered because they were being silly "safe" in the car with Mama while Daddy went into Shaws. They also had just finished caramel shakes (Surprise!) from DQ and *might* have been on a sugar rush! :)

THIS project got finished this weekend too!!! BEFORE:

 AFTER!

All of us helped and it didn't take long at all... Husband is going to rebuild the shed doors (hopefully this week) and I think I'm going to stain the new ones the same so it will tie it together. So thankful for all the projects that were completed this weekend!

And GUESS what we did on MONDAY!

We scooped up MIL's bike and she followed us over to Husband's school so we could zip around on bikes. This is NOT something our family usually does unless we are in Rangeley ;) So the gals thought it was SO much fun! We had the place virtually to ourselves... there was a lady running right when we got there and then an older couple walking when we just about done... 

We all had SO much fun!

So thankful for this guy that just goes along with crazy ideas like "hey let's surprise the girls with something EVERY.DAY." :) 

SO THANKFUL for my crew

Monday night... ah... finally a moment.... Husband and I managed to "hide" for about 10 minutes before "they" found us ;) But we wouldn't have it any other way... 

Such a great weekend.... all things considered.....

Part 1 ~ The LONG Weekend Report: SURPRISE!

On Friday we told the girls it was going to be a weekend FULL of surprises... different things everyday and we kicked it off on Friday night with dinner from McD's for them... Miss B even got a HAPPY MEAL!!!

I REALLY wanted to go to a local greenhouse that I went to last year with MIL and Aunt Nancy... I had to psych myself up so that I could even THINK about getting OUT of the car. I have not been.... ANYWHERE.... I told Husband before we went to bed that I wanted to be there when they opened at 8 and I could just throw clothes on... no need for a shower since I was planning on coming home to plant straight away. I woke up in the morning and told Husband I was gonna need a shower since the whole night I had been tossing and turning and kept waking up in a wash of sweat.... so anxious :( 

I got myself together and Sweet MIL came with us so we could all tag-team the gals in the car... stopped for Dunkin for the gals (Surprise) on the way and I was doing OK-ish....until we came around the corner and I saw this....

8:08AM the parking lot was FULL, people were parked up and down both sides of the road and the line went on forEVER....I FREAKED. Nope. Not getting out. We turned around, tried another place that didn't open until 9 and I said just take me home... :( 

The next surprise on the agenda was to be a part of the birthday parade for the gals friends Lana and Laurel. They had no idea until we were on the way and it was so fun to be a part of waving, poking our head out of the sunroof (Miss B) and spreading cheer to two sweet birthday girls.... after that Husband suggested trying a couple of greenhouses near there and it was Uncle's for the win... it was not busy... maybe 3-4 other people, I could see my kids the whole time and they had my potato vine....It was not nearly what I had envisioned in my head for my annual trip to pick out flowers but finding joy in what I WAS able to get....

Miss B asked me at some point early in the weekend if ALL the surprises were going to be FOOD (I love that girl) but I assured her they were not.... On Friday night, snuggling on the couch she started itching some scratches on her shoulder. I asked her the RHETORICAL question of how she got them and she said "Kaydee"... I said do you mind? She of course said no... I said "when are you going to get to see her again?" at this point she kinda got sad and said "I HAVE NO IDEA... CUZ MRS. W IS GOING TO CAMP THIS WEEKEND!!!" (kinda irritated... hee hee) little did she know Mrs. W wasn't going to camp until Sunday so THIS happened on Saturday... 

She was SO SO happy.... 

Kaydee got to meet Defense AND Husband and of course she loved them both... I mean who doesn't? :) 

So much fun!

THANKFUL Thursday AWESOME-NESS!

Guess what got done on Thursday!?!?!

Oh yeah!!!

HUGE Thank-You to CountryDad for bringing the rototiller over and for Husband gettin' it done....I absolutely LOVE a fresh rototilled garden... wether the first of the season or when it gets done in the fall to be put to bed for winter.... LOVE the fresh turned dirt.....

Thankful to my Bible Study gals that moved it up so that we could socially-gather in person outside and I was able to make it home for FAMILY TRIVIA NIGHT!

The girls school the past few years has done "One School One Book" where the whole school reads the same book at the same time. Obviously with circumstances the way they are the activities surrounding this have been light.... two teachers at school came up with, organized and ran a Family Trivia Night with trivia questions based on the first 6 chapters the kids had read. It was SO.MUCH.FUN.!!!! We had SUCH a blast... one iPad with the Zoom meeting and one iPad with the Kahoot game... poor Minnie was frantically trying to get us set up at the last minute on her iPad for the game and "inadvertently" or maybe it was a freudian slip ;) nicknamed our family the "Crabone Clan" HAHAHAHAHA! WE ALL got a GREAT chuckle out of it, as did everyone that was playing.... so funny!

Gals ROCKED the answers and our family came in 3rd out of about 20 families.... Winners get ice cream gift cards so of course my gals are THRILLED. It was SUCH a fun way to spend a night as a family WITH other families... so awesome! 

The View From Here...

Sticking Together

I do find it interesting that even when we DON'T have to all be near each other (work and school is done for the day) we still migrate together to the same spaces....I'm not sure we'll ever separate again and I'm not grouchy about it.... :)

The Weekend Report

Friday night Zoom fun!

Daddy does hair-dos :)

and the highlight of our weekend for sure...