What we did....at least what I can recall :-)

Friday evening, we dropped my 'truck' off at Goodyear for a check up and new tires. Since we were out, we decided to have some dinner and do some shopping for new shirts. We stopped at Applebee's and the girls were having a wonderful time being silly and happy as usual. They got a nice surprise when Ryan spotted Suzanne sitting on the other side of the restaurant. Of course the girls ran over and said hello and got their hugs. They came trotting back with the biggest grins on their faces!
Saturday morning, we spent some time with family, which is always a hoot! On our way home we stopped at Brownsburg Landscape to get some advice about our Japanese Maple that's not looking so hot. And of course, while we were there, we ordered a 15-20 foot tall October Glory Maple for the backyard. It's going to be beautiful and provide some lovely shade in the mornings! They should be out here to plant it some time early next week. We also ordered a weeping willow (for the backyard as well) and picked up some fish emulsion and tree stakes. The girls just loved picking through the seed packets and looking at all the different kinds of plants that they could grow.
We grabbed some Wendy's (mmm, my favorite!) and headed home to do some yard work. Ryan and I planted two Bradford Pear trees in our front yard while the girls did a lot of playing. Once we were all done with the yard work, the girls wanted to ride their bikes. Kaylee and I did one lap around the block, and then she wanted to follow Alexis around the block once. Alexis is getting pretty close to riding on her own...I think she just needs to overcome her fear and she will be riding like a pro. By the time we were all done with bikes, it was time for the girls to get to bed.
Sunday morning we had church and then we had brats for lunch...there's nothing like grilling season...why is it that everything tastes better from the grill? Sunday afternoon the girls and I babysat for Maggie while Val and Brian went to play at Jillian's downtown with some friends. She's such a sweetie pie! It was fun to get to have some time with her! She's growing so fast too.
So it was a wonderful weekend. Unfortunately, I think the girls and I are paying the price for so much outdoor time. We're suffering pretty badly from some allergy symptoms. Alexis couldn't open one of her eyes yesterday and this morning both of them were pretty matted. But we're dealing with it as we can. Hopefully these symptoms won't last too much longer!
Kaylee has a bird nest outside one of her bedroom windows. A dove decided to build its nest in the gutter. Talk about a diligent mother...she never leaves that nest! The girls have had fun watching her sit on her eggs....even in the rain. The poor bird was soaking wet :(
But that's about all I can remember from this weekend. I'm sure I'm missing something though...

Ahhh!

We had an absolutely wonderful day! Can it stay like this forever?????

(I may post details of our day at a later date)

Quickie

Just thought I would write really quickly about what's been going on in our home. The biggest thing is Murphy is beginning to show her age...just in her mouth though. I noticed her face swelling up on one side Monday morning...and it continued to get bigger throughout the day. I noticed it after she had been outside that morning, so I assumed she had gotten stung or bit by some kind of bug. So I gave her some benadryl and by the evening decided to kick it up a notch and give her a steroid (left over from when Abby got bitten by a spider...not expired yet). She was still swollen the next day. I found it odd that she was only swollen on the one side of her face and she wasn't showing any other symptoms of an allergic reaction. So I used my favorite tools...the internet and Google...and did some research. I came across a diagnosis in my mind....a tooth root abscess. Apparently the really big molar in a dog's mouth has three roots and they are very susceptible to infection especially in old age. So I called the vet and they were able to get her in Tuesday evening. My diagnosis was correct and Murphy is having the tooth removed tomorrow. She's on antibiotic twice a day and Rimadyl (anti-inflammatory) once a day. You know, she's such a good dog...she takes her medicine without a fight. Of course her Rimadyl is a chewable so she thinks it's a treat, but the antibiotic is a pill that I have to shove down her throat. But she's so good...all I have to do is put it at the back of her tongue and she swallows it down herself...good girl Murphy! The swelling is almost all the way gone...she looks about like she did on Monday morning. She may need to have two other teeth removed as well (Vet bills are so great!...sorry sarcasm doesn't really come across in writing).

The girls and I have been doing some spring cleaning. Saturday Alexis and I spent all day on her bedroom...going through clothes, toys, papers, books. She has just accumulated so much "stuff" in her almost 8 years of life. But her room looks really nice now. We have an organization system now that should make it much easier for her to keep her room clean and actually be able to earn her allowance. We started up an allowance for both girls over a month ago...but they haven't been making any money because they haven't been doing their jobs. But I understood that it was hard because there was a mountain of junk to look past...it was hard to see their duties through the mess. So hopefully they're both at a good starting point now and I can keep them on task this spring/summer/forever :)

Kaylee and I worked on her room on Monday. That girl has grown so much this past year....poor baby hardly has any clothes that fit any more. Luckily Alexis had out grown a few things to help her out until we can go on a shopping trip. Can you believe that at school today, Kaylee was wearing some capris that Alexis had worn just this past fall!!!! I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to be the shortest person in our family one day VERY soon!

I am sooooo glad the school year is almost over. I CANNOT wait until the girls are home all day with me! The three of us have so much fun together...I'm always really sad when the school year starts up again. I have the feeling I'm an oddball in looking forward to summer vacation, but I do. There's nothing I enjoy more than spending time with my kids. Too bad Ryan can't take the whole summer off...

Easter: Part 3

All the girls in their pretty Easter dresses!

I was just being silly! Poor Doggies =)

Abby absolutely hated every minute of it!

It looks like Murphy's giving me the evil eye, but she really liked wearing the dress. She didn't want to let me take it off of her. Ryan said she thought she was going to be able to go to church with us if she kept it on =)

Finally Easter egg hunt pictures:

Chocolate bunnies, yay!

Easter: Part 2

This is our Easter Cookie making fun to learn the true meaning of Easter. I found the recipe at this website:
http://www.cherbearsden.com/cookies.html

Here the girls are beating the pecans, just like Jesus was beaten.



Tasting bitter salt, like the bitter tears of Jesus' followers.

Putting the cookies on the cookie sheet to be placed in the "tomb".

The sealed "tomb"

Tasting the little tombs the next morning....

What's that....the tomb is empty!

All of out little tombs

Easter: Part 1

Here are the girls decorating their Easter eggs.

This is the first year we are hiding real eggs. I thought it would be better for them than hiding eggs full of candy. Besides...they had a lot of fun painting them with their glitter paint!

More Easter fun to come...we made our "Easter cookies" this evening and they are currently "in the tomb!"

Lots of Stuff!

We ordered lots of supplies for our basement this week...two truck loads full!

The picture below is after the removed the biggest stack of drywall...and of course they couldn't fit their forklift into our garage, so we had to move ALL of it before it started raining. Luckily, Dale was kind enough to come and relieve me after I helped move the first two stacks.

Here is everything we could fit into the garage. The stack closest to the garage door is the stack Ryan and I moved together. Dale helped with everything else. If you don't know, each sheet of drywall weighs about 80lbs.

In the same delivery, we also ordered stuff for the yard. 30 bags o' dirt, 30 bags o' mulch, and two pear trees....and a new ladder.

This is all the treated lumber and 2x4's that the three of us moved to the basement.

These next two pictures are what we got done just today (with the exception of the bottom plates).

Can you see all the dust on my lens??? I feel like my lungs are full of it! Anyway, we framed our longest wall including framing around three windows. That's almost 40 feet of wall. We had to quit because our two tape measures broke and Ryan's Drill battery ran out of charge...but we accomplished a lot.

So tonight, we're going to take it easy. I think we're going to rent a movie and I'm going to see if I can talk everyone into going out for dinner. I think I'm too pooped to cook this evening.

Respite

We didn't do much basement work yesterday. Instead we went out for lunch and we went to the grocery store. Then we decided it was a nice afternoon for a movie...so we took the girls to see Monsters vs. Aliens. It was a really good movie. I didn't realize there were so many 'stars' in it. But it was very entertaining...what I would call a keeper...which means I'd buy it on dvd.

Today, the girls are going with Gramma and Aunt Teri to the Zoo. I'm absolutely certain they will have a wonderful time. It's a beautiful day after all! I'm not sure what Ryan and I are going to do with an afternoon all to ourselves...I'm sure we can get a lot done in the basement. Then I'm going to make Zesty Cheese Soup for the soup supper at church this evening. I'm sure the time will go a lot faster than I want it to.