The Rest of Our Week

The rest of our Spring Break was spent just hanging out at home just doing what we normally would do.  The weather was so beautiful!  And despite the pollen, we spent a lot of time with doors open.

And we ate a lot of ice cream:).

Momma and my Aunt Peggy came up Thursday for a quick visit.  It was the weekend of the Scott's Antique show in Atlanta, so we decided to make the trek downtown Friday.  We took Hanson Ellis for some big girl time, and we enjoyed the opportunity to check out a show we have only had the opportunity to read about it several magazines over the years.  We didn't buy all that much ... our first purchase being none other than a salted pretzel:).

But we saw a lot of interesting things and had a lot of fun!

I came very close to buying this vintage bridesmaid's dress.  It tried it on and it almost fit perfectly ... 

I did NOT come close to buying these turtle shells, but apparently they must be the new thing in home decor, as I saw several vendors with them for sale.  Anybody know something I don't???

As we loaded the bus to go home, I saw this shelf with galvanized bins.  Now THAT is something I would have LOVED to have purchased.  Totally up my alley.  I think, well, I know that if I would have come home with the dress and shelf, Richard wouldn't have even batted an eyelash.  Now the turtle shells ... :).

What I did come home with was some wonderful soap.  I was looking at some wire baskets when I found myself in a bit of a trance.  Then I noticed I was standing next to an old washbasin filled with wonderful soaps.  Once I snapped out of it, Momma and I gathered up some of our favorites and pulled out our wallets.  I will eventually use mine.  For now, though, I think I'll enjoy seeing it sitting on the counter.  It's wrapping is making me think I need to find some coral to fill that tray with this summer!

I also brought home this wonderful french market basket (and one slightly smaller to gather dirty clothes in our bathroom ... I'm sure it was destined for much greater things than that, but we needed something to serve that purpose!). 

And to top off the day, we took Momma and Peggy and the girls out to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner.  We NEVER eat out, so forgive me for my enthusiasm over La Parrilla about 15 months late!!  What a great little place!  Great food, (very clean environment .. 100 rating!) and a very talented balloon man to entertain the kids while we're busy shoving chips and dip in our mouth.  

We'll definitely be repeat customers!

Today is Saturday.

Momma and Peggy left this morning.

I'm just now taking a break to enjoy some coffee and catch up on the news online while little ones sleep and big ones play outside.  

Richard is at work finishing up some graduate work.

I'm busy cleaning floors, cabinets, dishes and clothes.

Our off week is over.

How blessed we were to have it!

Tuesday

Is it just Tuesday?

Okay, I admit that while I said I was feeling lazy and loving it yesterday, I sort of had a panic attack last night.  Lack of routine is not a long lasting appeal for me.  (and this is both a good and bad thing for my family:)!!)

So today we were up and going strong at our normal early hour.  Richard had a test to take (yes, I forgot to mention that there was one thing that was not on the "no list" yesterday and that is Richard still has his graduate work), and I made sure I was up and dressed and ready with a plan when the girl's awoke.  We headed out to Red Top Mountain.  It is a local state park not far from where we live.  It is full of hiking trails and had a 1 mile long one, which was perfect for our team of hikers.  We were able to borrow a backpack for Olivia (we've had two over the years ... like I said yesterday I do have a tendency to get rid of items from time to time) and I held my breath for Kate the Great.  Patterson was hilarious!!  She is just not one for nature:).  And Kate hung in there until we were about 1/4 of the way back to the van.  Richard then put her on his shoulders ... even though Olivia was also on his back.  I looked at him and thought, "once a Ranger, always a Ranger!"  But then I thought, "no ... once a Daddy, always a Daddy:)!"

It was a sweet fun time.  Simple.  The girls just loved being surrounded by God's creation.  Walking on trails I always just feel engulfed in it!  Very peaceful and lovely.  There were several places where they could skip rocks.  And I do believe they'd still be skipping rocks if we wouldn't have told them to move on!  

As I looked through the photos I realized I had a lot more of Parker than the others.  

My Parker.  

She is a different one, but she is so like me.  I'm glad I had a chance to capture so much of her today.  

All the trees are just now starting to bud.

Beautiful.

I wonder how much longer HE will keep bringing this old backpack Richard made her years ago from a fanny pack and some old patches of his:).  Sweet memories.  

I smiled when I saw this.  Parker, holding her shorts up ... as IF they would get wet!!

Olivia was there ... and taking it all in.

One of the many "treasures" they found.  My personal favorite was a red leaf that Kate found and said "Oh! A pretty red leaf, but it's all dirty.  Momma, will you clean it off for me?"  

CLASSIC Hanson Ellis!

How many times has this shadow been there and I've never noticed it?!  

Spring Break ... Finally

No swim practice.
No dance classes.
No choir practice.
No soccer practice.
No soccer games.
No Mother's Morning Out.
No Davenport School.
No work for Richard.

I'm feeling lazy and I'm loving it.

Today is the start of our Spring Break.  Most of the neighborhood is at the beach or some other place fabulous, I'm sure.  Us, we are soaking in the QUIET in the neighborhood and the joy of just catching up on time with each other.  We do plan to have a couple of little day outings, and Momma and Peggy are coming in town at the end of the week for the Scott's Antique Show (SOOOOOO looking forward to that!) but other than that, we are spending our week at at home at 57.

Richard and I went for a run this morning.  WONDERFUL 67 degree weather.  What a blessing!!  Then he took out the whale pool and filled it up for the girls.  They were looking forward to the slip and slide, but I think I must have thrown that away ... hmmmm ... I can't remember, but I do tend to get rid of things from time to time.   Anyway, I simply couldn't have them feeling disappointed ... not on Spring Break!!  So I took out secret weapon #1.  I 've been saving a box of old cookware that my sister in law's mother very generously passed down to us.  It was what she and her sister (my sister in law's mother and aunt) used to play with when they were little.  My sister in law is an only child and she and my brother have two boys, so I guess she figured we'd get more use out of it than they would.  I've been saving it for probably over a year now.  There just hasn't been a need for something special like that yet.  I'm glad I saved it.  They all dove in and treasured all of the contents of the box one piece at a time.    Even our little "go girl" was captivated and spent record time just sitting and "cooking."

Does Olivia know she's just one?

We have a baby swing.  Olivia is not on it.  Refer back to my first question.

I'm thinking the answer is "apparently not."

Okay, the above is the photo of everyone diving into the box.  All of the rest of the photos are backwards, so if you really want to view them in the order they happened, view from the bottom up.