Day 1846 | Shine Some Light
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My favorite amateur electrician (Chris) was at it again. This is the light in our entry way. Old one on the left. New one on the right. I’m digging it.
Day 1845 | Almost Six
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In case you’re keeping track, this one is only five years old for one more week. Whoa.
Day 1844 | Shadow Family
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The temps have been warmer. The sunshine has been calling my name. Maybe we’ll make it through the winter after all.
Day 1843 | Half Time
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Chase, a little friend of his, and I enjoyed a lively halftime show at my old high school last night. Our nieces rocked the floor. Always nice to see their smiling faces. I needed that yesterday.
Day 1842 | Tuesday
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Eventually real life sneaks back in. Chris was off yesterday so we were able to extend our birthday weekend of fun by one extra day. Everyone was back to school/work/real life today, though. I guess it had to happen eventually.
We’ll always have the memories.
Day 1841 | Birthday Bonanza
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It’s been an epic weekend. Even more epic than we had hoped. We’re still living the dream on the waning hours of Chris’s big day, but I’ll drop this quick breakdown of the weekend.
My Birthday
I made these delicious muffins.
We visited this local museum and enjoyed the little art exhibit.
We stopped at Saver’s for some treasure hunting…and came out with a couple of books, a couple of games, and even a little accessory for our bathroom shelf.
After a quick stop for lunch, we headed to the big outing for the day (none of those other ones were the big outings, FYI). We stopped at the Eau Claire Humane Association to visit the kitties. No, we didn’t adopt one. It was a just an opportunity to hang out with some furry friends. And all four of us met our purr-fect feline companions (Me: Neville, Chris: Floyd, Chase: Ella, Robbe: Amelia). It was a lot busier in that tiny cat room than I would have expected, but I guess that’s good.
We got home to play one round of our new board game before opening gifts and cards (thanks for spoiling me!).
The night rounded out with spending a ton of time with some of our favorite people eating way too much food and playing boardgames (Catan and Scattegories) as our little ones happily slept upstairs.
My birthday treat (which we ate at around 10:45pm) were these amazing brownie ice cream sandwiches.
Chris’s Birthday
We gathered the children and headed to Hardee’s for Chris’s favorite fast food breakfast. The kids weren’t quite as impressed.
Then present time for our favorite guy.
Onto the bowling alley for a quick game. The birthday boy won, don’t worry about him.
Home for some lunch and some down time before the boys and I headed to a 4-H meeting while Chris took a wintertime walk and joined some friends out on the town.
We got home just in time to pick Chris up and take him out to dinner at a hibachi grill. It was the boys’ first time at a restaurant like that and they loved it! Yay for new experiences.
We made it back home with just enough time to eat Chris’s birthday dessert of choice—dirt dessert—before putting the boys to bed and snuggling down for a movie.
See? Epic, right? Also, are you exhausted by reading all of this? Me too. Also full. Very full. Both with food/drinks and love. So much love crammed into one weekend. I’m feeling all sorts of lucky tonight.
Day 1840 | Happy Heart Day
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Valentine’s Day 2020 was pretty great. I made some delicious cookies for Chris. The boys enjoyed being spoiled a bit. I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers. We even brought back our old [pre-kid] tradition of celebrating with pizza and video games.
When v-day is on a Friday, my birthday is on a Saturday, and Chris’s is on a Sunday ahead of a day off on Monday…you know it’s going to be epic. Woohoo!
Day 1839 | Cousin Date Night
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Regina and I busted out for a night on the town to support a local group doing amazing things. We didn’t bring cash, but someone graciously borrowed us $2 so we could have this Polaroid taken. It’s nice to have a concrete reminder of a lovely evening.
Day 1838 | My Boys
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Look how sweet they are. Yep. They’re totally like this all the time. [She says as she shakes her head.]
Day 1837 | Crazy Sleeper
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This was Robbe’s sleeping position when I went to check on him the other night. Good thing he’s not sharing a bed with anyone.
How does that even happen?
Day 1836 | Bday Party Invite Sneak Peek
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We did a bit of a photo shoot for Robbe’s birthday party invitation. I’ll share the final product soon, but for now you can enjoy this sneak peek.
Day 1835 | Art Show
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The boys’ school hosted a Winter Festival tonight and the highlight was the big art show in the gym. Both boys have been working on their pieces for weeks and have been excited about seeing them on display. We couldn’t stay for long but we made the most of our visit. Fingers crossed we won one of the basket raffles!
Day 1834 | Peeper
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Robbe found the perfect hiding spot for his next game of hide and seek (the corner of our new closet). Just don’t tell Chase.
Day 1833 | Octo-Stuf
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Did you know there’s a “Most Stuf” Oreo? It’s true. As if that’s not enough “stuf”, Robbe and Chris decided to double that and squish two cookies together. That gets us to an octo-stuf situation. Chase and I agreed that’s a bit excessive, but to each their own.
Day 1832 | Sunshine
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Remember that time we had four days of sunshine in a row after not seeing the sun for [what felt like] the three weeks prior? I remember. It’s glorious.
Day 1831 | A Bathroom Renovation
/At long last, I’m ready to share some after photos. Renovation projects are no joke, you guys. But—without hesitation—we LOVE our new bathroom. It is exactly as functional and beautiful as we had hoped it would be.
There’s more to say about our renovation experience (some takeaways and what not), but for now I’ll just share [all the] photos. And then come and see it in person. We’ve got a legit guest “suite” now!
The Before.
As you’re looking at these, the toilet/shower/vanity room pictured here turns into the walk-through closet in the finished product. And the jacuzzi tub/closet room pictured here turns into the new shower/vanity space/toilet room in the after photos.
The During.
And without further ado…
The after.
Day 1830 | Sledding
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Temps in the mid-30s and the sun making an appearance meant another fun winter activity for us. This weekend’s adventure? Sledding. But not just any sledding. Giant, steep, really slick sledding. Two of us loved throwing caution to the wind and zipping down the hill full speed. Two of us prefer a bit smaller scale and more manageable speeds. Can you guess who fits into which category? Yep: Chris and Robbe are the risk-takers and Chase and I prefer to be in a bit more control.
Nevertheless, a fun time was had by all and it sure was nice to get outside and enjoy the sunshine.
Look at us…we’re turning into winter people!
Day 1829 | Done!
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The bathroom renovation is officially done. I promise to take the after pictures this weekend and post. Thank you for your patience. :)
For now, enjoy this photo of four kids in our new toilet room.
Day 1828 | Composting
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There hasn’t been a season of my life that I feel more like an adult than the last few months. Geeking out about seeing the inside of our walls. Getting [beyond] excited about toilets. Gushing over how cozy our new carpet is.
I had another major moment in my adult life today: I started composting. Thanks to Earthbound Environmental Services for making this step as easy as possible for me. I just keep out the compostable stuff, put it in a different bag, and then add it to the same refuse bin. Super easy, right? Well…I still need to figure out the logistics of how to store all this compost before it makes it in the specified bag. I need fridge space for the icky stuff and under-the-cabinet space for the non-perishable stuff (like tissues and paper towel). For now, I’m starting small and I’ll just figure out my system as I go.
I’m just *a bit* excited about this. Can you tell? Being an adult is so fun!
Day 1827 | Another Sick Day
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It was the big guy’s turn to stay home with me today. After a short bout with a stomach bug yesterday his recovery day today was pretty great, actually. He read a lot, we played some games, I joined him for an afternoon nap, and we even got to see Chris a bit (he was home sick as well—ugh, I know).
Everyone seemed to be in better spirits tonight. Fingers crossed for a good day tomorrow.
