Trying to take a selfie with my daughter and being reprimanded for being so weird.
2025 week thirteen
Meanwhile on my camera roll...
Yeah, I'm the weird one.
Baseball game.
Really unimpressive photo of Matt's birthday present from all of us: a new cooler filled with snacks and treats.
On Saturday Matt requested a Sausage Party for his birthday. This means Matt smokes as many brats as our smoker will hold and we set out any topping we can think would possibly be good on a sausage in a bun. It was a great success.
Baseball is a really big deal at our house currently.
After dinner and brownies for dessert, Matt tried out his other birthday present: a jerky slicer.
Jacob helped him to marinade two different flavors of jerky.
Sunday morning breakfast on the grill. I don't want to ever have to cook bacon inside my house again. This is far preferable.
Theo caught a little oak moth caterpillar. It is so beautifully camouflaged.
V taking a bow after the 6th grade performance of Julius Caesar
2025 week twelve
Beautiful Miyabi knives and cutting board from Matt to me for my birthday. They are such a pleasure to use -but oh so dangerously sharp. All safety systems are on high alert when I'm using them.
Our original grill called it quits and my mom generously gave us a new one.
I have such a loving class. They gave me enough tea to last a lifetime. Woo hoo!
Dinner date at a Thai restaurant.
Quotes
V and I saw a young gentleman with decidedly sagging pants, V- "Do you think he knows that is pants are about to fall down?"
On Monday we got boba and then headed to a park to meet up with some friends.
2025 week eleven
Monday evening, Keegan got to join Theo at baseball practice.
While the boys were at baseball, Matt took the girls to a creek to get wet and muddy and become swamp girls.
Walking to a park with another group of friends. We had eight kids at our house that day.
Five kids and the two adults all enjoy their dinner so much more when the kids are locked outside -I mean offered dinner al fresco.
Thursday morning hike with another group of friends around LLELA.
It was a beautiful day even if Texas hasn't put on any spring glory yet.
On Friday, the cutest little Gnome girl came to visit me.
She brought her sweet brother and her cousin as well.
She wished she could live with the chickens. Brother was so stressed when she tried to climb the ramp into the coop. She had no fear and had she been able to fit through the door, we would have had to pull her out of the nesting box.
The big kids were ignoring the show stopper of a spring day outside and played a board game inside instead.
It was such a glorious week of weather for our spring break.
The cousins' parents came back and we had them over for an early St. Patricks day dinner. We always serve all the classics: corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, soda bread, and my very favorite dessert that I only make once a year, Sticky Toffee Pudding. It was all glorious.
Quotes:
"We're swamp girls with wet butts!" -Lea
Me- "Go to bed!"
V- "But we're reading Shakespeare! That ought to mean we get to stay up later!"
"Whenever I smile that means I'm lying so I'm going to try not to smile." -Alana
"She's like a "back-then" mom. She has chickens, a garden, and flowers in her tea!" -Mrs. Jones' delightful niece.
I picked her up from school early to go to the orthodontist. She quickly found her old baby teeth and made a pair of custom earrings for the occasion. The hygienists loved them!
Brace face!
While the boys did something dumb (video games) we snuggled in bed and watched All Creatures Great and Small.
Adrienne stopped by again for a quick overnight and an even quicker morning coffee. It was so nice to see her for a collective 8 hours over the past two weeks. She got to walk us to school on Thursday morning.
On Friday the cousins came to spend Spring Break with us.
On Saturday we got to attend a good friend's baptism.
And on Sunday it was very dreary and cold. The cousins played an epic game of Shadows over Camelot with Matt while I read my bookclub book.
Block towers.
Then they invented Human Four Square and they've been obsessed ever since.
I went to a good friend's Gilmore Girls themed birthday party. We all came dressed in character and ready to discuss popculture. I had to steal a t-shirt from Veronica to complete my "Lane" costume.
2025 week nine
I found two old poems V had written about winter. I love to read her poems.
On Saturday I met up with some old friends (and the mayor!) for a City of Lewisville program to be certified to have a protected native pollinator garden. I had to leave early, but when Matt eventually landscapes our front yard, I have big plans to get a certified garden.
Matt re-hung our kids swings with new stronger ropes.
And we've planted some more blackberries. Little did we know that we actually punctured two sprinkler lines in all of our building and digging yesterday that I spent most of Sunday morning repairing. All good now though.
And I'm sorry for this, but Matt insisted that I add this photo. We found a severed cat tail on the walk to school. It was horrible.
