happy weekend

It was a late night for us.  Daniel had his first sleepover with his best friend from school.  It was a fun night of movies, popcorn, and Legos.  They were up bright and early, ready to start their next day together. 

So far today brings more Legos, Nerf guns, and snow.  We're heading into town soon to stretch our legs and we look forward to Daddy's return home this afternoon.

Have a great weekend everyone, I'll bring you more fun, food, and boy stuff next week.  Time to head out and enjoy the softly falling snow.

denial and daydreaming

Tonight I'm going to pretend that my living room floor does not look like this.

Can you see the train set way in the back?  Still in the foyer by the front door?  Yeah, we haven't cleaned it up yet.  All bets are off when Daddy's out of town.  Meaning, he isn't here to get up in the middle of the night to go on a fire call, so I don't have to pick up the toys.

Since it's winter, and a pretty mild winter at that...I thought I'd reminisce about our beautiful summer that we had last year.  I didn't blog much over the summer because we had lots of company come to visit.  It was such a fun summer, I loved having our friends and family here.  I hope they all (and even those who didn't make it...ahem, you know who you are!) can come back this summer.

Our favorite place, the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  The dune climb,

and Pierce-Stocking Scenic Drive.

Uncle Frank and Aunt Donna from out East.

Uncle Bob and Aunt Karen (with Grandma) from out West.

The annual Cherry Festival Airshow.  My beloved Blue Angels were not here last year, nor will they be here this year...I have to wait until 2014... sigh

But, we do love the U.S. Coast Guard.

It can be a bit loud for little ears, even Momma ears too.

Matthew, contemplating life.

The beautiful waters of Lake Michigan.

Fishtown in Leeland on July 4th.

Ah, I can almost feel the hot air on my skin...can't you?

A little more daydreaming tomorrow.  Good night.

playtime and stew

I love days when we get to spend most of our time at home.

Puzzles,

making a "zip line" with cones, 

climbing on Mom.

He saw me making the boy's lunches last night and wanted me to make one for him too.  He brought it with us when we took the boys to school this morning and was very excited to eat it when lunch came around.

We had another sunny day today.  Reading pre-naptime books in the sunshine was lovely.

Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Barton

 I did a first today...I made my own vegan sausages.  I was apprehensive, very apprehensive.  I became vegetarian because I didn't like meat.  So, making a meat substitute was not something I was interested in eating.  But others in my house would be interested in eating something like this.  So, I gave it a shot. 

Stew with homemade vegan sausage.

They were a little spicy but the stew was delicious.  It gave me a good excuse to open up a bottle of red wine.  And I'm a potato girl and the potatoes were fabulous.  I may have to find a milder sausage recipe, but this stew recipe is a keeper.

I'm looking forward to having coffee (tea) with some friends tomorrow morning.  Have a good night.

beauty and paper airplanes

We have some beautiful moments here in my home state.  This was a little of the sunset from the other night.

 This was our beautiful, sunny afternoon we had today. 

The boys are infatuated with paper airplanes now.  Daniel got a book on making paper airplanes for Christmas from a dear Aunt and Uncle.  What a blessing!  They all are perfecting their throwing skills.  And, our sunny, albeit very cold day after school gave them plenty of room to practice their loop de loops.

Even the puppy wanted to come out.

 We're still battling viruses in our house.  I could use a nice, mild day where I could open all the windows and blow those germs right out of here.

This train track is usually is in the basement, because it takes up so much room...but it is now in our foyer.  It's a little bit in the way when I needed to come to the front door this afternoon.  Oh well, anything to keep them occupied and happy when they aren't feeling so well.

Here's to a healthier day tomorrow...

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - Amanda Soule 
www.soulemama.com

in my kitchen

Today in my kitchen I have:

     ::  a boy who wasn't feeling well, who turned into a boy who was really not feeling well...sparing the details, he's the latest victim of the flu in our house

     ::  a lot of cooking happened - cookies, bread, soup - all making for a delicious dinner

     ::  Laurie Berkner serenading us as we had our lunch today

     ::  a lot of cleaning happened - I managed to clean my floors while Nickel napped, and promptly had to clean them again after his nap (I spared you that photo...right, I didn't even take one)

     ::  dishes done before dinner...the best!


I have a feeling tonight will be not very restful for at least two of us.  I'm heading to bed.  Wish us luck.

a good day

Nickel and I spent the day at home.  It was nice not having anywhere to go besides taking the older boys to school and picking them up.  I started to make some bread but then realized I didn't have enough yeast.  I was going to clean, but didn't feel like it.  So we played with fire trucks, we did puzzles, I chased him around the house, and we watched Sesame Street.  It was a good day.