The Living Room, The Swing, and Berry Smoothies

Here are two photos of our living room. Great job Rhett with the decorating.
(And somehow, unintentionally, I cut out the fireplace behind the rocking chair.)

 

Here are some pictures of the new swing Rhett 

(but mostly I) 

built.

(And check out that black eye from a trampoline bonk.)

 

  

Finally, a few pictures of some berry smoothie remnants. I love it.

 

FOUR years old!

 Can you believe this little girl

is now FOUR years old!?!

 

 I simply cannot.

And here she is jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler. (She has probably spent more hours doing this the past week than she has done anything else in her life. The moment she's done eating breakfast her suit goes on and out she goes. She loves it.)

On another note, here is a picture of our deck, along the side of our duplex.

 And the girls having a breakfast picnic with Summer's birthday table and chairs.

Thank you everyone who sent birthday wishes and gifts. Summer had a special day. I told her on her birthday about her birth story, and of course, starting bawling trying to tell her about it. She didn't quite get it. But she did get the part about how special it was and how grateful we are to have her in our family. We love you Summer!

Yards

Rather than writing one long post with lots of pictures, I've decided to post in segments. So here is a view of the front yard from our front door:

 Something we found in the front yard:

 And the back yard:

We love all the green!

An update . . . if you can call it that . . .

Well we are moved, but we aren't quite settled yet. It's amazing how you can so carefully pack and label everything before the big move, then STILL never find anything--like the camera cord!

So sorry. No pictures--though I am taking quite a few. I'm taking some of the girls in their swim suits, jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler, eating a picnic on the deck, sitting on the front steps of our new home (duplex), and some killer-cute smiles from Pyper. But I guess you'll all just have to wait until I finish unpacking . . . or I finish reading my book, and then finish unpacking.

Sorry. :)

Chicken

I am so excited to say that my cousin Deirdre has just published her first children's book called Chicken. We have been waiting for quite a while for it, so when it finally came on Wednesday, we were all really excited. I read it to the girls, and yesterday, as we were getting ready to leave for a friend's house, I caught Summer "reading" it. I wish I could have captured the whole story on film (which was pretty close to the original!), but I only caught the last part. Listen carefully, and if you know the real story, you might chuckle at the twist Summer put on it on the end. (Get a copy of the original story by Deirdre Nickel here.)

Disclaimer: I let her pick out her own clothes today. 

The Liberty Lake Yard Sale

Impulsive buying. That's what garage sales are all about. And for some reason, I'm okay with that now.

I am not an impulsive buyer. When I shop, which is rare, I'll browse, look at the price, then usually go home and think about whether I really want it or not. If I do want it, I'll go back, but I usually end up telling myself I don't need it, and we're better off without. And I'm not talking about something big like a new TV, or a complete set of non-stick pots and pans. I'm talking about a $13 shirt at Walmart. Yes, I'm a bit extreme.

That's why the Liberty Lake Yard Sale has been so good for me. This was the second year we attended, and I feel we were just as successful this year as last--especially because it rained all day. It's an annual thing, and this year, over 200 homes participated. Most of the time, people just walk up and down the streets to browse and shop, but this year, many (including us) preferred their vehicles.

 

Since we'll be moving at the end of this month (to a new and BIGGER duplex), we decided to get a few things for our new place.

The goods:
This indoor plastic tree for $5. (Claire was a good sport to help us hold it down while we drove it home!)

A new bed for Summer for $20. (Made by our neighbor. Summer's old bed was being held together with twine.)

An AWESOME kitchen set. (Since we will have more room in our new place, we finally broke down and got a kitchen set for the girls. But this is not just any kitchen set. It came with all the pots and pans, the food, has a sink, stove, oven, fridge, shelves, and . . .

 Water and ice options connected to the fridge!!! Is that awesome or what!?!)

We got these two matching couches for $150.

 And we got this fouton for $35. It came with the mattress, but after a brief inspection of the mattress, we decided we wouldn't be using it. And I mean, really brief inspection.

We also got the girls two little bikes, $5 each, but I forgot to take pictures of them.

All in all, we had a great time, and the girls were good sports to ride around in the car with us while mom or dad hopped out to check out the steals. Both Summer and Claire got to get out with dad a few times to shop for dresses. We got about 10 frilly dresses for $30. The girls love them. (Summer and Claire are wearing their new dresses.)

So seriously, how can you turn down all these good deals? Yeah, I'm all about garage sales now.

DAD

I interviewed the girls this morning . . .


From Summer:
I love it when daddy tickles me.
Daddy looks handsome when he puts his Sunday shirt on.
Daddy's funny when he eats without us.
I like it when dad makes me happy.
I like to call dad because he doesn't beep the horn.

From Claire:

I love it when daddy go to the park.
Daddy looks handsome when he go to the park and get he car.
Daddy's funny when he smoosh us
I like it when dad plays money.
I like to call dad "Dad."

 From Mom:
Love my Rhett,
like a runner loves to run
I said I love my Rhett
like a runner loves to run
Love to call him in the morning
Love to call him
"Hey there, hun."