Category Archives: Country Living

Scenes from the Weekend

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Oh man friends, last weekend is exactly what I needed…not only was it picture perfect, it was in fact, perfect all the way around.

I kicked off the weekend with a girl’s night at a winery down the road from my house. Good food. Good friends. Good wine. Win-win-win.

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The girls slept in until almost 7 AM Saturday morning! It was glorious! We also had a good lazy, snuggly morning reading books while we waited for the clouds to burn off.

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Once the sun finally decided to show up we headed outside! Andy was working on the chicken coop and the girls and I just spent some time enjoying our property.

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The chicken coop is SO close to being chicken ready. We probably won’t get chickens until the spring, but we’ll be ready! It’s been fun to see this whole thing come together…Andy had a vision for what he wanted to build. I’m always impressed with his skills. Handy Andy. He’s mine.

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The girls have also been enjoying this process. Rylee has helps with a lot of the process, actually. Once it’s all done, I think I’ll put together a blog post on it.

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We spent Sunday much the same way. The girls and I hit the grocery store while Andy continued work on the coop. Then Rylee went to spend the afternoon with my sister. While Reese napped, I worked on the coop with Andy. I love working on projects with him. We used to do it all the time before we had kids, nowadays it’s less frequent, but I always love it when I get the opportunity.

We ended the weekend eating dinner with my sister and her boyfriend. And eating cookies and ice cream. :)

How was your weekend?

Work wins so you get a 10 minute update

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Work is busy. I’m home with a sick kid (yes, again). So I’m left juggling a sick kid and the work I brought home. I’m tired, you guys.

Hawaii is 17 days away and calling my name.

Anyway, my point is this, I’ve got 5 half completed posts sitting in my drafts. I’m sure I’ll get to them eventually but for now, you get 10 minutes of my time:

Our weekend was awesome. It included an impromptu movie night on our front lawn…just Rylee & me. The movie was really stupid but that didn’t even matter. Followed by a slumber party in her room.

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It included being silly with my girl. Sucked that Andy was sick, but I really loved this time alone with Rylee.

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It included goat feeding and a picnic and an ice cream cone and fresh strawberries and lots of sunshine.

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The weekend was great. I didn’t want it to end.

Reese is sick now. Croupy nasty cough and just generally miserable. Someone told me today “at least you get a day off!” Ha. HAHAHAHA! Trust me, I’d much rather A) my child be healthy and B) be at work and not falling further and further behind because I feel like I’m just treading water right now and at any minute I could get pulled under.

Rylee has her “Pre-School Graduation” in a few days. Don’t know what else to say about that…it’s kind of leaving me speechless. Andy can’t go to it because it’s at 9:30 in the morning…that REALLLLLLY sucks.

School is out at the end of this week. He needs it. I need it. The girls need it.  This year has been particularly rough. SO ready for Summer break.

Oh, and I can’t forget…my big girl has upgraded to a BOOSTER! Can’t believe how fast she is growing.

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DING! Ten minutes is up.

It’s TACO TUESDAY!!!!

The busy season

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I really try not to use the word busy to describe my life in a conversation when someone asks how things are going. Because as a family with two young children, two working parents, a dog, two houses and 12+ acres to take care of, that’s just life. Our reality every day. There is always something that is going on or has to be done. I’m sure much like yours. We are a culture of go-go-go.

But it seems like starting around mid-May life gets kicked up one notch further. This year, despite my best efforts to “keep things simple”, is no different. Well, actually that’s a lie…it is different than previous years but not because we have any less going on…in fact this year we have even more going on than years previous.

Because on top of the Mother’s Day, Andy’s birthday, Rylee’s birthday and end of the school year junk like graduation, classroom clean-up and what not we always inevitably deal with, we’re throwing a memorial weekend camping trip with friends into the mix. Then there’s also Andy’s trip to New York for his best friends wedding and we can’t forget about our family trip to Hawaii for my sisters wedding the week after that. Oh yea, and my sister’s shower/bachelorette party.

I was looking at a calendar the other night and we literally have something going on every single weekend until mid July.

On top of the weekends being booked, I’ve got extra work stuff happening after normal work hours that I’ll being doing on some nights during the week.

So right now? I think I can say we’re busy. But at least we get to top it all off with a week in Hawaii, right!?

So yea…if you need me in the next few weeks and I’m not at work or with my family, I’ll be one of two places…either standing outside at 6 AM with a hot cup of coffee watering my flowers trying to relax before the day even begins, or sitting in a corner making to-do lists like a crazy lady making sure we don’t forget to pack our kids along with our pillows for our camping trip.

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YAY SPRING!!

Wordless Wednesday: Reese’s First Swing

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Here I am doing another one of those “OH LOOK! It’s my kid’s first time doing XYZ!…that happened two months ago.”

Meh…I figured out a long time ago I’m not going to be winning any Mother of the Year awards.

So, LOOK! Here’s Reese swinging for the first time!…that happened back in March…

After a particularly rough {read: annoying} day at the office for me, Andy left work early to pick the girls up from school so I could go do whatever. {Sweet/Smart man, that one.} Anyway, I ended up right in front of him on the drive so we both went to pick up the girls then opted to go to the park to play for a bit. Reese went on a slide for the first time and it reminded me I never posted these swing pictures.

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Weekend Happenings

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You know those weekends that are so perfect you don’t want them to end? Yea…THAT.

That was my facebook status Sunday evening and it was oh-so true. The weekend was great. So great.

While it didn’t start out quite like we had originally anticipated, as in, our weekend plans completely changed, it worked out so well.

We got the news on Friday afternoon that our washing machine was beyond repair, meaning “Shopping for a new washing machine” was officially at the top of our agenda. There was also a Costco trip as well as a stop at our everyday grocery store that we needed to throw in. We got all that taken care of Saturday morning and were home before lunch!

The girls and I hung out for the afternoon {where hung out means I slow cooked ribs on the grill.} while Andy went and bought supplies for our chicken coop. Then we had friends over for a BBQ…hence the ribs. The kids ran around outside looking for bugs. The guys played a few games of donkey balls ladder ball. Reese loved hanging out in the grass watching everything. Good friends. Sunshine. Good food. And an adult beverage. It was a blast.

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We topped the evening off by having a “campout” in our living room with Rylee.

Sunday morning was lazy. Many games of peek-a-boo were played among sisters while Andy and I watched as our hearts turned to mush. We weren’t really up and moving until 11 or so. After that it was go-go-go. Andy was working outside on the tractor and such. While Reese napped, Rylee and I got a head start planning her birthday party. {She’s decided on Angry Birds, in case you were wondering.} After lunch Ry headed out to work on the tractor with Andy. Reese & I headed into town where we hit up Target for exciting things like dog food and vitamins. Then we went to Bi-Mart and I spent some time {and money! HOLY CRAP I always forget how much flowers cost} and picked up some flowers for my raised bed. After we got home we spent the next couple of hours outside planting.

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Not being able to do laundry and having your dinner guests from the night before clean your kitchen really opens up the agenda.

Dinner was easy and so good. Tortellini, chicken and pesto. I always forget how much I love tortellini and pesto {both individually and together}. I need more of both of those things in my life. Turns out Reese feels the same way about tortellini…homegirl couldn’t shovel it in her mouth fast enough.

Kids were in bed, the TV was turned off and Andy & I were passing out by 9 PM. Great weekend.

How was yours?