Pheasant Hunting

We have been having a wonderful weekend! It's so nice when T has a few days off. We got to go out to lunch at the home of the world's best breadsticks. That's not their advertisement but it is true. I cannot imagine a breadstick any better than the one they serve. We don't even get the pizza. Just the salad bar and breadsticks. Yum. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. :) K likes to go there too because it's right across the street from the park. And the park just happens to have a carousel. So we walked over before eating and paid to take a ride. K chose to go pheasant hunting. Apparently. Why else would a dead golden pheasant be strapped to the back of your horse?

And while not as humorous as a frog butted duck, I got a good laugh out of it. Maybe this is what all carousels look like to their creators. :)
And the worried babies and glassy-eyed preschoolers that ride them.

Shopping

Yesterday we got to go on a shopping trip! K was eager to spend her newly acquired birthday money and T took the day off to make it a four day weekend. Our first stop was the family favorite: Target. I think we are creating a serious Target-addiction in our girls. They love going there!

We started doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr. program a few months ago. K went to the store and picked out an Elephant pool to work towards and every week we pay her the "commission" she earns for doing her chores. She only had a few dollars left to earn when she received all her birthday money so she decided to pool her money (haha) and go for it.
Boo wanted to get a soccer ball...and about five thousand other items she drug around the store. :)

K had plenty of birthday money left over so we headed over to the princess isle...where we stayed for quite a while as she perused each item carefully.

So many great things for a newly-turned four year old. :)

She has also had her eye on a little Rapunzel and Eugene set that comes with the boat from the movie but Target was out of it so she settled on just the pool with the promise of another shopping trip in the future.

She was so cute paying for her pool out of her little gold purse. Our Pastor's wife gave her the little purse for her birthday and she loves carrying it around like a "Mommy purse" as she calls it. Such a big girl! Now if we can just get our temperatures above the whopping 54 it is today, we can set up the pool and go swimming!

Gettin' Crafty

Boo has a new favorite. The craft cupboard. The craft cupboard is a little tiny space under our bar. Its perfect for housing all of K's crayons, markers, stickers, paints, coloring books, stamps, beads, playdough, and other miscellaneous items we refer to, collectively, as crafts. The cupboard does not have a child lock because that would defeat the purpose of allowing K the freedom to go get an activity. Boo has decided to make full use of that freedom. At first she would just go over and try to open it. I would usually let her get one or two things out and then try to redirect her to more age-appropriate toys. So once she realized she wasn't allowed to explore to her heart's content she decided to get a little more...crafty...about her exploring. The other day I was getting ready and I thought she was playing in the living room. When I didn't see her for a few minutes I decided to investigate. She was, ever so quietly, emptying the craft cupboard.

Uhh, I can put it back Mommy.
Am I in trouble?

She was clearly torn up about her misdeeds.

Spring

Spring has finally sprung in the Northwest! The days are getting warmer, the tulips are up, and we've finally stopped freezing at night. The other day we got up into the 70's and I pulled out the girls' summer clothes. I love summer clothes. They are just so cute! I bought Boo this cute little pink jumper last year.

Up?
It's so nice when we can shed all our layers and run around in short sleeves and bare feet. I am SO ready for summer!

And I think the girls are too!

Flowers

I wish I could bill this as my weekend project, but it took a little longer. Okay, a lot longer. It's my two week project. I started last Tuesday. My mom came over and helped me weed my 180 feet of flower beds. (Yes, I know, whatever was I thinking when I made these?) That took all of Tuesday. Then Wednesday was digging, digging, and Thursday more digging. Then Friday I was finally done with the prep work and ready to start the real project. Every summer these flower beds get weeds. TONS and TONS of weeds. So first I laid down wet newspaper...four or five sheets thick. Then I laid down landscaping cloth (which takes forever when you have all your plants already established because it involves cutting little circles around each plant) and the third and final step was bark. The triple threat for weeds. Although I'm sure some will manage to peek through I am hoping that all this work will significantly reduce my weed production for years to come. I wish I could show you a before and after but unfortunately I am only half done so this is a North side and West side picture. By next week I'm hoping that the North side will go from looking like this...

...to this.
Aww, so pretty. Once the blisters on my hands go away and my knees stop aching like they're breaking every time I kneel down I'm sure my appreciation will increase even further. Although finishing the other half will probably slow down that progress. :) But by next weekend I will have finished flower beds! (I hope!)

This Is The Way We Brush Our Teeth

Boo's favorite new thing to do! She will literally spent 15 to 20 minutes doing this several times a day, and yes it does waste water but it keeps her out of trouble. :) Notice the way she "spits" while brushing. So funny.

P.S. Some of you may recognize this video b/c we have an almost identical one of Bug around the same age. :)

Wordless Wednesday