This week

This week we were FINALLY all settled in from our very busy March/April. Finally! All of the must-do items were off the list and I could start on some fun can-do items. I took the the too-small cupcake liner ball and made these cute flowers to hang in the window instead. (Directions here and here). Super easy and super cheap! I've heard they don't last forever, gravity and all, but for a $5 project, I'm thrilled with how they turned out!
I also finished a sewing project I've been thinking about for the last 4 months. It's actually a Christmas present, so I can't blog about it, but it was fun and easy, and a nice thing to cross off the list. More to come on that in about... 7 months! :)

The girls and I got to see my cousins who recently returned home from their missions in Boston and Kansas. Thanks to the convenience of family emails, we got to read weekly reports on their missionary time. It was fun to hear them speak in church and have another opportunity to talk to Cora and Violet about what missionaries do. How exciting that they (a brother and sister) got to come home on the same day, 45 minutes apart!

The girls are both really into playdates right now... Violet had her first couple and they were a success. It's fun to have the girls close enough in age to be able to play with friends together. Who knows how long that will last?? We also got a few days of nice enough weather to play outside, which was lovely.

Saturday was our big day, we took a big hike! Thanks to a neighbor, I found out about a hike only 10 minutes away from us. I had thought, for whatever reason, we had to go east to get any hiking in, at least a 45 minute drive. This was much closer, and perfect for us... pretty, not steep at all, wide trails. We did a 4 mile hike, and although Violet had a hard time the last 20 minutes (and fell asleep 2 minutes after we got back in the car), we all had a great time. The girls loved seeing the deer, bikers, horses, flowers, birds... and horse poop. Near the end I was pointing out ALL the horse poop piles to get Violet to laugh and distract her from her tired legs. Whatever works! Luke had it pretty comfy in the backpack, but he was eager to stretch his legs and throw rocks when he got the chance to walk. We'll definately be going back! Maybe we'll be able to make the 7 miles loop someday. Then we'll need a while backpack of snacks and pb&j!
Luke slept a record 3 1/2 hours when we got home, while Kevin and I deep-cleaned the garage and the girls rode bikes and played in the sandbox. A fun AND productive day! We had to reward ourselves with Cafe Rio--yum!