More fun with Vavo

Okay, where were we? So, Monday, we spent the day in painting all the wood in our living room (I know that painting wood sounds like a total desecration and to some degree, it is, but the wood is SO very damaged that this makes it look clean and neat. And here's how we do it to help preserve the integrity of the look--1. we don't use a primer, 2. we use a brush, and 3. we do one coat. So, the wood comes through the brush strokes and it's really quite beautiful and rustic. We love it).

Here is a before shot of the damaged wood--what on earth did they do to it?!

More damage in the doorway of the pocket doors

An up close of the damage

During:

It looks so nice and clean!

Ah, yes, nice and clean.

We have a bunny living under our slide in our backyard. :)

Here's what we've been doing to fix up the outside porch area--it's looking beautiful! Here is a picture from this past summer (notice the construction junk on the porch). We've replaced doors and painted them red (love it!). But especially notice the light fixture and lack of address number.

Here it is with the new light fixture and a number up to help the FedEx and UPS people (you know, since we have two addresses).

On Monday, we also got a really neat surprise in the mail--we got mail from Scotland! See, several weeks ago, Mark and I sent copies of K's Harry Potter stories (Harry Potter 8, 9, 10, etc.) along with a letter and pictures to JK Rowling. We also sent her a birthday card and money to cover the postage (not that she needs it, but you know, to have some tact) and asked her if she'd mind signing it for K's 8th birthday. Well, we got it sent back to us with a very nice letter from Ms. Rowling's assistant explaining that JK Rowling doesn't do autographs as she is caring for her young family and maybe someday. But we did get a letter from JK Rowling herself (form letter, but still so exciting!) explaining that someday she's excited to sit and go through all the letters in her storage facility (where K's stories are!) and also more about her personal feelings about Harry Potter and her experience writing it. Very neat!


We enjoyed K's violin lesson while Mark and my Mom and M finished up the living room wood. So great to get so much done!

Tuesday - My mom enjoyed showing the kids pictures of the Azores online and telling some cool family history stories. Mark got some light fixtures in and we enjoyed a mellow day. We got some Chinese take out that day as well--helpful as we do so many house and yard projects! The Ratcliffes came over in the afternoon with beautiful dresses for K's birthday! They're so pretty and so her! Very thoughtful--just like the great "skater dude" clothing they got M for his birthday!! So, they hung out and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon in the backyard. We went out and ran a bunch of errands as well--Wally World, Lowe's, etc. and got in really late and got the kids to bed and then ordered some swimsuits online (with a coupon that was soon expiring!) and watched Idol really late.

Wednesday - This was a pretty full day (why don't I always think to take pictures?). My mom and I attended an AA meeting with one of my clients and it was REALLY neat! I've always wanted to go to one. I learned a lot and found it uplifting. Very good experience. After lunch, Connor came over for a couple of hours and he and M have SO MUCH FUN playing together. Kim came by with Sariah to see what we've been doing around here (I love showing Kim stuff--she gets so excited for us!) and then Connor's family got here and Peggy came with Carl and Daniel and the kids got to play instruments and we all got to sing together in preparation for May Day! Very fun. It was a very full house, but very fun, too! We went out to dinner with Dee and Denise at a Brazilian BBQ place in town (not the churrasco kind, but still pretty good) and that was really nice. We ran more errands that evening and got home and to bed. Jiggety-jig.

Thursday -- MAY DAY!! I had a pretty full day in the clinic and really enjoyed it (I really like what I do! And I'm so grateful to be able to do it one day a week right from home!). We ran yet more errands (most of these are all part of getting the Dining Room put together as our hutch gets in this week--lots of window shopping and fun idea getting). We also got K's digital camera replaced--the one Santa brought got worn out after years of very good use. She really loves to take pictures and does a really great job! She's so responsible and careful and excited to boot! So, at 4:30, we met on campus (college right down the street) and celebrated May Day with song, dancing, games, ribbons, and food! I absolutely LOVE this tradition. So fun to welcome Spring in such a beautiful way!

The Maypole!

Welcoming Spring with May Songs!

How neat to have those pretty blooming trees all around us! And, yay, the sun is breaking through the rain and clouds!

"Here we go gathering nuts in May, nuts in May, nuts in May!" K and her friend Sophia dance as part of the May Game!

There are M and Sierra dancing as part of the May Game!

A May Parade around campus led by bagpipes and M playing the tambourine!

Dancing and weaving around the Maypole!

So fun!

May Flowers!

May Songs and Music by our young musicians!

She loves to perform. Great job, K!

A beautiful May Song group number

Ronald plays some guitar music for us

M, following suit, sits and plays tambourine as we all sing the ABCs! Great job, M!

Here we are starting the mini parade.


And here we are dancing around the Maypole!



We got home for dinner and my evening appointment and while I was in with my client, Mark got the hutch! And he and my Mom brought it in and set it up BEAUTIFULLY (she quickly threw together the decorative touches as a surprise)! We LOVE it! And it's looking so nice in there. My mom's been ironing curtains and helping us get it all together. It is really looking nice!! The lady from the store from which we got the hutch even called excitedly to hear my reaction (um, she's gotten to know us as we've been in there). :P Beautiful!

Isn't is gorgeous?!

We've moved the table in to work on painting it and getting some coats of polyurethane on it and get using it!!

Friday -- we've spent the ENTIRE day at a local park today with about 7 or 8 or so local homeschool families. Our group is doing a DC trip in a couple of weeks, so we talked about some things pertaining to our trip and got pizza and played ALL afternoon. It was great!




The kids are so nicely worn out--bedtime is a snap on days like this! We love love love where we live, homeschooling, our group, the flexibility, the learning, the fun things we do!

So, tonight we went out for dinner at a local "Dutchy" place and the waiter kept bringing us more and more free food!! He was awesome and was quite generous with us (which earned him a hefty tip from my Mom!)--we had a great time and the food was great! (This place is new to us and my Mom's favorite new find). We're having breakfast there tomorrow morning as well while we run some errands my Mom is doing before she leaves.

Mom leaves on Sunday (it's been about 3 weeks--though she's leaving early, we're happy (and a bit amazed) she's stayed so long!), so we're obviously squeezing in all kinds of stuff. She's really enjoying all of our friends and fun things to do around here. Our running joke is "These poor homeschool kids. They hardly EVER play with other kids!" Um, yeah, only pretty much every day for hours on end! :P Speaking of, a family in our homeschool group has invited us over tomorrow for a "Carnival" including funnel cake and other fun stuff! YUM! We're excited! :)